Merry Christmas!!!!

Merry Christmas everyone, hope the holidays were good for everyone this year. We had a pretty good Christmas here, unfortunately Zayne had to work, but we made it work. Our Christmas started at 4 a.m.--that made for a long day. Santa brought Kyle the Nintendo DS he wanted and Kamryn got a big chair and baby doll, she is apparently LOVING the babies now (have a funny story about that later).

Kyle playing his new DS

Kamryn's new chair and "baby"

After Zayne went to work we went over to dad's to spend Christmas with the rest of my family. It was really nice--missed bro, but understand. It is so neat watching the "little ones" together. Kamryn is turning into such the girlie girl too--she is actually excited about clothes, and loves her new bracelets (thanks aunt pam).

Kamryn and Angela, Kamryn was very concerned Angela would get "her" pile.

We went up to the fire station to visit dad for awhile before going to my aunt and uncle's for Christmas dinner. Of course all day I had my camera--but not many pictures. I did get a cute picture of the three cousins at the end of the day--I think the youngest lasted the longest that day.

Okay, side note about babies I mentioned earlier. I thought about getting Kamryn some doll stuff. You know like a bed and stroller, things to take care of baby. I thought she might not be ready and to possibly wait til her birthday. We went to Zayne's family on Christmas Eve and his cousin has a baby about 9 months older than Kamryn. She had a baby with a bed and stroller--Kamryn loved it--she even tried to change the baby's poopy. I was a little sad after that, I realized Kamryn would have loved it. Well, Aunt Jenny to the rescue. Christmas morning Kamryn opened up a complete take care of baby set from her Uncle Jon, Aunt Jenny and Keelan. Kamryn loves it--woo hoo Aunt Jenny. Kamryn has even taken an old bottle I got from a shower and feeds the baby. It is so cute watching her.

Kamryn taking care of baby

Oh, and I have not forgotten about being tagged. I will try to post those in the next couple of days--I really wanted to get these Christmas memories posted.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

I know this is coming a little late, but have not had a chance to post yet. It snowed last week, yes in Houston, TX 2 weeks before Christmas it snowed. Well, it snowed South Texas style; however, some actually started to stick. Kyle was pretty excited about it, especially when he saw his basketball had snow on it--had to take pictures. Kyle was even able to make A snowball. I took some pictures--enjoy, and all you in the north who get actual snow, don't make fun :)!

It is snowing!!!!

The pond in our front yard.

Our cars.

The flower bed with Kyle's basketball. Kyle's snowball.

Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas

Okay, I know it really has been a long time--what is really bad is Zayne has been telling me everyday to update (because of course, I am doing NOTHING right now).

I guess first up would be Kamryn's update from the visit with the specialist. After the visit Zayne and I felt better about what was going on, but not really our options. Apparently the tube that connects Kamryn's kidneys to her bladder was not created the way it should be. The "tube" (which is what I call it because I can never remember the name) is supposed to go into the bladder at an angle. Kamryn's goes straight in, which allows urine to reflux back up into her kidney's. She may or may not grow out of it--so it is a waiting game at this time, since her case is a mild one. What this means, is she has to take preventive medicine every day--which for two people who do not like to rely on medicine is having a hard time coping with. However, the bottom line this is what is best for her. Since she is taking this medicine she has to have her blood checked every 6 months to make sure no ill effects of the medicine. She has to have her urine checked every 3 months and in a year we have to go back for the fun test and visit the doctor. Like I said she could grow out of it, but it could be at the age of 5 or 7. We will monitor for the next couple of years and if there is no change we may elect to do the less evasive surgery. However, if it worsens the doctor said she will have to have surgery--and we really want to try and avoid that. So for the time being, medicine every day and she can't sit in any kind of soapy water (sorry sweetie---no bubble baths yet).

Next was Thanksgiving--which was great except for Zayne having to work. Jon and Jenny came in from Dallas, Amanda came in from Austin, my cousin Kristen and her husband came in from Denver and then my other cousin and her boyfriend came in from Fort Worth. We grew up pretty close and now we are all spread out--it was so great everyone was here for Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, Christmas will be looking dim again--and Zayne has to work again this year. But guess what? He has next Christmas off YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What is most exciting about this is we don't have to get up and do Christmas at 4 a.m. I have a couple of pictures of the kiddos I will post. Side note to my wonderful sister-in-law--I have a couple of pictures of the group, but apparently those were the only ones I took.

