Adrian- In January I started my own company making cloth diapers. I never imagined that it would go so well. I am swimming in orders right now. If it weren't for Stuart being a trooper and helping out with all the cutting lately I'd be totally overwhelmed right now. I'm just overwhelmed, which is much better! I love being able to do something that lets me help out the family financially and which lets me stay at home with the kids. I love being a mom, I was born to be a mom! I can not imagine life with out my kids. I feel very blessed to be their mom. About 6ish months ago I noticed I had a lump in my breast. I soon forgot about it when a few days later I woke up to Stuart having a seizure on the kitchen floor (more details in his section). After the Stuart drama calmed down I remembered the lump and saw a doctor about it and got a mammogram. I was told it was nothing, and then I was told that there wasn't anything there at all. I could feel the dang thing... it was as big around as a quarter so I knew it had to be something. After getting nowhere with the mamo doctor I went back to my family doctor to get a referral for a biopsy. I was sent to a breast surgeon and he took one look at my films and pointed out the lump w/in seconds. He gave me two options, I could have a biopsy which could possibly rupture my implant(yes I have fake boobs for anyone that doesn't already know). The lump was too close to my implants.... which is sort of a no brainer there, if I actually had breast tissue I wouldn't need the implants. If the implant ruptured then my insurance wouldn't cover a new one and I just didn't have $2000 for a new boob. So I opted for option #2 which was to have a lumpectomy. And since we were on kidscare at the time, it didn't cost me a dime. The surgery went perfect, although the incision was a little larger than I expected and it looked like Frankensteins monster took up residence on my chest for a month. I now know what some women meant after they got implants through the nipple when they said they had Frankenboob!!!! It's not pretty, I'm not gonna lie! The lump wasn't cancer, although I was told that the type of lump it was, which I forget the name of it right now can grow out of control and take over the entire boob, so it would have needed to come out anyways. My days are spent running around after the kids, getting them to and from school and sewing sewing sewing.....
Stuart- This year has been interesting for Stuart. He was working at home for a company called Bridgeway. He wasn't sure about taking the job a little over a year ago but I thought it would be a great thing for him. This year he was able to bond with the kids more then ever. Our kids have always been stuck to me. But this year has been great for his relationship with them. He has loved being at home with them and getting to know them like I do. He and Kaleb are buddies. It took him a while to bond with Kylie and Kaleb when they were babies, he just didn't really know what to do with them when they were that little. Usually I am the only one who can calm the kids down, but Kolby has loved having his dad home and is fine going to me or Stuart for comfort... which is nice for me too! This has also been a crazy year with Stuarts health. I found him having a seizure on the floor, he got to take a few rides in an ambulance and get lots of tests and scans done. Luckily he didn't have a brain tumor like we thought. We still can't explain the seizures he had, but at least he hasn't had anymore. Stuart continues to pass kidney stones all the time. Sometimes doctors don't believe him when he says he passes on average 5 large stones a month and he's done it for the past 10+ years. At his last CAT scan it showed that he had several kidney stones working their way down... no surprise there, but it showed that he has two bulging/ruptured discs in his lower back. He wasn't able to ever feel the pain from them since he's on pain meds 24/7 for the stones. He's tried to get off of his pain meds a few times this year since it's not a fun way to live. Pain meds are wonderful and evil at the same time. His body keeps needing more and more for it to work. And if he doesn't have it in his system he doesn't feel normal anymore. When we met he was able to manage passing the stones w/out pain meds. So his goal is to get back in shape, eat healthy and get back to where he was. He still passed just as many, they were just smaller. I've seen some of the stones he passed and they are huge and jagged all over. I don't know how he does it. Stuart is currently looking for a job. After working for Bridgeway for over a year he got fired last week. The whole situation sucks and he was fired for no reason at all. One provider for another company had it out for him and made up a bunch of lies and it worked because he got fired. So with losing his job, we will also lose our insurance at the end of the year. Luckily the kids are still on kids care so they are covered. The bad news with no insurance is that we can't afford his pain meds so he has to get off of them. He'll hopefully get his old job back, although it means a pay cut. Luckily I am making close to what our mortgage is each month selling diapers so that will help out. He's even tossed around the idea of going back to school to become a nurse. Our next door neighbor is a nurse and is the one who talked to him about it. Stuart's had a rough year with his health and job, but even though it hasn't been the best year for him, he realized that he has been given a gift. He has been able to stay at home with his kids and form a great relationship with them that most dads don't get to do. He has loved being at home with them getting to see them grow and hit milestones. I don't think he every really understood why I loved being around my kids so much and how I hated being apart from them until he really got to know his kids!
