The BIG 30

So I've been delaying this post for about 2 weeks now.

I think it's time to accept it and move on. :)

I turned the BIG THIRTY!!!

Maybe I just don't want to let go of the entire week of ongoing celebrating that occurred cause it was AWESOME!!!

Johnny called me to bring him something at the fire station that he had forgotten at home and when I got there my sister was hiding behind the fire truck. She lives in Canada and I had just talked to her the day before so I was floored. It was one of the best surprises EVER! During the week my sister and I had gone out for Mani/Pedis and when I got home there were all my friends and family........SURPRISE!!!

Johnny had planned a surprise birthday party for me and did such a great job. Thanks to everyone that came and helped out. It was such a memorable evening. He had invited a bunch of people from different parts of my life and it was so great to see everyone.

At the party he played a montage that he had put together for me. If you have nothing better to do than watch the last 30 years of my life you should watch at 

http://gallery.me.com/fishfamily#100024

It was so thoughtful and brought me so much joy.

Then on my actual birthday we went and stayed at Caesars Palace and had dinner then after dinner he surprised me with Salsa Dancing lessons. It was so FUN! 

Too bad I didn't get any video of us dancing to post, it would have been hilarious.

Thanks so much to everyone that helped me celebrate. 

It was THE BEST BIRTHDAY :)

Last day of 2008 :(

     

I don't know why but I HATE New Years Eve. 

Maybe because Johnny has worked almost every New Years since we've met, maybe because it reminds me of how fast the time goes by, maybe it's because I think it's overrated cause everyone stays up till midnight and yells "Happy New Year" and then thats it it's over, (I mean listen to the New Years Eve music it's so depressing)maybe it's cause I think of a good year ending instead of a good one starting.

I don't exactly know the reason but I don't enjoy this "holiday" at all. 

I know this is a lame post and it's pessimistic but it is what it is.

I am going to work on an attitude adjustment and try and enjoy myself tonight and have fun. I should consider it a pre New Years resolution and I will have THE BEST TIME!!!!

I hope everyone has a fun and safe night. 

Happy Holidays

We hope all our friends and family have a safe and happy holiday.

SNOW in VEGAS!!!

 I grew up in CANADA so I was so excited for the girls to wake up to snowflakes and Tobogganing for you Americans aka Sledding. :)

                      Time for some Hot Chocolate and a movie. :)

All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth...

So my "Bubble Boy" has just turned 1. 

(A few of my friends have given him this nickname since according to them I don't take him out of the house)

The poor baby has been teething his top front teeth forever!!! Hopefully they will come soon.Well since I always get crap for not posting pictures of him or taking him into the daylight. 

Here is an overload. ENJOY!!

Gobble Gobble.

My family came into town from Canada for my Dads 70th birthday and so I had 13 people over at my house for Thanksgiving dinner. 

This is the ONLY shot I managed to get. I'm so pathetic.

Hope everyone had a nice holiday.  :)

Where does the time go???

Isabela turned the BIG 5 a few weeks a go(I know I'm such a slacker). Thanks Tara for keeping me on my toes and threating my life if I don't update!! LOL

We had so much fun celebrating her birthday. Wait let me rephrase that SHE had so much fun celebrating her Birthday. As it turned out to be a WEEK LONG!!!

First she got to have a get together with some friends at one of her favorite places the Little Pastry Chefs. We also had a party for her at our house with Johnnys family and it was so much fun. Her birthday is the 8th of October and her Uncle Jasons is the 10th. Last year we did them together and she got a kick out of it. This year was no different. When we went to pick out the cake her exact words were " OUR cake was princess last year so we should do Barbie this year..I think Jason will like Barbie". Jason it was so nice of you to let her keep the cake topper again this year. The things you do for us is amazing!!!

She even made sure she blew up a few extra blue ballons cause he told her that was his favorite color. I find it adorable that the two of them get to share something special together. Oh and Jason Thanks for teaching my daughter that only smart people are born in October cause now the rest of us are apparently idiots!!!

Angelina

Our darling Angelina has been cracking us up lately.

Johnny was teaching the girls about Fire Safety

and he was explaining them the stop, drop and roll.

So when he was done he quizzed the girls.

Daddy: Ok girls so what do you do if your clothes catch on fire?

Isabela (loud and proud): STOP DROP AND ROLL

Daddy: Good Job Isabela! Angelina, what do you do if your clothes catch on fire?

Angelina: BUY NEW CLOTHES!!!!!

The girls were playing in the backyard and Isabela comes running in to tell my mother that Angelina wasn't being nice to her. My mom called Angelina into the house.

