The Parkinson's

Oops, its been WAY to long!

2012-02-02T21:55:00.001-08:00

WOW, has it really been close to a year since I last posted? How embarrassing. I need to get back into the blogging world! I enjoy sharing and journal about our lives and knowing that I will have it to share with my family for years to come! A lot has happened but yet nothing that new and extraordinary.

Aidan is in 1st grade now and 6.5 years old! He loves school and is a natural born leader! He is constantly helping others and is "teaching" his sister how to do things. He is currently playing basketball and LOVES it!! Oh my word! He is quite the celebrator! He played soccer this fall and plays at every recess, or that's what he tells me. He'll play baseball (coach pitch) this year and he's excited to start again! Aidan is doing boy scouts as well and is enjoying it a lot as well!

Brooke is enjoying being a little mom and playing with her dolls all day. She is a fiery and moody little girl and very expressive! We love her little mood swings and are wondering what the teenage years will bring! We might be in trouble. She wants to do everything that her brother is doing. She plays at his basketball practice and wants to be out with him. She is our active little spitfire!! We just love it!

John is super busy as usual with UPS. Lay-offs have started and he has been laid off once so far this year (yesterday), and was then called in about 30 minutes later and asked to work. So I guess technically he wasn't laid off. I don't get it. He was out late and had a ton of work. They really needed him yet called him off?? I don't get it. He loves to play with our kids and is such a good daddy. I just wish we had more hours in our weekends because they fly by WAY to fast!!

As for me, I keep busy with the kids mostly, but also co-coordinating the Moppets program for our MOPS group. I also am still doing the childcare for the Womens bible study. I no longer am nannying which makes me sad because they were like family since I had been with them for 5 years, but kids grow-up and I am no longer needed. I am also keeping busy with my Arbonne business and growing and teaching others about how to keep themselves healthy and safe. I am striving to help educate others that what they are using is potentially causing them cancer! Scary thought.

Anyway, this was sort of an update on everything, and I am hoping to continue to update the blog but we shall see if that actually happens!! Hugs to you all! = )

Easter 2011

2011-05-24T12:25:00.001-07:00

This year we had a different Easter. It was just what the doctor ordered though. As you know the night before Brookie broke her foot, so we decided to scrap attempting Church on Easter morning with both kiddos, one who wasn't exactly mobile anymore. Instead we decided to leisurely get up and find and open baskets with the kids and then have a nice breakfast before heading over to Nana's.

John and I decided on a yummy omelet station. Or rather we decided to do "Mexican" omelets with all sorts of things that you usually find in a typical Mexican meal (or at least for us). We had hamburger meat that was seasoned, avocado, sour cream, mushrooms, onions, olives, salsa and more! We made them to order!! John asked us each what we wanted on our omelet and then made them. The kids had a simple cheese and meat omelet while John and I had all the fixings. It was SO good and SO big!!! Each omelet was ginormous!! I couldn't finish mine! I also made my "monkey bread," my name for Paula Deen's recipe for coffee cake. The kids LOVED it, as did John and I. We even had juice for breakfast. We don't have juice in our house typically so it was a special treat!

After breakfast we got ready and headed to my moms. It was relaxing and laid back over there too!! We just hung out, had a yummy meal and then hung out some more! By the time we were ready to go it was 6pm!! We came home and relaxed the rest of the night and then back to the grind on Monday. It was the perfect way to have a holiday!! Low key, no stress, and not a lot of craziness!! We loved it!! We were disappointed to not be able to go to John's parents house though. With Brooke's foot we decided that being in one location was probably the best idea. We didn't feel it was in her best interest to go all over the day after breaking a bone. They were disappointed (as were we) but understood too. Hope your Easter was wonderful and you were able to celebrate with family!

Influenza Type A (Swine Flu)

2011-05-24T12:10:00.000-07:00

We can officially say that we have had the swine flu now and are no worse for wear! I started feeling icky on April 2nd with a cold. You know the kind, sore throat, stuffy, stuffed ears, ect. Sunday I woke up with a low grade fever and by that night it was about 103+. John wasn't working on Monday so he called my doctor and got me in. The doc examined me and determined it was a cold that had to run its course. Right before she left she said worse case scenario would be the flu. She said it was up to me to take the flu test and would be surprised if it came out positive. I took it and it was positive for Influenza Type A. I didn't realize it was Swine flu until I researched it later that day. Yikes!!! I was on Tamiflu which helped TONS!!

I ended up sleeping all day (and I mean ALL day) on Monday and Tuesday I felt a ton better. Still a bit feverish but nothing like I was. So, John was on Tamiflu too since he has asthma. By Wednesday night Aidan had come down with it too. I took him to the doctor and sure enough. Aidan had it less than me but still not as mild as I would hope for him. Brooke was next and she was less than Aidan on symptoms. They both had it for about 24-48 hours. John was the last to have it and he barely had any symptoms. I was a bit jealous. It was a long week in our household but we were so glad when we had all recovered.

If I had to choose what type of flu to have I definitely would choose this type because even though I felt horrible I didn't have the barfyness that sometimes accompanies the flu. I really hope no one has to go through this but it was nice to know that it was very common as of late (according to our pediatrician) and he had seen a ton of cases in the last two weeks. We still are getting the typical colds but nothing like the flu!! Hope everyone has stayed healthy this year!

Brooke's broken bone part 2

2011-05-24T11:59:00.000-07:00

So, the ongoing saga. The ER asked us to follow up in a week with our pediatrician. I called on Monday and they suggested that since the placement of her break was hard to break that I should go to Children's Hospital Ortho. I made an appointment with Children's Ortho for 3 days later. LONGEST 3 days of my life!!!!! We ended up there at Children's on a Thursday at 6:30pm. My mom went with me so that I had a second set of years. Our doctor was FABULOUS!!!!! She was thorough and warm and friendly. She worked well with my shy and cautious little girl (cautious around people she's unfamiliar with). We determined that Brooke did not have a fracture in her foot (the cuneiform bone) but instead had a toddler fracture.

She determined this by manipulation of the foot and shin/lower leg. Also pressure on the foot and shin/lower leg. Brooke was almost smiling while she was pressing and twisting and examining her foot but once she moved to her shin/lower leg Brooke's face turned to concern. I hardly noticed. The doctor said this was exactly what she was looking for. No x-rays were needed since this is hard to see on an x-ray. I researched later and learned more about this type of fracture. The term they gave the type of fracture was called a toddler fracture.

So we had options. We could cast her, put a walking boot on her or do nothing and let it just be like nothing had ever happened. I was leaning toward casting until I saw the top of her foot and heal. She was developing sores where her skin was breaking down, sort of like bed sores. I felt badly for her. We decided to do nothing. We had a follow up in a week. By the time we went in, Brooke had just started walking again although a bit unsteady. The doc saw her was VERY impressed and said that Brooke was healing beautifully! We made yet another follow-up appointment for 3 weeks out. The docs exact words were...."make the appointment, if she's doing ok, don't come, just don't show up, no need to call and cancel. BUT if she's not doing better, I want to see her again!" We kept the appointment and just canceled it this morning since the appointment is this Thursday.

Brookie is acting like nothing ever happened!! I'm so happy that this wasn't anything that would affect her long term! The only thing that has happened since the foot incident was that she was grabbing a jar of strawberry jam (a full jar) of the counter and it fell and landed on her big toe. Her toe is colorful but not broken or anything. Poor girl was accident prone that few weeks!! Let's hope we have a long time between broken bones!!!

Brooke's broken bone part 1

2011-05-24T11:47:00.001-07:00

Over the Easter weekend we wanted to have an outdoor egg hunt with Katie and her family and my mom at mom's house. Needless to say the weather didn't appear to want to cooperate on Easter Sunday. So mom called me while we were watching Aidan's t-ball game and asked if we could come over after for an impromptu egg hunt. Of course we were up for it. So we headed over to Nana's house and enjoyed playing outside until Katie got there with her family.

Once the eggs were placed, we all hunted and found eggs. It was a wonderful and fun filled hunt! The kids had a blast and I think Brookie finally started to understand the concept.....kind of. We'll get there.

We all hung out after the actual hunt for a few hours and we were getting ready to leave but first mom and I were swinging on her wooden swing out back and chatting with Katie. Next thing we knew, was that Brookie (who was playing right in front of us) started crying. We couldn't figure it out. She walked inside and was looking for John. We decided that was our cue to go home. She hadn't napped yet and it was 5:30 at night.

She fell asleep on the way home and we put her in her bed. John ran to the store because I was baking a ton of food for the next day. I had to clean the kitchen, make dinner, start baking what I could, and overall just pick up our house. Brookie woke up while John was gone. She was crying and wouldn't calm down. Not unusual for her some days. We cuddled and watched some TV while she tried waking up. I turned on Caillou for her and went to work on dinner some more. She then tried to come to me.

She walked a few feet and then crawled the rest of the way. I tried to get her to walk but she freaked out. I knew then that we had a problem. So I frantically tried to call John to no avail. When he finally walked through the front door with his arms full of groceries I didn't even say hi, my first words were "something is wrong with Brooke's foot/leg and you need to take her to the ER right now!" He looked at me like what the heck. I explained further and he tried to get her to walk, again to lots of tears. So, he took her and I was a wreck at home waiting. I hate not knowing and having to wait for answers. He kept me up to speed with texts and picture messages but still it wasn't the same. I was antsy. I kept family and friends up to speed on Facebook but it still wasn't enough.

Aidan didn't want to go to bed until he was able to see Brooke so he stayed up. John finally texted saying it was a broken foot. AHHHHHH!!!! I couldn't believe it!! Doesn't surprise me that my daring child would have the first break but I felt awful!!! I felt like a bad mom even though it could happen to anyone. They came home and she had a wonderful pink splint and wrap on. That was a chore to keep on. She slept well and did fairly well with it. Stay tuned for the rest of the saga!

Swim Lessons!!

2011-05-24T11:37:00.000-07:00

So the last night we were in our old apartment was the start of sign-ups for swim lessons. I got on my computer at midnight and saw that I could register. SO, of course I jumped on the chance of registering. I was beyond thrilled!! We have been meaning to sign Aidan up for ages and have just never gotten around to it.

We wanted both kids to have some water knowledge before summer so we signed Brooke up for some parent-baby class. She loved it but was to shy to do much of anything until the last class or so. She was more than capable of doing all the things the instructor asked of us, but her sweet shy self wouldn't do them. Oh well. We opted to keep her out of the second session and will try again next fall/winter.

Aidan on the other hand was 1) the biggest kid in the class (surprise surprise) 2) a complete fish and 3) I thought to advanced for the class. That is until it came to back float. He sunk like a ship. So one day while Brooke and I were in lessons, John swam with Aidan and worked on his back float. That night at his class, he surprised his instructor and was floating like a pro!!! Needless to say the level that you stay in the longest, was only one session worth! We are so proud of the little man!!! He's our little fish!!! He is doing so well in the next level although is complaining that its to hard. We try and explain that it will get easier but he still says its hard. He does so great and always has a smile during class. We are probably taking a break throughout the summer since we'll be swimming most every day at our pool anyway. I expect come fall when we get back into lessons he'll be swimming like a pro!

I'm so thankful that both my kids LOVE the water so much but at the same time its harder with Brookie because she has no fear and will jump in without a second thought if we don't watch her and she gets to excited. We can't wait to be more fish like throughout this summer!!

Aidan's first year in T-ball

2011-04-25T00:15:00.000-07:00

Aidan is playing T-ball this year on a team called the Rockhounds!! He is having a ball. He amazes us each time he throws the ball at how good his little arm is. I think I have a future Mariners on our hands. He can hit the heck out of the ball as well. He constantly is asking when we can go to the next practice and wishes he still had practices twice a week. Before games started, they held practices 2 times a week but the league only allows T-ballers (as far as I know) to hold 1 practice and 1 game a week for a total of 2 events. I think its perfect for the little guys.

Aidan has made new friends on the team that are also at Einstein. It's fun! John has been home on Wednesday's for the most part so he leaves me home and he and the kids go to practice (at Aidan's school). It's a little time for me to decompress, start the crockpot if needed, prep dinner, or just veg. I usually feel badly vegging and do laundry or dishes or pick up. Something productive. I usually join the kids at practice about 40 min before its over. Brookie does really good at sitting on the side of the field and just hanging out having snacks or reading a book or watching the practice. Sometimes she even plays on the equipment. John has been helping with practice each week he has off and he is LOVING it!!

John said he would coach if he could be off by a certain time each day. But since he can't and it varies day to day that he works he helps when he can. We have definitely had a few "proud parent" moments. When Aidan does something that we have never shown him or throws the ball super accurately or whatever we are definitely proud. We have fun arguments over who he got that skill from.

We definitely have a little athlete on our hands!! Can't wait to see how much he improves between now and the end of the season! I will definitely be signing the little man up for T-ball camp this summer!! Go Rockhounds!

Catch up....

2011-04-25T00:12:00.001-07:00

So, its been 2 1/2 months since the last post. So much for doign better blogging this year. Oh well. I can only do better I figure. This blog post is just an update for blogs that I will be writing in the next day or so. I think I will have a lot of down time coming up. So......here goes!!

-our big move!!!
-T-ball
-swim lessons for both kiddos
-UPS and lay-offs
-Easter weekend
-first broken bone in the family
-Influenza type A sweeping through the ENTIRE family...

SO, as you can tell on top of normal daily life things have been a bit busy here. Stay tuned over the course of the next few for more fun blogs!!

Life is C-R-A-Z-Y!!!

2011-02-09T00:04:00.000-08:00

WOW, what a year we have been and its not even 1/3 over yet! The biggest news is we are moving. It's only 3 minutes up the street but it's still a move. I'm not going to get into it right now because it needs its own post. Let's just say we are beyond tired of the apartment complex's BS that its time to move on even if things are going to be stressful and tight financially speaking. We know we are doing the right thing for our family but its still sad to think that our first "home" we ever lived in together we are moving out of. Things come to an end.

Aidan is doing well, and making new friends at school and in our complex. I feel so guilty about moving away from his first "real" friends that he made on his own accord, but it's not like he won't see them at school. He is amazing when it comes to math. We are blown out of the water daily by his smarts when it comes to math. He also read his first book to me last night (or at least a few pages). I was so proud that I videotaped it and posted it to Facebook. So if you have FB check it out and if not let me know and I'll post it elsewhere. I am so anxious for him to read its not even funny. I know in due time but I LOVE reading and want him to feel the same way! We signed the little guy up for T-ball and applied for the scholarship since this is "lay-off's" for John and he got a full scholarship!!! We are so excited as is he!! Bring on T-ball!! Wahoo!!

Miss Brooke, is 2 and shows it and is a fiesty spirited little girl. She is showing interest in going potty on the potty and even TMI section-pooped on the potty today for the first time!! Hooray!! She is enjoying playing with her friends at the YMCA, MOPS, Gaurdians & Angels, and wherever else she can make friends. She always asks when she can play with "fends." She keeps us on our toes and loves to push our buttons and test the boundries.

John is doing well. He's "laid off" daily at this point but his boss' aren't following contract rules so John still goes in 100% ready to work. It's annoying that they can't follow how things are suppose to be done and now the union wants him to continue because their stand is that he needs more notice that he's laid off than what he is given. It's a whole can of worms, and really confusing. I'm SO proud of him for standing up for what he knows is the truth even when his boss tries to get his goat and get him to react. This morning when his boss saw him at work (after they gave him the 1 hour notice of being laid off) he wouldn't even look John in the eye. OH well. John is standing up for his contract and the union is backing him which is good.

