Back to normal!

My psychology class was canceled today so I am sitting in the school library with nothing to do. I figured, why not blog!!

Everyone in my house is finally back to normal. The boys have been on their antibiotic for 2 days and they are doing great.

I knew yesterday that they were doing better because all of the sudden the fighting began. They had laid on the couch together since Sunday night watching whatever came on the TV. In fact, they were so sick, I believe they would have laid there and watched paint dry. Well by yesterday morning I started hearing, "Get your NASTY foot off of me!", or "I don't want to watch your dumb shows, I want to watch Sports Network!" and a lot of "MOOOOOM, he's doing ________"!!! By noon I told them both that if I heard one more argument I was driving them to school! They stopped pretty fast. I wished that I had their school work for them to do but the school only gives work after 3 missed days and you can only pick it up after school. Well, yesterday was the 3rd day but I couldn't pick it up until 3!!

They finally went back to school for the first time today. They have a lot of work to do, especially Joey. I went yesterday to pick up school work and I was shocked at how much Joey had to do. Jimmy had quite a bit too but it was easier work like spelling worksheets, and fill in the blanks for Social Studies. He also had to finish the read aloud book that the class had been reading so that he could take the AR test. We were able to get all of his work done so he is officially caught up. Pre-teen, hormonal Joey would not stop going on and on about how unfair it was that Jimmy was done and how middle school was the worst!!! He was truly mad! They are off tomorrow because of conferences at school so we will just work all day long to get his stuff done. I guess it will be like a day of home schooling which should be real fun because as I mentioned above he is a preteen and hormonal but, only with ME!!

Today I did my second Speech for my Speech class. I am quite sure that I bombed it! It had to be an informational speech and I did it on how to make chocolate candies and suckers. When I get nervous I talk way too fast so I did not fill the time requirement. Also, I was shaking so bad that everyone could see. When I went to pass the molds around for everyone to look at, the mold was visibly vibrating in my hand!! Oh how I hate this class. I know that it is a fear that I must conquer so that I can do parent orientations and other things someday when I have a job. I just don't know how to get over it. I hate talking to a room full of adults! I feel like they are all judging me. Have any of you ever been afraid of public speaking and been able to get over it? Or anyone who is just naturally good? Do you have some tips you would be willing to share?

My Speech professor really scared me when class ended and he asked me if I would stay behind. When everyone left he told me that another student had come to him to talk about me but wanted their name left out of it. (Enter my heart beating out of my chest, sweat on my brow, and a dry mouth) I just stood there with my mouth open and he said, "Oh, no, it's good! She wanted me to tell 'the mom in the front' that she really appreciates the eye contact you gave her during her speech. She said that you were the only one in the room that looked like you were paying any attention to what she had to say." I asked him if that could give me some bonus points on my own speech and he just laughed. I am guessing that is a no. So, that is what I am to my fellow students of 18 and 19. 'The mom in the front' Oh well everyone needs a label I guess.

Later Gators!

Well, Hello again!

It has been quite a while since I was on here. I guess I was busier than I thought, but with what?? Pretty much just day to day life.

School is keeping me pretty busy right now. I love having all of my classes on Tuesday and Thursday. It gives me Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to do everything else that needs to be done. This week I have two essays due and one speech!! Ahhhh! Thank goodness for the extra days of work time.

Just last weekend we took our annual February getaway with Mary and Ben and went down to Springfield. We all had an awesome time together like we always do. We saw many sites that put us in awwww but that is because Phil and I are huge history buffs. We just love it. We went to see Abraham Lincoln's home and I didn't want to leave the street because I was enjoying soaking in all of the history from every single original house!! We also toured our new capital building and our old capital building. The very best part of the whole weekend was the Lincoln museum and library. If any of you are history buffs like us I highly recommend it to you. We spent well over 3 hours in there and frankly we could have been there even longer. Joey and Ben enjoyed it almost as much as Phil and I did. Mary, Jimmy, and Danny all liked it but could have gone through it in about half the time and felt satisfied about it. Mary is just not into history, Danny is too young to really choose if he is into it or not and Jimmy hates anything to do with school!! Thank goodness for Mrs. Lincoln's attic where Mary took the boys and let them play for about and hour and a half. (Love ya Mary!!)

