January 2008

Steinmeyers etc
Posted Thursday, January 31, 2008, 7:52 PM, CST by Mary
What is going on in Washington/Oregon? Well we have managed to share a stomach virus which is pretty nasty and pretty messy. All the Hill and Nygaard kids, Gary and Steve H have had it. Rachel, Jen and I are adopting a wait and see attitude. We have managed to keep it on this side of the river so far. Christopher who turned 8 on the 25th is being baptized on this Saturday. We are having pizza and birthday cake and ice cream afterwards. He has been under the weather with a cold so hope he is doing better. Next Friday I am having a steroid injection in my spine to help decrease the swelling of some discs and the pressure on some nerves. Sure hope it works!
Well I am going to go eat the meal my man made for me. Love to you all.

Amiyah is on 2 legs, and aloha Alyssa.
Posted Wednesday, January 30, 2008, 1:56 AM, CST by Dawn
Amiyah is a walker. She took her first steps no more than 2 weeks ago and she is now walking most of the time. She also says bye bye and hi. We thought she was saying I, but realized yesterday she was saying hi. She also doesn’t like the dark. I noticed she was having trouble sleeping in her crib at night and figured out she goes to bed fine if her little hello kitty lamp is on. We are going to buy her a night light.
Alyssa is going to Hawaii for her eye apt in about 2 weeks. Her apt is on Feb 12th. Hank is probably going with her. The thought of traveling with Amiyah is not to appealing at this moment. In a few months it will be easier. I may go for her actual surgery. Alyssa is excited. She will get to go to Hawaii with her dad. I think it will be good for her to be the center of attention for a few days. Ashlyn and Amiyah get a lot of our time because they don’t go to school. Jordan gets to stay up later than the girls so he can hang with us then. Alyssa on the other hand usually has to share us with her sisters.
Hank has not gotten back the results of his MRI. He won NCO of the year for the wing. I don’t know if I posted that already? We have the awards dinner for all of the year’s award winners on Friday at the Marriott. Well I have to get the girls ready for AWANA. I love you all and miss you.

news Comments (2441)
Posted Sunday, January 20, 2008, 5:02 AM, CST by Dawn
Uncle Ed emailed and said I hadn’t posted in a while, he is right. Well Hank has begun to suffer from migraines. He gets the pre migraine symptoms called aura. He gets the flashes of light and begins to feel fatigued. The last one he had at work he actually had slurred speech, tunnel vision and difficulty thinking. This time the Aura lasted about an hour. After that the headache sets in. Though these symptoms can be associated with migraines, the Dr wants to make sure there is nothing else wrong so he is sending Hank for an MRI sometime in the next week or so. We have not yet gotten the official appointment.
A few months ago I went to see Alyssa’s primary care doctor here on Andersen. I was upset because I felt that the ophthalmologist up at Navy hospital was not qualified enough to deal with Alyssa. He didn’t seem to know what he was talking about. I felt he didn’t take enough time to look at her medical records and he seemed disinterested. Her PCM said he would look into getting her records reviewed by a Pediatric Ophthalmologist in Hawaii. Well I was OK with that. I figured he could fax them over. Normally I would just see a different Ophthalmologist but the military only has one on Guam, and the local medical care is substandard. Well anyway, we took Alyssa for her follow-up with the eye doctor we don’t like; apparently my gripe session a few months ago was in her medical records. He mentioned that appointment and then he got real cool. He said that Alyssa’s needs are outside his expertise. He filled out paperwork so Alyssa can fly to Hawaii to see a specialist. Hank or I will accompany her. She is going to Hawaii for an exam and then most likely going back for eye surgery. Nothing serious, her right eye is turning out a little. We have been told she would most likely need another eye surgery since she had the first one as a baby. The surgery is to tighten her eye muscles. So she will be going to Hawaii with one of us. The Air force is paying for everything. The eye doctor said it can take a while to process the medivac paperwork. He gave us his card so if we have any problems we can contact him directly. I figure it will be sometime in the next few months.
Amiyah took a couple steps this morning. She will be 11 months tomorrow. I was so excited. She crawled a little later than the other 3, but she may walk a little earlier. She wants to be on the floor exploring no matter where we are. She is a force to be reckoned with when she can’t get down. She says mama and dada. I think she actually understands what she is saying. I need to get her some sippy cups with screw on lids because she figured out how to pry of the pressure fit lids off with her teeth and then dump the contents out and play in it. I think she is a genius.
The other kids are doing fine. Jordan is in trouble for poor grades. Ashlyn is her same old spicy self. We figured out Ashlyn was lactose intolerant. She has had problems with diarrhea for about a year. We figured it had to be something she was eating. After talking to Michelle I realized it could be milk. After taking milk, cheese and ice cream out of her diet for the most part her diarrhea went away. We have also figured out that she can have some milk products but only a serving or two a day, any more than that causes her problems.
Well I have a ton of laundry to do so I better go. I think I can get another load or 2 done before I go to bed.