As for me I'm keeping busy doing it all as usual. I am packing boxes and have many more to go. I wish I had a bit more help packing but I don't right now so I'll make do. I'm hoping that we can get everything packed so that last week we are in the current apartment we are just doing the last little bit and doing more cleaning than anything else. We'll see. I've lost my debit card and license more times than I can count in the last few weeks with all the craziness that I am beginning to loose my mind. I found the debit but not the license...hmmmm don't know where it is.

Anyhoo, its 12:15am adn I need sleep before I work in the AM. Hope you are all well and I really feel as if I wrote our Christmas letter all over again even though I haven't. I'll update more soon.....I hope. Life is just crazy in general and probably won't slow down until we get settled. Wish us luck!!

Going Private

2010-12-11T14:35:00.001-08:00

Ok, everyone as of the first of the year I'm going private. I have had a lot of comments lately from people I don't know and most of it is jibberish, so if you read our blog and want to continue please let me know and I'll add you to my blog list!!

Megan

Wowzers!! Been awhile

2010-10-02T11:32:00.000-07:00

Well, I did have a few blogs that I wanted to post but wasn't able to since I somehow couldn't get it from a Word document into blogger. Anyone know how to do that let me know because the blogs are already written and ready to be uploaded!!

We have had a year. I am currently in Ohio right now because my Grandpa just passed a week ago. It was a great thing to come out here with my mom and sibs and get to say good-bye to Grandpa and grieve with family, but at the same time its surreal because we just saw him in July.

I am really fortunate and blessed to have had all my grandparents alive until 4 years ago. I know that many friends have lost thier grandparents a long time ago or never even knew them for that matter. I am SO blessed.

School is going well for Aidan. He LOVES it and LOVES Miss Russell (John actually graduated HS with her and I believe they also went to Junior High as well). He can't wait to go each day and comes home sharing all he learned that day. He is also doing soccer through the YMCA (indoor) and Religious Education. I think he's enjoying both although I think he is pretty tired by the end of the day and those activities are both in the 4pm hour. He is also doing speech on Mondays through the school district and gets to ride the bus in the AM on Mondays to go to speech. This way I don't have to sit and wait for him and try to entertain a busy girl!! He is doing so well in speech, I'm so excited for him!!

Brookie is showing her almost 2 side!! She is such a spitfire and dramatic and emotional at times. Then again she has the sweetest and most loving demeanor about her as well! I just love this girl so much! She has been such a joy for John and I. After having a boy, she is so different to parent!! We are so blessed by 2 beautiful wonderful children!! Brooke LOVES her brother like nothing else. She is upset when we put Aidan on the bus because she doesn't understand where he is going and when she wakes up from naps she thinks its time to get him immediately. Not always the case. She throws tantrums over not getting to go get him when she wakes up. But the best is when we pick Aidan up, she squeals and gets so darn excited over seeing his bus!! It's very sweet and warms my heart knowing shes so excited to see him!! I just love it!!

John and I are well, we are headed to Disneyland next Saturday and then to San Diego in 2 weeks. It should be a great trip but spendy. I can't wait to make memories with my kiddos!! I will definitely post a blog and pics after that trip. Gotta scoot, going to spend some time with my cousins before we leave tomorrow AM.

Oopsy, has it been that long really!!!

2010-08-05T22:44:00.000-07:00

April....yikes. That's just embarrassing. There are a few blogs that I have written and tried to copy and paste and haven't been able to. I don't want to have to just type it all out again, but just might so that I can catch everyone up!! In the meantime, I will update you on recent shenanigans!!

We went to Ohio from June 30-July 14. It was a miserable flight out and back and let's just say I will NEVER fly AirTran again in my life unless they give us free passes. It's awful. Anyhoo, we had an amazing time, but of course our time flew by way to quickly!!! I don't honestly remember the last time that Melanie (my cousins) and I were able to celebrate our birthdays together (she's July 4th for those who don't know and mine is July 11th) so it was very cool to actually do that this year!! My mom was so sweet to throw me a wonderfully yummy dinner on my birthday and we invited everyone who was local and who was able to make it. It was so fun because that was our last night being able to see our family before we headed home on Tuesday. Also, John came out the day before and he was able to see everyone!

We got home and spent the day unpacking and recouping and then John was back to the grind on Thursday. I was very thankful he was able to join us in Ohio for 2 days and then able to stay home the day we flew in. Considering we had a ton of delays and "weather" issues with AirTran we didn't get to our apartment until 4am. It SUCKED!!!! Anyhow, we had 3 days that week and he had a 2 day work week which was nice.

A week after we got home, Aidan had surgery. He had his adenoids and tonsils removed and was a trooper!! I will post pics and a full blog about that soon.

We participated in the Swedish SummeRun on July 25th (day after our anniversary!!). The SummeRun was to benefit Ovarian Cancer which my Aunt is fighting and doing a very impressive job at if I say so myself. We had issues getting there, such as Aidan had a hard night and woke up in A LOT of pain from his incisions and by the time we finally got him to sleep we had only 4 hours sleep before we had to get up. Not to mention we were exhausted because we had been dosing him with pain meds around the clock. We woke up at the time we were suppose to drop off the kids and dropped them off about 20 minutes late....ooops. As we were getting on 520 my sister calls and says shes stranded on the side of the freeway and her car is dead. We saved her and took her and the girls down to Seattle (actually her friend drove her and followed us). We got there at the time the 10K was finishing. We walked about 1/3 to 1/2 of the race with friends and family. After we went to my moms for yummy food and family!!

That brought us to this past week, Aidan had T-ball camp at 12 days post-op. I was so nervous and wanted him to do well but not to be in pain. He did GREAT!! I'll also post about this soon. It's been a busy week/summer for us. I wanted to just say hi and let y'all know I am still alive.

As I have been typing this John just booked us our first camping spot!! He and I have NEVER camped together. Surprising after 11 years together!! Obviously it will be the kiddos first trip ever too. So in about 2 weeks we will be experiencing 2 nights of camping!! Wish us luck!! Stay tuned for more updates and I promise I will be better at posting!!

In a rut much??

2010-04-05T22:44:00.000-07:00

So, I have decided that I have been in a MAJOR rut on the blog front. Let's catch up on what is going on.....

John-been out of work since February 1st. He worked the first Thursday of February, but that's it. He still has his job but UPS doesn't have enough work for him. It is stressful, frustrating, annoying, hard, but it also brings us closer because we have to stay strong and not let the frustrations of this hard time get to us and affect our relationship not only as husband and wife but as parents.

We have been enjoying our time at home with Daddy though. We have taken a few trips.....once to visit my cousin in Oak Harbor, and then up to Birch Bay. So it has been fun. We have never really done impromptu trips so this has been a first and after both trips we realized that we need a bigger car. It's hard to pack us all in and all the stuff that goes along with traveling and a pack n play and everything else. We made it though.

John is keeping busy with the kids and enjoying them immensely.

Brookie and Aidan-they both have had ear infections, sinus infections, strep throat (Aidan), and cold after cold. It has been a busy last few months. Aidan is going to get a consult on his tonsils/adenoids for possible removal. We have that appointment in May and he has a hearing eval at the end of this month. I feel a bit guilty I didn't pick up on possible hearing issues with him but the only reason my pediatrician said anything was because of how he speaks. It was just a random thing that she caught when she walked in the room. Could have been because of the double ear infection but his speech is still hard to understand and i have a referral for speech therapy and I am holding off on it until I have the hearing eval done. I might schedule it for mid-May though.

Brookie is growing and busy as usual and is trying to talk like no other. It's lots of fun!!!! She is throwing tantrums though and that is stressful, but funny. John's patience is always tested when she is throwing a fit because he usually has Aidan poking his buttons at the same time. It's usually just a simple "Brookie" in an exasperated tone towards Brooke and I know exactly what he's thinking.....he walks away and usually sits and looks at me and smiles as if to say, 'here we go again!!!' It's rather funny. He is a wonderful dad to know that he needs to walk away from Aidan pushing his buttons and Brookie throwing herself on the ground because she can't sit on the counter in the kitchen. He's such a good dad and she is learning what she can get away with and what isn't ok.

Me-wow, sick off and on since February and working on my jobs that I have had to help out while John is not working. I have enjoyed my time with John but at the same time, I'm ready for him to be back at work. It's all good though.

Anyhoo, we had a great Easter, been busy getting things done around the apartment but not being as successful as we had hoped. Keeping our fingers crossed that we can get it done before he goes back to work. Off to bed now. Nighty night!!!

Hello, I'm still here!

2010-03-04T20:35:00.000-08:00

Ok, I know I need to get better. I just get busy doing other things and tell myself that I will do this later. SO what's new. Not much.

John
-laid off since Feb. 1st, not working a second job this year....that's a good thing. Turned 30 at the end of January.
-he has been helping out at my mom's and his parents house doing odd jobs when needed.
-helping out IMMENSELY with the kids and letting me have a "break" from the kids.
-helping out at home....sort of. Ok he is but not like he says he would. He is making progress though.
-had a surprise birthday party

Aidan
-had strep throat
-has gotten more aggressive and thinks its a game
-he's talking back
-he's acting like a 14 year old instead of a 4 year old.
-this to shall pass

Brooke
-talking, talking, talking
-LOVES her baths
-LOVES going outside and to the park
-LOVES her brother
-helps out in her own way
-was on antibiotics because of a lingering cough
-had a birthday party with friends

Megan
-BUSY BUSY BUSY
-stressed out with John home, but yet less stressed at the same time (I do finances)
-cleaning up the MORE mess from having my hubby home. I always say that he makes 3X the mess of the kids. It's true too!!
-working 3 jobs instead of 4 now
-trying to get better after this horrible cough that I have that I got from the kids
-trying to figure out how to get a membership to the YMCA for not a lot of $$.....

So there is a quick overview of our last few months. I PROMISE to update more frequently. I hope to update weekly at minimum. As you can see, it might be a little less often. Hope you are all doing well.

Happy 1st birthday Brookie!!!!!

2010-01-14T21:52:00.001-08:00

Just a year ago we had a sweet little baby and was able to hold her in our arms without our arms completely falling off after 10 minutes....now we have a big one year old and she is getting bigger every day!! We go tomorrow for her well-child checkup and to get Aidan his 5-year shots. Should be a fun day.

We started off her birthday by working at 6am....UGH!!! I was hoping that her birthday would fall on a day I didn't work but we still had a wonderful time seeing the kids!! Then the kids spent time with Grandma and Grandpa so that I could go to Physical Therapy for my wrist. We took Aidan to school, visited Nana, picked Aidan up from school after we napped for awhile, walked around the school for awhile. We then headed to Bellevue to Toys R Us. She freaked out in the baby aisle and didn't understand why I wouldn't take the baby out.

We went home and got home around 5pm. Brookie, Aidan and I all napped until sometime around 7-7:30pm. We got up and went got gas in the car, which killed just enough time for John to come home and change after work. We then headed to Red Robin for a family dinner with the 4 of us. After dinner (singing and all!!) we hit up Target for a few things that we needed. Then it was home for cuddle time and bedtime. It was a busy weekend ahead of us!

Saturday we went to a birthday party and then came home and got ready for Brookie's party with extended family on Sunday. Sunday we had a huge meal at my moms of spaghetti (thanks Andrea for the recipe!!! It was FABULOUS!!!) salad, bread, and cake!!! SO fun. It was a wonderful way to celebrate this little blessing in our lives!! Ok, I rambled on more than I thought so I'll stop now.....Enjoy all our pictures!!!

P-R-E-C-I-O-U-S!!!

family of 3...only missing Aidan...

fresh from the oven!! So tiny!!!

our sweet angel only a few hours old, this is when she met her big brother for the first time from outside of my belly!!

This pic is WAY out of order, but she was so done at this point...

big brother brought his pillow out so that her neck wouldn't hurt when she woke up from her nap...he put it on top of her face. It was sweet that he was trying to help but I wanted her to be able to breathe...

it was 'Cat in the Hat' day at school and they made hats....so fun

walking around big brothers school after we picked him up!

first a healthy dinner....at least she ate some of her broccoli...she really wanted Daddy's fries though and that was it....

she enjoyed everyone singing to her!!

she loves ice cream

YUM!!!!!!!

lucky boy got to finish the ice cream sundae for her!

"where did the ice cream go mom??"

birthday dinner at Red Robin....

cute birthday outfit

he was so excited!!

the only present she was really interested in opening...

He was so excited that she had her birthday...he's still telling people that she just turned 1!!

Such a neat, clean girl...

That's my girl!!!

She is becoming a lot more interested in her spoon lately! So fun!

She LOVES her babies!!

Crazy hair girl!!

We wish you a MERRY CHRISTMAS in pictures!!!

2010-01-14T21:09:00.000-08:00

Ok, so this is just pictures....we visited my dad on our way to Christmas eve with my FIL's side, spent Christmas morning at home, went to my mom's Christmas afternoon, spent the night at moms, went to the in-laws, spent the 26th with Ryan, his girlfriend Kim, Greg & Nina, went out with Kim and Ryan, spent the 27th at the in-laws and then back to "normal." That was Christmas weekend in a nutshell....oh and we went to the in-laws so that John could see his brother on Christmas eve at 10pm.....it was a LONG night every single night and I think we are all finally back on our sleep schedules.

A little help from the peanut gallery....

2010-01-14T21:07:00.000-08:00

Why has it been so long since I posted last?? I am going to be better at that this year....at minimum, twice a month!! I think I can commit to that!! If I forget hit me up with a comment or shoot me an email letting me know that you would LOVE to know what is going on no matter how boring life is here. Awesome!! Thanks!!

Bbbbbbrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-12-08T00:40:00.000-08:00

So just a quick update....it is C-O-L-D here in the Pacific Northwest!! It was about 14 degrees when John left for work this morning. I think it was 15 degrees about 5 minutes ago when I was in our kitchen. It is getting harder and harder to stay warm these days while outside and Aidan and I are going a bit stir crazy inside. We get out when we can but its still cold.

As for Christmas stuff, we are slowly getting stuff out. Next year I swear it will be out by the weekend BEFORE Thanksgiving since John is totally useless on weeknights during December. He is just working to much and to tired by the end of the day. We didn't get a thing done yesterday because we had a certain something come up for myself that we had to take care of. Everything is fine, we just got NOTHING done at home. Boo....Oh well. Anyhoo, I have to work in the AM and need to hit the hay. Just wanted to let you all know that we are F-R-E-E-Z-I-N-G here in Seattle!! Weird.....

Thanksgiving!

2009-11-29T23:51:00.000-08:00

Well, Thanksgiving has come and gone and I promised myself that I would post a blog....at least I am able to now although it is almost midnight and I should be in bed. We ended up at John's Aunt Joanne's house this year and had a terrific meal there and I hope to get a few recipes from her!! I am so excited about the possibility of making them at some point! We weren't there terribly long and actually had to leave while dessert was being served because we told my mom that we would be at her house by a certain point.

As of last year we decided to only go to one person's house on a holiday due to the fact that it ends up being a lot of driving around and it gets exhausting not to mention that the kids don't appreciate being in the car that much and naps are pushed to the wayside, etc. Then spend another day during the weekend following the holiday with the family we didn't get to see on the actual holiday. Did you follow?? Well that didn't happen this year at all. My grandpa from Eugene, Oregon came up to visit and was here for Thanksgiving. We never get the opportunity to go visit him in Oregon and wanted to make sure we saw him on Thanksgiving this year.

Anyhoo, we went to my mom's and got there as they were finishing dinner and about to start dessert. Mom wasn't feeling so hot (I think it was just a little bug, or possibly from the H1N1 shot she got a few days prior). She felt better the next day. We stayed for a short time at moms then went home when we realized she wasn't feeling good. It wasn't crazy although I wish we could have spent more time at both my mom's and John's aunt's house. Time always flies when you are having fun!!

