Harveys' Happenings

Humbled

2010-07-09T17:01:00.000-07:00

I had a very humbling experience today. Landon had an appointment with the pediatric cardiologist. As some of you may know, when he was born he had a very small hole in the bottom of his heart. Apparently this is pretty common, as over 50% of children are born with it, and it closes on its own by the time they are 2 years old. Today's appointment was to confirm what the pediatrician suspected--that it is already closed. It was, and he is, in the doctor's words, perfect.

My humbling experience happened in the waiting room. I arrived early, allowing myself time to give Landon a bottle before his appointment. Brendan had his PSP and headphones, so he was good to go. Another mom with a baby and a 4 year old (both boys) was already there. I check in, then sit down and start to feed Landon. Then this exchange happened:

Other Mom: Oh, does he take a bottle well?
Me (a little surprised and confused): Oh, yeah. He's a good eater.
Other Mom: That's great! (Nods to her baby in the carrier) He doesn't eat. He has a feeding tube.
Me: Oh, wow.
Other Mom: How old is your baby?
Me: 5 months.
Other Mom: My son is 7 months old.

I notice that Landon is significantly larger than this other baby. Granted, I have big boys, but we are talking serious differential in size.

Other Mom: Has he had to have any surgeries yet?
Me: Oh, no. He just had a tiny hole in his heart, which seems to be healing on its own. We are very blessed.
Other Mom: That is great. He has had 12 surgeries already.

About that time, her baby finished "eating" and she removed the feeding tube. Then I hear this horrible sound like the child can't breathe. She nonchalantly explains that he retches because he is unable to burp. He has GI problems, in addition to the 12 holes in his heart. Yes, 12 holes. My response again: Oh, wow.

I'm glad I didn't tell the woman I'm an English teacher with a Master's degree because my vocabulary was nonexistent today. I just looked at this woman and saw the life she is leading and was humbled. I thanked God for my 2 healthy little boys and said a prayer for this lady. Her attitude was amazing. She was upbeat and just like any other proud mama talking about her kids with another mom. I admired her strength, and wish we had gotten to talk longer. Maybe I would have been able to say something more inspiring than "Oh, wow." But then again, maybe she just needed someone to talk to at the moment. Who knows? I just know I have hugged my little boys a little tighter tonight, thankful for what I have but also wondering...why do some people have it so easy while others so hard?

Big News

2010-01-29T10:13:00.000-08:00

Wow, so it has been almost a year since I have posted anything on here. Hopefully that will all change soon since I'm having my second baby in 6 days!! Landon James Harvey will be arriving on Feb. 4--Brendan's birthday--three weeks early so that I can avoid having an 11 pound child! We have lots to do before then. We are having Brendan's birthday party this weekend, so there is lots to prepare. I have all his presents wrapped, and now I have to bake and decorate the Diego cake I promised him. Then we will have a couple of days to relax before baby time! The clothes are washed and put away, the bassinet and baby bed are ready, the bags are packed, and I am ready for this baby to get here. I have had an easy pregnancy, but I am still ready to have my body back to myself. I can't wait to sleep on my back again!

I am going to make a distinctive effort to be better about blogging. Like I said, since I will have lots of updates to share with everyone, I'm hoping it will keep me motivated to blog. We shall see.

Sickness abounds

2009-02-10T13:28:00.000-08:00

We cannot seem to get well in my house! Last week, I spent Wednesday-Friday home with Brendan. Yesterday he finally seemed better, so he went back to school and I returned to work. Then last night as Joey and I were getting ready for bed, we heard him making some strange noises. I went to check on him and found that he had thrown up everywhere. I bathed him, put everything in the washer, and put Brendan in the bed with us. About the time we all drifted off to sleep, he threw up again. This continued from about 11:30 until 4:30 in the morning. I took him to the doctor today, and he said it was just a virus and he should be over it. The antibiotics from last week are still in his system, so it couldn't be anything else. Meanwhile, Joey and I are both coughing and sniffing like crazy. I will be so glad when we are all better!

2009-02-10T13:25:00.000-08:00

So, I was pretty pleased with my attempt at making Brendan's cake. It took FOREVER, but most of the time was spent mixing the icing colors to the correct shade. The actual decorating didn't take too long at all. The look on Brendan's face when he saw it made it all worth it. He was so excited!! Tonight before he went up to bed he said, "Thank you for my Wall-E cake, Mommy." My little boy is acting more and more grown up. It makes me so proud and so sad, all at the same time.

