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Sunday, August 1, 2010

July: A Little Sweet, A Little Sour

July 2nd, as you all know my Father flew in from NY. The last time he saw the kids Molly was only a newborn and Anthony was trying to figure out who this new baby was, lol. The first week of his visit here went rather well. We had a great 4th of July watching the Demolition Derby at our fairgrounds then went to the park for a picnic with my one bestie and her daughter that lives in town. Grandpa taught Anthony how to ride his bike! I was so glad my dad got to have that special moment with him. Anthony was so proud of himself! I'll never forget it. I know it meant the world to my dad as well. And Molly went right for Grandpa. I had concerns that she'd shy away from him because she's weary of new people, but she took right too him and they were best friends. It was enough to make me cry.

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I have made a very difficult and important family decision. I am following my head, not my heart. And while this decision isn't what I had wanted, I take comfort in the fact that we have agreed to reevaluate where we are this time next year and go from there.

July 7th, Molly developed a string of high fevers that scared the crap out of me. She was lethargic and listless and just not herself. It's absolutely horrible to see your child in such a state. She was later diagnosed as having Roseola, a viral infection characterized by a run of fevers followed by a distinct looking rash that can spread to cover the whole body. Because she was so grumpy and because we had to keep her inside and cool most of the time, a lot of plans I had made for my father and mother in law's visit here fell to the wayside. And that sucked. We did a lot of sitting around waiting for Molly to feel better and get back to her old self.

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You might have to click on the photos to really be able to see the rash.

July 9th, my mother in law flew in from MN. This was her very first time seeing Molly and the last time she saw Anthony was Christmas of '08. And even though Molly being ill and out of sorts for a good chunk of her visit put a damper on a lot of our plans, I know Cathy still had a great time. All that mattered was being here with us and seeing the children. Anthony loved that Grandma slept on the blowup mattress on his floor and would tell him bedtime stories. :)

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July 13th, my sister flew in from CA for a short visit. She came up so she could spend my b-day with me and then fly back with my dad when he left on the 18th. It was good to have her here. The kiddos like to play with her.

July 14th I turned 24 years old. We went to this little museum and took a looksie around then headed out to dinner and played a few games at the restaurant's arcade. Later there was chocolate cake that was difficult to eat because my mouth was hurting (which will be explained further down). Sammy got me a Keurig coffee maker and the new Jack Johnson CD. My dad took me shopping at JC Pennys and got me a few things as well as a gift card. My mother in law gave me $100.00 to put towards my next tattoo I've been trying to save up to get. My gal pal who I'm always raving about on here, Lori, was so kind to make me a beautiful necklace and earring set. My BF Jill sent me a card which is proudly displayed on my fridge. And my mother helped me purchase a slide and teeter totter for the kiddos which should be arriving here next week.

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July 18th, my dad and mother in law left. The day after that Sammy left for 3 days for a work conference. I went from having a house full of people to just me home alone way out in the boonies with the kids. I felt lonely and depressed.

My wisdom teeth were bothering me again this month and causing me more pain than usual. The I WANT TO DIE kind of pain. It wasn't bad enough Molly was ill for half of the Grandparent's visit, but I had to have horrible mouth pain too. :( I'm all smiles in most of the pics we took this month, but inside I'm screaming in pain! lol So I went into the dentist when my dad was still here and the doc tells me I have all 4 wisdom teeth and I need to see an oral surgeon. I called crying to my mother because I'm just so stressed out and the oral surgeon can't get me in for a consult for another 2 weeks and by then my dad was gone and Sammy can't take much more time off from work. So my mom lovingly drives up from CA to take care of me and the kids. Here's a pic of my Mama with the kiddos.

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I went in for my consult on the Friday the 23rd and it's not good news. I've waited far too long and all the wisdom teeth are fully grown. The bottom right one has it's roots curved around a nerve so that one has to stay and be reevaluated at a later date to determine if the risks of taking it out are better than the risks of leaving it in. The others can be removed but it's going to be difficult. Because my mouth is so incredibly small, the teeth have grown more up into my jaw then out into my mouth, damaging my jaw bone. I am at a high risk of breaking my jaw bone if, lets say, I have Molly on my lap and she bumps me. Great.

I was feeling really down and out and needed a pick-me-up so I dyed my hair. 

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I finally got in to have the 3 wisdom teeth removed this past Friday. Sammy was able to take off work to go with me while my mom stayed home with the kids. Doc said all went well, though it was extremely difficult and thankfully no nerves were nicked in the process. So now here I sit, face swollen like a chipmunk. Still bleeding. Outer left lip and chin still numb. In tons of pain because the pain meds work worth crap. Extremely tired, grumpy and just overall blah. I want to scream!!! You don't want to see a picture of me right now. Trust me.