I ended up getting up early and hitting the sales at Kohl's on Black Friday morning, got some good deals, came home and fell asleep for awhile. We had a fun day and hit up a few more deals before heading home to wait for John to get home from work. Saturday was full of craziness cleaning and preparing our apartment for Christmas decorations!! I can't wait to decorate and wish I could have brought the decorations over myself, but they don't fit in my car with the kids in it.....

We are planning on decorating next weekend and hopefully getting our FIRST REAL Christmas tree!! I am SO excited!! We are so excited to decorate and Aidna asks daily when we are. Now if he would only clean up so that we can.....So with all that being said I should get my beauty rest so that I can get some more organizing done tomorrow. It's my "home" day tomorrow and I get to do a TON of chores.....sooooo look for my blog about the new tree and decorating that we will do next weekend.....it will be a BUSY BUSY weekend but I think it will be a great one. Hope you are all enjoying the Christmas season!!

Going Private.....

2009-11-14T11:42:00.000-08:00

So, FYI.....I have been getting within the last 2 days some pretty disturbing messages/comments. I am thinking that I might be going private soon. I'll keep you updated!

Oops....been awhile!

2009-11-14T11:32:00.001-08:00

Wow, I've been really slacking in the blogging category. I have had a ton on my plate this year and honestly, wish I never took on the last thing I did. Had I never tackled it I wouldn't have met a bunch of fun people, but it is more work than my other "jobs" put together. Not that I'm not up for a challenge, but when you have 3 coordinating jobs, and a nanny job on top of being a wife and mommy, you have to be choosy. Anyhoo, I'm possibly going to a baby shower today. Not so sure if I will go yet. Depends on if anything gets done around this house. John was home yesterday "cleaning" which consisted of watching Slumdog Millionaire and eating leftover pizza. Today he is taking Aid and heading to my mom's to pick up the pile of leaves that they collected a few weeks back. They might even rake more!! So who knows what I will do. I really feel like I should stay and clean because as things go right now, we aren't decorating for Christmas. There is to much clutter to even think about it. We'll see though. I might just get away and take the break. I'll update very soon with pics and everything that has been going on. Possibly tonight after the kids are in bed and I'm watching my movie!!

She's here.....

2009-10-02T19:25:00.001-07:00

Ok, so many of you know that Miss Taylor Ann has made her long awaited arrival!! Alexis is thrilled to finally be a big sister. Katie and Dave are on cloud 9 to have her in their arms and to start loving on her. So without further ado, here are her stats and a few of the pics that I have. She was so bundled up that I didn't get many good ones. Enjoy!!

boys being goofy....

Lexie's first real good look at her new sister!

Nana and Brookie!

Taylor Ann Dosen

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

7 pounds 15 ounces

21 1/4 inches long

1st family photo!!

Brookie & Uncle Dave are buddies!

Lexie "helping" with Brookie....I think she might have been practicing for when Taylor is bigger!

A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E!!!

I just love my nieces!!

I finally got to hold her!!

What a peanut!!

It's been awhile!!

2009-09-28T21:34:00.000-07:00

Has it really been over a month since I last post anything??? WOW!!! I have obviously been in a blogging funk. So, let's see....it's been a busy month. I am "working" 3 jobs and took on another. Still only 14 hours a week but still.....More on that later.

Aidan had his first day of school and LOVED it!! He can't wait to go and wishes he could go every single day. He loves his new teachers and has a few new faces in his class. He is excited as ever about sharing and we go through a list of things that he could bring. They have a letter of the week (follows the alphabet) and they are suppose to bring sharing starting with the letter. He doesn't always want to but we have made it fun so he will. He is actually asking to go an extra day each week for lunch bunch. We never signed him up for that because it is an extra fee and I didn't feel he needed to go to school 4 days a week right now.

John has been working a lot lately but at the same time not a lot. He is working at least 40+ hours a week but when you are use to 48+ and usually more like 50-52 hours its a bit weird that he is home by 6pm. It was nice though. We are hoping that things continue this way. We know it will through Christmas at least but after not so sure. Other than that he is enjoying his weekends with the fam and is happy to not be working 2 jobs anymore.

Ok, so as many of you know I took on the commitment of being the Moppets coordinator for my MOPS group this year. That means that I coordinate around 50 kids and 15 workers/volunteers. It's a huge commitment and thus far its not horrible. Nothing I can't handle!! I am also coordinating childcare for the bible study like I have for the past few years. Essentially Moppets is the bible study on a MUCH larger scale. I also am still nannying. We are going on 4 years now!!

The other job I took on this past week is the same as the other jobs. Another coordinator job. They are starting a young couples group at the church where MOPS and bible study is at and they approached me to coordinate the childcare aspect of it. I took it on!! I hope that starting from scratch isn't overwhelming and that it doesn't make me regret my decision. With the other coordinator jobs I had most everything laid out for me I just had to connect the dots, but with this I have to figure out how to get everything to work....its a bit more involved....

So there you have it. It's going to be a busy year for me.

On top of everything, Aidan got a concussion last Wednesday. We had gone to dinner and he rode home with Auntie Kate and Lexi (and my mom) and when he got out of the car, he was trying to get his car seat out and Lexi shut the door. It slammed into his head because the car was parked on the slight slope of my mom's driveway....just enough.

Well John was reading to him and he vomited. I called the nurse hot line for our pediatrician's office and they gave us stuff to watch for and one of the things was any more vomiting and if he were to slur his speech at all. He did both within 20 minutes of me getting off the phone with the nurse. He earned himself a trip to the ER. So off to Children's Hospital we went!!

Long story short, he kept throwing up, hard to wake, slurring his speech so they got a CT of his head. There is something about seeing your child laying in the CT scanning machine that just terrifies you. I felt so horrible. I wanted to switch places with him. He was so brave and actually had a bit of fun despite feeling so darn crummy.

He ended up with no fractures or bleeding on his brain. We were able to go and we got all ready and he was starting to run a fever and threw up again. So they thought on top of the concussion he had a bit of a virus. We ended up leaving the ER at 2am. Home by 2:30 and by the time we got the kids to bed, I packed the diaper bag for work in the morning it was almost 3:30am. I woke up 2 hours later and went to work....thankfully it was only for 3 hours and then took a 5 hour nap the next day. John stayed home.

Cousin Christy was in town over her birthday weekend so we celebrated with her!!! It was so fun!!!

Now he is becoming hoarse and has a slight cough. Poor guy isn't getting a break. I just hope he is healthy soon.

Brookie has been a trooper through it all. She was a champ in the ER and has been going with the flow! She is crawling like no other and is pulling up, trying to stand, starting to cruise. Super busy little girl. She is growing like a weed and is eating table food for all meals now and loves to get messy. In fact I feel as if she needs a bath after every meal practically.

Anyhoo, I better head to bed, I have been on call for Katie to go to my mom's to watch Alexis if she were to go into labor and need to go to the hospital. Tonight is one of those nights. I will be sure to post a new blog when little Miss "T" makes her appearance!!! We are so excited to meet our newest family member/niece!! Stay tuned for more updates and I promise I won't be so tardy!!!

10 years today!!

2009-08-19T13:08:00.000-07:00

WOW, it has been 10 years today since John and I made it official and became a couple!!! In that 10 years we have gone through A LOT!! From me graduating HS, to him moving out on his own, me going away to school and him following a year later, to getting married, and having 2 beautiful children. I wouldn't change the last 10 years for anything!! I can't believe it has been that long already!!!

I know that once you get married you typically don't celebrate dating anniversaries, but I'm a goober and still at least acknowledge them. Since it is 10 years today, I thought it deserved some recognition!! John and I weren't able to go out for our wedding anniversary just shy of a month ago, because of family being in town, and because we went out to a nice dinner while on our weekend getaway during July. We figured we would save it for now!! So, since this "dating" anniversary falls on a Wednesday, we are going to shoot for going out on Saturday!

Who ever thought that John and I would be still going strong 10 years later....ok, most everyone of our friends said that we would grow old together!!! That was back when we first started dating too!!! Look at us now!!!

Aidan took this one....it was in our kitchen while we were making dinner/feeding the baby/putting dishes away.

Us at Brookie's baptism...not great but it's one of the most recent. We were up on the alter hence no smiles.....

**We obviously don't take many pictures of the two of us....better change that. Then again I'm in next to no pictures!**

I was lazy and posted them through dropshots...

2009-08-06T00:46:00.003-07:00

Ok our videos were posted separately through our dropshots account so don't forget to read the post below the videos!! Isn't she stinking adorable!!

2009-08-06T00:46:00.001-07:00

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

2009-08-06T00:43:00.001-07:00

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Brookie's crawling and a new camera!!

2009-08-06T00:27:00.000-07:00

Well, we survived the heat...just barely. We had gotten to the point of caving in and buying a new A/C unit....or rather one in general (we don't have one) when the temps started dropping and our apartment started cooling off again. So no A/C unit. Otherwise....what a week.

Brookie got her 5th tooth, and started crawling all within 2 days of each other. I FINALLY got a video of it tonight while we were at my in-law's house for dinner. She is so cute.

We got another new camera this week....well it wasn't planned exactly. So I asked John to clean out my car and bring everything up to our apartment and he did. Everything except one back that was a plastic grocery bag that was tied shut. In it I had an outfit of Brookie's, my crossword puzzle, a burp rag that we got as a gift, a bunch of her toys, both my favorites and hers. AND the thing I was initially most upset about, our nice camera. John thought it was garbage and was trying to help and threw it away in our dumpster. When he got home from work on Monday I asked where the camera was. He thought it was still on our counter. I told him it was in the plastic bag in the car. He got this oh crud look on his face and told me that he threw it away.

I got upset.

He dumpster dove.

Camera was gone forever. They came and got the dumpster during the day and tossed the contents. Bye bye camera. Boo. He felt so badly and I yelled at him for a bit...then apologized because I knew he wouldn't deliberately throw it away. We ended up at Target that evening and bought ourselves (or rather me-he calls it my camera) a new camera. I like it but don't love it. Some features are a bit weird. I was just going through and was noticing that a ton of our pics are really grainy and I'm really frustrated by that. I got spoiled on our nice camera and so now nothing compares to that. I guess we might have to sit down and read over the owner's manual. Oh well.

He still feels badly but at least I have a way to take video and pictures of our kiddos. Anyhoo, I need to head to bed now. I have been pulling nights that are WAY to long and I am so tired today....even the dishes are going to have to wait and if you know me that doesn't usually happen. Alrighty....good night!!

99...100...101...102...103...104...105....110

2009-07-30T00:48:00.000-07:00

Yes you read that right that is EXACTLY how our thermometers went today. We started our day in the 70's I believe (ask my hubby-I was still asleep when he left for work). By the time the kidlets and I woke up it was 88 outside and only 10:30am!! Or at least that was when I finally turned the computer on. Our apartment was a toasty 85. We were on track for a VERY LONG and HOT day. I decided to wash our towels since all our pool towels were dirty or wet (not that they wouldn't dry but I hadn't had my morning coffee so I wasn't even thinking). By the time I was finally showered, and ready to go along with the kidlets, it was 90 degrees inside and 95 outside and only 11:15am!!! YIKES!!!

I had decided at that point that we were NOT eating at home and that we would go grab me my ICED coffee and then head directly to Target....I did do a slight detour to Lane Bryant (their A/C was HEAVENLY) to buy some shorts but ended up buying the wrong size so now I can't even wear them. Grrr.....then we were off to Target!! We grabbed lunch since Aid wanted oatmeal for breakfast and I didn't want to feed him that because HOT day+warm food=way to hot for oatmeal day. He then refused cereal so he didn't eat. He scarfed 3 (count them 1...2....3!!!) hot dogs and I didn't even care today....he was happy!! (normally this would NEVER happen). We did our errands and then hopped in my cool....err....I mean melting car and headed to Alexa's.

We hung out all afternoon there waiting for the Comcast dude to hook up her cable, phone and Internet. He came at the end of the time and he said it had been a day for him too. Her place was cooler than mine but the kiddo's weren't having it or rather Brookie wasn't. So she finally crashed and Aid was shortly behind her. Of course it was like 5:30pm. I got them in the car, couldn't drive because the steering wheel was hot, does this ever happen here??? and headed straight to DQ. I might buy stock in DQ because we have been going so frequently lately. Got some ice cream and went straight to the pool. Thank goodness we had swim appropriate clothes....sort of. Jumped in and stayed there for about 2 hours. When we were done we came home to a 99 degree apartment. So fun. Changed into dry clothes and went to an air conditioned restaurant for dinner. This heat is going to cost me a lot of money in food I think....

We tried to go chase a sunset but got there to late so that's on the agenda for tomorrow. At least it will be cool. Came home and tried to sleep. It's now officially 1am and I have to work at 6am. Our apartment is 88.4 degrees and hasn't dropped anything for the past 2 hours. I am suppose to sleep in this??? Oh well. Supposedly we are going to cool off a bit....I'll believe it when I see it!! Anyhoo, off to grab a bunch of wet wash clothes and hit the hay for a few hours anyhow. Hope everyone else is staying cool.

Oh and the high in Redmond was 110 degrees at 5:30 today. YIKES!!! Wonder what tomorrow has in store for us??!!!! Nighty night!!

It's getting hot in here....

2009-07-28T15:10:00.000-07:00

WOW it is a hot tamale in our apartment!!! What a week we are having!! Yesterday got up to 94 and today, well we are already at 95 and it is getting hotter. Our apartment is 93 degrees and both kiddos are O-U-T!!! Brookie fought it and Aidan was just a stinker because he was tired and hot. I finally dragged him back to his room (I was putting B to sleep and he kept waking her whining and trying to lay next to her, on her everywhere!). He C-R-A-S-H-E-D on his bed. The rest of the week is suppose to be hotter until Friday.

So this morning, we woke up and went to the park and met Janelle there. We only lasted an hour. The kids didn't argue at all about leaving. It was interesting because usually they don't want to leave. Janelle and met up again at Target and walked around for awhile and got a few things that we both needed for our families. I then treated everyone to ICEE's which were definitely much needed. The kids were a bit out of control (as usual around each other) but next best thing to hot apartments.

We are doing everything that we can to stay cool but it will be a long next few days.... Lots of pool time. Both kiddos slept in underwear and diaper respectively. We are just trying to stay cool.....ok, gotta run....Brookie woke up...now to survive the heat until Aid wakes up. Stay cool!!

Been L-A-Z-Y lately

2009-07-18T23:54:00.000-07:00

I have been SO lazy lately in my blogging!! I keep thinking to myself that I need to sit down take 10 minutes (depending) to blog. Sorry to my 3 faithful readers....what have we been doing since our last blog entry???

July 3rd-Brookie cut her third tooth

July4th-went to the Bothell parade with the Ord family and had a blast!! We are going to start a tradition of going early, getting donuts and coffee and watching the parade!! Then we went to Katie & Dave's for dinner and fireworks

July 7th-took Aid to the pediatrician and found out he had the starts of bronchitis and the starts of a sinus infection. Both of which he was treated for since we were headed out of town the next day. He even got an inhaler like daddy's. He felt just like daddy doing his breathing treatments. He was a great sport and took his meds without a fuss!!! We were so very proud of him!!

July 8th-I got 4 hours of sleep after a 23 hour day (my fault because I didn't get things done over the weekend and John ended up going to bed so I didn't have the extra help packing-he had to work). Took Aid to the doctor, loaded my mom's car and headed to the ferry for our trip to Discovery Bay.

