Getting To Know You

Getting to Know You {Copied and Pasted from Mommietalk}

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1.WHAT IS YOUR FULL NAME? Noreen Ann-Marie Higdon
2. WHAT COLOR PANTS ARE YOU WEARING? Blue
3. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? The eerie yet peaceful silence of an empty quiet house
4. WHAT'S THE LAST THING YOU ATE? A bananna
5. DO YOU WISH ON STARS? yes
6. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Mulberry
7. HOW IS THE WEATHER RIGHT NOW? 75 , 79? yucky-drizzly
8. LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? My Mother in Law Phyllis
9. DO YOU LIKE WHERE YOU LIVE?Oh Yeah- the weather's beautiful 90 percent of the time, the people are friendly,the price of thing are inexpensivefor the most part, I just miss the hell out of my family up north but yeah I can't complain.
10. HOW OLD ARE YOU TODAY?{you can lie-I won't tell{ never know I might have!} 35
11. FAVORITE DRINK? Alcoholic-Mudslide or Kahluah & milk, Non alcoholic- Pink Lemonade
12. FAVORITE SPORT? Volleyball
13. WHAT COLOR ARE YOUR EYES? greenish brown
14. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? NO
15. SIBLINGS? 1 sister and 2 brothers that it kills me everyday that I don't get to see them as more often that i get to
16. FAVORITE MONTH: December
17. FAVORITE FOOD? Chicken cutlets and my sister Debbie"s Stuffed shells - MMM!
18. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? Disney's House of Villians with Thomas last night
19. FAVORITE DAY OF THE YEAR?Christmas
20. WHAT DO YOU DO TO VENT ANGER? Go to my Mommietalk site and post it and write it out and get it off my chest
22. DO YOU LIKE SUMMER OR WINTER? Summer But not August summer's here- too unbearable!
23. DO YOU LIKE HUGS OR KISSES? Hugs-although I love kisses too, my immune system sucks and I'm forever getting sick for no reason and take forever getting better so I'm safer with the hugging route!!LOL
24. CHOCOLATE OR VANILLA? Chocolate I'm a woman and pregnant what more can I say?
25. DO YOU CARE IF YOUR FRIENDS TO E-MAIL BACK? Yes
26. WHO IS MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? My girlfriend MIA she is my preggo warstory buddy- we're pretty close.
27. WHO IS LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? My sister Debbie but that's cool though cause the works her a$$ off as a Top Insurance consultant head from sunup to way after sundown plus heads a family and life on top of it- has dinner at 9:30 at night...-I bow at the woman's feet!
28. WHAT DID YOU DO LAST NIGHT? made dinner for Thomas and I as Tom is out of town again on business, gave him a bath, popped in a dvd,and after it was bedtime for him, watched a lil CSI on the tube, then hit the sack .
29. LIVING ARRANGEMENTS My husband Tom, Son Thomas and Me and our Cat Buster.
30. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? A couple weeks ago after getting having a test done testing for Down Syndrome on the baby I got myself all worked up wondering "what if" and Please don't"and jst got scared - you know hormones!
31. WHAT IS UNDER YOUR BED? assorted cable wires in a tupperware clothing bin and sweaters in another tupperware bin and Buster the cat snoring away!
34. FAVORITE SMELL? Mom's fresh crumbcake or fresh bread baking in the oven! {when we were kids we would just float into the house by the smell whenever she would be baking!}
35. WHAT ARE YOU AFRAID OF? Spiders and bugs! I'm a terrible arachnophobic!
36. POPCORN...PLAIN, BUTTERED OR SALTED? butter and a touch of salt- too much my lips purse!
37. FAVORITE CAR? Excalibur
38. FAVORITE FLOWER? Stargazer lilly
39. NUMBER OF KEYS ON YOUR KEY RING? 2
40. CAN YOU JUGGLE? only two balls- I'm too spastic for any more
41. FAVORITE DAY OF THE WEEK? Saturday
42. WHAT DID YOU DO ON YOUR LAST BIRTHDAY? Went out to dinner to this awesome restaurant called the Beachouse where you dine on the beach overlooking the water with live entertainment as you eat awesome seafood and stroll the beach after dinner to walk off you meal with my two favorite men in the world - my husband and my son.
43. HOW MANY STATES HAVE YOU LIVED IN? 2-New York , Virginia and Florida
44. HOW MANY CITIES HAVE YOU LIVED IN? too many at least Mineola,Westbury,Hempstead, Centreville, Manassas, Bradenton- 6 45. HOW MANY COUNTRIES HAVE YOU LIVED IN? 1
46. HOW MANY CARS HAVE YOU HAD & WHAT WAS THE FIRST CAR THAT YOU HAD? . I've had 4 cars including my current one- my first was a Chevy Cavalier courtesy of my Ex you all know so well.psha.-we know that story-woman goes for groceries,light turns green ,woman makes turn, man runs light,hits womans car, sends woman to ER, car goes bye bye .
47. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Long Island Jewish Hospital, Queens, N.Y.
48. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?Message In A Bottle by Nicholas Sparks
49. BEACH OR MOUNTAINS Beach!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
50. FAVORITE MOVIES -Legends of the Fall, Mists of Avalon, Legend,Big Fat Greek Wedding,Titanic,Harry Potter & Lord of The Rings Movies
51. FAVORITE MUSICAL ARTIST(S Usher, Black Eyed Peas, Creed, 50 Cent, Garth Brooks { So I like a 'lil variety! }