The weekend after Thanksgiving we did our usual chopping down the Christmas tree. Kamryn was a little more into this year--big handful. Just loved running around the farm. This year was kind of nice too, we actually had to bundle up to chop down the tree-doesn't usually happen around here.

Well, I am going to close this blog for now--don't want it to end up too long. Things are hectic at work and busy at home with the holidays, but I promise I will try to update more often. The good news, after Christmas I am taking a week off work so hopefully I can catch up on things.

Here are the three little princesses Here is their prince with them Mom and dad I want this tree.

What do you mean there is a 6 foot minimum. This is the one, dad and brother cut it down.

Here is dad and brother chopping down the tree.

I got to help with some ornaments.

Sorry so long

Sorry it has been so long since I have updated, things are very busy around here. We had Kamryn's ultrasound and her kidneys are fine, so we just need to see the specialist about her reflux from the bladder. Everything is good, we have had some visits from both sides of the family, so weekends have been busy. My aunt and uncle were down from Missouri last weekend and then Zayne's sister was in town this past weekend. It was nice seeing both of them. Oh, and my sister breezed in for a couple of days at the end of this past week--unfortunately I didn't get to see her. Maybe next time. I will have to post some pictures later.

Kamryn Update

If you remember a couple of weeks ago Kamryn had the UTI and they wanted us to take her for some follow tests, we had one of those today down at Texas Children's Hospital. I did not hear the news I wanted to hear, I did not hear everything is fine. Apparently Kamryn does have some reflux of her bladder, from what I understand at this point--instead of her urine traveling out of her body, it will reflux back up to her kidneys. We have an ultrasound tomorrow to check out her kidneys and then on the 26th we are going to see a specialist. I don't have a whole lot of information right now, but I wanted to keep everyone posted. It really isn't as serious as this blog may make it, but just scary for me. The radiologist said it is still mild to moderate and she may grow out of it--so this was positive for me. Since we can't get into the specialist for a few weeks, we need to give her antibiotics until then--which we are not extremely happy about since we hate having to give her medication. I will keep everyone posted, but from what I have been told so far, I don't need to worry. As for the test itself, I am very proud of our little girl. They had to stick a catheter in her and fill her bladder up with a dye, and lay there while they took X-rays, we then had to wait for her to start peeing so they could take X-rays of that--for a 18 month old, she did great. There was quite a bit of screaming--dad and brother heard her out in the hall--but she was a trooper.

Chili Night

A few years ago I started a tradition of ours of having chili on Halloween. It works out good, I can make the chili during the day and people can show up when they want, no set times and the adults visit and eat chili while the kids trick or treat. It was a good way to have the grandparents see the kids without spending all night driving round town. This year we had some additions to the tradition--everything was nice and fun. I meant to take pictures of everyone--but didn't quite happen. I did get pictures of the kids before they went out trick or treating. Kamryn was less than cooperative at times, but still all good. Here are a few of the cute Halloween pictures.

Brother and Kamryn

Kyle with both cuties (Kamryn not so happy)

The girls waiting for pops (he took them trick or treating)

Happy Halloween!!!!!!!!

Just a few pictures from Halloween. Kamryn wore her costume to school--she will be the cutest pink poodle. I am also posting some pictures of my fellow co-workers who could not let the day go by without some fun.

My adorable Kamryn the poodle.

Here is Ike and Tina (or who we refer to as Ulysses and Kyra) Kyra said she is Brittany Spears, I think the two of them together work better as "The Turners"

Here is Joe--can you tell what college he supports (hum?)

Things are looking good

We have now gone 24 hours without a temp over 100 degrees. Kamryn's last dose of Motrin was last night and she has been able to maintain a temp around 98 and 99 on her own. I think we have finally broken the high temperatures. The on call doctor called us today to check on Kamryn and to let us know the cultures on still not in. We need to talk to her doctor tomorrow, but it looks like she is in the clear--YEAH!!! She is still really not herself, and having some problems, but at least the fever is under control. We also need to have her kidneys checked out in a few weeks. Everything seems fine--wanted to let all of y'all know.

