Life as it happens with our three beautiful and adopted children, Shayla, Yamira and Manuel: Happy Valentine's Day!!!!!

It's a day of pink and red puffy hearts, sweetness, chocolate, flowers and love! I love Valentine's Day. Bill and I didn't exchange or do anything for it, but we were going to. We were going to have lunch on Saturday, but given how icky I have been feeling lately, I cancelled lunch. I will reschedule it though. I do have some stuff for the kids. I will give it to them right before dinner. I feel bad as Bill isn't here to witness them opening their stuff, but he has school. There was no time we were all going to be in the house today. I will have to take photos. They kids aren't getting anything huge by any means. Some favorite books. They should be happy. They love books. There are a few other little things in their bags too. Anyway, I should get to updating here so I can feed my little chickens and get on with the night. So let's back up here till Saturday the 4th?

Saturday. Hmmm, Saturday. If I remember correctly and I think I am, we spent the day at home. I wasn't feeling especially great. We didn't have plans. So I spent the day puttering around the house as did Bill. The kids played, napped and watched TV. Nothing special. I feel bad when we waste a day like that. However, to most, that isn't a wasted day. It's a day they cherish. If we don't have plans, I am usually booking plans. Always trying to get it all fit in, you know? So to me it's a missed opportunity! That night I did go out though. I had a terrible burning in my belly all night long and so I wasn't exactly comfortable. I was really nauseaous as well, but I still had a great time. I went to Flip Flops in Holden with Janice and Meri. We all ate and then sat around and chatted. They had a few awesome looking drinks! We closed the place down again. Shocking.

We didn't have any plans on Sunday. Bill took the kids to Sunday School and then once home and fed, I headed off to buy furniture. I still wasn't feeling that great, but I did okay. I bought pretty much everything we need for the family room. So excited to get that all ordered. I ordered two couches, a chair, an ottoman, a bistro table with two chairs and a few miscellaneous items. I can't wait to see it all. I then came home and did a few things at the computer, a little bit of cleaning and then we headed to my friend Janice's house to watch the Superbowl. I really wanted to go and the kids were really looking forward to it. However, I had spent the better part of the afternoon feeling really nauseous on and off. I kept having to fight vomiting before walking out the door. Finally I just threw up and was able to get to the car. Nice, eh? We had a great time at Janice's. The kids had a blast and Bill loved hanging with the guys. I was a dude. I feel awful, but I just was so sick. I am so glad we went though. The Patriots lost.

I woke up on Monday feeling like someone had finally given me a huge energy shot. It was fabulous! I loved every minute of it. It was odd because Bill woke up and threw up. He then napped for a short time. He then was fine for the rest of the day. Glad that passed. I had passed out on the chair the night before. I woke up there this morning and immediately went to the computer to do stuff. Called and booked appointments and basically got a lot of tasks done. I felt HUMAN. I loved it. It was great. I also decided to not take the birth control pill that was prescribed for me on Friday. I kept saying to both doctors that I talked to on the phone "are you sure you want to introduce this?" I was assured the levels were so low that I would not be bothered. Well I decided on Monday morning that I was indeed bothered and it was the pill that was making me extra nauseous and was causing me to throw up. I have a feeling it was really bothering my gall bladder and so the two were working against me. So I decided to just stop taking it. I don't need to add one more thing to my body. I almost instantly started feeling better. I was able to eat a little bit through out the day. I was thrilled. Finally a clear headed day. I know that sounds so bland, but for me it was nothing sort of miraculous. The afternoon basically consisted of naps, homework and Daisies.

Tuesday was a busy day. Bill had the day off from school which was nice. I can't complain really as he has stepped out and helped with the kids more than ever. I feel really actually quite guilty about that. However, when you are nauseous and you can't move, it's hard parenting. It is both physically and mentally debilitating. In the afternoon, after Shayla was out of school, our friend Ding came over with her son Matthew. Ding taught Shayla some Chinese, and Matthew played with Manny and Yamira. I love seeing Ding and her son. She is such a sweet heart. Wish I saw her more, but she is busy in school. We are so grateful to her for always being willing to share her Mandarin with Shayla. Shortly after Ding left, I got ready to head out the door. I was meeting a few girlfriends at Wegmens for a quick bite and grocery shop. I got a few things. Nothing too exciting. I didn't have to do a full shop. I just grabbed some fruit, tea and almond milk. It was nice to be out.

On Wednesday, Bill took Sasha for a grooming appointment. The poor thing could not be any furrier. We spent the rest of the day at home doing some things around the house. In the evening, Bill went to the fire department for training. Overall it was a great day of getting things accomplished at home!

Thursday brought another day of being home. I had a good day for the most part at eating. Each day this week has really been fairly good. I am so glad I decided to stop the birth control pills. Shayla had an after school special till 4:00 pm. I then grabbed her, we did some homework and did some things around the house. A fairly low key day. When you aren't feeling well, you don't plan much!