July 8-13th-spent time at Discovery Bay with my mom, Aid, Brooke, John (11-13) and Mary, Logan and Little Megan (8-10). SO very fun!!! We had a very laid back time until John got here then we explored!! Aidan and I went crab searching on the beach one day before Daddy came. We explored Port Townsend, the port that was there, Sequim, a lavender place where I bought two lavender starts!! I can't wait until they get bigger!! We even got a date in on our vacation!!! Thanks Nana!! This was John and my anniversary trip!! My mom was sending us on a weekend trip for our anniversary and this was actually her friends timeshare but we were invited to come along for part of the trip because her friend double booked. Mom was our babysitter!! It was fun with her along though!! We even went to the Olympic Game Park and we fed so many fun and different animals!!

July 11th-MY BIRTHDAY!! Ok so not to exciting. We hung out and had a delicious dinner of salmon and went to Port Townsend sightseeing/window shopping. It was a great day!! John got there that day and I don't know who was more excited to see him, me or Aidan. He was so sweet and I think my hints finally got to him. He bought me coffee card from my most favorite coffee stand!! Wahoo!! I LOVE it although he bought the wrong drink, sort of, he just didn't put ALL the extras that I have in my drink usually. Oh well.

July 13th-we came home and got back to reality!!

July 17th-my aunt Margie came into town and we went to the Wiggles!! Aidan was a bit of a party pooper because he had VBS all week and he also didn't get good nights sleep on Wednesday or Thursday due to the fact that it was SO hot out!! He was to tired to really have fun at the Wiggles although he is talking about it non-stop today.

July 18th!!!-Today!!! We had the Boone's over for breakfast of quiche and raspberries, went and got John's emissions tested, and then went to Target and shopped as a family for everything that we need that I didn't get this week on my Target trip....cat litter, more diapers, etc. Anyhow, Aidan then had a birthday party for Cadence today and it was a Mary Poppins tea party and he had so much fun!! Then we went over to my mom's for a salmon dinner. Seeing a trend?? Brought the kiddo's home and put Aidan to bed and waited for Brookmeister to fall asleep for me to be able to sit down and write a blog after doing dishes. That brings us current!! If you followed any of that I am impressed, I am really tired today and not to mention that it is after midnight and I need sleep. I am hitting up the Nordstrom's anniversary sale in the AM for new shoes!! So nighty night!! Pictures are coming!!

Oh and on an off note, John put his 2-week notice in at Garlic Jim's tonight!! His last day is August 2nd!! I get my hubby back on the weekends!! Thanks Babe for all your hard work working 7 days a week!! I hope you know how truly blessed I am to have you as my hubby and how appreciative I am!! Love you!!!

Father's Day & Brookie's 1st foods

2009-06-30T18:28:00.000-07:00

So we decided that our first official day for Brookie to start solids was on Father's day. John had to work (BOO) at 10:30am but we still wanted to celebrate what a great daddy he is. I even got my butt out of bed early so that we could have breakfast before he went to work. We went to Village Square Cafe and ate yummy food and gave Brookie rice cereal. She sure made some interesting faces. Not to sure of the stuff...she likes it now.

We gave Daddy his gifts and just spent time together. After breakfast we hit up our favorite coffee stand that as John says, "makes the best iced mochas because they use chocolate milk!" We got our coffee's about the time he should have been leaving for work, got home at the time he should have been at work with just enough time to give him hugs, kisses and tell him that we would bring our last surprise to him around 3-4pm. Off he went.

Around 3-4pm we went and got another Mocha for him and dropped it off before we went to my mom's to spend the rest of the day. My sister, brother-in-law, and niece were there too. We hung out and ordered yummy food from our favorite BBQ place. John was able to come over after he was off of work to spend time with everyone (John put in a 9 hour day too) and to finish off the rest of the food from the Texas Smokehouse. He was happy.

As for Brookie and her solids, she has tried rice cereal that she actually likes fairly well considering it is super bland, peaches, pears, nibbled on my grilled cheese (can you tell she is the second baby?) and put her hand in daddy's spaghetti last nigh. She made faces each and every time we offer pears and peaches and doesn't seem to like them. I keep offering though. I am making carrots tonight to try tomorrow and I am going to dig out my peas so that I can try those soon too. I think they are in the back of the freezer somewhere. So hopefully she'll like the veggies more than fruit. Maybe she'll be my veggie kid!! I am planning on making my own baby food with exceptions of the squash. I am not up for the challenge of having tons on hand and such since we don't eat much. Stay tuned for messy baby food pictures. So far we are fairly neat!! Hope you all had a fun Father's Day.

Brookie's baptism and Andrea's visit!

2009-06-17T17:41:00.000-07:00

**Sorry for the pictures that are sideways, our new camera doesn't put them the proper way and it is driving me NUTS!! I don't know how to turn them the correct way....Enjoy!!

So I know I should have posted ages ago, but my excuse is that we have been having great weather for June and I have been making the best of it so therefore chores get done at night and blogging doesn't....

So Andrea came into town on Thursday June 4th (also Aid's last day of school, that post will come later). Aidan was sad that he couldn't go to the airport with me so I caved and let him go...I didn't have to work the next morning. So off we went. We saw her, both of us running (maybe not me since I had both kiddo's) and headed off to Nana's!! We didn''t get home to our house after dropping Andrea off at Nana's until after 11pm. Oh my...

Friday we all went to Aidan's end of the year school picnic. We were about an hour late to a two hour picnic but it really didn't matter. We met Teacher Chris (his new teacher) and ate some yummy snacky items since we ate breakfast/brunch right before we left for the picnic. While we were enjoying the picnic we were trying to figure out what to do since Andrea was there for such a short time. We decided to go to Snoqualmie Falls. I hadn't been there since I was little and the kids had NEVER been there so it was fun!! On our way to the car from the picnic area I spotted a Bald eagle!! Andrea was just thrilled since she had never seen one before!! It was pretty cool.

So we drove up to the falls, got out, looked around, did some shopping, ate some ice cream, and went home. It was a fun trip though. We headed back to Nana's house where we decided on pizza for dinner. I ran to Garlic Jim's and got pizza for everyone and we had a fabulous dinner and John was able to come over after he got off work. Yet another night. We weren't home until almost 11pm. On the way home, my car freaked out when the check engine light came on and the engine temperature went all the way up to the red part of the dial. I freaked out and John switched me cars and I went home to put the kids to bed. Oh my.

Saturday....well we had a ton of things to do. We went in this order....Target, Costco, Jack n the Box, back to Nana's, headed to Seattle, went on a detour to Krispy Kreme, Pike Place Market, Ivar's, Joann's Fabric, Dairy Queen, and Target again before heading back to Nana's again....

We had to go to Costco for stuff for the BBQ after the baptism and Andrea had a blast running errands, or at least she said she did. We got stuck in traffic on our way to Pike Place and the detour (M's game had just gotten out) took us past Krispy Kreme. Andrea had mentioned she use to work for them when she was 16 and so I insisted we stop. She hadn't been to one since she worked there last....did I get that right Andrea?? We finally made it to Pike...at closing (they closed within 30 minute of us being there....oops). We took her out to Ivar's but not downtown. It was CRAZY down there because of prom and we weren't even sure we could get seated at the Ivar's downtown so we found another. We ran some errands and headed home.

Sunday was the baptism day. Everyone was up early. We got to church on time and Brookie was baptized. We headed back to Nana's for a BBQ with everyone and just a fun afternoon of sprinklers, cake and good food. We are definitely blessed to have so many people in our family who love our kids so very much and we are SO blessed to have two sweet women as Brookie's God mommies!! Aidan has his auntie Kate and Uncle Dave as his Godparents, and for that we are very blessed too!!

After the BBQ we all went home early and went to bed....everyone was tired. The next day I headed to my mom's again and we did some tours and such. We headed Chateau St. Michelle and tasted some yummy wines and browsed the gift shop. Andrea picked up some fun things. I still have her wine opener that I need to send to her....I forgot to buy the envelope today to send it to you....I'll get it to you soon!!

After Chateau we went to Red Hook Brewery. We took the tour, and they serve you A LOT of beer throughout the tour. Oh well it was fun. We then went downstairs to have dinner. I think I need to take the tour again because I don't remember anything...I was entertaining both kiddo's and Aid drank so much that he needed to go potty every 15 minutes I SWEAR!! He did AWESOME though. He actually had his first can of soda. We haven't given him soda yet or very minimally. We would much rather him drink milk or water than soda and juice. That's another story. So after dinner at Red Hook, we ate dinner headed to Nana's where we hung out until it was time to go to the airport with Andrea.

As we were driving down I kept thinking of reasons to keep her here or ways to kidnap her for longer. I let her go home because I knew that Andy was missing her and was probably anxious to see his wife! It was a good weekend overall. I just wish that she could have stayed longer. I hope that I hit all the main points. If not I will write another post another day. Brookie is fussing and its time to start dinner. Enjoy the pics!!

Aidan's stats!!

2009-06-01T13:05:00.000-07:00

So we headed to the doctor this morning for Aidan's 4-year well child check-up. He was awesome and the doctor even agreed that he looked great!! We talked about everything, the behavior issues, his snoring, coughing, asthma (he doesn't have it), etc.

He is going to be on a nasal spray for about 3 weeks that will either help, or not, his snoring and coughing. Our Doctor (we have 2 that we go to whenever I take the kids in), thinks that this is allergies to dust mites perhaps, or just something else. So if he improves on everything that he is looking for, coughing, snoring, and there was one more I can't remember, in three weeks then we know its allergies. If he isn't improved, then we will have to figure out the next step.

Aidan had his blood drawn for an iron count and they had to get blood twice because the first reading was low. The second reading was just fine. He melted down and collapsed when he heard he was going to have to do it again. He wasn't even poked a second time. Once it was over he was fine though. He will randomly fuss and say it hurts but he's brave.

He also had his eyes checked and I don't remember what she said but she was starting to get irritated with people walking in front of us and I think a bit at Aidan because he was not focusing on what he should. Not my favorite nurse there though from other times we have been in too.

I opted out of giving him his kindergarten shots today because he was so worried about it all morning, and the whole way home. I figure when Brookie gets her 1-year shots in January then we will get Aid his kindergarten shots....that should be interesting. Anyhoo, I need to get lunch while Brookie is calm and Aidan is asleep. So here are his updated stats!!

Weight-51.8 pounds 97+%
Height-44 inches 97+%
BMI-can't remember this but it was 97+% also.

He is healthy and sturdy. We are hopefully going to enjoy this beautiful day that its turning out to be!!!

Happy 4th Birthday Aidan!!

2009-05-27T01:16:00.000-07:00

So our little man is 4 today!! We can't believe how far he has come!! I remember it like it was yesterday. We were packing and getting ready to meet our little guy. We were so surpirsed and happy when the doctor (and Daddy) said that "It's a boy!!" We knew our lives were forever changed! I feel as if he should still be a baby and that these last few years have flown by WAY to quckily.

Aidan,

We love you so much and are so happy to be your parents. You are the best son, big brother, grandson, nephew, cousin, friend, and person. We can't wait to see what type of man you become one day!! Our wish for you on your birthday is that you become the man that you want to be and that you strive for the best in life in all that you do!! We love you so very much bug!!

Now to all of our 4 blogger friends, here are some pictures from when he was in my belly to current!! Hope you enjoy!!

I was ready to meet him here

I felt huge here!!

before he was here!

waiting to meet our baby

checking each other out

admiring how perfect he is!

our little man 1 day old!

1st family photo

Daddy and Aidan

Mommy and Aidan

Probably my most favorite picture ever of him...with Papa!!

One of my more favorite pictures of him!

Cheese!!!

being goofy

Where has time gone??

We love you bug!!

Love,

Mommy, Daddy & Brookie

Mother's Day

2009-05-14T15:28:00.000-07:00

So, my Mother's day was fairly laid back and not very exciting. I had asked John to request the day off of work and he claims that he didn't get the request in on time. Turns out (he just admitted) that he just didn't put in for the day off (Garlic Jim's). It bothered me slightly because the only thing I wanted was for him to take the day off and for us to spend the day as a family. Oh well. Turns out he has all week to make up for not taking the day off. He was laid off this week again.....

Back to what we did. I took some cinnamon rolls out of the freezer the night before and told John that's what I wanted for breakfast. He obliged and made them for me. All he had to do was throw them in the oven and take them out when they were done. Easy. When he left for work, I got up (10:30am, we slept through his alarm for church). After I was ready to go we went to my mom's and hung out until I needed to get Aid down for a nap. Here's the thing....I don't cook or clean or anything that I normally do on Mother's day so lunch was going to be a drive-through somewhere. Aid LOVED it!! We took my mom's car, left Brookie with my mom and did a drive-through of McD's.

Not a healthy lunch but lunch none the less and I didn't cook. After that he crashed hard, tired boy. My brother and Erik came by just in time to sit down with my mom and I to watch Bride Wars...I thought it was cute!! When that was over, we ordered pizza from John and waited for the HOT delivery boy to come (ok, that's what I thought, not my mom). I woke Aid up about 10 minutes before John came to the house. He had wanted Lexi to wake him up but they weren't there yet and we thought they wouldn't be there until after John had come and gone.

We have never had John deliver pizza because we don't get our discount unless we pick up, but somehow he was able to get our discount!! So he walked in with our pizzas and I think Aidan was quite impressed!! It was fun being able to kiss the delivery guy and thank him for our pizza!! ; ) So we ate, hung out and then we all went home. By the time I got out of my mom's house, John was getting off of work. Aidan, Brooke and I dropped Michael and Erik off at the bus station and then headed home to bed (for Aidan).

It was a pretty laid back Mother's day and we thought about going to the aquarium or the zoo but since John has been laid off so much we decided to just make the best of being together as a family...we haven't done anything extra special, but I think tomorrow if he doesn't work at my mom's or his parents house we will hopefully do something fun like the park or something else. Oh well. At least we have time as a family while he isn't working....hope all the mom's out there had a blessed and happy mother's day. I sure enjoyed spending it with my mom and sister even if I couldn't spend it with my hubby.

Added one last post....

2009-05-06T22:57:00.001-07:00

Ok, so I figured while Brookie was sleeping that I would add this post that I figured I would get to later. It never seem's to happen later. I always forget to add the blog. So enjoy!!

Aidan's 1st field trip!!

2009-05-06T22:36:00.000-07:00

So Aidan had his first field trip to Kelsey Creek farm on April 28th. The neat thing was that I use to go to this farm when we lived in Bellevue and when I was his age. It was fun knowing this and remembering the different things that I use to do and to watch my own son enjoy the farm. He wasn't feeling well and we were a bit unsure that we were really going to make it but he seemed fine and we went. Turns out that night he ended up with a fever and wasn't feeling good at all. Poor guy. But he sure had fun and ran around crazy with his friends on the playground. What fun!! We decided we would all go. It seemed silly to not enjoy it together when John was home too!! It was suppose to be a no sibling tour but we took Brooke for obvious reasons. I am looking forward to more field trips in the future!!

the entire class before the tour

Aidan scowling at me...never smiles at me.

petting the pony with Teacher Lori

petting a chick

Brookie went to the doctor after the field trip and was diagnosed with Bronchiolitis but she was a trooper. Luckily it wasn't to terribly cold and she was pretty warm in the moby.

one of the 2 new goats. It was their 3rd day on the farm

Daddy looking official

Aidan reading signs and being curious

thinking where he should plant his seed

planting his pumpkin seed

petting the sheep that RAN to the fence to see us!!

one last group picture that he ended up walking out of...I think he got a bit overwhelmed on top of not feeling well.

I got one of just him though...eyes closed but it's a picture of my little guy!!