At least I can be thankful to have my mom here watching the kids for me so I can lay in bed and recover. In fact, that's the only way I'm able to actually get on and write up this blog post. She's off with the kids to the park and I'm on the comp bitching, I mean writing, to ya'll instead of sleeping. :) Hopefully I'll be feeling better soon. I've been pretty down this past month. I really miss my dad and I'm sad he lives all the way in NY and can't see the kids. I'm tired of being in pain. I just want to feel like my happy self again. I could use ya'll in my corner routing for me. 

July was a rough month...a little sweet, a little sour.

With love,
Mama Hauck

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Molly Is WALKING!

One day shy of her b-day, my sweet little girl decided to grow up even more (against my wishes) and walk. :) For all those people out there who might not know, walking is such a HUGE milestone. It completely changes everything. EVERYTHING! So please excuse my big time brag! ;)

For the past two weeks, my husband and I have been passing Molly back and forth, trying to get her to walk. This is what we did with Anthony to help him learn to walk with great success. We did this pretty much everyday with Little Miss Molly and she would take a few steps here or there (when she didn't decided to play noodle legs and refuse to stand altogether, lol). While we were at the park for Anthony's birthday, my husband and I did our usual Molly pass to practice and show off to my mom that she could take a few steps. We continued this passing back and forth in the evening with the same results..... just a few steps each time. But after my mom and her husband had gone to bed and it was just Sam, my sister and I around, Molly seriously just up'd and started walking around the living room! Like she'd been doing it forever! It was amazing! How could she go from only walking 3 steps an hour earlier to walking everywhere!? Amazing I tell ya! Just amazing!! We are so stoked! She looks adorable walking around! LOL! I can't help but yell out with excitement each time she stands up and takes off. And she is just so dang proud of herself! She gets a huge grin on her face and giggles as she parades herself around the house showing off her new skill! She loves it! And I love her, darn it! ;)

YAY MOLLY!!!!! I'M SO PROUD OF YOU!!!!!

Sweet little Molly. Growing up too fast. Walking all by herself. What's next, running?


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With love,

Mama Hauck


OH! I always wanted to give a little shout out for Anthony! Remember way back when I said our goal for Anthony's potty training was to be in underwear for all waking hours, even while not home by the time he turned 3? Well we reached it!....a while ago, lol. When he and Sammy went on their trip to MT, he was wearing underwear the whole time, even during the long drive and had no accidents at all. Ever since then it's been all underwear all the time. He gets a pull up at night time, but always wakes up dry and heads right for the potty. I'd say my potty training method has been a HUGE SUCCESS and I couldn't be more proud of my little man. I framed his first ever potty sticker chart and I proudly display it on the bathroom wall. We've come a long way. He definitely deserves some bragging rights! :)

Kiddos Birthday Weekend

I'd have to say that the kiddos' birthday party was a success. I spent much of the week and all of Saturday down to the last second cleaning up the place and getting things all set up and ready. Party time was at 4, but most people showed up closer to 5. From what I can tell, everyone had a grand time! The mac-n-cheese I made was gone before I knew it! I think I got one bite, lol. So safe to say everyone liked our dishes. I got a lot of compliments on the house. If you recall, we redid our bathroom and repainted some other rooms. We had also worked on our lawn and driveway and other outdoor projects. It was nice to hear from other people how awesome are place is. ;) Maybe they'll come visit more often even though we are out in the boonies. LOL

Gift time was a little difficult. Anthony didn't want to sit still and open them with us. We kept having to yank him in and rip open a gift ourselves and hope my mom took a photo in time. Molly was a bit easier, though she was a wiggle worm herself. We got tons of great loot for the kids. Yay! Molly got some books, 3 cute outfits, hair clips, a sit-n-spin, a plush horse, a plush alligator, and a pink plate and silverware eating set. Anthony got some books, a ball & bat set, a WAY COOL bow and arrow set, water guns, sandbox trowels, a leap frog computer set that hooks up to the tv, a kite, some clothing, and a soccer ball. Both kids shared in on a special gift from Sammy and I. We got them a very nice wood play kitchen with tons of kitchen foods. My dad sent a birthday box from NY that had play kitchen foods, pots and pans, and a tea cup/plate set for Mols. HOW SWEET!! After gift time we all devoured our cupcakes....it all happened so dang fast I didn't have time to whip out the candles and have everyone sing. Oh well.

