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.

New post idea for those who want to participate (Cori, Jen, ADX girls). How 'bout sharing a fun picture or two from college. Here's mine:

Big teeth. It was a fun shot taken when I was supposed to be in a conference in KY. I thought it was a great picture especially after getting married and having a father-in-law who is a dentist.

Cori and I were hard at work this day. We were recruiting at a job fair at our own university for summer interns. We had these stupid glasses to give away (like college students want that) and thought it was a fun photo op. We even got our associate dean to join in on the fun and take a picture wearing the stylish glasses with us.

My first kiss. Okay maybe not. Here, I snuck into the petting zoo super early one morning after taking care of my dairy cows to play with the animals. This llama was super curious and wanted to play too.

the last one for now. Here I was at the national ag ambassadors conference. The lead of the Cal Poly team (our rivals) was a buddy of mine from high school. So he pretended to propose to me at the banquet night. Everyone was watching and we both played it off. We had several people taking pictures for us so we could remember the moment. What fun!

Was and is and is to come...

Joining in on the girls' fun, here's a few photos of me:

These first two are the WAS. The top is me as a baby and the bottom one is of me, Mike Hamilton and Kristine (Tebbe) Johnston my senior year (i think) of college.

This picture above goes into the IS category (I don't have many recent pictures, especially not any of me looking hot).

And here's the IS TO COME. I'll be working on the flab areas , the tan and the arms. They say it takes 9 months to put it on so I have 9 months to get it off. But, I didn't gain any weight till I was 5 months along, so I'm giving myself 4 months to get back in shape.

Dad's Family

From L to R:
Sarah, DJ, Rain (Sarah's) & Scott (my cutie pa-tootie), Kaleb (jen's), Jeremiah (Sarah's), Jen, Ryann (Jen's), Nikko (Sarah's), me and my hot husband, Ryan

DJ's family

DJ (my brother for those who don't know) and his family from L to R:
Nikko - he's 3 I think and an absolute doll (and my favorite so far)
DJ - he's DJ :)
Rain - I think she's in 2nd grade
Jeremiah - he's a doll too but I don't know how old he is
Sarah - this is DJ's fiance. She's a sweetie

Nikko, me and Rain

We spent one evening of our trip to CA at DJ and Sarah's house. Nikko and Rain are two of Sarah's kids. Both were glued to me which was a lot of fun. Nikko loves to steal DJ's ball cap and wear it. That night he decided I needed to wear it and we had to take some pictures. We had a blast there, ate some awesome enchiladas and hung out with the family.

Thoughts of the day (things I have yet to share)…
- How many people can say their kid has crapped in their hand? I can. Yup, Scott was sick, doc said to give him a suppository. He crapped all over so Ryan washed him in the kitchen sink. Sitting back on the couch, we tried again and he started going again so I caught it. Some did manage to gather on my shorts. What a special moment!
- Is it possible to have a cold and not pass it on to your child whom you’re breastfeeding?
- Put Scott to bed at 10 or 1030, he falls asleep around 11, Pump at 3am to relieve pressure, breastfeed at 530ish, leave for work around 715ish. Pump at 10am, 2pm and head home to feed Scott again at 530pm. It’s a fun cycle. More sleep than most new parents get. It makes sense when you put it on paper why I can’t get anything done around my house. And since I have a cold right now, I get to add to that schedule: up at 2am, coughing for a few hours before I decide to get up and shower since I can’t get any sleep.
- AWANA, this is my first year not helping with the JV kids in AWANA. Its such a bummer to me since its held at our house and I miss the kids. Ryan is doing a good job of letting me be a mom on Wednesday nights but I want to do both and I get frustrated that he doesn’t include me since I still think I’m part of the group.
- We got 2.5” of rain last night with golf ball sized hail. That was great on crops, vehicles and gravel roads.

I can't believe its been 2 1/2 months since I've been at work. Holy cow, time flies when you're having fun! Lots has happened in that time and what a joy and blessing its been to be home to experience it all. I've loved almost every minute of it. Even the poopy diapers, the lots and lots of spitting up, getting pee'd on and pooped on (that's a story in itself) and so much more. Scott is has added a whole new dimension to our lives and we love it. I'm sure Ryan would like a little more of my attention - especially since 6 weeks has passed. Scott is so much fun - way better than that new puppy I wanted so badly (and got).

Scott
He's 2 months old now and absolutely adorable. His constant smiles and attentive big blue eyes are so fun. His cute little noises while he eats constantly crack me up as if they're the first time I've heard them. And the kid sleeps - gotta love that. We put him to bed at 10:30, he's asleep by 11 and usually sleeps till 6 the next morning. And I have a loving and wonderful husband who has fed him and put him back in bed so that I could sleep the past few days. One morning, Scott went back to sleep until 930 - halelujah!!!