3 Mo Belly Shots

I somehow managed to find the cord to my camera since the batteries died in my digital camera and snapped a couple pics of myself to try and keep track of what I look like each trimester. I figured while DH is on his way back from Virginia, and DS was still at school, It was my only chance for a free uninterrupted embarrassment free"what are you doing" moment to get in some pics- know what I mean? Don't mind the hair- that's next on my list!A good long shower and hour long pampering! I know in my see you see me pic I looked like a twig- but as you can see- when I stand up, im a bit wider than when i sit down! plus those jean shorts hold alot in! LOL Here ya go!There's not much there-I still got alot more to go.Question!--- while i'm here- when i go to bed- my weight says one thing, when i wake up , I seem to be three pounds lighter-is this normal? or is my scale just wacky? or am I really losing three pounds in my sleep? but that night I'm 3 pounds heavier again! I swear this happens everyday! this happen to anyone else or do I need a new scale?anyway heres the pics... side view... and front shot

My Future Rescue Hero

I was watching the news about Katrina this evening while eating dinner with Thomas and he was looking at the photo coverage and asked me "what happened Mommy?" I was like "Errm.." and wasn't quite sure how to put it then decided to bite the bullet and give it to him straight- no baby talk- I told him well, the hurricane that came by,{which he knew about} went up to a state called New Orleans {from here I took out my state quarters map for a visual aid} and explained " you know how when you take a bath and you splash too much water and it goes over the side of the tub and makes a big puddle on the floor ? - he said "uh huh.." I said " well, the hurricane went to New Orleans, and made the ocean splash lots and lots of water into New Orleans here andflooded the peoples homes where only their rooves stick out so the people are sitting on their roofs waiting to be rescued- and theres lots and lots of people who are stuck where they are and don't have a house anymore and people are going there to save them and rescue them. He saw a Coast guard officer rescuing a survivor, and he said "like in the helicoptor? I said yes like that" He said "mom, I want to be a saver". I said "you do?" he said "yeah, when I get big,I want to ride in a helicoptor, and go up to the sky and save people from the hurricanes" I was like AWW! I got alll tears in my eyes! I said to him "and I bet you'd be the best saver there ever was too!" I swear the things that come out of this kids mouth sometimes I could just hug him to death he's so cute! I just had to share this!
He is a sweetheart.its moments like those he makes me proud to be a mom!These hormones don't help either-because everytime I think about what he said I get all choked up and teary eyed and judst wanna cry cause he makes me so happy to be his mom to such a sweeheart!

