Happy reindeer

Scott-R just finished eating and was one happy little reindeer. As he patiently waited to open his stocking, I was prepared for the spit-up with his puppy bib and blanket to cover his outfit. He loves the camera, can you tell?

Dedicating Scott

On Christmas Day, we had Scott dedicated at church. We stood in front of the church and committed to bringing Scott up according to the Word of God. And because we know that we'll fail in areas, we had our church committ to assisting us in raising our child to love and fear God.

Scott did great. He didn't cry, make random noises or puke on anything. He was mesmerized by the people and the lights. When Pastor Lee talked to Scott, our little guy looked right at him as if to be listening intently. When Pastor held him (his hands were shaking), Scott was perfect and just looked around. It was a proud parent day for us and it will be an ongoing challenge to raise him right and set a good example.

Scott just chillin' after church waiting to go home. He wore this cute little shorts outfit (yes, it is winter here). It was the same outfit Ryan got baptized in so it was special for Scott to be able to wear it too.

The In-laws

Eunice and Mark. He's a dentist and she's the assistant. Caring for teeth is so important!






Eric. Like I said before, caring for your teeth is a priority in the Buitenwerf family.


Okay, they really are normal. Ryan found the nasty teeth toys at Walmart and used them as stocking stuffers. Let me find a normal picture...

I must need to download the camera. This was the only normal picture I could find at the moment. Here's Uncle Eric spoiling his little nephew. The two were playing with Scott's new dinosaur toy and Scott was wrapped up in the new blanket his GramB made him.

Christmas at the Elgin B's

Christmas has come and gone and I’m not sure if I really got to enjoy the holidays. We were so busy and it happened so fast with so many people.

Here’s how it went, according to my opinion: let me remind you that Friday I realized I forgot to finish up a few gifts. As if I wasn’t already stressed enough, I left the office with a massive headache and plans to go to Living Stone then work on the gifts. I got home an hour before LS was to start. Ryan’s folks wanted to order pizza which meant that Ryan didn’t let them know he wanted to go to LS (or he didn’t tell me that he wanted to stay home). Since I had a major headache and I was hungry AND I had gifts to work on, I agreed to stay home too. Thanks to Eunice, I didn’t have a mess to pick up at home – she was great at cleaning and folding laundry for me. It was probably a good thing.

Saturday was Christmas Eve and Ryan had to work till noon. I picked up around the house, finished my gifts, fed my child and CLEANED Scott’s room. I finished his closet cleaning project that I started the weekend before. Soon after I showered, family began arriving. G&G B came up early after all because of the weather. So we had a house full – my folks, Ryan’s folks, Eric and G&G B. Our plans for the day had to change a bit so we did what we could. Ryan and I fixed supper for everyone. We had salmon, salad and acorn squash. Mom brought a dessert salad. It was good and we were stuffed. We rushed to open presents before church. Ryan and I felt like Hitler trying to hurry everyone along so we could get to church in time. Of course, with 9 people opening gifts, it was never going to happen. So we left for church and I enjoyed a good service once we got there. Scott was so good until the benediction at which time he decided to be extremely vocal. We went back to the house and finished opening gifts. We were done at 11pm and I was so tired (my kid still isn’t sleeping well). I visited for a bit and headed to bed.

Christmas morning came too early and we were awake at 515 with our little guy. I was so excited to have Christmas fall on a Sunday but again I think we rushed through the morning. Ryan and I left the house at 730 to walk dogs at the clinic and do some chores there. We met at mom & ralph’s house for breakfast at 8am. She’s so awesome, she made biscuits and gravy for all of us Buitenwerfs. We opened stockings at her house before heading to church. During church, we had Scott dedicated and he behaved wonderfully. He even watched Pastor Lee intently as Pastor spoke to him. He was so cute in his little outfit, the same outfit Ryan wore when he got baptized as an infant. After church we hoped to take some family pictures but the B’s rushed out and so we did our regular “after church” hang out time and visited with friends as Scott got passed from one person to another. Then we headed home for lunch with the family. Ryan smoked a turkey, Eunice made dressing and mom brought crescent rolls and broccoli salad.

That evening I finally relaxed. Absolutely exhausted from the past few days, I was curled up on the couch. Ryan pulled out his new x-box and started playing some racing game. It was quite the fun. Everyone (m&e, eric, ryan and I) was having a good time (finally the stress was gone, momentarily). We even got Eunice to race against Ryan. It was fun and I was the racing queen!!! Scott took a great nap that afternoon but woke up with a nasty head cold. So he was crying, coughing like a goose, crying some more, had a runny nose and cried some more. Poor little guy, every time he coughed, you could tell that his throat hurt as he winced in pain. You could imagine how our night went. No sleep for us or Scott. A crying baby who was stuffed up and couldn’t nurse well and could sleep and cried and cried and cried.

Monday morning Ryan got up with Scott at 730 and went downstairs. He got him to sleep, passed Scott off to m&e and went to the clinic for chores. I went back to sleep and woke up at 1015. I would have gone back to sleep except I knew that it was time for Scott to eat so I got up. Monday was relaxing for the most part even though I wanted to get up and clean my house but opted to visit with m&e instead and tend to my small fry. Went to bed last night; Scott finally calmed down at midnight. Was up several times during the night but not as bad as the nights before.

I over slept this morning and got up in time to booger suck my kid’s nose several times, get dressed, brush my teeth and head for the door. Only Ryan had to leave on a call so I had to take Scott to mom’s (m&e are leaving today). Got to mom’s running a few minutes late and was walking out the door when mom asked about Scott’s feeding schedule. Duh, I wanted to feed him again right before I left, I totally forgot. So I took off my jacket and sat down with my son. Mom went to turn my car off and I called my office to let them know I’d be in late. What a start to the day. Just 2 more days and I’ll be in sunny Califon-i-a.

Thanks M&E

Thanks to Mark and Eunice, I got 7 hours of much needed sleep last night! Woo hoo! They took the baby monitor and got up with Scott during the night. I need another 10 hours of sleep and maybe I'll feel better. The drama days have continued. Yesterday I left part of my breast pump at home and couldn't deal with Scott's lunch. Seven hours later, I finally pumped and was home a few hours early from work. At the Shanti for supper, my kid exploded through his diaper which was fun to clean in the back of the Shanti (good thing they weren't packed). Today I'm needing some other things I don't have (TMI would give away your gift, Dad) and can't finish what I was working on. I feel like yuck - my head is killing me, my nose is stuffy and I'm either burning up or cold. Tonight is Living Stone and then finishing up some last minute gifts that I forgot about :)

Merry Christmas! Happy Birthday Jesus!!!

Debate – Do I hate life or does life hate me?

It’s been one of those weeks of feeling overwhelmed, insane and not able to accomplish anything. It started Saturday. I had the bright idea to clean Scott’s closet and store the “stuff” elsewhere. I got most of it dragged out when I had to stop. I got Scott and myself ready and headed for the grocery store. Got back just in time to feed Scott while Ryan put away groceries and head to a friend’s house for supper. Only Ryan was tired and in a BAD mood and laid in the couch. We were already late when we got in the truck and had to run to town to walk dogs at the clinic. While there, Ryan got an emergency call so we went to that and sat in the truck. Unless I was singing to Scott, he was crying. Finally made it to see the Z’s and have supper. That night Scott pee’d through his diaper just as Ryan was walking over to change him. It soaked the thigh of my jeans.

Sunday was another adventure. I had cleaning to finish but wanted to take some pictures and run to Walmart for a few things. The pictures took WAY longer than they should have and headed to Wally world. Got back to town, dropped off my mom and took her tahoe to church for the children’s Christmas program. Went into the church and didn’t have the pacifier! Scott likes to be extremely vocal in the evenings so eventually Ryan had to take him out. Got home and fed Scott. He had a massively explosive diaper, so I spent the next half hour hand washing his outfit. Worked on the computer some and went to bed without cleaning a thing.

Monday, a wild day at work. Ryan’s folks were stuck in Kansas with car trouble, which gave me more time to get a few things picked up. But then that afternoon, I got a message from Ryan saying they’d be at our house that night. I was excited for them to come but expecting them on Tuesday instead. So I rushed home and picked things up around the house when I planned on finishing a cabinet, etc. M&E arrived in decent time and it was good to visit with them (which meant I still didn’t get to my stuff I had to do).

Tuesday was the true day that stole my Christmas cheer. I stayed home a few hours from work to finish up a federal resume which was part of my application due that afternoon by 4:30. Got that done, tossed it all on Ryan’s shoulders to get faxed to the state office and went to work. Things were crazy busy as usual. Because I came in late I didn’t take lunch, had 2 oreos instead. At 330ish, Ryan calls to say the 41 page fax finally went through (I have a great hubby). At about 4pm, Connie from HR in the state office calls. She confirms that they received the fax BUT it was due yesterday. I said no, it was due today, the 19th, to which she replied “today is the 20th, it was due yesterday.” I wanted to crawl in a hole in die. I didn’t know what to say. There are no exceptions to the deadline. I hurried off the phone so I wouldn’t cry. Sitting at my desk processing the whole moment, my eyes got a bit watery so I went back to work to ignore the whole drama.

