computers...

Computers have a love/hate relationship. You love them until something goes wrong than you hate them!

I got a new computer about 2 months ago. Pete was getting his replaced because the video card went out 3 or 4 times so Dell declared it defective and sent a replacement. (we buy the 3 year warranty). Usually when Pete gets a new computer I get his old one. This time around I would not be getting one. SO... Pete decided the replacement would be for me and he would order the one he had been eye-balling for awhile. Worked fine. Until he got to really use his new computer. It was 64 bit and a lot of the stuff he uses at work I guess is not supported with 64 bit. So he came home at lunch even and said the computer was going back. He then took over my computer (the replacement one that was sent). But I got to buy a new one as well. We checked Dell refurbished site and found some good deals. However, if you do check them out, the good buys go VERY fast! I picked one out, it was 64 bit by the way. So in the end, Pete and I have almost the same computer. We both have a Dell Studio 1737, 17 inch screen, and all the good numbers. I don't understand what all the numbers are for so I left that to Pete. They have fast processors, lots of memory and big hard drives (but not insanely big!). His has 2 hard drives within it and mine has a finger print scanner. I love the scanner by the way. Not that I would order it special but since it was refurbished it was included. His is 32 bit and mine is 64 bit. I have not had problems with the 64 bit by the way. They both have Windows Vista. Pete hates it. I've gotten used to it. But it is different than XP!

Well it feels like it takes forever for me to get it set up the way I want. I get a copy of my back up from my other computer and pull off all my stuff. I also had lots of software to install. OK, Pete helped with some of that.

So a few weeks after using my computer the black bar at top stops working. This black bar is called the hinge cover. It is not critical. It controls volume and the play back features for a disk. All of which you can control from in other ways. Like I said, no biggie. I call Dell and they replace it. (we have in-home service so the tech comes to our house). By the way... If you get Dell, make sure and pay extra for "your tech team" it is English speaking customer service instead of the India call center that is VERY worthless!! It's expensive but very worth it. Anyway, it's replaced. Within 2 weeks, the same thing. The controls on this hinge cover stop working. I call them up again and they send the piece again. This time they also send a new motherboard so hopefully it will not happen again. The tech that came to our house this time was an older man. He was very slow. He was here for a little over 2 hours!! Usually when techs come out to replace things it takes less than 10 minutes. This guy cracked me up. He would call Dell and get mad because they should have more people on the phones so he doesn't have to listen to the hold music. He made a few calls, not sure who all to, but every time I could hear him complaining about the service. I'm guessing he couldn't see well as he had me read him off numbers from his paper work and had me turn on more lights for him. He also asked for a glass of water, and a bowl for the screws he was taking out of my computer. Another sign of "Oh-no" was when he opened my computer up from the back and said to himself, "hmm, I wonder how i get that out?" What?? He replaced the hinge cover and then the motherboard. After he replaced the motherboard and finally got all my parts back together in my computer, the screen was not working. NICE! Normally i would have asked for him to put the old motherboard back in but i only had about 20 minutes until I had my parent/teacher conferences. There was no way he could work that fast. He said I should have the new part the next day or the day after. OK, fine, bye.

2 days later a tech came out (this time it was the original guy--who worked much faster!) He replaced the motherboard and was done within a few minutes. He said though that the computer was working but since the screen was not showing anything every time we turned it on and off windows did not shut done correctly so it wasn't working right. He started the repair program and said if that didn't work then I would have to re-install everything then he left. Well, I'm sure you know, it didn't work. This is the time I hate my computer!

I do not have a back up yet of my stuff since this is a new computer and I don't have back ups set up yet. I also don't have anything on here that would be lost forever if it crashed. So it of course is crashed!! Pete does some work on it and i get to hear about how he's not fixing my computer ever again since I don't do regular back ups. I know he loves the challenge!! He gets it back to running. But I am the one who has to get it really running-- installing ALL that software, again, set up my email account, again, set up my wireless, again.... You get what I'm saying. I think I have it all back and running except one program-- the Adobe stuff, and Pete will need to help with that. What a big pain in the butt! So i guess I will be doing a back up soon. However, right now my computer has TOO much stuff on it to fit on my back up drive. I have double of lots of stuff since Pete was able to pull my old stuff off of it before he reformatted at. That is all in a folder and is about 53 GB. Then my (back up) drive has extra stuff because he copied it to my drive in case we lost it on the computer. I have lots of deleting to do before I can do a back up. Although I think I got everything I need, I also hate permanently deleting stuff like that!