9 Week Sono and Checkup

We have our fist pic of the new bean, and Thomas was sick today and got to see it and was in complete awe! hard to tell which end is which , but thankfully, the sonographer labeled it for us. heartbeat was 160, which was very good, had lil arm n leg buds goin ,which now i'm in 10th week, they should be formed even better,and the brain should be formed better as well as I'm told.So far so good, my blood pressures on the mark as is my weight, so so far so good no complaints.The cravings and smells are really kickin in though- like- I can't go anywhere near a smokeshop or coffee store that sells fresh ground coffee by the bag ya know? or freshly paved roads-or pet stores- we used to get mice for our snake tiny once a week, now I gotta wait in the car- but cravings- ohhhh- cheesecake.. I go to Sam's- I HAD to pickup their sampler-couldn't take it anymore! And Papa John's Spinach Alfredo pizza mmmm! LOL anyway, here's the pics of the lil peanut..the top pic says {baby}to the right of the baby since its unreadable, and the bottom pic says {rump} to the left of the baby, and {head} to the right of the babsono pics - wish they caan make them bigger.. ah well:)

Finally Got Confirmed

Well, I finally got confirmed by my Ob that I AM in fact pregnant- This Saturday will be 2 months. My due date will be April 1st- April fool's day - can you believe that one?Not only does AF make an unscheduled vacation, but my due date turns out to be April Fool's day! talk about your ironies! Looks like it's gonna be a fun ride- as It's classified under a high risk pregnancy with A- me having a seizure condition,B- taking medication that is category c-meaning that it hasn't been tested on pregnant women to verify the results of what the birth defects could be basically-which makes me feel REAL comfortable lemme tell ya! I'm a walking batch of nerves! I'l loaded up on 4 mg of folic acid and prescribed prenatal vitamins to combat against birthdefects {or potential ones} I'lll be seeing a perineonatologist one wek and my OB the next on and off for the duration of my pregnancy plus multiple sonograms, testing,the works,. plus will be having a planned cesarian to avoid the nightmare i went through giving birth to thomas-{seizure on the table,over medication,out cold for 3 days straight,etc..} We want a smooth ride this time around.. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that no miscarriages occur this time and a beautiful healthy birth defect free baby {i'd like a girl, but don't care as long as its healthy} is born march 23rd- the date of planned ceasrian..

Pregnant Again.. DH Needs to Think...

