Living with kids are so great!

I remember life before our son, but sometimes looking back now it seems like a dream,

I slept in as late as I wanted, no worries when your in a hurry you don't have to get a child dressed, and remember your purse while carrying a toddler out.

No tripping over toys left in the middle of the floor at 3 am when you have to go to the bathroom,

no checking for monsters under the bed, and even after you have looked 500 times those sneaky monsters still come back,

No sitting up all night long holding a puking child & having to change bed sheets every day because the potty training isn't going as well as you thought!

You could buy your self nice things instead of thinking "How long will this last?"

Then of course there's no kisses that are so sweet, even covered in chocolate, no hugs around your knee's, no I love you Mommy every day,

I am really happy that I'm a Mom & I am proud I have a child in my house!

Christmas is OVER!

I am so glad Christmas is over! it seems like every year things cost more & more, and every year my son gets older he wants more & more!

This year he really wanted a Wii, they cost almost $300.00, thats crazy for a 6 year old, but we're crazy so we got him one, knowing full well he'll play it a few months then he'll be done & it won't be played for years.

We have been buying presents since June, right after his birthday, yet Christmas eve we were still running to Wal mart 2 buy last minute stuff!

We only bought for the kids this year because they seem to be multiplying so fast, we did buy the 4 groups of adults who were going2 be there on Christmas day a box of chocolates each.

It just seems weird to me that Christmas is over yet again, because it seems like not that long ago it was Christmas last year!

So anyways I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas & are going 2 have a great new year!

More about pits

A MUST READ....PIT BULLS
1.) Since 1998, the breed most involved in fatal attacks has been the **********(don't want to put any other breeds on the spot), not the Pit Bull.
2.) Although there are no accurate or even near accurate census records for dogs in the U.S., in some populations pit bulls are estimated to comprise some 30-40% of the dog population, making it by FAR the most popular breed. Considering that there are an estimated 53,000,000 dogs in the U.S., and assuming that pit bulls make up 20% of that population, there would be approximately 10,600,000 pit bulls in our society. In 1998, five pit bulls were involved in 2 fatal attacks. That is roughly ONE dog out of 2,120,000 - or .00004716 percent of the pit bull Population.
3.) Over the 32-year period from 1965-2001, Pit Bulls have been blamed for/accused of an average of 2.48 human fatalities per year.
4.) About 40 people (children) per year die by drowning in 5-gallon water pails. A person, during their lifetime, is 16 times more likely to drown in a 5-gallon water pail than to be killed by a Pit Bull.
5.) Approximately 50 children in the US are killed every year by their cribs - 25 times the number of children and adults killed by Pit Bulls.
6.) Approximately 150 people are killed every year by falling coconuts. Therefore, you are more than 60 TIMES MORE LIKELY to be killed by a PALM TREE than a Pit Bull.
7.) Each year, 350 people drown in their bathtubs. You are 151 times more likely to be killed by your bathtub than you are by a Pit Bull.
8) Every year, more than 2,000 children in the U.S. are killed by their parents or guardians either through abuse or neglect. A child is more than 800 times more likely to be killed by their caretaker than by a Pit Bull.
9) It is estimated that 5,000,000 dogs per year are killed in shelters. Since in many places pit bulls make up 30-50% of the shelter population, and are less likely to be considered for placement than any other breed, guessing that 25% of those dogs killed are pit bulls is a very conservative estimate. Therefore, it can be assumed that roughly 1,250,000 pit bulls are killed per year. Therefore - it is at least a HALF MILLION TIMES MORE LIKELY that a Pit Bull will be killed by a HUMAN than the other way around.
10) The average Number of people killed by a Pit Bull each year is 3.
11) It can be estimated that for every Pit Bull who kills, there are 10.5 MILLION that DON'T!
This country wants to ban/destroy 10.5 million innocent dogs for the actions of 0.94% of its category?

