Heartbeat and Cramps

We heard the baby's heartbeat for the first time last night. It was exciting but also scary to know that there were concerns. Now that I'm into my 2nd trimester and they have a heartbeat, I think the concerns are limited if not gone. I do have these cramps though that are killer. Sharp pains on both sides, right where my ovaries would be. Based on my two previous ultrasounds, the doc thinks the sharp pains are caused by the cysts that are developing on my ovaries. Sounds bad but its really not. They kinda grow and dissapear and then grow again. Its fairly common. Last night's appointment was fun and as always, it was good to see the clinic staff again and watch them "ooh and awe" over small fy who is quite the little flirt!

We leave today for the B family Christmas. It will be fun and I'm glad to see the in-laws again but I'm not looking forward to a 3.5 hour drive. Thankfully, I'm not one of those stuck in an airport right now!

I'm tired today. Yesterday was a good time hanging out with some of the college kids who are home. Last night hubby had guy time. They ended up at our house playing xbox in the basement and yelling their heads off. A few of the college girls also came over and I tried to stay awake while we watched a movie and they were there until after midnight. I was feeling crappy on the couch from not eating enough supper. No fun. It was good to visit with the girls although I didn't get my dishes finished, my laundry finished or any packing done. Oops :)

Wishing you a Merry Christmas as we celebrate the birth of our savior!

Never Boring at our House

The weekend started out okay. I had a good week at work and felt good most the week too. Friday night, I worked late until our work Christmas gathering. It was the first time we’d done so and it was good to get together. We all met for a meal and it was fun to talk to spouses, etc but I wish we’d had it at someone’s home so we could more comfortably sit around and chat. My fish was super salty and hubby’s steak was gross. That was the normal part of our weekend.

Saturday morning, I took small fry for a hair cut and then we rushed to get the kitchen clean after ignoring the dishes all week. K was coming over after lunch to bake with hubby. Shortly after noon, I called K to see what time she was coming. She wasn’t. Good reasoning though. K had a friend show up on her door step from many miles away and she was now busy. I was glad that K could see Danny but bummed because I knew that hubby was looking forward to the baking. That, and he doesn’t do well when plans change last minute. Of course, hubby was disappointed. He kinda moped around a little bit and I was irritated with him. I tried to be understanding and supportive. Then mom called and invited us to supper. Hubby didn’t want to go. Now, normally I would be okay with that and just stay home with him. This time, I wanted to go for supper and so I planned to do so. I called mom back and told papa that hubby was staying home but that small fry and I would be there. I failed to mention those details to hubby. Our trip to Walmart got set aside and he eventually went upstairs and napped and I kinda sat around in a daze – not wanting to put up with a prune for a hubby. Hubby awoke and after discussions of schedules and the need to go to wally world, he decided he wanted to go – at 330. By now, I really needed to tell hubby of MY dinner plans. I took a quick shower and by 4pm, we were on the road. A quick call to mom and I understood that she wouldn’t wait on me for supper. So, we did the run to Aldi’s and wallyworld. My scheming at this point was to have hubby drop me off at mom’s and she could later take me back home. He still didn’t want to eat supper there. When I asked about the situation, he was going to go home and bake. I asked him not to do so without me and he agreed to wait, which then led in agreement to go to mom’s with me. We got there at 7pm, chatted a while, ate wonderful chicken enchiladas and started to play cards. We hardly finished the first hand when hubby said “we need to go home now”. Not much down the road, I was pulled over on the side and he was puking.

That was the start of our fun. Shortly after midnight, hubby said he needed to go to the emergency room. I jumped up grabbed some stuff for the diaper bag, woke up the kiddo and we headed out the door. In a short period of time, things had gotten worse. I’ll spare the details – he was sick. And his blood pressure was something like 80 over 50. I think that was as he passed out! They of course admitted him some time later and I headed home with the kiddo. By 3am I was back in bed, after starting a load of puky laundry! Sunday was a hectic day. I was lacking sleep, small fry needed a nap, we had a meeting at church and hubby was lying in a crappy hospital bed! I made several trips to the hospital that day. I did go home for a break. The nap never happened but I did chat with Ben and Preston who were there playing xbox. And because I couldn’t get my headache to be any worse, I decided to go out and shoot clay pigeons. Yes, me. I had never even shot a shotgun before. I quickly learned how to load it, aim and shoot. I did good too! After that I sent the boys home, ate a quick bite, went to pick up the kiddo from his grammy’s and headed back to the hospital. It was a long day. The next morning my plans were to be at the hospital by 630. At 620, hubby called and woke me. I hit snooze on the alarm so many times that it quit going off! Later that morning hubby was released from the hospital. I picked him up, dropped him off at home and headed to work.

I was at my desk by 1045am – a wee bit late! Headed to a luncheon and was gone from that early not feeling well. Snuck over to the chiropractor for a quick adjustment and was home and asleep on the couch by 3pm! Yeah, long day at the office. All of this to say that I’m tired and in need of sleep yet I have so much to do. Add to all that that I’m 11 weeks pregnant and tired anyway and puky anyway and these past few days have been loads of fun! Yes, I said it. I’m pregnant. Baby #2 is due July 1st.

This was happy baby before he got within arms reach of Santa

Small fry was scared of Ben, I mean, Santa. Ben had just held and played with the kiddo during church nursery earlier that morning. He didn't care if the voice was familiar so Dad sat on Santa's knee and gave his own Christmas wish.

Myspace

Received an email today from a kinda-sorta co-worker out in DC. We work for the same agency which is all over the nation. His email said "do you have a myspace?" What? Why, does he want to know if I have a myspace? Weird.

Blaze Orange

It’s that time of year around here. Nope, I’m not talking about Christmas. It’s shotgun season for deer hunting around here. And because where I live is so rural, beautiful and full of wildlife, it also becomes hunter’s heaven this time of year. Deer hunting has been happening for quite some time with a bow and arrow but Saturday was the start of shotgun season. On the 6 mile drive from my house to town, there were vehicles parked in every farm-field driveway. Everywhere you looked there were groups of guys wearing their camoflauge with their blaze orange vests. It becomes slightly uncomfortable when everywhere you drive you seen guys carrying shotguns, walking through fields aiming guns or dressing deer. I was glad to be safe and WARM inside my car as we traveled down the roads this weekend.

Not everyone is so fortunate though. My coworker, Dwight, and his wife, Kristie, had a very close call. They live on a farm several miles out of town. Kristie was just about to the house when she saw a group “driving” the deer. She got in the house and debated on moving their horses to the barn when her phone rang. She stood in the door looking out for the hunters while talking to her sister. Just as she stepped away, a deer slug came flying into that exact door! It hit at the top where it protruded through ¾” of steel. Had the shot been 6 inches lower, it could have been deadly as that was exactly where Kristie was standing. It’s against the law to be shooting towards the highway, which the hunters did, and to be within 200 yards, which may have also happened. When the sheriff and DNR guys arrived to question the hunters, they denied everything. Of course, Dwight has a door with a massive dent and a deer slug to prove otherwise. Fortunately nobody was hurt.

Its interesting how some people, not everyone, can be so careless with a gun just for the sake of shooting a stupid deer. I’m debating on putting an orange vest on my goat for the next two weeks!

Already Done

I've been a bit of a slacker lately and haven't been online much to write. But today, today was the day. I finished up my Christmas letter and it's not even Thanksgiving yet. Whew, what a task!

I know its almost Thanksgiving but when its 54 degrees outside, it sure doesn't seem like we're about to eat turkey! I'm enjoying the warmth while it lasts. In the mean time, I did start parking in the garage again. There have been mornings of frost and I don't like to scrape my windshield. Fortunately my hubby is a stud and cleaned out the garage for my car even though its the vet truck that has to be kept warm all winter long. I love my hubby!

Small fry is unstoppable now. He's thinks walking is so fun that he's walking in circles and wouldn't even stop last night to have a full meal. What a cutie!

More from me another day. I'm tired of being at the computer and ready to play with my kiddo and visit my hubby.

Yes, I'm alive

Time flies when you’re swamped! I can’t believe it’s been a few weeks since I’ve written anything down. Honestly, life has been a whirlwind – no, more like a tornado for me. Here’s a quick recap:

- Annual girly exam was as good as can be expected. I chose a new person and she’s wonderful. I really liked her and won’t have any problems going back.

- Same day did the 2 year follow up eye exam. Haven’t worn my glasses for over a year so it was time to go back and get things straightened out. About $350 later and another trip to D town, I have cute new glasses that I hate! I despise having to look through them rather than peeking down underneath the lenses.

- A few minor health issues kept me at the doctor on a regular basis for a bit. Good thing for insurance!

- Kiddo is still getting his molars. I love Orajel!

- Swamped once again at work. Some people call it overwhelming, I’m trying to think of it as job security.

- Last week I was scheduled to be in DM for a day of meetings on Thursday. On Tuesday my grammy-daycare got a cold and small fry started with it too. I stayed home with small fry on Wednesday and Thursday and missed my civil rights meeting in the big city.

