So, Friday, the 22nd of November, we made the 8 hour trip up north to visit my family. Well...it should have been eight hours anyways. It ended up being nearly thirteen thanks to traffic in San Diego and Los Angeles. Gotta love southern California! It's always fun to be at a complete stand still on the freeway.

So, early Saturday morning (about three in the morning) we got to my mom's house. Thankfully, the kids slept most of the way. We had some interesting experiences along the way, but we managed to arrive safe and sound. Saturday evening I drove down to the Bay Area and had fun with a friend. We went out to eat, then went to see the movie, Eragon. The movie was a bit slow, but it was cute. I had a lot of fun. Right before the movie, I got a phone call from Drake saying that Sera was crying uncontrollably no matter what he did, so could I please come home as soon as possible. I felt bad and contemplated going home without watching the movie, but decided that he could play dad for a little while longer. I've dealt with unconsolable babies...why couldn't he? I still feel guilty for choosing to stay out and have fun while he was home dealing with a screaming baby, but it is so seldom that I get to go out that I decided they could live without me for another two hours. (Well, four if you count the two hour drive home) I called him when I left the bay area and told him I was on my way home. Less than an hour later, he called me back, all pissed off, wondering why I wasn't home yet. Ummm...perhaps it is because it's a two hour drive and I had started less than an hour before?

So, anyways, I get home, and sure enough...Sera is just pitching an absolute fit, refusing to sleep, refusing to eat, refusing to do anything. She was burning up. Poor baby was sick :( So, I gave her some Tylenol, the fever went down, and she was able to sleep for about twenty minutes at a time. For the next three nights I was up with her, trying to calm her down, walking around with her, singing to her, just holding her, etc., as she screamed and screamed and screamed. :( She's finally starting to feel a bit better and has only been waking up once or twice the past few nights. However, she's still miserable during the day. I feel bad because she's normally such a good, happy baby and my family just isn't seeing that. lol

We've been looking at a few housing developments while we're up here. There are some really nice homes being built in the Lincoln area that we would be very lucky to be able to purchase and be able to live in. The problem is, Drake doesn't have a job up here, so we really can't buy anything. The houses take about six months to build, which means we would have to buy now to move in June, which is the projected time frame for us planning on moving up here. But, without a job in place, it would be awfully risky to buy a place and just assume that he'll find work up here within the next six months. Ugh, I hate this. It doesn't help that he hasn't even started looking for work. He keeps saying that he needs to update his resume a bit before he can apply for new jobs, but he's not even working on it. He says he dislikes the way things are going with his current job and that he wants to move closer to my family, but his actions say otherwise. Whenever I bring up the fact that he needs to start working on his resume, he says he knows and that he will, but he never does. I know I can't bring it up that often because if I do he'll just start getting angry and tell me that I'm nagging and then we'll end up in a huge fight about it with him all pissed off and yelling and me crying, and well...I'm sick of fighting.

We got in a rather large fight the other day about something that has really been bothering me a lot lately. He actually initiated the conversation about it, so I thought we could have a civilized conversation about it, but no such luck. It just ended up with him pissed off at me, me crying and me feeling like I'm expected to be the "good little wife" who never makes waves, never questions his actions, just accepts everything he wants and doing whatever he says. I don't want to go into things too much because I don't like painting him as the bad guy because no matter what, this is the life I chose...this is the life I choose. Things don't have to be the way they are...I just allow them to be, so I really have no room to complain. I just wish things were different, but the more I try to change things, the worse our relationship gets, so I just go right back to, "Okay honey, you're right. I'm sorry. I'll do whatever you say. You're right, I shouldn't question you," and so on and so forth just to avoid the fighting.

Anyways, I'm having a good time spending time with my family, being able to talk to my mom and my sister, having the kids spend time with their cousins, etc. The kids are having an absolute blast having these built in kids that they get along with so well. I miss my family so much. I hate being so far away from them. The only thing I don't like about this visit is that I feel like such an outsider. I feel like I'm just a guest, visiting, rather than part of the family. I guess, in a way, I am. I only see them for a few days a year. They see their friends more often than they see me. I hate that.

The kids had a blast at Christmas. They got a ton of gifts and they're having a great time playing video games and playing with their new toys. Mario Party 7 seems to be their favorite gift as a whole. Emma got a skateboard and a bunch of gear from my mom. She's absolutely in love! She's been outside a lot trying to learn how to skateboard. Caitlin is extremely jealous. lol They all got some good stuff and it was fun spending Christmas morning with our family.

Tomorrow night we're celebrating new years at my sister's new home. We're all going over there for dinner, then staying until midnight. The older kids will be spending the night there. We're supposed to drive home on Monday, but I just don't think I'll be up for the drive after being up all night for New Years, so I think we're going to drive home Tuesday morning...then it's back to the grind and real life.

Sigh...I'm going to miss this. No matter how much Drake says he plans on finding a new job and us moving up here over the summer, I've heard that numerous years passed. I'm trying not to get my hopes up because it never happens.

I didn't get Christmas cards out again this year. :( So, you get my Christmas newsletter here. Don't you feel oh so special? It's also going out in a mass email to my relatives. Yes, I'm a complete slacker.

My dearest family and friends,

Once again, the holiday season is upon us and I find myself with many good intentions, but neither the time, nor the energy to bring these intentions about. So, please accept and forgive me for this mass email sent in lieu of Christmas cards this year.

