I'm back

I've been MIA from the blog world for quite a while. Life got a bit hectic, well more hectic than usual, and it seemed more and more difficult to start back up again.
Things are really no less hectic -- but, maybe I can manage at this point?

So that's it for today.

Nothing about the kids.

I'm just back.

old, new blog OR new, old blog

The first time I tried blogging was a couple of years ago. I got as far as three posts... I never deleted it though.
I liked the name Mikey's Wife
I finally decided that I would use it as my "photo blog". I will use it for the Photo Challenges and just to share pictures that I take, but not really for updates about our family, like this one.
I started off with going back through a few of my favorite old pictures -- I have a lot -- or I should say, all my favorite old digital pics and some that have been scanned.
I am not even close to being caught up to present day ~
But you can still come by check them out!

(you can also follow me there at the bottom of the page)

the versatile blogger

I was awarded The Versatile Blogger Award twice this week from two of my favorite Bloggers ~ I am very thankful to both of them for thinking of me!

Kerry from It's the Little Things... has a very fun blog and lives in Australia! 

(how cool is that?) 

She cracks me up talking about her pet peeves, is misguided in her belief that 

Vampires could defeat The Force 

and she needs to watch read Gone With the Wind. 

I love checking out her pictures of her adorable kids!

Jazmin over at The Miller's Happily Ever After often blogs words 

{and photos} of inspiration. 

I adore the questions she asks on her 

Star Struck Saturday 

and am crazy for the matching outfits she puts on her girls!

Both Kerry and Jazmin also leave the nicest comments ~ Please make sure and visit them, as they would be at the top of my list of Versatile Bloggers had they not awarded it to me first ~

the rules of The Versatile Blogger Award are as follows:

Thank the person who gave you the award by linking back to them in your post.
Tell us seven things about yourself.
Award up to fifteen recently discovered bloggers.

seven things about me:
{from my first Award}

• I am thinking I should finally write an About Me page. The problem is, I can barely think of 7 things to write About Me, so I really don't know what to say.
• I love taking pictures of my kids (you might have guessed that already)
• I tear up watching my daughter run when she plays soccer ~ I mean when she run - runs, she is fast! and it makes me teary eyed 
• I am a good friend
• I love to sing when I am cleaning and when I am driving the car
• I would probably have another baby if the doctors didn't freak my husband out telling him that "nobody likes to do a 5th c-section" (whatever)
• I am often overwhelmed by how much my husband loves me. Oh, and he is not ever allowed to tell me how he feels about me out-loud. I can't handle it. It makes me all floopy. I can't even think about what he said when he asked me to marry him... Every day I am always just so happy to be Mikey's Wife

my choices for the Versatile Blogger Award:

• The Unexpected Education
• Act Fast Chef
• A Little Inspiration
• Life in Heels and Flip Flops
• Momma Totally in Love
• Life With Levi
• Vintage Precious
• mamamash
• Changing Diapers and Taking Names
• Yellow Tennessee {Trash Watch 2011}
• Tatooss & Diapers
• mermaid tracks
• Mama.ie
• I Should Be Folding Laundry
• Blended

and my always favs ~

Finding New Friends Weekend Blog Hop!

I am super excited to be the co-host

for this weeks

Finding New Friends Weekend Blog Hop!

Thank you Shelly and Jeannette for letting me tag along ~

<a border="0" href="http://myadventureinmommyhood.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXcctFg39gzDYg7irFpDDfXmbNsFqWZMukp5cRYaugcpZzXkSBNWd6NTc5Dw7nK3C2WCX7KG5OoxS0b5aX3Ivud5IRGjvrKpXu0alrj3Z90InbzX6zaOtTfJSCFL8QWOlbm3e_dbdL7Ts/"/></a>

It is Week 15 of Finding New Friends Weekend Blog Hop
hosted by Shelly from My Saving Game and
Jeannette from The Adventures of J-Man and MillerBug!
Thank you all for helping make this hop so successful!  We love you tons!  Now what are you waiting for?  Let's get to hopping!  We are finding some fabulous blogs through this hop and having a great time getting to know so many of you!  So thank you for linking up again this week to those of you who are hop veterans and welcome to those who are new!  Let's continue to make new bloggy friends and increase our traffic!
We do have a few simple rules for you - nothing too tough though.  So here we go:

1.  Please follow your hostesses My Saving Game and The Advetures of J-Man and MillerBug.  Leave us a comment and we will follow you back! (If you already follow us on GFC, we'd LOVE it if you would follow us on Facebook or Twitter.)

