Breathe in... Breathe out..

Allergy induced Asthma.
Its not the official diagnosis, but that is what it is looking like.
Tina had another wheezing attack the other night. That would be two times in the past month (last time we had the ER visits). She has had no fever, no cold, nothing like that. She just started up with a cough and then the next thing you know she is wheezing.

So we are now starting up home nebulizer treatments to keep things in check. It will also be nice to have the machine at home because Tina REFUSES to use the rescue inhaler.

I took them to the base yesterday for treatment and we had quite the experience. We took Tina down to the radiology department for an X-ray to make sure that there was no pneumonia.
As we are walking back the tech says to me "do you have anyone to watch him?" looking at Hunter. I politely tell him "Your looking at her."
He looks a little freaked out like how is he going to get Tina to sit still by himself. Keep in mind, the kids are being wonderful at this point. No running, no jumping around, plain ole good kids.
I tell him that Tina will be fine and I'll sit with Hunter.

So the tech takes Tina and starts getting the xrays and about 5 mins into it Hunter has to go Pee. OF COURSE HE DOES.
I Look around and spot a bathroom down the hall. We shuffle down there and I send him in to go to the bathroom *NOTE: In the bathroom they have those emergency pull cords... if anyone is going to grab that its going to be Hunter.* I choose not to point them out because I think the temptation would be too great so I tell him to hurry it up. At this point the tech walks out of the room and says "Maam. I need to go drop this off. She is right here." and he walks off. UMM HELLO I have one toddler in the bathroom with pull cords and one sitting in her underwear on a xray machine.
Hunter is taking FOREVER to go so I jog back down to him, tell him to wrap it up and go back to Tina.

A young guy walks out of a room and sees Tina sitting there in her room, Hunter walking out of the bathroom with his pants unzipped, and me standing in the middle. He just started laughing.

I think I'm more proud of the fact that Mr. Mischievous did not pull the emergency cords.

But Tina did great, Xray was clear and we're just going to wait this out and see what happens as far as the asthma goes. I've got some allergy medication for her so hopefully that will help.

Ahhhh Shucks

Memorial Day 2008

Tina, Hunter, and Caleb were our corn shuckers today. It was such a beautiful day that we had to have a BBQ. It was such a nice day and the only thing that would have made it better would have been to have Adam home with us. We all had a great day and it ended with the kids swimming for awhile

Step one. Proudly show off what you are working with.

Step two: Concentrate as hard as you can on pulling the shucks off. Note: If you stick your tongue out it works even better

Step Three: Keep it clean. Tina was the clean one out of the group.

Step four: See step two about keeping tongue out.

Step Five: Show off the finished product.

Crazy things kids say.

Lately the kids have been coming up with some funny little sayings.

For example. The other day we were driving on the road and Tina was singing. Hunter told her to stop singing because it was hurting his ears. Tina replied back "OH HUNTER, THROW UP"
To this Hunter replied back "I Cant throw up Tina!"
SO I tell Hunter "Hunter honey, Tina was trying to say GROW UP not THROW UP"

Hunters reply " I cant grow up I have a seatbelt on"

Hunter had his preschool graduation yesterday. He was all hyped up telling us how he was going to be dressed up and was "graduating". It turned out that only the 4 year olds were "graduating" so I had to cheer Hunter up on the way home because he did not get to wear a cap and gown. One of the things the school did though was to ask the kids questions and let them fill in the answers so I have been asking the kids the same things to see their reponses.

In the car I asked Hunter "what do you want to be when you grow up?" He replied" I want to wear a blue coat like last night" I said "you want to be a graduate? And he said "yes a gradumate" Then I asked him how many children he would like to have and he said "10"! At this point he proceeds to tell me "I'm going to have a bunch of Hunters!"

All the more power to ya little one. I wish you luck my son.

Tina wants to be a princess and she only wants one child .. and it has to be a girl.

I'll post some videos of last nights festivities later tonight. It has been a very long day and I need to go get some rest for a bit.