Ryan
As mentioned above, he's absolutely wonderful! He did make a snide comment to me yesterday when he wanted me to get something at the store for his JV kids. So, I did my new mommy duty and reminded him of how much time I spend feeding Scott and pumping. I think he was just being a smarty-pants but I'm sure there was some seriousness there. He's awesome though - loves Scott and does great caring for him even though I nag him about it occassionally.

Me
Just enjoying each day - even if that means going back to work. I do have a cold or allergies or whatever it is. Started while we were in CA and I just can't seem to kick it. This morning I had bright green snot when I blew my nose so that was a new one. The dry itchy throat causes me to cough which irritates the throat more, etc. I'm glad to be back at work though too. I really do enjoy my job and atmosphere at the office.

More to come later. I have lots to share about Scott, our trip to CA and things like that.

Here's Scott's 1 month picture with an outfit from his papa.

Mandy, can you give me the www for the sign language info. The one you gave me before is on my work favorites page. thanks

Ryan & Scott hanging out at Grammy & Papa's house.

Okay ADX girls (and for anyone else for that matter), yes, we are gong to CA and yeswe are briging Scott. ANd yes Kristin, our trips will overlap! We're flying into Sac the night of Alisha's wedding (the 3rd). Katie's wedding is the 10th, and I have to be back in the Sac area Friday morning the 9th for wedding stuff. So, in between there, we (our "family") will be roaming around the ghetto-Fresno area. For you ADX girls, I'd like to try to get together with a bunch of you at one since we won't be around too long and have lots of family and other friends that wants to meet and see Scott. So, email me or leave a comment with a day that will work for you and I'll try to figure something out.

The last of our comapny left this morning. I really enjoyed all our visitors but I'm looking forward to a quiet night with just the three of us (and hopefully no x-box). Scott will be 4 weeks old tomorrow and he's already growing in so many ways. He's been smiling a lot this last week and he definitely is recognizing voices. He's such a culddle-bug and I love it. Okay, enough for now. I want to go home and clean in his nursery...

Okay, I finally added a few pictures. I've not been on the computer for a while since we've had 3 weeks of company and still have company. This picture is of Scott's first trip to the conservation center in our county. It was more of a trip for my niece, Ryann, as you can tell.

We're all doing well and are really enjoying the time with our family members who have all come to visit Scott. He's been quite the popular boy. The college kids at church practically have to take a number since so many of them want to hold him. Its really sweet. Okay, I'm at mom's to check rental car prices for our CA trip. I better get at it and get back home so Mark and Eunice (G&G B) can love on their grandson!!!

Okay everyone, there's finally pictures available. I can't post them easily on my blog so I asked Kristin to post them to hers. There are 3 pictures from the first few days, check them out here. More to come I'm sure. Its been a wild week - me trying to do this parent thing and loving it. Very time consuming! We had Ryan's grandparents visit yesterday. Scott is their only great grand child and so it was pretty special. Plus, Grandpa made Scott's crib which is absolutely gorgeous. My sister was out visiting all week. We didn't get to spend much time together though. She came down with a light case of pneumonia and her daughter, Ryann, got bronchitis. Not fun but I'm thankful I got to see her a little bit and she did get to hold Scott once before she got sick. Last night Scott and I went to Living Stone (church). It was pretty loud and he slept through the whole thing. Afterwards we did the social thing and Scott got passed around from one college student to the next for a few hours. He's such a good baby (most of the time). Another full week on the way. Dad is flying in tomorrow evening. We're ready for him to be here but the spare bedroom has yet to be clean. And the way my days have gone, I won't have a chance to work on it much tomorrow either.

Yay, I made it... and it one piece... with only one major surgery. Not sure what mom posted before. She brought me the comments to the hospital. We were there 6 days and I was SO ready to go home. The first night was rough, not fun at all. A crying baby and I had no clue what to do with him. Finally called the nurse at 3am for some help - that Bethany is awesome! Still haven't had much for sleep after 37 hours of labor, several nights in a lovely hospital bed (I was so eager to sleep with Ryan again) and a baby who is ALREADY spoiled. The nurses loved him and I'm not sure if he spent much time at all in the nursery. Feeding time is quite the chore. Scott thinks I'm his pacifier rather than his source of food. He loves to go to sleep on his mama. Kinda frustrating that it takes 2 hours to feed him between his playing and falling asleep in between suckles. Today I'm finally tired and super frustrated that he's not eating like I want (even though the nurses assure me that things are fine). He is a doll. Today was his first outing. We came to moms for Ralph's birthday. He's looking so cute in all his matching gear that Katie bought him. The shoes are adorable. Still no pictures posted. Sorry guys, I can't post directly to my blog anymore and I just haven't found the time to do things the long way. I'll try to get something out soon - he's a cutie for sure.