Too late! Why me, right? Monday night as I was lying in bed I began praying about the situation. Sure, I’d like the job – increase pay without having to move. I already do the work. But I had mixed feelings about all the intricate government related details of the whole thing. I ended my prayer with asking for God’s will in the situation and that I would be content with the outcome. But then yesterday I began to wonder. Is this God’s way of saying that I don’t need that job? I had what I thought to be good motives – I am deserving of the pay and I was hoping for more money to help fund the adoption of a child. Then I wondered if God was trying to point out that I need to pay more attention to those details. Grr, So frustrating.

And the story continues. Had plans to meet the family in PDC for Chinese last night. I went straight from work so I could run to Cabela’s first. I was done and ready to meet them on time but the “shortly after 6:00” turned to 6:30. I was tired, frustrated, had a headache and hungry. Got done in PDC and headed home. At about 10pm we headed upstairs so I could feed Scott. I sat him on the bed sitting against a pillow. In the time that I picked up the laundry basket and set it on the floor, Scott managed to fall 3 feet off the bed and knocked his head on the wood floor. My poor baby! Now even more frustrated, tired, etc. I picked him up and snuggled him as he screamed and screamed. He at pretty well but he would stop every so often and scream for a while. Called the doctor who said to make sure and wake him up every few hours. Scott finished eating and I tried to snuggle him (which he usually loves) and he kicked and screamed. Finally I decided to take him downstairs and try to calm him down so Ryan could sleep. But, my all-star husband took Scott instead so I could try to rest. I was crying, Scott was crying, it was late, I needed sleep. At 12:30 I woke up and went downstairs. Scott was burrito-wrapped and asleep on his daddy’s chest. We took him upstairs and put him in bed with us.

It was the most horrible feeling. This morning I have a happy baby again. Today I’m not hating life but I am in need of and looking forward to a weekend and soon enough a vacation!

Look what Grammy found sleeping on her couch today

My little Scott-R and Zachary

My whine session for the day

The ladies here at the building get together for a Christmas party every year. Well I missed it because I have bible study on Thurs. nights. Then at 630 (when bible study starts) Shane, the guy who leads, called a baled out. He got the flu the night before and didn’t bother to call me until 630. And another friend Amy was going to stay home with her kiddos since she didn't have a baby sitter. So Shane wanted to cancel. We had just spent an hour picking up the house, cooking se-sa-shi's (a dutch food that I obviously can't spell) and lighting candles, etc. So I was short with him and said that we'd do without him and basically hung up. Called Amy and told her to come and bring the kids and we'd just hang out. So very frustrating for me. Shane should have called during the day. And I could have at least cancelled then and gone to my work party! Grrr!! But, Rhett & Amy and kids came over and Kelly came over so we had a good time chatting.

My Deer

What Tampons, emails and hoaxes have in Common

I got an email yesterday regarding the use of tampons and some toxic items that are used in them. Scared of the possible reality of the article and unsure of its accuracy, I did a little research. I found in several places that this email is a hoax. So, if you get this email, please don’t send it to anyone else. You can however let it encourage you to become more aware of your choice of menstrual product choices affects on your overall health. The research I found led me to Menstruation.com and the FDA's website by searching for a name quoted in the article and the word tampon. Below is the beginning of the hoax email. If you’d like to read the whole thing, check the links:

If you are a woman and use pads, but especially if you use tampons, read this.

Check the labels of the sanitary pads or tampons that you are going to buy the next time and see whether you spot any of the familiar signs stated in this email. No wonder so many women in the world suffer from cervical cancer and womb tumors. Have you heard that tampon makers include asbestos in tampons?

Spud

I received the following picture with a note attached this morning:

You can call me Spud, I'm a Junior couch potatoe,
I'm just chillen at Grammy's and watching Sesame Street. Can't wait to see you soon, Grammy helps me to pray for travel mercies for Grandma & Grandpa B on there trip out here. Be very careful and will see you soon
Love
Scott

Heat wave

The temperature got into the the teens yesterday (I think it topped out at 16). It was so nice out that I didn't even zip up my coat. It snowed all day yesterday and it was so pretty. Seriously, better than I've ever seen it around here so far. This weekend is supposed to be "warm". The forcaster dude said above freezing all weekend but the numbers he was sharing were in the low 20's. Last I knew, above freezing meant 32 degrees or warmer. Not sure about the philosophy out here - maybe its a midwesterner thing.

Tonight is Ryan's work Christmas party. Off to that. It should be fun. Last night was a super late night (home at 11pm) and an early morning (in the shower at 515am) and I'm tired! It sure would be nice to get a nap in before the party but I'm sure I'll be playing with my cutie-pa-tootie son instead.

Brrr

The last few mornings when I've left for work at 7am, it's been 10 below outside. Yesterday afternoon I left work and it had gotten up to 8 degrees outside. But with the windchill, it was still 20 below. A bit chilly outside. I'm super thankful that Ryan has been feeding and watering my goat and watering the dogs.

We have this little kitty hanging out at our house. Having the neighbors cats living in our garage and pasture is nothing new. But this little female kitty is new. She's cute. A mutt for sure, her top is shorter hair and the rest of her is long haired. Her coloring is grays and black. Her tail isn't the normal length, but not a bob either. Ryan says she's at least 6 months old, I'm guessing she was one of the kittens that I saw at the neighbors just before Scott was born. I offerred her to mom. Maybe shouldn't be giving cats away that aren't mine but maybe they shouldn't be living at my house either! I brought inside the other night. She was super hungry and super thirsty and shivering. She slept in the kennel. This morning I let her share a little food from Wicket and Rum's bowl (I gave them extra on purpose) :)

already monday...

What an awesome weekend. Not at all my typical cleaning weekend once again. Just a good weekend with my honey hanging out. After a long week of running around, Friday night we stayed home and ate chicken salad for supper and watched Mr. & Mrs. Smith. What a waste of a movie but fun to be home snuggled up in the chair. Scott didn't want to nap or go to sleep that night but eventually we put him to bed. It snowed some and looked pretty cool outside.
Saturday morning I spent a few hours at the church with my awesome mom decorating for the Tabitha supper. Got home and had a few hours to feed Scott, decorate some and clean up before going back to the church. It had been snowing all day when I left. The snow covered everything, including the roads. It was a gorgeous view but since it was still snowing the plows hadn't been on the road yet. Ryan came an hour later and scolded me for driving to church on such bad roads but I didn't have much of a choice. He didn't offer to take me and by time I got out to the highway, I really didn't want to go back down our lane to the house. So I drove 20-25mph the whole way to town and survived. Everything thing else around except our Tabitha supper was cancelled because of the winter weather advisory. But it wasn't that bad. In fact, we had a good time and a great meal.
Sunday after church, we met the Royer's in Postville at Sabor Latino. Shopped at the Wishing well with them and then headed to Montauk's for their winter open house. Montauk's was the home of Governor Larabee, the first Governor in Iowa (if I remember correctly). It's a beautiful old mansion that overlooks the valley area of Clermont. That was fun. The little guys (Scott and Daniel) had fun being carried around and stared at the different things. The rest of the afternoon we piddled around until Ryan had to go on emergency vet calls (his favorite, a horse). I had to go with him so I could get my car that I left at mom's on Saturday night. So, Scott and I hung out with the old folks for a little while. I left there in the middle of my new favorite show, Extreme Makeover Home Edition, to head home and prepare Ryan a hot meal. He had ended up with several more calls - when it rains it pours. My honey came home to a warm house (I stoked the fire, which I hate doing) and fixed him frozen pizza. Not a grand meal but I didn't have the time or motivation to thaw something and prepare it.
Got up this morning and was tempted to stay home and spend some time cleaning the house. But there's work to do, lots of it. I have guys to pay, program determinations to make, people to help with computer problems and a meeting to deal with. maybe another day but before I can blink, I think Christmas will be here.

TGIF for sure!

I woke up this morning and said "Lovey, is it Friday?" And when he answered yes, I was so happy! I have a splitting headache and really want to stay home but have lots to get done at the office today so I better get there.

Monday I bought the stuff to make Ryan's favorite salad. It's now Friday and I still haven't gotten to it. Tuesday night we went to a friend's house in Calmar. I forgot the diaper bag so we ended up in Decorah to buy diapers, wipes and bibs. I forget a lot but not the diaper bag but just as we were walking out the door, kid in hand, our neighbors delivered us 2 dozen eggs (I think it was their peace offerring from the septic drama). So we visited with them for a few minutes and left WITHOUT the necessary items to care for Scott. It was a good night though hanging out with the Crosslands, eating Chinese and shopping at Walmart.

