22 years

My husband and I celebrated our 22nd wedding anniversary this weekend. It was not a very good celebration I am sad to say. We are both sick right now so neither are on our best behaviors or very patient. Friday he did take the day off and we went to the beach together, Little Man to the babysitters and daughter in school. Mommy and Daddy time alone is a very rare treat. It was a wonderful day and we found lots of sharks teeth and snorkled. I got my hiney burnt just like I did on our honeymoon, you would think I would learn??? I don't know if we just wore ourselves out or what but after that we just could not seem to get along or agree on anything. That makes me very sad, because it will be another whole year until our anniversary comes around. But something that you learn after being with a person for 22 years (more actually because we dated 3 years) is that a date on the calender may mark your anniversary but everyday you have together is special.

I have never really talked much about my husband or our story, but here it is:

I met my husband thru a friend in 9th grade. He was the big football player and I was the cute girl with the funny name and purple Nikes. We started out as friends, he was one of those guys all the girls loved, a big teddy bear. After a while we realized we kinda liked each other more than friends. We dated 2 weeks. I dumped him right after Valentine's Day because he gave me a card that he wrote I love you in. Now mind you...don't we all say I love you and not really mean it? The problem was I knew he meant it and it scared the hell out of me. I was only 14, how on earth could I be in love? NO WAY. We tried to remain friends but ended up just not being able to do it. Fast forward about a year. I noticed he was dating this girl. Well, hmmmmmm I can date....but oh no. him?..that will never do. Then we literally ran into each other in an empty hall way. He promised to call, and did. There were alot talks, fights, starts and stops, back and forth, but soon we were together. Things have always been crazy, I am a very moody and emotional person, so when I am mad everyone knows it, when I am happy everyone knows it. He is very sarcastic and arrogant,(which is one of several things I love about him) but also passionate, whether it be about football or me so things were crazy somedays. Sometimes I am still amazed that we ever managed to stay together. Right around the time we started dating my Ulcerative Colitus symptoms kicked in worse than ever and I had to start taking medications to try to keep it under control. For the next 2 years things would continue to get worse until I was hospitalized. I was very dehydrated, ended up with a punctured lung and was not doing well, so I was moved to ICU. I don't remember much except that everytime I opened my eyes he was there. I don't think the nurses had the heart to make him leave when the 5 minutes was up. I got moved back to Progressive ICU. It was our first Christmas that we would get to spend together (I normally went to visit my mom) and it looked like I was going to be in the hospital. Tony showed up one day with this little tiny tree and decorations. He decorated my room for me. I got out Christmas Eve and my mom drove me by where he worked. The look on his face was amazing. We did get to spend Christmas together. By April I was so sick again that I knew I was going to have to have an ileostomy done if I ever hoped to have a semi normal life. I went in the hospital April 15th, had surgery May 1st and was released May 15th. He walked to the hospital everyday and stayed with me most of the day. My father, who had not talked to him for the first 2 years we dated and would only grunt at him finally said, he really does love her and stopped making us miserable with his attempts to make us break up. I graduated in June, we became engaged in December and shacked up in January. We were married the following September. One of my biggest concerns about having my surgery and the others that have followed thru the years is how it would effect our having children. After we were married 5 years we decided to start a family. We would try just about everything under the sun over the next 5 years until we decided to give it just one more try before starting the paperwork to adopt from Guatemala. We were told I had a bun in the oven...LOL My pregnancy was pretty uncomplicated for someone with my history, but eventful none the less. So after false alarms, hospital stay for a weekend, bedrest, and then daily visits for monitoring, our little girl was delivered. I have never seen a father so in love with his little girl in my life. Now according to my daughter I have had a surgery for every year she has been alive and she is honestly not far off the mark...if not a little short. Everytime my husband would step in and assume both roles like a trooper. When I would come home, he then became nurse on top of all his other duties. I have actually been released early because he was doing such a good job of taking care of me in the hospital that they did not see a reason to keep me. I have watched him be a prince, dance with my daughter and say the lines he was told to say. We decided to adopt, I saw him let go of his reservations, once we were matched I watched him fall in love with a picture of a sonogram and then about a month later I watched him cry because he had to tell me something that he knew was going to break my heart and then helped me explain to our daughter that the sister she had always wanted was not going to happen. 3 months later I watched as he put his heart out there again and started to love a little boy who was just a picture until he held him. Now I watch him play ball and fish with that little boy. I see him look at our little girl he once danced with and carried on his shoulders and smile when he can see he becoming a lady before his eyes even though I think somedays he would love to turn back time for just a little longer. I have watched his hair turn gray, most of which he says I have caused. I see him go off to a job everyday that is sometimes not pleasant so we can have our beautiful home and I can be here to raise our babies.