10 Facts about Pit bulls

"Ten Facts About Pit Bulls Every One Should Know"1. Pit Bulls are commonly used as therapy dogs. Whether they are visiting a senior care facility or helping someone recover from an emotional accident, Pit Bulls are making a mark as outstanding therapy dogs.
2. Pit Bulls are used in Search and Rescue work. One example of well known SAR Pit Bulls is Kris Crawford and her dogs. Kris and her dogs have helped save the lives of many people during their efforts. http://www.ForPitsSake.org
3. Pit Bulls serve as narcotic and bomb sniffing dogs. One Pit Bull, Popsicle (named that because he was found in an old freezer) has the largest recorded single drug find in Texas history. Read more about Popsicle here. Including how he found over 3,000 lbs of cocaine in Hildago, Texas.
4. Pit Bulls are great with kids. They weren't referred to as the "nanny's dog" for nothing that's for sure.
5. Pit Bulls are not human aggressive. The American Pit Bull Terrier as a breed is not human aggressive. In fact, quite the opposite is true of the breed. They are gentle and loving dogs. Like any dog individuals can be unsound and have behavior problems.
6. The Pit Bull was so popular in the early 1900's they were our mascot not only in World War One, but World War Two as well. They were featured on recruiting and propoganda posters during this time period.
7. Sgt. Stubby. A Pit Bull war hero. Stubby was wounded in action twice, he saved his entire platoon by warning them of a poison gas attack and he single handedly captured a German spy.
8. Pete the Pup on the orginal Little Rascals was a Pit Bull.
9. Pit Bulls score an 83.4% passing rate with the American Temperament Test Society. That's better than the popular Border Collie (a breed who scores 79.6%). View the ATTS stats here.
10. They are dogs not killing machines.
Referenced from:
http://www.pitbulllovers.com/pit-bulls-ten-things-you-should-know.html

Pit Bull is a term commonly used to describe several breeds of dog in the Molosser family that were historically used for dog fighting. The breeds most often placed in this category are the American Pit Bull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier and Staffordshire Bull Terrier.
In the media the term is vague and may include other breeds with similar physical characteristics, such as the Perro de Presa Canario, Cane Corso, Dogo Argentino, Alano Espanol, Japanese Tosa, Dogue de Bordeaux, Cordoba Fighting Dog, Bull Terrier, Antebellum Bulldog, Alapaha Blue Blood Bulldog, American Bulldog, Boxer, Valley Bulldog, Olde English Bulldogge, Renascence Bulldogge, and Banter Bulldogge. These breeds are rarely listed by name in breed-specific legislation, but they are sometimes included when the term is defined broadly and based on physical appearance.[1]

Dog bite related human injuriesStatistics about dog bites are difficult to analyze because the term "Pit Bull" may be used to refer to other breeds. The differences in appearance which separate dog breeds are often hard to determine. Generally, dogs are categorized by differences in outward physical attributes. Recently, the decoding of the canine genome has allowed scientific testing to determine dog breeds, but this method is not yet widely used.[3] Because of these uncertainties, statistics regarding dog bites are scientifically suspect. Yet another problem in gathering data is the lack of information about the total dog population. The public perception is that Pit Bulls are more likely to bite than other breeds. However, a 1999 City Journal article stated that "Pit bulls and pit-bull crosses (not always easy to distinguish) have caused more than a third of the nation's dog-bite fatalities since 1979 and a comparable proportion of serious injuries."[4]
A comprehensive study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention concluded that the pit bull breeds are the breed most often involved in fatal dog attacks in the U.S.A. Out of 238 dog bite deaths for which the breed was known from 1979 to 1998, 66 were caused by pit bull attacks (over 20%), more than any other breed. [5]
"The problem with statistics appears to be that there is no consistency in where the figures are obtained, nor are there variables included in most studies. Some studies use AKC numbers, some use HSUS numbers and others use CDC&P numbers. Few include causes or contributing circumstances to the attacks, nor are the total numbers of dogs in a certain breed taken into consideration. There is no national recording system for non-fatal dog bites in the United States."[6]
A 2008 study of 6,000 dog owners who were interviewed indicated that smaller breed dogs were more likely to be “genetically predisposed towards aggressive behavior.” Pit bulls were rated as “average or below average for hostility towards strangers.” [7] The study also indicated that bites from larger dogs were likely to be more damaging and reported more frequently, giving the impression that larger dogs are more aggressive.
Referenced from:

