Gulp, It's going to be a Blizzard!!

Just when we get rid of most of the snow and we are planning and preparing for out-of-state company, here's what the weatherman is predicting over the next 72 hours!! 

Of course, it can and will change a couple times before the snow actually arrives but as of right now we are expected to get 12 - 18 inches of snow!  Mom and Dad are in the 18 - 24 inch range!  *Gulp!*  I'm really not looking forward to the snow, especially after our car wreck during the last storm!

Been a while. . .

This week has been a little hectic, but it looks like things are starting to get back to our everyday routines.  Not sure how much of the past week I can remember, but I'll try.

Monday, January 24th 
For the life of me, I cannot remember what we did!  I do know that I went to the bank because I couldn't get the Girl Scout Debit Card activated because they were saying my phone number didn't match what was on file.  And while there I complained that I wasn't getting any of the bank statements for that account and I had them order me some more checks.  The lady wasn't very helpful with any of it and I left with no answers to the Bank Statements and Debit Card still not activated, but the checks were ordered.

Tuesday, January 25th

First thing in the morning we called the insurance company because I got notice from the hospital that Blue Cross/Blue Shield denied Jaxen's claim.  After arguing with them for a while, they finally added Jaxen to the policy for December.  They denied it the first time because Jaxen wasn't put on the policy until January 2011. . . which was true because I have 30 days after a change of status to update mu insurance.  Plus to update the insurance Jaxen needed a SSN and you don't get that until 2-3 weeks after birth!  After talking to the insurance company they said that they would re-issue the claim as approved.  So we also called and let the hospital know so that they wouldn't keep billing me.  And just in case the insurance company forgot to re-issue the claim, the hospital was going to re-submit Jaxen's denied claim.  So hopefully, they get it figured out.  But it looks like 6 days in the NICU costs about $16,000! 

After taking care of the phone calls, the boys and I went to my Walmart to deliver Girl Scout Cookies while Chloe was at school.  And we dropped by the bank (a different branch from the previous day) to deposit cookie money.  The girl that I got this time helped me out with everything.  She got the Debit Card activated and she found out that the statements were getting sent but they were getting returned to them.  She sent an email to re-send them to me and I promised to talk to the post office and find out why they were returning them without giving them to me.  The Post Office didn't have any answers, they said it was the mail carrier and in the same breath they asked me to change the name on the account so that the mail would come in my name, not Girl Scouts.  Of course, I refused to change the account and told them that anything with my address needs to be delivered to me, and I would decide what to return to sender.  I also had them leave a message for the mail carrier to make sure ALL my mail was being delivered to my house.

Wednesday, January 26th
We delivered more cookies to Walmart (and I still have about 4 more people to catch!).  While we were gone UPS tried to deliver one of Chloe's birthday packaged to the house and since no one was home they gave it to the local post office.  Grr!  So I had to go deal with them again, only this time the lady was really nice and helpful.  She had me fill out a new card and write down all the names of people who were allowed to get mail at my address and I included Girl Scouts.  She promised to look more closely at the mail getting returned to make sure the bank statements weren't getting sent back. 

Chloe and I had Girl Scouts that evening and Mom and Dad stopped by to get the keys to the Explorer.

Thursday, January 27th
After getting Chloe on the school bus, we loaded up the boys and headed into town to test drive the Ford Freestyle that we had been eyeing for a few months.  The dealership was really nice, and I really liked our Sales guy.  He was very honest - even told us where we could take the car to get a few things cheaper than what the dealership would give us.  So after test driving it, we headed to the bank to see about getting a car loan.  It took all day bouncing between the dealership and the bank to get everything accomplished, but by the time we had to head home to get Chloe off the bus, everything was in full swing.  While we were at home, we got insurance on the new car.  That way after we picked up the check from the bank, we could go straight to the dealership and finalize everything.  We finally got home at about 6pm, with our "new" 2007 Ford Freestyle.