On Friday, we dropped Bill's car off to have some work done on it. Another $500 up in smoke. What can I say? You have to maintain your car, right? Bil and I ran around doing a million errands, grabbed the younger two and ended up doing a bunch more errands. It was nearly time to get Ping when we finished! Long day, but very rewarding as so much was done. Bill picked up Ping and did one more errand and then was home for the day. That night I went out for Japanese food. I had a phenomenal time with some wonderful ladies from town. I also ate like a crazy lady. I was thrilled. I ordered the full menu like everyone else did which is unusual for me. I ate my salad and my soup. I did not touch the rice as it was way too filling. I had one bite and it was great, but I can only get two bites of rice in before I am done. So I concentrated on the chicken and steak. I had the shrimp too. I am not used to eating grilled shrimp. I am not used to eating shrimp at all, but I am trying to learn to eat it and enjoy it. I love it with cocktail sauce, but I barely ever eat it. I am trying to up my variety of foods. I am trying to eat all kinds of peppers too. I still won't touch mushrooms though. I hate them. The texture and the taste! Anyway, I did great and had a fun time. Unfortunately I had to leave earlier than I wanted to as Bill was on call at 10:00 pm. It's okay, just as well or I may never have left. I ended up staying up super late researching stuff to do over the weekend as well as other stuff. It felt good to be up and working on something.

Bill had two calls in the middle of the night, so he was exhausted. Needless to say, I didn't jump out of bed Saturday morning to get to where I wanted to go. I knew he would have no desire. I wanted to go up to Salem, MA. I ended up getting a great call from my sweet friend Anita. So we were able to catch up. That was great. Spent the rest of the day just doing a bunch of things around the house. There was a lot that was let go during some of my sickest days. I just could not concentrate. I can say I have now worked on a few items for school vacation and summer vacation. Lots of research has to be done for things to do. Trying to get some dates together for things. I don't even know how I filled the day, but I did it regardless and was busy the entire time. I did sit down to watch a little TV at night. I do not get to do that often, so that was nice.

Sunday Bill took the kids to Sunday school and then we jumped in the car for the hour drive to Quincy. We went to Quincy High School for a Chinese New Year Lunar Festival. I thought it was great and so did the kids. Sadly I didn't feel good for most of it. I have no idea why. How do I have a great day and then go into having such a bad day with nausea. So upsetting. We watched a few performances. Ping did a great dragon drawing. We also walked around and looked at how they put tea together. There was a food court, but I had no desire to go near it as the stuff had probably been there all day long? Not that it was bad or anything. They closed up a lot of things over an hour early. That was a little upsetting. I know people want to break down a little early. Not uncommon, but over an hour early? We had a good time regardless. We then headed home for dinner, baths and bed. It was a really tough afternoon for me. Somewhere around 4:00 pm, just as we were leaving, I started to choke up. I had to sit down and really steady myself. I fought this for the first 30 minutes in the car. By the time I got home it had passed. I still don't get it. No way to live life, that is for sure.

Monday was a busy day. I had a 10:00 am to have my sinuses scanned. That took all of 30 minutes. Not bad. Love when you are in and out. I then did a few errands and picked up Manny and Yamira from school. Once home, I did a few things and then Ayi Meri picked me up and we headed to Panera and The Great Escape over in Leominster. I sat down and eagerly ate my soup. Unfortunately, in moments I was sick. My friend Cari-Lynn said "Jill you have no color in your face. You okay?" I was like "Well I feel like I may throw up." Two minutes later I was doing the mad dash to the ladies room. That sucked. I felt much better after though and then I had two wonderful cups of tea provided by Cari-Lynn as she was enjoying a nice hot pot. That sat well. We were not there long. It went way too fast. I was enjoying the company, but both Meri and I had to be home for the kids. Once home, I was feeling better, so I had something to eat. Big mistake. I paid for it the rest of the afternoon with terribly bubbling in my chest again. I did not throw up though. I expected to do so, but didn't. Small favors? Not really as I feel better if I do vomit. What a great post, no? This has clearly taken over my life. I hate complaining about it, but this is seriously my life here. I can't stand it! Anyway, I fed the kids and then took Shayla to Daisies. Then me, Manny and Yamira came home and killed 50 minutes and then turned back around and went to get our Daisy. Bill being at school on Monday nights is hard. I feel awful having to drag the kids out to Daisies twice just to drop off and pick up Ping, but it must be done. It's not a hardship, it's just not convenient. I rather let Manny and Yamira ease into bedtime. Once home, everyone got ready for bed and I read a nice book to them. I then went back to hours of paperwork. I got so much done today. I didn't stop till 11:15 pm. I got the taxes prepared, some stuff to be shipped, some Tastefully Simple items taken care of. A lot of odds and ends. I love days where I feel like I have actually accomplished something!!!

Happy Valentine's Day! Today I got up and headed off to an appointment with my sleep doctor. What a waste of time. All they want to do is see my CPAP machine. I was there over an hour for that. Biggest waste of time. I know it needs to be done, but I should be able to just drop off the machine as they really don't care what I have to say. Even my doctor sort of said that when I said something! After a few errands I came home and have been working at the computer ever since. Finally I am caught up here. Yay. Now I need to upload some photos, look at my to do list and maybe look at some TV before I pass out. I stayed up till 3:30 am watching a movie last night. Bad, very bad of me. The movie wasn't good either.

Hope you have a wonderful week.

Mama Out!!!!!!