Happy Birthday Brendan!!

2009-02-04T06:11:00.000-08:00

Today my little boy turns 4. It is so hard to believe he is growing up so fast. It is honestly hard to remember what our lives were like without him. Unfortunately, he is not feeling well today. In keeping with his tradition of being sick on his birthday, I had to take him to the emergency room last night after coughing for hours. They gave him some meds and sent us home around 10:00 last night. He has an appointment with his doctor at 11:00 this morning, so I am home with him today. We know he doesn't have pneumonia from the chest x-ray they did last night. Hopefully they will give him some meds and send us home to start his birthday celebration. We had already planned to have his big family party this Saturday. I was going to send cupcakes to school with him today, but we'll just do that tomorrow. I like to make birthdays a week-long celebration anyway. (Just ask Joey--I milk the birthday thing for several days before and after the big day!)

Joey started his new job on Monday. So far, the days he has worked have been the coldest days we have had recently. (Did I mention he works primarily outside all day?) He is having to adjust to the weather and the hours, but we love having him home with us in the evenings. Hopefully the weather will settle down soon! Other than that, things are going well.

Baby Shower

2009-02-04T06:02:00.000-08:00

We had a baby shower for a lady in our church a few weeks ago. These were my contributions. I had so much fun making these. I love to bake, but I'm just starting to experiment with the decorating. Brendan has asked for a Wall-E cake for his birthday, and I am going to attempt to make it on my own, so I will post the finished product this weekend.

News

2009-01-20T18:04:00.000-08:00

Well, obviously the new year has kept me busy and prevented me from updating the blog. My Master's classes started up again last week. Thankfully, this semester doesn't appear that it will be as stressful as previous ones.

Joey got a new job!! He has spent the last 3 years on the night shift, and it has been horrible. He works 12 hour shifts, which means that he only works two or three days at a time, but then he spends his first day "off" trying to catch up on sleep. Plus, he has to work every other weekend. His new job will be Monday-Friday, 7:30 to 4:30, off every weekend and holidays!! We cannot wait! Plus, he will be working in Jackson County, 1o minutes from home and on the way to my work. We can even ride together some days if we want! The best part is going to be having him home with us so much. He is taking a small pay cut, but we will end up saving money in the long run, and besides, the family time more than makes up for it.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T09:52:00.000-08:00

So, the holiday craziness got the better of me and prevented me from doing any posting until now. We visited my family, Joey's family, adopted family, extended family, and some people who aren't family at all! Brendan ended up having about 5 different sets of presents to open, so he had a ball. We even managed to have a surprise for him on Christmas morning. Now, I've never done the whole Santa thing (my parents didn't agree with it), but it was fun to see his little face when he came downstairs and saw his new Smart Cycle set up and ready to go. Poor Joey had to do all the work by himself--the traveling finally got to me and I passed out in the recliner around 10:30 Christmas Eve.

We had a good holiday, despite the fact that we had two deaths in the family. My grandmother (who passed away in July) had two sisters, one older and one younger. The younger was buried on Dec. 20, and the older will be buried tomorrow. At least we got to catch up with that side of the extended family, even if it was under less than desireable circumstances.

Joey turned 29 yesterday! We aren't having his party until Sunday, because he had to work last night and tonight. He really hates that place sometimes.

I am now unfortunately counting down the days until I go back to work. I still have so much to do before the daily grind returns. I will have added responsibilities when my students return on Tuesday which will take up massive amounts of time. I am really going to miss spending my days with Brendan. He is such a cool little kid, and the older he gets the more fun we have.

How many days until my winter break?

Oscar

2008-12-19T16:59:00.001-08:00

We have a new addition to our family--a fish named Oscar. Brendan has wanted a fish for a long time. Tonight we were picking up a few things in Wal-Mart, and had split up. When I found my boys looking at the fish, I learned that Brendan had already picked one out to take home. I gave in and we picked out a bowl and decorations, and made sure Brendan looked at all the fish before picking the perfect one. He chose a beautiful blue Beta fish, and has been grinning ever since. Daddy helped him pick out the name. My child is racking up left and right this Christmas. Right now he's talking to his fish while he plays with the train. Too cute.

