Ragtag Mama

July Update

walkerfm — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 13:00:33 +0000

Do you know that July is almost over? I can’t believe it! Did you know that we are less then 5 months away from Christmas? (Yes, in our house Christmas is BIG deal and we base A LOT of time on how close it is) I think that I have missed most of the month because I have been working overtime. Instead of working 36 hours a week I have been working 40-48 hours a week. That is anywhere from an extra 4-12 hours. With Chris not having a job right now the money has been needed.

So let’s start there. Yep Chris still doesn’t have a job but is opening his own computer buiness to see how it goes and if he can make enough money to support us. If you want to know more go here to find out more. Hopefully we can spread the word and he can do great work for less money then someone else would charge. Right now he is mostly incharge of the kids and the house work. He does a pretty good job staying up on things and I am glad since I have been working overtime.

Ephriam is Ephriam. He has been more vocal on things lately and seems to be working hard for his therapist. Still no word on anything yet for his doctor. Well, I take that back. She is waiting to hear from the Developmental and Behavioral Ped to see what he has to say. She talk to the Neurologist and he said he would probably do some chromosomal studies and go from there but he can’t say much since he hasn’t seen Ephriam yet. The Neurologist did say that we have done the important things with the MRI and the EEG. Right now it is probably good for him to havea break from the testing and just be normal.

Then there is Kendra. She misses her Mommy. Since I have been working overtime she is like glue on my hip, she doesn’t let go and likes to be there. She wants to do whatever I am doing and keeps asking to help over and over, even after the billionth time of me saying that there is nothing she can help with right now. She hasn’t been sleeping well lately but I think she is running into crash and burn time and will be sleeping more soon. She is OVER THE TOP excited to be 4! She enjoyed her birthday parties but was sad that not everyone came over ON her actual birthday. She picked pepperoni, carrots, and celery for her birthday dinner (yeah I know, I had to work hard to make some sort of meal out of that and ended up with a buffet!) She is so excited about getting to see her Nana and Grandpaw soon and felt special that they called to wish her a happy birthday.

Me, nothing much to report. I keep plugging along being a wife, mom, student, and HUC. Lately my body has reached its limits and have been slowing me down from my fast pace life. The more rest I get the better I feel. I am hoping all will resolve when I am on vacation for 17 days in August and resting well if not I will proabably have to go and see a doctor. We will see how things go. I am also very excited to be seeing my mom and dad soon. This summer has been hard not seeing them from May to August but we have hung in there. Next year maybe all different.

We are all just waiting to see what God has in store for us next. Waiting on the opportunities to come up. We are just waiting. Yep, sure did pick the right word this year. Waiting.

Up next Cincy Kids, Staycation, visit with Mom and Dad, and gearing up for back to school. I can’t believe that school will be starting but we have till September for that. I love that they are starting later and getting to enjoy summer more. Before we know it it will be Christmas! Yeah!

So how are things with you?

Honesty

walkerfm — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 16:00:15 +0000

Am I one of the only honest people left out there? I mean I know some really honest people who I feel would do the same things I would do. But why is it that when you do something honest that sometimes you get looked at like a deer in headlights? Okay so maybe you don’t know what I am talking about so here is a recent true story:

Chris and I were at Meijer’s (one of my favorite places to shop, but mostly for groceries) we picked up 2 booster seats for Kendra since she is now 4 and several things for her birthday party. We got out to the parking lot, where it felt like 110 degrees on the pavement and noticed that Kendra’s party hats and one of her coloring gifts were under one of the booster seats and had NOT been paid for. Being the honest person I am I took them back in to pay for them. The greater saw me come in the door and I of course explained what I was doing. She looked at me like I was some crazy lady! (Yes, I know that I am crazy but she doesn’t) One of the other employees says “That was really honest of her.” People, I didn’t pay for them and walking off with them would be STEALING. My conscience would NEVER let me get away with that. NEVER! So yes, I walked around to the cash register and paid for the couple of things that hadn’t been paid for and went back out to the car where Chris was waiting patiently on me.

Most of the people that I know would have gone back. I don’t know too many people who would have just walked off with anything. Why is it that honesty is suprising? Should we all be in practice of this? I know that our world is getting to be a dark place but don’t just more than the handful of people I know do this?