Speaking of photos, Many of the photos I'm going to post my mom, her husband, and my sister took for us. I wanted to be able to enjoy the birthday weekend, so I handed over photo responsibilities to them. I did take a few photos though, so under each one I'll let ya'll know who took it. :) Always want to give everyone their due credit!!

***Lori! THANKS SO MUCH for those cute books!!! Last night I sat down with Molly and read hers. And Anthony kept flipping through his saying, "Look Mama! Cool truck!" :) We love them. Thank you!!***


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Photo by my Fam....the kiddos' loot! ;)

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Photo by my Fam.....cool water guns from from Aunt Amy.
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Photo by my Fam....sweet outfit from the Barnett Family.
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Photo by my Fam....Lori's gift to Anthony!
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Photo by my Fam....homemade card from my gal pal, Jessie!
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Photo by my Fam....Lori's gift to Molly!
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Photo by my Fam....What did Mama and Papa get us??
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Photo by my Fam....Sweet! A play kitchen!! ;)

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Photo by my Fam....Anthony and little Madie playing with the kitchen

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Photo by my Fam....Molly's 1st cupcake ever! :)

The night ended with a slightly drunk hubby and slightly drunk friends having a grand ol time chumming it up and playing with the kids' toy kitchen and kitchen foods we got them. My mom was so kind as to do a lot of the clean up for me. Though if you know me, there was still much to do to get the house back in order as to my expectations. Haha, ya'll know I'm a little OCD about my house.

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Photo by my Fam....Sammy, My G-Ma (who originally wasn't going to be able to make it, but surprised me!), My Aunt, and Me&Mols

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Photo by my Fam....My Aunt, My Mama, and My G-Ma

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Photo by my Fam....All the guys! I wish we had a photo of all the gals! We must have been too busy chasing the kids around to have gotten a group shot, LOL!

Sunday the 27th was Anthony's actual birthday. My mom, her husband, and my sister were able to stay a few more days and hang out. We all went down to this park along the river and had a delicious picnic made up of party leftovers and sandwiches. We played in the water a bit, had Anthony open up a few more gifts, had a few family photos taken, then called it good and headed home to frolick in the yard and fly Anthony's new kite he got from his Grandma in MN. The kids played in the kiddie pool with Papa while I sat and rested and worked on getting rid of a headache I had acquired. Ugh! Later, Anthony blew out his candles on his cupcake, got big birthday hugs and kisses and we all spent the evening playing.


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Photo by my Fam....picnic time! ;)

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Photo by me.....sweet little Mols

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Photo by me.....BIRTHDAY BOY!

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Photo by my Fam....playing in the water!

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Photo by my Fam....looking for cool rocks.

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Photo by me.....Papa relaxing.

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Photo by Papa.....me. :)

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Photo by me....Molly looking cool.

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Photo by my Fam.....Us loving on our birthday boy!

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Photo by my Fam.....Hauck family photo.

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Photo by me....Anth and Papa playing with his kite!

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Photo by me....pool time fun!

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Photo by me....3 years old already. blowing out the candles.

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Photo by me....Yummy!

The 28th was Molly's actual birthday. We packed up and went for a long scenic drive down this back country road so my mom could take some photos. We ended up in The Dalles at the store where my mom and husband bought us a new pool! It's pretty sweet! It's a lot bigger than your average kiddie pool and it comes with a filter system and cover and stuff. I'm excited to get in it with the kiddos once the weather warms back up. It's been kinda chilly and windy here the past couple of days. We rushed home from the store so we could set the pool up and play outside. Molly and I swung on the swing together and I loved hearing her giggle in my ear each time we swung backwards. I wonder if her stomach was doing little flips...you know how it does that sometimes when your swinging? :) She sure was the highlight of the day. Later that night it was birthday cupcakes, birthday hugs and kisses, and then thankfully bedtime. What a looong weekend!


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Photo by me....Molly walking on her b-day!! (I'm doing up a whole post about this milestone!)

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Photo by me....my beautiful birthday girl.

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Photo by me....setting up our wicked pool! Can't wait to use it! ;)

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Photo by my Fam....Opening Grandpa's B-day box!

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Photo by my Fam....Molly blowing out her candle.

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Cupcake time! ;)

Each moment is a new moment and we can not get those old moments back. All we can do is store them in our memory. Time passes and we can not stop that, no matter how much we wish we could. I have never, nor do I think I ever will, be as more sentimental about something as I am about my children. They fill the spot in my heart nothing else in the world could have ever filled. Begin the water works.....now.


With love,

Mama Hauck