Saturday, April 18, 2009

So Frustrating

Today I got a text from a friend asking if I sent her an email about some sort of shopping experience. I had not; then I remembered I had heard from another friend a while back who had the same thing happen to them. Somehow an email was sent to everyone in my contact list that looked like it came from me.

I was at a track meet all day, so I did not get a chance to look into it just now. I sat down to email my contact list of the error, and to warn not to open the first email when I noticed ALL of my contacts, except for anyone included in the letters R, T, U, Y and Z, were missing.

Yep, that's right. Tons and tons and tons of email addresses lost. Some of them probably needed to be cleaned out anyway, but most of them were used daily, weekly, or monthly. Of course I don't remember any of these by heart, nor have them written down anywhere. I can't begin to imagine how hard it is going to be to track them all down. Boo.

I'm in the process of reporting the issue, and am hoping somehow the magical techs will be able to recover my lost contacts.

If not, I guess most of you will be hearing from me soon.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Happy Easter!

The day started with a few tears from both kiddos....but soon turned brighter. We had a great time at worship this morning. For lunch, the church provided ham and rolls, and we all brought other sides to enjoy a meal together. They had blow-up bouncers for the kids to play on, then we topped the afternoon off with an egg hunt. It was fun watching Avery discover eggs. Braden's trick was to open them up, eat the goodies inside, then throw the egg like a ball while running to find the next treat!

Hope everyone enjoyed their Easter with friends and family!





Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Sweet Buns and Mad Dancers

I've included a picture so you will get the full effect of what I'm about to tell you.

Every day I open the blinds (and on cool days, the windows) to reveal the bright sunshine (hopefully), and let a little light into our humble abode so the kids and I don't feel so cooped up. As you can see in the picture, we have three rather large windows, open wide for the world to see. {You can also see Braden near passed out on the couch after a long morning! But I digress.}

I've always wondered if I shouldn't open them so wide, leaving our comings and goings of the day vulnerable, but I know our neighbors are older and would enjoy watching the kids run around and play. (They will just have to get over watching me exercise too.)


Avery has always enjoyed dancing around to loud, crazy music, and now Braden has joined in the liking. This morning, I had the "Awesome 80s" cd blasting. The kids were enjoying themselves so much that I decided to join in the dancing.


Let's make a note that I was not just dancing.


I was jumping around like a crazy person with A.D.H.D. Arms were flailing, legs were kicking, booty was shaking....because it made the kids laugh. I was zapped straight out of the Seinfeld episode where Elaine tries to dance.

It was during this madness that I felt like someone was watching me. As I continued to convulse, I looked out the window, only to catch the eye of our ever so friendly, walking mail man. Oh yes. You read right. He was less than three feet away from me, and we made eye contact for a full three seconds.


He was laughing. Hard.

Then I realized the kids were rolling on the floor laughing, so it looked as if I was the only one dancing around like a chicken with its head cut off.

Nice.

___________________________________________


In other news, Avery asked me if I would "fix her hair like Cinderella's." So I've included a picture of her cute little bun.

Thursday, April 02, 2009

Experienced This?

I am debating whether this is too personal to post for the world to read, but I am curious to see if anyone else has dealt with something similar. Avery probably won't like the idea 10 years from now that I wrote this so publicly, but she'll just have to get over it.

I'll start back at the fact that I have always had strange, wacky dreams. Those don't normally bother me, and in some cases, I've wondered if I have basis to write a book or movie from some of them. Unfortunately, mixed with the crazy dreams, there are also terrible nightmares.

I remember as far back to two years old, being terrified to go to sleep because of these nightmares, most of them reoccurring ones. To this day, I have yet to escape those same dreams, although I know now they aren't real.

Ever since my kids were born, I've been worried that they will experience the bad dreams as I did. Unfortunately, my fears have been confirmed, and Avery's wild imagination continues in her dreams as well.

There is nothing worse than looking into your child's eyes, and seeing nothing but fear there. I've been able to figure out and eliminate certain shows, movies, books, or ideas that seem to trigger her nightmare spells. It seems that we have limited, but not been rid of, her worries.

I don't think there will be a way to get rid of her bad dreams altogether, and that's not even why I write this.

There have been 5 times, that I can remember, where Avery wakes screaming, wild eyed, staring into space, and jabbering nonsense. It is really a frantic, scary experience for whomever runs to tend to her because she doesn't make any sense, and she can't stop crying. Normally Kenny has to take care of her because I panic since it scares me beyond measure that I can't snap her out of whatever it is.
Last night, I was closer to her when she started screaming, so I went to her. It scared me that it was one of 'those' situations and not 'just a bad dream.' I held her and tried to talk to her, but she only kept repeating, "I need it! I need it!" between babbles of nonsense. At first she looked like she was pointing to one of her blankets, so I handed it to her. She turned it over in her hands indifferently, then began her frantic crying and screaming, "I need it!" Holding and rocking her wasn't enough, so I swept her off the bed and cradled her on my way to the light switch. I thought if I could get it bright enough she would wake up. That didn't seem to work, then she screamed louder and more frantically that she "needed it!" I was about to take her into the bathroom, when she couldn't control her bladder anymore. It was so sad because she was shaking and crying and seemed so helpless. I don't know why I didn't just stay in one place, because I made more of a mess running her to the bathroom. Once there, she still was not completely awake. It wasn't until I started cleaning her up that she snapped out of it. I had used a wipe, so I assumed the cold helped.

I guess she was trying to tell me she needed to go potty, but couldn't get awake enough. I asked her if she wanted to talk about it, but she couldn't seem to remember anything. It was then that I realized the times this had happened before, I normally immediately took her to the bathroom. I hope this never happens again, but if it does, I guess I'll know what I should try first so she won't have to be scared as long.

I've often wondered, and can only assume that this is what people categorize as 'night terrors?' I've had one friend tell me they had similar experiences with their infant, and the only way to wake them up was with a bath. Has anyone else experienced something like this? I'd like to hear what you have tried, or done to help it.