- Friday was a day to celebrate our Veteran’s. And thanks to their dedication, I enjoyed a day off – making it a 5 day weekend for me! A long break like that was great considering we started our swamped schedule on Monday! With that said, I have a better appreciation for Stay at home moms. Having my kid for 5 days straight was quite the experience.

- Sunday, one of my buddies gave birth to their first son. What an experience for her! Their little guy is so precious. I ran up to the hospital last night with one of the girls to check out the new baby. It was fun to hold him and watch him. My kid doesn’t let me do that anymore.

- Small fry decided to walk last week. The look of accomplishment on his face was priceless. He’s such a doll. He has reverted back to crawling the last two days so that’s okay with me.

- Small fry cried this morning when I left. Sunday night he was up every hour till 4am. Grr, no fun! So Monday morning, Grammy came out to the house to stay while he slept. When he woke, Grammy took him to her house for their usual day. Then last night I left him there while I visited the baby at the hospital. So this morning when I stopped in on my way to work, he played hard to get. The minute I walked out the door, he cried “mommy, mommy”. And 5 minutes down the road, mom called me so that I could hear him in the background still whining for his mommy. Too cute! My mom has also taught him to say “don’t work”. It’s fun at this point and I don’t feel bad leaving him at his Grammy & papa’s everyday.

- My in-laws own a home in the town to the North. I’m excited to have them closer. They’re not moving back to the Midwest as of right now. In the mean time, this will provide them with a place of their own. I hope this will allow them to come for a month or so at a time. I love having them but having guests in your home for long periods can get tiring. I’m sure they’ll like me better too when I’m not a grumpy, whiny daughter-in-law that I quickly become after a week of company. Hubby thinks that for now we also have a summer home or something like that. Only its not very far from our home and is a place in the country similar to ours so who knows what he’s thinking.

- Speaking of a stellar hubby. He’s lost over 40 pounds in the last few months. What a stud!!!

- I don't think I'll make the June wedding in CA for my buddy, Cori. However, I hope to be out to CA this spring to meet my new nephew who's do on St. Pats Day.

Halloween

Hubby sent a few great pictures of small fry in his MOO-COW outfit. Unfortunately, the size is to big too load. Here are a few others from my folks:


Here's a few of my thoughts about Halloween:
I don't like Beggars Night. I try not to support Beggars Night. Forget Halloween, I like to think we should be celebrating Harvest Time instead. But, being the good mom that I am, I found a costume for the kiddo. Only, I tweaked the idea a bit to fit my preferences. Kiddo dressed up as a cow, a very cute one I might add. Of course, we snapped some cute pictures before leaving. We purchased candy and walked around town with him stopping only at certain houses, most of which had no outside light on. Instead of asking for candy, we handed out candy. It was fun. We stopped at several of the old folks in our church, some of the younger folks (our friends) and the mom&pops grocery store where small fry shared candy with the ladies working. We handed out candy to the adults and coloring books to a few kiddos. It was fun. So, in a way, I got my way: I got pictures of my cute kid and showed him off to people as well as visited a few of the older folks. And at the same time, we weren't out begging for candy that my 15 month old child will never eat!!!

That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

my scatter brained thoughts of the day

What in the world have I been up to lately? Well, it would be easy to say that baseball has consumed our life. Honestly though, hubby has been great at making sure that there’s more to his life than baseball – even if his favorite team, the Cardinals, are in the World Series right now. It’s been a quick week although not dramatic, which is good. Here’s the details:
For all of you women considering children, here’s a bit of birth control for you. Small fry is getting his molars. He’s been awake and fussing 5 of 6 nights. Needless to say I’m tired and grumpy which also means my house is a mess and I’m not motivated to work. It’s been a good week though. For a few days now, I’ve tried to remember what I did Monday night. Still can’t recall. Tuesday morning I couldn’t force myself to work and stayed home only to realize mid morning that I had a few afternoon appointments. I went to a new girly doctor. She was fantastic and I loved her – as much as you can love a gyno. I also had my check up at the eye doctor. Yup, I’ll be putting the glasses back on – yes, the ones that sat on my office desk, under a pile of papers, with a broken hinge, the last 18 months! The news ones will be cute I think but they surely came with a price. Darn insurance. I had my typical Wednesday and Thursday schedule. Was super tempted to not go to small group last night but as usual, I was glad to be there and I didn’t even need tooth picks to hold my eyes open. Today the best man in our wedding comes to town. He’s been serving in Iraq for the last year and we’re glad to have him home before he heads back to his duty station in Germany. The only bad part about him coming is that my house is not ready for company.
I know, you guys all think that it’s no big deal and he’s coming to see us not a scrubbed toilet. Honestly though, I really wish I had the house clean. Remember, I’m a neat freak. And the house needs more than “picked up”. Like the kitchen floors that have been swept but not mopped in a few weeks really need some attention. I think they’re choking from the layer of filth on them. The cow hide, even though I vacuumed it on Monday, now needs vacuumed again thanks to small fry and his love for finding dried leaves and crumbling them. And the spare bedroom. We’ve had 3 different sets of visitors in there in 3 weeks, tonight will make four sets. Since the first set, I haven’t swept or swiffered the wood floors. And more recently, there’s a pile of clothes on the floor that our company didn’t take with them AND the sheets need washed. Yeah, I have other clean and awesome sheets but the ones that are on the bed match the best so I wanted to use those. The recycles really need taken out from the back porch and in the mean time there’s a pile of recycle stuff by the back door which looks SUPER tacky. I have scrapbooking stuff on the dining table too. I could survive if those things were done. And I’d be most happy with myself if I had meals planned, snacks put together and other fun stuff like that. But no, I went to work today like a good girl.
Ah yes, work. I felt like crap today, just the achy tired feeling. I have problems with my legs and feet bothering me. So what did I do today at work? I headed to the field to lay out conservation practices. Yup, you know it, this prissy girl can stunt double as a farm girl. Four hours of walking in a rough, cornstalk infested field before I gave my little legs a rest.
Oh, and speaking of farm girl… we stopped on our way home last night at the local college dairy where my buddy L was working. It was super special and she greatly appreciated seeing the 6 of us standing in the window when she looked up after prepping a cow. It was well worth the time! Oh and another random thought to share is about my friend N. She’s one of my closest buds from my CA days. She currently works at the famous coffee shop that is way too expensive. Anyway, I call up the expensive shop yesterday (after a little investigating to get the phone #) and she answers the phone. It was perfect! I asked if I could order a coffee to go. She said yes. I proceeded to ask if she could send it to Iowa. And then it clicked with her, it was me. Her response was worth recording. I quickly told her I missed her and loved her before I once again requested the coffee. She warned me that it would no longer be fresh, we said good bye and I went on with my day. I love little surprises like that.

And one more thought. I'm so sick of people who make committments and don't follow through with them. I've been mean lately and have emailed those folks and basically told them what I think and what I expect. No more Mrs. Nice Gal for me this week. Jerks. Okay, that’s it from me. I so need to get to my small fry and then on home to my company.

Neat freak?

Have I ever mentioned before that I’m a neat freak? Okay, well I am but lately I’ve learned that I can’t be. Marriage has taught me that I can’t be the neat freak that I’d like to be. Now, I’m not blaming hubby 100% because he lets me do what I want for the most part. I just don’t have the time or energy or help to keep the house in perfect order, I’d also like to do more around the house – cooking fun meals, sewing more, keep up with my scrap booking, etc. Yesterday, M was busy trying to get a few things done and asked me how I’m able to get everything done while maintaining a career and having a child. Easy answer: I DON’T! I’m not able to get everything done. No doubt, my house is in some sort of order when I have guests but on a daily basis, NO WAY. Like right now, I have these little dead asian beetles and dead leaves that are scattered in a corner in the room. Ryan brought my plants in last week and I have yet to clean up around them.

I do, however, make an honest effort to keep things done around my house. I try to do the dishes at least daily which is sometimes difficult when I’m gone 3-4 nights a week. I try to vacuum at least once a week, do laundry throughout the week, etc. But lately, I’ve really wanted to stay home and “play”. And by that I mean that I’d like to work on my quilt I started a LONG time ago with my MIL. I like to work on the new wall hanging I got, scrapbook, cook fun foods and lounge around the house. I’d love to be able to spend a few hours each week stopping by to visit folks. For instance, B had a baby a few months ago and I still haven’t stopped there. Dr. H’s wife had a baby 2 weeks ago and I haven’t stopped there or sent a card. I so don’t have it all planned out, seriously, why do people think I do?

UPDATE
Fantastagirl mentioned me have a calming sense around me. Calming sense... what is that? I so don't have anything calming about me except for the few minutes I spend in the shower. Okay, wait, calming the other day when Ryan twirled my hair in the car for one minute before arriving at our destination. I'm swamped, honestly. But, I enjoy life that way, I don't want to be a couch potato.
Last night for example, I got home in time to feed SCott a quick meal while doing dishes. We then ran downstairs for youth group. That was over and we headed back upstairs. I pawned the kid off on Ryan and made this quick shrimp dip for supper. Sat down for umm, about 2 minutes, didn't like the dip so I crawled down in the floor and played with the kiddo for a few minutes. From there, we headed upstairs, gave the kiddo a bath, put him in bed. Cut my nails quick, washed up the dishes from the dip stuff and headed upstairs to bed. It was 10pm. Yeah, did you read about anything calming??? Maybe while the kiddo was playing in the bath but it didn't take him long to start putting his face in the water and sucking it up his mouth and nose. Next he wanted to stand in the bath and play along the edge. So my "sit back and relax while Scott plays" attitude was quickly changed by "policing" hiim instead.

