Time To Celebrate!

Oh My Gosh! Hannah, who is 6 did something today for the first time! She TALKED in school. Yes, I said it was her first time. I know how strange it sounds.

Let me give some background.......

In America, she was in preschool when she was 4. Only sat on the carpet for 2 1/2 hours. Never participated and never talked.

Then she started Kindergarten in America. She participated a little because the teacher made her stay late to finish things if she did not do them when the class did them. But she still did not talk.

We moved here to Germany. Hannah has been going to Kindergarten, which is like Preschool in America. She has never talked at school. But she does participate. She runs around with the other kids, she does art, eats breakfast. So I felt she had made super progress. She just was not talking.

Some of the kids have invited Hannah over to play and Hannah will talk at their house, but not at the school. They always say that Hannah has such a pretty voice. I think it is because they are not used to hearing it.

Well, today, I went to pick her up and one of the kids said to me.....Hannah talked today in Kindergarten. I was pleasantly surprised. Then one of the teachers gave me the look of: It was amazing! She actually did it!

So as I was walking to the van with Hannah, she told me. Mom, I talked at school today. I said, really, to who? And she said, the whole Kindergarten. There are 50 kids and 5 teachers. So when she decided to talk, she really went for the big "Here I Am!" effect. I thought perhaps she would talk to one or two people when she first said something. But no, she did it in front of the whole school.

Hopefully, this means, she will continue to talk. If history repeats itself, then she will talk, every day. That is how everything is with her. Once she does it one time, she continues to do it. She did not eat breakfast for so long at school. Finally, one day she did and has ever since. Same thing with going to the bathroom at school. She refused to go. Sometimes, she would have accidents on the way home from school from holding it so long. She finally broke down and went at school and now goes all the time. So I am hoping the talking thing is no different and that she is finally going to talk everyday.

I am sooooooo very happy right now!

Did Someone Want A Haircut?

Soooooo, Today I noticed that Hannah, who is 6, decided she wanted a Hair cut. Did she tell me she wanted a hair cut? NOOOOOOOOO. That would of been too easy. Instead, she took matters into her own hands and chopped. I asked her when did she cut it and she said yesterday after lunch. Somehow, I can't see that I was that out of it and did not notice it. So I really think she did it today. I hate it when the kids decide to cut their hair! ARGH!

Shantal said that Hannah cut her own hair before when we lived in Wisconsin. And Shantal was right, Hannah's hair was cut. But Hannah did not do it then. It was Spencer and Shantal who did it. So this is the second time I get to try and fix her hair. I am considering leaving it as is.

I seriously was mad! Now her hair can not be put in braids or even a pony tail anymore. I made her cry when I told her I could just shave it all off. I know....I get the bad mommy award AGAIN this week!


Now, this is too cute. This is Hannah's Baby Born Car. It is for her doll. Well, the kids have started to put Ian on it and pull him around the house. Ian LOVES it and is sooooo unbelievably happy!

So my sore muscles have gone away from working out in the yard on Saturday. Just in time for me to do some more work. We ended up planting some carrots and some cucumbers out where we were working on Saturday. We were going to plant some flowers and plants, but decided after so much work, we wanted to plant veggies. So, before we leave here, we will have to plant some flowers. But for now, I look forward to the end of summer when we get to eat what we planted. Too bad we don't have more room for more stuff like we did in Wisconsin.

I went to the doctors again today. Of course, got another wonderful shot. I am starting to have more energy. I don't just want to lay around all day like before. I am able to take care of the kids. I might still get tired or light headed. But it is short lived and with a little rest, I can get something else accomplished.

Saturday Is A Working Day

Seems so strange that it is 9:30pm and it is still light outside. The sun is going down, but still there is light.

Today I spent a good couple of hours outside working in the yard. In our way back, where I can't even see, we had weeds that were almost as tall as I am. They were so thick as well, it took a lot of effort and strength to pull those things up. I think I over did it just a tad today, and now am feeling pretty sick tonight.

I just finish putting the kids to bed. It is late as they normally go to bed around 7:30pm. As I was putting everyone in bed, Emma, who just turned two, blew me her first kiss. It was so cute and amazing. Just made me smile and feel so loved at the same time.

We are talking about moving the kids around, bedroom wise. Right now, we have Spencer (8 years) and Ian (almost 9 months) in a room together. We also have Shantal (10 years) and Emma (2 Years) in a room together. Hannah (6 years) sleeps in a foyer at the top of the stairs. We are talking about putting the babies together in the small room because bedtime has become so terrible now that it is light so long outside. Then we will put the three big kids in the other bedroom which is really big. We can get all 3 bunk beds plus all their dressers in there and they still have lots of room in the middle for playing. That is how big it is. We would then put a couch out in the foyer so the kids could have their reading corner like I wanted when we first moved in our house.

Of course, something like that takes time and energy. There is no school or work until Wednesday. So we might be using our days off working on organizing our house more.

One more thing, I failed to mention earlier in the week that I did something to my ankle. I don't exactly know what I did, but it does hurt to walk on it. Finally I asked Gardner today if it looked swollen and he said it in deed is. Probably sprained it doing who knows what. Just add that to my list of goodies I am going through. Oh, and I enjoyed another shot in my butt again yesterday. I bet you are jealous!

Blood Test Results

So I went to the doctors on Tuesday. The long awaited day arrived.

