The Bergman Bunch!

That's a little how I feel today. I know my day will get better, if I could just steal a moment to myself! A nap. A book. A nap. Anything. Even 10 minutes locked away in a room. I think the last two weeks are catching up to me. I was doing so well, I was so proud of myself for sticking to my goal of happiness, optimism, joy...I still have those things, but my body is telling me I need sleep or else... I know it will come soon. Although, I have to go work again tonight, I worked Wednesday and Thursday night waitressing and they were crazy busy! I was so tired afterwards. Good work out though. Such ramblings. OH. Shelby is officially 8 months old as of yesterday! Holy Canoli! It's all happening way too fast for me. I think I will cry like a baby when she turns one. Only four months away. Yikes. Here comes my "blah" feelings again. Aww man! Snap out of it! Ok.

I could be more patient. That I could smile every second. That I could make my friends happy when they are blue. That I might become a person that my kids will be proud of. That I might become a person that I am proud of. That I could be more patient. I could have belly laughs every day that make me want to pee my pants. I could know what my maker wants of me. I had more time to spend helping others. I had time to read more. I could be more patient. I had more energy. I could be more patient. I could have more love for inconsiderate drivers :) Which is where the "more patience" comes in to play. So I think if I had the more patience wish granted, everything else would come together. Maybe when I get some more sleep? But for now, I'll just pray. ( this post is written with a weary, cheerful, sleepy, happy smile )

I can't find one I like, now I think I really did like my last one better. I'll have to go back and find it later.

Count me in! 1. What time did you get up this morning? 7:30 am 2. Diamonds or pearls? Diamonds 3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? I can't remember!! I Am Legend...I think! 4. What is your favorite TV show? American Idol 5. What do you usually have for breakfast? Toast and yogurt 6. What is your middle name? Marie 7. What food do you dislike? Most seafood 8. What is your favorite CD at moment? Joseph and The Technicolor Dreamcoat 9. What kind of car do you drive? Ford F150 10. Favorite sandwich? Chicken Salad 11. What characteristic do you despise? Arrogance 12. Favorite item of clothing? Long pretty tops 13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? Australia 14. Favorite brand of clothing? Anything that fits good! 15. Where would you retire to? We won't retire to a specific place, just travel for good lengths of time everywhere! 16. What was your most recent memorable birthday? My 24th. I thought Tom and I were going to dinner, bu...

So, the last few days I have been contemplating setting up a real routine for my day. We have our "general" routine, but it is definitely not super structured. I don't want it to be super structured either by any means, but I think we (I really mean "I") would benefit from having more of a layout for our day. So my question is, how many of you have a "real" routine for your day. And (be honest) how many days out of the week do you feel you really get to follow it? Is it worth it to have it really listed out for what your day will look like? My biggest thing is that I want to get up before the kids do. I would like to work on my meditating, do some exercise and of course, take a shower. But, I am horrible at waking up in the morning! I used to be relatively decent at it when I worked, but it has totally gone down the drain since I became a stay at home mom. So, I really need to work at it. How many of you religously wake up before your kids? Is it worth...

I'm so glad the sun is out! It just makes you feel happy! Shelby slept from 6pm-3:15am. I changed her diaper, fed her, and did her neb treatment and she went back to sleep from 4am-7:40am. Brady is still feeling sick. He has this never ending cough and a slight fever. I felt bad last night, because his cough was actually like raking on my nerves! And he can't help it!! But he did sleep through the night this time, so that must be a good sign! Halle's fine, just a runny nose now mostly. I swear, all I'm doing all day is chasing kids around to wipe noses and change diapers! Gotta love it! I told my sister the other night, "Can't you wait? (with a giggle)" She said, "Well....!" I laughed because this part of parenthood is like 3% of the yuck when there is 97% of pure AWESOMENESS! (I know awesomeness is not a word, but I like it). She is starting her little baby bump though, and I think it is starting to become more real for all of us! I can't w...

She was so not animated, but she still looks cute! Remember to read a couple of posts down about our hospital adventure! (if you want) ;) Since it's taking forever to upload this image, I would like to take this opportunity to say that we had some amazing nurses and help while we were there, which also made the experience much better than it could have been. One in particular...thanks Mrs. Carlson! You are amazing and it was such a joy to see you in action and taking care of my little baby! You totally rock!