Sadly, once you step outside of Capital Square, Springfield is a dump! It is actually embarrassing to have that city represent our state! I never would have expected that. We have been to a couple of capital cities before and they have all been decent. It is too bad that so many people come there to see the Lincoln Museum and walk away with such an awful perception of Illinois. I sure hope that they clean it up some time.

The boys had fun swimming and hot tubing at the hotel. To tell the truth I enjoyed that too! With all of this crappy weather it was nice to take a dip and pretend like it wasn't only 9 degrees outside. This was the first trip we have taken where we got adjoining rooms and now I will never do it another way! It was so nice for the boys to be able to run back and forth between the rooms without hearing the slamming of the hallway door and then having to keep getting up to let them back in.

The worst part of the trip was the drive home. Joey all of the sudden was flushed in the face and said that it hurt really bad to swallow. He was eventually driven to tears which is not common in Joey when he is sick. Later that night Jimmy started to have the same symptoms and by Monday morning Phil had it. When we were finally able to get everyone into the doctor they were diagnosed with strep throat and the flu! My poor boys are sick still today, all three of them.

So, that is where we are as of today. I will try to get on here more. Spring Break is coming and I will finally have a break!

Happy Belated Birthday, MOM!

Yesterday was my mom's 54th Birthday! Mom, sorry that I wasn't able to get on here yesterday. It was good to talk to you though and I am glad that you had a nice dinner with Nonie and Gary.

Well as for the Gorski Happeinings we are all back to our busy schedules.

I started school again on Tuesday. I only have classes on Tuesday and Thursday now and I love it! My school days are long but I love having Monday, Wednesday, and Friday off to study, get into Jimmy's classroom and help, or clean the house.

Joey and Jimmy are also back in school. They are right back in the swing of things. Jimmy joined basketball at the Y so we will be there Tuesday and Friday nights for practice along with Saturday morining for the game. (I enjoy being at that stuff though because many of my friends are there with their kids and we get to chat.) He is such a "sports kid"! Whatever sport season it is; that is his new favorite sport! He has been walking around the house bouncing a basketball for the last week. I thought that the football flying up in the air all day was annoying! I would trade that for the thudding that I am now hearing! I can not wait until it is warm out so that he can get back outside and run and play with his friends. Right now my basement has become their new playground!

Speaking of weather, what is going on? We have a high of 5 all weekend! Yuck, I hate the cold more than anything at all. It isn't worth taking my 11 year old van out in this weather. It doesn't have good heat when it is 40 degrees out forget about it when it is 5! So, that means that by Monday I will have serious cabin fever! Thank goodness that I have my wonderful sister-in-law Kate and my best friend Lynne within 10 houses. I will be walking to one of their houses sometime this weekend just to get out of here!!

Joey turns 12!

Today is Joey's 12th birthday. One more year and he will be a teen! He is having a sleepover with 7 of his friends and the noise from the basement is just CRAZY!!! They will calm down though, right??? So here are some pictures of him today. I took them with my crappy Sony so they are not the best!!

My boys and Belle

Joe! (If you click this to open it you will see a small little smile)

Jimmy, Joey, Danny, and Belle

I'm Done!

Well I am officially done with my first semester of full time school! My finals were done last Thursday but now grades have been posted and I really feel done. The kids are done today and we will all be on break, even Phil. His plant is having a mandatory shut down until January 4th. We are all looking forward to having some time off together!

Joey had his first band concert on December 17th. They did really good. I was expecting a lot of squeeks and mistakes but I didn't hear them. I was really impressed. Phil had to work that night, :( ,but we did video tape it for him. Phil's parents were able to make it though and we were really glad to have them there. They were both impressed with Joey's school and he enjoyed showing them where he spends his days. My mom also had to work that night and was missed, but we totally understand! Here a two pictures of that night.


Don't let my hat fool you, there is a lot of hair in there, he is taller than me!

Joey with his Pop-Pop and Mom-Mom! He's got a ways to go until he is taller than them!

Jimmy turns 10!!!!

I can not believe that it has been 10 years already! I feel so old saying this, but time really does fly! Since it has been a whole decade since he was born I thought that I would take a trip down memory lane and talk about the day that he was born.