Pit Bull - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Denver, Miami and Cincinnati have a ban on pit bulls, the largest number of dogs involved in fatal attacks.
Denver first passed a pit-bull ban in 1989 but went through a legal battle beginning last year to keep it in place. Since the ban was reinstated on May 9, the city has impounded 481 pit bulls, returned 111 to owners upon certification that the animals would be taken out of the city, and euthanized 341, says Doug Kelley, the city's animal control director Doug Kelley.
Janna Goodwin of the National Conference of State Legislatures in Denver says 19 states have dangerous-dog statutes that require the owners of dogs that have threatened or injured people to take such steps as: registration, muzzling, posting the home as harboring a dangerous dog, purchasing liability insurance or even having the animal put down if it is considered a threat to public safety.
Even so, animal control officials say pit bulls are the most pressing problem right now.
Carl Friedman, director of the Department of Animal Care and Control in San Francisco, says he understands owners who worry that if one breed is targeted, all breeds might be one day. But, he adds, "we've got an overpopulation. Pit bulls are the only adoptable dogs that I kill because I can't find homes for them."
To him, the answer is to reduce the population through mandatory spaying and neutering. "I don't blame the dog," he says. But when people tell him it's not a single-breed problem, "the most polite thing I can say is they have their heads in the sand."
And, Friedman warns, "if we don't do something and there's another fatality, then people are going to start taking matters into their own hands."
Referenced from:
Weise, E. (n.d.). “Pit bull: Canine non grata.” USA Today, Retrieved October 12, 2008, from MasterFILE Premier database.

The Next Spiderman

One day my son Ryan was outside playing & he came running in all excited
& said "Mom you will never believe what happened. I was outside playing
on the dirt hill & I got bit by a spider."
So I asked him if he was ok & I looked and didn't see a spider bite, and on
he continued "It was a red & black spider, and right after it bit me I felt weird"
He thought for a minute & said "I bet I'm the next spiderman"
And he went off to play smiling to himself.
The next day he came in covered in dirt & he said so very proudly
"I am the next spiderman, I started to fall & I put my hand out like this
(and he demonstrated how Spiderman does it) and webs came out
& I didn't fall."
He went back to playing so happy that he is the next spiderman but
I'm thinking, but I didn't say it because I didn't want to hurt his feelings,
"If your the next Spiderman & you didn't fall then why are you so dirty?"
Children are so funny, almost every day I learn new things and hear funny
stories from my son!
I just love him so much!

Trying for another Baby!

So this is a picture of our son Ryan, he was 7 months old when this was took, one of his grandparents gave this to us, but this has nothing to do with what I'm writing about I just like this pic & wanted to show it off!

So on with my blog...................................

So Billy & I want another baby, we started seeing a fertility doctor in November this year, they sent me for 2 blood tests & both showed I ovulated but I didn't ovulate enough,

So I have my next doctor's appointment the 17th of this month & they said they would do one of 2 things, one they would check Billy's sperm count & check me out then when we got the results of that test they would put me on Clomid, or I could start taking fertility pills now & for the first 3 months they would check sperm count & me out, then if within 3 months & everything was normal they would try to artificially inseminate me

Then I'd have 3 months of that then if I still wasn't pregnant then I'd have to take a break for awhile because you can only be on Clomid for 6 months intervals.

So that's all we know for now, I'll will write more later when I know more!

Our first winter in Washington!

We moved to Washington from Arkansas Feb. 2008, on the way up here we got into some snow & ice, but not much, and we did get ice & snow in Arkansas, but the wind chill was never like this! It is so cold here! i use to live up here when I was younger but I don't remember this!
Right now it is like 14 degree's and with the wind chill
it's -20 I think.
Last night we left our water running in the kitchen sink
& the bathroom sink, but when we woke up we had no water.
My husband said when he took Ryan to school it was so cold & I could feel the chill when I opened the door.
Our dogs literally run out go potty then run as fast as the can back inside.

