Got that done

I had my skin cancer surgery this afternoon. It wasn't too bad - the worst part was having to wait an hour and a half and getting more and more nervous (and frustrated) the longer I sat there. Teaghan had a great nap in the waiting room, so of course 1/2 way through the surgery she started crying. So now it's time for me to learn to love my pastey skin...29 with skin cancer is not cool! Ugghhh. My head feels really funky right now - I want to take a nap but I'm waiting for Gabriel to get home. Hopefully I can rest tonight...I feel so weird!

It's all worth it...

I hope this works...click the link for a video.
http://s72.photobucket.com/albums/i186/carenbearden/?action=view&current=552.flv

Ahhhh, the stresses!

Soooo, on top of the top secret events that have been occurring (most of you already know, but I am keeping it a secret to some...), things have been SOOO trying this week. Mainly it's been issues with health - everyone in the house has been sick at one point or another in the past 2 1/2 weeks. Luckily, Mr. Garrett was hit the least (knock on wood...) - he had ear pain one day during nap time at school, and one quick trip to Dr. Pielop's solved that. Teaghan had been diagnosed the day before with a double ear infection. A week later Hayley woke up, the day before her 6th birthday party, with a 101.7. Off to Pielop's again - sinusitis and antibiotics. On the day of her party she was still running a fever - luckily the tylenol worked and she still had a good time. Gabriel was also sick while Hayley was. The day after Hayley's birthday (the 17th) she had her 6 year well visit. 42 lbs, 3' 7 1/2 (25th % for both), and she got the chicken pox vaccine booster, which she had a reaction to and her arm blew up for 4 days after. That afternoon Will was super fussy...he was running fever. A few hours later, Teaghan was, too...finally, by Saturday they were fever-free. Teaghan is on another round of antibiotics for an ear infection in her left ear. Will's left ear was also infected, but due to his antibiotic allergy we let it heal on its own. Hooray - finally, today everyone seems to be well....

Of course things got a little crazy when Gabriel took a message from my dermatogist on Thursday night. He got to be the one to let me know that I had skin cancer, and I am sooo thankful it was him that broke the news to me. I had a weird red itchy spot on my chest for a long time...after looking back at pictures it has definitely been there for over a year. Anyway, I had it biopsied on Valentine's Day - she told me that she doubted it was anything to worry about since I was so young, but apparently it was cancerous and I will have it removed on Tuesday afternoon. I have researched and found out that it could be caused by sun exposure when I was young, which really worries me for Hayley since she shares her moms fair skin. I will definitely be letting Tommy know to keep her covered this summer.

On the fun side, Teaghan has her Sip and See at Beauty's house on Wednesday. I'm looking forward to that - I even bought a new outfit yesterday for both of us. :-)

Just stuff

Yesterday was a crazy day! I met with a girl from a mom's group that I found on meetup.com - they had to see me before they approved my membership. Found out last night that she actually taught with Gabriel when I was pg with Will and she was pg with her son - she and Gabriel talked boy's names and were both in the same department! Too funny. I knew I'd either know someone in the group or find someone who knew Gabriel - usually it's the later since he grew up here. Anyway, we have our first playdate on Thursday with other 2 year olds. I'm really excited about it.

I also decided to get rid of the kids playroom. I really feel like Hayley needs her own space...she is growing up and poor thing doesn't really have her own space. So last night she helped me clear out the toys in here - lots of things went to the trash and so far we have two bags full of toys "for kids who don't have any toys." She was excited about the opportunity to donate to other children...it made it much easier for her to part with some things! So the boys have all the "boy toys" in their room now and this one is getting cleared out a little at a time. The only issue now is my computer in here and the tv. We really need a gameroom! But we're trying to make-do with what we have for now...hopefully someday we'll be in something that will fit our big family. :-)

We also found out that Hayley is having trouble with a little girl in her class. She has been telling me every morning as we get to the carpool line at her school that she is sick, doesn't feel good, has a fever, needs to go home...on and on. Found out last night that she thinks she's not good at anything, that she just scribbles. Come to find out a little girl has been making fun of her. :( Poor baby! So Gabriel and I talked to her about it and she said a prayer for the situation at bedtime. She prayed that God would help her not to tattle and that she'd be able to ignore her! Funny. We decided that when the girl said something mean to her, that instead of getting upset, Hayley's going to say something nice to her (we used the "I like your shirt" as an example for her to say.). I hope her day goes better today! It's so sad when your child meets her first "meany." Boo on them!

Ted and Kristen's wedding is this weekend - I will be leaving Teaghan with my mom for a long time! I'm sure all will go well, but this little girl better start taking a bottle better or it'll be a bust!

Super Dad!

Last night Gabriel definitely proved to me that he is an amazing father! He sent me off to the movies with his mom and sister while he took care of the kids. He was at his parents for an hour or two without the women - so there were 6 kids there and Gabriel and his dad. He left around 7:30 and managed to feed Teaghan a bottle (which is NOT an easy task), get the kids bathed, dressed for bed, and put to sleep by himself! I am SOOO impressed...he is truly a super dad. :-)
Just had to share...I was proud of him!

What a beautiful day!

After a week of dreary weather, the beautiful sun is a welcomed sight. Gabriel's team did really well - they came in 3rd in the tournament after a tough game. They suffered their first loss of the season, but how wonderful that Gabriel is able to coach a winning team! I know it's nice for him to win after the rough football seasons his school has.

Just a bit on the kids - Hayley and Garrett got new bikes for Christmas and were out riding them this afternoon. Fun!!

Teaghan has been sleeping in her crib upstairs for a week now. She absolutely loves her rainforest crib thing...it lights up and the little monkey moves back and forth...and of course it plays music. Since Hayley came back from her weekend at her dads last weekend, Teaghan has slept great and hasn't woken up before 6 am yet! She is such a great sleeper. When she goes to the nursery at church and at the gym, the caregivers always comment on what a laid back, sweet heart she is. She really does just go with the flow, which is SO nice when you have 3 other kids!

Dad and his dog Ranger came by this morning to meet the newest addition to our family. Hico has been with us for nearly 2 weeks now...he's 12 weeks old and is doing great. I know...just what we needed, right?! Gabriel really loves having a dog, and we knew if we were going to have one compatible with our family we needed to get a puppy. It's been work, but he's precious.

Teaghan also started eating rice cereal this week. She's not too excited about it...I'm sure she will be when we introduce fruits and veggies later, though. For now, she's content with nursing. That's going well and I hope to continue until this summer. It's so much cheaper and definitely convinent! Only drawback is that I am not losing weight like I would like, but I know once we're done breastfeeding I'll shed the pounds much quicker.

Ugghhh, I hear the boys fighting...again!

My first entry

So much goes on in the Bearden household each day - there are so many funny things that each child says and does. Hayley and Garrett are both in school full time now and are learning SO much - it's so amazing to see their little minds expand each day. And William's vocabulary is just exploding! And precious Teaghan...I cannot believe she is already 4 months old. She is laughing now and enjoying taking everything in.

The other night Hayley told us that the Pilgrams came over to America on a ship called The Calliflower...how priceless is that! Gabriel and I just laughed and laughed over that one!

Garrett continues to tell us just how handsome he is...he is too much!!

Gabriel just came home from his basketball tournament...gotta go see how his team did.