My doctor said he was shocked that I was able to do ANYTHING besides just lay around almost dead like because my numbers looked terrible. Of course, he used some other english words, but I probably should not share them. My hemoglobin level should be at a 13 for me and mine was an 8,8. I don't know if that says much in english as I am not good with stuff like this. My Anemia did take a turn for the worse, and I was right about that.

Anyway, I ended up getting a Vitamin b12 shot right then and there and have to go back 2 times a week for awhile. Then it will drop to 1 time a week. Um, yeah, my kids were laughing that I had to get it in my butt.

I also have iron pills that I have to take 2 times a day to start. Then after the 10th day, I can decrease it to 1 time a day. Once again, my kids laughed hearing that these pills will turn my poop black. (What is it with my kids?)

I also have to start checking my blood sugars to see what my levels are at. I have my own monitor from all my pregnancies where I had to consistanly check them. That was good enough for him.

Then I have to go back in and get more blood work taken.

None of it is fun for me. None of it makes me want to shout I'm happy to be taking that or getting pricked there!

Dr does not know how long until I can get back to "normal". It can be still a good few weeks before I start to feel a bit better.

Then Wednesday morning, I woke up VERY sick. I got up at 5:30am to feed Ian. I knew that my stomach did not feel well. After I fed Ian, I ended up in the bathroom for a good 45 minutes just dry heaving over and over and over again. It was terrible.

Week At A Glance

So it has been a week since I posted. And so much has happened. But, I have been so sick, that my posting has been neglected for a comfy position on my couch. Now, I will try to fill in the best I can on things that have been happening this past week, but remember what I just said, I have been so sick. So, chances are I will miss a thing or two.

For starters, the thing that pops into my head is Hannah. Hannah lost her first tooth. She lost it on Tuesday May 15th. It was right before bed. She was so very excited. She pulled it out right there in front of me. Of course, it grossed me out. But what is a mom to do? So I did only what I could at that point. I grabbed a baggie and told her to toss it in there. As she was tending to the bleeding that came with the tooth being pulled out, I wrote on the baggie, as I have done with every single tooth that has come out of my kids mouths. I wrote her name, the date in which it came out, what number tooth it was and which tooth it was. Spencer saw me doing this and I told him I did it to all of his as well. And all the teeth in the baggies are in my top dresser drawer. What I will ever do with them, I am not sure. But I still have them all. Funniest part to me about the whole tooth incident was, Hannah never did put her tooth under her pillow that night. Once she pulled it out, she forgot about it. But, thankfully, the tooth fairy is Smart enough to know where to find these teeth even if they are not under the pillow. In exchange, Hannah got a shiny Euro coin. She instantly told me she was going to go and buy another pretzel from the bakery with it so she can get even more loose teeth. On a side note, I did get a good picture of her tooth hanging the day before it came out. And of course, got the hole in the mouth shot as well.

I have spent a lot of time on my couch this past week. I have been so light headed, dizzy and nauseated. I went into the doctor on Wednesday and they took my blood. Sent 3 things of blood off to the lab. I do go back tomorrow afternoon to see if they can figure anything out.

We had our first official guests to come and stay at Hotel Wheeler. When Gardner was here in Germany on his mission 16 years ago, he met a Girl named Elke. All these years, they have kept in touch. She now lives in Hamburg with her husband Joe and son Tom. They came on Wednesday and stayed for two nights. We actually got the bed put together the day they arrived. Gardner had to run out to IKEA one more time (total of 4 times) to tell them to open a box and give us the pieces we needed. They still have not arrived in the mail. We never did get the dresser put together or the nightstands. But, the room was clean, a king size bed with new sheets, a twin bed for Tom and of course, the shower and bathroom which is right next to the bedroom. Gardner even bought a brand new shower head that morning for them as well. The biggest thing they commented on when I was showing them their room, was the sauna that is in the bathroom area. So note to all potential guests and visitors.....There is a sauna if that is something that interests you. We just need to figure out how to use it. So give us a heads up.

While they were here, We had a holiday. Of course, I can not keep track of what holidays are what anymore, since there are so many of them. And I just asked Gardner and he said the same thing, he can't keep track either. (Gardner just looked it up and it was Christi Himmelfahrt, Ascension Day) The point of the story is, there was no school or work last Thursday due to a holiday. Then Joe was telling us that it was also Father's Day. Gardner and I were more than shocked. I said outloud, I guess we will be celebrating in June, like the American's. I definately was taken off guard and was not prepared for that. I did have one child that was prepared. It was Hannah. She had made Gardner a Father's Day Card at School the day before.

To celebrate this day, Gardner found a Baseball Game in Duesseldorf that was going on. So everyone went to the game except myself, Emma and Ian. I was not feeling well. Remember, the couch was my best friend. And then Emma and Ian were napping. They all came home telling me they had hamburgers. The Kids were very excited about this.

Gardner has another trip to Sweden planned for work next week. I am a little nervous about that with as sick as I have been the last two weeks. I just hope that whatever is going on with my body can be fixed fast. I need more energy, most definately. And then this nauseated crap has got to stop. Reminds me too much of my pregnancy days!

Speaking of Sick....Ian is sick. The poor boy. I feel so bad for him. And he is so hot. I keep giving him tylenol. He just cries. There is not much I can do for him. I hate it when the kids are sick. What is worse is when I am sick as well. It really is harder to take care of him. I am hoping he will sleep through the night. I doubt it. But for him and me, we both need it.