On the Move

As some of you may know, we are gearing up for yet another move. Our packers come next Tuesday and Wednesday, and the truck loads up on Thursday. We are finally heading to Kansas, which we've been looking forward to for so long. We will be at Ft. Leavenworth for a one year course, but Mike will be trying to get a year long follow on assignment. We will only be about 40 miles from Caitlyn and Colton. We are beyond excited and cannot wait to have some wonderful "normal" family time with ALL of our children. One of my very best friends from home lives only about 15 minutes from Ft. Leavenworth so I'm obviously very happy that I'll have a little "home" nearby as well.

I will try to post a couple more times before we get on the road, but we'll see.......

Preschool Graduation

I just cannot believe our little guy is graduating preschool and starting kindergarten in the fall. I keep saying that I think this one is much more difficult for me to accept than it will be when Ty goes to school. I guess that's because of the better part of three years that Tucker and I spent with "just the two of us" while Mike was in Iraq. I must admit, he is a Mama's Boy!!

Preschool graduation was so cute, with the kids singing several songs, one of which was obviously, "I'm a Little Teapot." You can see Tucker being poured out, so to speak! Once I have better access to my scanner, I'll try to get a pic on here of Tucker in his cap and gown. They took great pictures of them for keepsakes, but I guess they don't have enough of them to use for the actual ceremony. It was great though! He has grown so much and LOVES school! I just hope it stays that way. He is looking so forward to kindergarten!

Raceday

Daddy loves the fact that the boys love to watch NASCAR with him! Here they are a couple weekends ago hanging out with Dad during the race. It has been a good last two weekends as Mike's favorite, Kasey Kahne has won them both! Tucker loves the movie, "Cars", but lately, Lightening, Mater, Doc, Sally, and friends have been renamed to various current NASCAR favorites. Oh the imaginations! I am outnumbered here in a BIG way!!!

This past Sunday night, Ty refused to sleep for nearly two hours after his bedtime. The only thing that kept him happy was sitting on Daddy's lap watching the Charlotte race. He finally fell asleep with only a few laps to go! I've said it before.......Daddy's Boy!!!

The Joys of Military Health Care

Well, Mike finally got his MRI results today, three weeks and two days after his fall. He does, in fact, have a broken back. Officially, he has two acute compression fractures and 2 compressed discs, both on L1 and L2, and a fractured pedicle (the wing of your vertebrae). No matter how acute, it still sounds broken to me!!! I'm so glad they were in such a hurry-they actually called this morning before his appt. to see if he could wait and come in two weeks. Obviously, he said, "No, I'm coming today."

Now, they say he can't start physical therapy for about 6 more weeks, to give the fractures time to heal. In the meantime, no running, heavy lifting, etc. Just biking, swimming, walking. Not that he'll do any of that besides walking! Our move should be fun since he can't twist or lift. Good thing that what we move ourselves is minimal, and the moving company gets the big stuff.

All in all, it still could be much worse, and he will be fine, he just has to be careful for awhile. We are very thankful for that. My complaint is with the system though. Its ridiculous that it has taken this long to get answers. To all those complaining about the cost of good health care, just remember, "the grass ain't always greener". Free healthcare is free for a reason!!

HELP WHIP CANCER

I just wanted to remind those of you that may know, and inform those of you that don't, that May is Pampered Chef's annual "Help Whip Cancer" campaign. Since 2000, we have contributed over $6 million to the American Cancer Society for breast cancer research and awareness. Once again, we have several pink products that are only available this month, and $1 of the sale of each of those will go directly to ACS. I'm very proud of this campaign, and the wonderful company I am a part of for contributing in such a huge way. I know that one way or another, we have all been touched by this dreaded disease. Please check out our products, and let me know if you want to help out in the fight against cancer. Per company policy, I can't post a link to my website address on a blog, but please email me at pampchefpearce@aol.com or mjpwrnglrgirl@aol.com and I will email you my web address. It is slightly different than Pampered Chef's website.

Also, if any of you reading this blog are interested in making a few extra bucks, meeting new people, or just having a great time a few days/evenings a month-I'm always hiring! I would love to give you more information on how to get started!!

We were at a birthday party over the weekend and Ty had this bounce house pretty much to himself. It kept him entertained for quite some time! Believe it or not, this child loves his sunglasses and almost ALWAYS keeps them on. He doesn't really like to play outside without them, or a hat. Just like daddy.....

Tax Time Entertainment

We splurged on some family fun when we got our taxes back. We're justifying it by saying that its exercise! I've never been a big advocate of video games, especially for kids. I think there are much better things to do than to sit punching buttons, but the Wii has been great fun for all of us, and it gets us on our feet! Tucker is a champion bowler and beats the tar out of mommy and daddy. Mike and I are big fans of the boxing--its the most exercise I've gotten in awhile!! Mike hasn't been able to play too much since he hurt his back though.

Speaking of Mike's back.....on Friday, we finally got a referral to ortho and a CT scan. Today, ortho referred him for an MRI, which will be later this week. He's cleared to do what he feels comfortable with, and to let his pain set his limits. The PA he saw does think there was a little something on the CT scan that looked like a herniated disc, but we'll know more after the MRI. Overall, Mike is feeling a bit more mobile, just sharp pains when he moves the wrong way. He is off of his meds so that he can drive though. We'll keep you updated!

We are heading back to the hospital tomorrow morning to see if we can get more x-rays and an MRI on Mike's back. He's not doing any better and getting more kinked up with each day. We've tried to keep to the dosing schedule on his meds, but by morning, he's really in pain. I think he's probably got some disk damage in there (I don't know how he couldn't!). I think we'll probably be looking at some physical therapy since the Army won't get on board with chiropractic care. A few posts have it on a "trial" or "grant funded" basis, but its few and far between, and definitely not here! A good chiropractor is what he needs right now!!!!

Please keep Mike in your prayers. It may not hurt to keep me there too! He's been a great patient but I am tired!!! We'll keep you posted....