Featured Mom Article- Hope We Win!

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This is for my very best friend Jessica Jetter. You are truly an amazing person. You do deserve all this praise and recognition and so much more. If it wasn't for you, your sister would probably never see her kids again. I love you and I hope we win this. Your the best so quit acting like your not!!!

Stuff

It has been a busy weekend and it's not over yet.

Yesterday Eli had his 15 month check up at 17 months old. Got some disturbing news and I am not happy about it. At Eli's 12 month check up they tested his blood for lead and his lead level was high. Five months later I find this out. No one thought to call me to let me know that his lead levels were high. He has to have a venous done. If his lead level comes back high again, someone will be coming out to search the property and the buildings. I am still so mad that I was not made aware of this. This is something a parent should know pronto. High lead levels is very serious and could cause brain damage. Ugh... STUPID Doctor's!!! Other wise he is doing fine. He now weighs 33 lbs and 10 oz. He is 34 inches long. His eczema has spread to just about every where. He needs to use his antibiotic cream again for 10 days. They prescribed him a medicated lotion finally as well. Hoping his skin clears up soon. It looks horrible and can't be comfortable.

This is day 3 of no bottles and no pacifiers. Courtney asks for her sassy everyday but it's not as bad as I thought it would be. She no longer cries for it at night time. Taking Eli's bottle away wasn't too big of a deal either. He drinks out of a sippy cup just fine. He really doesn't even seem to notice. I am so glad Courtney is doing good with her sassy disappearing though. That thing was definitely her best friend. Her security blanket. She was so attached to her sassy. I think she loved that thing more than me sometimes. I am so proud of how well she is doing. She is most certainly my brave big girl!

We fixed my car and now we think my transmission is going out.... Yippy! Just my luck as usual. Once that goes, I'm junking that POS! New car for me next year anyways...

It's Been Quite Some Time!

Figured I would give some updates since it has been quite a while since the last time I had blogged. We are all doing really great. Since the warmer weather the kids have been enjoying going outside to play. I have been enjoying watching them play outside as well. They are growing up so fast. It is just crazy to think of how big they are getting.

I think we are pretty much finished with the apartment for now. We have one bedroom left to paint. We re did the floor in the kitchen, got our new furniture, hung up new pictures, got my new dishware, finished the kids bedroom, fixed the holes that were left in the walls, screened in our patio, and finished our dining room as well. Well, we still have to re stain the dining room furniture because Hollis bought two different tones by accident. We are still waiting on our bedroom doors. We were supposed to have them days and days ago. As usual the landlord proves how worthless they are...

Hollis has been a lot happier since everything has been finished and that we are finally caught up on bills. He has certainly become Mr. Fix it lately lol! He has been doing a lot more with the kids lately and we have been getting out a lot more lately as well. Which is really nice. We used to never do anything because Hollis always wanted to stay home. Not stressing out about finances and everything else has really been a blessing.

Our baby girl, Courtney Anne, is about to turn 3 on us. It is absolutely astonishing how fast time flies by. I miss her being my little baby girl. She is growing up so fast and talks way too much for her own good. She has one attitude like no other. I love her to death. She was 7 lbs and 2 oz when she was born. Now she is 37 lbs and 38 in. She is definitely mommy's big girl. She is so smart. Joanne, from Help Me Grow, has been talking about her starting pre school this year. At 3 years old I am just not ready for her to leave me yet. I am going to go through the Hippa program that way she is still doing pre school work but I am the one working with her. I will send her to pre school next year and she will start kindergarten in 2012. A couple month ago, I was talking to Courtney. I asked her,"What kind of party do you want for your birthday?" Courtney answers me," I want presents." lol! How hilarious. At least she knows what she wants. She is obsessed with the movie Monsters Inc. So we are going to throw her a cute Monsters bday party. I have been looking at different places. My grandmother offered her house for the party, so I think that is our plan. I can't believe I am already planning her third birthday. Seems as though she was just my newborn baby weeks ago...

Eli is growing fast on us too. He is starting to talk so much more. He says hi, bye, no, sissy, mama, daddy, I love you, and are you OK? lol! He wasn't a small baby by any means. He was a 10 lb 2 oz and 21.5 in baby boy. He is now 34 lbs and 32 in. Not far behind Courtney at all. He is definitely 100% boy. He loves to get dirty, run around all day and play with his trucks, he loves to sword fight (foam swords), he is just an absolute blast to be around. He for sure keeps me busy all day long. He is a bit of a movie lover. Some days he can play all day and sometimes he can be one heck of a couch potato. He has been dealing with eczema pretty much his whole life. He has always had it on one spot of his left arm... Now it is every where. I called the Dr and I will be taking him for an appt. tomorrow. He is still my little cuddle bug. He loves to cuddle with mommy and daddy. I'm so glad because Courtney definitely does not like to cuddle anymore unless she's sleepy.

