Look at me

Gracie girl thinks she is big stuff when she is propped up to sit. Well, she had her Dr.'s appointment and weighed 12 lbs 4 oz. She is just gonna be a tiny little thing. She is a little behind on some things but she was also 5 weeks early. She got three of her shots and ran a low grade fever. Yesterday and today she is fighting a bug. I have it too but not full force yet. You know when you hurt so much even your hairs on your head hurt? That is what I am starting to feel like. Jim was an angel today and helped me so much this morning. I am so incredibly blessed to have him.
The other three are good. Kiarrah has been up to her usual antics. She managed to get her hands on some scissors again and cut her hair. It is such a mess. We had a babysitter Saturday night so that we could go to a dinner for married couples at our Pastor's house. She was great with the kids and did Kiarrahs hair into a beautiful little style that will work until her hair grows in some more.
We are trying to figure out what to do with her next school year. We have a close friend that has offered to homeschool her with her child. She is a wonderful woman of God and has the patience on a Saint. She also truly "gets" Kiarrah. Not many people do but Kiarrah listens to her also. We are going to do some research on it and check on books and such. She wants to use the Abeka program with her. Any of you have experience with it?
What is really nice about this option is that they can work at their own pace and advance if need be. Please keep this in prayer along with us. I just feel if I send Ki to the public school it is going to be hell. She will eat them alive and become the class bully/trouble maker. The FASD has affected her so much and I am seeing it more and more.

6 Months old Already???

My baby girl is 6 months old today. Where has the time gone? I have been trying to cherish every moment but it still is flying by. We are going to the Dr. today for her check up and shots. I hate the shots part. She actually does pretty well with them. She is loving eathing solids. She has now had applesauce, pears, peaches, green beans, peas and sweet potatoes. She has also had squash but it caused her to break out on her face so we need to wait on that and try again later. Last week when she went to the Dr. she weighed 12 pounds so hopefully she gained alittle more. She is staying steady at the 3 precentile.

On another note, the butterfly had the 24 hour bug yesterday. Nothing knocks her down though. She is fine today thank goodness.

Pruning

Did you ever notice that it hurts when God Prunes us? This has been on my mind a lot this morning. Gracie got the dreaded stomach bug. Started throwing up last night a little after ten. I feel so bad for her. We are taking it easy today and she is sleeping. Just trying to keep the other little monsters quiet so she can sleep.

Baby Food

Have any of you made your own baby food? I would really like to do this for Gracie but need some help and input. What kind of fruit could I make? I know that it would be more economical to make it myself. Gracie is loving food. I tried to make her green beans and she wouldn't eat them. She loves the jar kind.

Nanny Days

Boy am I exhausted today. I worked as a nanny for a friend and it wiped me out. It is hard to believe that I did this as a profession for 15 years. I do have to remind myself that I am a lot older and I have 4 children now and I actually took care of my 5 month old today too. It is so different when it is your own child. I did really enjoy it but know that I couldn't do this on a everyday basis. The girls are a month apart and wasn't much different from when I took care of the twins for 8 years.

FFF a day Early :)

Thursday Update

I thought I would give you all a little update. Took Gracie to the Dr. today. She now weighs 11.8. Luckily she is staying in that 3 percentile curve and not losing. We have moved her to solids and she screams for more. She loves to eat. We started with carrots and she has since also had green beans(which she loved), applesauce and peaches. I decided to make her some fresh green beans today and she actually did not like them at all. It might have been the butter in them. They were left over from dinner. Tomorrow I think I am gonna try her on sweet potato.
Dominic is sick with a double ear infection and his throat and nose are bothering him.
Reynaldo wishes he didn't have to go to school. He tried playing the sick card on Wednesday when they had to go back after the holidays. I wish they would have just given them the rest of the week off.
Jim has been off this week. Today we kept Kiarrah home so she could have some mommy and daddy time. She lives for that. We had a nice Day.
Tomorrow I am going to work as a fill in nanny. I will also do it next week and possibly the week after that. I am gonna see how it goes first before I take on that second week. The family has three children but I will just be taking care of their 4 month old daughter. Gracie will have a little play date.
Not much else going on here.