And guess what? The hinge cover is still not working correctly. It is working but doesn't show up on the screen like it's supposed to. Maybe that is just a driver that needs to be installed. I'm afraid to call Dell yet though!! And guess what else? We will be getting Windows 7 very soon (it came with our computers as a free upgrade. we should be getting them this week I guess). So lots of this will have to be re-done and Pete has said he thinks he will switch computers with me once we get it!! GRRR! Something about being able to put more RAM on 64 bit computers. So I'll be starting from scratch again soon. FUN-FUN!! Love/Hate relationships!

lizard prints...

Monday was a beautiful day! The boys and I hung out on the deck for a little bit during the afternoon. (We went to the park after school.) While on the deck I was playing ball with Ike. Joe then rushed over and said, "mom, come look! Come look, hurry! Lizard prints!" Lizard prints, huh?!

I walk over and Joe shows me the "Lizard prints"He drew 2 prints with his chalk. He did a pretty good job, in my opinion!

My artist Joe...

He made "the list"

I had the kids scheduled to get the flu vaccines last week but it had to be cancel since they ran out of the vaccine. I'm supposed to keep calling to see if they have it in. So far they have not.

I got a call this morning from the kids doctors office. They asked for the parent of Max. I was thinking why just Max... he doesn't have any test out there waiting for results. The lady continues to tell me they have receieved some H1N1 vaccines. They don't have very many as of yet so the doctors have made a list of who should receive it first. Max made that list. In general since kids with Ds have more health problems I am guessing that is why Max made the list. Max doesn't really have more health issues than any of my other kids except for his ears. Maybe a tad more so than the others but really not much. I only say that because he does have history with having sinus infections.

She asked if I wanted to take the offer for the vaccine. I went ahead and made an appointment. At 4 this afternoon. I also asked if they had the regular flu shot in yet. They only had the doses for 2 year olds. So Ike will also be getting a "poke" at 4 with Max. I am thinking 2 crying kids will be better than all 4. You would have died laughing last year if you were watching us give all 4 kids the flu shots. It was me, 4 kids and 2 nurses. All 4 kids were hysterical. They played off each other and were going crazy. Finally I just had to laugh about it. They were under the chairs holding on for dear life.

You know what? I find it very strange that Max will be getting this vaccine. Him and Sam have both had H1N1 already. Max acted like it was nothing. It knocked Sam down for a few days though. So the kid who had a fever for only a few hours will be getting it but the kid who had a fever for several days will not. I'm wondering too about the fact that he already had the H1N1, does he really need the vaccine now? At the time he had it, the doctors did not know this answer. I will ask again before he gets it. I tried calling but the line was busy. We'll see.

For now Max has made this elite list. I'm guessing he is not so happy about making it though!!

heebie jeebies

If you don't like creepy crawly bugs, this may not be for you.


Our house is a split level. Our playroom is in the basement (along with office and storage room), from the basement you can go down one more level, it is called a sub basement. This is one room and has a big screen TV, with the Wii hooked-up. We also have a treadmill and weight machine down there (for hubby). Our whole basement is finished but you still get the basement 'feel' while in the wii room. It is dark, it only has one window which we have covered up. I wouldn't say it's damp but you get that feeling.

Joe and Sam were down stairs. Sam on the Wii and Joe was with her. Joe starts screaming and carrying on. No biggie since apparently he didn't get what he wanted and in about 2.3 seconds he will come up stairs to tell me how unfair Sam is being. He makes it up and is crying. "Mommy! There is poison in the playroom!" sob, sob.... "what do you mean, there is poison in the playroom?" "there is a poison bug downstairs" "alright Joe, go show me."

We go downstairs and Joe said the bug was on the steps (going towards the Wii room). I look and see nothing. I get a bright lamp and look, nothing. The carpet in that room is a deep maroon and is friese style , which means is somewhat 'furry' and hard to spot a bug. I'm looking, I'm looking and then Joe yells, "there it is! It's on the wall!" Pointing right by me head. I look and see what I figured he was calling poison. A house centipede. I have seen one of these in our house a few months back in our laundry room. It's on the same level as the playroom. I of course killed it on sight. They look SO gross. I have seen several of these creatures at my in-laws house. Never knew what they were so I goggled it. Turns out, they are 'good' bugs. They seem like spiders in the fact they eat other bugs. They, however, stalk their pray and attack it.

I'm not the type or person to kill bugs, even spiders. But if it's a brown recluse then I kill it. I am getting him/her before it gets me! Thankfully I have never seen one of those in our house. So as much as I wanted to, I didn't kill the house centipede this go around. But I did take his picture. Are you ready? They are gross....

Mullet, anyone?