Tina and Moving up Mass

Tina had her moving up Mass from K4 to K5 today. These are just pictures and videos from my camera. The "good" ones will be posted as soon as I get them from the picture taker :)




Our little angel did so wonderful. Actually, all of the children did great. It really made me want to start going to morning mass there. There was just something so peaceful hearing the school children singing.

Here Tina is receiving her diploma. There were a few that did not want to go up to the stage. Not Tina, she was all over it :) That a girl!!

They had a full Mass and Tina had a part where she went up and was supposed to say "For the sick and the hungry, we pray to the Lord." She came close. "To the sick and the hungry, to pray to the Lord." She was so well behaved, I actually had tears in my eyes. I so wish Adam could be here for this.

She was also a usher during communion. And posed and took pictures after it was all said and done. Remember, these are not the "good" ones.

Tina was just smiling at Father Fred.

Back Row: (Left to Right): Hailey, Brittany, Jacob, Sophie

Front Row: Cason, Tina, Anne Therese, Prisilla

Man I need to get her new uniforms. I had no idea hers were this short!! YIKES!!

After Mass her class had a little celebration and their prayer partners gave them a personalized princess sports bottle and a little necklace with a graduation ring on it that said 2008.

"Granny" Alice was there with us and we took Tina out for lunch to Burger King. Hey she requested it-and it was her day afterall. :)

She has proudly showed off her ring to anyone that will look at it :)

We have a child in Kindergarten!! "Oh my goodness gracious" as Tina would say.

Oh the things these children do.

Hunter strikes again.

So tonight I was preoccupied with something and the kids were playing nicely so I left them be. You know that rule about not waking a sleeping baby? Well its kind of like that.. if you can hear them and they are not fighting, then leave them alone. Otherwise the sight, the smell, or the noise of an approaching adult will turn them against each other.

Ok, so I'm doing something and I hear Tina all of the sudden say "OHHHHHHH, I'm telling Mommy!" "MOMMY!! ." I cant make out what she is saying so I just go ahead and go into the room where I see Hunter COVERED with pen marks.

I promptly stuck him in the tub but this is the kicker. When I asked him why in world he would do this.....are you ready...

"I wanted to do my homework so Daddy could see it." "See my H's??"

How could I be mad at that? Plus he is awful cute.

Thankfully it all came off very easily in the tub, and I'm happy it was on his body rather than on the walls. (cough cough, remember Tinas artwork last deployment).



Can you see his H's??? Ha!

You might be from middle Georgia when...

You let your children run around half naked in the backyard.

You might be from Georgia when you not only let them run around half naked, but you let them play on a slip and slide half naked.

And your definitely from middle Georgia when you let them run around half naked, play on a slip and slide half naked, but as a parent you run in a grab the camera to catch it all on film instead of having them put some clothes on first. We better get out of here fast before I get any worse :)

We had such a fun day today. We had friends over earlier for some outdoor fun. They played on the slip and slide for the longest time then we all headed over to the big pool. That did not last to long because we were all frozen from the waist down. Well the adults were frozen. The kids could care less. We left the big pool and quickly jumped into the "hot pool". Now that was relaxing.

I took the kids to 5 o'clock Mass and then out for ice cream for being such well behaved little children :) Hunter had the grannies and grandmas at church eating out of his hand. He was bit upset that the priest did not give him a 'cracker'.

When we got home they wanted to play outside for a bit more so I let them. Tina had no clothes on because I didn't want her to get ice cream on her church dress. Hunter did not have pants on because... well... because he is Hunter and he doesn't like pants.

Some of you have been asking for a Hunter update. He has not had any more headaches in the past week and I think his clumsiness is getting less. I have not heard back from the CT scan people so I don't know when they plan on doing it. I'll be sure to keep you posted though.

Hunter can now swing himself

Finally. He loves to swing. Well today it finally clicked and he's swinging himself. He still needs an inital push but then its all him.

Tina could care less about swinging. She's more for laying on the swing on her belly and doing the superman thing.


We're counting down the weeks till Daddy gets home.

