Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Bigger by the Day

The kittens are now three weeks old! It is amazing how much they grow and change in such a short period of time! Three weeks ago their eyes were closed and their ears were down. They were blind and deaf leaving them to depend on their sense of smell. Now, they can see, hear, play and more! Their ears are up and eyes wide open! When Kevin or I walk into the bathroom and speak, they all perk up and the gray one will run to the door. Her and Lucky will even climb up on the box we have blocking the doorway to keep them in! Sorry if the pictures are blurry. The kittens were pretty active and I had poor lighting. I took the pics on my IPhone, so there was not a flash.
The kitten below is Lucky. She is the one Kevin saved! With that being said, she is also the runt of the litter which makes us wonder if that is why Bella did nothing to save her at birth. A few hours after birth, Bella did allow her to eat and has been taken care of Lucky since!
The picture below is our absolute favorite! Priceless! This is what she does whenever she hears mine or Kev's voice. She will look at us and meow until we acknowledge her.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Happy Birthday Dustin!

Happy 24th Birthday to Dustin! Dustin is Brittney's brother and a soon-to-be dad! We hope you have an amazing birthday full of many moments to cherish and memorable moments!
We love you and miss you!
The top pic was taken in February of 2010 and the bottom one June 29, 2007 (21st bday)

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Afternoon at the Pool

While Nicholas was napping and Kevin and one of the guys were playing PS3, the girls and I decided to spend the afternoon at the pool. It was nice to be out, enjoying the sun and water. The girls had a blast playing. They met some other kid and all three kept jumping in and out of the water, giggling nonstop!

Friday, June 18, 2010

Quick Update

We finally received the call we have been waiting weeks from EFMP yesterday! How amazing that call was! Everything with mine and Breanna's healthcare has been officially updated! Kev's Branch Manager can now cut us orders to get out of El Paso.... well, as long as we can get in touch with her. Kevin has made many attepmts to reach her since we found out that everything is updated. After many attepmts yesterday and this morning, we decided to research an alternate number since we can never get her to answer. We located one and called just to be informed that Quatermasters is in transition from VA to Fort Knox, KY. Talk about timing, could it be any worse? Haha. Kev left a message with someone for the reason behind the call as well as all of his contact information, in hopes that she would actually call him. After lunch, we decided to cover all bases and he also sent her an email. The Army is not the best at relaying messages at all times, especially when relocating. We did not hear from her at all today and are praying we hear something on Monday. My fear is her not calling him in time and us being stuck here for another few years. However, I am trying not to think nor focus any unneeded attention on that matter. We are staying postitive and as much as we are wanting to be closer to the east coast, we are also at the point of not caring where we go as long as it is better than here with better healthcare! I am sure everyone can understand that. El Paso really would not be that bad if it were not for the lack of healthcare that WBAMC gives us as well as the rude people we tend to run across out here. How it makes us miss the southern hospitatlity! Neither of us are use to people that are not welcoming! There is a lot more to it, but nothing I care to express at this point! Staying with the positive side of things!

Yesterday was wonderful! We are cleared on all speeding tickets now! Lol, yes Kevin and I each ended up getting a few combined, but they are taken care of. We were ticket free for eight years until last year! Guess it was bound to happen sooner or later! However, we never expected us to each get one within a week of each other! Then, I got another one shortly after he deployed while in a rush to work after oversleeping. What can I say, some days were harder than others when it came to waking up and him being overseas! I didn't sleep well the night prior! Yesterday Kevin had court for his ticket. Yes, over a year later because they had to reschedule his court date since he was already in Iraq when the original date rolled around. Kevin went to court and called me, pretty happy after. The judge dismissed his ticket! The cop was there and just told him that he did not recall pulling Kevin over. Love it! We also received a call from our Nurse Case Manager. All I have to say is she seems great and already on top of things. She is also upset and very let down with WBAMC for not setting us up with her four years ago and for taking my health as a joke. There is a lot to take care of with my health, but more than likely we will not have the time to do it here. Good news on it, she had me go in for more lab work (Thyroid Panel). With all the medications Cpt Burton put me on we have been able to maintain my levels! Terrific news! It has been awhile since we have heard that!