Caitlin is in third grade this year and is loving school. She is involved in student government as a “Hawk Leader,” and is involved in the S.A.V.E. club that meets a few times a month after school. As a Hawk Leader, she oversees students during lunch time and is responsible for helping to keep order in the lunch room. S.A.V.E stands for Students Against Violence Everywhere. As part of this club, she learns ways to help her community and what she can do to keep a peaceful environment. She is involved in service projects and activities that help the community. She is currently a third degree green belt in tae kwon do and absolutely loves it!

Emma is in first grade. She loves to read and is just soaking up as much knowledge as she possibly can. She’s extremely focused and strives for perfection. She can be a bit hard on herself when she doesn’t meet her expectations, but it motivates to work even harder. She’s also a third degree green belt. Emma can be quite shy and reserved, but when you get her out on the tournament floor, she comes out of her shell and seems to be an entirely different person. It is amazing how much tae kwon do has helped her become more self confident.

Cole is full of spunk. He’s a third degree yellow belt. He recently received third place in his kata competition. He competed against approximately thirty other kids as the only four year old in the five to seven age group. He loves playing video games and is just itching to start kindergarten. He’s currently teaching himself addition and subtraction and is trying to read short words.

Ethan is enjoying his time at home with Mommy. He loves everything related to Superman and one of his favorite things to do is “fly” off of the furniture. He loves playing with Sera and is so good with her. He also really enjoys playing video games…when his older brother will give him a turn.

Sera is just a doll. She recently started walking, but still very much enjoys being carried everywhere. In November, she had surgery to remove a cyst from her face. Everything went well and she is healing nicely. She has brought so much joy to our family. No one can make the other kids smile and laugh quite like Sera can.

Drake is still working for General Atomics as a software engineer. He enjoys the work, but not the long hours that go along with it. He has made some very good friends and enjoys going bowling with the guys when he gets a chance to.

The big news of the family gets to come from me! I’m pregnant again! Yes, that’s right…Baby Silva #6 should be joining our family right around the fourth of July. We are all very excited.

I hope that this holiday season is full of all of the love and joy you all so richly deserve. Our family is very blessed to have each and every one of you in our lives.

Love,
Katie and the Silva Ohana

I feel like I can post this now that I've told my mom about the pregnancy. I was going to wait to tell family until I was there in person, but I'm not exactly the most patient person. lol

I hope that all of you have an incredible holiday season and that it brings about many great and wonderful blessings in your lives.

How old were you when you first...

1. Fell in love - 16

2. Lost someone close to you - Five days shy of 23

3. got drunk -16

4. smoked weed - Goodness...I don't even want to admit this. lol I wish I could say never. 21...I think

5. Got kissed - 14

6. Went to the hospital for surgery - Never

7. Got your heart broken - 16

8. Lost a pet - 8?

9. Got arrested -Haven't

10. Smoked a Ciggerette - 16

11. Broken a bone- Never

12. Got a job - 15

13. Got cheated on - 18...as far as I know

15. Went to a concert - 12

16. Got your own cell phone - 26

17. Had 1st boy/girl friend - 15

18. Got a myspace account -26

19. Snuck out of the house - Never have

20. Pierced other than your ears - never have

21. Got caught having sex - 16

22. Went on a date - 16

24. How old are you now? 27

Cole has been sick the past couple of days. He's had a fever, a slight cough and a very sore throat. He lost his voice yesterday. This morning, he woke up and said he couldn't breathe. His breathing was VERY labored and he was definitely wheezing. I called his doctor, who said to take him to the emergency room. By the time we got there, he had calmed down and he was breathing semi normally again, but was still very congested and wheezing a bit. When we finally got taken back, they gave him a nebulizer treatment of albuterol and atrovent. He thought it was cool because he looked like a "dragon" with smoke coming out of his "nostrils." Here's my little dragon:
The dotor came in, diagnosed him with croup, gave him an oral steroid and send him home with an albuterol inhaler. She said that the wheezing had stopped and she wasn't going to diagnose him with asthma because the wheezing could have been caused by the croup, but to keep an eye on him when he's sick in the future and to feel free to use the inhaler if he had problems breathing when he's sick in the future.

My little guy was such a trooper. The nurse was very nice and gave him a book and a teddy bear to take home. My oh so creative child named the bear "Medium Bear" because he has a bear that is larger than this bear and many bears that are smaller. lol

It was a long morning, but at least my little boy is feeling better and breathing normally now! I hate it when my kiddos are sick. :(

Today, the older three kids had a tae kwon do tournament. My goodness was it an incredibly long day. lol It started with the forms competition. All three of them did incredibly well. Neither of the girls placed this time, but Cole placed for the very first time! He got third place! He was in the yellow belts, ages 5-7 division. He was the only four year old in the competition. He competed against about thirty other kids. You should have seen how excited he was when his name was called for third place! I was just beaming as well. Next came the sparring competition. None of the kids placed, but they had great fun. There was some really tough competition.

I'm just so proud of my kids. They have really stuck with tae kwon do. There have been many weeks that they haven't wanted to go, or wanted to do something else (i.e. birthday parties...there are a lot of them scheduled for Saturday mornings, which is when their class is) but they've made the decision to stick with tae kwon do and put for the effort and dedication it takes to succeed and it's really paying off. I have seen such a huge difference in them since they've started these classes. Self confindence has improved, social interactions have improved, and for Cole, it's really taught him how to stay still and pay attention. He's no longer bouncing off the walls, unable to pay attention to any one thing for more than fifteen seconds. He can actually focus and concentrate on something when he wants to. This is something they truly enjoy and they all plan on it being a lifelong hobby. (Well, it's Emma's hope that it will be more than a hobby...she eventually hopes to teach it and make it her career.)