Kylie- Kylie is 5 and started kindergarten this year. She loves school and is doing really well. Her teacher is Ms. Lin and she's wonderful. She is doing great and is learning to read and write like a pro. She talks all day long about her friends in her class. I'm so happy that she is loving school and making friends. I went with her on her very first field trip to the zoo. She was so excited to ride the bus for the first time. She's been envious of Kaleb who gets picked up for preschool by a bus 4 times a week. She has been taking dance classes since she was 18 months old, thanks to her Aunt Stacia who owns a studio. Right now she's in hip hop but she's unsure if she wants to continue with her dance career right now. Last week she wanted to stop her classes but now she thinks she wants to go back. She is such a sweet little girl and is such a help to me with her brothers. She has really gotten into playing video games over the last few months. She finally figured out how to make the people move. Her two favorite games are Strawberry Shortcake and Thrillville. She loves to create roller coasters and runt he park. She does have a bit of the diva in her, but generally she's just perfect!
Kaleb- Kaleb is almost 4 now, in just a few more days. I had been working on getting him into a preschool to help kids with delays. He was tested and barely made it in with is speech and some self help skills. He gets to work with a speech therapist and occupational therapist at school. I can tell an improvement in his speech already. He takes the bus to school and I pick him up from school. He LOVES school. He's so excited to tell me what he did each day. Kaleb has always has such a tender little personality. He's so polite and nice (most of the time.. he does have his moments). He tells us how much he loves us all the time. He loves his brother and sister and loves to play with them. Kaleb did not prepare me for the average boy. Since Kaleb had some developments delays with his gross motor skills he never really did the climbing, jumping, getting into anything and everything like most boys. He's a very quiet little guy and he likes it quiet too, especially when he's watching cartoons. If stuart and I are talking too loud Kaleb will come out and tell us to keep it down so he can hear his cartoons. I am currently trying to break Kaleb of his binky addiction. I've got it down to just at night... now if I'm gone and Stuart is with the kids he will more than likely get a binky. I just have such a warm spot in my heart for Kaleb. I love all my kids, but Kaleb just melts my heart with his sweet little attitude. What mother wouldn't want to hear "I love you" all day long!
Kolby- Kolby is definitely a "real boy" he's 18 months old now and has been walking since he was 9 months, he can climb onto the counters, he gets into everything possible. I can't even count how many times I've walked into my bathroom to find Kolby sitting in the sink smearing my Vaseline all over himself. He's is such a wonderful baby. He has the neatest personality. Kolby is the kind of baby that makes you want to have more just like him. Maybe not as mischievous though. Kolby loves to be where the action is. I f Stuart or I leave the house Kolby wants to come too. I had heard that cloth diapered babies potty train easier and at 17 months Kolby can take off his diaper and go into the bathroom, put the potty seat on the toilet, climb up, sit down and do his thing.... not all the time and not w/out us asking him if he wants to go potty. I really should stick with it more so that he does it more often. Kolby is so social, mainly just with the family. When we are out, he clings to me and freaks out if I leave him. Nursery should be fun. I've been trying to get him used to it and I was able to leave him once when the snacks came out.. Kolby loves his food~
Stuart and I feel really blessed to have such great kids. I have such a great little family, we think that eventually we'll add to it. Hopefully a little girl is waiting to come to us. We'll have to see how things pan out with work and stuff first! Okay ... it's late and I need to ago to sleep,but I will add another post with all the fun stuff we did this year.
So I've made the plunge to cloth diapers. Mostly it was for a year supply kind of thing, but it's also saving us a lot of money. I've talked to several people about our switch and a few of them are going to make the switch too. I really like the ones that I got because they are a one size fits all. Kaleb and Kolby can wear them, I just have to change the position of the snaps. I'm amazed at how well they work and they are not that much extra work. Anyways, here are the boys in their new diapers.
