Medical Update

This job is proving to kick my butt. Well, actually I am ok once I'm there since I am so busy but the hours are brutal. I don't get to sleep until 1:30am typically and the boys wake me up around 6:30am. It also causes me more tachycardia. Anyhow, on with the post. I had to wake up at 5:30am yesterday to go down to Cedars Sinai hospital for more testing for my heart. I had to fast so my drive in gridlock traffic before 7am was horrible. I seriously thought I was going to fall asleep at the wheel. I guess I really wouldn't have hurt anyone since we were going less than 10mph. I needed coffee.

Because I had to fast, my arms look horrible from the nurses struggling to find a vein for my IV since I was dehydrated. I am STILL a "medical mystery." I stumped three more doctors yesterday. During one study, my heart jumped from 60bpm to over 120bpm with no stress induced. When I would talk, my heart rate continually climbed over 130bpm (while laying down). The problem is not only my heart fluctuating so much and so fast is that it doesn't come down without medication. It's a long story but basically what I have is debilitating and they are frustrated they were more confused and couldn't give me a diagnosis. They don't understand how I can honestly function throughout the day if a relaxing environment causes such negative effects, what does a stressful situation do to my body? What they do gather is that my problem is a neurological problem. Somehow my nervous system is overly sensitive (such as moving or talking and my heart rate jumps). So next I go see a neurologist at UCLA whose speciality is the study of the part of the brain that controls the heart function.

So again, we shall see...

Weekend updates

The last few weekends have been pretty tame around here. We went to the beach one weekend and the Ventura County Fair the other. The fair was pretty fun. There was a petting zoo which William loved. Harry, on the other hand, did not want to be anywhere near the barnyard animals. We were lucky enough to catch the rodeo when we were there and that was the highlight of the day. They had some clowns, roping shows, horse races, bull riding, steer wrangling, etc. It was really fun to watch.

We shall see what this weekend has in store. It's been above 105 degrees here all week which makes for perfect beach weather (it's typically 20 degrees cooler there) but as luck has it, it is supposed to drop to 70 degrees by this weekend!!!

More fun Part deux

The girls took Harrison and William swimming the first day I had to work. It was a nice distraction and they keep asking to go back :) Too bad the hours are only 1-3:30 each day.

Scott took them to the beach one day.

And to Knott's Berry Farm a day he took off of work.

More fun

I'm still catching up on the blog. Here are some fun pictures from the JumpAround. We went when the girls were here

Stephanie is trying to beat Harrison down the slide :) Jumping in the boxing ring.

Playing air hockey

A little basketball

Stephanie trying to beat Will at race car driving. See a theme here? Just teasing Steph

Jail Birds

Round 1

Moving on up

Yesterday I was called into the unit manager’s office at work. My heart was racing. I looked down at my outfit and wondered if my dress was too short (they have a knee length policy and of-course mine wasn’t). How bad would it be to be sent home the second week of work for dress code?! So he asked me to shut the door and my heart was racing even faster. Then he advised me that all of the managers got together and voted on who they thought was the best fit for the last management position in the unit. Out of the 50 plus employees to chose from, all 6 managers had a unanimous vote on Jymme-Lyn Archer. So I was asked if I would like to fill that position and of-course I accepted! One of the managers came up to me afterwards to congratulate me and said “it took me five years to get where you got in 7 days!” I replied, “ahh come on, it was 9 days. :)”

Birthday girls

Stephanie and Kelly's birthdays are in August. One morning/afternoon while they were running errands for me, I surprised them with a birthday tea party celebration. I made egg salad tea sandwiches and cucumber tea sandwiches. The obvious best part was the red velvet Sprinkles cupcakes I made homemade.

I love how Mr. Potato head (on the fridge) is always in background pictures-ha.

Late nights

So today was pretty hard on me. I went to sleep (or attempted to) last night at 1:30am. I couldn't fall asleep over Scott snoring. Our neighbor even called and asked him to keep it down (just teasing). At 2am William woke up from a nightmare and wanted to read. We stayed up till 3am in his room reading and finally I could go to sleep. At 6:20am, Harry was ready to start the day.

When it was time to go to work today, the boys knew how to tug on my heart strings. Harry asked if he could go with me and William asked, "please stay home. I am begging and I said please." And then the crocodile tears started streaming down his face. It made it so hard to leave them. At-least last week they were distracted with me working because they had their aunties to play with.

Coming home exhausted I walked into our room to see this.. My three boys. Life is sweet.

On another side note. My cardiologist called me Sunday morning to let me know he was back from vacation and he was working with his team on my medical problems. That was nice for him to call on a Sunday. Well he left me a message tonight at 9pm that he would call me back tomorrow. He NEEDED to speak with me. He spoke to an expert (the guy he had been trying to reach at UCLA who is known to crack mystery cases). So now we wait...till tomorrow.

Family Reunion

A couple weeks ago we were able to meet up with The Kubiks. Sara is Scott's second cousin who lives out here in California. We have been wanting to get together for some time now but we live so far apart.