We also had to replace the battery in the XTerra today! We just replaced Kev's car battery like two months ago! How do we end up with dead batteries in both vehicles in less than a few months! Something that was definitely unexpected!

Now, we are back to the Army's wonderful "Hurry up and Wait" life! Waiting on orders and waiting to finally move out of here! As soon as we do get them, we could be moving very quickly! As always, we will keep you all updated! As of now, everything that is posted on here is all that we are aware of!

Monday, June 14, 2010

Getting Bigger

Below are some pictures of the kittens and the past two days. They are so adorable and should be opening their eyes any day now! All the kittens and Bella are doing great!

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Ten Amazing Years

This month marks ten years that Kevin and I have been together. (In August we will celebrate our 7 year Wedding Anniversary). Ten years that have been full of lifes ups and downs that we have overcome as a couple. We have learned that at times things have to fall apart in order to come back together. With that being said, we feel incredibly blessed that we picked up the pieces and it all came back together with us! The past ten years have been with not much downtime, but some of the most amazing memories a couple and family could have. We have experienced and been through more than so many people. We have learned to cherish and value our time together because of the life we choose together. The Army life. In the years together we have been blessed with three amazing and beautiful children, even after the doctors saying we would never have children due to my medical problems. Getting them here was one of the hardest things we have been faced with, yet the most rewarding of them all. Something we would go through all over again in order to have these three monsters with us! We have had the opportunity to marry and to share that day with the people we hold close to heart. I will never forget being nervous before our wedding, yet forgetting the rest of the world except for him as soon as I stepped out. We have lived over six years with the Army playing such a large part in our lives, yet all the while, leaving us with more memories and wonderful expereinces! We have had the opportunity to live in Germany and tour France. We have so much to look back on and even more to look forward to.

Kevin and I came into each others lives when we needed someone, yet never expected to fall in love and be where we are now. Through the normal teenage relationship we had to grow together and depend on each other when we found out that we were having a baby. We have grown and changed so much over the years, all for the better.

I look back on these ten years and know that I would go through it all over again just to know I have Kevin in my life and here beside me every day for the rest of our lives. He is truly my rock, my bestfriend, and the most amazing husband I could ever ask for.

Thank you to everyone that has been such a part of our lives and shared so many wonderful memories. We look so forward to the years to come!

Thank you Kevin for everything you are and everything you continue to be. Thank you for being my best friend, the most amazing husband, the love of my life, a wonderful father and so much more! I love you so much. There is no way to ever put into words how thankful I am to have you in my life or what you mean to me!




Saturday, June 12, 2010

Crazy Kid

We took the kids out today, trying to get some ideas for furniture for our house. Luckily, Kevin and I agreed on pretty much everything we want to eventually purchase and the style! Everything is getting old and from being moved so much, we are going to have to pretty much replace most of what we have over the next few years. Before we left we stopped to look at a dining room set we both loved and Nicholas found something he found a liking to. He climbed on the tiger and sat there for a good twenty minutes roaring at people. All the sales people loved it! He is always the center of attention with the things he says and the way he acts! Now, of course he wants one for his room!

Two Days Old

Our little kittens are now two days old and very vocal! They have such
loud meows and cries! They seem to crawl around and locate Bella with
no problems! The all sleep in a little pile, very close to one another
when Bella decides to leave their new area. We relocated them
yesterday when we caught Bella in the beginning stage of trying to
move them! They are now in the bottom of the linen closet with a
blanket and towel as their padding. Bella seems to like itthere with
her babies. I cut a piece out of a cardboard box to keep the kittens
inside this area. They have plenty of room but are secluded.
The first week they should all double on size and may even open their
eyes! They start to slowly open eyes between 5-10 days. That's the
average time frame. We shall see though! They won't be able to fully
hear until either week two or three. Kittens are born deaf and very
slowly gain their hearing. They meow when picked up at first. Bella is
doing an excellent job as a mommy to her babies. She let's me and
Kevin pick them up without any worries. However, when the kids get
near them, Bella tends to stand right over the kittens, protecting
them. It's very heartwarming to see how quickly her motherly instinct
has kicked in!