Dilemma Solved!

2008-12-19T16:49:00.000-08:00

So, I have mentioned that our Christmas has been going by too quickly. I love to have something under the tree, but my boys think if presents are there they need to be opened. Well, my sweet husband surprised me with a wonderful gift today when I got home from work. (It was wrapped and under the tree, so of course we immediately opened it!) He bought me a beautiful train set to go under the tree! It was the exact one I had been looking at, even though he didn't know it! We went ahead and set it up tonight, and are planning to put some nativity sets under the tree as well. At least next year we might make it a little closer to Christmas before we open all our presents!

4 more days!!

2008-12-15T17:58:00.000-08:00

Only 4 more days until Christmas Break!! I can't wait. School is becoming more and more insane with every passing day. Brendan is getting extremely excited about seeing all his grandparents (and getting lots of presents. What can I say? He's 3.) It will be good to spend some time with my parents. We don't get down there very often. Life just gets in the way.

Brendan was so funny today. This morning was rough, and it was a battle to get him dressed and to daycare. When we got home, I realized that his backpack had been in my car all day. I felt horrible! I said, "Oh, Brendan, I'm so sorry! Mommy forgot to take your bag in so you didn't have your sheet and blankie for naptime." He said, "It's ok, Mommy, just calm down. Calm down, it's ok." It was so cute, I could not stop laughing. He is growing up way too fast and becoming a little man. At least he's not ashamed of me yet. I dread when that day comes!

12 days until Christmas Break!

2008-12-07T05:55:00.000-08:00

As you can see by the title, I am quickly approaching a nice long break. I need it so badly. This semester has been crazy with new administrators, lots of new kids, and then Joey's sickness. My grad school courses have also been insane--more so than usual. I am really looking forward to destressing for a couple of weeks before it starts all over again. The thing I love about high school is that you truly do get a fresh start after Christmas. New kids, new classes, new beginnings--but not a lot of new planning, thank goodness.

Our Progressive Christmas is progressing a little more quickly than I would like! A couple of weeks ago my tree was beautiful with lots and lots of presents underneath. Now it is starting to look bare! I'm still finishing up shopping, so it gets replenished a little, but my boys make sure it doesn't get too full! Since I like to see something under my tree, I think next year I'm going to put a train and other decorations under there next year. Then maybe we will get a little closer to Christmas before all our presents are gone! But, don't hold me to it--I just love seeing the presents under the tree!

Holiday Fun!

2008-11-30T20:45:00.000-08:00

We had so much fun on Saturday! Joey had to get up early to go rehearse with the band for a couple of hours. Then around 11, we decided to go have a late breakfast/early lunch. We first went to Denny's, where of course Brendan wanted pancakes. But, there was a long line out the door, so we decided to go somewhere else. Since it was lunch time no one had pancakes, so we promised Brendan we would make him some that night. Later we went home, and Brendan opened up a present.

I should interject a little explanation here about our Christmas traditions. When I was growing up, my parents always let us open our parents the day we got out of school for the holidays. That also allowed us to put the real focus of Christmas where it should be. So, since we have had Brendan, we have a sort of "progressive" Christmas. He opens a present or two every day so he isn't overwhelmed with too many at one time. Plus, we get to see his happy little face get excited every day.

So anyway, I had bought him a little play-doh set to see if he would even play with it. He loved it! I played with him a little while, then he went upstairs to take a nap with Joey. I used that time to run some errands and buy more presents. When they woke up, Brendan wanted to play with some more play-doh, so we went to the store and bought a bigger set with more accessories. While we played with the new toy, Joey made our breakfast-for-supper as promised. We had pancakes and bacon that was so yummy.

Next, we set to work assembling our gingerbread house. Joey and I had never made one, and we thought Brendan would enjoy it. Brendan wanted to immediately eat the little gingerbread man, so we decorated him first. I snapped a quick picture before Brendan gobbled him up!

Next we decorated the house. Brendan enjoyed helping me decorate the roof. Joey did the front of the house and the tree in the front. We thought the finished product was really cute!We also watched Kung Fu Panda while we worked.

It was a fun day, just spending time together as a family. You can't ask for more than that.

