Catching Up

Wow, I haven't written in a while! We have been having crazy times at the McAvey house! Brae was out of school for a week with the flu AND strep! That kept me and Brandon really busy and out of work those days too. But he's finally better now and Brax hasn't showed one sign of getting sick either. Thank goodness! Then we had the horrible ice storm on Tuesday night and that kept us off work on Wednesday. So, I'm finally back to blogging mode! The only bad part is that I have no idea what to blog about today! LOL I got a letter from my brother and that was nice. I haven't heard from him in over a month. So I was really glad to get that. We're still having a tough time getting Brae to sleep in his own bed. This has been such a challenge for us! Our 2 year old gets right in bed and stays there all night. Not the 5 year old though! Nooooo way! We battle with him every night! It's getting slowly better--VERY slowly! Other than that, I don't have much to report today!

10 Best Things.....

I thought that since I have been blogging about nothing but negative things, I'd write one on all the postive things I do have in my life. I have done this before so I'm kind of copying just a little! LOL I do LOVE my life and those that are in it! I have been stuck in a "negative" rut, but I'm done with that now! ;-) Please enjoy!!


1. The way Brandon rubs my back sometimes when he knows I don't feel good or he knows I'm stressed out.

2. How when it's time for Brax to go to sleep, he will snuggle up really close to me and whisper "I lellow." That's his way of saying "I love you." And then he turns towards my head and procedes to give me 42 good night kisses....

3. When I pick Brae up from school, he runs towards me with the biggest smile on his face and then he tells me "I was soooo good at school today, Mama!"

4. I like it when I'm in bed and lying on my side, Paco will snuggle up in the crease of my bent knees. He gets as close as possible and then he settles in and goes to sleep.

5. I love the fact that after Brae pulls off someone's flag in a football game, he completely stops what he's doing, turns to me in the stands and yells "I GOT ANOTHER FLAG, MAMA!"

6. Anytime I cry or get upset, Brax is the first one in my lap giving me hugs and asking me "Where's you owie, Mama?"

7. Brandon is the first one to get up in the mornings and he kisses me on my forehead and tells me "It's time to wake up, Beautiful." That's soooo much better than a loud alarm clock!

8. I get those random phone calls or texts from Brandon reminding me that he loves me and he misses me. It's nice to hear those things for no reason.

9. After dinner is cooked and we're all sitting at the dinner table, the 4 of us start a conversation about how our days went and what happened and what we plan on doing tomorrow. I love dinner time at our house for that reason right there!

10. And one of the BEST things about my life is the 3 guys I have in my heart, in my home, at my dinner table, in my mind, and most nights, in my bed! Even as uncomfortable as it is, I never sleep better than those nights where all 4 of us-and Paco-are snuggled into our bed!!

This old world

I am one of those people that read the newspaper on a pretty much daily basis. I should say that I technically read it online now instead of getting the actual paper. It's just easier that way. Anyways, today while I'm reading there were 2 stories that caught my eye. One was about 4 children who were severely burned when a canister of sulfuric acid exploded in their mother's pickup where they were riding. The kids were aged 14 down to 18 mos. What caught my attention was the fact that after the explosion, the mother and her boyfriend left the scene of the accident and the 4 children. Immediately I'm filled with rage. I know EXACTLY what the sulfuric acid was for. The "mother" and her boyfriend were probably headed home to make methamphetamine. That's why she panicked and left her injured babies in dire need of medical attention. Eventually, the kids were careflighted to Parkland Hospital and they are in the burn unit in severe critcal condition. The next story is about a 6 yr. old little boy who was beaten to death over a 3 day period by his mother's boyfriend. The 24 yr. old man accused of beating him said that he "whooped him and beat him with a leather and fabric belt all over his body and butt because he wouldn't mind him." Then when the bruised little boy disobeyed the last time, the man held him under the water in what he called "punishment for being real bad." The little boy died after either all the trauma or from drowning. The autopsy will reveal that at a later date. At the end of the article was a picture of the cutest little boy with the biggest smile on his face playing during an obviously better time in his life. This is the point where I basically lost it! The tears just started flowing. WHAT is the world coming to? Why is it that the children are suffering at the sins of their mothers and fathers? I know this kind of stuff isn't new. I know that children have been suffering for years. But, it seems like here lately it's an everyday occurrence. I am so sick of all this. I am sick of drugs. I am sick of the people on drugs. I am sick and tired of the horrible crimes that take place because of drugs. WHEN are people going to realize that drugs aren't just hurting them. They are hurting their CHILDREN more. I don't have an answer. I pray about this stuff everyday and try to turn it over to the "Man Upstairs." I want to be more than just someone who's praying though. What can I do? Does anyone have any suggestions? I want to make a difference in the life of these children. If anyone knows of anything I could do, please let me know. Thank you! And I'm sorry for this depressing blog, but I feel so helpless and I hate that feeling! HELP!