The cold is seeping through our windows & it sucks, our sons room stay warm though, he sweats at night, but I'd rather have him be hot them him freeze.

Anyways, we didn't get much snow though, which sucked because I wanted to take Ryan sledding, I hope it snows this weekend because we're going to try & go sledding with him & I think my sister & her kids are going to.

It should be fun because he (Ryan) is excited about sledding!

So to close I hope everyone is staying warm & safe!

Why don't you want to be with our kids on the holidays?

I'm really annoyed right now at my parents! This is the first Christmas that all my siblings & I have been around each other for Christmas in atleast 15 years, probably longer than that, my sister lives like 20 minute's away from me, and our parents live like 1 hour & 15 minutes away from both of us.

Them & my brother's & their families all live by each other & my parents won't come down for Christmas so they can spend it with all their grand kids, but they will spend it with the 2 that are up there.

My mom says she may have to work, which she goes in at 2 p.m., and I offered how about we eat at like 10 or 11 A.M. so then you can leave by noon,

but oh no, she doesn't want to be rushes, so basically it's like screw mine & my sister's kids.

It really sucks because they see the 2 grandkids up there EVERY day, yet they can't take time out to come see our kids. They stop by every now & then for like 20 minute's max, and normally they stop by around 2:30 & then right at 3 they leave, and guess what's, that when Ryan gets home from school!

Billy, Ryan & I were going to open presents here then let Ryan play for awhile then we we're going to Brandy's yet I was willing to pack up gifts & go to Brandy's the night before & stay over so my parents could see all the kids opening gifts but nope, they can't do that!

So I'm just mad & venting! I think it sucks for my son & my niece & nephew's at my sister's because they know they aren't loved as much as the 2 in Ritzville,

but in the end it will be my parents & his other grandparents loss, because Ryan is a great kid, and they never want to be around him, and he knows it and when he's older he will hate them and it will be all their fault!

The funny thing is when we were growing up my mom's mom favored my sister & my Aunt's 2 kids & my mom would get so mad, and she'd say "I would never do that, I am going to treat all my grandkid's the same", yet here she is treating some like they are made of gold & some like they are made of silver!

So it just bothers me because she gripped about my granny & I heard all about that when I was growing up & it influenced my feelings towards my granny, then she died & it was to late to ever have a relationship with her, and i guess that's how my parents want it to.

They we're fighting with my oldest sister, T.J. when she died, now they never get to see her son & she died with them not talking, you would think because of that, because the fact their daughter hated them they would try harder, but no!

So basically it's Merry Christmas to you, now screw off & don't bother me!

That's it, I'm just really REALLY mad right now.

My son has 4 sets of grandparents & a set of great grandparents yet none of them want anything to do with him unless it suits them! Which wonderful for them yet awful for him. He wants his grandparents to love him, it's sad when a 6 year old asks for his grandparents to love him!

That's it for now, I'll write more later!

Custody Battle over Ryan

I get really annoyed with the way most of our family treats Ryan. He was only 3 years old when he came into our lives, and yes he was a shy timid child, who didn't warm up to many people because so many people had came in & out of his life.

Think about it, he lived with his mom & sister and then suddenly he had a whole new mom, a dad & no siblings anymore, how would you feel?

So my parents lived just down the block from us, and my husband & I are the ones who got them the duplex they lived in!

So for the whole first couple of weeks they were all about my son & his sister, who still lived with us then, (although they paid more attention to his sister who we did NOT adopt)

So then my brother Robert & his 16 year old girlfriend moved in with her newborn baby & all the sudden it was like "Ryan who?"

They started ignoring him & only came to my house to take showers! (Their hot water heater went out), seriously they started basically treating him like he was invisible, unless they wanted something. Then Robert & Amber & the baby moved to Texas and they paid Ryan more attention.

Then Ryan's birth mom moved out and took her daughter so Ryan was all alone. And then things happened and we didn't talk 2 her for 1 & 1/2 years, then we moved to Texas & Robert & his family moved in with us & to Ryan it was like getting a sister again.