2. Please follow our guest co-host who this week is Carol Anne from La Familia Aissa

3. You don't have to post our button but we sure would like it if you did. Not only does it help our hop grow so we can all get new followers, but each week we will choose a guest co-host and to be considered you must have our button somewhere on your site!  If you post our button and want to be considered for guest co-host, please email me at jmanandmillerbug@gmail.com to express your interest.

4. You can link up blogs, facebook, twitter accounts, whatever - just be sure to specify what each link is.

5. Hop around and find blogs that you enjoy. Be sure to tell them you are following them from Finding New Friends Weekend Blog Hop so they can follow you back!

6. Have fun!

Linky Code:

amazon

I have been buying things on amazon.com for a long time. A seriously long time. Like, I was the person who shopped online when everyone else was scared to shop online -- Yes, way back then.
It started with books.
I didn't have to go down to Waldenbooks (yes, before they were Borders) in the mall anymore. I had my books sent to me.
Awesome.
Did you know back then that they mailed out new releases the day they came out instead of getting them to you the day before they come out -- like they do now?
Didn't care, it was still awesome.

When I figured out that you could get things for the baby...
(back when they were friends with Toys R Us)
I became an even bigger fan!

Amazon was the place I went to to send gifts to anyone/everyone who lived far away. I even would have it wrapped!

I have bought shoes for the kids, kitchen supplies and I have added updated my baby registry 3 times.

Amazon.com was extremely helpful to me when we lived in Hidden Valley Lake.
(no stores there)
But I think the UPS guy there hated me.
The one here in the city knows me by name and just laughs at me every day in December.

Oh, and when Amazon came out with Prime -- Yay!
Prime is free 2 day shipping.
I love having Amazon Prime.

I still get a lot of books from them, but mostly for my Kindle.

And now --

you

can

read

MY BLOG

on your Kindle!

La Familia Aissa on Kindle

custom blog designs

Check out my awesome new header
from Custom Blog Designs!


I have changed around the blog just
a bit since starting it in January.
I have changed around the background and the fonts and the layout and have everything pretty much the way I like it
(for now)
but I was never happy with the plain header. I tried to figure out how to do it myself and did one for the Firedragons blog that I think came out cute, but I couldn't get one right for this one.

Some people have such cute ones on their blog, but I knew I wanted something not too busy for mine. I know that having the color I have instead of plain white makes it seem a little busy already --

Then I came across Life To The Full... and really liked the look of her site. The picture she has as her header is so pretty ~

So I contacted Diana and she put one together for me in just a day!

Love it!

we're back

I thought I'd be able to blog while we were in our trip, but that sure didn't happen! We all had a blast -- and I just never had the time. We went to Legoland every day except one, and that one was spent at the pool.
 (well, Mikey and I went to the room to nap too)

I will blog all about the trip when I get a chance, but I did get the pictures up if you want to check them out. I had to put them into a few different albums just to keep them organized, and I haven't captioned them yet...
but here is the link for the first album:

Legoland! day one

But we are back.

And Paige starts Summerbridge on Tuesday
and gets braces next week!
DJ has Breakthrough next week
and Kelly's Kindergarten class is having a
Before School Playdate that she is thrilled about.

So, we're back.
{sigh}

40

I know it's hard to believe, but this has been the first time I have been on the computer all day.
We all slept in, and it has been raining. We haven't even been watching TV. Just lazing around with all the kids.
Love days like this!