Weekend in the Twin Cities

Dare2Share
Okay, I’m awake this morning. After a long weekend in the twin cities, we’re home and tired. I wish I could say that I was there for some fun – a little shopping, walking in the city, hanging out with friends, maybe even hanging out with the H’s. But, that wasn’t the case this weekend. Friday we took 20 people to the Dare 2 Share conference. As the junior high youth group leader, hubby spear-headed the trip. After lots of planning, D-day (aka drive day) arrived. We met at the church, made a few quick pit stops on the way and finally arrived at the convention center for the conference. I spent Friday evening volunteering for the D2S staff. They needed help and I filled in, which was a blessing for both of us I’m sure – they got their help and I learned some more about the D2S organization. Towards the end of the night, I slipped into the conference to hang out with our group.

Lauren
As I sat in with my group, I heard a bit of the speaker and then caught the drama. It was an amazing presentation of the judgement seat of Christ. It was a great way to let people know that being a part of God’s family is much more than saying “I’m a Christian” or that you’ve done good things. It hit home with Lauren, I suppose. At the end of the night, she gave her life over to Christ. I was so excited – I still am so excited! Giving your life to Christ doesn’t mean that life will be easy or super fun. It is an acknowledgement of the TRUTH that we all so desperately need. Way to go Lauren!

Hotel
We arrived at our hotel right around midnight. Okay, I was beat tired but was still excited and emotional for my little sister. Finally around 1230pm, I hit the sack. I was so tired that I didn’t even brush my teeth or take a potty break or wash my face. After watching the clock throughout the night and not getting much sleep, I got up at 545 to start the day.

Volunteer
Three of us from our group headed back the convention center for the 7am-noon volunteer shift. It was a great time hanging out and doing odd jobs. I made myself available for whatever needed to be done and so I got pulled in multiple directions throughout the morning. Fortunately I was helping out in the leaders meeting – which was where I needed to be as a youth leader. Things rolled pretty smoothly throughout the morning. I was asked to hand out glow sticks right before the lunch break. It was amazing how the JHi kids RAN to the table for something “FREE”.

Post Lunch
We had another session and some more music before heading out. Several hours in the afternoon were spent collecting can foods for the mission which was a great way to also give the kids an opportunity to put into practice what they’d been learning. I had 3 students join me – 2 were in Jhi, one of which had never really heard “BIBLE” stuff before. The other was Lauren. They were scared and nervous to share the GOSPEL with folks. It an interesting experience. Of the many doors we knocked on, they were lots of people gone and/or not answering. Most of those who answered would give a few cans but weren’t willing to let the kids PRACTICE sharing. The final house was perfect. One of my Jhi kids walked her through the GOSPEL acronym and she was good to encourage him afterwards. It was a huge step.

Superchic[k]
Eventually we made it back to the convention center for one more session and the Superchic[k] concert. This was a “different” band than my style but many people like them. I did recognize two of their songs. But, by this point, I was pooping out. I was lacking sleep, tired of sitting and not enjoying the music. After the concert, autographs and planning our drive home, we jumped back in our vehicles. This was not fun – people were not doing things the way I THOUGHT they should be done. None-the-less, we headed home. We got home around 230am on Sunday and headed to bed for a few hours before I got up for church.

Pastor's Business Card

A new pastor was visiting in the homes of his parishioners. At one house it seemed obvious that someone was at home, but no answer came to his repeated knocks at the door. Therefore, he took out a business card and wrote "Revelation 3:20" on the back of it and stuck it in the door.
When the offering was processed the following Sunday, he found that his card had been returned. Added to it was this cryptic message, "Genesis 3:10" Reaching for his Bible to check out the citation, he broke up in gales of laughter.
Revelation 3:20 begins "Behold, I stand at the door and knock."
Genesis 3:10 reads, "I heard your voice in the garden and I was afraid for I was naked"

More from me later. I do plan to post today. lots going on!

ho hum

Okay, so the sunshine is gone today and it's supposed to get back to our "real" weather around here. I must say that 80+ weather was nice for a few days. I think I even got a little color on my arms yesterday. I went to the field yesterday [gasp] during the morning and "played" in the "dirt". Best thing about it was that I got paid. Yup, it's my job. Tomorrow the HS kids will come out for a soil judging contest. Sounds like fun doesn't it? It is actually very neat to see how the soil is really a community of bugs, etc. Yes, I can be a science nerd sometimes.

Peach cobbler update: sounded good. easy recipe. no cobbler though. yeah, we didn't have enough milk and I really wanted hubby to stay home and hang out instead of going back to town. mom made peach cobbler and I ate some at her house.

Fall leaves are here and it's quite the sight. I love the changing leaves, cool crisp air and hot chocolate. I hope our nearby family and friends can make a trip up here to check things out. We spent a few hours on Saturday up near Decorah. Scott played in the leaves while I searched for acorns and Ryan piddled around in the trees. It was really a good time of fun and relaxing. Of course, Small fry had his first "owie". He did a face plant on the cement from his little rider-thingy and scraped around his eye and on his forehead. Poor guy scared himself so bad and just screamed for a bit. Fortunately the screaming lasted VERY briefly and I held him close for a while and put him back on his rider-thingy for some more fun.

I am not pregnant, however, lots of my friends just had or will be having a baby soon. I guess I'm of that age now. It's really neat to hear about although I'm horrible at remembering who's pregnant and when they're due.

Small group has been good lately. I'm glad to see it more organized. N&R have been great so far at providing something good to start our evenings. Our group has expanded and that's been fun too. Lately we've been sending out prayer requests and I've made cards out of them. It's a great way for me, a visual person, to remember to pray for those in the group. I've had a blast designing cards, finding good picstures and info to go with the actual prayer requests. I know that I'm by no means a graphic designer but they've been a fun task for me.

Unfortunately I don't have enough time in my day to get everything done that I'd like to do. I'm working out again but missed Tuesday - oops. Last night I took small fry to the doc then a quick trip to walmart before heading to K's house. I watched Gilmore Girls for the first time ever. Talked the whole way home to my SIL which was a blessing. Got home, put the kiddo in bed and made wild rice soup for tonights supper. Of course, I had to sample it before I went to bed at 1045 last night. Umm, makes me hungry!!!

Quick update

- shopped last weekend. bought scrap book and quilting supplies.
- Need to stop at grocery store
- Worked out for the 1st time in 5 weeks
- Went for a walk last night
- Talked to Tebbe - yay!
- Miss Lauren
- Wanna hang out w/ CA friends
- Need to see the optometrist
- Made appt for oil change
- Need to order pictures... right now
- Fresh peaches = peach cobbler... think I can do it???
- Love, love, love my kiddo
- Hubby is great too
- Got an email from Toby, in Germany
- Need to go home to see family.
Ciao

Scott's first haircut

| View | Add Favorite

Small fry likes to play with the chickens at Grammy's house. He loved it when she sat him on the stool to play.

Finally got a chance to load some pictures of small fry's first haircut. He is so cute!

I'm good

I had a great weekend. Friday night, hubby and I headed to the local football game where we joined the regulars. Only, not all the regulars were there but that was okay. We watched a little football while our kiddo entertained everyone around us. We usually sit in front on Lon and he plays with small fry from a distance. When Lon has snacks, small fry goes right to him. I think Lon will be his buddy by time the season is over. K met us there and then hung out at our house after the game. It was good to chat but I was so tired!

The next morning hubby ran out to get some awesome pecan rolls from the Mennonite bakery. Eventually we ended up at a friends house to cheer on the Cyclones even though the majority of people are Hawkeye fans. It was good to lounge around, eat some good food and watch football. We went home and I took a 2 hour nap – it was amazing! That evening, hubby and I headed to town for supper with the kiddo followed by a visit to Grammy’s house.

Sunday was another sleep in morning. I woke early but kept falling back asleep knowing that I didn’t NEED to be up so early. We skipped church and headed to hubby’s cousin’s house for the day. We celebrated 3 birthdays in one meal which works out well. Cousin T, has a baby (see picture in previous post) that is 8 weeks old. It was fun to see the great grandparents holding the kiddos. Best of all was watching small fry kiss his cousin over and over on the forehead.

It wasn’t a busy weekend at all which was just what I needed. I did very little laundry, dishes once and watered my plants. The rest of the time I spent hanging out with friends, pushing my kiddo in the swing and napping. It was very restful. Of course, I hear today that even though Jake was pulled out of the rotation, he unexpectedly pitched 6 innings on Friday night. Go figure!

I stepped on the scale the other day and had apparently lost 1.5 pounds. I better not get back on the scale or it will tell me that it was wrong before! I just want to fit in my old clothes and get rid of my gut. I so need to be out running but alas, I’m lazy and prioritize everything else.

Still no pictures of the haircut – mine or small fry’s. Maybe tomorrow.