Being the mother of my two little one's is so amazing. They are my pride and joy. There is never a dull moment with them. Wouldn't change anything about them for the world.

As for me, I have been very busy lately with them and trying to keep this place in order. Living in such a smaller place is certainly difficult to keep it always spotless. Certainly not how we live lol! With two toddlers, there is bound to always be some kind of mess here. I have put going back to school on hold. I need to look into some more info. I don't know what I want to do about school. I know I do want to go back to school, its just deciding where, when, and for what.
We had thought we fixed my car. It runs a little better. It's not fixed though. We now believe my transmission is going out. So, it won't be long till I am without a car again. We have already decided that we are buying a new car next year. Thank God!

So, life is good. I have nothing much to complain about. I have wonderful friends and family. I have recently found who my true friends are, who I can count on, and who I can care less for anymore. All I need is my family. Doesn't matter where we are, or what is going on.... As long as we are all together. Life is amazing!!!

Going Back to School!!!

Wow! I can not believe that I have been out of high school for five years this May. Crazy stuff. Since then I have been married and have two toddlers under the age of three. I have definitely been busy and it has not always been easy. I kept telling myself, when we get just a little better with finances I am going back to school. Well of course things never get better, especially with a family of four living on one income. Not a high income either. It has been really tough for the past three years but things have been getting a little bit easier. Monday my husband and I were talking about going back to school. So I got online and looked up taking classes on the Internet. This is the only way I will be taking classes because I can not afford a sitter and I will never let my children enter daycare. I am not comfortable with that thought by any means. I have heard way too many horror stories and I am not willing to trust a complete stranger with my kids!
I looked into Kaplan University and into University of Phoenix. Oh my goodness, I can not believe how much more expensive Univ. of Phoenix is compared to Kaplan. University of Phoenix has my info to be able to look at the classes they offer online and now they will not quit calling me. They will not leave me alone what so ever.
I went ahead and applied for Kaplan University and I am very happy with my decision. I have been talking with my Kaplan advisor, Ivory for three days out of this week already. It has been very time consuming. I have filled out my FAFSA papers and I am proud to say I am getting help with 11,000 dollars from FAFSA! I am still looking to see if I am able to get any more help with grants/scholarships. No matter what I will be going. I start school March 24Th. I could not be happier about it. I am going for my associates in human services. I feel very strongly that this will be a very good career move for me. I think at the end of the day I will feel very good about myself and it will be very fulfilling.
Hollis is wanting to go for Criminal Justice. He has talked about being a police officer for as long as I can remember. He has not talked to an advisor yet for it. The cost for his schooling is outrageous compared to how much it is costing me. I really want him to talk to someone about it though. This is something he has always wanted to do. I want him to feel a sense of accomplishment as well. I want him to be happy in his career instead of being stuck in a factory job for the rest of his life. I hope he does it. I want him to be happy in whatever he decides to do.
I love being a mom. I always feel bad though because I have not accomplished much in life. I feel like I wasn't leading a good example for my children. I want them to see that mommy did good in school, went off to college, and made something of herself. I always though I wanted to wait til my kids are out of the house and in school to go back myself. I am scared that if I wait any longer I won't go and things will become worse. With me taking online courses, I don't have to worry about waiting til my kids are no longer home all day. I can get things done with them here and get my schooling done sooner than I had planned.
Anyways, I am so excited. I can't wait. I would start my classes today if I could. I just wanted to let everyone know about how happy and excited I am for the moment. Things are starting to look good for me for the time being!!!

Fixed Up the Apartment!!!

