four people. 12 times. january edition

in my blog hopping last night, i came across this personal project via tara whitney's blog. if you don't want to click over there, in short, she's vowed to take a family photo at least once a month---nothing planned or stressful involved--just a snapshot. and then blog random details about each individual in the family.

i usually blog way more personal stuff, than i do scrapbooking, but lately the scrapbooking has kinda taken over the blog. LOL. that's what happens when i finished 40 layouts, 15 cards & 3 frames in the month of January.

so, now january is missing a whole lot of details that shouldn't go unnoticed (for my memory anyway).

only problem is.....i don't have my camera back yet. so this month is pictureless. but i'm not letting that stop me! it sounded like the perfect way to update my family readers without being overwhelmed on where to start.

so here it goes. right now....

the kids are bickering a lot. i won't lie, it's grating on my nerves and wearing me thin. the walls feel like they are closing in on us. everything is a "that's no-fair" competition between them. kinda exhausting when you have two girls who's interests are at the opposite ends of the spectrum, but yet everything the other gets to do is "no fair".

ashlyn is really into watching iCarly and Brain Surge, which is a kids game show on Nickelodeon with lots of visual puzzles testing your concentration & memory skills. this then gets her jazzed up to play "teacher" with emma by drawing lessons on her super large dry erase board. for her birthday she asked for a Smart Board. it's the new wave of teaching in schools now and she wants one. bad. ha.

she also came home last week with another All A report card and was recognized at an assembly as the only one in her class to make that acheivement. we're super proud of her.

emma is finally, not sick! that's a huge thing to celebrate. we found a new daily medication that is helping keep every little sniffle from turning into full-blown bronchitis. at least for now anyway. i think 5 of the last 60 days she's been full blown healthy. her testing for cystic fibrosis & immune deficiency came back normal too! YAY!

but, that means we're on our way to starting weekly allergy shots after getting a whole new set of allergy testing done since it's been 2 1/2 years since the last round. that's scheduled for march 9.

both girls got their second dose of H1N1, and the staff worked beautifully with ashlyn this time. waiting to do it on her terms after answering all her questions, waiting for her to calm down and by golly, this time it didn't take several people to hold her down to get it done. and she didn't even cry afterward. MAJOR celebration happening after that.

i'm noticing she's finding new ways to deal with some of her sensory issues....adapting. but also still seeing her get frustrated at herself knowing that there are just some things that she can't overcome. yet. it's frustrating for all of us really.

why the shots? well ashlyn will be starting chemo Feb 20 for her morphea. we've had to wait for what seems like forever because she had to have the shots first. i have a whole update on that. for another post.

what else?
oh, the girls are now begging for a Wii after suzi brought hers over one evening. for now it will just have to be a novelty with all the other medical expenses we have. someday. we had a houseful that night with my brother and his son over too.

emma somehow got her hand stepped on. after a week of swelling and pain, and icing it and taping it, an x-ray told us it was a hairline fracture. no cast, just keep taping it. she seems to be fine with it now.

i can't forget----ashlyn turned 8! but i think i actually blogged about that. her party is in a few weeks--we're bringing summer to winter with an indoor pool party at a local hotel. she's over the moon excited about it.

enough about the kiddos. doug's been enjoying watching wrestling clips over and over and laughing at seeing himself on television. he was treated to ringside seats to the WWE event that was in columbus a week or so ago.

he took a rainbow clown wig and a sign that said "I Thought I Was Going to See the Jonas Brothers!" so the kids were sure to be able to pick him out of the crowd. he came home saying it was the best night of his entire life. one thing is for sure, the boy just knows how to have fun.

he's also enjoying reading the book Open, an autobiography about Andre Agassi. and currently has a friendly Xbox competition going on with his friend Oliver.

i'm struggling again with depression and feeling like i talked about in this post. not quite feeling like i did in this post--thankfully. i'm thankful that i used those times to blog about it. it helps give me a reference to where i'm at now and where i've been since then.

really, i don't so much know that i'm depressed per se, but more overwhelmed. it is hard for me to tell the difference sometimes.

regardless, i know the feelings have crept up because life was totally completely out of balance in january with the insane number of projects and all of life's other stresses, namely financial and medical.

i'm looking forward to regaining some balance, rescuing my house from the chaotic disorder it became victim to with all those january deadlines and showing depression the exit door.

i'll start by going back to counseling tomorrow. i haven't been in about 5 weeks due to circumstances on my end and an unexpected emergency for my counselor.

i'm also super thankful that i find time to blog so i can remind myself i felt the same way last year. i needed to read that reminder to myself again. if you didn't read "my house is suffering" that i posted last year.....please do.

lots of other exciting things are happening....a few which i can't talk about quite yet.
i still have loads and loads of scrapbook projects to share.
and links to some cool stuff.
and some free tutorials!

all coming soon......to this blog. right here. stay tuned friends!

and if you are participating in tara's monthly family snapshot challenge, link me to your post in the comments. pretty please.