Check below...more blogs below

2009-05-06T22:35:00.000-07:00

So I just posted a bunch of different blogs. I think there are 3 below here, so make sure you check those out too. I have one more that I want to post but I will wait a few days. Enjoy!!

Mother's Day Tea at Best Beginnings!!

2009-05-06T21:58:00.000-07:00

[we were just about to eat our yummy strawberry shortcake that Aidan served to me!!]

On Tuesday at Best Beginnings was Mother's Tea day!! It was great!! We showed up at school at 2am and waited until our "date" escorted us to our seats. Aidan was the first and he came out being shy, and put my corsage he made on my wrist with a lot of help from me, and grabbed my hand and said "C'mon mom.." and drug me into the room.

[ Don't know how to turn the picture the correct way. (new camera) They are cowboy/cowgirls galloping in on their faithful steads!]

HE chose where we were going to sit and even pulled my chair out for me and waited until I sat down before he sat down in his chair...any coaching from his teachers?? I think maybe so!! ; )

[My cowboy Aidan was the cutest by far!!]

We waited until everyone was seated and then the kids were called one by one from one of the two teachers to go and get our food that we were going to eat at our tea. Aidan got mine and served me strawberry shortcake with a Hershey kiss on the side. It was so delicious. We also had a little Dixie cup of juice. I gave mine to Aidan because he wasn't hungry (remember he was just in the ER the night before and still wasn't 100% yet) but he was SO thirsty. I think he drank three Dixie cups full.

Next came the entertainment portion of the afternoon. The kids got up and sang 3 or so songs that were all about mom!! It was so sweet. Aidan was so sweet because he didn't sing. I think I have a pretty shy little guy on our hands. I also think it was part of him not being 100%.

[ During the silly song where he danced like crazy!!]

Once they sang their songs, they left the room so that we could see a video that his Teacher Lori had put together. It was so precious!! I would love to have a copy of the DVD!! It even had a few of us mom's crying...we blamed the allergies and all the pollen.

[My sweet date to the wonderful tea!!]

When they came in they were cowboys/girls. It was so cute They sang another song and then came and gave us their cowboy vest and horse that they made and bandanna!! We helped them take their vests off and then they went up and got their gifts for us. It was super sweet!!

[Goofy as usual!]

At Dad's night a few weeks ago, they made the corsage and a button and a card for me. I put the button on right away. It was a bunch of beads (small beads) glued to a pin. It was sweet. Aidan's card said the sweetest thing too. He thanked me for being his mom and for giving him Brookie Kathaleeny. He obviously loves his sister a lot!! That was the best part knowing that he is thankful and is happy that she is a part of our family!!

[Ok, 2 pictures of us...we had a bunch more but Aidan wouldn't smile for the camera. FINALLY I tickled him and he did. Do you see my corsage?? He made it with Daddy on Dad's night.]

We were able to do pictures with a cute backdrop after we were done with everything. His teacher, Teacher Gretchen who has been out since just after Christmas due to illness painted it for this special occasions since she couldn't be there too. We sure do miss her a lot!!

[ Oh and another highlight was to see this on the way home...he was pretty excited!!]

After we took our pictures we gathered up our stuff and his school bag and went home. We even got to see this cool tractor on the way home...he LOVES tractors so this was pretty cool!! I can't wait until the next school event!! I am so thankful that we can provide this for Aidan.

Brookie has a............

2009-05-06T21:35:00.001-07:00

So, on Monday between dealing with everything with Aidan I was letting Brookie nibble on my fingers/hand while we waited for Dr. Schmitz to come in. All of a sudden I felt a tooth. Yes, you heard me correctly!! I looked and sure enough!! She broke through an entire 1 1/2 months earlier than Aidan!! Wahoo!! You go girly!! She is still gnawing like crazy so I believe that the next is a close second!!

Also, she is SO close to rolling over!! My baby is growing up!! I'm guessing within the week she will have rolled for the first time. Soo, stay tuned for the latest stuff our little angel is doing !!

Monday-May 4th

2009-05-06T21:04:00.001-07:00

WOW!! That is all I have to say. I am SO over us all being sick. Aidan woke up on Monday with an all over body rash. It had the welts and everything. So we dosed him up with Benydryl and he finally stopped itching. The side effect....he CRASHED and hard. He slept for a good 4 hours. He fell asleep early too as in around 10:30am!!

I called our pediatrician's office and they got us in with our pediatrician at 3:30pm. So, we got there and the waiting room was PACKED!! I have not ever seen it that busy. We waited the longest we had ever waited both in the waiting room and after we had been taken back. Our doctor said it was because of the flu outbreak.

So she took a look at Mr. Man and sure enough it was a non-contagious rash. His rash had spread from mainly his torso to his face and head as well while we were waiting for the doctor. It blanched when she pressed on it and as long as it wasn't purple and was still blanching then he was fine. If it turned purple and didn't blanch then we were to call in.

We headed to Costco to grab some dinner (pre-made meal we have to just heat up) and get our picture from memory card to CD. While we were there Aidan's lips started swelling. People were looking at him like he was going to make them sick. I understand that but we can't be cave people especially if we aren't contagious. So, back to his lips. They doubled in size in 20 minutes. We swung by my mom's on the way home (we drive by anyway) and she noticed it too. They looked like they were going to explode.

John and I were REALLY nervous. His face and nose started to swell as well. I felt horrible for him. He was tired and was just wanting to go to bed. We called the doctors office (after hours nurse line) on the way home and they called back and recommended dosing him up with more benedryl. He was also running a fever at this point. (this is what they think caused the rash in the first place). If it (the swelling) wasn't improved in 45 minutes, then we were to take him to the ER. 45 minutes later......we were headed to Seattle Children's Hospital.

We could have gone somewhere closer but since they specialize in kids I figured we would have a less scary experience going somewhere like that. So we got there, parked (he slept the entire way) and walked to the entrance. 2 nurses met us at the door and asked us a slew of questions regarding if we have had the flu recently a cough, or fever. Of course Aid had both. So they masked us up immediately, purelled our hands and even took us in a different door to our own waiting area. Everyone who saw us was all masked up and had protective stuff on...just in case. John even got a sticker on him that said "Monday:no flu." So in other words they weren't sure if we could possibly be a swine flu case.

We were shown to our room and the phone began ringing. It was the person who needed our insurance information. She didn't even come in (only to grab the insurance card and she stood at the door). The doctor came in with two masks on. She diagnosed Aidan with hives. Same as our pediatrician. I felt a bit silly but got over it quickly since we didn't know if it would spread to his throat/mouth (swelling). Thankfully he is fine now. We were told to keep him comfortable and it will come and go for a few days to a few weeks possibly.

After we went to Dicks for food. John LOVES it there. I never have cared for it until Monday night. I would go again and I think John is on cloud 9 about this!! By the time we got home around 11pm Aidan was asleep. We had been gone for about 2 1/2 hours total. I figured we wouldn't get home until after midnight at the earliest!! I was very impressed!! On Tuesday Aidan woke up rash free!! His hands and feet were and are a bit swollen still but there is no other sign of the rash. We are just thankful it was something that was very simple to fix (with time). SO hopefully we are all on the mend....knock on wood. Hope you are all healthy!!

Sickies

2009-05-03T00:19:00.001-07:00

**Warning, this blog talks about us being sick...and Aidan threw up, so if you don't want to stomach reading that, stop here...sorry had to warn.**

Ok, so what a week...two...maybe three it's been in our house. About 3 1/2 weeks ago I started to feel icky. Sore throat, the works. Well about 2 1/2 weeks ago, Aid had a fever and wasn't acting like himself at MOPS so he missed school. He bounced back until that Friday. Then the cold hit. I continued to get worse and after 2 weeks of being sick I went to the doctor. That was this past Monday 3/27. I was diagnosed with Bronchitis. Aidan went to the pediatrician that same day too. His ears hurt, his throat hurt and he had a cough. He was miserable and looked like it.

He was fine, but that night Brookie started coughing really hard and the next morning as I drove to work, she was having a really hard time catching her breath. Well she and I went into the pediatrician later that afternoon. Sure enough she had exactly what I though. Bronchiolitis (bronchitis in babies). The good news was it wasn't pneumonia, and that she didn't have to go to the hospital. Bad news she had to do an inhaler which felt like I was smothering my baby. It helped immensely though. We did it every 4 hours for 24 hours, then every 6 hours for 24 hours, and then every 8 hours for 24 hours and now its as needed. So so far she is doing ok....except that she also has pink eye which was diagnosed the next day when she went into her appointment for a re-check to make sure she was getting better not worse from the meds. So drops three times a day for her.

So he has been fine all week except for last Monday when he wasn't feeling good...he threw up twice (super sensitive gag reflex) and has had a fever off and on for the last week. But then he act's fine. When he went in with John for Brookie's re-check (I had to work during our regular pediatrician's hours) she looked at him and he was super gunky (eyes) and she said both kids had pink eye. Fast forward to today. He has been doing better and acting like he normally does when he is healthy. Well, we had gotten home from a trip to Target and he randomly threw up. We took a bath and got into bed. He was also hungry after this. He was sleeping and started coughing and threw up again. Not just once, but a few times. He kept saying "scary" which it is!! I felt so awful for him. We couldn't help him more than try to soothe. I can't figure what is going on with him. I think we will be calling our doctor in the morning even if it is a Sunday and see what they think.

I really hope it isn't the flu because I feel like we have been sick and trapped in our apartment for forever! I want to go out and be in the real world. Luckily I am able to go to work because John hasn't been working at UPS for the last week and a half (another story entirely) so I leave Aidan at home but then I come home and we mope about our apartment and hope and pray we get better. John has a cough and snotty nose but otherwise he has dodged it....knock on wood.

SO needless to say, we are a walking petri dish and can't seem to get healthy here. My good friend and hair dresser just had a baby recently and when I brought food to them last Monday, I didn't even go near sweet Scarlett because I was fearful that we might pass something onto her. I want to go and ooh and aah at her. So for now we are sick but we should be on the mend soon!! Sorry if this is all over the place, I am so worn out (even if John let me sleep until 1pm) it is almost 1am here. We'll be better soon and if not I might move out and live in a box until everyone is healthy. Kidding. It's been beautiful here too!! Good night...trying to go to bed now.

Brookie's Baptism!!

2009-04-23T22:21:00.000-07:00

So, we finally have a SET date and SET Godparents!! I called our other Godmommy yesterday and had a wonderful conversation with her and when I asked she was so excited and she kept saying that she was going to cry!! I told her not to because that makes me cry (especially since I just had Brookie). She laughed and we continued our conversation and hung up because Brookie was starting to get hungry.

Andrea on her wedding day!! We flew to Ohio for her wedding while I was VERY prego (6 months).

Well literally an hour (maybe less) after I got off the phone with her, she called me back and said that she had a reservation to fly out here from Ohio!! It was a screaming deal, and decent flights, even if she wont be here terribly long, we will still have a grand time!!

Brookie's other Godmommy is our good friend. She has two girls of her own and I watched one all summer last year while I was prego with Brooke. In fact, Makenna is more like a big sister for Brooke instead of anything else. She was there throughout the entire pregnancy and her mom, Alexa and I have been close friends since we started hanging out a few years back.

Alexa and Brookie in the hospital visiting!!

So we are pretty excited that we have wonderful, loving, supportive, awesome people in our children's lives and that these two amazingly wonderful women will be Brooke's Godmommies!! She is a lucky girl!! Oh and the baptism date is June 7th!! Hooray!!

Pictures from Easter

2009-04-20T13:17:00.001-07:00

Ok, here are the photos from our Easter weekend!! We went on a egg hunt in the dark...so fun!! Then it was mass in the morning, over to Nana's for brunch and another egg hunt, to the Schuler's for an egg hunt, then to my in-law's for visiting with my MIL's side. Overall it was BUSY day. John worked from 5-9:30pm that day too. So it was pretty low key after we got home. Overall it was a great day!! Hope yours was great as well! Enjoy!!

Our egg hunt in the dark!!

Easter morning, he knocked Daddy's hand that was holding his coffee which spilled onto Aidan (don't worry it wasn't hot enough to scare, just surprised him).

Aidan's Easter basket hiding under the chair that has the towels laid out on that needed folding....helped to hide the basket though!!

Brookie's basket hidden under her swing! She got a Bumbo, a few PINK toys (all our toys are from Aidan), and baby legs!!

Brookie at mass in her car seat!! She looked ADORABLE!!

Aidan found his loot!! He is BIG into bowling lately

On an Easter egg hunt at the Schuler's. It was POURING outside so it was inside!

going through the eggs

looking for eggs at Nana's, we braved the weather!

Auntie Kate watching the fun!!

Uncle Mike came out too!! I wasn't able to get a good pic of Erik though. Boo.

Lexie and her bathrobe (she and Katie were napping before the hunt)

the entire gang!! First picture with all 10 of us in it!! Next family photo will have the new baby in it!! Thanks Leslie for taking the photo!

Our cute little family!! This is one of the only that Aidan would look at the camera while John was facing forward. There were plenty with John facing backwards.

Brookie in her new Bumbo!! Happy girl!!

Aidan LOVES his sister!!

Brookie in the bathtub....such a cutie pie!!

We have yet another baptism date!!

2009-04-20T13:13:00.000-07:00

Ok everyone, John and I have finally agreed on Godparents, and a new date for Brookie's baptism. She will be baptized on June 7th (day after my dad's birthday) at 11am mass. We normally go to 9am mass but the only other 9am mass that they are doing baptisms at is May 17th adn my mom is at a retreat, besides the fact that we want a bit more time to plan the "after party!!" Ok realistically it's going to be a BBQ but still.

So hooray we decided on it and hopefully we both don't get overwhelmed with how fast things creep up on us!! Enjoy the beautiful weather where ever you are!!

Calling all "Practicing Catholics"

2009-04-15T23:39:00.000-07:00

So, John and I are trying to come up with Godparents for our sweet girl. This is no easy task. We have a list of a few people that we would love to have as Godparents for her, which isn't the hard part, the hard part is we need one "practicing Catholic" and they need to provide a letter from their parish stating that they are members there and are practicing. This is new since we had Aidan, so we are having a bit of a more difficult time due to this.

When we made our Godparents list, we actually had put a few people who were Catholics (not sure if they are practicing or not) on it AND we made the list up before we found out about the "practicing Catholic" thing.

SO, my question to all my 3 blog readers..maybe 4 ; ), have you come into contact with needing one person "practicing" and/or a letter stating that they are and a member of their parish? I think John and I are almost to a decision and such, we just were wondering if other people had heard of this too!! Please leave comments letting us know!! Thanks!!

Brooke's baptism postponed

2009-04-13T20:37:00.000-07:00

Ok, it's true. We are postponing her baptism. Not because we don't want it to happen, just the opposite. We are slacker parents when it comes to deciding on Godparents. This is a tough decision and John and I want to make sure that we decide on the right people to be her Godparents. We have asked one person already, but we want (and the church requires) someone who has a strong Catholic faith, and attends church. In other word's, a "practicing Catholic."

We have had so much time and it flew by and now we are realizing her baptism was suppose to be this upcoming weekend and we are still at square one. So, I am still waiting to hear what other dates there are so that John and I can decide on when her baptism will end up taking place. I was really looking forward to having it this weekend and am a bit disappointed. But leave it to John and I to not stuff done on time....or at least take longer deciding. Ok that isn't exactly true, but you know how life goes sometimes. We are still in new baby mode....