Friday, January 28th
Jaxen is 6 weeks old!!  Jerry got up and got Chloe off to school, letting me sleep in.  And once I got up, I switched him places. . . I took care of the boys while he got some more sleep.  We were both in desperate need of more sleep!  When we were both up and refreshed, we left the house around noon to pick-up Girl Scout Cookies from Jerry's sister, return overdue library books, and to Walmart to get milk!  It was a fast trip into town because once Chloe got off the bus we were on the way to Cole Camp to return Mom's car.  Only borrowed it a week.  Not too bad!  Now we are going to work on getting the Explorer up and running.  Hopefully, next week we will have some of the parts we need to fix it up enough to get it home.  Should be easier to work on it if it's here in our driveway.

Saturday, January 29th
So far today we have done nothing!  LOL.  The kids and I are still in our PJ's.  Definitely a lazy day, but we needed it very badly.  Currently, the kids are destroying my living room!  Most of Jacob's toys have ended up out here instead of in his room but that's okay, they are actually playing nicely together!

I think I'll deep clean the house after they go to bed tonight because tomorrow I have plans to meet up with a few of my friends in Belton, so we will have to get up and get moving!

Counting my blessings. . .

It was definitely not the greatest week ever but in reality it could have been a lot worse!  As most of you already know, we were in a pretty terrifying car accident Thursday morning.  I'll spare you all the details - mainly because I don't want to relive all of them - but since Chloe was out of school, we were on our way to Warsaw/Sedalia to take care of some personal business.  Bad idea, definitely.  Next time we will listen to my 'gut', because I had a weird feeling that morning.  I told Jerry about my feeling as we were pulling out of our driveway.  Omen or Ironic?  Whatever it was, never was I expecting that less than 20 minutes to our destination, we would loose control of our Explorer and end up in a ditch on the opposite side of the road, facing the way we were coming from and laying on our side.

It all happened really fast, yet my brain will play it in slow motion for me several times a day.  I remember fish tailing and screaming at Jerry, hitting the ditch on the passenger front, seeing snow fly, seeing everything in the car getting thrown about, the coming to a stop and looking down at Jerry.  Then hearing a terrifying screaming and crying from the backseat, my heart stopped and I jumped into action.  I remember fighting to release the seat belt and then landing on Jerry.  After a quick look over, making sure everyone was okay, with Jerry's help I was finally able to climb out of the car, making room for him to get the kids unbuckled and hand them out to me.  Jaxen slept through the whole thing!

Thank God, everyone was okay and there was a house really close by, with a really nice lady who let us come in to keep the kids warm.  She was a Great Grandmother with young grandchildren so she had toys for them to play with, she read books to them to keep them occupied and she knew exactly which channel had to best cartoons!  I owe that old lady a lot and the kids loved her.  She gave us the peace of mind that my kids were warm and safely away from the road, giving them time to be kids and not worry about what just happened.

Everything else kind of ran together, a lot of things happened all at once.  Had to deal with the EMT's - who looked over all three kids and put my mind at easy, especially with Jaxen because he's the one who can't tell me what hurts.  Talked and filled out the accident report with 3 Highway Patrol Troopers and a Cass County Sheriff.  Dealt with the tow truck drivers - who knew my sister through a friend of a friend and towed the Explorer to Mom and Dad's and knew where they lived because they had been there before!  And I had to call someone to come and get us. . . Thank God for Joanna and Caleb!  They were a life-saver.

I could sit here and tell you a ton of conversations that I've had with Jerry and the kids, both before and after the accident, that would make you believe in miracles.  But I think maybe they are too good to believe.  But I will tell you I have a pretty profound 5-year-old.  Chloe was SO worried about the car and not having one because it was broken.  So worried about it that she cried and cried - not because we just wrecked but because we broke the car.  It took a little convincing that I didn't care about the car and that the only thing I cared about was her and her brothers.  And I thank God that none of them were hurt.  And like a light bulb going off, she looked me square in the eye and told me that God was hugging them in their car seats because he didn't want them to get hurt.  When I agreed whole hearted with her, she told me that God squeezed them really tight.  Guardian Angels were in the backseat with my kids, there is no way they weren't.