After waiting almost two weeks for AF to show, and no dice, { she was SUPPOSED to show on 7/25 and decided to take an unscheduled vacation.. } I couldn't take it anymore - neither could Tom and he told me to go get a pregnancy test to make sure,- and sure enough, first shot, It came back with a !I showed the results to Tom when it was done, and he says - " so what does that mean?" I said " it means with your mother movin in , whenever she makes up her mind when that'll be , we're gonna have to make an addition on the house .. and gave him a wink. Well, He has been upset with me since sunday! Not the reaction I was looking for! In fact he has barely spoken to me! he has been slamming doors, snapping at me, talking to me like a child, taken my driving priviliges away-{ which i understand because I'm on medication and he doesnt want me have a seizure with fluctuating meds and hormones and stuff and get hurt or the baby-thats understandable- i'm only allowed to drive thomas to and from school while hes away on business right now thats it and he doesnt even like that. Due to the whole rocky road I went through w/ Thomas' pregnancy-{ I had a seizure, i had to go through many sonograms to monitor the babys progressio n due to the meds-make sure things were ok,the amnio-which is normal,the selective reduction,{i pray i don't need to do that this time- because i don't have the stregnth to do it again-that is if i have twins again-they say once you have twins you can have them again...then post i had sarcoidosis, so you can say Tom is not looking forward to me getting pregnant again, not to mention my body getting bigger- he said to me " you WILL NOT be putting on 75 pounds like last time -youre gonna eat normal and gain normal weightlike normal people" and no more drivin for you - why does he make me feel like I went to the clinic and in-vitroed myself w/o his knowing_ he had a hand {or body part}in this miracle of life too ya know! - cause he just makes me feel so terrible that I got pregnant right now! He hasn't shown the least bit of sign of happiness or excitement.He won't even share it with his mom, I asked if he wanted to tell her, he said it was none of her business, since Sunday, I've been doing nothing but moping and crying and eating three squares to keep this baby healthy and trying to figure out what's going on in his head. and the only thing I can think of, is he's scared. - His company is merging this week,some people will lose their jobs,they don't know who, his mom's supposed to move in with us, but she can't make up her mind when - we just know she can't afford to stay at her place,and that would be to to move into our computer/ guest room, and if/ when we have this baby, we ran out of rooms to put it as well as the desk/ office- we can always put it {computer } somewhere- familyroom wherever- as for the baby- theres a small space in our bedroom we can put a cribin the corner, but as it gets bigger we ran out of room, o maybe hes thinking of that- i wish he would just talk to me- he keeps everything bottled up inside and shuts me out until he explodes- its not fair or healthy- i always get the tail end of it-usually widing up in the bathroom with him giving me the attitude or silent treatment and me crying.-when all I want to do is share a lil joyin my family-so I turn to my son for a smile-any way- how's that for an announcement?Or ultimate Anniversary present for Tom{ so its a couple days late} - I go see my OB on the 25th for confirmation I'm hoping for a baby girl to even out the brood- one boy, one girl- sorry so long- maybe I shoulda saved it for a vents and rants?well, lets hope he cools off and comes around while hes up north this week, ans comes home with a new perspective and and a smile and a hug.. Thanks for the ear all-
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FINALLY Enrolled

Today we started out early again to go to the "diagnostic center" to attempt to enroll Thomas ONCE AGAIN for the VPK at the location at which I had no clue how to get to but was following my Yahoo map diligently and found it finding that I had passed this place tons of times while on my way fishing with Tom a bunch of times . Anyway, we get there, and first we're too early, and wait a half an hour, and the heat is starting to heat up and Thomas is starting to get antsy in the truck even though the a/c is on ,and 8:30 rolls around and I figure ok, someone has GOT to be there by now! So I knock and someone is finally there-we go in , and the lady who was standing behind us at the roundup opens the door! Small world! So I explain my case and adventure so far, and she explains a very interesting and crucial and dissappointing little tidbit to me that I'm just about fed up now with this whole process and the state- no one at the round up -the school board that is - ever mentioned the fact that on the provider list- in it states the amount of hours during the day that the child attends at school etc..-what it actually MEANT was what the state was actually PAYING for! Meaning say I sent him to a public school, he would stay for 6 hours, but the state would PAY for 3 and WE would have to pay for the other 3! Can somebody please tell me how that's FREE voluntary pre kindergarten to me please? She said she'd be happy to enroll us still if we wanted to pay the extra money for the 6 hours, but had no idea how much per week it was going to cost.-It could be 50, it could be 80.. I'm on a budget! I can't just go throwin money around! -Yeah I want a good education for my son,but still I want to be able to afford his future education as well-So as dissapointing as it was the public school deal went out the window.They said to try the place across the street from them, and I was going to until I stepped inside- Oh Boy! The place was a converted trailer with kids taking care of kids sitting on the floor with the director in the back pukin her brains out and her assistant making hoagies for lunch-toddlers dont eat hoagies! LOL there were 20 some odd kids in the rundown play yard in the back and I'm hoping they were supervised!.. Not the place I wanted to send my son- I know they were trying to do their best,and I just WANT the best for my son Know what I mean? So I moved on and checked my list, and saw nearby was a "LaPetite Academy" and know they've been around for like 30 years and have a great reputation when it comes to child education so I gave them a call and was like "please have an open spot , please have an open spot" and they did! Hallelujia! so I zipped right down there, filled out the papers,gave them what was necessary,took the tour, Thomas didn't want to leave which was good sign he liked the place,And am finally D- O - N- E! He's FINALLY enrolled in a VPK program!! Now I just gotta wait for August 8th - his first day of pre k! Sorry so long again- I really gotta get a leash for my mouth!
__________________He's four and a half- -he'll be 5 in February- so next August he'll start Kindergarten- There was an Elementery school here that I wanted to send him to that was sponsoring- get him used to the whole feel of the public school surroundings- but I ran into a snag where since the state was supposed to be funding this whole thing, it turned out they were going to pay for three hours and five days a week,and then have me pay for three hours extra five days week since it turned out to be six hours a day class and not three like it said in the program where he would go -which was fine} but they didnt know how much the extra 15 hrs a week would cost-and Im on a budget so I had to back out of that and go else where-where its free . Its cute he's really looking forward to going- its 3 hrs a day 5 days a week and they have a section just for the pre k kids -pretty large too which is good - theyre not crammed in-theyll be focused on and a teacher just for the pre k is going to be teaching them so they {day care people ] wont lose focus on the different groups or or there will be no distractions
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VPK Enrollment Brainpain