Blah Day

Things are finally slowing down at the office. I'm thankful for that but then it's hard to be motivated to be here when I'm tired or have a head ache or I'm having a blah day. Today is one of those days where I just feel blah!

Small fry got his first hair cut today. It's cute but nothing fantastic. I'm not sure if we'll go back to that lady or not. If we do, I will definitely inform her that his hairline is farther down the back of his head!

Off to a work meeting tonight. I so don't want to go. I'd much rather go to my small group but I've kinda been running the show for this program so I should probably be there.

No baseball this weekend. Jake got pulled from the starting rotation. I'm ticked that we can't get a full refund on our room reservations either! Grr!!!!

signing off-
GRUMPY

Okay, this is a nasty picture of me but my mom thought it was cute. Small fry and I were napping together on the way home from breakfast.

This is Scott's only cousin on hubby's side. He's two months old now. We love him - even if he is an iowa fan!

Thoughts vs. Actions

I’ve thought about posting now for several days. In fact, I’ve thought about it so much that I was surprised to see that I hadn’t really posted. Yes, my mind has been busy with other thoughts lately…
It was a good and quiet weekend. My hubby headed on a road trip to see his Uncle in Ames and then went from there to Promise Keepers in WI for the weekend. So, it was quiet at home. Mom kept the kiddo on Thursday so I spent the evening helping a friend clean her house. There was a few of us girls and although we were cleaning, I had a great time chatting and the time passed quickly. Before I knew it, it was nearing 11pm and I had a 20 minute drive home, a house to clean and a shower to remove the manure from my hair from chores. Friday morning came way to early but I was satisfied with my accomplishments at home even though I didn’t get the kitchen mopped and the dishes put away. I figured my guest, Uncle Paul, would survive the messy kitchen. Uncle Paul was in Ames speaking at a conference (where hubby went on Thurs) so he drove up Friday afternoon to spend the night with us. I was prepared to cook a meal for him knowing that I like a home cooked meal after being on travel. Fortunately, he understood of my crazy life and we headed out for a Gunder Burger. It was a nice quiet evening at home watching my precious son play on the floor with his great uncle. I rose early Saturday morning when I heard my guest stirring even though my tired body longed to lay in bed. I spent a short time on the couch reading Blue Like Jazz before UP came downstairs. He stayed briefly in the morning before he had to hit the road to catch his flight. I was previously unsure of what my weekend had in store and had several things tentatively planned. That all went out the window though with the weather which was gloomy, wet and sprinkling out. I had a nice morning with my folks on a quick trip to the North for breakfast and a bit of shopping. That afternoon, Scott and I napped together. Only he didn’t nap and neither did I, instead we played on the bed. He has become so interactive lately and is so much fun! He was constantly climbing all over me, calling the dog and playing “boo”. That evening Lauren came over so we could head to the football game. Except, I was enjoying having nothing to do so she agreed to lounge around the house with me which sure beats the cold windy and rainy weather with a kid who hadn’t napped! I fixed a quick supper and we sat down to watch Robots together. It was good to be a home-body. Ryan came home early that night – about 5 hours earlier than I thought so I was glad that I stayed home. Sunday was a bit more running around. I stayed after church for the potluck before heading to Ray and Donna’s to help clean their house. R&D are an older couple in the church with a list of things that prevents them from daily chores. It was fun to do for them and thankfully Beth joined me to lighten the load. Afterwards I jogged back to my mom’s to get my car before heading home. [Now let me just assure you that my “jogging” was no real exercise. They live a block and a half from my folks. And this is the rural Midwest so a block is about 5 houses or so and I was able to cut through a neighbor ladies yard along her sidewalk to R&D’s. In all, I jogged maybe 100 yards!] Anyway, that evening I hung out with the family which was nice. I so haven’t been motivated to work. Last night however, I did the dishes, a bit of laundry, bathed and fed the kiddo, moved the goat and played with the dog all before I sat down. [Now that’s something for this lazy bum to brag about!]

So, that’s my mundane recap of the weekend. I struggle to write recap’s now that I know Cori thinks they’re horrible and boring. But, it’s all I have I guess. Other thoughts…
- I’m on page 60ish of Blue Like Jazz – Non Religious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality and I’m not sure if I like it yet. I love to write and read (although I don’t do much of either these days) and his style is a bit different than I’m used. I’m also not sure that I appreciate how he approaches some of his stuff. It’s become a popular book and I’m reading so that I converse with people when they bring it up. We’ll see if reading it helps
- I like being a farm girl. Chores are fun when you don’t have to do them lately. I didn’t grow up on a farm but I’ve been involved somewhat since high school. Whether it be showing livestock, riding horses, living on a acreage, etc. But I love feeding the beef cows out in the pasture. And, even though I get the “crappy” 4-wheeler, I love riding the 4W around from farm to farm!
- I appreciate “earning” a living but some days I wish I could continue to get paid my salary to stay home and hang out with others.
- I miss my friends. I told hubby this morning that I was going home to CA when his buddy comes out in October. Now, that really won’t happen but I do miss my friends. I do plan to see one of them this weekend – Go Mariners!!!
- Do you complain about your job? I’m sure I do. Imagine if your income was based solely on your performance. It’s interesting to look at pro sports a little differently when you know someone. Jake is pitching in the starting rotation but in a sense, he’s “trying out” for a starting spot for the 2007 season. How stressful! Not all pro athletes are the stereotypical jocks who make too much money. They have to “earn” their living by performing in front of big crowds in stressful situations.

Life at a Glance

Notice my lack of writing? My time has definitely been used up lately. Some time ago I heard a message about serving others even when you don’t have the time. That really hit home with me because I do feel like I don’t have the time to do the things that I’d like to do for others. In the last several weeks I’ve been trying hard to appropriately juggle my time at work, home and else where. Here’s what’s been going on lately:
- skipping work outs in the morning so my son can get some much needed rest (and me too)
- Stir crazy at work with 2 huge programs. One is overly detailed and can require lots of time for each contract holder. I’ve been averaging 3.5 to 4 hours each week in over time.
- Head to a friends house to help with chores a couple days each week. Now, this is not hard work, it’s actually fun and gives me some time alone and outside on our gorgeous landscape. My buddy’s mom is sick and in the hospital so I’m trying to help pick up some of the kids’ burden. I don’t know if I’m much help but I enjoy shoveling ear corn and riding the 4-wheeler to feed cows. Visiting with my pal is definitely an added bonus, she’s such a sweetie.
- rush home to do the family thing. Now this is definitely one of my favorite parts of the day but it’s also when I’m the most tired. My kiddo loves his swing in the tree so we spend a while outside most nights. Supper is served – thanks to my wonderful hubby and the evening is spent folding laundry, dishes, playing with the kiddo or sewing on a cute little thing that I’m making for baby Elizabeth.

Monday was Labor Day which also means it was a free vacation day for me. That was much needed and greatly appreciated. I had spent Sunday in the metropolis TRYING not to spend any money and visiting a friend.

[Let’s not forget the kiddo]

Small fry is growing rapidly and he’s doing so much more as a big boy. He’s quite the mocking bird and I’m waiting for the first cuss word. Now, we don’t cuss in our house but others do and I’m sure it’s bound to be said since he’s repeating everything right now. He also sat in a big boy booster seat last weekend at Taco Bell. That was cool to see him sit so nicely and shovel food into his mouth. Poor thing is teething right now. He’s getting 4 teeth at once. It’s nice to get that over with but it’s been a rough time for him. He also had this mystery spot on his leg. I thought it was just diaper rash that was irritated by the edge of his diaper in the crease of his leg. It didn’t go away though and so grammy & papa took him to the doctor for me. It was infected and he started antibiotic. That night, after a warm compress, we got the area to drain quite a bit. We still don’t know what caused it for sure. The next day the kid still has a fever but now he’s really warm. Because he was teething, I knew a little temperature was okay. But now, I had to check it, he was so warm. His temp was 101.2. I called the doc and quickly put a cool wash cloth on the back of his neck. It dropped some and the doc said to watch him. If the temp spiked, I would need to take him in. That was Saturday. Sunday morning he stayed with g&p during church. That noon he was fine but didn’t eat much. Things have been progressively worse. Not horrible at all, but not normal. He’s still happy but isn’t eating really. Last night he had a bit of a rash that I thought it was just his shirt. It’s worse today and has spread. Grr. I called the doc and we’ll see what he says. Hubby thought that if it was the antibiotic causing a reaction that he would have been much worse and it would’ve been earlier on. He’s been clingy and crying. Last night he was up for over an hour during the night crying. I tried everything – Tylenol, gas drops, clean diaper, bottle – and nothing worked. Finally I put him in bed with me and he held tight to my shirt as he tossed and turned until I finally put him back in his own bed. All that to say that I’m eager for the teeth to come through and things to be “normal” again.

Picture Update

Congrats to my buddy Becky and her new husband Greg. I wish I could have been there to celebrate with them!

I miss my friends. Attending the training conference in Orlando was also a great time to socialize with my pals. I'm already looking forward to next year.

"Funny Face". Scott is such a ham. If you say "funny face" he makes this same face every time. He makes a long face and sucks his lips in. It looks like the mask from Scream without dentures.