Jerry and I are okay physically.  We both have muscle stiffness in our shoulder/back.  My hips and knee feels like they are out of alignment. . .but getting better everyday.  Jerry's wrist is sore and I think he cracked (or at least badly bruised) a few ribs.  Emotionally, Jerry is upset with himself for losing control, aggravated that he wrecked our only vehicle.  Of course, he's beating himself up because I do not feel any frustration towards him - just happy, that he's okay and we all walked away from it.  I was lucky he was there, I don't think I could have physically gotten myself and the kids out of the vehicle if he wasn't there.  And I could care less about the car.  I'm having a hard time getting the accident out of my head, it's on repeat.  When I close my eyes to sleep, I can still feel the car fish tailing, I can still hear Chloe screaming, I can still see the fear in Jerry's eyes when the car came to a stop, I can still hear Jerry telling me to turn off the engine, I can still feel my heart race when I think about Jerry handing me Jaxen and his car seat, I can still see a the tow truck tipping the Explorer back on to it's tires, I can still see the state troopers removing Chloe and Jacob's car seats from the car, I can still see the tow truck drivers cleaning up the broken glass off the ground.  It's all still really fresh in my mind and it makes it hard to sleep but it also makes it real easy to count my blessings. . .

One Month Videos

Alright, here they are!!  Videos of my lil' ninja!!  The video's are kind of boring, Jaxen just lays there and makes a few noises, but it's probably cool for those of you who haven't met him in person yet. . . let me know what you think and how long they take to load, I tryed to keep them short.  (I hope not too long!)

Belly Time & Hiccups (0:34)


Jaxen in his crib - One month old!! (00:36)


Jaxen acting like he's ready to roll over (00:30)


Jaxen - One Month Old

One Month

Yet another milestone for my baby. . . Jaxen is One Month old today!  He's come a long way in a month and I'm sure he'll go much farther in the next month.  As proud as I am of him, it's also saddening, I want him to stay small a little longer than the other two did!  Because let's face it, he's probably my last. 

Here's a few pictures of my 1-month-old Ninja!


Jaxen and Mommy - I love Cuddle time!!



Jaxen - 1 month old!!

I'm currently working on getting some video of Jaxen on the web, but uploading it seems to take forever!!  So check back, I hope to have it posted today or tomorrow.  (Of course, that totally depends on the kids!!)

Lil' Mama

I know I have posted a lot of posts today, but I'm getting caught up!!  Plus it's a good sign that the kids are being good.  I really should be getting the laundry folded, but I can do that while dealing with the kids, right?!?!  Totally taking full advantage of the free time!!  :o)  Anyways, I just wanted to share with you one of my newest favorite pictures. . .

Aww, she loves him so much!  She's sit there holding him all day if I let her!!  However, I think I'm going to have to remind her of these times here in about 6 months when he's getting into everything and pulling on her hair.  Enjoying it all while it lasts!!  :o)

First "Real" Bath

Last night, after Chloe and Jacob went to bed - I gave Jaxen his first real bath!!  Up until now it's just been sponge baths because he was so small.  I figured since he was an 8 pounder now, he'd be able to regulate his temperature.  But I did watch it real close last night and dressed him warmly for bed.  I've washed his hair before, but this is the first time he's been completely submerged in the water.  He wasn't completely thrilled about it; however, he does LOVE to have his hair washed.  He like it massaged, stops crying instantly. 

Here are a few pictures I managed to take - I think I did pretty good one handed, since there was no one else home to help me out!!



Now hopefully, I don't forget to put the date in his baby book!!  I love the smell of a clean baby!  So snugly. . .