I suffer from depression, that may actually turn out to be bi-polar (we are still in the see what works phase) and he has been there and tried his best to help me. I know there have been times he wants to say, snap out of it, get up, knock it off. I know that it has not been an easy road and sometimes I do wonder why he has stuck it out. I do know that I am grateful that he has. I love the Rascall Flatts song Everyday that says

Everyday Lyrics
by Rascal Flatts
album: Still Feels Good (2007)

You could have bowed out gracefully
But you didn’t
You knew enough to leave the well enough alone
But you wouldn’t
I drive myself crazy trying to stay out of my own way
The messes that I make but my secrets are so safe
The only one who gets me yeah you get me
It’s amazing to me how
Everyday
Everyday
Everyday you save my life
I come around all broken down and crowded out
And your comfort
Sometimes the place I go is so deep and dark and desperate
I don’t know I don’t know how
Everyday
Everyday
Everyday you save my life
Sometimes I swear I don’t know if I’m coming or going
But you always say something without even knowing
That I’m hanging on to your words with all of my might
And it’s alright, yeah I'm alright for one more night
Everyday
Everyday
Everyday
Everyday
Everyday
Everyday
Everyday you save me
You save me
Everyday you save my life.

That pretty much sums up our story it is a work in progress and even though somedays it is hard, I will never give up. I love my husband, he is my life.

Pish

We have a lake behind our house and Carlos had developed a love for fishing...he got it from his Mommy...Daddy does not have the patience. So we found this adorable Cars fishing pole at Walmart. Now we have to go "Pish" every evening, sometimes even during the day. He has gotten very good at casting and can throw it out there like a pro. Right now there is a bunch of muck and algae so the water looks gross but that does not seem to bother him. I swear he is 100% boy. One day last week I had to pish, then play catch, kick the football and take him for a bike ride, meanwhile Mommy is still fighting her yucky cold. That's ok, the fresh air did us both good and I just can't say no when he gets his Daddy's hat on and his ball glove. Here are some pictures to share of my little Man.

Sick of being sick

Princess Fru Fru

UGGGGHH another cold. My head is stuffy and I can't stop coughing. Is there anything more annoying than a cold? Yeah, the stomach virus that put me in the hospital a week ago. I am ready to be unsick. Ok, anyone got some cheese??? crackers??? I will stop whining.

Gosh what is new since July? Sorry I am a blogger slacker, I have issues, I will seek help.

We have a baby alligator in our lake. Baby alligators are actually cute, until they become big alligators, and then the cuteness seems to fade. Unfortunately, some kids have been messing with him so now he is swimming over when he sees people so he is gonna have to go.

We had to take our little Wolfie to my Poppi's house, the Barnyard Hilton. He just could not play well with Wesley or Carlos. Now, he is very happy. He has 15 cats, chickens, ducks,3 pigs,4 goats, 3 cows, and another dog to keep him company. Most recently he has acquired a brother, 2nd Chance a turkey who has joined him at Monticello's Florida's largest petting zoo. The last I heard he steals my Poppi's leather recliner when it is not occupied, but quickly jumps to the couch when he hears my Poppi coming in. 2 grumpy old men, perfect match

Not sure if I mentioned we do foster care for a local organization Gulf Shore Animal League. Right now we have 4 adorable black kittens. We have had them for about 4 weeks so they will be leaving soon. We worked at Petsmart over the weekend and one of them has already been adopted, but he has to get neutered first. It is hard to give them up but knowing they will have a great home helps. But we have also gotten the recent label of being foster failures. Our last batch of kittens were 3 sisters, 2 got adopted and the last one just seemed to adopt my daughter. She begged, her dad and I caved. So we proudly announce Princess Fru Fru has officially joined our clan. Our totals are now 2 dogs, Wesley and Brandi, 3 cats Pete, Gus and Fru Fru, a ferret named Lola, Mr Whiskers (Whiskey) a guinea pig and a few fish. If you read the paragraph above, you can see I get it honestly.

The girl child is now in middle school and I think Carlos is very happy to have mommy all to himself again. But as I see Diego is about to end, I will to for today.

A quote to ponder: Nothing is good or bad, but thinking makes it so. Hamlet

The best photographer ever

I just have to share pictures that Kristie at Kulik Photography took. Yes, they were done a while ago...ok, it was a long time ago, but I just finished scrapbooking them and thought what an injustice it would be not to share. So here we go...here is my beautiful wonderful amazing family. She also took the two pictures of Carlos that are on my blog. Kristie....you rock.