Oxygen monitor, I wanted to chuck this thing across the room. It sounds like an alarm clock when levels or heart beats are off. So it was a love hate relationship between us. Saturday after a bath and her own pajamas! Her little foot and hand peeking through my arm while she rested. Her main activity during the day, laying and pretending to play in her hospital night gown!

Yessssss! She didn't want to go down for the count right away at 7:00pm, but about a half an hour later, she was out until about 4:20 am! (that was after her brother woke me up hacking up a lung right by my bedside, he was shaking, with yes...a fever). So I changed her diaper, fed her (which I normally don't do at that time of the morning, but she's sick so I definitely made the acception!), and then she was out cold! So while I was holding her I did her nebulizer treatment and then laid her down! She then woke up with the others at 8 am, her usual time!!! I feel so much better! Another night or two of that and I could be back in the action! Although, I would have all that energy and no place to go! I am not going anywhere with her until she's like 90-100% better. So I am basically stuck here, especially since Brady doesn't seem to be feeling the greatest either. To recap the hospital events: First night (Friday) stunk...no sleep until 3 am (and we had already been...

I'll tell you more later, and upload some photos...but for right now, I'm going to go eat some food that my hubby made me!

to my awesome nurse I had last night...you know who you are!

I got to come home for a little bit and play with Brady and Halle, give them a bath (me a shower) and then laid them down for a nap. I took some ibuprofen, I think I have an overdose of a "caffeine, lack of sleep, still wearing my contacts" headache! So now I am going to try and nap a little and then it's back to the hospital with Shelby for round two of SLUMBER PARTY AT THE HOSPITAL WITH A SICK BABY! Not worthy of all caps joy, but I'm trying to be optimistic about it all! So we had a rough night last night, she didn't sleep for a full hour from 9-1am, then she had a bit of an issue with her nebulizer treatment (meaning she didn't like it) and then her IV came out. Yadda yadda. Finally at 3 am she was ready to settle down and then she slept till 7am. On my chest. Luckily I was tired enough to get most of that sleep as well, until about 6:30ish. I just feel so bad for her! I felt bad for me a little too about 1:00 am. I wanted to just cry my eyes out from bein...

I had to bring Shelby in this morning, right at 8am. It was a rough night...and, they admitted her! So I've been there since then. Just took a break to come home, grab an overnight bag and go back. Tom's there now and my mom is here while we do the swap! Shelby's doing better, just needed fluids big time and some more antibiotics...stuff like that. She is feeling a little icky again, but I just think it's that whole night thing that happens to kids when they're sick. They always seem worse at night. So, I'll post tomorrow when we get home and let you know how it went!

So I just felt like there was more to Shelby's illness than what they told me...so I packed the 3 kids up early this evening, dropped the two older ones off at my sister's and headed to the ER. She hadn't had a wet diaper in like two days, and as the day wore on, I just felt like we should have made some progress. So when we first got there we got back there right away. The nurse was nice, but she just kept making it seem like my baby seemed fine... good this, good that... I finally just said, I understand that maybe she doesn't seem that dehydrated to you, but I just think that there is something going on, she's not my first baby, and this just doesn't seem right to me. "Oh, no, I know, I'm not trying to say that you don't know, I'm just showing you signs of how to check for dehydration...blah, blah blah." Let's just say my "be happy" vibe was slowly fading, but still clinging to life a little bit. So I just smiled. OH. I a...

Shelby is still in great spirits. She won't nap much, but she's pretty good when she's awake. Here's a little clip...see if you can see her runny, gunky nose and hear her sick little voice!

but I made it! I finally turned her humidifier off at around 12:30 am. She then slept until 6:30 am! Now get this. I could have had that whole time to sleep, but oh yeah, how dare I think that I was so lucky. My dog who most nights, makes it through the night felt quite needy for some attention as well. Because at 4 am she insisted it was time to wake up to let her outside to pee. Thanks Skylar. I love you, I love you, I love you...right?! It's kind of nice because I was worried about taking Brady to preschool this morning because Shelby was really rough when she did wake up. She looks t-e-r-r-i-b-l-e. And she had a slight fever and her cough is horrible today, so much that it is making her puke junk up. So I called my SIL, because our sons both go to the exact same class for preschool, they are about 5 months apart. So she said her hubby could pick Brady up and bring him and then pick him up from preschool and bring him home! It was great because I was supposed to pick the boys up...

Got the humidifiers running tonight. Hope that will help....although, Shelby went to bed at 5:30pm and has been up twice already. It's 8:20....you get the picture.