Friday, June 11, 2010

One Day Old

"Piderman" and Cars

What a successful couple of days! Nicholas has gone through the days pretty much accident free, he takes naps totally accident free, and he is FINALLY wearing his underware! Yay! Not going commando anymore! He loves his "piderman" undies over all the others and now tells us he wants Batman! However, he hates the boxer briefs. He is doing awesome with the whole potty training, letting us know as soon as he needs to go. Afterwards, he yells out "Yay, I did it!". It is the cutest thing ever! We are so incredibly proud of our little man, yet it makes me sad all at the same time. He is growing up so fast. Seems the diapers were the last of the "baby" stage and we are officially at the toddler/pre-k age now. Time sure has flown!

Thursday, June 10, 2010

We Have Kittens!!!

Bella finally had her kittens this morning! We now have five new adorable baby kittens in our house! Yesterday I had the feeling that she was at the beginning stages of labor due to the fact she would not remain still for a long time. She was in and out of the bathroom, in the hallway quite a bit, and in our bedroom full of meows and "talking" to us. All in all, she was just restless. Her stomach was rock hard and it seemed as though she had "dropped". As some of you may know, she has taken over our bathtub as her spot to lay the past few weeks.

I woke up this morning around 6:30 and was unable to go back to sleep or even remain in bed. I ended up getting up and watching the news in the living room, a few minutes later to be joined by Kevin. We were watching TV when we heard a high pitch "meow". We just looked at one another, wondering what was going on when it hit me, "Bella had a kitten". Kevin and I walked into the hallway to see where it was coming from to find a little newborn kitten in our hallway with Bella. Okay, so not even the best place for her to choose to have it! Kevin tried to move her to the bathtub then was going to place the kitten in there with her. Everytime he put her in, she jumped out to get back to the baby. We had to end up each grabbing one and move them both at the same time for her to stay in place. She did great with the first kitten, cleaning and removing everything. With the second one, she seemed distracted with the ongoing labor and we had to end up cutting the umbilical cord and cleaning the mess off. She did clean her kittens just did not mess with the cord. In the end, I think she got lazy and figured since we took care of the second one we could do the next three to come! The third one was born with the sac still surrounding it and started to suffocate in it. Scary! Kev grabbed the scissors and cut it off. The kitten, now known as Lucky, took a breath and that was it. It was not moving or breathing, it looked to be dead. I got upset and walked out of the bathroom to get the kids something to eat. They were up at this point but not allowed in that bathroom. Kev walked out a few moments later to tell me the kitten was now breathing and moving around. Thank God! I was so relieved, as was he. Now Lucky is one of the more active ones. Pretty amazing!

At first Bella looked lost and did not really act the motherly part, which had us worried. I was not looking forward to feeding kittens every two hours! However, shortly after the last one, she started to gain the motherly instinct and has been wonderful since! She is very protective, really only letting Kevin and I near the kittens. When we pick one up and move away from the bathtub she jumps out and follows. They are all feeding off of her and moving around a lot. When she moves away in order to eat or use the litter box, they all curl up in a heap of kittens! They will fall asleep for a brief minute together then one on the bottom decides it wants to move to the top. They are all so cute! Hope you enjoy the pics below... they are somewhat out of order but there are captions under each!

Within the first couple of hours
This is Lucky shortly after birth and Kev saving him.

Bella with her babies very soon after the last one was born.


She is such a good mom already!

Lucky this evening.