How about you? Would you have gone back and paid?

She’s Four!

walkerfm — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 13:20:05 +0000

Here she is 4 years ago just minutes after being born. I can’t believe how little and quite she is. Oh how alert she was in that moment.

Today she is still alert but the quite, not so much.

Kendra,

You have made life an adventure for me for sure! You love to ask questions and get curious about everything. There seems to be never a dull moment with you. Right now your favorite things to do other than talk are to color, draw, paint ect., paint finger nails, play mommy with your babies, and play dress up. You just can’t wait to go back to school and be in Miss Collins’ class. You are all girl and love to wear dresses. Right now your favorite person is your Nana, with Mommy coming in a close second. You love to spend one on one time with both Mommy and Daddy. You are the best sister to Ephriam. I know right now you don’t know how different he is from other kids but you love him and love to play with him. I love to hear you laugh and giggle together. I hope that you remain ever so close to each other. You also have heart for other people, you don’t like it when they are sad and want to make them feel better. Right now, I am so thankful that you LOVE to go to church. I also love it that you are learning great things about God there. You love Mr. Bob and Miss Cindy so much and mommy is greatful for them too. My biggest prayer for you is that you love God with all your heart, mind, and soul because all things are possible with him. I thank him everyday for the gift of your life, even on difficult days with you, I love the ray of sunshine that you bring. You are so special to me!

Love, hugs, and kisses,

Mom

Finally In!

walkerfm — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 21:09:37 +0000

It has only taken over 2 weeks to get the results of Ephriam’s EEG but they are finally in.

NORMAL. NO SEIZURE. NORMAL.

There is nothing wrong with the electrical pathways in Ephriam’s brain. So since the MRI says that his brain looks normal and now his all his neurons in his brain are firing what is wrong? I don’t have the answer. I don’t know. I don’t even know what the doctor is going to do next. She hasn’t see the results of the EEG yet because today she is out of the office. I am hoping that she will see the results tomorrow and give us a call with a plan. I guess that we will still keep our appointment with the neurologist and see what he wants to do. Really I am just wanting the testing to be over for Ephriam. He has been through a lot these past couple of month and I think he is just ready for things to be over. However I am still on a quest to find out what has happened to my little boy was talking and singing at 20 months but at 2.5 had quit. I want to know know how I can help him get back on track with kids his age. I mean he is years behind kids his age and not making progress to catch up he just keeps staying behind. I am in this for his benefit. It could be as simple as some dietary changes. We will see. I will keep you posted at to what is next, for now we just rest in know that God has got a huge plan for him.

Back to work

walkerfm — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 14:42:19 +0000

Well this weekend has been a blast. On Saturday I got laundry folded and put away, I cleaned up the kitchen, living room, and both the kid’s rooms. I had help by Ephriam picking up the living room by himself. Well okay, Daddy motivated him by telling him he could have McDonald’s for lunch if he did. Kendra picked her room by herself, well with a little help from Daddy, for 5 pennies. I think that Kendra’s deal was better because it was cheaper! LOL. But at least they helped out. After that was done I headed to church to help out in the nursery. I love holding the babies and giving them back to their parents.

On Sunday we all headed to church together as a family. I love how going together. It is so nice also to get to relax for an hour knowing that my kids are there learning something for other people. Then I came home and went to the grocery store to get things for the week. Then when I got home, I got ready for the Walker Clan to invade for a cookout. It was so nice and not too stressful to have everyone here. I love it when they come over and hang out. It was fun to watch the kids play together and swim in the pool, if that is what you want to call it. Thanks to my brother in law Mark we were able to have our own personal fireworks show in the backyard. The kids were so excited about them. Maybe next year we will take them so that they can see some big ones. When they get old enough we will take them downtown on Labor Day to watch the fireworks but they need to be much older.

Yesterday we headed to the water playground again with Matt, Heather, and Luke. The kids had a blast but someone pooped and it took them about 45 minutes to clean it up so that we could get back in the water. Than just as we were getting ready to leave someone else pooped. I was glad that we were leaving because that is a long time to wait for the kids. Good thing the 1st time we needed to eat lunch.