Baby Boy Buitenwerf new name is Scott Ryan ( a few less B's) and he is 21 inches long, Tammy and Scott are doing well. She is so sweet with him and He loves to snuggle up to her ago to sleep. Motherhood seems to agree with her quite well, Ryan is quite the proud new father. What a wonderful journey hte Lord has instore for them..

Baby "B" finally blessed us with his presence @ 6:12 A.m. thursday morning, and what a blessing he is at 9 lbs and 1 oz Tam had to have a C-section (You can understand why) But what a woman,,, Mom and Dad were both awsome Ryan wanted to wait until Tammy was more alert to make the final choice on the name, So they are hanging onto Baby "B'' for now. the lenght had not been taken as of yet, but he is long... Please continue to keep them in your thoughts and prayers........ Thank you Lord for you are so good

Tammy had a ultra sound on Monday, it showed the baby weghed around 9lbs and 12 oz and has a big head Ooooooouch. She was admitted to the hospital tonight at 5:oo pm and if she is not in labor in the morning ten they will induce her. I left her around 9:30 this evening and Ryan and her seemed to be handling everything just fine.... Well update when the baby is here Tammys mom aka Grammy

Hey its Tammys Mom, Just wanted to let you know what is going on... She had a saunagram on Monday and they said the baby weighed 9lbs 12 oz and has a big head.. Ooooouch. She went into the hospital tonight at 5 pm and if she doesn't have the baby on her own that they will induce her in the morning. We were there until about 9:30 and all was well. update as things progress. Keep them in your prayer please

Still no baby... Have an ultrasound scheduled for Monday and then I see Dr. Miller again that afternoon. We'll see what he says and go from there. I expect a quiet weekend - stubborn kid!

Its been a few days I know but we've been busy. Nope, no baby. Thanks Cori for finally posting that comment. We wish there was a baby too but he seems to be in no hurry. I am having braxton hix - those fake contractions. Their nasty but I'm alive still. I have another checkup on Thursday and see how things have hopefully progressed.

Okay, mom is making me pancakes for breakfast (she's awesome like that) and they're ready. More from me later.

dear diary

yesterday i made a "quick" trip to waterloo (the big city) with my folks. i was on the hunt for shoes for katie's wedding. target did have the shoes but not in my size - what a bummer to drive 90 miles to figure that out. so, of course i had to make a little purchase while i was there. target for me always means buttered popcorn jelly bellies. got those! i also purchased diary of a mad black woman. i'd wanted to see it but it came out in theatre after i was no longer able to sit through an entire movie comfortably. wednesday i got to watch Oprah and she was talking to the cast about the movie. it was fun to hear the inside scoop and made me want to see the movie even more. so, i splurged yesterday and bought it. what a cute movie with plenty of humor for those boys who get suckered into seeing it. i thought it was kinda like the black version of Hope Floats. what fun to watch, i might even watch it again tonight with some friends and i don't usually like to watch movies more than once.

still no baby. i guess he really isn't in a hurry. still hoping for 4th of july which is quickly approaching. we do have the carseat in the car for the day we need it. but of course, for those of you who know me well, i don't like packing in advance. so, we're still not packed for the hospital. i did plug in the video camera though to make sure its charged. and we do know what will go in the bag, its just not done yet :) still a little fearful of the process but the light at the end of the tunnel, the thing i'll focus on for an end result, will be seeing ryan hold that baby all snuggled up. i can't wait!!! last night ryan was sitting in the chair and he held the puppy like a little baby which just made me that much more eager to see him with a baby. I love my husband, he's so wonderful.

the nursery is done and now ryan is making a shelf to go in there. he's also been spending plenty of time out in the blazing sun working on the north porch. i have such a studly husband! last night he was all upset that "it looks like crap". it doesn't and i tried to assure him of that. i think it looks fine. he's a veterinarian, not a carpenter. i just think its awesome that he's willing and able to do that kind of work. so, the porch is slowly making progress again. there's so much on his honey-do list and i appreciate him working on it.

TGIF, enjoy this Independence Day!

Not gonna happen! went to see dr. miller yesterday. things hadn't progressed and he decided that inducing me wouldn't be the best decision. he thought that at this point (being only 2 cm), inducing me wouldn't do any good. so, now we're back to the waiting game. i'm trying to be patient but i was so sure that we'd be induced after sunday's drama of contractions. i can't believe there was NO change. that's life though and i'm just thankful that i'm not in the situation where i have to be induced because of problems. next week i go back for my regular check up. only this time dr. miller is on vacation so i get to see another doctor, a guy i've not ever met before. this should be fun. i'm really hoping to go into labor on my own before then. since i don't get to go early, i'll hope for the 4th of july again. i'm home today resting my back and hopefully having some quiet time. i'll keep everyone posted if anything changes :)

Am I a whiner???