Wednesday nights I usually hang out with the folks but I had other things I needed to get done this week. I was eager to get home and start laundry, make Ryan's salad, etc. Of course, they talked me into staying when she mentioned she was fixing shrimp for supper. I'm a sucker for seafood. This was right after Ralph told me that a pediatrician was on the news listing things nursing moms shouldn't eat. Some of those things include shell fish, milk, peanuts. That night I had two of those: shrimp and an ice cream sandwich. I did get home early enough to put my kid down for a nap that he never took and began putting the Christmas tree up.

Thursday night is bible study night. But, I missed my bible study buddies last night for a work meeting that I had. I planned it and it was quite the success so I'm thankful for that this morning.

TGIF. Tonight Ryan and I plan to watch a movie and hopefully get the rest of our bargain tree up. It might be a quieter night than I plan if I don't get rid of this headache ASAP. Tomorrow morning I'm setting up for the Tabitha Ladies supper for church that I've been co-planning.

Broccoli Salad

By request, if my memory serves me right, here's the recipe courtesy of the Kingsburg First Baptist Church cookbook:

2 florets cut up into small pieces (approx 8-10 c.)
8-10 pieces of cooked bacon cut into small pieces
1/2 c. sunflower seeds
1 c. mayo
2 tbs. vinegar
1/3 c. sugar
1 large Purple onion cut into small pieces
1 tsp black pepper

You can modify some ingredients to your taste. I only put 3/4 of the purple onion. And I used the whole package of bacon (minus the one piece I ate) in. It's best if you make it a few hours ahead of time and let it sit so the flavors can be absorbed throughout. Happy cooking

from THE mighty chef,
tb

veggies, turkey and work

Broccoli Salad
My husband and I have a new favorite salad at our house. Mom makes this awesome broccoli salad and she took it to G&G B’s for Thanksgiving. I think I had 3 servings of it on Thursday. Saturday night we had company for supper. Ryan made Salisbury steak and stuffing. I make a broccoli salad to go with it. Yesterday morning Ryan mentioned that I needed to buy the stuff and make him some more broccoli salad. It’s kinda healthy and if that gets him to eat veggies, I’ll be making it again.

Thanksgiving
We headed down to Prairie City Wednesday night and fought the wind. Thursday morning (after not so much sleep) I helped Grandma a little in the kitchen. We sat down for a great meal shared with some of the B’s and my parents. We had a good time visiting with everyone. Scott only managed to spit up on one person and was able to wear his ISU shirt for most of the day which is amazing! We left out Thursday night at 5pm and headed home. Stopped in Waterloo for lunch and only one place was open – a buffet. Like I needed a buffet after a Thanksgiving meal!

Black Friday
Did you go shopping? I didn’t! I worked at the office, what a quiet and awesome day. The phone only rang 4 times and we had no body come to the counter. It was good to get a few things done at my desk without all the distractions.

My Growing Kid

This was the evening they induced me, just a few days before Scott was born!










Then Scott shortly after they pried him out into the world.









Scott-R still super thin at one month old.








This is his 2 month picture (gotta love the spit up on his outfit)












Now he's really starting to fill in a little and is stylishly sporting a Bulldogs cap.









Here he's hanging out with his great grandpa B early in November




Scott and his great grandma B in early November.





Okay, that's it for now. More bragging later

Mean Dr. Miller

Scott received his 4 month shots yesterday. While there, the ladies all had to check him out and/or hold him. Sue is our nurse and she’s got such a good personality. Krista works at the front desk and her son is in our youth group. Those are our two buddies at the clinic. The other guy is Mean Dr. Miller. He really is a nice guy, I just don’t care for him as a physician. So, here’s my elaborate story in a condensed version:
Scott’s appointment for shots was scheduled for 4:30. Arrive a few minutes early and wait in the lobby. No big deal, we pass the time by playing and chatting with Krista. Nurse lady (not Sue) takes us to the back. Measures Scott (25 ¾”) and weighs him (15lbs 7 oz). Checks his heartbeat, etc and Sue comes in. She greets us and goes out to get some help for shots. He gets 3 separate shots and so they usually have 3 nurses so that he only feels the pain one time. PROBLEM #1: Sue didn’t want to give Scott a shot (babies learn real quick who causes them pain) and so there were only 2 nurses. This meant that Scott received 2 shots at the same time, followed by his third shot. Bad Sue. I don’t want my kid to feel pain. Scott cried for about 15 seconds and right after I picked him up he quit crying, was a little fussy but otherwise content. That was just before 5pm. PROBLEM #2: At 5:30, Dr. Miller still hadn’t come into the room to see Scott (he’s actually supposed to check Scott before hand to make sure he’s well). By now, we’d been waiting over half an hour and I was beyond mad! I got up and walked out. Sue must have been guarding the door so I shared my thoughts with her. She kindly took the blame – said she allowed too many call-in patients to get squeezed. While those folks were getting squeezed in, I was getting squeezed out. I had another commitment at 530 and should have been out in plenty of time to get back to Elgin. I even told Sue that if it weren’t for her as the nurse, I wouldn’t go to Dr. Miller. While we were in the hall talking, Dr. Miller came out. She warned him and he came into the room. He asked me what we could do to make things better next time and I said “don’t make me wait 35 minutes to come in the room”. PROBLEM #3: he proceeded to blame Sue. I attacked right back and mentioned that this happens EVERY single time we’re in. Last time we were there for 2 hours! He continued to try to justify and told me to call ahead next time to make sure he’s running on schedule. I don’t think so. He needs to either run on time or call his patients. Actually he needs to not let all the random people in for colds that they don’t do anything about anyway. It was 6pm by time I left the clinic. I was so mad!!!
Fifteen minutes later I got to my other commitment. The Zurbriggen’s are home from South Dakota for Thanksgiving and a bunch of us were getting together for pizza. The rest of the night was good considering I had a super fussy kid who had missed a much needed nap. There were 3 of us with babies. Two of them have other little ones. And there were a 4 other 6th and 7th graders with their families. It was fun to see a house full of young families all hanging out. That doesn’t happen much where we live. It was so good to see the Z’s and baby Micah.
Okay, so I missed a vital part of the story… I got to the Jensen’s and went to get Scott out of the car. It was then that I realized that Scott’s car seat wasn’t buckled in. Bad Mom! We always take his car seat out but I didn’t want to drag it around the clinic so I just took him right out of it. When we left the clinic and I was so furious, I assumed that his car seat was still buckled in. So, I strapped Scott into the car seat and headed down the road. Thank our good God for watching over us. On a country road (yes, they’re all country out here), I managed to drive for 15 minutes and see only one deer. And that little doe stayed on the shoulder so I never even had to hit my brakes. Thank you Jesus!

Scott's first snow

Here's my little guy and his first snow. Not quite the picture I was hoping for but his daddy didn't have time to get him in his snow suit and get a different picture. Thanks to Ryan for capturing Scott's first snow.

The snow is still on the ground. The sun is shining today and it is supposed to get up to 40. I hope it does so I can wash my car today. I left my car at the bottom of the driveway last night. Didn't want to venture out on the ice. Before we left for bible study, my neighbor came through and sanded the hill. So, if it doesn't melt off some today, I'll at least be safe to drive down our sanded driveway tonight. TGIF

GO Bulldogs!

Go Bulldogs! Saturday at 7:15 PST, the Bulldogs take on #1 USC. I'm hoping my #16 Bulldogs can upset the #1 USC

Weather

I do love the weather, that is until it changes. Late this summer I was anxiously awaiting fall and winter. We instantly got winter weather this year. It was 60 degrees less than a week ago and this morning it was 5 degrees when I left for work with snow and ice on the ground. Our grass never even turned brown this year. We had a beautiful fall weather, perfect for laying out in the hammock (not that we did that this year, our hammock is falling apart). Do I miss the CA weather? Umm, not sure. Cold, damp, bone chilling winter, nope don't miss that. The cold here is different. Even though it was 5 degrees this morning, it wasn't bad. I even went outside and through the goat two apples and an avacado. Yesterday though was a different story when it was in the high 20's and windy. That was COLD! The wind makes all the difference out here. I do however miss the beautiful CA sunshine, playing on the river or lake and eating fresh fruit while getting a tan. I loved multi-tasking like that. It doesn't happen these days. And the two days I did go outside to tan this year, I looked like a beach whale laying out one day. The other day I sat on the riding mower and my belly hung over so much that you couldn't tell that I had bottoms on. I miss things about CA and definitely the people but I absolutely love where I live, the change in seasons, the friendly people here and more.

Brick House History

So, this is the house. According to our records it was built in 1912 or 1915 (I can't remember which). This view is of the South side of the house. I'm adding to a post from earlier in the week about the surprise visitors last Friday. Lois put me in contact with the granddaughter of one of the little girls who lived in the house when it was first built. The following is the email I received from her this morning:

I'm delighted that my friend Lois went to visit you! I've driven around out there but really didn't know where to look and since my mom wasn't with me at the time, I didn't have her help. She remembers the house very well, but hasn't been out there for many, many years. The last time I was there, I visited my great uncle, Rusty Larson and that was 1963.