Grandma: Angelina, Is that true that you were being rude to Isabela?

Angelina: I don't know I have to think about it......

Back to the above Fire Safety lesson. Johnny had told the girls about smoke and how it is very dangerous to inhale. He also told them that lighters and matches were dangerous.

The next day Angelina comes running upstairs in tears.

Angelina: Mommy call 922 the house is on fire. 

Mommy: What? Were?

Angelina: The dishwasher.

I go running downstairs and see that its the dishwasher steam coming from the top.

Mommy: I am very proud of you for coming to get me but that is steam not smoke. (Then a 30 minute lesson about difference on steam and smoke)

Angelina: OK Mommy but you have to throw out your candles and lighters or daddy will put you in time out!!

MUCH BETTER

Things around this Fish Tank have been much better lately!!!

Here are some current pictures of Johnny.

POOR BABY!! PART 2

So the below post was done a little too soon.. 

We THOUGHT he was all better !! At least thats what the doctors told us.

Friday morning he woke up with a HUGE knot (the size of a candy bar in length) on the left side of his body and the scar from the surgery was bright red. We took him straight to the Doctors and ofcourse with the luck we have been having, our original surgeon was out of town so they told us again to go "straight t

o the emergency room".

 Once we got to Sunrise Childrens Hospital a different general surgeon came in and found that (after several more tests) he had a deep tissue infection and he needed to be admitted to the hospital for 48 hours for IV antibiotics (they work faster)

. Since I am nursing him I got admitted with him. 

After only 24 hours they saw that the treatment wasn't working and they decided to do ANOTHER surgery to "clean it out".  So Sunday morning at 7am he had his 2nd surgery. When they got out of surgery they saw that the infection was so severe that they wanted him to stay admitted for 4 more days. To be honest at this point I was too scared to go home. When the cultures came back they found that he had gotten a STAPH infection from the first surgery. Something happened during the first surgery

 to cause this.They said sometimes if something isn't properly sterile or if someone doesn't wear a mask etc. this can happen. We wont find out

 exactly what caused it for a while.

I have to say that as a mother I was relived that it wasnt something I had done wrong at home by caring for him but that relief quickly turned to 

anger as i realised that not only was it the hospitals fault but that we had been in the ER 2 times saying that he was sick after the initial surgery and just got sent home.

 

As a mother everytime they would come in and wake him up (every 2 hours to do vitals) or prick him for labs or redo his IV 10 times because they couldnt get it right, It was like adding fuel to a fire. I was getting more and more 

upset that he was going through all of this because of someone elses carelessness. My husband keeps telling me its an honest mistake but I definetly need to work on my forgiveness because it was almost too much to bare.

I missed my girls terribly. I have never gone that long without being with them. As those of you that know me and often tease me about "never leaving them" can understand how hard it was for me. I did not want them coming to a childrens hospital for fear of them getting sick and for preventing them from seeing the true sadness in a hospital floor full of sick children. 

We got sent home on Wednesday and slowly recooperating. He is still on antibotics and his wounds need extensive cleaning but hopefully in a few weeks he will be all better.

Again I want to thank all of you who really stepped up and showed our family how much you care. It is those of you who share a special place in my heart and I wont ever forget your service to us when we needed it the most.

Here are some pictures. I left out the really sad ones.

Hope my next post it a bit more uplifting.

                                       On My way to 2nd Surgery

THIS SUCKS!!!                                         

 Done with surgery and 

already feeling better!!!

POOR BABY!!

Our baby boy had to have a minor outpatient surgery last Wednesday. All went well. The next day he was AMAZING. Such a tough little guy.

Then Friday things took a turn for the worse. He started to run a high temp of 104 and was VERY lethargic and wouldn't eat very well. The surgeon told us to go to the ER to run tests. We went to the ER and after A MILLION TESTS they still couldn't tell us what was wrong with him. They were concerned because he didn't show any signs of a cold and all his lab results were coming back normal except for a very high White blood cell count. They knew he had an infection from the surgery but didn't know where. They had done so many tests that they decided to do a spinal tap. So this poor child in a span of 2 days had surgery, numerous IVS, he was intubated, had a catheter, x rays, Blood labs taken, 2 epidurals and a spinal tap.

I cannot begin to explain the pain I was feeling in this picture. I felt so helpless as a mother and it broke my heart to see his little face looking to me for comfort when I couldn't possibly do anything to help.

We went to sunrise hospital everyday until Monday and they gave him antibiotics. To this day we still don't know what he had but he is better and that's all that matters.