Ten years ago right now I was still enjoying that cute, fat 10 lb baby boy. He looked perfect and exactly like Phil. Who knew that at 9:15 that night my world would be turned upside down when the nurse woke me up to tell me there was a problem with the baby. By 10:30 they were wheeling him into my room in an incubator and living off of a machine. The nurse was telling me that I should tell my baby goodbye. I stuck my hand through the little hole on the side, grabbed his hand and told him how much him mommy loved him. Five minutes later he was in a helicopter on his way to Rockford Memorial. He was diagnosed there with Transposition of the Great Vessels and sent immediately to Christ Hospital in Chicago. Phil and his family followed the helicopter all night long from Woodstock, to Rockford, and finally to Chicago. I was in my dark hospital room, with a huge incision from the cesarean, with my mom. She gave me an extra pillow to put on my incision, climbed into my bed, held me tight and told me to just go ahead and cry. I became the baby in my mom's arms that night. I don't know how I would have made it through the night with out her.

Three days later I was on my way to Christ Hospital. Now it was my turn to be strong and be the mom. I stood by Jimmy's bed as long as the nurses would allow me to. They kept getting angry with me and telling me that I was doing too much being that I was post op. I knew better. A mom can never do too much!

At six days old he was taken into surgery. Again the doctors' and the nurses' told us that we should have a moment with the baby. Phil told him that he loved him and had to leave the room. I leaned in reaching around all of the tubes that were keeping my precious baby boy alive and whispered Our Father and then Now I lay me down to sleep into his ear.

His surgery lasted 6 and a half hours. Those were truly the longest 6 and half hours of my life. I just sat there, numb, without any emotion staring at the carpet. Still today I have the design of the carpet ingrained in my brain. When it was finally over they said that Phil and I could go in and see him.He had a whole room to himself. Here he was this tiny little baby on a tiny little bed in a room filled with machines. Each one doing a different job to keep his tiny heart beating and lungs breathing. He had tubes every where. Not even his bald little head was spared because that is where one of the IVs was located. I was not allowed to speak because every time that I did his heart beat would go through the roof. I just sat silently rubbing my thumb along the top of his hand. We were only allowed to stay in there about 10 minutes.

When we went back into the waiting room and I saw my mom the flood gates finally broke. The emotions of the day just flew out of me as I fell into her arms. I was inconsolable. I had been so scared all week that we were going to lose him and I had held it all in wanting to be strong. Now that the worst was over, I could let go.

He ended up spending 3 weeks at Christ Hospital. There were ups and downs through that time but nothing like the actual day of surgery. Poor Joey was being bounced around like a beach ball from family member to family member. Thank God he was an easy going 2 year old and that we had such a helpful family. Phil and I never could have made it through this on our own. It was with family at our side every step of the way that we made it through.

Jimmy has never really stopped giving us challenges. He was the much fussier infant, the impossible toddler, the super attached preschooler, and the student that hates school. However, if you doubled all of the drama you would have the joy and laughter Jimmy brings into our lives every day. I still thank God for our little miracle!

Happy 10th birthday Jimmy, I love you.

P.S. My sister-in-law Kate captured the whole couple of weeks with pictures. At the time I remember telling her that I was never going to want to look at these again. However ten years later I am grateful to her for that. So, here are some of the pictures of that time. Thanks Kate!!

Molly and Phil ~ Visiting Jimmy in the NICU
Molly and Phil ~ Visiting Jimmy in the NICU
Baby Jimmy in the NICU ~ That adult hand is Phil's

Joey and Jimmy meet for the first time 12-20-97
This is the first time I held Jimmy 12-17-97 He was still hooked up to some machines as you can see. He went home 3 days later.

Update on Joe's "growth"

We went to the Dr. yesterday and walked out still not knowing much. The Dr. looked at it for about 5 seconds, looked up at me and said, "Is there any skin cancer in the family?" I told him that there is skin cancer all over on my mom's side of the family. He said, "Hmmmm??? We are going to need to take a culture of this."

As he was taking a culture I showed him another one that was growing right on above the current one. It is really tiny and flesh toned. I explained to him that this one looked exactly like that when it started. He looked up and me and said, "Yeah, that's not a wart. Wart's don't look like that."

So, he sent us home with some cream to apply twice a day and we need to keep band-aid's on there. He is thinking that we will have the results by Monday, Tuesday at the latest.

Now you know what I know! Does anyone in the medical field have any thoughts on what might be going on?