The property was homesteaded by my great, great grandfather, Orm Larson (Norwegian) in the early 1850's. The first year they lived in a dugout in the side of the hill as I understand it, until the log cabin was built in the spring. His son, John, inherited the property and lived there until he and his wife, Amalia, passed away. My mom thinks my grandmother, Viola Larson Arness, was born in the cabin - and your house was built when she was very young. The basement was used for baking bread, canning & washing and since alot of people lived in the house, there was probably a lot happening down there daily. John and Amalia had 11 children - their son Russell (Rusty) took over the property and did some renovations in the late 50's / early 60's like opening the stairway and moving the kitchen. We aren't sure who or why the door was bricked up.

My grandmother had a ruptured appendix when she was about 9 or 10, and since they didn't have much in the way of hospitals in 1915, they called the local doctor. He was drunk when he arrived, but went ahead and cut her open on the kitchen table by lamplight - and she lived thru it! She had at least a 12" jagged scar across her abdomen - terrible. She died in 1992 at 86 years old.

And here's a tidbit that I always thought was funny. Orm Larson liked to drink and swore a lot. One day he was in the woods on the property, chopping wood ( had a nip or two), and was swearing to himself. All of a sudden he was surrounded by Brownies (little people) who gave him a very bad time for being drunk and foul mouthed - scared him so bad he never swore or drank again in his life. So, when you're out and about in the woods, you might run across something special!

And as for the daughter of the king - yes, there is that story. I'll have to ask my mom again, but she's told me about it. I'll let you know.

Now isn't that some cool stuff. More on the daughter of the king story when I get more information. It's a pretty neat story.

Scott's 1st snow

Okay so it has been drizzling the past few days which has been both good and bad. Good to replenish our groundwater supply and hopefully keep our well functioning for another year. Bad for Ryan who's outside working cattle in the rain and wind. Yesterday we were in Guttenberg, a cute little town on the Miss...i River. On my way back to the office, the snow started turning to a sleet like substance. Just as we pulled into the office it turned to snow. About 45 minutes later as I headed home (further west), there was more snow falling. It was so gorgeous. BUT, because it was a nice gentle rain that turned to snow, it created a little bit of ugly in the midst of the beauty. The snow on the roads mixed with rain was a little slushly so I did slide around a bit on the way home. This morning, the water on the roads, sidewalks, driveways, etc had turned to ice. And becuase we had 25-40 mph winds, the ice was nice and polished. Before I left the house Ryan called to let me know that the snow drifted in the driveway and I'd have to get a good run at it. Plus the driveway was ice and I would need to be careful there. With my experiences last winter, his phone call made me a bit nervous. As I got outside and headed down the driveway, things weren't near as bad as I had imagined. As usual, the 20 mile stretch of county highway that I drive had yet to be plowed. I met the plow half way and he was plowing the other direction as usual. Most people leave early when the weather is bad to give themselves more time to get to work. I leave later in hopes that maybe some of the road just might be plowed or have sand on it. I did make it to work safely. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of Scott and his first snow. Its already dark tonight so I'll hope for some pictures tomorrow.
Already the week is crazy and I'm super tired. I've gone to bed at 9pm the last two nights. I must be getting old!

Such a great weekend

Friday was quite the surprising day. It was early morning, Scott was playing in the floor and I was sanding on the cabinets when I heard a knock at the door. I thought that was odd since we live 3 miles outside of town. I got to the door and there were two women standing there. I immediately noticed that one women, Lois, was holding an old picture of my house with a family standing in front. I invited them in and we had a nice little visit. The picture belongs to Jan, a woman in Colorado who wanted to know if Lois could locate where the house was located. It was taken in 1916 and the people in the photo are her grandparents. Our house was built in 1912 or 1915 (can’t remember at the moment) so I was excited to see this picture. I contacted Jan this morning with an email and hope to hear back from her soon. Ryan and I are super excited to hear about the history of our home.
The remainder of the day, I cleaned house and finished sanding one of my cabinets. Other than that, I played with my little guy who is an absolute blast to play with. I’m excited for the time that he’s even more playful and is crawling around on us.

Saturday was the Valley Football game. They lost to North Mahaska and had more points scored on them during that game than they did all year combined! Congrats to the Valley Tigers in their 4th consecutive year to make playoffs and congrats on being 3rd in the state. After the disappointing loss, we headed to Waterloo for some shopping. I practically ran through Sam’s Club, fed Scott while the folks were in Home Depot, ran through Old Navy and shopped some in Sears. My arm is still sore this morning from carrying Scott in his car seat around the UNI Dome and through Sears. I had to feed Scott one more time before we drove home so I fed him and the folks ran into Walmart.
We got home right at 6:00pm. The ISU v. Colorado game was scheduled to start at 6:00 and Ryan was having some people over for the game. That morning he commented that I could get things cleaned up before hand and then realized that I would be gone all day. I thought he’d pick up a few things – we all know he’s not a cleaner. I was wrong. He hadn’t picked up anything and I was embarrassed and mad. The more time passed, as mom and I were in the kitchen making some artichoke dip for his friends, the more mad I got. I didn’t know if maybe he was out on calls all afternoon so I tried not to get too worked up about it. Then during a commercial he came in to show me that he worked on Scott’s Christmas gift. At that point I was so ticked off. He couldn’t even move the vacuum out of the living room but he could play/work in the basement. Grr. I had a headache, I was tired and my back hurt – all of which didn’t help matters at all. The remainder of the night, I was not a loving or respectful wife. Finally at 9pm, I took Scott upstairs to feed him and went to bed. Ryan had no clue that I was mad at him but I’m sure he noticed that I wasn’t being nice. Sorry honey!
Sunday morning started slow. I must have slept crappy – I guess that happens when you don’t deal with issues. Anyway, Ryan ended up staying home from church with some back problems. When I came home we discussed things and I reminded him of his role as leader in the home. I need him to take the responsibility seriously and be our spiritual leader like a husband should do. Things went awesome in the afternoon. Scott was fussy and hungry non-stop yesterday. Ryan and I had fun together hanging out on the couch. I also got a coat of Kilz on the cabinet and hope to start painting the red tonight.

Today is Scott’s 4 month birthday. Grow, I mean, GO Scott-r

a much needed update

I know it’s been a week since I’ve posted but that’s the way it goes. I’ve been running around quite a bit for work lately. Last week I spent a few days in Des Moines. This week I spent 2 days in Platteville, WI for meetings. Usually we’d stay the night but breastfeeding a baby sure makes the over night trips a bit difficult. So, we drove back and forth each day. I’d leave the house at about 6:30, drive 30 minutes to work and then drive 2 hours to Platteville. I’d get back home around 6:00. Not too bad, sure helped me add a few credit hours (that means vacation time) to my time sheet. Yesterday, my first day in the office, I was ancy to get outside so instead of mailing some documents to the O’s, I hand delivered them while Ryan just happened to be there working cattle :)

Back to last weekend. I do truly love my Fridays. Saturday was a good day to get some things done around the house. Scott was super cooperative and did awesome at going to sleep for naps. Every 3rd hour, I fed him and then put him down for a nap that lasted about an hour. Gave me some time to get things cleaned. I was able to clean both of our living rooms pretty well, I dusted the big stuff and ignored the stuff in the cabinets. It felt so good. I left the kitchen to Ryan although I did sweep and pick up a few things. Sunday after potluck, I cleaned the dining room and our bedroom before we headed to the Carlson’s for apple fritters. I had taken Brittney (5th grade daughter of our buddies) home with me so she could play with Scott. Their whole family adores Scott except their 18 year old son. Anyway, we got home from potluck and fed Scott. He was cranky and I put him down for his hour nap. That hour turned into 3 and I woke him up in time to feed him and head out the door. Poor Brittney didn’t even get to play with Scott. But she did lie in my bed and watch Elf on my portable DVD player while I cleaned my room. The apple fritter was a whole church thing and Scott was the star of the show. People who don’t typically gawk over him did just that. I was enjoying the fellowship but eventually snuck downstairs with the kids to catch the end of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Such a good show!

Like I said earlier, its been a super busy week. Monday I got home from work, fed Scott, played with him for a while, grabbed a quick bite to eat and snuggled up on the couch to listen to our Valley Tigers playoff football game. By the 3rd quarter I was out. Ryan woke me up when it was over to tell me they won :) Tuesday night was much the same, all the driving was tiring I guess. Last night I hung out at mom’s which is my typical Wednesday night. We ate supper and then I sewed for a little bit before heading home. Again, I’m excited for the weekend. But before that is our Thursday night bible study and I love that group of people that we meet with.