My husband is so good about being humble and knowing that things could always be worse. He is a great support to me  BUT I have to say that as a mother even though this wasn't that bad on the grand scheme of things, I have never been through anything this heart wrenching. My heart goes out to all mothers and fathers that have to deal with their children's health in jeopardy.

I wanted to say thanks to my mom for coming down to the hospital with me to hold my hand. I might be a mother of 3 and ALMOST 30 but you always need a mom. She means so much to me. My mom also took the girls to pick out toys for the baby when he got out of the hospital, which was a huge hit.  There are times when I truly don't know what I'd do without her. 

THANK YOU so much to those of you who came by, called, dropped off dinner or treats or took my poor girls out of the house. The love and support means so much to me. To those who didn't get a phone call back or had no clue what was going on, I am sorry but I wasn't in the right frame of mind to talk.

Lets hope next week goes a lot better!!!

THIS IS JUST FOR YOU TARA!!

So Tara put this cute Quiz up on her blog "which Disney Princess are you?" and I thought Neat, I'll give it a try. Of course all my friends results are Snow White, Sleeping Beauty,Ariel etc. all the typical beautiful princesses and I get WHAT?

I hope you are laughing!!

:)-

You Are Megara!


Charming and witty. You are always the first person to come up with a wisecrack. Sure, you have an attitude, but that's why people love you. You keep them on their toes. Sometimes you can be misleading, but always end up doing the right thing for the people you love.
Which Disney Princess Are You?

UH OHH!!!

My sister and I have the below infamous picture that was taken at my granmothers house in France. Its famous in our family as the "chicken pox" picture. My sister and I were such little trouble makers when we were little and here we both are SO SICK and still managed to trash my grandmas place and get totally decked out in dress up clothes.

Well below that picture is of my girls at the exact same spot doing the exact same thing!!!! (Minus the chicken pox) about 25 years later...

All I have to say is if they will be half as BAD as me and my sister , I'm in for a rough few decades. LOL

Happy Anniversary Babe!!!!

So today is our 8 year wedding anniversary.

I woke up this morning and looked at the clock and it was 7am. I haven't been able to see 7am in a long time. My kids get up at 6am. Next thing you know I heard them coming up the stairs with chocolate chip pancakes. Johnny called in sick and it was such a nice surprise. We are going to the Paris tonight where he proposed to have a night out.

I got out the wedding video, pictures,my dress, tiara, shoes etc. and had a fun time showing the girls all of it . They LOVED it. They asked me when I would "marry daddy again so they could see". I thought it was so cute and it brought so much joy to know how happy they get knowing how much their parents love eachother. I told them mabybe for our 10 year we will dress up and put on a show for them. :)

The girls have been at summer camp for the last few weeks and one of the teachers got flowers from her husband for her birthday. The teacher pulled me aside and told me "When my husband left, Isabela came running up to me and said "you got flowers cause your husband loves you very much. Daddys bring flowers to mommies all the time cause they love them, not just for birthdays but my mommy doesnt teach camp she just answers the door at home".

Honey-Thank you for being such a HUGE example to our daughters of the type of man they should marry. I knew the day I met you that you would turn out to be everything I ever wanted in a man. Thanks for living up to all of my RIDICULOUS expectations!!

It has been an awesome 8 years and I love you so much.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

BACK FROM PARADISE!!

We've been back from Jamaica for a while now and I haven't posted anything because the truth is I'm in DENIAL!!!

We went to an all inclusive Beaches resort and it was AMAZING. When we got home and I realised I actually had to come back to reality, the tears almost came... I had been spoiled for 2 weeks or carefree paradise but I have finally gotten back to being a normal functioning part of this household (or so I'd like to think). The girls ask everday when we can go back !!

Here are some of the pictures!!!

The tide kept ruining her castle so all I could get was a picture of her with a thumbs down sign!!!

Angelina kept making these faces when she'd taste the salt water.

We had a beautiful date on the beach. (Bachelor style). They set up a cabana on the beach with candles and rose petals. It was a 5 course meal and it was amazing. THANKS BABE!!

Also thanks to my sister for watching the 3 kids.

The resort had 12 water slides and they were all so much fun!!

The girls getting covered with sand with their cousin and my sister in law!!

My boys just chillin Jamaican style!!

Our little family

They loved all the sesame street character activities. Especially the ones with Zoe and Abby!!


The Nicest waitress I have EVER had. She LOVED the girls and let them go in the back and "help" bring us our meals. They wanted to eat there every night.

They got their hair braided on the last day