Mama with the little ones a few hours after birth.

Bella was eating and the kittens were wondering around before forming their "kitty pile".

Bella during after having a kitten, before the arrival of the next.
Bella with a kitten, before arrival of the next.

















Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Frustrated Beyond Belief

I usually don't come on here to vent or anything similar to that. Yet, I do tend to find some sense of relief to just let it out when there is something on my mind. Blogging seems to be my best outlet at times. As many of you know, we are waiting on EFMP (Exceptional Family Member Program) to be updated. As of right now Breanna and I are in the expired status... what that boils down to is we can't do anything right now until this update takes place. My frustration? We saw the doctors awhile back (both of us for the proper paperwork to be filled out) and turned all documents (yes, I did make me a copy for our files, I do with everything) into the EFMP office. I turned them ALL in on May 4! We were told it would be reviewed that Thursday, or the following Thursday because they were backed up due to a change in doctors that review all cases. At this point, we were looking at a week worth of waiting. No big deal really. Problem now? We are exactly five weeks into this and no one has even touched our packets! Yes, I am beyond angry with this place! Kevin and I went into the EFMP office two weeks ago to check the status and we were told that our packets would be reviewed this PAST Thursday and updated Friday. She apologized for the delay. My thoughts, this place just sucks and are terrible at everything they do! I would NEVER recommend William Beaumont Army Medical Center to anyone, not even my worst enemy. It has been four years of pure hell on all of us. While we were there we had her verify everything she said to the point of her even showing us the order of the papers. She said that every Monday and Thursday packets are reviewed. We logged on Friday, yesterday, and today checking to see if the update had occured. Outcome: NO UPDATE!!! Yes, I am angry! Being that Kev is on CQ and I am home with three kids it was easier for him to call EFMP over me. He called and explained to the lady our frustrations. The same woman that told us when everything would be handled. Well, guess what she tells him? Not only did they not review it Thursday or yesterday, but they will try to get to it this Thursday. Well guess what, that is just not sufficient for either of us. Try? This should have been less that a one week process! We are going on over a month now and all they want to do is try? I know I would not be anywhere near this upset if WBAMC had done a good job the past four years we have been here. So, my response to this whole situation is to contact someone that is over them. I call Army OneSource and explain what is going on and ask for their assistance and guidance on what my next step should be. They advice me to contact JAG (Judge Advocate General, our legal office in other wards). I do this and from there JAG informs me to contact IG (Inspector General, who we file complaints with). I call Kevin and relay this information to him before I make the next call when something strikes me that I have not done yet. Normally, I am on top of things and know the best routes to take. However, WBAMC has had me thrown in so many different directions that I don't think I have been able to process it all the proper way. My next step? I am not going to call IG, I am going to their office tomorrow to file all of this! Not only the EFMP, but everything with my health. All of their negligence will be filed and something will be done. I don't think they realize what and who they are dealing with.

Let me better explain the EFMP. With the MOS (job) Kev holds in the Army, we can pretty much be stationed anywhere. The downside to that, because of Bre's asthma and my health issues, only certain installations can fully accomodate us. Therefore, the Army can only assign us to certain posts. Should be easy enough! Or so you would think. Our time here has pretty much come to an end and it is time for us to PCS (Permanent Change of Station or move). Well, we can't PCS or even have orders cut until the EFMP is current. We had no idea that it was even expiring! Now we are at a standstill and it is all out of our hands.

The other IG complaints that will be filed will be everything that I have had to face health wise! There is so much there. Currently I am having severe pain my lower left pelvic area from ovarian cysts and endometreosis. I was seen over two months ago for this and had an ultrasound done last month, yet GYN can't get me in until 6 July. The wait is too long! I have already been admitted through the ER at a local hospital and spent a few days in the hospital. I ended up with an idiot for a doctor at this hospital who had me so mad I ended up running my mouth. Some of my last words to him were that I had been in pain for more years than he had been practicing in the medical field. Which, I am sure he found truth in considering I have been battling this since I was 14. We also have the two incidents that almost cost me my life because they neglected to treat my hypothyroidism correctly. I do not have a thyroid gland and they seem to not take that serious. I am life dependent on medication and proper treatment. This place also is the cause of my hysterectomy due to their negligence in my pelvic pain. This paragraph does not even cover half of what has happened nor does it cover the fact that I am now faced with more life long medical concerns because of the neglect.