Here is my FFF

Dumb Mommy forgot to give Allergy medicine before going to Grandpa Ed and Grandma Jane's House and had to give Dominic benadryl for his allergies. Poor Kiddo fell fast asleep.

Ok as Requested More pictures

I took Gracie girl to get her ears pierced this weekend. KiKi thinks it is so cool that Gracie copied her and got hers done. She is such a hoot. I can't believe that my baby girl is going to be 5 months old tomorrow. She has got quite the personality on her. She was being really crabby this evening and Dom wanted to cuddle with her and they fell asleep together. I love those tenders moments between brother and sister. It has been so funny lately because everytime Rey has held her lately she bombs on him. He is always like it's ok!!Baby girl you can spit up on me.Somebody sure is teething.

Bishop Family 2007

Icey Joisey

It has been a busy week. Is everyone done with Christmas shopping? I still have a few more items to get. We have been busy with Christmas shopping, decorating and Dr. appointments. Tomorrow we are going to try and get our pictures done again. I would really like a family photo.

The kiddos are doing good. Rey is just getting over the croup. Kiarrah is extremely excited about Christmas. She thinks that if it snows it is Christmas and Baby Jesus' birthday. I have to explain to her that it is on the 25th. Of course to her I am wrong. Dominic is getting bored with school and going through a little bit of a difficult time. He seems to be very rigid in his thinking and not handling all the hustle and bustle very well.

Gracie is doing good. We went to the specialist on Monday and she weighed 11 pounds and was 24 inches long. We are continuing the Neosure formula and hoping for more weight gain. She is also still on prevacid and regalin. I have to keep a food diary for her and take in some stool samples. They are looking to see if she has any blood present that would point towards a milk protein sensitivity. She is very very alert and smiley. She loves to look at the Christmas tree.

I am getting ready to do some Christmas cookie baking this weekend. We are going to my father in laws for Christmas Eve and we are going to stay home Christmas Day.

On a side note, please keep my baby sister in your prayers. She is going through a really difficult time right now and really needs to prayers.

My Celebrity Look Alikes

Look ALike meter

I took this test 3 times and the first two times it said Gracie looked 11% more like me, her mommy. Thsi test says equal. Everyone is always saying Gracie looks just like her daddy. I guess she has a lot of me too. SO there :P

Natural Highs

1. Falling in love.
2. Laughing so hard your face hurts.
3. A hot shower.
4. No lines at the supermarket.
5. A special glance.
6. Getting mail.
7. Taking a drive on a pretty road.
8. Hearing your favorite song on the radio.
9. Lying in bed listening to the rain outside.
10. Hot towels fresh out of the dryer.
11. Chocolate milkshake (vanilla or strawberry).
12. A bubble bath.
13. Giggling.
14. A good conversation.
15 The beach
16. Finding a 20 dollar bill in your coat from last winter.
17. Laughing at yourself.
18. Looking into their eyes and knowing they Love you
19 Midnight phone calls that last for hours.
20. Running through sprinklers.
21. Laughing for absolutely no reason at all.
22. Having someone tell you that you're beautiful.
23. Laughing at an inside joke with FRIENDS
25. Accidentally overhearing someone say something nice about you.
26. Waking up and realizing you still have a few hours left to sleep.
27. Kisses and Hugs
28. Making new friends or spending time with old ones.
29. Playing with a new puppy.
30. Having someone play with your hair.
31. Sweet dreams.
32. Hot chocolate.
33. Road trips with friends or family
34. Swinging on swings.
35. Making eye contact with a cute stranger.
36. Making chocolate chip cookies.
37. Having your friends send you homemade cookies.
38 Holding hands with someone you care about.
39 Running into an old friend and realizing that some things (good or bad) never change.
40. Watching the _expression on someone's face as they open a much desired present from you.
41. Watching the sunrise.
42. Getting out of bed every morning and being grateful for another beautiful day.
43. Knowing that somebody misses you.
44' Snuggling with a freshly bathes baby.
44. Getting a hug from someone you care about deeply.
45. Knowing you've done the right thing, no matter what other people think.