Well, I am now on day three of my VPK {voluntary prekindergarten} journey, and it has not been as easy signing or enrolling Thomas as I thought it was going to be! It started out prequalifying him online with the state,then they get back to by congradulating you stating you have been pre qualified and are now in the system and should be recieving forms to fill out to bring to what's called VPK roundup - cool -stage 1 complete. Then the forms come,and the dates for the "roundup" come and we went to that-pretty much a joke-go to this floor and up to that one and back down to this one,basically do a check list and finally to the important one-the schoolboard to get our all important Certificate of Eligibility from the state and and VPK provider listing stating the sposoring schools and daycares and centers we can choose from to send Thomas to of our choice. Then the fun begins.Bright and early Monday morning , I leave the house w Thomas in tow, To a sponsoring Elementary school nearby-like 5 min away,to get first shot at enrolling T before anybody else does since there are only a limited number of slots to fill with these things for all of them-{18 max 5 min} I get there, and theyre like " do you have the pink card from the school board?" I'm like Nooo... the lady says " well they should have given you a pink registration card from the third floor when you met with the school board" I said " i met with some ladies who I believe might have been from the school board, but everyone had a sticker that said "volunteer" on their shirt- i had no way of telling who they worked with"I showed her the massive amount 1 inch thick file I have of paperwork I had brought with me you name it- I got it with me just in case its needed-if not,then its not- at least I'm covered including the all important-Certificate of Eligibility saying they said I just needed to show this and it would be fine" I also showed her the sponsor list- she was like "can I see that?'we're on that list?I was thinking do you even have a clue as to what I'm here for? So she said well I don't know what to tell you .. you can go to this officethe place where we went saturday to do the vpk roundup} and see what they say.. this is our first year doing this , so we don't really know what we're doing,.. why don't you come back wednesday morning when we get everything all straightend out with the school board.. I was like "o.k. I'll do that and left to go to the other office where i went to the roundup to make sure there was no "mystrerious pink card I was supposed to have gotten- which there was none-The woman was just totally out of her mind and was just referring to normal routine to normal registration of when a regular student enrolls for schoollike 1st grade etc.. -she said the certificate of eligibility would be just fine. Glad I double checked befor I just freaked out as to now what do I do KWIM? Then Tuesday rolls around and I'm off agin I figured I had a break since I was told to go back wednesday so I took Thomas to see Robots the movie today- he loved it - we were early so went to Mcee D's for lunch and trapsed around the mall a bit - was 1.00 for the both of us- when was the last time you spent .50 for a movie? I was shocked and delighted! the lady was like "1.00" I was like HOW MUCH? I said you got a deal !so I splurged on goodies -it being Thomas' first time in a movie theatre..he had a ball!. anyway, I get home and theres a message on my machine from the school I wanted to bring him to saying the slots had been filled! she tells me to come back wednesday morning and the slots are filled? I was PISSED! then listened to the name of the school again and it actually WASN"T the school -I wanted but the school board calling me about another school. the one I wanted was still open but now I have to travel tomorrow across town to a neighbor hood i barely know how to get to {thank goodness for yahoo maps} and register him there bright and early so the spots aren't taken because they don't do registering at the school near me because its summertime - the only reason they were open now is because they are doing a summer enrichment program. In the meantime I've been running all over town basically driving here,pickup these papers, drive there,get this copied, drive here pick up this form, drive there drop off that form, drive here sign this , drive there, enroll him there,UGH! can't I just drop him off sign him up and be done with it already? Sorry so long, but cmon! why all the hoops and paperwork?
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Toilet Troubles..