Old Song, New Twist

My oldest son, Brae, went to watch "Bolt" in 3D with his grandmother yesterday afternoon. He absolutely LOVED it! He was amazed at the stuff that "kept coming at his head!" He said, "Mama, I could touch the doggie on the screen!" LOL That really made me smile. So, while he was gone, me and Brax decided we'd work on the Alphabet Song together. And let me just say that for 2 years and 3 mos. old, he's doing AMAZING at learning it! We just kept running into a small problem. He does great up until "...J, K, L, M...." then he kinda drifts off into his own world. Okay, so let me try to explain. Here's Brax singing, "H, I, J, K, L, M, N, Old Macdonald had a farm, EIEIO..." Isn't that adorable? I thought it was super funny and it sure brought a smile to my face. I just wanted to share that!

My brother

I am having a REALLY hard time dealing with the issues surrounding my brother. I know it seems like that's all I write about, but this is my "outlet." I spend most of the day at work thinking about the what if's and the could of beens. It's really getting hard. I need to accept and realize that this is the hand that we've been dealt. And eventually I will get there. So, here's a poem that I just wanted to share. I didn't write it....nope, I'm not that creative. But, it definetly tugged at my heart strings.

Here ya go, baby brother. I love you.

Brothers,The ones you go to for help, For comfort, For advice. When you just had a fight with Mom and Dad, Another girl, Or your boyfriend. Brothers, The ones you go to, to tell them that You're pregnant, Getting married, Or just need a shoulder to cry on. The ones you look up to, Share jokes, And talk to about everything. Brothers, They're there for the good times, Bad, And everything in between. My brother, He helps me with everything. Now all he needs, Is ME.

Stomach flu

Well, it's been a while again. I apologize. The holidays were great. And the kids were spoiled rotten as usual! I got sick this past Friday. All day Saturday I spent the majority of the day either in bed or in the bathroom. I had that stomach bug that's going around. It is AWFUL! I tried to take enough phenergran to keep me out of the bathroom and that made me extremely sleepy. So, Brandon was in full charge of the house and kids! LOL He did a great job actually. There were only a few incidents. The one I thought was so funny was Brax was in the kitchen spinning himself in circles making himself dizzy. You can guess what happened! He got dizzy and fell and hit the kids table knocking it over and busting his nose and lip! I could hear Brandon screaming something about blood so I got out of bed and walked to the kitchen. Brax was bleeding just a little but Daddy was having a fit!! It was quite comical. The next big incident was the boys fighting which is nothing new! They fight and they fight ROUGH. So, I hear both boys crying and Brandon was getting on to them. I got up and the boys were covered in bloody scratches all over their faces, heads, and shoulders. Again there wasn't anything life threatening, so I went back to bed. All in all, everything was pretty good. Brandon to them to one of the sports grills and they had lunch and watched a football game. They all loved that. Not too bad for Dad!! Now, all I'm praying for is that they don't all get it next! Ugh!!!