Today we will just be hanging out at home. I have school work I need to get done and since we have been so busy it will be nice to hang out and relax. I am hoping to get pictures posted either later today or tomorrow depending on how much I get done with school work. Since it is back to work for me tonight.

Hope that you all had a great 4th!

Big Day turned into not so great

walkerfm — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 14:28:56 +0000

Yesterday I thought was going to be a big day. A big day of answers and fun however it didn’t turn out that way. It turned into a day of much more unknowing. Chris’ meeting at church went well but still no job. We were suppose to get Ephriam’s EEG results and yet they won’t be read till early next week. I was suppose to have a good conversation with my mom and it was more of a very sad one. It made me miss my family terribly. I was glad that the day ended with Chris’ parents and Mark coming over for dessert of smores and ice cream by the firepit outside. It was really nice of them to be there because I am sure that if they hadn’t that I would have wallowed all evening and I didn’t need to do that. I felt down and not so great. After they left, I came in and took a shower and turned on the TV to watch Whale Wars on Animal Plant. Then when I was relaxed enough I rolled over and fell asleep.

I slept pretty well for the most part. Ephriam has a bad cough from all his sinus drainage so I heard him but other than that I slept well. I am feeling better today and am WAY excited for tomorrow. I can’t wait to have Chris’ family over to celebrate the 4th with us. Not to mention we all get to go to church together as a family in the morning.

Even better yet it marks 8 year of Christopher asking me to be his wife! It only seems like yesterday that we are standing in my parent’s living room waiting for my parents to come back from what ever they were doing to go over to my dad’s cousin’s house for a cook out. When Chris said I should probably give you this first. I turned around and WHAM there was a RING! All I could say was “Are you serious?” Not even sure what he said after that but I eventually did say yes that I would be his wife. It is one of the best decision ever! Because no matter how hard things are or how good they are Chris is always there for me. He is my rock in all situations and I love him more everyday. I just can’t even begin to think of life with out him. I thank God everyday for the blessing that he has been for me. I kept having to count and recount to make sure that it was really 8 years but we have been married 6.5 and we waited 1.5 years to get married so it all adds up right to 8.

Well it is time to get this house in shape for tomorrow. I am looking forward to a good and happy day!

Zoo Trip Pics

walkerfm — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 15:41:51 +0000

We had a good day at the zoo on Saturday, the morning was good because it wasn’t so hot. As the day progressed however it got hotter and hotter. The air conditioning felt great by the time we got in it. We didn’t stop as much as I thought we would be we did hit the highlights. The kids got to touch and see some more animals that were out. I was not the photographer on this trip so there aren’t as many shots as I expected from my husband but it was hot out. We usually sit at a table and eat our packed lunch but this time we found a couple of benches in the shade instead of sitting in the hot sun. Kendra of course had to use the bathroom so we had to hike half a mile backwards to get to one. The kids got to pick out something from the gift shop in the end for a special treat since they have never gotten to do that at our zoo before. Kendra picked a cute little monkey and Ephriam picked a snake that looks real. Yeah his mom is totally thrilled with that because of how much she enjoys snakes, ha ha. So here are the pictures:

Looks like the Rhino is kissing Kendra’s butt here and Ephriam is like what is going on!

A bit better picture but still kinda strange.

Checking out the waterfall.

Looking at the fish in the water.

Posing for a picture with the waterfall.

Ephriam, Grandma, Kendra, and Daddy photo by Mommy.

Ephriam, Mommy, Grandma, Daddy. Photo by Kendra

Grandma and Daddy. Photo by Kendra.

Kendra posing for a picture. What a ham!

Kendra taking pictures during the cheetah show.

Yes, that is a dog not a cat of any sort taken during the cheetah show by Kendra

No we don’t know these people, I think that Kendra was trying to get the wart hog in the background and caught them going down the stairs but what a funny pic!

And yes she finally got the cheetah standing on the tree stump.

I took over on the camera to get the cheetah coming out of the gate. Tried to get more pictures but failed because he was too fast!

Usually when we go to the zoo we see the boy lions but the girls were out today.

This is what Ephriam comes into the reptile house to see, he really doesn’t care about seeing the snakes.