Its Friday for me, tomorrow is a federal holiday so I’ll be home. Big plans for my 3 day weekend. I hope to get my tulips planted and then start refinishing my cabinets mom made me for college graduation. I’m going to sand them a little and paint the inside a wine red so that my off white china will really stand out. The outside will be repainted off white which looks awesome against my olive green walls in the dining room. I’m super excited to get that started. We’ll see if it happens – if Scott cooperates.

friday

I've really been looking forward to this day. I love Fridays. I love having a weekend off to spend time with my husband, get my house in some sort of order, spend Sunday morning learning and I certainly love playing with my little guy.
Scott continues to grow so fast. This week he's been trying to sit up in his bouncy chair. When I hold his hands to pull him in a sitting-up position, he stands up for a few seconds instead. He's really taking on more character traits each week. He's starting to be super fussy when he doesn't get naps during the day. Last night was one of those nights, and once again it was during bible study. I couldn't get him calmed down. And when I finally did calm him down, he would start crying again if I sat down. Eventually he was asleep and I sat down but couldn't lay him down or move him away from me without him waking up and crying again. We got home last night, I fed him and Ryan put him to bed at 10pm. Scott slept till 645 this morning - I think he was tired!
I'm tired too. It's been a long week and I haven't had much time at all with my honey. And I've been super moody this week and yesterday morning I took it out on Ryan. I hope this weekend gives us some together time - cleaning the house :)

pictures

Here are the pictures that I couldn't add the other day. He did wear his little outfit to the game last night, what a stud! I joked with Holly that if she would kiss him he would turn into her prince. [Holly is one of the post-college kids and we joke that Scott will take her to prom in HS - she'll be 40 then. Holly is Scott's adult girlfriend.]

Make sure to check out the photos below

Weekend
what a nice weekend we had. mom kept scott friday night and saturday. of course i had to stop and see my kid after work. he has a cold and sounds like a goose. poor thing. he literally slept all day except when he was being fed. mom would wake him up to change his diaper. i was there and he slept through his feeding and i changed his diaper quick before i left. of course he woke up then and was so playful so i had to stay longer. Was there for about 90 minutes – so much for Friday night with my honey! saturday i made my honey breakfast in bed after i pumped. then we headed to waterloo for some shopping. hello transfer from the savings account! it was a fun day though, nice to just hang out with ryan and not worry about caring for our little guy. i love playing with and watching scott so it was nice to give ryan my full attention for a while. mom needed some rest so i took my kid home saturday night. he sounded pretty good but we kept him home Sunday from church. ryan went to church while i stayed home and then he came home and i went to the church to help some friends with their 25th anniv party. it was nice to have a slow non-rushed weekend.

Monday
It went well to begin with. Now that I’m feeding scott every morning at 530, the follow-up pumping doesn’t go so well. I think my boobs are confused about making milk vs. letting it down. Later that morning at work while pumping, I wasn’t giving my full attention. And to spare all of you the details (especially Cori), I’ll just say that I overflowed the bottle. I’m so an 18 lb. cow with awesome milk supply. Anyway, it ran down my right thigh. Fortunately scott’s diaper bag got left in my car so I got a baby wipe and tried to clean it up. It was a bigger mess at first but by time it dried, you could hardly tell what had spilled. Baby wipes are awesome!

Beggar’s Night
The phrase takes on more and more meaning every year. I’m not into Halloween and could care less about it. BUT, I fell into the temptation and bought Scott the cutest outfit from Old Navy. It’s all about the photo op and showing off my kid. So, we went to mom’s and had a massive bowl of candy. Not many visitors but the majority of kids that came SUCKED! They didn’t even say “trick-or-treat”. What the heck! And there were kids that weren’t dressed up at all! Last year since we were at a friend’s house, I told a few big kids they needed to get a costume before I would give them candy. This year we had the same thing (different town). One time it was 4 HS kids, 3 of them had dressed up. So I gave them crappy suckers. I figured they were too old and could buy their own candy. There were even little kids that were dressed in their regular clothes. One kid had a mask that didn’t even stay on his face. He’s from our church so I made sure to ask him (and loud enough for his mom to hear) where his costume was. One kid had some “swords” through his belt loop with normal clothes and said he was a knight. Come on parents, lets get a little more creative. I would be embarrassed to take me kid out begging for candy if he wasn’t in a costume. AND, I had Scott in his cute little costume and only got two compliments on it. One was a little guy dressed as a lion. He was a bit young to say “t-or-t” but he clearly said “baby”. My favorite was a family of 3 kids: one was darth vador, one was r2-d2 and the baby in the stroller was yoda. They were awesome! Before heading home I had to stop at Shane & Michelle’s (a couple from my bible study) and show them Scott. Here’s what they got to see: If you want to see him in person, come to the Valley play off game on Wednesday night. I’m dressing him up again for everyone to see :) Okay, off to a few meetings and an overnight trip to Des Moines.

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God

. . . This that you have heard is the case of every one of you that are out of Christ. That world of misery, that lake of burning brimstone, is extended abroad under you. There is the dreadful pit of the glowing flames of the wrath of God; there is hell's wide gaping mouth open; and you have nothing to stand upon, nor any thing to take hold of; there is nothing between you and hell but the air; 'tis only the power and mere pleasure of God that holds you up.
You probably are not sensible of this; you find you are kept out of hell, but don't see the hand of God in it, but look at other things, as the good state of your bodily constitution, your care of your own life, and the means you use for your own preservation. But indeed these things are nothing; if God should withdraw his hand, they would avail no more to keep you from falling, than the thin air to hold up a person that is suspended in it.
Your wickedness makes you as it were heavy as lead, and to tend downwards with great weight and pressure towards hell; and, if God should let you go, you would immediately sink, and swiftly descend and plunge into the bottomless gulf; and your healthy constitution, and your own care and prudence, and best contrivance, and all your righteousness, would have no more influence to uphold you and keep you out of hell, than a spider's web would have to stop a falling rock. . . .
The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked. His wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else but to be cast into the fire. He is of purer eyes than to bear you in his sight; you are ten thousand times as abominable in his eyes as the most hateful, venomous serpent is in ours. You have offended him infinitely more than ever a stubborn rebel did his prince, and yet 'tis nothing but his hand that holds you from falling into the fire every moment. . . .
O sinner! Consider the fearful danger you are in! 'Tis a great furnace of wrath, a wide and bottomless pit, full of fire and of wrath that you are held over in the hand of that God whose wrath is provoked and incensed as much against you as against many of the damned in hell. You hang by a slender thread, with the flames of Divine wrath flashing about it, and ready every moment to singe it and burn it asunder. . . .
It would be dreadful to suffer this fierceness and wrath of Almighty God one moment; but you must suffer it to all eternity. There will be no end to this exquisite, horrible, misery. . . .
How dreadful is the state of those that are daily and hourly in danger of this great wrath and infinite misery! But this is the dismal case of every soul in this congregation that has not been born again, however moral and strict, sober and religious, they may otherwise be. Oh! that you would consider it, whether you be young or old!

From Johnathan Edwards, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God (1741)," in The Great Awakening, eds. Alan Heimert and Perry Miller (Indianpolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1969).

puke & colds

yeah, that's always a fun topic. Wednesday night I picked Scott up at mom's, ate some wonderful smoked pork chops, green beans and some funky squash (it had lots of butter and brown sugar so it was good) with the folks before going home. By time I pulled in the driveway, Scott was letting me know he was hungry. Got in the house and after a quick trip to bano, I fed my son. Twice, he spit up on me while he was eating - once on each side. That irritates me but what can you do? About 15 minutes later, the kid just let loose. And let me remind everyone that he doesn't spit up a little, its usually 1-2 ounces with each spit up. He eats approximately 45 ounces a day (a lot for his age) but he spits up about half of that usually. Anyway, so he spit up and it went down the bottom of my shirt, hit my jeans, ran down the crotch of my jeans, hit the leather chair and kept moving until it puddled underneath me. Of course I reacted and wanted to toss my kid down so I could clean up the mess before it soaked into the soft leather. I gently laid my kid on a blanket and started to soak up what milk my jeans didn't absorb. It was nasty, my jeans were soaked in the crotch, it was such a yucky feeling.
Every night is a puke story of course. Last night we were at teh UNI Dome watching our high school play their last football game. At 9pm, I fed Scott and tried to burp him (he doesn't always burp). We got a few burps out and then I took him over to his dad. Ryan wasn't holding him too long when Scott spit up and it went all the way down Ryan's shirt, splattered on his boot and then puddled on the floor. The kid is a spitter! Poor Ryan had to sit the rest of the game, plus the drive home with lovely breast milk down his shirt. I'm sure it dried before we got home.

TGIF
we all have colds around our house. It's so sad to hear my little Scott-R coughing and sneezing. He's in good hands with his grammy today. She was planning on keeping him tonight and tomorrow night so Ryan and I could do some Christmas shopping. We'll see how that goes with the cold issues.