So, this past November we moved into a smaller cheaper apartment so we could save some money. Our last place was way too expensive. Little did I know how horrible the place actually was. My husband decided on the place without me seeing it first and I was told I would like it... Well, no of course I did not like it but truly didn't have much of a choice. It's just multiple little things that makes this place look so bad, including lazy management, landlord, and maintenance! It has been almost 4 months since we have moved here and we are still yet to have any bedroom doors. We don't have closet doors in our bedroom. Both closet doors in the living room, the closet door in the hallway area, and the bathroom door all need to be replaced. They have huge holes in the doors. There is a huge hole in our bathroom wall and behind our front door in the living room. We have got into it multiple times with the landlord and maintenance. The lack of respect and responsibility in them is just absolutely ridiculous!!! At the moment this place is our only option so we are trying to make the best of it. We got a good amount on our tax return so what we did was paid off some bills, paid ahead on some bills, fixed my car (well got the parts anyways) and the rest has went into this horrid place. To my complete astonishment it actually looks so so so much better.
The weekend we got our money, Hollis kept the kids and Jessi, Kerri, Whitney and I went to Ikea and lunch. Had an awesome time. The place was huge. Took forever to go through and still need to go back. Everyone got some end tables besides myself because I wasn't sure that they would fit. After getting all our new furniture set up and all of our old furniture out we realized we did have room for the end tables. I need to go back to get those. We have painted the whole place. I invested in all new matching picture frames and updated all of our old pictures. We got some new shelving, a new hutch, new computer and desk. We re did our bedroom, but have not painted. All that is left to do is the kiddo's bedroom. Still undecided on what we are going to do with it.
My husband, Hollis, has been a lot happier now that we have caught up and are a little ahead on all of the bills. Since he is the one that goes out and works, I am sure its a big relief of stress off of his shoulders. He works hard and is still able to come home and spend time with the kids and I. I appreciate him so much. He is such a good husband and father. He has definitely come a long way. I love him so much!
After fixing up this place a little bit, I have been a much happier person as well. I hated living in this hell hole. It looked absolutely horrible and I was so embarrassed to have anyone over. I still don't get along with landlord or maintenance and probably never will until they got off their lazy butt's and do their job... But I am glad this place is looking better. It feels more like a home instead of a prison cell.
Some things are finally starting to look up for us and it is about time... Seriously! I can't wait to see what else the future holds for My Wonderful Crazy Life!!!

Ugh... Life

So it has been almost a year without a car. I am more than ready to have it fixed. I have been stuck at home, dependant on others for a year now and it is time for that to stop. My brother Nathan is coming over today to look at my car to see what all needs to be fixed. Its just little things that need to be done for my car to run properly. I just never had the money to do it. I put a good amount of money aside from our tax return so there was a chance of having it running very soon. I'm hoping I will have a car before March. Eli has his 15 month check up the first of March and it would be nice to not have to ask Hollis to take off work. I'm ready to be doing these things on my own.
Eli definitely needs his arm looked at again and probably some more antibiotics and steroid cream. He has eczema pretty bad and it keeps coming back in the same spot. They say if I keep it moisturized it will stay under control. Well that isn't the case with Eli. I have switched to a Dove sensitive skin soap, unscented lotion, and he uses his antihistamine like they recommended. It keeps coming back. The only way it stays under control is with his steroid cream, which he isn't able to have all the time. It's not healthy. He is out of his steroid cream. They need to think of something new to do or actually send him to a dermatologist like I have been wanting to for so many months now.
This past Monday we took our cat, Kitty Kitty, to the vet to have him neutered and De-clawed. He was supposed to come home yesterday but they decided to keep him another night. They took the bandages off his paws and he was still bleeding so they didn't want to send him home yet. I tried calling Hollis at work to let him know that he did not need to go and get him. Of course he did not get my message and drove all the way to Georgetown for no reason. He was not happy about it. Oh well, not my fault. Hopefully he gets to come home today and won't be too angry with us. I'm hoping him being fixed will stop him from spraying. If not he's going to have to leave. He is the best cat I have ever had so I don't want to get rid of him. He is so good with my kids no matter how rough they get with him. He takes a lot of crap from my kids. I am going to try to find a safe place for Kitty Kitty to rest while he is healing so my kids can't get to him.
Anyways, that's what is going on today in my life.....