yesterday was good preparation. those things called "braxton hix" really aren't fun at all. i had contractions ALL day yesterday and tried to ignore them but at times they'd cause me to double over for a bit. they're alot like menstrual cramps for those who can relate. i tried to be a trooper and worked finishing up the nursery and piddling around upstairs. ryan and i made muddy buddies (aka puppy chow) and headed for the church picnic. i drove seperately knowing that i wouldn't want to socialize much. and i was right, the pain got worse. finally an hour later i pulled ryan aside and we called the hospital. not knowing what to expect and not sure if i needed to go to the hospital, i chatted with the OB nurse. she asked a few questions and encouraged me to go home and take a warm bath to see if that would help. if not, then i should get to the hospital.

by time i got off the phone, things were starting to slow down so i didn't hurry home. by time i got home and got the tub filled up, lots of time had passed. so i took a bath and soaked for a bit before crawling in bed. mom came over to stay with me while my honey played some softball. (no, he's not a bad husband, he offerred to go home with me and i told him to stay). i was a bit bummed that things didn't continue to progress since it was mom and ralph's anniversary, the birth of a grandbaby would've been a great gift. but, no such luck. we'll have to wait a few more days, experience some more nasty "preparation" contractions before we get to see the end result.

today, i stayed home during the morning while it was cooler and worked on 5 loads of laundry plus cleaning our closet since we moved some furniture out of there into the nursery. just a few more days... keep praying!

light at the end of the tunnel

Visited the doc yesterday. must say i've been a bit frustrated with how he's not educated and explained things to me but anyway. my nurse, sue, is awesome and did some good explaining which helped determine that i should be checked "down there". miller said i'm dilated 2 cm and moving right along. a much better report than last week when he said the baby was in no hurry to come out. yay, there is light at the end of the tunnel. we discussed being induced and he actually explained a few things to me. so next wednesday he'll check me again in hopes (my hopes) that i've dilated and thinned more as well as have a bit of increased blood pressure. if all goes as planned, he will plan to induce me on thursday.

i'm excited and a bit scared. things are getting done around the house and we're ready for a baby but are we really ready? i fear the whole process - labor and delivery and then trying to figure out what to do afterwards. i can change diapers but breastfeeding - i have no clue! a week from now we might have a baby buitenwerf. holy cow!

i'm also a bit nervous about how things will change around our house - me being able to maintain our home, be a mom and eventually return to work full time. how our marriage will change and hopefully grow. how we won't be so free to go and do all the time.

TGIF. yup, i'm way excited its friday but i'm not so eager to go home to a non-AC house. yesterday it was 80 degrees inside when i got home. after bible study and 8 bodies were there for a few hours, it was 85 degrees. i was dying from heat and felt like the dog who was laying in the corner panting. today is supposed to get to 92 degrees with humidity - no fun. i'll probably hang out at moms where the AC is going :) Hope everyone has a nice weekend - especially those of you camping out.

I'm not sure if my attitude is: It's Wednesday!!! or if its Today is only Wednesday. Regardless, it is Wednesday today and therefore my week is half over. Last Friday my coworker, Tom's wife went into labor and had a boy. She's due after me and was 3 weeks early but now I'm super eager to be in her shoes and have this done with.

Yesterday Michelle came over and painted the first coat in the baby's room. Yay for Michelle and her kind heart. I'm still loving these part time days which keep me plenty busy. yesterday I actually rested, yep, I laid on the couch and watched Dr. Phil and Oprah. I felt super lasy but it was well needed. Sleep during the night has been less than I need which makes some restful time super valuable.

Sunday afternoon we had company. Two of the girls I met in Nicaragua came to visit. Both are now married and one has a little girl. It was super fun to see them. Anna, the younger sister has been living in Waverly for a year now so I see her every once in a while. They were so sweet, they brought over EVERYTHING we needed for our meal. What an awesome gesture, they didn't want me to do anything since I'm pregnant. But I don't like doing "nothing" so I quickly put together a Cornbread cake dessert.

I'm thankful the week is moving right along. Tomorrow I have a meeting with my Quality Steering Team for our area. They're my buds, especially a few of them. So, it will be fun to see them once again before I take a break from work. Pretty soon here I'll be in my last week of pregnancy - woo hoo!

What a week this has been. As of last Friday I started working 5 hour days instead of 9. It’s been so nice. Some extra time away from the office has been helpful in catching up on the list of things to do at home. Its also been good for my aching back and tired eyes. Friday, mom and Ralph joined me on a trip to Waterloo to purchase baby stuff. I bought all kinds of things that we needed and spent lotsa cash.