Hunter does it again

You guessed it. Hunter injured himself again.
Today it was the fireplace. The dreaded fireplace. I have always knew that this fireplace would give me trouble. First we had Hunter at a 1.5 years old pulling a stocking holder down on his forehead.
Today, Hunter took a spill and gave his tummy a nice case of fireplace rash.
Where I was you ask? I was getting Tina dressed in her room when I heard the crash.
Hopefully this time the lesson was truly learned and he will stop messing around in the fireplace area. I'm just thankful that he did not seriously injure himself. I thought for a moment the way he was carrying on that he broke or bruised a rib but then figured out that he is just a very good actor. When he realizes someone is watching he really plays it up, he even told me tonight that he could not sleep by himself because he could not sleep on his tummy. Nice try buddy boy.

I wonder what injury tomorrow has in store for the Neil household.

Add some more gray why dont we???/

Wednesday morning I kept Tina home from school because she had a cough and I didnt want to get other kids in her class sick. By Wednesday afternoon she is starting to wheeze so I call a friend who is a PA to see if she will come over and take a listen. She was at work so I go ahead and call the base ped who sends me on my way over to the Medstop (like a mini ER). We (Tina, Hunter and I) get to the Medstop and they take Tina right back and give her a breathing treatment to get her oxygen levels up. She was a perfect angel and she had excellent care. We left there once things were really stable and I stopped by the house to pick up my neighbor Alice to sit with the kids while I ran into the pharmacy.

So I pick up Alice and we head to the pharmacy. I drop off the scripts and then tell the kids I will get them (and me) a icee as a treat for being so good. Hunter falls asleep before I even get to BK and Tina starts to look tired. As I pulled up to pay window at BK, Tina starts to puke. NASTY. I pull over and Alice walks up to the window to pay. At one point I gave her a blanket to throw up in (instead of her clothes and the car) and she was so upset "But I'll ruin it mommy". Awee what a sweetie.

So I call the medstop doc back and tell them that we now have puke and she tells me to get my hiney to the ER.

Off to the ER we go.
I get to the ER and Tina is starting to perk up a bit at this point. I call a friend who comes and picks up Alice and Hunter. I sit around some more at the ER. And I sit around the ER some more. And some more.. and some more. I keep thinking about the puke in my car and how nice that is going to smell when I can finally get out there to clean it. And you know that if I had left the ER to go clean it they would call her back immediatly. Tina is acting pretty normal, her eyes are still sick looking but she feels better and is acting better so I set a time limit. If by 730 she is not called back i'm taking her home. At 720 she starts to cough and by 735 she is in the back hooked up to nebulizer and getting another breathing treatment and a IV line. She didnt even cry. They brought over a team of about 5 people to give her the line and didnt need 4 of them. They were all so impressed. :)
The Xray came back clear so we were allowed to leave once they got her stable again.

So we finally get out of there late at night and then go to the pharmacy to pick up her medicine and a princess tiera and earrings for being so good.
She crashed with me last night and only had one other coughing fit in the middle of the night. She went to the pediatrician today and checked out A-OK. So we are home for the next few days and I'm doing nothing but trying to keep a 4 year old calm and mellow. If someone knows the secret to that please tell me cause I am having NO luck --and I cant use benadryl-- She is trying to wrestle with Hunter right now.

Maybe I'll kill some time and buy a bottle of Loreal and get my blonde back :)

This child is going to make my hair turn gray.

So over the past few weeks, Hunter has came to me in the morning and told me that his "brain hurt". . Then the other day he fell in the kitchen and hurt his hand. No big deal, but the way he fell was so odd. It was like he tripped on his own feet...while standing. So I got to thinking and it was like a light bulb went off. He has been pretty clumsy lately. He fell off the kitchen chair the other day, he slipped outside and got a handful of splinters, and the topper was the other day when we were in a store and he was running up to me and totally misjudged where he was going I guess and slammed his cute little face right into the counter top.

With all of the boo boos and bruises on him I thought I was going to be turned into child protective services for abuse or something.