I was downstairs helping Max play a Wii game and Joe and Ike were with us. Sam was upstairs doing who knows what. She came down to us and said, "look at my hair" while she was flipping it around. Thinking she was the hottest stuff ever. My mouth dropped opened and i said, "Oh my gosh! Sam!" She asked "what." Your the one who has to go to school like that. She had hacked off the side of her hair. She went back up and came back down. "How does this look? Is it even?" You guessed it, she hacked off the other side. She had given herself a mullet. Here is her before -- before I trimmed it up.... Imagine this on both sides....
I didn't get any really good pictures--wish I had!

I trimmed it all up and gave her somewhat of a layered bob cut/pixie cut. Here are some "after" pictures...


I'm glad she didn't hack off her bangs though! And you know what, She did this 3 days before I had her scheduled to get her 6 year pictures done!! Fun times!

Baby Ike vs. Baby Pete

Here is a picture of Pete and his older brother, Richard.This is Pete has a young guy
Ike looks so much like him. He is so going to grow up looking like Pete. Ike is the only kid of ours with brown eyes. The other 3 have blue.

So here are some pictures of Ike to compare...



They aren't the best pictures but they both have the pouty lips and big brown eyes.

Happy Birthday to Ashley

Ashley is turning 8 years old today. She is one of the kids cousins.Happy Birthday Ashley!!

Kid pictures

Here is Max at the park "fishing" with a stick.sweet little Ike
sweet little Joe
Sam snoozing
Sam "do I have something on my face?!"

Apparently the kids think our walls need more decorating. Thankfully this time it is not with crayons, marker or pencils. Sam keeps taping things to the walls... everywhere! Joe has copied in her footsteps. I even take some down when they aren't paying attention but new ones always appear. Here is our hallway...

The artwork shown here was done by Max and Sam.

Here is a picture Sam drew for Max. She taped it to his picture. It says, I love u Max.The very colorful dinosaurs they colored...

What do you get when...

What do you get when one or more kids...

Dump out...

Wooden car track......the entire tin of dominoes...
... the break the ice game...
... a whole lotta crayons...
..the connect 4 game....


...Plus a few extra things....

A living room floor that looks like this....

Can I scream yet?

Last Friday Sam was tested for Flu and Strep. Flu was positive and strep was negative. If the strep is negative they send it in to see if anything grows. guess what?? I got a call around 12:30 today. Sam has strep. I sent her to school this morning. The doctor's office called in meds for Sam and I called school. Talked to the school nurse and let her know. She got Sam ready so I could come pick her. Sam was not happy about this. She wanted to stay at school. She feels better but still has a cough. Tomorrow she will be staying home too. You know the 24 hour rule-- the student has to be on antibiotics for 24 hours before returning to school. (same goes for vomit, diarrhea, and fever). I am guessing her body has already starting defeating the Strep but whatever. I also but Joe had (or has) Strep and flu. He is feeling better today. He never got the cough so maybe it was just strep. I asked him if his throat hurt today but he said no. But guess what else--- I don't have Strep--yay! Tonsillectomy was SO worth it! Now if the kids will get healthy and stay that way!

PS- Last week I got a call from the doctor's office saying they ran out of flu shots so they needed to cancel our appointments we had this week. I'll have to keep calling to see if they got them in yet.

Max's glasses

Max got his glasses a couple of weeks ago. Here he is...


I could not get a picture except of him sticking his tongue out at me (I have several pics and every single one he has his tongue out!) He is laying down in that picture. So the glasses look like they fit fine. But really they slide down his nose pretty bad. More like this...
And they have since gotten worse. I need to get them readjusted. Also thinking about getting the Miraflex ones now as well.

Yes, they are bi-focals. This somehow helps with the one eye that turns in. I sure hope they help! Does looking over them count?!?

Also if you have suggestions, let me know. He does do pretty good at keeping them on but they don't seem to fit him very well. They are the ones specially made for kids with Down syndrome. I tried a strap but he doesn't really like it and just takes it off. Makes me worry about getting the Miraflex ones-- they have to have a strap on them.

She's got it

Friday I did take Sam to the doctor. Pete basically wanted to make sure she didn't have pneumonia. So i took her. They were BUSY! They tested for flu and strep. You would have thought we were about to chop her head off the way she put up a fight. I had warned her on what they were gonna do. Maybe next time I shouldn't! Strep came back negative but they will still send it off to make sure. The flu came back positive. So Sam has also been hit with H1N1. She was out of school Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Thursday and Friday were her worst days. She layed in bed the entire day (when we were home).

I had to drag Joe out of bed so we could get to Sam's 11:00 doctor appointment. Once I got him up he didn't act like he felt good either. really tired and felt warm. Once we got back home later that afternoon I took his temp and it was about 101 degrees. Sam's was too. I gave them both Tylenol and they slept all evening. Ike acted fine Friday so I guess the other day he was just tired.