He loved Tasheena his "Baby" as he called her & in his eyes she took the spot of his missing sister, then they moved to Arkansas again, soon my husband got transferred back to Arkansas (He worked for J.B. Hunt) and we moved to a tiny town called Leola, and Billy's cousins paid alot of attention 2 Ryan & he called them aunt & Uncle,

Finally we found a better house in Sheridan & moved in literally next door to Billy's sister Tina & her then husband John, who they both adored Ryan! (And still do) And to make things better it was a 5 trailer trailer park and we were trailer #4, Tina was #5, Billy's cousin Jason was #1, and him & his girlfriend Amber had 2 kids, Adam, who was 4, same age as Ryan & a 1 year old girl, Patience.

Trailer #2 was Kevin & Alyssa who we became good friends with & trailer #3 was Jason's dad & step mom who took to Ryan & he called them Grandma & Grandpa.

So we were a huge family, but it wasn't all happiness, my husbands mom would go to Tina's house & when she'd leave my son would be standing in the front yard crying & waving & screaming "Grandma stop" and she'd ignore him & drive on by.

She'd call & say "Next weekend I'll come get you & you can stay the night" But that next weekend never came along, however she did stop by almost every church service & pick up her granddaughter & take her to church but I guess because Ryan is adopted he doesn't matter or have feelings.

So then like I said Ryan came to live with us August 2005, then his birth mom last talked to him Christmas 2005, then suddenly Feb. 2007 I got the worst news of my life, it was a Friday & the mail lady pulled into the yard & honked so I went out.

There was a certified letter for Billy from a attorney, I knew what it was before I even opened it. Billy was at work, Ryan was with his Aunt Tina for the day shopping, no body was home in the trailer park except me,

I was crying before I even opened the envelope and then I saw, his birth mom was suing us for full custody of Ryan, child support from Billy & for Billy to be arrested for not giving her visits, which we were told not to give her.

I cried for 2 hours before Billy came home, and we we're flat broke, because the day before he had gotten paid and we paid our rent & bought food.

Literally we had like $20.00

So I called my sister, who sent me $100.00, and we started selling everything Billy & owned, our 4 wheeler for $100.00, a pistol for $100.00, our travel trailer we had just bought and almost had remodeled for $300.00 my brand new digital camera for $100.00 and small odd & ends & by Monday we had sold $800.00 worth of stuff to hire a lawyer.

Now he was 4, he had been potty trained for almost a year, (Billy potty trained him), he use to pee the bed alot up until Jan. 2006, then suddenly because he over heard us talking he asked if she was going 2 take him away from us & he started peeing the bed again, and he withdrew from the bright loud easy going child.

So she got visits of Ryan every other sat. from 8 am to 5 pm, and he'd be ok when he left but as soon as he got home he'd cry and withdraw more, it would take us almost the whole 2 weeks to get him back to normal then he'd go again.

Finally he started telling us that they said I wasn't his mom & they made him a bedroom over there, and he was going 2 have to live with them, and he'd never see us again, to see him crying so hard his whole body was shaking was so hard.

He'd hold on to us & beg us not to make him live with them, he loved us, he told me he knew she had him but I was his mommy & I was the one he loved & he didn't want to go away from me.

Due to the court costs we we're rapidly going broke, we lied on our myspace pages & told everyone that my sister was fronting us all this money, but it wasn't true, she didn't have much, but she offered us mental support and gave us $200.oo total towards the court costs. (which we're more than Thankful for)

So we had already cut back on alot of stuff, and Billy & I did without so much to pay to keep our son. Soon we couldn't pay rent & we moved in with my parents, who had a huge house but was full with both my parents, both my brothers, 1 of their wives & Tasheena, Amber's daughter.

Ryan got his own room, so did Billy & I had our room, like everyone else, the house was big with 6 bedrooms, but still they offered no help, they never once went with us to any court date, Amber did once, she was there for alot of it making me laugh by things she said (You have 2 know Amber)

Then me & my parents had it our because of the difference they we're treating my son & Tasheena so Billy & I talked to the landlord where we lived when Ryan first came into our lives & we rented one of the duplex's again.