This is totally my kid - cheesy grin, hard hat, tonka truck and an ISU outfit. He is such a doll. In the last few days, his eye teeth have poked through on the right side and are about to poke through on the left side. Once again, in a short period of time, he'll have 4 new teeth. He did the same thing with his 4 front teeth.

Where Am I?

Things are definitely wild around here. Honestly, I feel like I say that a lot but sometimes it just seems to be worse. Work is BUSY, BUSY, BUSY. We're swamped. They've even called in help. I like it though, it keeps me on my toes. Most days fly by with a quick 5 minute pause to stuff some food in my face. It's been great working with the landowners and seeing their hard work pay off. I wish I was farming so I could add the big bucks to my bank account :) Things are really hopping around here and I'm enjoying the work load although I'm trying really hard to find a balance with work and home lately. Last week was the girls night out. This week I've spent a fair amount of time with my two aunts who are in town for a week. I even took Wednesday off to "play". I worked on this cute little wall hanging for baby Elizabeth who was born on Monday. I still have to finish that but I must say that it is absolutely adorable!!!

Tonight is the first football game. It's a scrimmage actually. I wasn't planning on going but I think I wanna go to support a few of the kids. After that, we're headed to a friends for the 9pm Mariners v. Red Sox game. Jake is pitching again tonight so I'm excited to see that.

I was totally blessed the other night when I talked to one of my child hood pals. I miss being able to run home and see those people. I almost wish that I lived within a few hours driving distance so I could connect with some friends and family back home. It totally made me want to go home. Home is another issue too. I was hoping to get back to CA to surprise my dad for his 50th bday but that's not happening. Funds are tight right now and work is crazy so I'm here in Iowa for my dad's bday. Hopefully though, I'll be able to head home next spring to meet my new neice/nephew. My sister-in-law is pregnant and I'm super excited for them.

Blah, blah, blah. Busy week ahead. I better enjoy my weekend before it is over!

Atta Boy

As mentioned before, one of my child hood buddies, Jake, is playing major league baseball. His first year was wearing an Angels uniform. This year he went to the Mariners as a relief pitcher. And last week, the Mariners moved him into the starting rotation. I'm not sure who was the most excited about it. When we visited with Jake over the Memorial Day holiday, he said that his goal was to be in the starting rotation. Woo hoo buddy, you made it! Below is a clip from an aritcle that I found on the Mariners website today about his first outing as a starting pitcher in the big league:

Actually, it looked like it had, thanks in large part to a guy making his first Major League start, left-hander Jake Woods, and a two-run home run off the bat of Richie Sexson in the fourth inning.
Woods, the chosen one to replace a struggling Joel Pineiro in the rotation, guaranteed that he will have a second Major League start based on a performance that saw him tie his old team in knots with a dizzying arsenal of curveballs, changeups and well-placed fastballs.
"He's been here, but we have never actually seen him as a starter and that's tough to do when you haven't seen him as a starter," Figgins said of Woods, who made the Angels Opening Day roster in 2005. "Sometimes you pitch different. It's tough when you face somebody for the first time like that."
With Seattle's bullpen thin after rookie Mark Lowe went on the 15-day disabled list with right elbow tendinitis, the one thing the Mariners needed from Woods happened to be the one thing they weren't sure they could get.
Innings.
Woods, a long reliever who has worked three innings or more in 10 different games this season, worked ahead of hitters and worked fast. He threw his curveball for strikes early in the count and let his defense -- six groundouts, nine flyouts -- do the rest.
"I threw [all pitches] for strikes, and when you do that right out of the gate, they know you can throw that pitch for strikes at any time," said Woods, who pitched in front of about 45-50 friends and family who made the drive from his hometown of Fresno.
Woods carried a three-hit shutout into the sixth inning when Orlando Cabrera started the inning with a double down the left-field line. Vladimir Guerrero then lofted an opposite-field double down the right-field line to score Cabrera.
Woods then got Juan Rivera on a comebacker to the mound and Garret Anderson on a routine ground ball to Jose Lopez at second base for the second out. But with a right-hander in Robb Quinlan at the plate, Hargrove went to his bullpen for Julio Mateo.

ABC's

According to Cori, I need to fill this out so here’s the quick and dirty version:

A is for age: 26
B is for booze of choice: Booze, what’s that? I don’t drink alcohol.
C is for career: Currently, working for the USDA and enjoying it. Who knows where I’ll be in 5 years.
D is for your dog's name: MY dog is Keller. He’s a mini australian shepherd. He’s gorgeous!
E is for essential items you use/love everyday: I wish I could say my bible. Bad me. Everyday… allergy pill, water bottle.
F is for favorite song(s) at the moment: I don’t think I have one
G is for favorite games: Battle of the sexes – because I rock at this game!
H is for hometown: A cute little town in Northern Maine. Just kidding, I live outside a tiny town in the NE corner of this corn growing state.
I is for instruments you play: I’ve got a cool lap harp that I mess with when the girls are over.
J is for jam or jelly you like: I love Gma B’s strawberry jam but don’t eat it much.
K is for kids: Yes, mine is the cutest little guy ever!!!!!!!!!
L is for last kiss: Cori’s is such a cute story. Mine, not so much. I kissed my hubby on the way out the door this morning when he was all sweaty after working out. Ick, I don’t like kissing a sweaty face but I love my hubby!
M is for most admired trait: about myself??? I admire that I care about other people and like to help them.
N is for name of your crush: Duh, of course it’s my hubby. But my eye-candy is Gary Allen.
O is for overnight hospital stays: 2nd grade: kroup, last summer: childbirth.
P is for phobias: hmm, not sure of that one.
Q is for quotes you like: I like the one that Cori saw on the side of a Nike shoebox: "You run like a girl. Good for you"
R is for biggest regret: Maybe not appreciating the lessons in life. Honestly, I don’t sit around and think of regrets. I suppose one would be not honoring others.
S is for sweets of your choice: Grasshopper cookies (aka Girls Scouts mint cookies)
T is for time you wake up: I wake up 5 million times during the night. And last night I had a YUCKY dream about someone killing me and my family. So, I watched the clock until I fell asleep. Then woke with Scott before the alarm went off. Finally at 515, I got up with the alarm and went to work out.
U is for underwear: I just bought new ones at VS. Just cute cotton ones.
V is for vegetables you love: I love veggies!
W is for worst habit: Lately… not cleaning my house
X is for x-rays you've had: Who cares? Broken thumb in HS, jacked up thumb after getting married. That’s all I remember.
Y is for yummy food you make: Cooking, what’s that? I like my enchiladas, wild rice soup… don’t get me thinking about food, I’m stuffed!
Z is for zodiac sign: who knows. I don’t pay attention to that stuff.

Fun moment

Okay, so the other day was L's birthday and I was making her a card in publisher. And I was making it as a card from all of us girls. Meg sent me a few pictures from the fair and there was one of several girls that would be perfect to use. Except, L was in the picture and so was Trevin and M and I were missing. So, I took several other pictures and inserted them. The end result was not that great. This picture was one I made to put myself in the picture. I opted to use something else but this picture still makes me laugh when I see it!

Theactual picture that I used - it's horrible. And I must say that I'm no artsy-fartsy person. I don't have photoshop or anything fancy, I just use what I can to make things work.

Have a good day everyone and enjoy the little kid inside of you!

Girls Night Out

I'm so thankful that my hubby supports me in wanting some girl time. There were apparently a few husbands who weren't so supportive about the idea. Half of these girls also come to our Thursday night small group so the guys were wondering why we also had to have a girls night out by ourselves. My answer to that: we're girls and have to use up a lot more words each day!

It was a fun night. Several of the girls I'd never met. Not everyone knew each other and there were 12 of us which made it a bit more difficult to talk to everyone. L has been part of our small group for a while, we've adopted her into our family and now she works out with us too. It was her 18th birthday and we celebrated with her and Miss Voice who turns 18 on Saturday. First stop was chinese buffet [so didn't help me eat healthy]. Second we headed to K's apartment which is located above a store front on Main Street. Very fun place. Thanks to MB for bringing Shirley Temple stuff and making us fun drinks. Thanks to Miss Voice for singing to us and entertaining us with your beautiful voice. We sat out on the balcony thing for a quite a while and chatted before we had cake and ice cream and gave the girls gifts.

Profile

Yay!!!!! I finally changed the picture on my profile. The last one was taken when small fry was 6 months old so it had been 7 months since I updated the picture. Yippee

Rural America

You know you live in rural america when you stop several times for animals in the road and have to dodge the dead ones that haven't been scooped up or carried off by other critters. This morning's adventure to work included about 4 dead animals in the road. I also had to slow and get in the opposite lane for 5 geese that were out and about. Just a few miles later, there was a young deer crossing the road too. I love the scenery here. It's gorgeous. And lately the weather has been great too. Low 80's for a high and the humidity isn't too bad either.