The only reason I am on now is because Mike made me come downstairs so I could eat the yummy turkey and avocado sandwich he is making for me before he goes out back to work out.
(at least I know I am spoiled)

While waiting for my yummy sandwich,
I voted for myself on Picket Fence Blogs and
OMG I am # 40!!!!

When I signed up, I was in the mid 300's in the Family Life category and with so many people on it I really never thought I'd move up that much.
But now I'm even # 51 in all the blog categories.
Wow. Thank you.
Thank you all for liking my little blog and taking the time to vote for me!

  {just click on the fence}

mommy time out

I am very thrilled to be awarded The Versatile Blogger award from Mommy Time Out  It was so nice of her to think of me ~
Please go check out her site and all the other blogs she picked for the award!

Since I recently received the Versatile Blogger award and being that it was super hard for me to come up with things to share about myself, I am not going to participate fully this time.
You can check out what I said the first time around here if you'd like.

Thanks again to Mommy Time Out !

versatile blogger award

Being fairly new to the blogging world, I feel very grateful to be one of the winners of the

Versatile Blogger Award!

I would like to say Thank You to Chauny from Chauny Writes! for kindly choosing me! Chauny Writes! is a blog that I just found and was immediately drawn to. Chauny describes herself as a "Writer, Encourager, and Motivator. Writes Self Help works that motivate and Inspire!" How could you not love that?!

Please stop by her blog Chauny Writes!


the rules of the Versatile Blogger Award are as follows:

Thank the person who gave you the award by linking back to them in your post.
Tell us seven things about yourself.
Award fifteen recently discovered new bloggers.

seven things about me:

1) I used to be obsessively organized, but I have let that go (for the most part)
I had to have every one's clothes categorized on colored hangers and all the kid's wooden puzzle pieces and their doll house and their books had to be in order if they weren't playing with them. I would still be like that if I had time to do it -- and if my husband didn't make fun of me for it. My stomach still hurts sometimes when I can't find the 'whole set' of something.
2) I was an Army Brat and I hated moving. Until we moved to San Francisco when I was 14, I went to a different school every 18 months or so. Some people thrive in that environment, I did not.
3) I was my Grandma's favorite.
4) I am head over heels, madly in love with my husband -- and it makes me mad that he knows it. If you know Mike, you know what I mean and can feel for me. It even makes me all girly and weepy to think about it.
Ick.
5) I never understood what love was until I held Paige. I remember just staring at her and being overwhelmed by this feeling of having always known her. Before and after, forever.
6) At times I have the sense of humor of an eight year old boy, and I am never sarcastic.
7) I think my kids are The Best and The Most Adorable kids on the planet. I really do. I know there must be other cuter kids out there, and I know you are supposed to think all of them are cute in some way... but, I like mine The Best.
-- I also have some majorly freakin' cute nieces and a nephew, that really, in my head I also count as mine.


I don't just enjoy 'mommy blogs' so my blog list has a little of everything -- including my son's!
So check them out when you can, I'm sure you'll like them too ~

fifteen wonderful blogs:

La Familia Hendrickson

Book Reviews and Life by DJ

Ruby Envy Beauty Blog

Elite Travel Planners

Is this my life?

The Gnome's Mom

i am baker

Super Mom Blog

that sounds like crazy

Cherry Blossoms {the blog}

Nicole's Random Things

Utah Baby Blog

Barnes family blog

Spilled Milkshake

groovy mojo

someone's random thoughts

Found this on i am mommy who has a very adorable new baby. Some of the Random Thoughts are very cute, and some are just too true! Enjoy --

*I would like to add that I feel a need for a "roll your eyes" emoticon in addition to the sarcasm font.


Random Thoughts of the Day

•   More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think about is that I can’t wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that’s not only better, but also more directly involves me.

•   Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

•   I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

•   The letters T and G are very close to each other on a keyboard. This recently became all too apparent to me and consequently I will never be ending a work email with the phrase "Regards" again.