The Holy Land & Yesterday's Drama and Today

Dad sent me the story below in an email and I thought it was too cute:

Holy Land
In the Holy Land A man, his wife, and his mother-in-law went on vacation to the Holy Land. While they were there, the mother-in-law passed away. The undertaker told them, "You can have her shipped home for $5,000, or you can bury her here in the Holy Land for $150.00." The man thought about it and told him he would just have her shipped home. The undertaker asked, "Why would you spend $5,000 to ship your mother-in-law home, when it would be wonderful to be buried here and spend only $150.00?"The man replied, "A man died here 2000 years ago, was buried here, and three days later he rose from the dead. I just can't take that chance."


Yesterday’s Drama
It started out so good – I took a shower and had some time to myself. On my way to work, I realized I forgot to send milk for Scott. Even though I was over my minutes and it was costing me 40 cents a minute to talk, I decided to give mom a quick call. She of course said not to worry that she had to run some errands so she would just stop at our house and pick some up. I was mortified! My house was a pig sty. I’m serious. I had carried in all my outside plants and they were all over the place – living room floor, staircase, dinning table, counters. The lovely asian beetles that snuck in on the plants were now laying dead on the ground surrounding all the plants. Scott’s dirty, spit-up on clothes and bibs were still in the floor along with Ryan’s chocolate mug, my water bottle and other crap. I had done the dishes but not ALL of them b/c my strainer got full and I was too lazy to dry them (no auto dishwasher at my house). Needless to say I didn’t want mom in my house so I warned her to close her eyes when she went in so she didn’t see the mess. She started in about it like any mother would, and I interrupted with “I’m over on my minutes, I gotta go!” She continued so I said it again, said bye and hung up. Ouch! I don’t talk to my mom like that, nor does she deserve that. Several hours later, I called her to apologize and asked her to come down for lunch. So I skipped my morning pumping and waited till noon and nursed Scott during lunch. Then when I went for my 2pm pumping, I realized I didn’t have the pump portion that I so desperately needed. As I got the stuff out to pump, I was so frustrated, my eyes were about to water and I thought to myself “I could go downstairs and cry the whole time I pump, it would be good to just get it out”. Then I didn’t have my pump = added frustration. A quick call to my buddy Jen, who also has a medela pump, to ask if I could borrow the pump portion. Drove to her house which took twice as long because of road construction (more frustration) and then her pump was a different model and wouldn’t work. I shared some of my frustrations with her and headed back to the office. By now, I have almost 6 hours worth of milk in my nini’s (since I didn’t do my morning pump) and needed to pump. I walked in the office, finished up something and left at 3:30.
I got home yesterday without crying. Ryan came home and I had laundry going, a fire started and dinner on the stove. He of course was shocked. I warned him up front that I was frustrated with just about everybody and everything. He asked what he did wrong and I said you're not on my list at the moment. I got supper cooked, the kitchen cleaned, my kid was taking a nap and things were going well. I told ryan that we needed to work on our communication and he thought that was going great. Ha! We aren’t and so we discussed that briefly. Then I was cleaning living room #2 and picked up a gallon jug of insecticide off mom & ralph's italian leather couches that are at our house. I assumed the bottle was empty since it was so carelessly lying on the couch. It wasn’t and it had leaked all over the one cushion and down the side. I was so ticked and immediately started in on Ryan for being so careless. I started cleaning up the mess while he said he'd do it. But ryan is never in a hurry and I wanted it taken care of right then. I was scared that it wouldn't come out and my parents would have ruined couches. He wasn't concerned because the stuff is water soluble. I scrubbed and scrubbed, took the cushions out and scrubbed some more. I hope the leather is okay. Grr, I was so ticked. But the rest of the evening went okay. Scott was fussy which makes ryan fussy. He does fine when scott is happy but he can't calm scott down quite like me and gets irritated with the crying. Things went a little better last night, I got a good night of sleep and my throat isn't bothering me as bad this morning. I could so use a vacation – at least 10 hours a week :)

This morning, already
It started out great. I fed scott in bed and then got to snuggle with my honey for a while. scott pee'd through his diaper and ryan was bathing him so I decided to make breakfast (usually ryan makes me breakfast every morning). We didn't have milk to make the eggs fluffy but I managed. Served my honey breakfast, fixed his hot chocolate, did the dishes from supper last night and breakfast, stuffed my face, grabbed my wedding band, fed the dogs and jumped in the car. It was going great, I didn't have anything on my face but I was on time. Yipee!
Then I get to work and I'm not there more than an hour when things get irritating again. Why is it that a person thinks she needs to share all the details of local gossip with me. Let me just preface all this by saying that the 5 minute talk I hear every morning is talking about gossip this week. As soon as it was over, the dj started talking about an accident and the road conditions. someone called in and she asked if anyone was hurt, like she wanted the dirt. I was so tempted to call her (and I would have if I weren't over on my minutes) to ask if she listened to the talk on gossip. So, anyway, this person proceeds to tell me the local gossip and each time I stop her and say I don't want to hear it. I'm not kidding you, she keeps on and tells me 3 different stories. One of which was totally the wrong info that she was sharing with people. So, I even confronted her about it and said "that's why we shouldn't gossip". She continued. Holy cow, did she not get the hints? I don't want to hear it! I shared with her about the gossip talk I've heard this week and how I don't want to hear those things about people. It just ticks me off, she's so sneaky and quiet about it, duh, because she shouldn't be opening her mouth! Ah, gotta love everyone though, Jesus said to do so.

One more random thought:
Ryan and I watched napolean dynamite on Sunday. it was the biggest waste of my time ever. it was a stupid-and-not-even-that-funny movie. i should have listened to michelle, i do want my two hours back! But today I'm wearing my shirt that says "vote for pedro" only the pedro is crossed off and it says "Jesus" instead. If anyone questions it today, I'm gonna entertain myself and say "are you racist against mexicans, it's jesus" as in "hey-suess" the mexican name. Okay, gotta get to working, its almost 8 am

More pictures of my Scott-R bug

My poor little guy... but he looks cute. I love being outdoors and thought this was a great view. Of course my kid had to be in red and blue (go Bulldogs, go ADX and go Valley Tigers). I also have to point out that he's wearing his Bulldogs hat that Kristine and Andy bought him. Ryan propped some rocks up around him so that he could sit there. I was a bit nervous at first but the kid loved looking around at the water and trees. We had a hard time getting him to look at us.


I love this next picture too. A few things I like about it is that it's such a perfect view of Scott. Hands are always moving. He's always staring at something and loves the outdoors. The blanket he's laying on was Ryan's when Ryan was a kid. And the wagon in the background was also Ryan's when he was a kid.


This was the whole reason behind the picture taking adventure. I wanted to take pictures of Scott in a pumpkin. My idea was a little different but this is how it turned out. The opposite side of the pumpkin was carved - supposed to be a vet symbol that didn't work out. So, the pumpkin was already cleaned out. Ryan cut the hole at the top bigger and then cut out part of the back side to get him in. I had to use another pumpkin to prop him up. I have some cute pictures of him when he fell in the leaves before we got pumpkin #2 to help. I felt like we were squishing him.

That's it for pictures. I can't load any more pictures again :) Mom told me yesterday that Scott laughed out loud when she was tickling him. Another milestone for my small fry. Ryan and I are having fun with him, and needing a little time to ourselves. Someday :)

My Scott-R bug

Oh how I love being a mom. Being Ryan's wife is wonderful but being Scott's mom is such an added bonus. He's becomming so much more lively lately. He smiles ALL the time and makes lots of noise. Trying to talk and already able to say "mom-mom". Okay, maybe its not quite mom but he does make sounds and if I jiggle his pacifier just right, it sounds like "mom-mom". Scott jabbers and drools all the time now. He's so much fun! He's doing well at keeping himself entertained for short periods of time. For the most part he's entertained by checking things out that have color in them. This morning he stared at Mt. Dew box while I ate breakfast. My little guy really likes TV and will zoom right in on that when we're in the living room. The last few days he's really worked on his hand-eye coordination and last night he reached out and grabbed my finger for the first time. Of course everything that he does get hold of gets pulled directly towards his mouth :) He's also doing fantastic at sleeping well. We put him down at 10ish and he slept till 7 during the weekend. The last 3 days, Ryan has gone in Scott's room to wake him up so we can feed him quick and take him to his grammy's. I'm so thankful for more sleep.

Since Scott turned 3 months on Friday. I thought this would be a perfect time to take some fall pictures. I really wanted to put him inside a pumpkin and take a few pics so we did just that. We went down to Dutton's Cave (a county park) just a few miles from our house and had fun with the cameras. Ryan had the digital and I had the regular one. Used up 3 rolls of film while we were there. The following are a few of the digital shots Ryan captured:


Scott holding on for dear life before we get in the van to leave. He's always gripping something. (as I was loading the next picture, I noticed Scott's middle finger showing off once again)

The first pictures we took were of Scott in the creek. It was a gorgeous view both up and downstream. This isn't the picture with the great views but if you click on it for a bigger image, you'll see that Scott has just spit up. It went all down his shirt, sleeve and finally puddled on the rock. I ended up having to change his outfit.