I'm done at the clinic with the girls! Shelby was up most of the night with coughing and a fever. But of course, every time I went in there I was greeted with a smile and giggles....go figure. So, little Shelbs has another ear infection! Boggles my mind since Thursday I had her ear rechecked from the second ear infection and it was clear. Oh well! Halle had to have a chest x-ray done. Very interesting since she very much so dislikes being at the doctor. But, I have to admit, she tried her best and she did a very good job for the most part. Actually, the worst part about the trip was waiting for the prescription to be filled. With all of those enticing boxes, bags and bottles right at child level....I mean really, what were they thinking when they put those shelves in? The doctor said he would have bet she had pneumonia, but the x-ray showed bronchitis more than anything. So, both girls are home, Shelby's sleeping and Halle's going there shortly, and they both have had thei...

I love food. It is something that I will never part from, so help me God. I believe that when I taste some amazing dish, it's like tasting a little piece of what my soul will feel like when I enter the pearly gates. And the other day, I had reached the closest my soul has ever felt, to those gates, than I have in a while. Here is what that meal tasted like, in words, to me. I sat down at the table ready and willing to take on whatever might lay in front of me. My plate, was not so much a plate anymore, but a deep cavern ready to be filled with spoonfuls of warm masses of energy, ready to nourish my body and soul. As I started to lift each unkown dish and place a part of it on my plate, my mind prepared my senses for what was about to happen. I poured my white wine in to the glass and immediately smelled it's light fruity aroma. As I reached for my knife and fork, I began to cut the juicy melt -in -your- mouth pork tenderloin, rubbed in a rusty orange mixture of spice top...

So two of my sweet babes are sick :( But just with runny noses, coughs, lost voices (ok with me) and fevers. My little girls. Halloran had a turn for the better today, she awoke from her sleep without her fever! Yay! Shelby, it's so cute, has a little raspy voice now! She is also getting her top two teeth in and just got over an ear infection! Lucky for us though, they have been sleeping through the night, so no worries. I feel so bad for them though when they are not well, but, Halloran is a lot more cuddly when she's not feeling good, so I take it when I can! I stay optimistic and tell myself how healthy they are, that this is building their immune system...blah, blah, blah. I think it works. No stomach flu. I'll take these colds any day of the week.

Something to share with a friend,or someone else who crosses your path .... A GREAT RECIPE FOR LIFE... 1. Take a 10-30 minute walk every day. And while you walk, smile. It is the the ultimate anti-depressant. 2. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day. Talk to God (or yourself if you don't believe) about what is going on in your life. Buy a lock if you have to. 3. When you wake up in the morning complete the following statement, 'My purpose is to __________ today. I am thankful for______________' 4. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants. 5. Drink green tea and plenty of water. Eat blueberries, wild Alaskan salmon, broccoli , almonds & walnuts. 6. Try to make at least three people smile each day. 7. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip, energy vampires, issues of the past, negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment. 8. Eat breakfa...

I had an amazing night with some of my bestest -yes, I know that's not a real word, but to me it works...- friends on Friday! I cannot remember the last real slumber party I had with them, and it was amazing! So amazing in fact, not only were we up in to the wee hours of the morning, but we almost welcomed the morning into existence! It was a late night, or early morning I guess. At 4 am I finally called it quits and quickly washed the makeup off my face, took out my contacts and brushed my teeth! From THE moment we arrived at around 7pm until after 4am was pure talking, pure conversation, pure soul searching and it was amazing! Warning: the use of the english word amazing, an abbreviated version of the word amazement, may be used extensively in this author's post for the day. First, it was just so incredible that we were all able to get together that evening, especially that now 3 out of the 5 have babies! And secondly, we had so much to celebrate with a new engagment, and ne...