•   Do you remember when you were a kid, playing Nintendo and it wouldn't work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix the problem. Every kid in America did that, but how did we all know how to fix the problem? There was no internet or message boards or FAQ's. We just figured it out. Today's kids are soft.

•   There is a great need for sarcasm font.

•   Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the heck was going on when I first saw it.

•   I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

•   Was learning cursive really necessary?

•   Lol has gone from meaning, "laugh out loud" to "I have nothing else to say".

•   I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

•   Whenever someone says "I'm not book smart, but I'm street smart", all I hear is "I'm not real smart, but I'm imaginary smart".

•   How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear what they said?

•    I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars teams up to prevent an aggressive driver from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers!

•   MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

•   Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

•   I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the shower first and THEN turn on the water.

•   I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

•   Whenever I'm Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their profile is public I feel like a kid on Christmas morning who just got the Red Ryder BB gun that I always wanted. 546 pictures? Don't mind if I do!

•   Is it just me or do high school girls get sluttier & sluttier every year?

•   Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I'm from; this shouldn't be a problem....

•   You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you've made up your mind that you just aren’t doing anything productive for the rest of the day.

•   Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don't want to have to restart my collection.

•   There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.

•   I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.

•   When I meet a new person, I'm terrified of mentioning something they haven’t already told me but that I have learned from some light internet stalking.

•   I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it's on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.

•   Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

•  I wonder if cops ever get annoyed at the fact that everyone they drive behind obeys the speed limit.

•   Even if I knew your social security number, I wouldn't know what do to with it.

interviews

I read a cute interview on productjunkiemama today and it inspired me to interview my own kids.
I did them all separately and they were very thrilled about the whole thing. Well, DJ and Kelly were. DJ even wanted more questions. Paige seemed nervous and was a little edited and Eddie Haskell...
And then, Kelly! When did my independent Kelly turn into a pink loving girl? Last year she wanted to be a vulcanologist, six months ago an astronaut, three months ago -- a teacher who teaches about volcanoes in outer space!
Hmmm.
Maybe I will ask them all the same questions in six months.

At least they all want to go to Legoland.

the sounds of my son, again

I first posted this in March 2008 on my other blog. I think I wrote maybe 5 posts before giving it up and this one was the last one.
It explains up until that point what was going on with DJ's hearing. He did have a total of 3 surgeries and his hearing is perfectly fine now, but he does have a couple of prosthetic bones in there and so we made the decision that he will not play football even though it is something that he really wants to do.
I thought about it when I mentioned DJ not playing football in my post growth charts. Looking it over made me realize how stressed I was about what was happening to him.
Even though I know next to nothing about football, it still makes me sad that he can't play. He hardly ever talks about it anymore, but there was a time that he talked about it constantly -- couldn't wait until he was old enough to play...

the sounds of my son

At around age three, my mother-in-law questioned my son's hearing... his speech was a bit off -- and well, he didn't seem to hear us. He was well behaved -- but didn't listen.

Had his hearing tested, he was fine.

By age 4 it seemed to us that he had issues with speech development. Had him tested. He did have a bit of a delay, but he didn't "qualify" for help. We lived in a very small community at the time and options were limited.

Had him tested again in preschool for speech. Didn't qualify.

Kindergarten rolls around ~ he gets his sister's teacher from the year before, who already knows his situation ~ she has him tested immediately.

Wow.

He now qualifies for speech!

At the same time, the school nurse notices a bit of a hearing loss in his left ear. The new speech therapist (who was the same one who tested him before...) recommended him to an ENT because she believed that his speech problems were caused by having never developed a proper tongue thrust. (he did have this problem) She thought he would benefit by having his tonsils removed. He sees the ENT. She agrees that he should have his tonsils removed, but says the hearing loss is from an ear infection.

He has his tonsils out right after his 6th birthday. (My youngest daughter was born a month later!)
We move home to SF.

On the way to his 7 year old well child visit he tells us in the car, "Maybe Dr. Lee can fix my ear while we are there."

No Joke.