P. S. I'm still trying to figure out how to post pictures and stuff. Hopefully my blogging skills will improve with more practice!

Black Friday

2008-11-28T14:24:00.000-08:00

Today, we took part in the Black Friday melee for the first time. Joey went out last night at midnight to catch the sales up at Tanger. He says he got some pretty good stuff for me from Old Navy. I got up around 3:30 this morning and went up to Wal-Mart to try and catch some of the deals there. It was insane!! People were already lined up and staking out the merchandise they wanted. But, you couldn't touch any of the sale items until 5:00! It was so crazy, and there were so many people that you couldn't even move. I scoped out the store, trying to devise a plan of attack, but finally gave up and just camped out near the movies since there were several we wanted. Overall, I was pretty disappointed in the whole experience, because I didn't get what we really wanted. But, my endeavors later in the day were a success and now I am almost done with all my Christmas shopping. They are even wrapped and under the tree. Now, if I can just keep Joey and Brendan away from them until Christmas...

We had a fun day, but I'm glad my time of fighting the crowds is over. I don't think the Black Friday thing is for me, after all.

7 Things about me

2008-11-28T04:30:00.000-08:00

I was "tagged" in a friend's blog to post 7 things you may not know about me. This could be interesting because people who have known me a while probably see me much differently than the people who have only known me a short while. Anyway, I'll try and make this interesting...

1. I have a job nobody else wants...and I absolutely love it! I teach kids in Alternative School, which means they have been kicked out of their old schools for one reason or another. A lot of people run away screaming at the thought of spending their day with "those" kids, but I love them. Every day is interesting, and life is never dull! Besides, they really are not bad kids once you break through their tough exterior. They are children who have lived incredibly hard lives and just need someone to care. Happily, I fill that role.

2. My husband and I only dated 1 and a half months before getting engaged! We had known each other for 3 years, and had been pretty much inseperable friends for 6 months prior to dating. Our first date was on Nov. 14, 2001, and Joey proposed on Jan. 4, 2002. We got married on June 1, 2002, and the rest is history! My friends at the time thought I was crazy, but when it's right you just know it.

3. I am extremely territorial, and can tell if something has been moved, even slightly, in my home or classroom. It is almost like I mentally take inventory of everything without even realizing it. Some might call this OCD. I prefer to think of it as being overly aware of my surroundings. ;-)

4. I have a photographic memory, and believe I have passed this trait on to my son as well. Ever since he was about 2, when he gets new movies he studies them very carefully. Later, he can call each one by name even though he has dozens and dozens, and many of them are plain grey with silver writing. This trait of mine also contributes to number 3--I have a mental picture of how things should look and immediately notice if something is out of place.

5. Even though I was a big tomboy growing up, I competed in Miss Georgia between my freshman and sophomore years of college. I still find myself jumping between girly-girl and backwoods country girl. Most of the time I fall somewhere comfortably in the middle.

6. I love reading, but hate to re-read books. Once I have finished them, I just don't get any pleasure from reading them again. I thought this would be a problem for me, since I am an English teacher and inevitably read the same books over and over, sometimes multiple times in the same year. Surprisingly, it doesn't bother me if I approach it with my students in mind, and attempt to find something new to point out to them. We'll see if this perspective continues after a few more years of teaching!

7. I have come to the realization that I am becoming more and more like my mother everyday. Both in the wonderful ways, and in the ways I had hoped to avoid. I have come to terms with it, and begun to embrace it because when you get right down to it, she is one of the most amazing human beings on the planet. I could do a lot worse than be a tiny fraction of that!

Ok, now it's time to torture 7 other people!!

1. Heidi H.
2. Stacee A.
3. Kristie W.
4. Amy H.
5. Blair R.
6. Kit K.
7. Erin D. (You need to start a blog so we can keep up with the baby when he gets here!)

Ok, I surrender...

2008-11-28T04:18:00.000-08:00

Well, I finally decided to start a blog. I've been toying with the idea for a while now, and several of my friends have encouraged me to join the blogging world. Hopefully this will help me keep everyone better informed of the things we have going on. I admittedly stink at keeping in touch with people and giving them updates on Brendan and our lives. Maybe this will be an improvement. Be forewarned, our life isn't the most exciting one, but I'm pretty fond of it. :-)