Last night we joined Ms. Maxine for supper. She's an elder lady in our church and adores children. My folks and grandma went too. Hubby and I met at my folks house after work, put small fry in the stroller and walked to Ms. Maxine's. She's such a sweet lady. We had a great meal and then played in the floor. Small fry didn't have his afternoon nap and was quite the cry baby if he wasn't being entertained. He also threw a fit at the table. He wanted bread and I wanted him to eat his vegies first. It was tempting to give him bread to keep him quiet but I didn't want him to win. So, we dealt with the fit until eventually Ms. M went and picked him up and innocently made things better by feeding him the crescent roll he wanted. SHe was so cute that I couldn't tell her no.

Tonight we have no plans. Well kinda. I'm headed into town after work for the city wide garage sale and hope to pick up some things for the kiddo. But other than that, we're home tonight. It will be the first night all week. I think we ate supper on Monday night at home but I was feeling like crap and had gotten home late. So, tonight I'm hoping to get the kitchen clean, laundry started and the folded stuff put away. I have lots to do around the house. TGIF!!!!

Am I old?

Thanks to Ashley for reminding me about being so young yet being considered "old". I think of that occasionally now that I'm doing grown up things - a career, married, mother. We often spend time with the high school and college age kids associated with the contemporary service at our church. And multiple times, we've been asked to be the adult chaperones for hanging out afterwards. More recently, this past school year, we've hung out with Lil-R at our house, invited her to our small group, etc. She' s been a great addition to our family life. One particular small group night, she brought her "boy" with her. Now let me just say that our small group is young adults, all done with the college age scene. So, here's L and her boy who's still in high school. I'm sure he left there thinking that we were a bunch of old farts. Seriously, do you remember when you were 18 and around people who were in their mid 20's to 30ish? Did you think they were old? Friends, if you're feeling old, just think of your grandma and that should help you feel young again (but to be honest, I think we're getting "old")

Family Pictures

One Year Pictures

I am alive and updating today...

[Orlando, Florida]
I just spent 4 days at a training conference in beautiful Orlando. Only I didn’t see much of the beauty. I arrived on Sunday night at midnight but saw awesome landscapes on a few of the hotel properties while heading to the hotel. During the 4 days of training I went outside twice. Once was for a tour of a beef cattle farm. I was surprised to know that there are cattleman in Florida. The second time I went outside was a brief but good visit with Cori.

[Hanging out with Cori]
Spending time with Cori is always a blessing because she’s a good friend, makes me laugh, she knows me, she accepts me and because I don’t get to see her very often. We both work for the same government agency and she was at the same training conference. We were actually in different training sessions but had the same breaks, lunches, etc. On Thursday afternoon we were both done a little early and met downstairs to go lay by the pool. Our plans were thwarted when the pool area was closed because of lightning and T-storm warnings. So, we sat outside and chatted until it was time to get ready for the banquet. We hung out at other times too – some of those times requiring us to be adults and not college buddies but it was fun either way. I was just thankful to hang out with a buddy while someone else picked up the tab.

[training more]
Because the training sessions were organized by the Hispanic Organization, there were other activities scheduled beyond the training. Monday night was the annual business meeting. Tuesday was the scholarship auction. Wednesday night was a retirement party for one of the guys. Thursday night was the banquet. Each of these nights have fun stories but for sake of time and length, I’ll share two brief stories: one fun moment was as the scholarship auction had just ended. One of the girls thought that rum was wine and was quite surprised when she gulped down the shot of rum. Another moment was at the banquet. Because I gave the invocation, I was asked to sit at the head table. Only I didn’t want to sit there, I wanted to sit with my friends. Sitting at the head table made me feel like everyone was watching me. I like being the center of attention but only when I’m being funny, not the rest of the times.

[Flight drama]
I opted for crappy flight times for two reasons: to save the government money and to get more time with my family. I flew out on Sunday afternoon and arrived at my hotel in Orlando at midnight. Heading home, I took a 720 flight, which meant that I had to leave the hotel at 445am. A bit early but I wanted to get home to my family. Unfortunately, things didn’t work out so easily. My flight to Chicago was good. My flight to Cedar Rapids went downhill in a hurry. Due to thunderstorms and tornado watches the night before, Chicago O’harre had been closed down and flights were all backed up and delayed. My flight to CR was delayed while we waited on a stewardess to arrive from another flight. Two hours later we boarded the plane only to sit at the gate for 30 minutes while they found a mechanical problem and eventually cancelled our flight. We were placed on stand by. Fortunately the employee at the gate informed us that we’d never get on a flight since everything was backed up and a million others were already on stand by status. I suggested getting a rental car and driving. A man in line suggested we hurry since it was a Friday and traffic would be a problem soon and it would also be difficult to get a car. After calling all companies and waiting for a shuttle, we ended up at Budget waiting in line for a car.

[CR, here I come]
I ended up in the car with two kick boxers who were headed to CR for the international KB finals. I was a bit nervous to be with strangers but didn’t figure they bought airline tickets to dinky CR to kill someone. So I figured that as long as I didn’t make them mad, I’d be safe! After being stuck in traffic for an hour, we finally got off the toll road and were headed home. There was still traffic but at least we were moving! Teri drove 85-95 the whole way since she had to weigh in by 6pm. I was starving and had only had a few hand fulls of cereal but wouldn’t ask them to stop since we were likely to be late anyway. We pulled into the kick boxing location at 645pm.

[Getting home from CR]
Ryan had to head back home. He had several surgeries to do and was on call Friday night so he took the kiddo and headed back home when my flight got cancelled. In the time I was driving, Ryan worked out the details for me to get a ride home. Joel (one of the young adults that grew up in my church) lives in CR and was considering coming home for the weekend. He waited around after work, picked me up at the hotel and gave me a ride home. Joel was one of my new BEST friends that day. I got home a little behind schedule – at 9pm vs. 130pm. I’m just glad I didn’t have to stay in Chicago over night!

[home again]
So I got home and my family was glad to see me which I expected. But, my poor kiddo must be scared that I’ll leave again. He won’t let me out of his sight. Even today, 5 days after being home, he’s still clingy! Anyway, today I feel yucky again. Mom called me this morning to tell me that my kiddo was puking up massive chunks. I’m afraid we have a touch of the flu at our house. Yipee!

Long awaited post

[Happy Birthday, son-son]
Friday was the big day, it was a rite of passage for the little guy. We got to turn his car seat to be forward facing. To celebrate small fry’s first birthday, Grandpa & Grandma B, along with Great Grandma, Grammy and Papa joined us for supper in town.
Only it wasn’t so simple. I was getting a massage in hopes of relieving some of the pressure in my neck and back from whatever is going on there. Hubby was on an emergency vet call at the time when we were supposed to meet for the meal. Thanks to my in-laws who met us in town with the little guy. Eventually Ryan got there too and we had a meal together. The place was hot and loud and it was hard to hear, I was rushed to get to a celebration for a friend by a certain time and the birthday boy was getting grumpy and tired. So, we had our meal and headed different directions. I’m thankful that those who joined in on the celebration were able to make it.

[Pre-Birthday Party]
I woke early Saturday morning to get started on my list of things to do:
1. Finish a few more scrap book pages and get them all in the book
2. Clean up the super messy scrapbook room, I mean, dining room
3. Make the 3-D duck cake that I was too tired and forgot to do the night before
4. Frost sheet cake that Amy made for the party
5. Make the punch
6. Quick clean all the rooms downstairs.
7. Try to keep the house cool.
8. Bathe the birthday boy
9. Shower and get ready
10. Wrap gifts
11. Breathe

Here’s how things went that morning:
530am – awake and scrapbooking downstairs while it was quiet
730am – starting on the cake. We used butter to grease the cake when the directions said “NEVER” to do so. Eunice, my MIL cleaned that out while I ran to town to get some Crisco. She dealt with the cake while I scrap booked.
730am – Mark, my FIL went to town to get rock salt that I couldn’t find on my last shopping trip and forgot to tell hubby about.
Who knows what time – finish what I can with the scrap book. Clean the room. Meanwhile MIL makes the punch and FIL piddles with the ice cream maker. My mom brings out more punch since we didn’t think we’d have enough. Ice cream maker doesn’t work, FIL is upset and HOT. I call hubby at work to see if we can just buy ice cream like I wanted to in the first place. He wants to have home made. FIL goes and buys a new ice cream maker. Get rooms clean and cake frosted
Noon - Shower. Feed Scott, bathe him and put him down for a nap. MIL runs out of vanilla for the last batch of ice cream. Mom brings some out when she comes. Her sheet cake frosting stuck to the tin foil. We tried to fix it with no luck. Throw the gifts in a gift bag and decorate a tiny bit.
1pm - Wake kiddo up for the start of the party. And the fun begins…

[Birthday Party]
It was a hit, things went great. My in-laws finished up the ice cream and made their way upstairs. People mingled and had wonderful cake (thanks to Eunice, mom and Amy), drank blue punch and at home made ice cream. Small fry was the center of attention, literally. He sat in the middle of the room and was quite the ham for everyone. People came and went during the open house party. Finally towards the end, we opened Scott’s cards and gifts. That was hilarious! He loved the cards and would “read” them if I’d hand them over. I read each card aloud to include everyone. If it was a book or a card, he loved it. Otherwise, he didn’t care too much. When his Grandma B read her card aloud, he grabbed it out of her hand and threw it as if to say “that’s enough reading”. Later we sat him in front of his cake and he wiped a little frosting off. I had to help him figure out that he could eat it (thankfully my child doesn’t put everything in his mouth). We had a great time with family and friends. By time the guests were all gone except the ones that stayed overnight, I was TIRED.