Okay, there's more pictures but my stupid computer won't let me add them for some reason. I tried and tried! Maybe I'll try again in a little bit. I have some real cute ones.

Pictures of my small-fry-little-guy

My kid turned 3 months old today. Happy 3 month birthday son! Scott's grammy is great at taking pictures and sharing them. These were all taken within the last week or so.











This second picture is the famous "Martinez lip". Everyone in the family has this massive bottom lip when they pout. Scott's is absolutely adorable.




My little Scott-R loves playing with his Grammy and Papa.

Make sure your sound is on. I added a music video to my blog. it's not the best picture and its way down on the bottom right but it's a fun song. So, turn it up and listen to "Pray for the Fish" by Randy Travis.

I wanted to introduce everyone to Tebbe's little girl Drew.

Sorry this is a small picture but it will have to work. Here's drew and her proud daddy, Andy.








I had another cute one of Kristine, Andy and Drew but it's too small.
[tebbe, i need better pitures to share with everyone!]

Crappy Mom
Continuing the crappy kid story...
It was after church on Sunday and our buddy Richie was holding Scott:

Richie: Tammy, Scott just let loose, he needs his diaper changed.
me: you can take care of it Uncle Richie
(All too often our little tooter makes people think he has a dirty diaper when he's only been passing gas. I no longer take serious when someone suggests he's dirty. And his toots stink so they really get confused)
several minutes later, R: scott's diaper is leaking through
me: are you serious, he really crapped his diaper?
R: yeah, that's why I wrapped his blanket around him. it leaked out his diaper, through his clothes.
(by now Ryan is standing there chatting with Richie)
me: Ryan, will you change your kid's diaper (with complete attitude)

My kid had done it again. It has become a normal experience in our house. before i always tried to make sure we had an extra onesie, just in case. now, we take an extra set of clothes b/c we're almost guaranteed to need them.

In other news:
i'm glad its not monday! a nice long weekend thanks to good 'ol Columbus. had a nice weekend even though my honey was gone. went to mom's from work to chow some shrimp alredo pasta before heading to the game. i put scott in his little snugli so we could keep each other warm. he wasn't even interested in eating, just wanted to snooze against his mommy. the game lasted forever (they took away the 50 point rule which meant we got to go home early alot b/c it would be 50-0 and the game would be over). We won 63-o, poor other school. it was homecoming night and the poor girls were freezing. dumb girls, wouldn't wear a coat. that's okay, vanity is an issue of mine too :)

piddled around saturday. made the trip to wally world and spent too much money as usual. bought ryan a christmas present though so that was good. it really got me thinking about our christmas this year. we love to buy gifts for family. but with all our other financial commitments at the moment (sewer, vet practice purchase), i'm not sure if that would be a wise decision. i'm tempted to chat with ryan about it and setting a budget that would be a fraction of what we usually spend. who knows. anyway, went to Gunder for supper with the folks. on the 8 mile drive home, we saw at least 40 deer. its harvest time here so the deer are just thick and it will only get worse and harvest progresses and there are less corn fields for deer to bed down in. ryan came home at 215 am and we chatted for an hour before he conked out. it was so good to hear the excitement in his voice about his weekend trip with our JV kids.

church was awesome on sunday. shane (one of our buddies) gave the message. it was on prayer and our lack of prayer. so kicked my butt. i just don't spend enough time in that area of my life. excuses are like... nevermind that comment; i need to spend more time in prayer because i love seeing how God answers those prayers. went to lunch afterwards with the Ellis', Shane & Michelle and Kelly. I love chinese food! came home and ryan crashed for a few hours. taylor came home with me and watched scott while i cleaned the kitchen. she's so awesome to volunteer like that. went to small group later and taylor kept scott the whole time so I could focus on the study we did. it was so nice to not be distracted.

monday was awesome. just quiet, got a few things accomplished and wasn't rushed. that was the nice part, not feeling rushed or bogged down. had the county sanitarian out as well as the contractor. got some ideas on the septic system we will be replacing next spring. we're looking at $4k or something along those lines. ryan was able to come home for that which was helpful. while talking to those folks, the culligan guy (dean) came. he's a great guy and i love when i'm home to greet him. just adds to my day because he always has a smile on his face and a positive attitude. he had to check out scott and came back out to tell me scott was inside crying. i felt like such a bad mom again but then dean said he was just kidding, scott was still asleep. went to the vet clinic to have lunch with my honey. hot dogs. i hate hot dogs but these things were actually good, i even ate two of them. went from there to stop by mom&papa's. she goes through withdrawls when she doesn't get to see scott. left scott there to play and went home to start supper. made this awesome wild rice soup with chicken. and only had one minor drama - went outside to pick my bell peppers and all four of them had been eaten on. made me so mad that I saw that huge tomato horn worm the day before on the gord plant and left him there. grr. started dessert, i had made my graham cracker crust before we ate. went to finish the dessert and my fresh raspberries were no longer fresh enough. so irritating. i try so hard in the kitchen sometimes and it just doesn't come naturally or work out.

its now tuesday and i'm glad to be back at work, where i'm comfortable, and taking my lunch. better get back to work. it won't be long and i'll need to pump again - woo hoo!

p.s. watched the angels game last night. it was a sweet victory. but i'm bummed that my buddy jake wasn't on the roster. last night would have been a perfect night for him to pitch, they needed a lefty.

Crappy Kid
I have the crappiest kid, not in a bad way either. Just lately we have quite the drama with his bowel movements. Let me start from the beginning. He was regular, a poopy diaper almost every time you changed him. Then all of a sudden it had been several days. I got worried when 3 days had past and then expressed my concern at 4 days. Finally on day 5, my little Scott-r let loose. Then for a few weeks he only pooped every 5 days. It was actually quite nice to not change poopy diapers but he had the most atrocious smelling gas. I'm serious, it was as loud and as stinky as an adult's! Then while we were in CA, his bowel schedule changed again and for a month now has gone at least once a day. And that's been great because he's been at his grammy's house for those experiences. But the last 5 days we've changed again. He's gone at home and they've been major. I mean like shooting out the sides - major. Not to share too many details but the diaper was filled up to the top of the ridges that come up against their thighs and had it coated on his bottom. This was a major event. Well, then Tuesday night he was just letting them rip. I was sitting under the window air conditioner (its a loud old sucker) and we had the tv sound blasting so I could hear it over the AC when Scott was letting loose. I could hear some of it over the other background noise! I'm serious. Ryan was holding him and just sat in amazement. I think he tooted for 30 seconds straight. So Ryan picks him up to make sure it wasn't coming out the side. It appeared safe and he sat him back on his lap. Within seconds it was down Ryan's pants, dripped in about 5 spots on the hassick and had little puddles on the wood floor. A little runny to say the least. We couldn't lay him on anything since it seemed to be gushing out so Ryan laid him on the floor of the shower. I cleaned the majority of it off Scott while Ryan cleaned the dishes out of the sink. We then held him over the sink and rinsed him off since there was so much poop. And it didn't end there. We had the same thing again Wednesday night and last night too. Last night mom had him dressed in this cute little outfit for bible study. He was in his bouncy chair while I did dishes. And over the noise of the running water, I heard him. Curious if it was just gas (since he's a pro as farting), I went to check just in case. Yup, another runny blow out. I yelled at Ryan who was just getting in the shower. He hurried down stairs to hold while I rinsed once again.

Ah, the joys of parenting. I wish I had gotten pictures!

Cori's Shoes
I could so put myself in Cori's shoes today. Just wanting to eat healthy, exercise and be intimate with my husband. But I have all kinds of excuses for not getting those things accomplished. I try to eat healthy but its hard to do when you don't have the best food supply without driving 45 minutes. I want to get out and run or walk again but I'm not motivated enough to do that on my own and my walking buddy has been busy. And the whole initmacy thing is a totally different ball game with a 12 week old and a busy schedule. Now its Friday and Ryan is gone up to Minneapolis for the weekend so I won't get to see him again until Sunday sometime.

pet pictures...




My most recent pet, Keller. Ryan saved him from euthinization at the vet clinic. He's a mini Australian Shepherd and the biggest genetic jack-up. He was mostly blind and completely deaf when we got him. Now, almost 4 months later, he sees too well (he waits at the front door to come in) and is still 100% deaf. Gotta love him though, he's so cute. I need a current picture since he's grown a bit.





L to R: William Edward Goat, Promise, Kaleb (my nephew) and me. William was one of our first ventures as a married couple. He chews the hotwire fence in the pasture and the tulips and every other plant when he gets out so he stays tied up. Promise came shortly after we were married too. Ryan hates horses but knows I love them so he bought her for me. After being bucked off several times and an overnight stay in the hospital (thanks to Sandy and Jesse for saving my life), Promise found a new home.



I'm sure this dog would be a lap dog if you let him. This is DJ, Ryan's dalmation. He's been around for 7 or 8 years and is the best behaved dog and is gorgeous. He hasn't adjusted the best to Scott but he's still an awesome dog.

