Goodbye Arwood Adventures. . . Hello My Crazy J's!!!

I wanted to let my loyal followers know that after 7 mos of NOOOO posts, that Arwood Adventures is being laid to rest. sniff sniff. . .

BUT, I am happy to announce the beginning of My Crazy J's!!!! www.mycrazyjs.com is my new blog! I decided to start a blog that had plenty of space to upload an unlimited amount of pics and video, since that is what I do and a huge part of who I am. My Crazy J's will be a mommy blog that I will "attempt" to post on daily, you know, in between scrubbing poop off the walls and wading through the knee deep laundry! This will also be a place that I can post my photos and "advertise" as I explore the possibility of becoming a "professional" photographer. I am using the term "professional" very loosely!! :)

So, please make any necessary adjustments to link your blog to mine, and I will do the same. I am also on Twitter now, forced by my website mentor, aka - little bro. So if you tweet, (or twit as I often accidentally say) follow me there to!

Whew, on to new beginnings. . . . Join me please!

Jonathan's Art Contest

As you may know, Jonathan LOVES to draw. He has since he was about 2 yrs old. This year he decided to enter the Paulding County School District art contest. He worked really hard on his drawing. He is somewhat of a perfectionist, so he had a lot of crumpled up papers that he "messed up" before he finally had a drawing he was satisfied with. Then he colored it using the oil pastels we bought for him. He was really proud of his work! When we went to the art show we found out that he won 1st place in the K-2 division! I was so proud of him. He got a medal and a certificate. Then we found out he would be invited to attend the April PCSD board meeting to be recognized and receive a $25 dollar check as his prize. So, all the family packed into the county office for the board meeting. Only Nate and I made it into the actual room where the meeting was held. Nana, Papa, Granna, and Micah and the other Arwood kids had to stand in the lobby because it was so crowded. Jonathan had a great time and was very proud to get his money and shake the board members hands. His artwork was framed and will be on display in the county office for the next year. Way to go Jonathan!!

Now we have to go shopping so he can spend his money before it burns a hole in his pocket!

The Winter Crud

Well I guess its time to update the blog! I mean its only been 2 1/2 months. Well, we have had the winter crud for about, oh, 3 months now. Seriously, with 4 kids all going to different places during the day and then sharing the germs they picked up, it has made for a pretty lousy winter. We started on Christmas eve when Jase got sick. His progressed and by 3 days after Christmas Justin was also sick. With several doctor visits (at $25 each) we discovered that we had the dreaded RSV in the house. Breathing treatments, steroids, cough meds, antibiotics for the ear infections, it was fun. Luckily Justin did fine. We had one moment when the doctor was going back and forth on whether or not to send him to the hospital, but I told her I was comfortable taking care of him at home, and that he was already on the monitor so I could keep close check on things. He never had any apnea alarms during the RSV, which was huge, since RSV alone can cause apnea and add that to an apnea prone baby and you can have big trouble.

So, we get over RSV in time for Jessi to get sick. Poor baby girl was the sickest that any of my kids have ever been. Fever for 12 straight days, the first 8 days her fever was up to 104 every day! She could not get off the couch. I was having to help her to the bathroom the first several days. We visited the doctor 3 times and then had 1 ER visit during the illness. She was tested for the flu twice, negative both times. They still don't know exactly what was going on, but feel like it was most likely some type of viral illness. She is pretty much back to normal now, except for a stomach ache that she complains of daily. We have also had a lab work up for that, and everything came back normal.

About the time Jessi was recovering, Jase got sick again. I aggressively started giving him his breathing treatments as soon as I noticed a cough. He also had ear infections that he was being treated for. When I thought he should be getting better he suddenly took a turn for the worse. His fever was spiking to 104+ and he was coughing non stop. After a trip to the urgent care we found out he had pneumonia. We followed up with the pediatrician the next day, and Jase was much worse. They did blood work, gave him a shot of antibiotics and changed his oral antibiotic. As we sat in the office that day, the doctor again was going back and forth on whether or not to admit him to the hospital. Again, I asked (ok, begged) not to go. He did not need oxygen at the time, and I told her I knew what to watch for and would take him to the ER asap if needed. We came home and within 2 days he was greatly improved. Whew, another close call! (I have a thing about going to the hospital now, if you can't tell!)