Of course, we question him ~ and he hasn't been able to hear for at least a year! (since the ENT said it was an ear infection)

So! -- Hearing test, otolaryngologist. ~ then a CAT scan... he has a "growth" next to the bones in his ear.

They think they know what it is... but it’s in the wrong spot... they had to "consult" with other doctors. (my mother-in-law just passed away from cancer two months before all of this) They have to remove it, but it's not an area that you go into lightly. (nerve damage, balance, etc)

First surgery, all of it is removed. It's a congenital cholesteatoma. (not cancer) It was something he was born with, and when he grew, it grew. (it can also be caused by numerous ear infections, but not in his case) She also had to remove two of the bones in his ear. Recovery time is 6 weeks. No showers (ugh!) No "strenuous activities". He is a 7 year old boy -- its summer... !

I have him telling everyone his scar came from a sword fight with a pirate!

We let him get a mohawk between surgeries...
Second surgery, August 7th, they replace the bones that were removed with prosthetic ones. Bionic Ears! No idea if it'll even work... may have to have a hearing aide even after all of it. (that was one of the scary things -- they were not worried about fixing his hearing, they needed to get the growth out!) Another 6 weeks of DJ bouncing off the walls, but not being able to do much....

Post-op and hearing test. His ear is perfectly healthy AND his hearing is (almost) completely normal! The little bit that is not in the range they want may even improve over time.

Right before his 3 month check up, my husband thinks his hearing has worsened. We wait until his next hearing test, but they confirmed it. Again, moderate to severe hearing loss. Talk to the otolaryngologist, she has no idea why it stopped working. "Let's wait and see and check him in three months."

What?

Just had his hearing test last week and nothing has changed.
The audiologist recommends a hearing aid. Go to see the otolaryngologist she says that a hearing aid would be fine, or she can try to "tweak" the prosthetic.
We are going for the surgery.
We have scheduled for the middle of June, as soon as school is out.

Today we received a FM System for his classroom. It transmits the sound of the teacher's voice directly to him. I have seen others where the teacher talks into a big handheld microphone, but his is brand new so it just clips on. His side just fits into his (good) ear and sort of looks like a Bluetooth.

I hate all of this.

I'll say though ~ nobody could ask for a better kid! He has such an easy going personality. He was never scared (except the morning of the first one) and was so pleasant to all the nurses... everyone was surprised how well he did.
But this time he seems a little nervous. He wants my husband to stay with him overnight instead of me!

blog name

Flat out stole our blog name from my sister in law. We loved it immediately! La Familia Henderickson Seriously funny that my brother says it is the way Mexican drug cartels identify themselves. Have no idea if it's true or not, but Hahaha! It's a cute name and now we match ~

La Familia

I have tried to blog before, but I always feel like I need to fill in the back story. Then, I never get to it, or feel like I leave too much out (or say too much) This time I am just going to start it and see how it goes.
I met my husband Mike when he was in the 8th grade. He went by Mikey then -- yes, I am a couple years older (26 months!) and even I still called him Mikey until after DJ was born. Now he is Daddy and "Daaaad!!!" to the whole crew. Mike played football in HS and college and still holds records for it in the city.
I don't know anything about football.
I was an Army Brat. Moved to San Francisco when I was 13, so I started high school here. I am crazy about my kids and head over heels in love with my husband. I like to garden, but I am not very good at it, I love to read and I am obsessed with taking pictures of the kids. I post them on Picasa http://picasaweb.google.com/carolaissa and I am usually more up to date on them, but I have felt very scattered lately.

As I finished the last sentence, the oldest one (Paige) came home from school with a migraine and as I was taking care of that situation -- since she can't go to her after school enrichment program, but we still need to give a ride to her friend -- Mikey, the baby, turned off my laptop and switched off the wireless connection. Meanwhile, daughter #2 (Kelly) is annoyed with me because I paused her show and can't seem to wait one second more for it to be turned back on. Mike is picking up DJ from school and now I am one-hand-typing trying to nurse the baby... This is it, this is my life.
I wouldn't change a thing.