Thankfully they scheduled a vacation to LA and we were able to meet up with them at Griffith Park a few weeks ago. It was so fun to catch up and see our boys interact. Sara and I have become good friends through our blogs and email but only met once several years ago when we lived in Missouri. It was so nice to actually "meet" her, Damon and DJ. William and DJ got along very well.

Trying to get three boys to look at the camera at the same time proves difficult but they did pretty good :)

Underwood Farms

Ok so I am having a hard time figuring out my new computer or it has something to do with it being 1am. We took the boys to Underwood Farms last weekend.

Aunt Steph and Harry Feeding the horses. They love carrots.

Sampling the goods before making a purchase. Driving a truck.

Amazed at the animal show.
Wow I am so behind and have many posts to blog on. I'm going to keep it short and sweet till I get caught up because I at-least want to document these events. We took the boys to UnderWood Farms last weekend. It was so much fun. They had all of these things for kids to do and the best part is that you get to ride a tractor out to the field and pick whatever fruits and vegetables you want. Here are some pictures from the afternoon.

Kelly and William making the big climb :)

I love how beautiful this picture is with the mountain in the back and the flowers all around them.

William and Harrison riding a fun little train.

Riding the John Deer tractors. Great Grandpa A would get a kick out of this.

Picking berries.

Petting a pig

The show pony

For some reason, Blogger will not let me rearrange on my post tonight so that is why it is all out of order. At-least know I tried :)

Haircuts and birthdays

Miss Belle had her 6th birthday August 6th. I can't believe it's been six years. So crazy. She is such a wonderful pup and we love her so much. Do you think the boys need haircuts?

Well they got them. I'm not happy with how they turned out. William looks like Jim Carrey in Dumb and Dumber. It looks like a bowl cut. But I guess it's better than this.

Employed

Well I am officially employed. It isn't the best situation for us but we are managing. I think this week will be the true test. Luckily Stephanie and Kelly were here this past week and it made the transition for the boys easier. Plus they let me sleep in in the mornings so I should see how I can handle it this week. The hours are killer. I have had a lot of stress over it this past week. I have never worked since Harrison has been born so he has always been around me. And with William when I was working, I had such flexibility. Now it's a 3pm-midnight job. The tough part is that I really won't get to see Scott. He obviously isn't up when I get home. I work every other Saturday and Sunday's I work at church. William starts preschool in a few weeks so I won't see him on Tuesday and Thursday other than to drop off and pick him up. So there isn't much family time. It isn't an ideal situation. Plus I hate to say this but the pay is not good. I shouldn't complain because I should be happy I could find a job in this type of market. But it is less than half of what I used to make at Indymac. I don't know. I know I shouldn't complain. It is just a very tough situation to be in.

Both Scott and I want to have a parent home with the boys. I know some people may think that is laziness not to be employed outside the home (although I will disagree with you) but that is the plan we always had. Living in California just doesn't allow for it. The timing is horrible with my health and I have had more stress this week to add to it. I don't want this to come off as a complain session. I just haven't wanted to comment on me working because it is stressing me (and Scott) out and I seriously start crying. So let it be. This week will be the true test if all of us can handle it.

Unfortunately our babysitter Jillian can't watch the boys while I am at work. She was accepted into a program for school a few hours from here. She did recommend someone for us and she starts tomorrow. I am sure the boys will love her too.

I'm Alive!

Just a quick note to say that I have not forgot about my blog. I have been extremely busy the last two weeks. I started a new job, Scott's sisters came out to visit, I was without a computer for two weeks, etc. As soon as I get through all my new pictures and programs, there should be a slew of new posts so get ready!

When it rains, it pours!

Ok, where did I leave off? Well I ended up taking Harry to the doctor on Friday. I just couldn't get rid of his temperature. Good thing I did because he had to have a breathing treatment there because his airways were barely open. I had no idea! He has a bad chest infection and that is what was causing his airways to close. She was really worried about pneumonia. His tubes also fell out and he has a double ear infection. So besides the breathing treatment, he had to get a shot of antibiotics. He was sent home with two prescriptions.

And of-course William caught it. We just left the doctor's office. He also has a double ear infection. He has broken blood vessels in his eyes and at first, she thought it was from coughing. But with examining him, he has eye infections too! His fever was 103 at the doctor's office.

Scott and I have been taking plenty of vitamin C but now I feel a tickle in my throat. Oh please pray we don't just pass it around this house.

Also, my computer fell and broke. Yes, again. This will make number 4 in two years. And unfortunately, our warranty was up.

I got a job. Normally that is good news but it's a long story. I am still looking for another one and will take this one in the mean time. Basically the recruiter confirmed that he lied to me for his commission. I took it anyway for the money in the mean time and am working with another recruiting firm to find a better job. I am going to be working full time plus overtime weekends. And the kicker, it's second shift. That's a whole other post in itself. We (notice I say WE) aren't excited but it is what it is.

I'm sure more happened this week but it's hard to keep up with all the bad news.