Well, when Justin started a couple days later with the exact same symptoms as Jase I took him straight to the doctor. He was coughing, wheezing, and also had an ear infection. The doctor went ahead and started him on the same antibiotics that Jase had been on, just in case this was heading in the same direction. Justin got well quickly, although he has had 2 more ear infections since then. Doctor said one or two more and we will be heading to ENT for tubes.

Jonathan has been sick several times during this winter. He is just older and I don't take him to the doctor as often as the little ones. He is currently wheezing and coughing and his allergies are driving him crazy. I am trying to get him an appt at the Asthma/Allergy clinic, but it is spring in GA and apparently everyone is trying to get an appt with them!

So, if I haven't been spending hundreds of dollars at the pediatrician office or giving my life savings to CVS for prescriptions I have been locked up in the house with a sick child. I have never been so glad to see summer coming!!

Saying Goodbye to Elfis

If you are not familiar with Elfis you will have to read the elf attack post. As time went on the kids got a little more comfortable with him and he never attacked any of the children after that first day. I still can't think of that without starting to laugh!! I could never put the situation into words well enough to make people understand how funny that was. Anyway, as the story goes, Elfis left with Santa on Christmas Eve. The kids were very sad to see him go, and before bed that night they wanted to get their picture made with him and had to tell him a looooong goodbye. Elfis did leave them a note that they found on Christmas morning.

The famous Elfis hiding in the Christmas tree.

Jonathan telling Elfis goodbye.

Jessi still wasn't sure about Elfis, she didn't want to get too close!

Christmas Eve Pajama Party

On Christmas Eve we had our annual pajama party at Mom and Dad's. By Christmas eve the kids are so hyped up for Santa that it is pretty much just chaos! We just eat pizza for dinner, have plenty of cookies and pretty much let the kids have as much fun as they can possibly stand. Jonathan had so much fun that once we were home he was up at 5 am and started throwing up. He continued for the next 3 hrs, it was awful! I was sooooo tired (didn't get to bed until 3 am) and then was up with Jonathan, Jase coughed all night (he had RSV) and then I had to get up with Justin. By 8 am the rest of the kids were ready to be up for the day. Anyway, I got sidetracked! Here are pics of the pajama party!

Jase, Micah with Malachi, Jonathan, Jessi and Laura trying their best to be patient while we make them pose for yet another picture.

Papa Claus passing out one of the many presents.

Jessi with one of her horse presents. She loves horses!

Jase with his bakugan. Ga-gone as he calls it.

Justin playing with Papa and Nana and enjoying his first Christmas.

Couch Family Christmas Party

The Saturday night before Christmas we had the Couch Family Christmas. This includes Grandmother and Bip, their two daughters Susan and Dana and their families. I don't even know how many of us there are all together, but we fill up mom's table that seats 18, and that doesn't include the kids. This has become one of the few times a year that all of us are able to get together at the same time, and it is always fun! Here are some pics of the evening.

Eating chocolate cake and waiting to open presents, it doesn't get much better than this!

Jonathan and Micah snooping through the presents.

One of the favorite gifts, 2 little girls!! Jessi and Laura, and they didn't come with a gift receipt.

Cousin Angela and Justin just enjoying the fun.

Hanging out on the screened porch. It was quite warm that night!

Christmas Programs, part 2

This is from Jessi's Christmas program, that was scheduled at the same time as Jonathan's party. Later I got to feel really guilty as Jonathan told me that EVERYONE else had a mom or dad there, and that he had to eat his snack ALL by himself because we didn't come to the party. Somehow I don't think it was quite as bad as he made it sound. Anyway, he is recovered now. I'll just add that to my resume for Mother of the Year award.

Jessi and her class.

Looking so sweet singing.

Running to bring me the present she made for me. It was a lovely Christmas tree that was COVERED in glitter. I am still finding that glitter in the van.

Eating her healthy Christmas snack!

At least I made it to two of three parties. We will see what next year brings!