Kamryn's UTI

Thursday afternoon I get a call from Kamryn's school, they tell me Kamryn has a high fever. I was floored, this child has never really gotten a fever, let alone a high one. I picked her up and she was burning up. I took her home, gave her some Tylenol and put her to bed. She woke up a couple of hours later and it seemed like the fever went down. What a disguise Tylenol can be. The fever went back up, more Tylenol and back to sleep. We woke up Friday morning and she had a 102.2--we are now calling the doctor. We had a 9 am appointment. After a flu swab, blood drawn and urine sample (via a catheter) the results were in. Kamryn has a urinary tract infection--actually it was so bad it was on the verge of a kidney infection. They gave her a shot of antibiotics and a prescription. We gave her Motrin and Tylenol for the fever for the next 24 hours, again we thought we were completely out of the clear. Her fever came back this afternoon. So, now it is the waiting game. We need to watch her overnight and see if the Motrin can keep her fever down. I will be honest--I am a little freaked out, but I know she will be fine. Once we get through this and her infection clears up, since she is under 3 we need to have her kidneys checked out to make sure everything is fine--doctor says routine. We will keep everyone posted.

Huh? - Are you Serious?

Okay, I really did not want to be one of those "old" people that talked about "back in my day" but something happened today that just actually made me speechless-at first. Yes, me! I get a phone call at work today and the caller ID said Klein Ind School--first thought--what did Kyle do now. Then when it was the office, I was really great, what now. To make a long story short, she proceeds to tell me there was "an altercation" during Kyle's science class and a kid hit Kyle in the back of the head and do I want to press charges. What, charges--was she serious. Once I got past that, I asked if Kyle was okay, if they are asking about charges could he be on his way to the hospital. She says oh yeah he is fine, they put ice on his head, but he was there if I wanted to talk to him. I told her I didn't think we would be pressing charges, but I would discuss with my husband--I just wanted to talk to my son. He said he was fine, his neck hurt really bad. I got off the phone and I could not believe this. Is this where our world has ended up, that there are no longer school yard fights. I by no means approve of the fighting, but when did it need to include the police because a 12 year old pushed another kid in Science class. Maybe I am missing something somewhere, but isn't that part of growing up. You get into a fight, you get detention at school and then you go home and get punished. You learn what you did was wrong and move on--no need for police. I guess this world really has changed and kids can no longer be kids. I guess I have turned into one of those "old" folks that sits around and says "back in my day". The part of the story I feel bad about is Kyle got hit in the back of the head for "turning the other cheek". Kyle is starting to have a real temper problem, I am constantly telling him to just walk away, it is not worth it. Well today the kid kept egging Kyle on and he walked away and got hit in the back of the head. I told him he didn't get in trouble though. However, I also talked to him today and told him I found out today just how much more important it is for him not to hit anyone. Not only will he probably get in trouble in school, apparently he could also get arrested nowadays.

Kyle's Flour Baby

I am not sure about everyone else out there, but I do remember the "pretend" baby when I was in school. You take a 5lb bag of flour, that has been taped up so in case it gets punctured you don't have flour everywhere, then you put a head on it, some arms and legs and dress it up. Well, last week Kyle had to take care of his flour baby. It really was cute, he did a good job. His baby even had play dates with his sister, he had to write a journal and he wrote how much his sister loved his baby. It was pretty funny, he had to take a shower and he asked Zayne to watch his baby--Zayne said sure. Zayne then proceeded to go into our room--I didn't really realize. All of a sudden Kyle comes out and asks who was watching his baby. I heard the conversation so I told him his father. Kyle replied by informing me his baby was left on the kitchen table alone. He was not happy--it was kind of funny. Hopefully he gets a good grade on it, he really put a lot of effort into it. Below are some pictures of Angelina Christine Woods.

Brad Ausmus has left the building

Okay, so those of you who really know me, you know that baseball is my thing. I am trying to get into football because Kyle loves it, but give me a baseball game any day. To go even further, my favorite baseball team is The Astros and favorite player is Brad Ausmus. Well, yesterday was a sad day for me--Brad Ausmus played his last game as an Astro yesterday. I was there, 6 rows back - behind first base. I thought when he gets on base, this will be the closest I have ever come to him and I can see him close up. The man has hit 2 home runs in his career I think, so what does he do yesterday when I have the chance to be so close--he hits a home run. What a way to go out Brad. You will truly be missed and I have really enjoyed watching you play baseball. For those of you who have not had the opportunity to admire this wonderful catcher, below is a picture (but ladies if there is ever a chance--he is mine).

Best looking catcher I know!!!!