Aww these make me feel all warm and cuddly inside. Do you have any to add? Please feel free to comment.

Gloomy Thursday

You know, I should already be in bed sleeping but my mind is restless and I can't seem to relax today. I have a lot on my plate for this next week and as crazy as it may seem, I welcome it. It helps keep my mind off of the fact that I am not going to Indiana for Christmas. I am really bummed that we will be here in Joisey this year. Going home last month has unfortunately caused my homesickness to overflow. We luckily will go down to my in laws for Christmas Eve. It is just hard because I am so used to our family traditions and when they are different I have a hard time. I really wanted to start new traditions with the kids this year. I had wanted to start doing St. Nicholas Day but that was actually for last night. I guess there is always next year.
We have some simple traditions like everyone gets a new ornament and I bake cookies. What is it will Urban people. Few like to bake or have never made homemade cookies. How am I supposed to start a tradition of a cookie exchange if I have no one to exchange with? Do I need to teach people how to bake? I am open to it :)
Does this post sound gloomy? I guess I am a little down today. Just a lot on my mind and missing family.

Don't Say Cheese say Geez

I am so ticked off right now I could scream. Hubby took the day off of work so we could do some errands and then we had an appointment for when the kids got out of school to get a family portrait done and a picture for this years Christmas card. Everyone got all gussied up in the pretty/handsome clothes and we headed over that that great retail store with the bulls eye. First off I forgot my coupon. The sales clerk was extremely rude and was of no help. In fact he flat out told me that he didn't have coupons and couldn't use on for me because he didn't have the code. Give me a break!!! It was the coupon that comes in the Sunday coupon circular almost every week. I literally have 4 of them sitting here at home that have been relocated to the trashcan because they have lost my business in their portrait studio. That wasn't the only thing that happened. When we got into the room Gracie starting crying hysterically. You have to know Gracie to know she hardly ever cries. She is such a good baby. I tried everything and she wouldn't stop. The photographer was getting mad because he couldn't take our pictures and he said he had to take these quickly because he had other people coming. I told him thank god we got there early to accommodate this and I was going to try and calm her down. He was shocked that it actually wasn't even our appointment time yet. She wouldn't calm down and I had him just start taking pictures of the kiddos individually. We tried again for the family portrait with no luck and when she finally did calm down he informs us that he took the 12 pictures and couldn't take anymore. NOT once did this gentleman(wrong choice of words)try to assist us by playing with the baby or trying the many tricks of the trade to get her attention. He had no personality and was downright rude. They will be receiving a letter from me at their corporate office. The thing that upsets me the most is that the other three children were on their best behavior and would have smiled beautifully. I know it isn't any ones fault that the baby was crying but he just made matters worst and didn't even try. What a waste of time. Plus we had driven 1/2 hour away during traffic to the place by our old house because studios are so booked up.
We shall try again.

A Dominic Funny

Dominic informed me today that he needs to get the Wii for Christmas because it is good for him. When I asked him why he said it is educational and he will be able to get exercise!!!! I had to control myself from laughing. I have heard it all.

Gracie and Me

Honor Roll

I am so proud of my boys. They did so well on their report cards. Dominic even made Honor Roll. Rey had a huge improvement from last year. I was looking over their Terra Nova testing scores and was shocked. Since we have moved here and entered this school system Rey's score went up 33% and Dominic's went up 3%. I know that the schools could be so much better but that is a huge difference especially for Reynaldo. That has a lot to say about our old school district. All I want from them is their best. Dominic loves his teacher and loves school. Reynaldo has a teacher that I wish would push him a little more because I feel he could even do better. He does have a special education teacher in the classroom to that works with him one on one a lot. She is really good with him but her hands seem to be tied a lot on how much she can do. Rey is the type of child that needs a little flexibility in his learning style. She is very sensitive to that and tries to cater to him. The head teacher is more rigid. Rey is also seeing on OT therapist on a once a week basis that has been working with him on many issues.
All in all I am pleased with the progress they are making.