So keep an eye out we'll post when we finalize a date and Godparents!! We know for sure we want 2 might even have 3...not sure yet....still deciding. Hope you all had a BLESSED Easter!! I sure did...John was able to switch shifts at Garlic Jim's so that he could spend most of the day with us and Brooke's first Easter!! Thank you to the person who switched with him!! He still had to work at 5pm but that was better than 10:30am-7pm or later...ok, I need to get stuff ready for work tomorrow morning. I'll post more about Easter in a few days...we have a busy week!!

Brooke gets a bath from Daddy!!

2009-04-08T21:35:00.001-07:00

Here's the proof!!

o, John has been very hesitant to do anything new with Brookie. I think it is funny because he was jumping in left and right with Aidan. He claims that it's because Brookie and I are girls and he and Aid are boys and he is use to boys. Of course I don't mind doing things for Brooke and neither does he, but I still think its funny.

After they were all clean!!

He always said in time he will give her a bath. I told him it wasn't much different than changing a diaper. In fact bathing a little girl is less involved than changing a poopy diaper. SO, tonight I was determined to "break him in." Well.................I succeeded!! Hooray!! He tried to get out of it left and right. He even claimed he needed to scoop the litter boxes (which he did, but still he wasn't getting off that easy). So, he ran out to grab something and then when he came in again, I pushed (he tried to tackle me to keep me in the bathroom so that I could bathe Brooke for him!) past him to leave the bathroom.

So happy!!

I finished the dinner dishes and started the dishwasher and went in, camera in hand, and he was just finishing washing Brookie!! He did it!! No sweat!! Aidan helped him since Aidan is always around when I give her baths. Aidan said John did a great job. John says it wasn't so bad. In fact he says its, "Just like washing any other baby." And to think he was so nervous about that!! It was so cute!!

So, now he has tackled everything I believe. Changing diapers, bathing her, dressing her, and everything else that goes along with having a baby. We'll see how the teenage years go. Hopefully he will be a bit more comfortable with girls and caring for them by then. He is just getting use to having a daughter after all.

Got Godparents??

2009-04-06T14:26:00.000-07:00

So....I have been having the Godparent conversation with John for the last 4 weeks. Anytime we sit down to discuss this topic, we don't get ANYWHERE!! I got so frustrated last night because we are SO close to a decision and he walks out of the room to go to bed. As if the conversation was finished. BUT it wasn't. The catch that has us completely stuck on is the fact that we need to have one Godparent who is a "practicing Catholic" and they need a letter stating that apparently from their church.

We have the list down to 3 people and when we start to talk well it's always "what do you think, you're the one who is Catholic." (from John to me). I counter that saying that even though I AM Catholic, Brooke is OUR daughter and it's a decision we need to make together. After all if I were to make the decision by myself then he says that I don't ask his opinion. So, if it were up to me, I would have our Godparents already decided but I want to make sure he is ok with OUR decision.

Since we haven't decided on Godparent, I haven't even gone out to buy a baptismal gown. I am a little stressed about it, but I figure that is a bit easier to get then to throw the honor of being Brookie's Godparent on someone at the last minute. It's hard because one of our choices I am not even 100% sure that they are a practicing Catholic. I am pretty sure but I don't know for sure. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am so sorry if this is a rant blog, but I am SO frustrated and couldn't fall asleep because I was so annoyed about John walking out on our conversation (which happens at least once a day usually anyway but on topics that aren't as important). So, wish us luck in making the decision and I really hope that the Godparent that we decide on doesn't feel as if they are a "last choice" thing, because that is TOTALLY not it. It's because John wouldn't give me his opinion. It's amazing that we even had a name for Brookie in the first place considering he wouldn't discuss names until about 5 days before she was born. Oh and we don't have very many friends that are Catholic let alone practicing. UGH!! I think I will shop for her baptismal gown online now. Some retail therapy to help me not be so annoyed, I won't buy yet though. I'll post when we FINALLY make a decision and ask our Godparents to be Godparents. Wish ME luck!!!

BUSY BUSY BUSY!!

2009-03-26T16:48:00.000-07:00

Hello, just a quick update before I do some laundry...

Brookie is good, starting to wake up right now and I hope she stays asleep so I can do laundry, growing like a weed and just as happy as can be!! She is getting baptized on April 19th and we are all excited...just need to buy her a baptismal gown.

Aidan is also doing well. Loving school still. His conference is tomorrow. I hope I can make it to it. He felt warm this morning as I was leaving for my mom's group and sure enough has a slight fever and has had it all day. I hope it doesn't progress to more. My mom is suppose to watch him tomorrow during the conference but if he is sick I won't be going. He LOVES his little sister and is the best help with her!!

John...hasn't been working at UPS much. He has worked 4 days out of the last 8 weeks. Not good for paying bills and our budget...err I mean WHAT budget!! He was called in at 11am today because someone got an on the job concussion. The guy who drove him to the truck (it was already in the middle of the route) said to expect to work tomorrow and all of next week and that things should substantially pick up from here on out. Same thing was said last year at this time and it wasn't until June that things picked up so we'll see. He is picking up as many hours at Garlic Jim's as possible. He only has one night off at this point a week unless he is driving for UPS then he doesn't go in at all.

Me...well I am as I like to refer to it as on "baby patrol" for a few friends that I know are due anyday now!! I am so excited for them to welcome their newest family members!! Other than that I am doing my jobs, taking care of my family and trying to be thankful for all that I have no matter how challenging my life is right now with John not working. There ARE people who have a lot less than we do. Other than that, nothing new with me. I am itching to scrapbook but can't until John is working full-time again at UPS. All my money I earn goes towards bills and such and not fun stuff such as scrap booking. Boo, but I would rather have a roof over my head then scrapbook.

Aid, just walked out of our room (its TV day since he isn't feeling well) and noticed that Brookie had kicked off her blanket. He picked it up and put it back on her without me asking!! I love how much he loves her!! More to come later!!

Quick question for my blog readers!

2009-03-14T20:02:00.001-07:00

Just curious who actually views our blog. John and I were having a conversation about this topic the other day adn I know that Sadia, Amanda, Andrea, and I believe Melanie and Aunt Margie check the blog out every once in awhile. I couldn't answer for certain. So, if you do, could you drop me a comment saying that you do!! Even if it is once in awhile if you have a spare second. Thanks everyone! Now off to finish my cinnamon rolls!!! Happy Saturday!

Brooke's 2 month appointment and Baptism is set!

2009-03-12T22:50:00.000-07:00

So, yesterday was Brooke's 2 month well-child check-up!! She was such a happy baby the entire time and LOVED looking in the mirror in the room. I think we might be investing in a mirror so she can stare at herself and "talk" to her new friend in the mirror!! She did great until shot time!! John was a champ holding his baby girl's hand and soothing her. Aidan wanted to see everything that was happening and has kept asking over and over why she got pokes yesterday. It's not easy to explain to a 3 1/2 year old why you have to have shots. We did our best every time he asked. She calmed down quickly after the shots...it helped that she nursed immediately after! Anyhoo, here are her stats!!

Weight: 11 pounds 13 ounces 75-90th percentile

Height: 22 3/4 inches 50-75th percentile (Aidan's length AT birth was 22 inches!!)

Head Circum: 39.8 cm 75th percentile!!

So our baby girl is growing well and becoming more and more lively everyday!! We are so in love with this tiny person it is so incredible!! We feel truly blessed to have her in our family!! We are so blessed to have 2 wonderful kids!!

VOTE!

2009-03-10T21:26:00.000-07:00

Ok, tomorrow is Brookie's 2 month well baby check. I am going to post a poll on the side of this blog. I'm curious to get your opinion of what you think Brooke is weighing these days!! I'll post later tomorrow!!

Aidan, my big helper!!

2009-03-10T21:13:00.000-07:00

So Aidan has transitioned fairly well I would say to having a little sister!! He asked me today as I was going through some CD's with his baby pictures on them, who his big brother was. I felt sad for a split second that he won't get that "big brother/sister" to look up to but I also know that someone has to be the big brother/sister.

Today while I was making dinner, Brookie was a bit fussy and just wanted to be held constantly. That was hard because I was in the middle of doing dishes, cleaning the kitchen, and making pancakes for dinner. Aidan kept running back and forth between the kitchen and the family room where she was chilling in her swing to soothe her and put her binky in and to get the swing moving slowly. We still need to put batteries in the swing.

I am so blessed to have Aidan helping me out so much and being my big helper dude!! Whether it be in the back seat as we are driving or if she is fussing and I am busy or even if I am not busy, he will love on his sister and help her out and do his best to soothe. He has been known to pick her up out of the bouncer while it was sitting on the floor even!! She was fine, Just not my idea of something I really wanted my 3 1/2 year old to do with my 6 week old (at the time) baby!! He now understands the ground rules a bit better.

He just loves his little sister so much that he doesn't want her to be sad. He even waited to eat so that I could eat my dinner tonight while she cried. That way I could nurse her while he ate. He is such a generous boy. I wish I could devote more time to my sweet boy but he is doing ok with sharing John and I. We try and do "date day's" with him and I because he gets a lot of time with John already. I really love my helper boy!! I hope that he continues to be as helpful with his little sister!!

Brookie is 2 months old!!

2009-03-08T17:45:00.000-07:00

This picture wasn't taken today, but it was the only picture of her in a bath without showing to much of her....if you follow.

Today, my baby girl is officially 2 months old!!! I know, I know, I sound as if she is going off to school or something horrible like that. Ok that isn't horrible, but still. We celebrated her day today, by me sleeping in until almost 1pm!! What a beautiful thing it was. John would bring Brooke in for meals and then I would let him know when she was finished so that he could get her.

I have come down with either allergies or a cold. Not sure which although I am saying cold because my ears are popping and my throat hurts but that is all. Weird. Anyhoo, I digress. Once I was awake, ate some food myself, I was holding Brookesters and she was pretty awake and being the fun little one that she is. Aidan has been asking to take a bath with Brooke for about a week or so now and I keep saying that we will but run out of time, or something else comes up. So, since Brooke was so wide awake and happy, I decided to do an impromptu bath. Aidan was tickled!! He had a blast. He was my big helper boy helping to wash Brookie and to scrub her with the washcloth. He even helped wash her hair!! I am so glad that he loves his sister so, I hope it lasts!!

After that we let Aid take a bit longer of a bath. He had fun playing with the toys that I wouldn't let him keep in the tub while Brooke was in there. Once he was out and dressed, we headed to Target. We needed to buy night time diapers for Aid and get some more cheese and bread. We ended up leaving with a bit more than that as usual. How does that happen?? So, after checking out we got icee's (I got a strawberry smoothie that was WAY to sweet!!) and headed home. Aidan and John "mowed" outside and I nursed Brooke because it was time to eat yet again.

Now John is at work, and Aidan is watching my favorite Disney movie, Beauty and the Beast, and I am talking to my mom during her commercials on her Lifetime movie. She calls me every time that there is a commercial. It's pretty funny!! We aren't doing much else today. John and I will celebrate if he brings a pizza home from work tonight. We have a new favorite; pepperoni, olives, mushrooms and FETA cheese!! It is FABULOUS!!!!!!!!! Ok, enough of my rambling. I hope you are all having a great weekend and I will post stats from her doctor's appointment on Wednesday!!

The Bachelor!!!!

2009-03-02T22:20:00.000-08:00

Jason Mesnick

Ok, so as some of you know I am sort of a "The Bachelor" junkie!! For those who are unaware what "The Bachelor" is, it's a reality TV show. This season was Jason Mesnick. He is from Kirkland, WA which is about 15 minutes from where I live. My sister, Katie has even met him once after he appeared on "The Bachelorette." She has the pics on her camera phone to prove it too. Anyhoo, tonight was the finale and all I can say is OMG!!

OH MY GOODNESS!!! Let's just say that looks can be deceiving. He acted like so many men out there and I know it is a reality show and the amount of people that actually make this sort of thing work out after their entire relationship has been viewed by millions of people is minuscule, it's still shocking. He is breaking off his engagement to "pursue" the gal he sent home. I can't believe that they didn't do this behind closed doors, instead it was on national television.

Although, I have to admit that I am fairly ticked at Jason for hurting Melissa and for being an idiot, I do feel slightly sorry for him at the way she totally bit his head off and handed it to him on a silver platter. I have been known to do that to John once or twice and I know how awful I feel after I bite his head off. Ok, he needs to figure his head out before he goes and hurts someone else. It wouldn't be fair. He has a 4 year old son who can get attached to a woman that he would bring home and then not understand why she is not in the picture anymore if it weren't to work out. Poor Ty (his son). That's all I have to say. Ok, I think I said everything....I think they should bring Melissa on as the next Bachelorette. She deserves happiness after all of this.

Picture OVERLOAD!!! It's been awhile!!

2009-02-28T14:03:00.000-08:00

Ok, these pictures were loaded from newest at the top to oldest at the bottom. Also, I wrote a blurb about each from the bottom of the blog to the top. I know, it almost doesn't make sense. Enjoy!!!

There's my smiley girl!!

smiling for Daddy

Worn out from oncoming cold.

This is one of her preferred styles of sleeping on me.

Cuddling with Daddy

He is such a proud Great Grandpa!!

Great Grandpa with Aidan and Brooke

Helping me clean a bowl after making cake

One of 2 of his favorite ways to swing!!!

My adorable girl!!! I can't get enough of her!!!

Aidan's latest obsession.....swings!!!

Look at the size difference!!

Checking each other out

This is what I looked like after we were done....I was in need of a serious shower to get off the sticky finger paint.

Having fun.

We did this with all our names. We didn't name her until we saw her though.

What we fondly referred to baby girl as!

John chose NOT to get messy and opted to be the cameraman!

Messy hands boy!!

Making a creation on my extremely large belly!!

Belly painting!! Aidan loved this so very much!!

The last prego picture taken at home...I felt as huge as a house!!

One of the many snow pictures we took!! It was just incredible how much snow actually fell here in the Northwest!! We never get much more than MAYBE an inch and this time we got over 2 feet!! John and I never measured more than 18 inches but we were measuring packed down snow too, so there was technically more!

The picture I took with my camera. I have the actual photo and it turned out really well!!

My studly husband shoveling Nana's driveway only to have it get covered yet again. Dave was helping him too!!

Helping to shovel Nana's walkway. This was when we celebrated Christmas early with everyone. Katie, Dave and Alexis were in Colorado for Christmas so we celebrated early. Dave was really sweet and went out probably about 5-6 times over the course of the night to shovel snow from around my car in case I went into labor and needed to head to the hospital. What a sweet brother-in-law!!

He absolutely loved it and I wish I could have played with him in the snow a bit more but being SO very prego I didn't have the energy to get dressed in snow clothes that didn't fit, go outside, get soaked, play, come in, get undressed, warm up and do it all over again in a few hours. It was exhausting to think about!!

Our first official snow day of the year!! We got about 18 inches this day. Over 2 feet total during this storm alone. CRAZY!! But so much fun!!

Aidan wrote his name for the first time!! It is under the darker letters!! He's growing up so fast!!

Brooke's first cold...

2009-02-25T14:22:00.000-08:00

Hello!! It's been awhile. John is still not working and its not looking like he will be working anytime soon. The economy stinks right now. Anyhoo, we have not been home for literally the last 7 weeks!! We stayed with my mom and then moved home for a week, or rather more like 5 days, then off to housesit again. We moved home this past Saturday night for good!! Nothing else is lined up as of now!!

Aidan has had a cold for the last 3 weeks and it started to get worse at the start of our last housesitting job. We took him into the doctor because he clearly wasn't himself. They put him on antibiotics which helped him get better from the effects of the cold. Well, now it seem's that Brooke has picked that bug up. Poor girl. She has been crying off and on all morning long. She slept until almost 11am when she woke up and ate and nestled back down on my chest (I was at work at the time too) and fell asleep. She started getting fussy there and I have been suctioning her nose like crazy for the past day or so. SHe hates it but she isn't fighting to much.