Shelter Woods is closed

Okay, I know the storm was 2 weeks ago, but it is still very fresh around here. Here is the latest update. Mom got power Monday and once she verified her water was back up too, she went home that night, one less at the shelter. However, we gained an overnight visitor on Tuesday. Even though my dad had no power, he would still sleep at home. He would come over during the day and in the evening, but it has actually been cool enough he was able to sleep at home. Monday night he said it was getting a bit humid, and Tuesday was going to be worse--so he slept on our couch. His power finally came back on last night. Once we found out Angela was already in bed, so Tricia and Angela went home tonight--the have no cable but they have power. Kamryn does not realize yet that they went home, so the next couple of days should be interesting. Every day this week when I picked her up she would say baby on our way home. So good news--most of us have power. My uncle in Kingwood was still out as of Monday, but I don't know if they have gotten it since. Unfortunately Uncle John and Aunt Kathy (Shelter Hoose) are still out of power. They got a generator over the weekend, but Houston Humidity is no fun without an AC--so hopefully the man upstairs will find a way to get them their power on soon!!!!!

Kamryn & Angela

Kamryn and Angela have really started to get attached to each other. Kamryn will walk around saying baby, then when she sees her, her face just lights up. It is real funny when Angela is asleep then wakes up--Kamryn will jump up, say baby, and then run to the room. Kamryn really likes to help with baby, she sees up rub and pat the baby's back, so she will start to rub her leg if she gets upset. Angela is so funny too, she will start to cry and I am not kidding, all Kamryn has to do is stand in front of her and she will stop. I think once Tricia and Angela go back home, Kamryn and Angela are going to really have a hard time adjusting to being apart. I am attaching some pictures--sorry if there is a lot, but I really couldn't decide.

Kamryn gets a little territorial, no one can sit on dad's lap unless she does too.

Bath time

Just hanging out on Nana's make shift bed.

Kamryn trying to pose with baby.

Kisses!!!!

Don't we look cute in our matching PJ's. Kamryn was also trying to help.

Normal - what is normal

Well, things are getting closer to normal. I am back at work and Kyle will go back to school on Wednesday - he is actually looking forward to going back. I have still been the only one with power; HOWEVER, I believe mom has power now. I called her house and the answering machine picked up, we just don't have verification on water yet. It has been a little cramped at our house lately, but I really hate to complain--we are all alright. It is just you have your space and your way of doing things, and it is hard to adjust sometimes-but I have. Zayne sent me to get a massage yesterday-much needed and was nice. It really has not been that bad. I actually really feel bad for the rest of my family and my friend from work here--we all just want to get back to normalcy. When the storm hit and they said it could be 2-3 weeks before power got back--we all thought "yeah, right". Well, they were right. But again, I will have to say that I can't complain, we may all be a little inconvenienced, but we are alive and with little damage to any of our houses. I already know a few people who have extensive damage to the house, not livable damage. My family is very lucky and blessed, and I am thankful for that--and some day this will be one of those stories we talk about at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Hope everyone out there is well and doing alright!!! I have a lot of cute stories about Kamyrn and Angela and a few picutres--I will post later.

We made it

Well, we are almost completely back to normal. We finally got power last night and then the phone back tonight so finally able to let everyone know we are alright. Here is the "lowdown".

Shelter Hoose: They still have no power, but damage was minimal. We stopped by there and the pool was a little dirty and their fence got knocked down. Haven't inspected roof, but they seem to make it out alright.

Mom's: Still no power or water. She may have gotten some water in roof, not able to investigate too much yet and part of her fence was knocked down.

Shelter Hake: They still have no power and really no damage. A bunch of his neighbors had trees uprooted, but thankfully none hit houses.

GGPa & GG: They are still in Austin, not sure when they are going to get home. They are not real sure about the condition of their house in Clear Lake either. GG"s dad heard from a neighbor and it sounds like his house and probably GG's sister's house is okay--they live in Texas City.

Shelter Woods: Well, let me tell you sitting here with my mom and two kids listening to what sounded like the world coming down around me was not what I want to do again. The terror I had, I texted Zayne and all it said was scared. I really didn't want to worry him too much, but just really needed him. After I got to talk to him the next day, found out that in almost the heart of the storm (about 3 am up) he was out fighting a fire. When they got back the city decided it was too dangerous and they shut down service until it was safer. When it was said and done, the only thing was part of our fence was knocked down and then we found a huge branch on our roof tonight. We were very thankful and lucky, my heart and prayers really go out to everyone else out there. Kyle will go back to school on Thursday, which means so will Kamryn. As for my work, we are out for the rest of the week--maybe longer. Our building has no power and don't know when they will get it back.