I took him to the pediatrician today and although he checks out A+++ on paper. She still wants him to get a CT scan. She doesnt want to mess around when a 3 year old tells you their head hurts. So sometime in the next week or so I have to take him to the medical center to get this CT scan. What really sucks is that he has to be sedated to do it.

Long story long. Keep him in your prayers that everything comes back clear and that we were just dealing with a fluke virus or something.

Another day at the strawberry patch.

We took another trip to Lanes packing company yesterday to load up on some more strawberries. This time, Tina and Alice were able to come along. As we were walking to the playground, I found out that Alice has never in her life picked strawberries before.

Alice (aka. Granny) and Hunter

Thats my strawberry picker! She did such a good job. She would ask me before she picke each strawberry to make sure they were good ones.

We have our strawberries.. Now lets Play!!!See!! They really can play together nicely every once and awhile.How do you like that cowlick? Daddy saw this picture and said that I only have a few months to try to grow his hair out before he gets home and buzzes it again.
Thats my girl!

Tinas turn for field day.

Tina had her turn at field day on Friday. Mrs. Hartman made all of the events so that all the kids could do them at the same time. I guess there are some competitive little girls in the class so she came up with the group games to keep everyone in good spirits. I think it worked for the most part, but I wouldn't feel right not letting you know that my little angels..well lets just say that at some points they were no angels. Tina had a meltdown because she wanted the pink bubble wand and not the purple one. She's a lucky little girl that her classmates are so understanding, because Brittany came over and gave her the pink one. No one even asked her to do that. How sweet is that?




From left to right. Brittany, Sophie, Hailey, Tina, Anne Therese,Prisella, Jacob, Cason
Elefun game. It was breezy, so the little butterflies where going everywhere. The kids were just squealing because they were having so much fun.

Even Hunter participated in all of the events. He has made good friends with Tinas classmates since he sees them every morning when we drop off Tina. Here he is with Cason and Brittany.

They also had a limbo game (picture 8 kids running in circles and ducking under the limbo stick).. Total chaos.

They had a bean bag toss. (Again, 8 kids all throwing bags into buckets at the same time).

A bubble blowing station. (refer to above and Tina and her drama queen moment)*I have no idea where she gets THAT?**

And a giant parachute with a beach ball that they keep bouncing on the parachute. This game the kids LOVED. All of the adults took a side and we put the kids in the middle under the parachute, I think the kids would have stayed there forever if we let them.

Should we be scared????

Everyone always say "they grow up so fast" and "where did my babies go?"

Well....you might as well add me to that list.

WHERE DID MY BABIES GO???

I wonder where he gets his "personality" He doesnt think he looks good. He KNOWS it!!

She actually thought I would let her wear these to bed! What you can not see in this picture is her lipstick.

Now THAT is a party!

Everyone that knows us knows that our kids go to bed no later than 8pm every night. Normally, they go right to sleep, but occasionally Tina will stay up and look at her books or play with her stuffed animals. NO big deal, as long as she is quiet. Well the other night she had a "party". She literally took every pair of shoes and placed them on her toy box and nightstand. Then she took all of her uniforms and hung them on every available surface in her room. I have no idea why she opened the dresser drawers but those were open as well.

In this final picture you can see she has a pair of stockings draped over her chair. HUH??? I have no idea.
When I came in to wake her up in the morning I asked her what happened and she told me she had a party. That day she cleaned her room up and went to bed. The next day I went in her room and she did it ALL over again. Thats when I took the pictures to share. She must be tired of hanging everything back up because she has not done it again.
Ahhhh my little angel. Does anyone remember the "Beautiful artwork" from daddy's last deployment.

Strawberry picking time!!

It is that time of year in Georgia. Strawberry Season. We have a local you pick them strawberry patch that we try to make each year. This year I went with Hunter and his preschool. Hunter the lady killer (just like his daddy)
He was hard at work picking mommy some strawberries.

Waiting NOT so patiently to sit on the "Grandpa tractor".

Fresh Strawberry Ice Cream. Even though he looks like he is enjoying it right now. He decided that he did not like it.