Thomas today used the bathroom and is calling to me " I have a problem! " I'm like what's wrong?" he says you need to wipe my hiney! - and we go back and forth about how he's a big boy and he's 4 years old and he can wipe his own hiney now- , so I hear this big sigh and hear alright alright , I'll do it, I'll do it", lol {nutjob..} couple minutes pass , I hear the toilet flush, and I hear him say " uhh mom? I have a problem again.." I say what's up?" he says the toilets broken!' and low and behold, I go in the bathroom, and theres water goin all over the bathroom floor! Man! I asked him , whad you do??! he says his classic, "nothing..." I said how much toilet paper did you use? he says " umm just a little bit" I said little bit my but! I just put a fresh roll on there and its half gone! and its the charmin kind that absorbs like a cotton ball the size a Texas! UGGH! So Thankfully the hose is on the other side of the tub outside. so I had to bring the hose inside , snake into the pipe, turn on the water full blast and force the clog down the pipe with the water ,cause not draino nor bleach or nothin was uncloggin his ton a toilet paper he tried to flush down that toilet- I told him from now on a little dab'll do ya! not too big not too small! sheesh all he had to say was "yess maam im sorry- now why do I feel so horrible? we've all done it- he's gonna be the death a me- LOL my lIl stinker!he learned his lesson though! - now when he sees me goin to use the bathroom - he goes "you use the bafroom mommy? ? i say "yup, be right back " he says not too much ok?' LOL oh boy., I created a monster! LOL
__________________"ol family trick my dad used to do while living in a family with 3 girls and {my mom , my sister and I - {there were him and my brothers but they had their own messes and horses of other colors we'll say}with the bunch of us always throwin the tampons down the toilet- instead of the garbage- he was forever throwin the hose down the toilet if you know what I mean.. so I just took that trick with me when i moved out. lol Thanks dad! I owe ya one! ;)
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MacDill Airshow

Today we went to the airshow at MacDill AirForce Base in Tampa. Was a Hot one- Took along the sunscreen and chairsand all- Was Thomas' first time seeing Planes of this magnitute up close- He loved it ..until the fighter jets put on their show- I went for a hotdog, and came back and Tom was nursing Thomas' overbearing tears!!! I was like what happened?? apparently,Thomas wasn't prepared for how loud the booming sound of the jet engines actually were and scared the daylights out of him and he burst into tears wanting to go home! we told him to hold his ears and we'd go do something else- so we went and looked inside the planes and walk around instead and would tell him when another jet wouldpass by- he was ok withthat idea. Poor thing -He loves airplanes-I guess just wasn't ready for the sonic boom factor! Here's some pics we tookof our day.{Sorry so big}..Here's one of a couple fighter planes. Here's me N Thomas by a Fighter Jet Tom was smart and hung out in the shade under the wing of a plane while we checked out the insidehere's Thomas inside the Parachuters plane here he is in the parajumpers seat and giving a thumbs up in the pilots seat -everythings A OK!!