I called the doctors because knowing that Aid had been on antibiotics for his cold, I wanted to make sure that they didn't want her to come in not to mention that she was in the NICU for sever congestion and not able to nurse and such. Nursing at night is a challenge for her and first thing in the morning, but otherwise she manages nicely. I feel awful for her but right now there is nothing I can do other than suction when I see something that is blocking her nose, humidifier, warm bath, saline drops, and make sure she is comfortable. To make matters worse she has, as I would describe it, a big kid cough in a babies body. So in other words, a crackly cough. I didn't know it was possible!! I hate hearing her so congested.

So that is the update on Brooke. I need to upload some current pics of the precious angel. I have been trying to get moved back into our apartment and clean up the incredible mess we have managed to make. UGH!!!!!!!! Not fun especially while loving on a sicky girl and trying to keep the promise of taking Aidan on a date for Mommy/Aidan time. Oh and working on baby announcements!! So much to do these days!! H0pe you all are staying healthy and enjoying your Februrary!!

Brooke's 1-month appointment!

2009-02-10T20:54:00.000-08:00

So, I know I have been HORRIBLE about posting for the last month but we were at my mom's for the entire month (from January 11th-February 8th). She was great!! She was an awesome help for the first two weeks after my surgery/Brooke's birth. She even spent the night at the hospital the first night. I will tell the entire story after I get a few minutes or more to type it up. It is quite the story. We didn't have Internet access on our laptop at my mom's house so I am playing catch up now. After the first 2 weeks, mom went to Eugene to visit her dad (my grandpa) and her siblings and was there for 2 weeks and we "house sat" or rather we lived in her house where we had tons more room than our dinky small apartment.

Well, Brookesters had her 1 month check yesterday and John and I took her. John has worked one day this entire month and won't work for at least another 2 weeks if not longer (I am anticipating LONGER). Not good. But he is doing lot's with us and we are having a lot of great family time and we haven't killed each other yet. So, at the appointment we had them re-check her jaundice because the corners of her eyes still appear slightly yellowish. Our doctor, Dr. Schmitz, who is FABULOUS, thought it looked fine and then the more she looked at Brooke's eyes, and the more she thought about she wanted to be safer than sorry and did the heal stick and the bilirubin blood test. It came back just fine.

Her baby acne is getting better then worse then better. This should be gone by 3 months of age. It is 10X worse than Aid's ever was. My mom got home and commented on how bad Brooke's acne was and I told my mom that it was actually better. She thought it looked painful for Brooke. It is on her upper back/shoulders and upper chest areas in addition to her face. Otherwise Brooke is a healthy baby girl who is starting to get her days and nights back to normal.

So her stats....Brooke is 10 pounds exactly, 21 3/4 inches long, and her head is 38 1/4 cm around!! She is in the 75% for weight and height and I believe the 75-90% for head circumference. Just to compare....Aidan's BIRTH weight was 9 pounds 6 ounces, 22 inches long and HC was 38 cm. So our baby girl is about the size that Aidan was at birth!! CRAZY!! She is eating great, sleeping great during the day and is a very easy going baby!! I enjoy every day with her and can't wait for the next day we have with her!! So I thought I would update!! Enjoy the pics!!

Look what our cat's left us...

2009-02-10T20:45:00.000-08:00

So, we got home from having dinner at my mom's (we were suppose to eat with my Grandpa, but he was feeling under the weather with a cold so it was just Aid, John and myself eating, mom was in Seattle at something). I started walking into our family room and just outside of our washer/dryer area, I stopped abruptly when I saw this on the ground....

I couldn't figure what it was. I thought the cat's were expressing their annoyance at another little, crying, pooping, eating, sleeping, attention taking thing in our house. Either that or a massive hairball. Either way EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So on further inspection, we realized it was our fabulous beef jerky that my mom brought up from Eugene at our most favorite custom meat store. It is seriously the best beef jerky in the entire world and I don't like jerky. So John turned to me and said, "We SO need to write a blog about this!!" He never has spoken those words to me in his life. I got the impression he never really understood the reasoning behind blogging and such. So, yea, hope you get a good laugh out of the cat's finding the jerky and nibbling on a piece. They don't even like tuna!! CRAZY cats!!!

Brooke Kathleen Parkinson

2009-01-28T16:46:00.000-08:00

She's here!! We have been staying at my mom's and the two other times I have come home since Brooke was born have been for me to weed through the 100+ emails that I have received and to pay bills. So, without further ado, I will give you the stats, a picture or two and will update when we are officially home from my mom's. We were suppose to be home on the 26th but mom asked us to house sit while she went to Oregon for 2 weeks, so we might be home this weekend or in a week from now!! I have a lot of blogging to catch up on. I can't connect to the Internet at her house because we have two different programs that aren't compatible. Bummer for me and for everyone else!! So, here she is!!

Brooke Kathleen Parkinson

1-8-09

12:25pm

8 pounds 1 ounce

20 inches long

Healthy as can be, had a NICU stay (we were both discharged the same day and I WILL tell all about it when I can blog next-I am working on a HUGE blog on my laptop since I can't do anything else such as be online).

We are thoroughly in love with our little Princess. Aidan can't seem to get enough of his sister. We are getting in the routine of no sleep....or rather I am. It is definitely worth it. We are truly truly blessed!!!!!

Tomorrow is B-day!!

2009-01-07T21:08:00.000-08:00

So, I can't believe it already is here!! Baby day!! I am nervous, anxious, irritated, excited, annoyed, overwhelmed, frustrated, and every other emotion I can imagine. Nervous, anxious, frustrated are because of the c-section and that baby girl didn't come earlier for me to attempt a VBAC and because the docs won't let me go longer to try for that VBAC. Irritated, annoyed, overwhelmed, frustrated because my hubby has been working so many hours lately that nothing has gotten done around the house and I have had NO motivation or energy to do anything. Also, John has been promising me he would do things around here and get our place clean and that NEVER happened. FRUSTRATING!!!

Oh well. John has been working 12-13 hour days and is pretty beat by the time he gets home. I feel for him and am SO thankful he's willing to work as hard as he does on a daily basis and then comes home to deal with my hormonal self. I am hoping that once all the hormones relax that I will too. I am getting pretty tired of all the hormones going crazy too.

Anyhoo, I am hoping and praying that everything goes smoothly and on time tomorrow although I wouldn't mind having another week to get everything taken care of. Our weekend (last weekend) flew by. I scrapbooked with a few friends for the last time in awhile probably and John hung out with Aidan and watched movies. Needless to say we were pretty lazy all weekend.

So, keep your eyes on the blog I am hoping that the Internet will work at the hospital with my laptop and that my laptop will work (its been on the fritz lately). I really want to be able to post pics of baby girl for everyone to see and for everyone to know that she is here!! We will be staying with my mom for about 2 weeks or so while I recover and for her to help out with Aidan. So I need my laptop to be working there too. So, if I am a bit MIA for the next 2 weeks its probably because my laptop is not working. Can't wait for you all to meet our beautiful daughter!!!

An update........

2009-01-04T22:08:00.000-08:00

Ok, I give up...I am not going to promise to upload pics. I have to much on my plate. If you really want to see pics, I am going to attempt to upload to dropshots which is actually a bit faster anyway to upload to. So there you have it.

So we are officially T-4 days until baby girl (or less if she listens to her momma and comes out before the c-section date). My c-section is at noon on Thursday Seattle time. For those of you who are anxiously awaiting her arrival (which is most of you) I will have my laptop at the hospital and will probably update the next day, MAYBE that night but don't count on it. We'll see how I feel at that point. My mom will be helping out in her very well adapted role of Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy. John will also be with me obviously at the hospital and will be running home here and there. I am giving him a hard time because I keep asking him to pack his bag and he still hasn't. Procrastination!!!!! He has been working a lot and we finally just started on our hurricane zone (our apartment). It isn't much better which is frustrating for me, but I can't change that at this point.

Baby girl is pretty darn cozy and I seriously don't think she wants to come out. Which is pretty disappointing for me because I was really hoping to accomplish a VBAC this time around. If she isn't here by Thursday, they are slicing and dicing. I had a horrible experience (in my opinion) with the first c-section, and had a nightmare last night and so now I am even more anxious about the impending c-section. Keep your fingers crossed and send vibes to baby girl that she WILL come out before the c-section, via VBAC.

Oh and one last thing before I go make something to eat, again, we finally have a list of names, although it is fairly short (not to many to choose from). The names in no particular order are..........Brooke, Faith, Lillian (Lilly)-not sure on how many ll's we would put in this name yet. We'll figure that out later, or Sydney. So, if you get a moment vote on your favorite and then check back (assuming my laptop is working) on Friday to see what we chose. I figure I will have plenty of time where I am just laying around in bed at the hospital to watch TV, bond with baby girl, blog, and be bored, and catch up on sleep...or rather try to. So, hope you are all doing well. If I don't post before Friday, doesn't mean that she has come yet, I will post FOR SURE on Friday and let everyone know what is going on!!! ; )

Happy New Year's Eve

2008-12-31T17:22:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I know I said I would update pics last weekend but seriously people, time seems to get away from me. I have had an ok week. Ok it was great until my OB appointment yesterday and then yea...if it weren't so close to my due date I would be picking a new doctor. Long story short. I'll blog about it later, right now I want to keep this short since Aidan is watching the end of a Curious George episode and then we need to go to Target to pay a bill, and buy a few things.

So, aside from nesting and being overwhelmed and not sleeping I am doing ok. We are hoping to head to Kent tonight to celebrate New Year's Eve with some friends at their annual party, but we'll see what time John is off. He worked 9am-11pm yesterday so who knows. He and I will take Aidan out to the in-law's and then head to Kent!! Should be good times. So, more blogging will be done soon. I promise and I promise to update just as soon as I am able to get my paws on a computer after baby girl is born!! I am hoping on taking my laptop to the hospital with me. We'll se though. So, in closing this last blog post for the year of 2008, I wish each and everyone of my 2 readers a blessed 2009 and a VERY safe New Years Eve.

Hope to see you in 2009!!!! Love you all!! Oh and officially 8 days until the c-section date for those who didn't know yet!! I hope I don't have to have another c-section. Keep your fingers crossed for me please!!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Pictures....

2008-12-25T13:33:00.000-08:00

Ok with Christmas I know I have been slacking getting pics up on the blog but that is on my weekend to-do list so check back here by the end of the weekend and hopefully there will be new pics from the last little bit!!

MERRY CHTIRSTMAS!!!

2008-12-25T13:18:00.000-08:00

First off, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! What a wonderful day today was so far. John worked until 8pm last night and then we came home and got ready for the festivities of today. I crashed around midnight and he crashed sometime around then in our comfy new chair that we got so that I can nurse baby girl in. He came to bed around 2am. He has fallen asleep in that chair more since we got the chair than our own bed. CRAZY!!

I woke him up around 5-6am to let him know we hadn't put out a gift for Aidan...the all important doctor's kit. He has been wanting one for the longest time now and he FINALLY got it!! Well, we went to bed and around 8am we got a call from the in-law's. They were without power!!! All this crazy wonderful white stuff knocked out their power!! We were suppose to be there at some point this morning (no time specified which is never good to tell us since we will show up when we get up and get going...). Greg told John that they were cancelling today and rescheduling it for Saturday, or Sunday if John ends up working on Saturday. We were going to do gifts and eat breakfast with them. It's a bit difficult to eat breakfast without power.

So, John and I watched Good Morning America or whatever was on and waited for Aidan to wake up. He has had some REALLY late bedtimes lately so I expected him to sleep late....9am and he comes strolling out of his room into the family room. First things out of his mouth; "Santa came!!! He didn't eat all his cookies or drink all his milk. Maybe he's saving it for later!!" John and I laughed because it was pretty silly the way he said it. Once he changed into his big boy underroo's we started in on the gifts!! We all got some wonderful gifts this year and without going overboard!!

I suggested that we go to breakfast since it was a special occasion and it would be more fun than making our own. I twisted and turned John's arm a bit and he finally agreed. After breakfast, we went on a man hunt for gas. I was nearly out and either all the stations were sold out, only accepting cash, or they had no power. We finally hit up a station that had gas!! We came home and decided to put Aid down for nap but first we thought we would add to the morning and get stuck backing into our parking spot. Luckily a friend of a friend was driving by at that moment and he and John pushed on the car as I laid on the gas to back into our spot. We made it after getting stuck in ruts that were 6 inches deep....thanks stupid apartment complex that hasn't done a darn thing except to keep the walkway by the office clear this whole snow storm. Whole separate story.

So now I am sitting here listening to the boys get ready to go outside to play in the snow that we have and the new accumulation that has fallen already today!! Talk about a white Christmas!!! It is WONDERFUL!! We are headed to take Aidan to see Bolt this afternoon because he has been asking to go to the movies lately and since we aren't going to my mom's due to the snow and the fact that she has no power as well, we figured we would do things that we don't normally do!!! Mom was going to go with us and go to dinner after since we can no longer warm up the ham and make the scalloped potatoes, but since she is trying to warm her house by keeping the fire going all day she is laying low and we are too!!! So, now that you know just exactly what we have planned, I hope that you are enjoying this wonderful day today with your family!! Merry Christmas and stay safe if you are anywhere that has snow or awful driving conditions!!!

I'm dreaming of a WHITE Christmas!!!

2008-12-23T11:46:00.000-08:00

So, as many of you probably have heard, we have had an insane amount of snow this year!! Snow officially started snowing on December 13th but it was only a dusting which promptly melted the next day. By Wednesday the temperatures were downright cold. I was optimistic that we would get more snow (the blizzard that they were predicting) but it wasn't coming as quickly as they had predicted. SO, Aidan and I decided to bake cookies, mint M&M, peanut butter blossom, and peanut butter cookies with a peanut butter cup in the center to be exact. We had a lot of fun. I also made some yummy chutney and lemon curd for Aidan's pre-school teachers. In the back of my mind I knew if I went crazy we would for sure get snow....it's been known to happen before!!

Sure enough....by the morning we had at least 8 inches of snow. I woke up around 3:30am and there was nothing, ok it was a dusting and "trying" to stick in spots to the road but it was pathetic at that point. By 6:30am....well.....that was the 8 inches. You have to remember that all areas around us had snow dumping on them since the night before while we had been getting rain. I was so thrilled!!!! Aidan and I took John to work because his car doesn't have studs on yet or chains and my car has the studs on it.

It snowed all last Thursday (Dec. 18th) until around 5pm and then nothing until Saturday. We got 12-13 inches from the Thursday snowfall. It was great!! We had so much fun playing!! I have decided that I live in the wrong climate where we don't usually get snow. Well it snowed, Saturday all night and we were at my mom's for our Christmas since Katie and her family will be visiting her in-law's (if they can leave the airport). My brother-in-law was outside shoveling around my car at least 4 times from the time we got there around 6pm until we went to bed around midnight because he was concerned that I would have this baby and need to get out and wouldn't be able to. I thought it was so sweet!! Nope, no baby. John and Dave shoveled all morning on Sunday while Katie, Alexis and Aidan played in the snow. I stayed inside because all I really could do was stand there.

We had snow all day on Sunday as well and a windstorm from Saturday evening that actually left drifts!! It was C-R-A-Z-Y!!! By the time John and I got home on Sunday evening after visiting Santa and grabbing dinner, we had at least another 8-12 inches. So total snow fall was 18-24 inches!! John thinks its around a foot, but he didn't take into account the snow that was compacted from the first snow fall. Things have since iced over and our parking lot might as well be an ice skating rink. It can get exciting!!