[Am I crazy?]
Last weekend was a very full and busy weekend with a birthday party and company in our home for the weekend. Hubby’s folks have been here since last Wednesday. And hubby’s grandparents came up and stayed the weekend for the birthday party. My work week is full and will be insanely busy. Here’s a look at my week:
Daily activities Monday through Friday: 8-5 work (which has been insane since I’m in charge while the boss is gone and lots of BIG news has come in which has kept me crazy), drive 30 minutes for a quick supper at 5:30. Teach vacation bible school from 6-830. Stop by mom’s and water all her outside plants which takes at least 30 minutes. Drive home, feed the dog and go inside to spend time with those who live in my home (hubby and son) and those who are visiting in my home (in-laws).
Exceptions: Thursday will be a half day at work. At 2pm, we have family photos being taken for the first time since small fry was born. I’ll try to water plants at mom’s before VBS so that when I get done at 830, I can rush home to my bible study group that is meeting in my home. Friday is another half day at the office. We leave right after I get home to start our weekend.
Weekend: We’re meeting up with hubby’s brother (who’s driving 8 hours) and MIL/FIL (leaving our house that morning) at their grandparents home in PC (3.5 hour drive from here) for supper. Will stay there for the weekend and see friends and try to let small fry see as much of his uncle as possible. Sunday on the way back home, I’ll drive to the airport instead and catch a flight to Florida.
I’ll arrive in FL Sunday night ready to start a week of training. I’ll work and hang out with friends all week till I fly home on Friday. Land, grab my luggage (hopefully) and rush home to see my family.

So, I’ll go from having 2 weeks of company, teaching VBS, watering mom’s plants, a quick trip to see hubby’s side of the family, fly to FL for training and fly back home all without hardly taking a breath. I will be so glad to get back and have some quiet time with just my hubby and son!!!!!!!

Birthday pictures

Here's a few pictures Miss Lauren sent from small fry's birthday party:

L: A Hooter's shirt from Lauren that I promised I'd let him wear. R: small fry reading one of his cards.

L: small fry eating frosting from his birthday cake. R: Small fry's new dump truck toy from the J's.

(as always, click on the picture for a larger image. more to come when I get my camera downloaded, which will probably be in two weeks after I get back from Orlando)

Quick Update

[emergency room visit]
hubby was working in the shop and got something in his eye. While driving, the piece shifted and he couldn't see to drive. With his approval/request, I continued on to the baptism (I was 10 minutes farther down the road). After the baptism, I left and headed up the hill where I could get signal and call him. Mom answered his cell phone and they were just finishing up in the emergency room! The doctor had removed sawdust from his eye and sent him home. Since he's on call for 2 weeks straight, I headed to the clinic and transferred my kid to the vet truck and headed home to meet Ryan and my folks.

[emergency room visit #2]
hubby was in MAJOR pain. Doc said it might feel like something was in there because of the swelling. I finally called the doc to see what we could do since I'd never had to deal with a guy in so much pain. He suggested we see an opthamologist who could get a more detailed look at the eye in case something else was still in there. Because it was Saturday night at 830, the doc had to call around to find someone available. He called back with 3 options: W town (80 miles) and where we go for big city shopping, R town (80ish miles and not familiar at all and in another state) or LC town (same as R town). After a few questions, we dropped small fry off at his grammy's and headed to W town. (now let me just make the point that there is much more drama and details and funny moments to share but I'm pressed for time, grr). Leave at 9pm, sit in ER for 90 minutes and get home at 2am. And had a sheriff's car follow me several miles as I desperately tried to be WIDE awake.

[added drama]
- hubby (aka Dr veterinarian) was on call and the other guy is out of state. He should not leave the practice radius. But he couldn't see anyway and therefore couldn't help animals if he did get a call!
- super tired and trying hard to stay awake on the way down, let alone the whole way home while hubby tried to lay down and relax
- I had to drive the vet truck to town to get my car with small fry in the passenger seat and big burly hubby in the middle. The seat was all the way back and so hubby was squished and I wasn't even sitting back all the way so that I could still reach the pedals!
- hubby hates to have his eyes touched
- we missed awesome fireworks out at the camp where the baptism happened.

[next few days]
hubby's folks are coming tomorrow. we're excited to see them. small fry turns one on friday. we're having a small party on saturday. next few weeks will be company, me travelling to do family things in two weeks and leaving from there for a week of work in Florida. Yikes, when will I have time with hubby?

Okay, gotta run, we rescheduled our small group to tonight...

[Friday excitement]
L has become our pseudo little sister at home. She works with my husband at the vet clinic and I work with her mom. So hubby sees her during the week and when she’s not at work she comes to my office to have lunch. Plus, she’s part of our small group.

L has been working at our vet clinic for almost a year. She does quite a bit with hubby on farm calls and in the clinic. Wanting additional experience, we hooked her up with our vet buddy in the neighboring town so she could shadow him and run calls. That was scheduled for Friday.
Friday at noon at get a call from Dr. R and he has zero interest in talking to me. He stated that it was an emergency and wanted to speak with L’s mom. I’m not sure who was more shook up: Dr. R, L’s mom or me. L had been out on a farm call and was at the back of the truck when the farmer saw her pass out and fall to the ground. Pretty scary for everyone, especially Dr. R who debated on having someone ride around because of liability.

Meanwhile, L’s mom is diabetic and since this happened at lunch, L’s mom skipped lunch and rushed off to the hospital. On my way out the door for an early afternoon off, I stopped and got D some food and dropped it off at the hospital.

Thankfully all turned out fine. Dr. R kept the tired L awake by making her do her ABC’s and other easy things. The emergency room visit found nothing wrong and sent her home to rest up.

[spoil the spouses]
Preface – When you are employed by the government there are no Christmas bonuses, gifts from clients, etc. The government doesn’t give Christmas bonuses and gifts would be considered bribery. With that said, let me share about my weekend of getting spoiled
One of the drug companies held a meeting for a handful of the veterinarians to do business as usual. Only the salesman responsible made it very clear that the purpose was the spoil the spouses. And we sure did get spoiled.

We made it a family weekend. That in itself was a debate – do I have a nice weekend alone with the hubby or do I take the kiddo and have him around for entertainment in case I don’t like the “wives club”? We all went. We arrived at our rural destination a bit early so that we could clean up before supper.

Friday night we had hors d’oeuvres, supper and dessert at an old Feed Mill that has been restored and remodeled. The food was fantabulous! It was a bit awkward at first not knowing any of the couples. We sat alone at a table before one of the wives sat with us. We ate and had nice conversations before heading back to the hotel after a long day.

Saturday, while the guys had their meeting, us women headed down to the local bakery for quiche and baked goods over breakfast. We then headed down to the local boutique (which utilizes the upstairs portion of the feed mill and still has working machinery in it) for some shopping. The drug company had presented each woman with a $50 gift certificate to the boutique. For those who know me, a boutique is a place that I find cute, but not a place that I’d spend money. I have enough crap in my house and the style of clothes aren’t my style. So, I spent MY money on a barn book and several children’s books for Scott. As I pulled my gift certificate out of the envelope, I noticed a second certificate. I was sure it was there by accident and waited to inform the salesmen that there were accidentally two certificates in my envelope. As I wondered around the store though, I could hear other women announcing how close they were to their totals; all of them near $100. Not much later we joined back up with the men to head to lunch when I asked about the certificates. It was not a mistake. The original plan was for $50, but they decided to add another $50 to it. THANK YOU! I had $100 to spend. Only problem was that I didn’t know what to spend it on so I purchased another $50 in children’s book for Scott (now we have his birthday gift taken care of).

Lunch was at a nearby restaurant that was originally and old barn. Although I appreciated the food, it was no comparison to Friday night’s meal. Following lunch, the group went on a tour of the Amish. At this point, I was a bit disappointed. Because I live and work near Amish, this was nothing new to me. So, a “tour” which was really stopping at several Amish farms and going into their little stores where their goods are sold wasn’t impressive to me. I had no plans to purchase anything and didn’t get to visit the people so for me it was just a bunch of getting in and out of a van. I do appreciate BI’s generosity in paying for the tour but it was like home to me and so I didn’t find it as interesting as other’s.

Supper was at a local place. It was good food and we gathered outside for our meal. Of course, we were spoiled with whatever we wanted off the menu – appetizers, drinks, meals, desserts. A light rainstorm made it’s way through while we were eating but the umbrellas were enough protection. Following supper, BI treated us to a play at a local venue. By now, my child desperately needs a nap, its hot and sticky out and we go for a walk before the play. As we get into the hall for the performance, I realize I forgot small-fry’s bottle. This meant getting a nap in would be near impossible with a tired and hungry child. Needless to say we didn’t last long at the play before we left. The kiddo was behaving wonderfully (as he did all weekend in public) but he was being a chatter box and we didn’t want to be a distraction so we left.