First Time Blogger

Hello Everyone. My name is Tiffany Thomas and this is my first time blogging. I have seen some of my friends blogs and absolutely love it. I have not had the Internet or a computer in a really long time. My husband and I have recently got our tax return, and let me tell ya, we have went on one heck of a shopping spree. A much needed shopping spree.
So a little about me and my crazy wonderful life:
As you may or may not know me, my name is Tiffany Rae Thomas. I was born on April 26, 1986. I have live in Ohio all my life and probably always will. I grew up in a small town called Goshen until my high school years. My mom moved us to Mount Orab in 2001, my freshman year, when her and her long time boyfriend split up. He was the closest thing I had to a father because my father was never a big part of my life until recently. My step dad's name was Duane and he raised me. We don't have much of a relationship anymore. It's sad because I wanted him to be the grandfather to my children. OK, well enough about him.
So we moved to Mount Orab and I can honestly say, I hated it. I hated the fact that my mom up and moved us the beginning of my freshman year. I missed all of my friends. I had a lot of friends, but I do not do well with change. I am a very shy quiet person. I had no friends until one day in my FCCLA class I was placed next to this girl named Jessica Jetter. Did not say one word to her until she started talking to me. To this day she is my best friend in the whole wide world. If it wasn't for her, Brittany Milburn-Wolke, and a few other friends... My high school experience would have been hell! I graduated in May of 2006 and that turned out to be the beginning of my crazy wonderful life.
I had a few relationships in high school, but only two serious relationships and both of those relationships turned out to be failures. My first serious relationship, thought he was the love of my life. We got along so well and spent every minute with each other that we were able to. But mistakes were made by both of us and it ended quickly, and might I say badly! My second serious relationship, wish it never happened. Saying he was the biggest mistake in my entire life is an understatement HAHAHA! I have absolutely no idea what I was thinking with him. By far the worst boyfriend in the world.
So after making and learning from my mistakes, I met the person I was meant to spend the rest of my life with, Hollis Dwight Thomas! We worked together at OMG. Had the biggest crush on him. We always caught each other looking at one another on more than one occasion. We started dating at the end of 2005 and we were married May 13, 2006. We eloped with just a few friends. Didn't have a honeymoon and had to go back to work two days later. He is by far my best decision I have ever made. No marriage is perfect. We have went through some hard times. We have had our ups and downs like any other normal relationship. We will always have our battles. But our love is true. He is amazing. He is my life and I wouldn't have my crazy wonderful life without him. I truly love him with all my heart. He is my best friend, my true love, my world!
We waited four months before we decided to have children. We wanted children before we were even married. We were both ready to be parents more than anything in the world. Three months after we were married we found out I was pregnant and two days later I miscarried. It was very upsetting, but we weren't giving up. The next month.... Yes I was pregnant again. I was so nervous through this pregnancy because of my previous miscarriage but extremely excited at the same time. My first pregnancy was very uncomfortable. We found out we was having a girl and she was not due til June 28Th of 2007. Through my last trimester my pregnancy was horrible. I was swollen to the max. I couldn't bend my fingers, wear shoes or socks, and I had high blood pressure. We tried everything to get my bp down but nothing was working. We were admitted to the hospital on a Wednesday at 7pm the 13Th. Let me to tell you my labor was absolutely horrible. They let me lay there for 3 days only dilated 1cm before they decided to do a c section. After two cervidils and pitocin I was so ready for a c section. I did not care what I had to do anymore to get this little girl out. She was born on Friday June 15Th 2007 at 9:56 am. She was healthy at 7lbs 2oz and 19.5in. Courtney Anne Thomas is about to turn 3 on her way to 16. She is a hand full. She is energetic, smart, bright, curious, outgoing, loving, caring, respectful, brutally honest wonderful little girl. We already butt heads a lot. Others may have their opinions about her, but she is my amazing little girl. I love her with every beat of my heart. I don't know where I would be without her. She has changed my life so much. I have grown up so much after having her and I learn so much from her about myself every day. I can not believe how fast she is growing up. She is so amazing and perfect.
Our second child was a bit of a surprise but not a regret by any means. My husband and I had a brief "break" and we had just gotten back together. We were in the middle of moving and working things out when two months later, I realize wow I haven't had my monthly. So on my daughter's 8 month check up, I picked up a pregnancy test and went to a friends house. It was definitely positive. I was so shocked, scared, nervous, and excited all at the same time. He was definitely a blessing in disguise.
We found out we was having a boy. My original due date was October 9Th 2008 and when I had an ultrasound they changed it to November 12Th 2008. Big SHOCK! That was a crazy gap to me and I could not believe it. We had a scheduled c section for November 6Th 2008. He was born on a Thursday November 6Th 2008 at 8:21am at a healthy weight of 10lbs 2oz and 21.5 inches long. Oh yes you read that right. We were more shocked on how big he was. I am so glad I did not have to try to do vaginal with him. His name is Eli Dwight Thomas and he is our blessing in disguise. He is my little man. He is a wonderful, vibrant, happy, giggly, loving, exciting, wonderful and handsome little boy. He did not stay a baby for long and it upsets me very much. I wish I could freeze time with both of my baby's and keep them at the age that they are now. I miss having little baby laughs and whimpers around. They are growing up too fast on me and I am not ready for it at all.
So now that I have pretty much told you my life story, this is me. This is my wonderful crazy life that I love. I love being a stay at home mom. I love watching my children grow every day, every minute of their life. My family is my universe. Everything I do is for my family. I live to watch my family grow. I have an amazing life. A wonderful life. This is my perfect wonderful crazy life!!!