I get to go out tonight! I am sooooooooo excited! I am going over to friend's house, with a bunch of other cool girlfriends for a....(hold your breath) SLUMBER PARTY! There may or may not be wine and snacks involved, Dirty Dancing (the movie, come on now, I'm a mommy!), and a lot of talking!!!!!! I am so excited! They are all friends from high school , one has been my dear friend since 6 th grade! Did I tell you already how excited I am! We used to try and get together once a month the last few years, and then it slowly dissipated to probably once every 3 months. You see some more than others, but what do you do? The best you can that's what I say! I love them all so much. We each are so different, and yet have similarities that make us the best of friends! We always have the best time when we are all together. I just can't wait! And the best part is is that I still get to put little Shelby to bed, so I will feel complete before I go! And the rest is a breeze for To...

a couple weeks late, but you know, the point is I started right? Workin' out baby! Yeah! My all time favorite work out has always been Tae-bo. I have been doing it since freshman year of college with my roommate Becca. We'd plop that good old recorded copy from my mom's friend at work tape in to our 19" TV and work out in our small dorm room! We loved it. And it has been in and out of my life ever since. But, as you may have guessed, the tape has been through a lot. It has been through about 5 moves (in and out of boxes...you get the picture), been in bad VCR's so I had to carefully pull it out and then wind the tape inside back up ever so carefully, and then with kids...well, let's just say that luckily I had it down so well that even with Finding Nemo somehow getting recorded on to parts of it ("I didn't do it Mom!" yeah, mhmmm). So anyway, I hankered down a couple of months ago and bought one of his new DVD's, yep, I'm talking about th...

I have a lot of friends scattered here. scattered there. I feel I have a lot of friends almost everywhere. But when I sit and think, "Ok, who should come over today?" I feel I have no friends who want to come and play. Though I know I have a lot of friends of this fact I'm sure. I wonder what they're doing and, should I knock down there door. So I sit in faith and listen to the one who knows me best for I have told Him how I feel and I now He'll do the rest. For I know my friends are beautiful in heart and soul and mind I know that God knows them best and so I let Him find. The ways in which to tell them I love them all the same the funny, crazy, smart and wild I love them all by name. He tells me ever gently, as I pray and go to bed He says, "They love you too my dear." And it's true, I know, He said. So Today I send my friends a bit of love and hugs and pray, that they know how much I love them and my love will never stray. A poem by Megan Marie Be...

The snow that continues to accumulate on our deck furniture....Wow The Nursery. Brady and Halloran's room. This one was from Saturday when my sister and her hubby came over. Halle fell asleep on Uncle "Pee-Pee" while he was on his cell phone. What more can I say? Hopefully this means he will do well with putting his own children to sleep... Shelby was a very serious girl today, not sure why. But this was her facial expression for most of the day :(

when my kids are playing without adult involvement and have a great time! I love it when my husband puts his arm around me during church while worshiping. I love it when I get a well deserved nap that refreshes me from a long week. I love it when my husband also makes me dinner. I love it when we our mornings with kids go smoothly when there is somewhere we have to be. I love it when I get to cuddle with my baby. I love it when people say, "You have amazing children, you should be proud." I love it when I know there is a little baby growing in my sister, and someday, I'll get to cuddle with him/her. I love quiet time. I love the fact that all of these things happened to day. God is good.

out and about. I walked over and gave her a big hug. If it were not for her being suspicous of Shelby's "birthmark, we may have had a traumatic surprise waiting for us down the road. She said she has seen the MRI too, and that the doctors at the U of MN are taking a special interest in her case, because it is so unique, like where the vascular malformation is located and things like that. She said that may be why we are seeing so many doctors, they are being extra careful. I feel truly blessed that the doctors seem to care so much, and are not rushing in to any "false" diagnosis or encouraging us to do surgery. I am so grateful that they are exploring all of our options and ordering different tests to really get a feel for what it is they are dealing with. I am so grateful we live during a time that has so many resources, technologies and research going on, that we know we can make the best, educated decision when it comes to our little baby girl!

6 years ago today, I married my wonderful husband, Tom! What a day it was! It was sunny just like today, but super windy. I was so excited. My roommate from college, Becca, who was in my wedding, slept over and helped me out a lot that day! I had many wonderful friends with me that day. Jenny, Michelle, Hilarie, my cousin Heather, Kelsie, Becca and of course, my beautiful sister Courtney! They all wore beatuiful, funky velvet design dresses and carried a single red rose. It was a Friday night, and man...we had such a blast. When the wedding was done we had a sleigh ride waiting for us ( a surprise for us from a family friend) to the reception. I had on Tom's Grandmother's fur coat. I must admit, I would never buy a fur coat, but...family heirloom and all, it was pretty fun to put it on! We had over 300 people...it was packed, but there was a lot of love in that room, and we all had so much fun! We did not have a honeymoon, our honeymoon was moving in to our first home in Milaca...

at the computer, and my Mr. Brady walks down stairs (he's supposed to be sleeping), and says, "Mom, I can't sleep, my neck still hurts. Do you think if we move the food around in my neck, then it will feel better?" Aaauuuummm....