Because I know that I have some more time each day to get things done, I didn’t clean like a crazy woman on Saturday. Instead I piddled around planting flowers and transplanting plants in hopes of making my north porch look cute. Saturday night was Living Stone – a contemporary worship service at our church. As usual, we headed to the Rich’s home where everyone gathers and hangs out till all hours of the night. That night the Rich’s had to leave so we were the supposed “adults”. Its always amusing to hear the conversations of HS and college students and what they find important. Sometime after 11pm, Ryan was enthralled in conversation about predestination so I got up and went to curl up in the la-z-boy and fell asleep. Ryan woke me up to leave and then we stood there and talked for another short while and finally left at 1230. I was so tired by that point. Went home, took care of the puppy and went to bed.

Sunday after church, our small groups all gathered together to further discuss changing the church covenant. What a task at hand! The deacons, pastor and his wife have taken on such a big task where someone will be hurt, mad or offended. That night made for some interesting discussions and I’m curious to see how things will change in the near future. The change is needed but always difficult to accept by some – aren’t we all that way at times.

Monday was back to the office for a short day. I went home and fell asleep on the couch. Woke up in time to watch Oprah and was irritated when the TV was plastered with the Michael Jackson trial instead of what I wanted to see. That evening I cleaned house some, paid bills and laid in the hammock with Ryan as we watched our dogs play around us. Tuesday (another short day at work – woo hoo!) I stopped to visit my folks for about an hour then went home and Renessa came over for a little while. When she left, I made stromboli for Ryan and my parents for supper. Yesterday when I did finally leave work, I headed for the dreaded Wally world to make some final purchases for the baby, although we still don’t have the carseat purchased yet. Wondered around the baby department trying to figure things out. Got home in time to put away groceries and get a few things picked up before Ryan and Renessa came out for supper. We planned to go see Monster-in-law on the big screen but I had forgotten that there’s no way I can sit through a movie these days. The Z’s ended up coming over and the guys played with the potato gun while they grilled a pork tenderloin and potatoes. After supper the guys played x-box while Renessa and I chatted. It was fun to watch the expression on their faces as they were so into the game they were playing.

Another busy day today. Lots to do at the office before I can go home early. Can you tell that I like working shorter days?

By request, I finally added two more pictures: my melon and my living tumor with Keller

Wow, where does time go. And how much of it have I wasted lately? What am I doing with the precious time I’ve been given?

Last week I had two doctor appointments. The first was my regular check up. I’m now going weekly and go again tonight. The next day I had an ultrasound to make sure the baby is in proper position. The guy was awesome – unlike last time we had an ultrasound. They told me he would just check for position and I’d be on my way. But, this guy actually had a personality and explained things and showed me things. He took all the measurements again and said the baby at that point was about 6.5 pounds. Eeek, if he grows a half pound a week and goes to term, I’ll be trying to deliver an 8.5 pound baby. I also got to see HIS “parts”, his fingers, legs, heartbeat, etc. It was much fun but unfortunately neither Ryan nor mom were there to see since he wasn’t supposed to do all that.

It seems like we’ve had non stop company lately. I love entertaining but it does get tiring – especially with my current energy levels. Last Friday we had my folks and the Mitts’ over for supper and a movie. We fixed shrimp scampi for supper and then sat down to watch the Aviator (weird movie and too much foul language for me!). Then Saturday morning was my time to clean. I had plans on how I would get things accomplished and in which order so that I wouldn’t be on my feet or on my rear for too long at one time. Then Ally (she’s 10ish – a Mitts kid) called and wanted to hang out. She came over for a few hours and we scrap booked together and played with Keller. Not much time left for getting anything done around the house but I love kids and being and trying to be a positive influence in their lives. Saturday night Ryan and I went to the Lions Club annual fish fry. It was okay but definitely nothing fancy, they didn’t even have lemon wedges to squeeze on the fish! Sunday was the longest day of our weekend. We had church followed by a noon potluck. I was really encouraged with what Shane was sharing with everyone in the morning. After potluck, I stopped at mom’s (I so love that they are near) and then headed home to more company. Richie Ellis came over to help Ryan work upstairs and he brought the family. So, I got home to Sonya and the girls who were FULL of energy. No nap or relax time for me. Later that afternoon, some ladies of the church through a baby shower for us. It was awesome and everyone was so generous. Two of my favorite parts of the afternoon was mom’s food – always a treat, and Ryan’s boutonniere thing. Jeanie made one for each of us and his had a tiny beanie baby behind the flower. The only farm animal she had was a horse! Too funny, the guy who hates horses!

Its been another busy week at the office. And my back HATES the office. I sit too much and it just kills my back, I’m so uncomfy that I could cry. Instead I whine a lot :) I’m still officially working full time but have warned my boss that I’m ready to give up my desk for a while. My back just doesn’t handle all this sitting. I’m trying my best to help out my fair share with all the applications for our new program but then I feel miserable by time I get home. In fact, its so uncomfy I choose not to sit at lunch or supper. For supper I either stand and eat or lay down to eat. I feel lazy but my back is just yucky. I suppose that’s par for the course, especially with my added 30 pounds that’s all out front. Okay, off to work! Pray for me PLEASE!!!