This happened at his 5th birthday party, we were still deep into the custody battle. So for Ryan's birthday no one could get along so we had 2 parties, one for his birth family & one for our family because they refused to be around his birth mom, but he wanted his little sister & new little brother there.

School started & Ryan was a little more happy with the visits, but he still had accidents every now & then & he'd wake up screaming that she was kidnapping him.

We also found out that Ryan had Osteochondritis Dissecans in both knee caps, & we had 2 take him to Shriner's every few months, which was like 8 hours away.

Then Ryan came home & told us something that he said that happened during a visit so we told our lawyer who made us go to the prosecuting attorney who stopped visits for 30 days, then we got more papers saying they wanted my husband to go 2 jail again, even though it was court ordered for no visits,

but low & behold our lawyer gave them visits back, (I have no clue why we were paying him)

so then they never showed up for the next visit & my husband was waiting with a police officer the whole time, so we had proof he waited, then more court papers, and still no help from my parents.

Finally his birth mom called me & we talked & we agreed to do the adoption on my part so she signed papers in Oct. 2007 & her rights were terminated by Nov. 2007 & the adoption was finalized Jan. 22nd 2008.

During the court battle my parents did nothing except buy the 4 wheeler from us & resell within a few months for way more money, which pissed me off because we were trying 2 keep our son, not make them money, of course they didn't offer us any of the money.

Billy's mom said & I quote "Why don't you just give him back, it would make things easier on everyone?"

Why don't I give him back? Because he is my son, and had been for almost 2 years, thats why, why don't you not be a hypocrite, you go to church & act like a Christian but did your butt help us during any of the court stuff? NO!

Did you ever show him any affection? NO!

The only people who helped us is, my sister Brandy & her husband Steve, my sister in law Amber, Billy's sister Tina & her husband John, who had good humor (LOL) during the court issues.

And a guy we just meet during the beginning of it who was friends of his birth mom's husband and gave us alot of our info.

Now things are somewhat better, we get along, but I feel sad because of everything that happened and everything that Ryan went through.

He was the innocent one who went through so much and now he has some mental issues he's dealing with & he still asks me from time to time if I'm going to get rid of him, and he still worries that she will try to take him back.

And the sad thing is this:

Nobody except Billy & my sister Brandy knows how close I came to ending the court case, I would cry when Ryan cried and he was hurting being torn between everyone, I felt lie crap & knew part of it was my fault, and I almost told the lawyer to give her custody of Ryan & my husband signing over his rights to keep from paying child support.

I came close so many times, it would have killed me to have done it, but I would rather me have hurt then to see him hurting, to stop him being tossed from house to house, mom to mom, family to family, hearing the people from their house saying things about us, and filling his head with things, then coming & hearing people around us & our house telling him thins & him overhearing things.

I'm glad it never happened, I don't know what I would do without my son, so I'm happy she let me adopt him like was promised when he fist came to us, but she came so close to winning everything that mattered.

I will tell Ryan this when he's older, & I hope he doesn't hate me for it, I hope he understands that if I had done it that I would have done it because I loved him so much that I was going to do what I thought was best, which was to stop him from being torn, not because of any other reason!

How we became a family!

My husband & I meet August 1996, we hated each other at first but my friend was dating his cousin so we were forced to be around each other & Billy bugged me and annoyed me until I fell in love with him!

We got married April 18th 1997 in a small & simple wedding at our church. We had family & close friends in & at our wedding. Then we wanted children, both of us knew that from the start. Months then years went by with no baby.

Finally I got pregnant in 2001 and lost the baby August 2001. Then I was told that me getting pregnant was a fluke & it would probably never happen again on my own.

So we figured we would never have kids. Then we meet our sons birth mom in July 2005, she had 2 kids, Ryan, (our son) and her daughter. Ryan was 3 the girl was 6 months old. So

Finally after almost 2 years she agreed to let me adopt him, which I did.

The adoption was finalized Jan. 22nd 2008!

So that's how we became our family! Now we're seeing a doctor trying to get on fertility pills to have another baby because Ryan wants a brother or sister here at home with him! And he's a brat and normally gets what he wants so we're trying!

So that's how we became the Hendrix Family!