Yay! We finally had small group again on Tues. We were so excited to get back in to the normal routine of life (after the holidays). And it was so nice! We are starting a new series at church and the whole church is doing it called 40 days of community. We are learning about love and how to love...like for real, how to love God's way, not our way. I am so excited! It will be fun to do our readings and study guide together (Tom and I). We've never really done anything like this together before, and I think it will be really good for us! If anyone wants to join in the festivities with us you are more than welcome! We only just started it, so you would not be far behind. Anyway, here's wishing you a great day!

I want to learn! Does anyone know how, or do you? Do you know anyone locally who does and would be willing to share? Just a "before bed" thought. And now, I am going to bed.

I am posting to just say we are happy! Shelby's stuff has not gotten us down at all! There is nothing to be "down" about. This is who she is, what she was born with. It does not hinder her in any way shape or form which is AWESOME. I tell people about it because it is a part of her, apart of us now. She is in no pain and we have time to figure this all out! We have a beautiful daughter who, at only 7 months, is teaching us a lot. How to be patient, how to "roll with the punches", how to laugh, how to love more, how to learn...for we are learning a lot! We want all the prayers and love we can get! So if you do pray, pray for more love for us, more learning, more knowledge, and more healing, and blessed doctors and for strength. We will accept that, but not for one second or one bagillionth of a second my friends, feel no pity for us. Absolutely none! No, " Oh man, that stinks ...or... poor Bergmans ..." Only good vibes sent our way...like..."Yeah, ...

http://www.cincinnatichildrens.org/health/info/vascular/diagnose/malformation.htm

Went well! First, I must address that I am feeling 100% better today! I woke up feeling like me! Totally had to be food poisoning. Anyway. We had an 8:45 am appt and we got there at 8:45am. Not like we were pushing it or anything, right?!! Today we saw a pediatric surgeon, Dr. Donovan Hess...he was another amazing U of MN doc., we loved him! He was so informative, almost too informative because we left going, well, either this...this...or this could happen and then we'll have to that...or maybe that...or maybe that! In his opinion, just from what he saw today, he doesn't think it is just a birthmark (infantile heemangioma), that would shrink up and go away on it's own. He thinks it is a form of vascular malformation (a mass of blood vessels and nerves), that will not go away on its own. SO. We have many options, many of which we will not know what to do with until we know every little bitty thing about her particular malformation. It does look like hers goes in to her spine...

I believe I got some food poisoning from the wedding dinner last night :( I was up from 3:30am until now with, well, you don't need to know. It's not even serious or anything...just constant. Tom talked to his mom this morning and I guess my sister-in-law and her whole family have it too! I felt horrible calling to say I couldn't work, because I was replacing someone for today too! So I'm still in my PJ's, no shower, and waiting for it to go away! Fun!

I'm so sleepy! My fault though for dinkin' around last night doing absolutely nothing until 11:00pm. Why did I do that?! And then today I had a wedding to go to and I had to load up all the children by myself (not that big of a deal) but since I was so sleepy, it seemed like such a chore. Tom had made the meat for the wedding, so he was off setting that up. Shelbs has an ear infection, so she was good, but she was spitting up like all the time, so by dinner time, she was completely soaked and had gone from smelling so sweet, to smelling well, pukey. Oh well. I'm going to go to bed here shortly. I really need my rest tonight because I am going to be waitressing from 11 am to 7pm tomorrow, and that always wears me out!

Oh what fun we had! It was a crazy busy day...but a good crazy! That morning, if you may recall, we drove down to the U of MN for Shelby's appointment with the Neuro surgeon. So far, we have had some nice doctors. This one, Dr. Haines, reminded me of a whiter haired Randy Rouse (if any of you know him...he was my soccer coach...and my ER doctor when I was like 16 and had my wisdom teeth pulled I had a strange reaction to some "drugs" I was on and my jaw literally shifted from side to side on it's own, meaning I couldn't stop it, it just did it. And then it would clamp down on my open "no more wisdom teeth, just gaping hole wound" and so my other teeth would bite down on that "open wound", then it would shift to the other side). Anyway, the Dr. Haines had the coolest shaped glasses I've ever seen! They were circles or squres or rectangular...they were like a spectacle but not completely round...very dashing. And so far, him and the last doct...