Check out some new pictures I posted:
- Keller, our new puppy.
- Ryan and Renessa Zurbiggen, our buddies here who will be moving to SD where Ryan will start seminary.
- Two from last summer: Kaleb and I fishing and Kaleb's first parade.
- Our trip to Las Vegas last February. (this link takes you to the album which has several pictures in it)

Angels and Memorial Day
What a fantabulous weekend! Let me just say that I love 3 day weekends and short work weeks! What a busy weekend we had. Let me share some of the basics (in detail of course):

Keller
I finally got the puppy I’ve been wanting. For some time I’ve wanted another Australian Shepherd and bugged Ryan for one since before I was pregnant. Some people brought in 6 miniature Aussie puppies to the clinic on Friday. They wanted 5 of them vaccinated and the 6th one put down. The 6th puppy is very much a “special needs” dog. He’s deaf, has partial sight and looks albino. He’s white with a few brown spot areas on his rump and has the bright blue eyes that never dilate. Ryan, who is okay with having to put down animals, decided to take this one home for his wife. So, now we have a 6 week old, 5 lb puppy that can’t hear and doesn’t see the best. All this just weeks before we add a child to our home. Anyway, we joked that we would name it Helen Keller if it was a female. Since he’s a male, I thought Keller would be fitting for a name. My dog and cats really don’t know what to think about him yet.

Breitbach’s
Saturday I expected to get a few hours in at the office but figured out first thing in the morning, when I sat down to pay a few bills, that my back wouldn’t handle being at my desk for any amount of time. So, I piddled around the house cleaning and playing before supper plans with the folks. My parents treated us to supper at Breitbach’s in Balltown for our anniversary. The 75 minute drive to Balltown was beautiful as we crept along side the Mississippi River for some of the time. Breitbach’s is the oldest bar and restaurant in Iowa established in 1852. There is a 50 mile panoramic view of the Mississippi River Valley from there – it’s awesome! The restaurant had a neat history to it, good food and a fun time with mom and Ralph.

Chinese food and the Outback Steakhouse
Sunday after church, Ryan and I, along with Richie and Sonya, headed for Chicago. We stopped several times along the way, the first of which was 30 minutes later for lunch. We ate at a Chinese buffet that I like in Prairie DuChien, WI. Eventually we made it to our hotel, 30 miles outside the city. By that time I was tired and really could care less if we went downtown or not. So we headed for Red Robin (Chicago had food places that aren’t otherwise found in the Midwest). They closed 5 minutes before we got there and we were bummed that we couldn’t eat there. We settled on Outback and I had been fighting a yucky tummy all day and didn’t even want to eat. The best part about my food was the virgin strawberry daiquiri.

Autograph from a pro baseball player
Monday, Memorial Day, we had plans to catch the Angels v. White Sox baseball game. First thing in the morning, we headed into the city to pick up Jake. For those who haven’t heard me brag in the past, Jake Woods is a childhood buddy of mine who is pitching out of the bullpen for the Angels. So, we picked him up at his hotel on Michigan Avenue. And as soon as we walked outside, people flocked to him for his autograph. It was fun to watch and I wish I would’ve been carrying my camera to catch a picture or some video. While we headed somewhere for brunch, I asked Jake 50 questions about life in his shoes. There were plenty of places downtown to eat but not places to park. We headed toward the stadium, which took us into the ghetto real quick, and eventually decided to go back downtown. We ended up eating at some fast food type of steak sandwich place. Not ideal but it worked. On the way to the stadium afterwards, I had Jake autograph 3 baseballs for me. When we got there, we received some special treatment because we had a “player” in the van with us. It was all so amusing to me because Jake has always been Jake to me and I’ve known him since we were 12. We got to the stadium in time to see batting practice but had been given the wrong information on the time the gates open. After waiting an hour outside (remember – pregnant ladies have to pee often), we finally made it inside. Had great seats directly behind home plate. They were awesome – it’s all about who you know. Richie, our buddy that went with us, also got to meet (again) the manager, Mike Scioscia. When Richie was 17 and lying in a hospital bed with cancer, Mike (then catching for the Dodgers) made a personal phone call to Richie and later invited him to a game and gave him the royal treatment. It was quite a treat for Richie to see him again almost 20 years later. He also met and got an autograph from Rev. Jesse Jackson who stood next to him near the dugout.
We had a great time. Jake didn’t get to pitch because of the rotation but we did get our hopes up in the 8th inning when they had him warming up. I didn’t ever take a picture with him in uniform – I didn’t want to hound him like the typical fan, but I did take some video clips. I’m hoping that he gets to stay in the majors and we can watch him again sometime.

I have a few new pictures worth sharing: Sarah's kids, Ryann throwing a fit, Kaleb’s fit, Kailee's surprise and a cute cartoon about a Living will.

yup, its been a while since I’ve updated all of you with my thoughts. Its been absolutely wild – in a good way – around here. I’ve been working quite a few hours and the last thing I want to do when I get off of work is sit in front of the computer some more!