Another night’s stay in a cute little motel provided by BI before hurrying home for Sunday church activities. Thanks to BI for spoiling this spouse. I mentioned to them that I wasn’t this spoiled on my honeymoon! They hadn’t been either so I’m sure it was enjoyed by all.

[joined the church]
We officially joined the church on Sunday. Fortunately the members graciously accepted us. After the quarterly meeting, we met out at a local picnic shelter for church potluck. Next thing on the church list is VBS and I’m teaching the pre-school kids. That will be interesting!

Pictures

[gotta love the gov’t]
My dad and grandma have been here for a week now . They had quite the time getting here though. Their layover was in Denver and their flight was delayed . But it wasn’t that simple, of course. They had a short layover so they rushed to the next flight without eating. They were put on the plane and then sat and waited on the tarmac. Now, any one who has flown, knows how much it sucks when flights get delayed. And it’s really bad when you’re stuck on the plane waiting in a stuffy plane with grumpy people. The cause of the delay: waiting for the manufacturer to send a fax about a replaced part on the plane. I’m sure it was some government rules requiring the fax. I’m thankful for my safety and precautions that are taken to ensure our safety but sometimes it seems ridiculous. Their flight was supposed to arrive at 6pm. Instead it arrived at 9pm and they were hungry. It was midnight before they got to my house!

[the start of the weekend]
Friday night we didn’t get much sleep after waiting up for dad to come. Saturday I was tired and have been every day since then. It has been good to have dad around and especially for dad to play with his grandson. Saturday was a quiet day around the house. That evening we took Dad to Living Stone and then to our “after LS” party at the Rich’s. Sunday we celebrated Father’s Day after church with a trip to a nearby restaurant for lunch. Absent-minded me, I forgot the Father’s Day gifts for my 3 important guys. After lunch I went back to mom’s to get my car and Dad headed home with Ryan. At mom’s house I unbuckled my sleeping child when mom told me to take their Tahoe home instead of moving him to my car. I got out of the Tahoe to get Ralph his card and left the Tahoe running. Said good-bye and jumped in the Tahoe to go home. When I got home, I opened the back door to take out my still sleeping child. And immediately I began thanking God for his hand of protection. Scott was not buckled into his car seat . I had unbuckled him to take him out and then ended up leaving him in the tahoe and never buckled him back in. Bad mom! Fortunately the deer stayed in the fields and I drove home on the black top roads instead of the usual gravel roads. It was quiet the rest of the afternoon. The guys watched baseball and I piddled around in the flower beds.

[partial work week]
I worked on Monday while Dad hung out with mom and Ralph. (yes, my parents are divorced and get a long very well. Yes, I greatly appreciate that.) After work I headed home to finish up the flower beds while dad had a chili relleno supper at mom’s. Tuesday and Wednesday I took off from work. Tuesday we hung out around the house, watched a movie, played with the kiddo and visited. Wednesday, we headed across the big river to another state to see Cars, the movie. It’s very cute and a must see event. We followed that with a quick trip to wal*mart and to culver’s for lunch. That evening, we made Chinese food for supper (one of my favorites) and I potted some flowers outside. Yesterday was back to work. Dad ran all over this corner of the state with mom, Ralph, grandma and small fry. Dad and small fry got dropped off at bible study where we were grilled out and played horse shoes and visited. Today is another work day for me. This is the last day dad is here so I came in late this morning. Tonight we’ll all go to dinner together and then tomorrow morning I’ll take him back to the airport.

[dad]
I’m so thankful for my dad and his willingness to spend his money to come out here to visit. I appreciate that he has played so much with his grandson. It has been a blast to watch them together. Thanks Dad for hanging out with us for a week.

[11 month old small fry pictures]

[bottle feeding]
I don’t like bottle feeding my kid. I’ve been working on weaning him the last few weeks because I have plenty of home brewed milk in the freezer. Breast feeding is so convenient – the milk is prepared, is warm and doesn’t have to be carried around. On the other hand, when my kiddo wakes up during the night and is hungry (this has happened several times this week), I have to get up, thaw milk, fix a bottle and warm it up. Not so much fun. Even when its not the middle of the night, I don’t like having to do the bottle thing.

[11 months]
Small fry turned 11 months old this week. Time flies when you’re having fun. It won’t be long before his birthday comes. I’m currently working on a scrap book for his first birthday. And finishing up his Christmas present (yeah, I’m a little late on that). So far, I’ve thought about planning his birthday party… so many decisions to make.

[small fry]
He no longer likes to play “so big” and rarely does the itsy-bitsy spider. He’s too busy roaming around and checking things out. This week he’s really working on saying the dogs name and pats his hand on his leg to call him. He also tries to say K’s name. She was over on Saturday and played with him before Living Stone. When I would take him back from her and sit him in my lap, he’d reach for her. That little turkey! He’s eating everything in sight this week. Chicken fajitas, spaghetti, veggies, snacks and whatever else he can get someone to feed him.

[rick]
On a sad note, we lost Rick on Saturday. He battled stage 4 cancer for two months before it took him. I’ve been working with Rick on a stream bank project at work and have seen him every day in the last few weeks. Thursday when I saw him, he didn’t have any energy to get out of the truck to take a few pictures. Friday at 3am he went to the hospital and Saturday they brought him home to die. The cool thing for us is that everyone involved with his stream bank project bent over backwards to get it done before he died and it happened. It was pretty well done on Thursday and completely done on Friday. Rick left behind a wife and 3 or 4 children.

[awesome]
Sure, the beginning of the week brought some tough news – losing a friend. But, my week has been so good. Sure, my allergies are driving me crazy, my body aches from fibromyalgia and I’m tired but honestly, I’m so blessed. I’ve had some time this week to sit with my husband without distractions. I’ve been able to talk to several friends who live many miles away. My kiddo has been such a blast. And probably one of the best things has been my attitude towards my husband – realizing that he does the things he does for me, to show me that he loves me. And that’s so cool when I actually look at things from his perspective. I do have a wonderful husband (even if he doesn’t put pants on our kid before he puts him to bed).

Adoption

Thoughts about Adoption (I got these quotes and verses from various places as I’ve searched out adoption information and failed to give proper credit where credit is due.)

How blessed is he who considers the Helpless … —Psalm 41:1
In love he [God] predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will. Ephesians 1:4-5
Are you available for how God wants to use you?

Adoption Process
Gather Information – Every prudent man acts out of knowledge … —Proverbs13:16a
Prayer - Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.—Proverbs 3:5
Godly Counsel - Without consultation, plans are frustrated, but with many counselors they succeed. —Proverbs 15:22
Self Assessment - Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.—Psalm 139:23-24

If God is calling you to adoption, there is a child out there that He has ordained as your child. In order to bring that child home where he belongs, you will have to pay the ransom.

If God calls you to adopt He will provide the way for the ransom to be paid.


Bethany Adoption Meeting
Last night we attended a Bethany Adoption meeting. Knowing that the first hour would be on domestic adoption and the second hour on international adoption, I considered only going for the second hour. But, I thought I should go with an open mind and heart and see what I could learn from the information presented. It was an amazing time. Seriously, I have such a heart for loving a child that I wanted to raise my hand and tell them to sign me up right now.

Heartache for China
I’ve had my heart set on a Chinese adoption. And I’m so thankful that I went with an open heart. We found out last night that the Chinese program is doing so well that the wait for a baby has doubled. And there are so many applications that the Chinese government is able to pick and choose who/want they want. I could handle that but the final blow was the big bummer. China requires you to be 30 years old. I’ve been told before that if one person is 30, you’re okay. But, that is not the case for China. We’d have to wait out the several years before I turn 30 to adopt.

Domestic Adoption
Definitely not my preference for an adoption! I have this HUGE fear of the birth mom wanting the child back. Of course, all I know is bad stories of things that have happened. Emily told us that we have to close our ears to those stories. That just like the press only reports all the bad things on the war, the same goes for adoption because that’s the stuff that gets people’s attention. Last night we walked out and hubby thought that we should start with domestic adoption. Get our feet wet and by then I’d be old enough for a Chinese baby.

Heartache
Did I mention that my heat aches, as tears stream down my face, for babies without loving homes. I’m so glad that God put this on my heart and that my husband and I can walk together, in agreement, about adopting a child.

Finances
Take a guess at what it costs to adopt a baby. Seriously, it’s a lot of money. Granted, some of that depends on the services offered. I like Bethany and think they’re doing great things for birth mothers. But, it remains to be LOTS of money out of the adoptive parents pocket. The dollar figures we were told last night add up to $21,000 for a domestic adoption. I’m sure you too would question why it costs so much. Bethany is a non-profit organization which means they’re not making money. Bethany does amazing things to help prepare the birth moms to deliver a healthy baby. If that means paying the electric bill, they’ve done that. They’ve paid rent, paid for winter coats, food, etc. Right now they’re paying for a birth mom to see a counselor several months after she gave up her baby. All those things add up.

My heart
My heart really is for adoption. I’m so excited to pursue this in obedience to what I know God has given me the excitement for. I’m sure it will be a long a difficult process but I hope that in the future (it may even be a few years) I can report about bringing a baby home to join our small fry.