Meet my other followers...

Oh that's right...no one else played the game. No one else left me a message, has a blog that I can stalk them at or wanted to be featured. So i guess there's only one thing left to do. Tell you about me.

So here it goes. Ready or not, here I am!

My real name is not Cindy Lou Who, although my grandfather use to call me "Cindy Lou" when I was little. My middle name is not Lou. I have no idea why he called me that. I use to think it was adorable, my own special name. Then it just became annoying. It made me feel like I was from the south.

I am happily (at times) married to my wonderful (when he's sleeping) husband for 16 years now. We've been together 19 years. I still have no idea how that can be, since I'm not even that old. I met DH at the local lake. I was there with a bunch of girlfriends, he was there with a bunch of guys, we were on the beach laying out, looking cool, music playing, when all these guys in 2 boats pulled up and beached next to us. We wanted a ride. It was really hot. And no matter how much we flirted and raised our girls to be perky, those dang boys ignored us. Or so I thought. The guys were playing Frisbee in the water, and it landed by us. I ran and grabbed it and made them come over and talk to us to get it back. The rest is history. Except one of the boats was DH's. I didn't know that. And the part about him asking my cousin for my phone number, so when he called, I had no idea which boy he was. So it was like a blind date on our first date. And because I didn't know him, I made him make it a double date with my cousin. I don't think he was too happy about that, but he played along. And look what he got out of it! ME! :o)

We tried for a long time to have our son, Austin. Every month it was heart breaking. I wanted to be a mom so bad. And I was beginning to feel like I never would be. Now I know other couples have it way harder then we did. But it felt like forever. We were on vacation in Oregon, when I had an inkling something was up. So when we stopped for gas, I ran in without DH's knowing and bought a PG test. At the hotel the next morning I took it. It was Positive. I screamed. I made DH's get out of bed (it was 6am) to come look. DH's reaction was less then stellar. He had won an award and celebrated the night before a little too much and had a bad hangover. I was not happy with DH's and never let him live it down.

So our son is now 13-1/2 and just started Freshman year at High School. This boy we wanted so badly was born a 6wk Preemie. He was skin and bone, hairy all over and hooked up to all kinds of machines. He was a very sick little boy his first year of life. Then something clicked in him. And he suddenly was a rambunctious little boy. He has played Soccer since he was 4 years old and Baseball since Kindergarten. He is a sweet, loving (when he wants something), honest (he hasn't mastered lying yet), Mommas Boy (he really is, don't let him tell you different). I'm having a hard time this year with him growing up. Puberty has taken it's ugly hands and placed them on my boy. In 2-1/2 months he has grown 4 inches, 1-1/2 shoe sizes and gained 20 lbs. I now have to look UP to him. He laughs at me allot now and calls me "Shorty". He's grounded until he's 20.

Not really.

Our beautiful daughter, Emily, came along 3-1/2 years later. She was easy to conceive but difficult to carry. I was in preterm labor the whole pregnancy. But I made it, and she only came one week early and was born on Mother's Day, 2000. She was the joy and light of our lives. Austin was so proud to be a big brother. She was Daddy's girl all the way and Mommy's heart.

At her 3mo check up, she was given her immunization shots and home we came. I noticed that she was really fussy and wouldn't eat. When I tried to feed her, the milk would run out her mouth. Then I noticed over the few hours that her face was swelling up. I called the doctor and they said to bring her in. They had to give her Benadryl shots for the allergic reaction she was having to one of the shots. Not once, but twice. They reported it to the CDC and sent us home. From that day forward, our little girl was never the same. She would just lay there on her blanket or bouncer, and just stare into space. She was content to do nothing. She never made a peep, never tried to play with her toys, never tried to crawl. She hardly ever cried. She just laid there. At every milestone doctors appointment, I raised my concerns that she wasn't developing normally. She wasn't sitting up, she wasn't crawling, she had no muscle tone. I was patted on the hand and told not too worry, that she was just a late bloomer and that by the time she was 1yr, they all catch up. But my Mommas gut told me different. She didn't sit up until she was 8mos old. She didn't crawl (she could only crab-like crawl) until she was 1 yr. She wasn't speaking other then ba-ba. At her 1yr check up, I insisted she be seen by someone. Within 5 minutes of seeing Emily, the Pediatric Neurologist knew what was wrong. We had to drive over 2 hours to see him as there wasn't one in our town. It was the longest car ride home ever. We were both crying.

Emily was Autistic Spectrum, with Developmental Delay and Sensory Integration. Each of these things being a major hurdle, each one brought with it it's own challenges for her and us. And many times they worked against each other. I immediately went into fight mode. She was in P.T 3x a week, O.T. 2x week, and Speech Therapy 1x week. We had exercises, charts, directions, programs, leg braces, pool therapy, sensory therapy, brushing her skin, watching her like a hawk for signs of distress. She finally started walking on her 2nd birthday, and had a vocab of about 30 words along with sign language. We never gave up. Although at times I wanted too. She didn't sleep at night. She had anxiety attacks and she would screamed all night long. Medications didn't work. DH's and I both worked Full Time during all this, so I took all my vacation time and would let him sleep at night and stay with Emily so he could go to work. I once went 10 days with no sleep. I literally fell apart and called my mom and cried. She sent my dad and sister over to take care of Emily and let me sleep. My sister went grocery shopping for me, I hadn't had milk in the house in 3 days but couldn't leave to go get it. And it was then that I realized I needed help, and asking was the hardest part.

Emily is now a beautiful 10yr old, who excels at her own speed. She is in a Special Ed class, but also goes to her Regular Ed class for 1/4 of her day. She only has speech now 2x a week, and no longer needs OT other then to train her teachers every year. PT is now modified P.E. and she is doing wonderful that this may be her last year.

My favorite hobbies are watching my kids play sports (I get really crazy and cheer loudly), scrapbooking, SAMMY HAGAR (he deserves all caps as I really LOVE him), traveling, friends, Bunco, Shopping, Pedicures, Getting my nails done, Massages, Sleeping in but even better are mid-afternoon naps and starring at my handsome DH's face. I live a privileged life of having my family around me that I don't take for granted. Family is extremely important and if you cross one, you cross us all and you better watch out. I am the YOUNGEST ( I really like saying that) of my Brother and Sister, and I have 6 nieces and nephews who I adore as if they were my own. We celebrate milestones with each of them, and cherish the moments. My Catholic Faith has gotten me through many painful and hard times in my life. I may not make it to church every Sunday, but I know where my roots are and how to get back there. God will forever be in our lives.

A few years ago, I read something that turned the light on for me and believe in whole-heartily. When the going gets tough, and we all ask "Why me God?", it is then that God is showing us the way back to him and reminding us he is there. If things went smoothly in life, what would there be to pray about? He tests us, with these obstacles that we think we can not possibly overcome. So we will rely on him to guide us through it. He is reminding us that he is there.

"It is what it is"

Now Move on...

Peace and Love to you all, and thank you for being apart of my wacky world!
XOXO