Let’s start with the anniversary. No, I won’t share ALL the details. Because I’ve already sat for 9 hours at the office, the last thing I want to do is sit down which meant going out to dinner was out of the question for me. I went to work early so I could sneak out early and get home before Ryan. Got home and picked up a few things quick before starting supper. As I was preparing the almond crusted salmon and doing a few dishes from the deer steak supper the night before, Ryan came home. He was early too, that little sneak. I knew he had to help my parents move a piece of furniture right after work so I thought I knew what time he’d get home. My gift to Ryan was being home early AND having supper on the table for him. Well, that didn’t work out and Ryan ended up helping with supper while I finished the dishes. The dessert (leftover oreo stuff from the night before) that I planned for supper was gone. Ryan had taken the remainder to work and shared and I wasn’t home when he got ready to stop that. So, we didn’t have an extravagant meal but it was nice. We had some broccoli smothered in cheese with our salmon since Ryan only likes veggies as a vector for cheese. The chilled strawberry wine in the fridge never made it out of the fridge since we were full. After supper we watched our wedding and CA reception videos which was quite fun. Instead of browsing through wedding photos and laying in the hammock, we caught the season ending episode of Navy NCIS (it’s a good one) and then played Tetris together on the xbox. Not exactly what I had planned but Ryan didn’t care and what mattered most is that we spent time together!

Found a cute quote to share, not sure what the source is:
"If evolution really works, why do mothers only have two hands?"

I NEED ideas for a good/thoughtful anniversary gift for Ryan. Share any ideas you might have, please.

Have I told you lately how wonderful my husband is? Last night I had a ladies salad supper at church at 630pm. At 515 my last client left the counter. I still had a few minutes that I needed to follow up with my boss, shut down my computer etc. At 530, I called Ryan to ask if he'd start making my salad for me (I had a half hour drive home still). He had already started it!!! Yeah, he's a stud! I got home right at 6pm and had enough time to take a potty break, drink a glass of milk, kiss my honey (a few times), grab my salad and head back out the door. What a huge help he was last night.
Then when I got home and was ready to whine big time because of my back ache (I ended up laying in the back of the church and almost falling asleep during the program), he went upstairs for Tylenol and brought me some water to help me feel better. He's so awesome!

The following is a weekly update that I get about the development of the baby:
This week, your baby weighs a little over 4 pounds and is approximately 17.2 inches long. He's rapidly losing that wrinkled, alien look and her bones are hardening. His skull, however, will stay soft until after birth, to make it easier to squeeze through the birth canal. You may be waddling a bit now, as your baby fills out even more of your belly. It may be harder to sleep comfortably, too.

What else is new at the Buitenwerf house within the past week or so???
I spent Saturday morning at the office instead of at home cleaning. It was so nice to earn some extra hours without all the distractions. I’d like to take 10 weeks off when the baby is born and currently don’t have enough hours so I’m working to earn the 27 additional hours I will need. I’d like to have some extra hours on top of that in case I have to go on maternity leave earlier than expected. That afternoon I stopped at the flower shop in Clermont (nearest town to our house) and ordered some flowers for a new couple in town. While there I picked up some farm animal beanie babies for the nursery for cheap. How many of you can go to the florists and get a free lunch out of it. Well, I did. I happen to go to church with them and Jeanie was done eating and had left over pizza so she gave it to me. Sweet deal! From there I hurried home to hang out with the Ellis girls. They’re in 4th and 6th grade and have a fettish with my pregnant belly. Since their parents would be at an all day track meet, they came over and spent the afternoon with us. After I fixed them lunch, we watched Princess Diaries 2. I fell asleep! After the movie, Ryan entertained the girls with video games and I fell back asleep. I woke in time to make supper and take them to Living Stone, a contemporary church service.
Sunday after church, I had the best lunch with my parents and Ryan. I helped mom make fried catfish, mashed potatoes and green beans. It was so delicious, I love fried catfish and mashed potatoes. Ryan had to meet a client after lunch and he went on his way. I stayed most of the afternoon though. Dug in the freezer for some gingerbread cookies, helped mom print off some pictures of her grandbabies for her bracelet and worked on the wedding quilt for a while. Oh, did I mention, I fell asleep for a few minutes while mom was on the phone with my sister. I left there in time to grab some milk at the grocery store before it closed and head home. Yup, when you live in the “sticks”, IF there is a grocery store in your town, its itty bitty and closes at respectable hours so they too can spend time with family. Anyway, got home with enough time to change clothes, cuddle my honey for a few minutes, water some dying plants and then we headed to Ryan and Renessa’s for supper. Yeah, its rough bouncing around from home to home getting free meals. We had a good time with the Z’s as always and headed back home well after my bed time.
Last night we planted a bunch of lilac bushes down the West end of the house. That was a fun experience and a good thing to get accomplished finally. I made Ryan a quick meal and just as he got done eating he had to go on a call. While he was out working, I was working on quilt block designs. Still haven’t cleaned the house, the kitchen definitely needs some TLC as does our bedroom.