Tomorrow is not going to be a good one for WBAMC. Thanks for reading on my frustrations with the medical care and upkeep here! I am even more thankful that our kids are overall healthy!

Hopefully something will be done with the EFMP and we can have orders soon! No telling where, no we have no idea. As soon as we do know something we will contact family and close friends as well as post it here in case we miss you! Please be patient! We can't make them hurry nor do we have 100% say on our next duty station! As long is it is out of here and someplace with better medical care we are happy!

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Old Mesilla Village

More than anything, we wanted to get out of the apartment today, yet didn't want to spend much money in doing so. With that being said, we got on the internet and decided to check out The Old Mesilla Village in NM, about 45 minutes from us. We ended up spending the afternoon there and really enjoying it! They have so many older shops, a small wine tasting shop with pistachios, and so much more! There is even a Billy the Kid store that use to be the Mesilla Courthouse, which had a trial of Billy the Kid in 1881. The kids were pretty well behaved for the vast majority of the time spent there. However, we decided we would let Nicholas be an even bigger boy and go without the stroller. Let's just say that was a terrible decision to make! He is big and old enough to walk around some, but the stroller still needs to stay at hand. After walking for awhile, with no nap, he did tend to get real fussy! Right down to the temper tantrum and melt down that we were faced with. Had we taken the stroller we could have eliminated most of this because he wouldn't of had to keep walking. I felt so bad because he was so hot and tired! All together, it was a nice day spent as a family!

Stunning

Following our day at The Old Mesilla Village, once we returned home we realized how much Breanna was in need of a haircut. She tends to let her hair get messy and never wants to pull in out of her face. With the temperature being record breaking today (109 in the beginning of June!), we knew we had to do something. My plan was to take Bre and have her hair trimmed and cut out of her face. Shaped up really. It was really looking like a hot mess! Once we were there, she really surprised me by saying she wanted to cut it! She was tired of it being long. It looks real stringy and we can never get it to look neat and cute. So, she had it chopped off. It looks WONDERFUL! She is so cute with it short and out of her face.

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Bella's Kid Free Spot

As everyone knows, our cat Bella is pregnant! She should have the kittens sometime in the near future! Her choice of sleeping places in the recent weeks has been in the bathtub. Yes, we know how that is the most random place to sleep. However, we also know the cleanup will be easy for us! Good thing we have a seperate standing shower away from the bathtub. I walked into the bathroom to get something from the linen closet and to my surprise she was asleep (at first) on the botton shelf. That has become her hiding spot, more than likely away from the kids. We have set up an area away from everything for her, yet still find her retreating to either the closet or the tub!

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Strawberry Eating, Spongebob Watching Monster

I walked into the living room this morning to catch Nicholas eating strawberries straight from the container while watching Spongebob. I asked him what he was doing, his response "Listen Spongebob Mom. Eating stawberries". Haha. At least he was being neat while eating them. He went into the fridge and just helped himself! These are the things I walk into with the kids if I leave the room for even a minute!

Breanna's Space Project

The other day I started going through some of the kids school work that we have placed in a box from this school year. I wanted to see how they year had started and how it had progressed. So many changes! This is one of my favorite things that Breanna did. Her intelligence amazes me, as does her teachers. It is so hard to believe that after tomorrow, Bre will be considered a third grader and Caitlin a second grader. Where has the time gone? They have gotten so big and it happened in the blink of an eye. Time sure does fly when kids are apart of life!