Hello family!
Posted Wednesday, January 9, 2008, 4:50 AM, CST by Dawn
Alyssa’s teacher said he would asses her over the next few weeks to see if she si behind in math and if so how much. I would have pulled her out a long time ago if I didn’t like her teacher so much. I found out that if we decide to pull her out that I can leave her enrolled even though I would be home schooling. She could still go to her specials which are art, music, PE, Computer Lab and culture. Specials rotate so it would only be about an hour a day. She can also go on field trips and use the library. She would keep her current teacher as her homeroom teacher. This is really cool. Alyssa would still get to interact with her classmates. I think for the time being she is fine. I am in no rush to make a decision. I talked to her teacher tonight at AWANA. He was supportive of whatever we decide. He thinks Alyssa is brilliant and would hate to see her go. We decided to asses her and figure out the best course of action. Aunt Mary and Aunt Jean. Thanks for your encouraging comments.
Alyssa started swim lessons again. She goes on Mon and Wed from 5:00-5:45pm. She has to go to Girl Scouts at 6pm on Mon and AWANA at 6:15 on Wed. We take dry clothes with us, so we can go from the pool to the other activity. I couldn’t get to picky on what class time they gave me so we will adapt.
PWOC started up again today. I have posted before that I do child care for this. I got a lot of new kids. There were several new Bible studies that started so we have more ladies attending. I have a couple helpers, but it is still very busy. I have found that doing the childcare for PWOC has helped me appreciate my own kids. Ashlyn and Amiyah go with me. My kids are well behaved for us and others. I love my babies, I am glad they are mine.
Baby Amiyah is cruising along furniture like a pro. She is also standing without holding onto anything for short periods of time. She is babbling all the time, and she is so much fun. She is also a good eater now. She loves steamed veggies and baked beans. She can eat a lot of what we do. She loves her bath. Ashlyn takes a bath with her usually.
We went to Talofofo falls on Sunday. It was nice, but hot and humid. The park was a lot smaller than we expected. There were lots of wasps and mosquitoes. Ashlyn and Alyssa made friends with the ducks at the bottom of the falls. There was also a mama pig and her piglets roaming around. Ashlyn said we can’t bring a baby pig home because they are to dirty. Hank and Jordan hiked a short trail. The girls and I hiked part of it but we went back after Amiyah got swarmed buy mosquitoes.
The kids started wearing there school uniforms this week. They look so cute. I tease Jordan and Alyssa by telling them they match every morning. Jordan is doing good. He has to carry an egg around like a baby. I think this project is idiotic. Jordan said an egg is nothing like a baby. He said you can’t shove a baby in your locker or on a shelf in your room. The teacher didn’t make the boys and girls pair up. She made them all single parents because she didn’t want the girls doing all the work. I told Jordan to tell her that he is to young to be a parent and that he gave his egg to a loving 2 parent family. I don’t think he will though.
Ashlyn told me today that she couldn’t get her sweater on because it was to complicated. She used the word correctly. Ashlyn is enjoying Alyssa’s swim lessons because she gets to play in the pool while we wait for her sister.
Well I am tired so I will chat at you all later. I will try to post more often now that the holidays are over.


Steinmeyers etc
Posted Monday, January 7, 2008, 2:56 PM, CST by Mary
Hello, it has been a long time since I have posted. I should be cleaning my room now instead of doing this, then there is the kitchen!
We had Kiana's 8th birthday dinner here last night. After she opened her gifts Abby asked if she could spend the night with her and play with her and her new things. When she was told no, there is school tomorrow, she burst into tears and insisted that school has ruined her life.
Riley likes to dip things in ketchup now (Jen never took time to offer dips) dinner was steak or chicken nuggets with fresh veggies. Riley was dipping her chicken nuggets and Steve put broccoli and cauliflower on her plate. She cleaned off her plate and so we put more veggies on. We didn't pay much attention until she offered Gary some broccoli. Yuk! It was dipped in ketchup. Whatever works.
We had a very nice Holliday break. Going back to work hasn't been to great, I get tired when I don't get to sleep in. Waaaaa! We had a 2 hour late start today and I didn't get a phone call so I showed up and had lots of time to do extra projects. I am making sure the phone is by my bed and the ringer is turned up. The snow level is supposed to drop down tonight. Glad to hear everyone is doing well. I need to get to my room (for fire safety code). Bye