Weekend!

walkerfm — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 12:22:12 +0000

This weekend I have a full weekend off. This means that I don’t have to work Friday, Saturday, or Sunday nights! I can’t tell you the last time this has happened because I usually work either Friday or Sunday. It will only happen again on July 4th weekend because it isn’t my holiday to work but who knows when again it will happen, probably not till my vacation in August. Anyway we have a packed weekend of fun. Yesterday we had the pleasure of serving at SOS, that is Summer of Service, at our church. I am sure that a lot of you aren’t familiar with this, it is where that gather about 1,000 high school students to serve the city of Cincinnati for an entire week. We only took a small part by making sure that the kids were safe while playing on the inflatables during free time. This is because we did it as a small group. We loved watching the kids have a blast on the water slide. I had the opportunity to share with someone about having a jewelery party to help girls be rescued out of slavery. I got to meet people Chris hangs out with all the time with his high school small group. It was a really good hour and half that we spent.

Today we are headed to the zoo. Yes I know it is going to be HOT outside but there will be plenty of water and we will be shade to be in. Plus I am sure the zoo will have the water misters going too. The kids are so excited about taking Grandma and Daddy with us since last time they didn’t get to go with us.

Tomorrow we are headed to church of course and we will be having friends over for dinner. Not to mention that VBS starts for our kids. Not sure what my husband is going to do with a couple hours in the evening at home by himself. I am hoping that he will use his time wisely and maybe find a job. We will see what God has in store.

Okay I need to get going and haul booty because we are suppose to be leaving soon and I am still in bed! Have a great day and look for pictures from the zoo later!

Pools UP!

walkerfm — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 17:54:39 +0000

Yesterday morning Chris and I headed outside with the kids to get the yard ready for the pool. We waited for a while to get the pool up so a ton of weeds had taken over its spot. So we pulled weeds, turned over the dirt a bit and then put up the pool. The kids were so excited that they could hardly stand it. Kendra didn’t even take a nap because she wanted to go swimming so bad. Someone should tell that kid that sleeping through the time makes it go by faster then staying awake. Not sure why she thinks that staying awake gets her anywhere sooner, just irritates the parents more. Anyway, they had a blast swimming while I cooked dinner. I took some pictures of the 3 of them in the pool. Kendra came in the house sooner then Ephriam did because Ephriam loves the water. Chris and Ephriam sat outside finishing up listening to the Reds game. Ephriam loves to listen them on the radio so Chris took some pictures of him hanging out. So with out further ado here are the pictures:

Today so far was just a regular day at home. Not sure what a tomorrow holds other then helping out at SOS with our small group.

How is your week going?

Weird but Nice

walkerfm — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 17:28:43 +0000

It is nice to have Christopher around but man is it weird. I don’t even know what day of the week it is because I just keep thinking that it is Saturday. The past couple of days though he has really rocked at keeping the house up and getting a few things back into shape. This past weekend we had tackled the project of Spring cleaning the kitchen. We took things out of the cupboards, wiped them down, got rid of the stuff we don’t use or want, and then put things back neatly. We took almost everything off the counter to make more work space. However we didn’t finish up putting things away till yesterday. Meaning that it was the first time since Saturday breakfast that we sat at the dinning room table. The kids had really enjoyed eating with the TV in front of them but I like it much better when we can sit and share about our day. Chris is the one who mostly finished up the project. While I manned the kids a bit. We ended up having a dance party in the living room because Ephriam and Kendra wanted to. They got baths and went to bed. Chris decided that he need to see his brother Mark so he headed out for a visit while I read my bible for a while. Once Chris got back we watched the Reds game and then went to bed. I should have gone to bed earlier but didn’t.

This morning we wanted to get outside for a while and get the pool up. So we spent a couple of hours doing that. The kids are so thrilled that the pool is up and can’t wait to get in it. I am sure once Kendra feels how cold the water is that she won’t want to but hey we will see. I am not sure what is in store for Chris and the kids tonight while I am at work or while I am sleeping tomorrow morning but hey it could be anything. I just hope that we enjoy this time together as a family while it last.

I am hoping that it draws us closer together as a family. Learing to love each other more and more. I mostly hope that it draws us more dependent on God. Trusting in him to lay down the path and not doing it on our own. Like I said yesterday we really feel at peace about things. Hoping that it will all come together in the right moment. For now we are in the waiting game.