Sorry this blog is so long--just seems like so much has happened. I have pictures to post. There are some of our house and then some of what we saw when we drove around. When looking at these pictures, keep in mind we are about 80 miles north of the coast, I can't imagine what some of it looks like down there.

Here are pictures of our backyard.

Here are some pictures of my dad's street:

One of his neighbors' taunting Ike.

Here are some of when we were driving around:

We saw this one on the news, luckily the people weren't home, so no one got hurt.

Last Update for now

Well, it is starting to look like rain here and it is looking really bad down at the shore already, so this will be my last update for awhile. Not that I am "signing off" for good; however, I am shutting down my computer and unplugging it--can't afford to lose it right now. Heard from Shelter Hake and sounds like they are doing fine. Shelter Hoose called a little while ago and they good to go. Shelter Woods has their all the beds set up in the living room and we are ready to ride out the storm together. We will watch it as long as we can. As I am wrapping this up I can hear the winds picking up. Good thing these days, with cell phones if we do lose electricity and land lines, we can still keep in touch with each other.

Cool Picture

Okay, no update; but I saw this picture and i thought it was pretty cool. This is the seawall down at Galveston. Except for the terror this brings, I think the crashing waves are pretty cool. I think that person needs to be heading home though--or he will be on the news soon.

Okay, not a big update, but look at the pretty picture, I wasn't really a big color red fan. So, mom has decided that being alone may not be the best, so she is coming to Shelter Woods; however, she did bring her cat to Shelter Hoose. Yes, there is another shelter I didn't mention, my uncle will be hunkering down at his house. Things are well at Shelter Hake I believe too, but my "very intelligent" father is at work. I am going to call that Lake Hobby. Yes, he works about 40 miles south--closer to Ike. He has assured me that he will be leaving and heading back to Shelter Hake about 11 or 12. Spoke to GG last night, they made it safely to Austin.

Our good ole Anthony Yanez

Ike Update

Okay, well Kyle has no school so neither does Kamryn. My office closed Friday, they actually shut us down at 3 today so our IT department could shut down the servers and do their computer thing to secure our stuff. So, Zayne and I are cleaning up the "torpedoes" tonight and then he will be off to work in the morning. I need to move the computer, I am going to try to move it so it is still accessible, but we will see. If you are in the Gulf Coast Region--stay dry and safe!!!!

Hurricane Ike

Well fellow friends and family-here comes another storm. Not much to update at this point, we are just waiting to see if Kyle's school will be closed. If Kyle's school is closed, then Kamryn's will be and we will all be home!!! This time it will not be as bad as missing work with the last one, the real busy time is over and we are trying to get ahead with the anticipation of not being here. Where will we all be. Right now here is the plan: GG and GGPa are headed to Austin, much to my grandfather's dismay. He was already to stick it out; however, Mayor White had other plans for his zip code. Dad's trip to Dallas has been canceled--I know it would be safer there, but can we remember parking lot Rita a few years ago. So him, Tricia and Angela are going to be at Shelter Hake. Right now mom is going to stay at her house, unless it gets bad, then she will be coming to Shelter Woods. Zayne has to work on Friday, so it will just be me and the kids--but we are troopers and will be fine (working on the "strong for the kids" attitude). I am really not overly freaked, yet, just going to secure what I can tonight and make sure we have the essentials and see what happens. As long as I have electricity and Internet access I will try to keep all you non Gulf Coast family and friends updated. Hey, maybe this storm will bring some weather pictures, we had none last time.

Corn on the Cob

I am a little late with this post, but the pictures are too cute to not post. Labor Day weekend we spent at my grandparents house in Clear Lake. Well actually Kamryn and--Zayne had a cook off in Pasadena (which wasn't far so we spent the day there) and Kyle got to take a trip to St. Louis. Corn on the cob is a good summer veggie and what a way to end the summer with some last corn on the cob. I didn't think Kamryn could eat the corn off the cob, so I scraped some off onto her plate. She looked at everyone else eating the corn off the cob, looked at hers on the plate and then looked at me like I was crazy. So, needless to say Kamryn is able to eat corn on the cob--with a little help.