One highlight of my week so far is a guy who came into my office yesterday. This Mr. Thiese guy, in his 60’s, came to the office to work on some of his program stuff. When I got to the counter he said that he felt like he knew me. Usually that would be weird except I thought that maybe it was the Thiese I’ve heard Ryan talk about. In the few minutes we worked out the counter, I learned that he has a brand new grandson, the first Thiese boy in 30 years. I shared that Ryan and I had the same thing going – the first Buitenwerf in almost 30 years. It was so sweet when he shared that he already knew that and told me that I’m all Ryan talks about. Ahhh, how sweet!

I found my long lost cousin, Sarah. Okay, she really wasn't lost but I just haven't talked to her since I got engaged. I wanted to her to Ryan with a few pictures and thought this would be easiest, plus all of you can check them out too:
~ Trailer Trash Rehearsal
~ His adorable smile really is one of his best features
~ My honey and a few important ladies
~ He’s such a stud!
~ Ryan’s whole family
~ Dr. Ryan at work
~ Ryan’s babe and baby

Just a few things:
- I still think I have the worlds best husband even if he was a bit sassy this morning.
- My childhood friend Jake has made it to the majors. My first summer after graduation, Jake played for Cedar Rapids. Now, he's sitting in the bullpen for the California Angels. Check him out here. I'm so proud of him! I told Ryan that I'd have to be an Angels fan when Jake went to the majors... GO ANGELS
- Katie's wedding is just 123 days away. I'm so excited to see my girls and then go back to K-town and visit (with a baby and my honey).
- And for those who inquired, Dirk is the name that Ryan wants for our little B. I want Scott or Jake and we don't agree but both refer to him now by the names we like. Poor confused kid, we'll decide on something eventually.

Received the sweetest Mother’s Day card yesterday and want to share what was written in it:
“Mommy, I couldn’t let you go through your first Mother’s Day without getting something. Daddy helped me, a little. I’ll try and be nice to you today but its cramped in here! Love, b” Then in scribble (Ryan wrote with his left hand) “p.s. I like Dirk!”

It was the sweetest thing! He also got me a willow tree doll to add to my collection. It’s of a pregnant woman. I have such a wonderful and thoughtful husband!

Have I mentioned lately that I have an awesome and studly husband? Last night I needed to finish making my enchilada casserole for my Cinco De Mayo party at work. But, I got home and had a nasty headache and yucky tummy. So, I cuddled up on the couch and went to sleep. This morning when my alarm went off at 5am, my husband asked if I wanted help. He ended up following my downstairs and was a huge help getting the casserole finished and making guacamole. What a stud he is!

Last night was awards night for Awana. Yay, its finished for the summer and I'll have an extra night a week to be lazy, I mean, get things done around the house. I'll miss my JV kids and hope to have them over for video games, etc. It was so cool to hear each of them share what they've learned over the year. One kid learned that it was fun to learn about God. How wonderful! He could've never been interested in experiencing God until now. Yay for him.

Less than 9 weeks left. I didn't get a picture this week but my belly is 16" larger than pre-pregnancy and continues to grow! I go back to the doc on Monday and see what he thinks, if anything changes.

Okay, time to go home and eat left over enchilada casserole :)

Wow, how time flies when you're having fun. We spent the weekend in Prairie City and Des Moines this weekend. Thought I'd share a few things:
- My feet ached so bad with my regular tennies. Bought some new Ryka's (apparently made by women for women) with inserts and they've been wonderful the past few days.
- I hate sitting at a computer - it kills my back. As if the added weight from being prego isn't a big enough strain, I sit at my computer for 9 hours and then drive the 3+ hrs to DM. Not so comfy!
- We registered at Babies R Us this weekend for some items that we'll eventually need.
- It snowed Sunday night - barely a trace but there was snow! And its May!!!
- I continue to grow in the belly region - whew!

The Church Gossip
Mildred, the church gossip, and self-appointed monitor of the
church's morals, kept sticking her nose into other people's business. Several members did not approve of her extra curricular activities, but feared her enough to maintain their silence.She made a mistake, however, when she accused George, a new member, of being an alcoholic after she saw his old pickup parked in front of the town's only bar one afternoon.

She emphatically told George and several others that everyone seeing it there would know what he was doing.George, a man of few words, stared at her for a moment and just turned and walked away. He didn't explain, defend, or deny. He said nothing.Later that evening, George quietly parked his pickkup in front of Mildred's house - and left it there ALL NIGHT