* I have (actually they're Ryan's) two cats also. Rum Tum Tugger is the boy and he's a tabby. His sister is Wicket and she's a calico. They were farm cats that Ryan brought home shortly after moving up here when he graduated vet school.

Time Flies

Wow, its monday already. seems like it was yesterday that we took scott to get his shots. thursday was scott's big day, the day he might decide to no longer like nurse Sue. our appointment was at 6pm, we got there a little early. it was hell night for them. dr. lederman (the on-call doc) got called to the nearby clinic because Whooping Cough was identified there (3rd school in the area within 2 weeks). so, dr. miller (my doc) got called to deliver a baby in lederman's place. that left dr. tinker (my neighbor down the road) all by himself. scott got his shots from the nurses but not his well-baby check. tinker had blood taken to check my cough issue and took a quick look at me. he said my allergies were causing my sinuses to drain which was causing my throat to be irritated causing the cough. no cold. i knew the allergies and sinus part and was glad that i didn't have a cold, bronchitis or anything else. he gave me zyrtec and sent us home. two hours after we got there, we left. two stinkin' hours - that's too long.

thursday night i got to experience the side affects of the zyrtec, or was it that my tummy didn't like all the sinus yuck that had drained in there. anyway, my TMI (not as exciting as Cori's) was that i was up for a few hours with an upset tummy, the nastiest diarrhea i've ever had and lots of coughing. i tried to sleep in the spare bedroom but the coughing kept me awake for too long. friday i stayed home to get some rest. that morning mom and ralph came out to hang out with scott so i could sleep. i got a two hour nap in - it was glorious. friday afternoon i made a quick run to decorah for walmart and jc penny's. scott needed some cool weather clothes in his current size and i needed a few items from wally world. was supposed to be at jen and ryan's at 630 with my ryan. got home at 630 and still had to feed scott. just as i was walking out the door, ryan walked in. i thought he'd already gone to j&r's but he was still running vet calls. he left his truck running and jumped in the shower. we got to j&r's at 715. the boys were headed to the game for a 715 kick-off and ryan still had to eat. it didn't go quite as planned. but the boys eventually headed off to the game and us girls sat on the couch, fed our babies, chatted and watched 3 wishes. it was a breastfeeding and crying group night :)

saturday was another slow day. i scrap booked, killed a few pesky flies and did laundry - no cleaning this weekend. sunday was church, potluck and a true day of rest. i scrap booked a little more while ryan and ben played x-box. then took my kid upstairs, fed him and played on the bed a while before taking a kinda-sorta nap. it was a nice relaxing weekend. i have lots of cleaning to do and still haven't gotten anywhere on my septic tank drama.

oh yeah, and i hit a skunk on the driveway thursday night. killed one of our pets. my car smelled but by the next day a vulture had carried off the dead skunk from the driveway. AND, friday coming home from decorah, mom saw my cat half way down the driveway again. i thought it was a skunk, she thought it was the cat (similar colors). i slowed down and opened my door to call wicket when i got a wiff of skunk smell. it was so the skunk and not my cat!

So here’s the dirt about my neighbor who mailed me a letter. It came Saturday which was drama enough but anyway. It starts out nicely: “hope you’re enjoying Scott…” and stuff like that. The next paragraph is when the stuff hits the fan. He basically tells us that our septic system is on his property and he would like it moved. That it has come to the surface and splashes on him when he mows the lawn. Let’s just pause there… [if human yuckies are splashing on you, QUIT MOWING!] He also claimed that it was contaminating the stream down below, pause again… [you jack@ss, try to give me a guilt trip since I work for conservation of our natural resources. IF it is occurring as he stated, there’s 600’ feet of lawn and pasture before it heats the stream which would treat the concern by both state and federal standards.] It also tells us that Jan 1st gives us 3.5 months to get something done. Pause again… [who died and made him God. AND, the ground freezes well before Jan 1st which then doesn’t give that amount of time]. He didn’t know it was on his property, pause again… [neither did we, umm, its buried underground]. And it was cc’d to some female name at the bottom.

Here’s my thoughts (in addition to the ones above). Since he lives farther down the driveway and passes our house multiples times a day, why not stop and say “hey ryan, something is wrong with your septic tank, explain the details and ask us to fix it. Duh, we’ve always gotten along well with them. We both help each other out with different things. What did he do, cc it to his lawyer? I had so many other negative and mean thoughts that I won’t put on paper since they weren’t appropriate, just hateful.

After some further investigation. The letter was sent to the county sanitarian who I called but didn’t get a hold of. Received a letter from her last night though basically saying that we do have to replace our whole system, a minimum of $3k. And if we hit bedrock or clay like I’m assuming will happen, its an easy $7k. Also found out that the outlet pipe to the stream (what I thought might be his complaint for polluting the stream) doesn’t outlet to the stream. It’s about 120’ up in the fenceline along the pasture. Again, plenty of room to be “cleaned up” before it hits the stream.

Ryan and I doing some searching to get things in order to replace the system. It’s a state law that they have to be up to code when the property is sold. Unfortunately in the county I live in, there’s no one who checks and makes sure of that. And a first time home buyer doesn’t know to ask either. Stupid county! Because my previous landowner was not fully truthful, we’ll be paying the price, literally. That guy is a whole separate post though!

Thoughts for this morning:
~ It was just above freezing this morning when I left for work and its still September. I bet people at home in the ghetto-Fresno area are still hot. I wore a jacket the last two mornings to work!
~ Are my friends "black" or "African-American"? My buddy Shelly in college said that she was black. She's not African-American because he wasn't born in Africa. But Nebyou argued that his skin isn't "black" therefore he's African-American. Interesting thought. It came to mind as I was reading some stuff on diversity.
~ Why are people so stupid? My neighbor mailed me a letter. He's my neighbor, he could have stopped and chatted with me about his concern or even dropped off a note at my house. Mailing a letter to your neighbor... another interesting thought. More on that later!

i'm loving these "way back wednesdays" only i'm always a little behind. last week was something about sororities and frats. To take a picture drinking something fun. yes, i was part of a sorority, Alpha Delta Chi, but most of us didn't drink alcohol. so, none of those pictures. and i couldn't find a picture of me drinking anything else with that group so i have two pictures to share: one of me drinking and one of me with my sorority girls.

The first is of Nicole and me at Brooke and Ryan Phelan's wedding reception. I think it was just sparkling cider or something but i don't like it anyway. i doubt that i even had any to drink out of the glass.


The second picture is of Alisha and me at our national convention in LA one year. I couldn't find a picture of me and the girls either. So, i picked one with alisha since she just got married.

Pot Calling the Kettle Black
Each day I look forward to an update from my buddy, Cori. And yesterday I checked several times without ever seeing an update. So, finally I emailed her harassing about posting and she reminded me that I hadn’t posted either. Her comment was “people in glasses houses…” I so felt like the pot calling the kettle black so here’s my update – more than a few pictures.

As you know, Scott is now the focus of our lives. It’s a lot of fun. For a week, my nanny and Ugly (aka Aunt Janie) were out visiting. Now that I’m back to work, I didn’t get to spend the time I wanted to spend with them. But, I did have fun in the evenings and they had a great time with Scott and the folks during the day. Every night last week except one, I hung out with them. Tuesday we made supper at our house. Wednesday I hung out at mom’s with the old ladies and Scott while Ryan did AWANA JV. Thursday as soon as bible study ended, I headed to mom’s house. They’ve been sewing, sewing and sewing. Friday night we skipped the football game, ordered some pizza and went to mom’s right after work. I visited with the girls and the guys watched the ISU game. Saturday morning I went to mom’s where Nanny made my chocolate gravy and toast. Stayed for a few hours and then went home to clean. Good times.

Saturday night my friend, Laura, who works in our state office came up with her 3 kids and stayed the night. It was fun to sit and visit with her, eat some good grub and play with the kids. Sunday morning they joined us for church and then played with William the goat for a few minutes before they headed back home.

I was excited for an afternoon home with my honey and putting Scott down for a nap J He was eager to watch the Cardinals game on TV (the first game he’s seen for quite a while). So, instead of Scott taking a nap while I played with Ryan, I took a nap while Scott hung out with his dad. That night we had care&share group which is a small group from church who gets together.

Story of the week: while at our group, I decided to breastfeed Scott. I usually am prepared with a bottle for such outings. Scott, as usual, was making his sucking nose while he ate. As if that isn’t distracting enough, in between sucking noises, he was making a spitting noise too. I was super full and Scott was getting too much milk so he was spitting it out the side of his mouth. It was too funny (and kind of embarrassing). The kicker of the story is that all this was happening during prayer requests and prayer. So, here’s these people pouring their hearts out about cancer, etc and I’m sitting in the corner TRYING so hard not to laugh but not succeeding. Then Tracy, sitting right next to me, was also giggling and neither of us could stop. In the middle of prayer – I felt like such a heathen! It was too funny though and another new experience for us and our little guy.