The day after Disney

Well it is Spring Break for my daughter so we took a family trip. Where does a family from Florida vacation at? Disney, of course. It was the little man's first real trip since his last one he had pneumonia and was completely out of it. We are members of the vacation club (a fabulous idea by the way)so we stayed at the Old Key West resort. The best part about staying in the condos as opposed to the hotel room is the WASHING MACHINE, only a mom can appreciate this fact. Coming home, unpacking clean clothes and not having a mound of laundry to do is vacation enough to me. We left on Sunday and just hung out at the quiet pool and cooked hamburgers. It was the first time we put water wings on the man. At first he thought we were trying to kill him, but as soon as he floated in the water, and did not sink to the bottom he was very cool with it. He has always been very good in the water and has honestly never sunk to the bottom. He has no fear, which can be a blessing or a curse. His sister, whom he has taken to calling Sissy, instead of School, was such a help to me, because I had to take pool duty while hubby cooked the Bubbas. The water was sooooo cold, see people from Florida don't usually get in the water, pool, beach, lake, until at least Memorial Day, preferable Fourth of July. We had a very relaxing first evening. The next day after getting up and lazing around (boy I was really loving this vacation stuff) we headed off to the Magic Kingdom. I swear the moment we stepped thru the gates, it started to rain, now we are experienced Disney travelers so we did pack the ponchos, we unpacked the ponchos in the room and that is where they stayed the entire trip. We watched the parade and then proceeded to the back of the park, like a salmon swimming upstream. Little Missy and I were going to ride Space Mountain but the wait time was 130 minutes, the fast pass return time was 8:50pm...it was 3pm. No way we say, we are not going to wait that long or tie up our fast pass tickets for the whole evening. Needless to say it was 9pm when we got in line for Space Mountain, after waiting in the 70 minute line for about 30 minutes we were politely informed that they were having technical difficulties. What does one do? I mean do you really want to ride a rollercoaster that has just had difficulties? Is it safer, or is it more likely to have another difficulty, and do I really want to be on it in the middle of it's difficulty? By the way, what was the difficulty? Paper blown on the track, one of the lights blew out, cart flew off the track with a person who took their chance after a difficulty? Yep, we waited and took our chance, we did not fly off the track, but I may have tinkled my pants (oh maybe that is what happened, they had a little "spill" on the track. We both enjoyed it, but you know there is a huge difference between riding Space Mountain when you are 13 and when you are 40. We ended the night with boom booms and then the parade.
The little man did not seem to be especially impressed either way, and really only liked Goof as he likes to call him. Sure, he trusts the one that is like 7 foot tall, but not the cute little Minnie Mouse. We did a character breakfast(Animal Kingdom) and dinner (Liberty Tree)and he did finally warm up to them, but overall, he really didn't get it.
Oh well, maybe next time.....

Kittens, kids and kitchen tools

I am proud to announce that we have a litter of week old kittens. We do foster care for some of the local animal rescue teams and they had a cat who had just given birth to kittens. Well, me being the animal lover that I am of course jumped at the chance to have babies in the house. Remind me to call my therapist.....So I have given up my big bathtub...not for lent....for cats. I even boiled chicken today and gave some to the cat. Ok, yes I was making chicken soup and already had the chicken cooking, but I chopped it up in tiny little bits and served it warm. What is wrong with me? I make a salad for the guinea pig everynight, chicken for the cat...they eat better than I do.

The boy is officially two and showing every bit of his HOT LATIN TEMPER. I was warned by my peditrition(a latin male) yesterday that I have not lived until I have raised a latin 3 year old male. This did not make me feel any better. It just confirms my suspicions that I may not live thru this. I am trying to figure out some painless method to wean him from the bottle. My daughter is convinced he will be waving to me out the window of the big yellow bus, with bottle hanging from his teeth. Yeah, well.....

I have officially joined the world of home based businesses, I am now a Pampered Chef. Maybe more like a confused, unorganized, stressed Chef, but I have hope. I am actually really excited and I think that I will enjoy it. I have been waiting for my new consultant kit to arrive, and don't you know yesterday it gets here. Well, that's great you say? Fed-Ex dude was not a happy camper...you see when it rains at my house I don't have gutters and therefor I have a beautiful waterfall in front of my door, we did not have to pay extra for this added feature I want you to know....at least I don't think so...(ok...I hit the dang italics button on accident and can't get it turned off.) So he smiles, more like a sneer, and says it's really heavy. I told him to just leave it on the door step since I had all three dogs trying to push me out of the way. They did not want to get to the Fed-ex man, they are not vicious, they wanted my new toys. They knew that there was something wonderful in those big boxes, something that I would use in their favorite room of the house, then once I had used said items and placed the wonderful delectible tidbits on the counter to cool, one of them....usually the little guy would create a diversion and the other two would jump up on the counters and steal whatever I have put there, this is a con they run daily. Poor little Wolfie, never gets the goods, and the other two big mooses won't share with him..maybe that is why he is so grumpy. Ok, back to the other part of this story, I being the most generous and loving wife, have yet again sacraficed and took my poor husbands cold from him...so now I am feeling like doo doo. I could not even enjoy my new kitchen goodies, last night. It was like Christmas in my living room and I could not even enjoy it. I did however play today and woooowweeeeee was it fun. I just know that I am going to be my very best customer.

Making friends

Today we went to the Mis Amigos picnic and made some new friends. It is a support group for parents/families who have adopted Latin American children. We had a blast. Hopefully this will become a regular event. Carlos had a great time and made a very special friend Ana. She was a peanut just like him.