Ike is still sleeping this morning (it's only 9ish) so I am hoping he still feels well when he wakes up. He has had a rash on his bed for a few days. But nothing too bad. Maybe Joe and Ike have strep. Ike has the rash for it and Joe is not really coughing yet but says his throat hurts. Only time will tell.

Today Sam seem a little better. She has gotten out of bed and even was teasing Joe. She asked for food but I don't think she has eaten any of it.

I hope me (or Pete) don't get sick! Pete is so much worse than any baby when sick!! And me- I don't get any special treatment when sick.

It's going around..

Max had H1N1 2 weeks ago. At that time the nurse said that a lot of 2nd graders were absent due to illness. The flu and whatever else is still going around. About 10% of school is absent because they are sick. Max's para was gone for over a week! She got sick the same time Max did and shared it with her family. Isn't that nice of her. Max was not so generous and never shared it with us (thankfully).

About a week past and Max did go on antibiotics because the snot was not going away. It got better but not gone. The school nurse called and said she thought Max should be seen again for a sinus infection. So I called the doc and they called in meds. I was glad--- no trip to the office with 4 kids then to the pharmacy to get meds. They rarely just call something in for me. He is still on that. He got better pretty much immediately after starting amoxicillon.

2 weeks have now past. Sam is the type that always has Something wrong with her. One day it may be her stomach, another her throat, another her thumb, just always something! So Monday I don't remember what was wrong with her but she survived the day at school. Tuesday she claimed her throat hurt. She survived again. She did however go see the school nurse both days. She had no temp so she stayed. Wednesday morning her throat hurt still. she had been doing a lot of coughing. So I called her (or rather emailed her) in sick. She still had no temp though.

I could tell she was bored and then even asked if she could just go to school. Late morning she disappeared. I found her in bed sleeping. She must really not be feeling well! She started to get a temp. Since she had a temp Wednesday afternoon/evening she had to stay home Thursday as well. So today she is home. She is sick. She has layed in bed all day. Her temp is around 102 degrees. She is coughing a lot. I went to check on her just a little bit ago and she acted like she was in a daze. I think she may have really been sleeping but had her eyes opened and answered my questions. I asked if she wanted a drink of water. Yes. I put the straw to her mouth but she just layed there, same expression. "open your mouth" but she did not change. So I think she was half sleeping. I tired to give her meds but she would not take any. I am guessing she also has the flu (H1N1). I should probably go peek at her throat tough and make sure it doesn't look like strep. It might be hard for me to tell if they have strep this winter. I generally got it every time they did but now since I am tonsil free, I better not! Right now, I don't plan on taking her to the doctor.

Today is a rainy day. Ike fell asleep about 2 hours after he woke up. He is still sleeping. Granted my kids stay up late so they get up late as well (but Max and Sam- they have to get up early and go to bed early on school nights). Ike got up around 10. He was back out around 12. It's almost 3 now and he is snoozing. He acted fine but now I wonder if he is getting sick as well. hopefully he is just sleeping it off and will not get sick. And since it's rainy, that is always the best time to sleep.

I could use a nap! I just can't sleep during the day though. And Joe is up and acting fine so not like I would be able to sleep even if I could! Last night my longest stretch of sleep was about 2 hours long. I'm sure new moms - are like, wow a whole 2 hours! But I'm not a new mom, and I really want my sleep! The boys didn't go to sleep till around 2 I think. I was already asleep by then. They both had late evening naps. That is always fun. Sam kept coughing all night. In our bed last night was me, Joe, Sam and Pete. Ike was sleeping on our couch in our room. Lucky duck Max was in his bed and enjoyed a full night of sleep in a bed to himself. Maybe I shouldn't say a full night sleep, he didn't go to bed until 11ish.

It should be fun getting Max from school in about 45 minutes. 2 kids sleeping, at least 1 of those sick and it is raining!! I think I better leave super early so I don't have to hike 1/2 mile (OK, maybe not a full 1/2 mile but with kids, it feels like it!) down the sidewalk to pick him up. Maybe I should think about doing the drive through pickup.

Happy Down syndrome awareness month!

October is here. That means Halloween and candy. It also means Down syndrome awareness month. Lots and Lots of bloggers do the 31 for 21. A post everyday for the month of October. I did this last year. I posted a picture (or few) of Max everyday last year during October. I would love to do this again but I won't be. I barely have time to post on here weekly. I will try and gather some pictures of my sweet little Max for this month.

I am in the (looong) process of switching my stuff from my computer to my new computer. It's not that hard but time consuming. And most of it I have questions for my husband on how to do.

Here is the face of innocence...

Happy Down syndrome Awareness month!!