Anyhow, we have had temps as low as the single digits and not getting higher than mid-30's and that was just yesterday. Crazy!!! My in-law's came and got Aidan for me today since I have a few doctor's appointments and it is right during his nap time. When I walked outside to say good-bye to Aidan the snow was lightly falling. I was happy!! I love it when it snow's!! My MIL wasn't so thrilled I believe! She thought I was crazy for being excited and happy about the snow!! Oh well. So we'll see what the rest has in store for us!! So stay tuned....I have pictures to post but right now, I need to go grab a shower and get to my appointments so I am not late. I don't know how long it will take me to get to Evergreen Hospital since there are hills everywhere around it. I'll post pics soon!! PROMISE!!!

We've been Elfed!!!

2008-12-15T16:56:00.000-08:00

Go check us out!! It's pretty darn funny!!

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/dfSLsIldr8tU/WUfekRVjCqEjECfacTi9MKR8

Jury Summons....

2008-12-11T16:00:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I was just chatting with some friends at Redmond Lights this past Sunday. Brenda, said she had been summoned for jury duty. I told her that I have been summoned a handful of times while in college, and the last time being while I was in Pullman going to school. I remember clearly that I sent the summons back to wherever saying that I would be in school on the other side of the state. No problems from there.

Flash forward to today!! I got our mail from the last two days...yes I am getting lazy and it is locked so I don't feel badly going a few days without checking. I got a jury summons!! HAAA!!! I laughed because I figured that it would be around the time baby girl will be coming or after. I was right, February 3rd for 4 days. I have to report at 8am. If I knew that John would be working consistently (which he probably won't be, whole different story), and I didn't have work, a possible major surgery (c-section), and a couple week old baby I would TOTALLY do it. Not because I REALLY want to but because as an American citizen, that is part of my obligation.

So, I have called and am waiting for a call back. There is no way I am leaving my few week old baby at home with someone else for 4 days ALL day long especially since I will be nursing my sweet baby. So we'll see what happens. I'll do it but they will have to put up with an infant and that right there would probably get me dismissed!! I am just laughing at the whole situation at this point. What's the luck that right after I give birth I would be summoned?? I had a friend who was summoned during the week that her baby boy was due last year. Have any of you had something interesting like this happen??

Poll!!!

2008-12-07T19:38:00.000-08:00

Check out the poll on your right!! I would love to know everyone's opinion!! So go do the poll!!

My man in brown...

2008-12-05T17:01:00.000-08:00

So, John surprised me one night a few weeks ago. He said that he had a surprise for me when I arrived home. I was a bit upset with him because I thought he was trying to pick a fight with me or something or trying to push my buttons on purpose.

So when I got home, I went straight into the bathroom and started Aidan's bath. As I waited for the tub to fill, I turned on the TV in our room and fumed. Aidan was to busy talking to Daddy. John asked Aidan to have me come look at the computer. I wasn't in a good mood at that point. I had been out shopping with my mom for a few hours, and being as prego as I am I was tired and didn't want to move. So....John came to me.

Well, he had a plaque and pin to show me. It was a recognition to John from UPS. It was recognizing him for a year of safe driving (no accidents). I am so proud of him. I think I actually got a bit teary eyed but mainly because I felt so bad for thinking he was trying to pick a fight with me or push my buttons!! So, with the plaque, and pin and such, he got to choose something from a catalog!!! He was so happy and I was so proud of him!! Way to go baby!! I love you and thank you for all the hard work that you have done for us through the last year!! Bring on peak!!!!

The photo above is of John's first day as a driver at UPS!!! What a wonderful day that was!!! Aidan and I sure do love our man in brown!! Sissy will too!!!

3 blogs below this one...

2008-12-04T22:35:00.001-08:00

So, I promised that I would update the blog as soon as I could with pictures and such. So here you go. There is pictures from Thanksgiving, our stay at Willow's Lodge, our Godson Logan and this one. So I just blogged 4 different blogs!! Have fun catching up!! Sorry its overload. I usually don't do this but I didn't want to forget about it and I know that this weekend will be crazy with lots of stuff. I am having my baby shower on Saturday, we are picking up our new recliner (thanks Nana!!! We are so excited to get it!!), decorating, going to Redmond Lights, and John is working at Garlic Jim's to fill in as a sub. He isn't working at Garlic Jim's until after baby girl is born. So there you have it!! Enjoy!!!

Our Godson, Logan!!

2008-12-04T22:16:00.000-08:00

Ok, so this is our Godson Logan!!! He is such a sweet little boy. I remember the frantic phone call the day before he was born from his momma who was told she was having her baby that day. She was a little anxious and unsure of what was going to happen so she called me. I have known her for YEARS!!! She passed in a car accident WAY to early about 16 months ago. Logan has been living with his dad and we didn't really know him all that well. So, long story short we haven't seen Logan since his aunt's wedding in the middle of January 2008. We have missed him SO much.

Well, what do you know. John and I were walking up the stairs to church on Sunday and I turned to John and asked if that was Logan. I didn't have my glasses on so I couldn't tell. I was 99% sure. When I got to the top, his Nana (my mom's really close friend) waved to me and pointed as if to say look who I have with me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She also hasn't seen Logan a whole lot. She was on cloud 9 to be with him and spend anytime with. So, we sat with them, chatted and John played with Logan!!

Seeing him happy and such was such a wonderful thing. It had been SO long and we think of him all the time. We love the little guy so much and wish that we could see him more but we will take what we can get. We were so thankful to be able to see him. What a wonderful way to end our Thanksgiving weekend!!! Enjoy the photos!!!

Logan sitting on his Nana's lap playing with his soaps (from Nana's bathroom-he washed mine and John's faces with the soap!!)

playing with John

cuddling with his Nana!!! She sure misses him

Eating doughnuts after mass. Aidan was excited to see Logan although he hadn't seen Logan in much longer than we had. Still so fun!!!

Willow's Lodge!!!! A-M-A-Z-I-NG!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-12-04T21:49:00.000-08:00

WOW!!!! That is all I have to say about Willow's Lodge in Woodinville!!! I won a nights stay at Willow's at our spa day for my MOPS group. It was a chance of a lifetime. I remember someone said that I won the "grand prize" and I remember asking what was it because I was busy doing the craft that they had out for us that day or munching on some yummy food that we always have at our MOPS meetings. When someone told me I was awed by how lucky I was at getting a chance to win something like this not to mention a chance to stay somewhere that I thought would only happen in my fairytale!!!

Well the stay was.....AWESOME!!!!!! I took 2 baths in the gigantic tub, while watching TV. It was heaven. John and I hung out watched TV and just had a nice little break from reality. I was able to check in at 4pm and after picking up my mom and Aidan (he was at my in-laws since I had a funeral to go to that morning). The three of us headed down to the hotel. We got in and our jaws were on the floor!! It was gorgeous. Aidan jumped on the bed, ran around, was busy and downright CRAZY!!! He washed his hands in the tub because he couldn't reach the sink. I wish I had taken a picture of that it was rather funny and super cute.

Once John got off work (we watched TV, my mom napped) he came down and we all took Nana (my mom) and Aidan to my mom's house. We stopped by Mazatlan before we took them home. Aidan and John went to the bathroom while at the restaurant and Aidan came running back to the table, tripped and spilled John's beer all over. Luckily it ended up completely in my plate of food. I though, oh not so bad, I can pick around the food, but then I remembered John didn't get coke but beer and changed my mind. They were really nice and brought me a complete new plate and John a fresh beer. It was rather nice of them. Aidan refused to eat after that. He felt SO bad for causing such a mess. He had the saddest look on his face. It was so cute I tried hard not to laugh. The only way he would eat was if he got some cuddles from me and loves, and sat next to me on the booth side. I was squished between my mom and Aidan. So comfy.

So after we took Nana and Aidan home, John and I headed to Cold Stone got ice cream and headed to the hotel. We hung out, I took a bath, and we watched TV. He would have watched all sports but I complained and whined enough saying that I wasn't sitting in a hotel room that cost as much as it did to watch sports. He changed. Well, the next morning, even though we were kid less, we both woke up at 7am. I was STARVING so we went to Woodinville Cafe, we love this place and haven't been in ages. We were literally 2 of 6-8 people in the entire restaurant. It was great. We saw some people that John knew, I know them now through him.

After breakfast, we headed to Target and had to wait until they unlocked the doors. It was weird being in so early. We did a bit of shopping and hung out and then headed back to the hotel. I took another bath, John tried the football thing again, but I again wouldn't have it....nice try though. We both took naps and then showered and got ready to head out. We had to check out by noon so it was a low key stay. We went out to lunch after and picked out our new recliner at Reclinerland and ran a few other errands then off to pick up Mr. Aidan from Nana's. Overall it was worth it!! I LOVED it. Highly highly recommend it if you have the cash. It was an experience of a lifetime and look forward to someday going back there for an anniversary or something like that!!

SO....here are our photos of our visit. I took a bunch when we first got there and a few of John....as usual I was behind the camera and not in front. Enjoy!!

the bed....not as comfy as ours BUT still awfully nice!!

the fireplace and TV

Aidan bouncing on our bed....breaking it in

overpriced food, and our table and chairs

the lovely lovely bath that I will have in my home someday!! It's added to the must have list for my home!!

Nana checking out the shower or is she playing peek-a-boo

the sink!!

again....the bath!! The important things in life especially for me since it made me feel weightless with my big old belly!!

John chilling in bed....something we don't get to do much anymore

Thanksgiving 2008

2008-12-04T21:23:00.000-08:00

So, I promised photos and these are from our Thanksgiving!! John prepped the bird, stuffed it with help from my mom and got it in the oven. I helped get the stuffing ready to be stuffed and then later I made the green bean casserole. My sister was in charge of the mashed potatoes and she ended up "forgetting" about them and her hubby, Dave took over with me being his sous chef....I don't think he has ever made anything but boxed...I could be wrong though. Enjoy our photos!!! We had a FABULOUS Thanksgiving with a lot to be thankful for!!

John prepping the bird

Mom and I working on the stuffing...she just was adding herbs I did the rest!!

mixing the wet ingredients with the bread crumbs

stuffing the bird!! This can be a messy job!!

mom overseeing what John was doing making sure he was doing it correctly so that he can prep our turkey that we have in our freezer when we cook it!!

Aidan cutting potatoes to put into the pot of boiling water...don't worry the knife was a butter knife, and the potatoes did not go in the pot.

giving cousin Lexi a hug good-bye

my handsome little man

Michael and Eric

Katie and Dave

Miss Lexi Lou

Dave

The Nana...after a long day...we all were tired after our second turkey dinner. The first one on Thanksgiving, my brother and Eric couldn't make it so we had a second feast on Sunday!! This way our turkey could cook some more. Still wasn't done after 2-3 more hours of cooking....10+ hours total of cooking and still raw in places....CRAZY!!!!!

Family photo....don't know when the last one was taken. I thought it was about time. Not to mention that I need it for a project!!

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

The countdown has begun....34 weeks, 5 to go!!

2008-12-02T22:26:00.001-08:00

So, my oh my I am officially 34 weeks today!! Can you believe it! I certainly can't. It seems like just yesterday that I was telling John that we were going to be parents again, then finding out we were having a girl, now we have no more than 5 weeks to go!! Since I am trying a VBAC and have gestational diabetes, they don't want me going past 39 weeks!! One week closer to meeting our daughter!!

Well, I have been having non-stress tests for a few weeks now and this week we are starting two a week. Today was a good day. Baby girl finally started moving after they buzzed her twice and she woke up from her afternoon nap. My appointment is at 1pm usually on Tuesdays so I assume she was just practicing for when she is here!! Also, while we were in there I had a pretty darn tooting strong contraction. I have been having a lot of braxton hicks contractions lately. Some to the point of needing to breathe through them. They are getting worse daily. Not to the point where I need to go to the hospital by any means, but I definitely need to breathe through more.

It's just my body getting ready for baby girls arrival. I am excited that my body is having contractions and decent ones at that. At my NST today it was up to 123 on the contraction monitor, the week before it was in the 50's. Progress. I am hoping to make it to week 37 but my girlfriend, Alexa is predicting that I don't make it. We'll see.

Speaking of Alexa, she has been SO incredibly sweet to put together and host all by herself a shower for baby girl and myself!!! I am so excited. It is this weekend and I can't wait to see all the hard work she has been putting into this party!! I have such wonderful friends!!!! Thanks Alexa!! You are the best!! I owe you big!! I figured that since I had a shower with my pregnancy with Aidan that I wouldn't with this baby, but I love that she thought I needed one!! I have to be honest, I love parties (even if they aren't for me)!!!

So, keep posted I will post pics of my shower this weekend, and also I need to post more pics from Thanksgiving. I haven't done that yet either. Lot's of blogging to do this week!! On the to do list.....34 week photos (posted), baby shower blog/pictures, and Thanksgiving blog/pictures. So I have a lot to do this week and I believe that this Thursday is the only Thursday that I don't have anything going on so keep posted!!! Sorry if this ended up a bit random, I have been super sleep deprived lately (can't get comfortable and when I do I wake up to go to the bathroom.....again). Happy December!!!

And...the kick is good!!!!!!! COUGS WIN!!!!!!!!

2008-11-23T14:16:00.000-08:00

So yesterday was the Apple cup here in Washington! Anyone who is either a Husky or a Cougar fan knows how BIG this game is. Well, this year the game was in Pullman (I miss P-town SO incredibly much too). Anyway, John got called into work early at Garlic Jim's because the manager didn't account for so many orders during the game and such. John went. Well, the Huskies were beating the Cougs for most of the game and John apparently had the game turned up loud at work....good job John!! Way to recruit Coug fans!!!!!!!!

So, the game came down to the wire. We kicked a field goal to tie the score. The Husky fans (my father-in-law) were not thrilled I'm sure. Aidan was napping so I was maintaining a quiet scream of excitement. We ended up in double overtime (hmmm, reminds me of 2002 Apple Cup when John came over to Pullman for and we went to). We won in the last play we could of the overtime half. By a FIELD GOAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I called John after regular time, first overtime, AND after the COUGS WON!!!!!!!!!!! He had to pull over each time because he was out on a delivery and couldn't contain his excitement and drive at the same time. So all in all, GO COUGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh and yes, we have trained Aidan well. He already knows to yell GO COUGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GO COUGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Belly Photos...

2008-11-23T13:51:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I have been putting this off because one I don't really want to post this but I know my cousins and aunts in Ohio will love seeing how big my belly has gotten since our trip out there a month ago!!! And two, I wanted to wait until I had 10 weeks worth of photos. John has been a good sport about it. I hand him the camera and go stand in the designated picture taking spot and he clicks away. So here you go.....enjoy the pics!!

22 weeks....I thought I looked huge then....

Taken in Ohio at my cousin Melanie's house

28 weeks

and a close up...

32 weeks....I NOW feel seriously HUGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and....the close up.

I hope you all enjoyed the pics....I might post more pics in a few weeks. I have my doctors appointment tomorrow and another NST on Tuesday so we'll see how things go then!! Hope everyone is doing well and getting ready for Thanksgiving!!

Name help!!!

2008-11-20T15:56:00.000-08:00

Ok, so John and I also are STILL trying to come up with our list of names to name baby girl. We want to know what she looks like before we name her. So, here's where you are needed. If you have ANY ideas no matter how many on names for our sweet angel, please please please, let me know (if you don't mind sharing and possibly having us use your name!!!). We are looking in our books and having quite the time naming her. I say that she will come home nameless. So HELP us out please!!!!

Just a quick update...

2008-11-20T15:25:00.000-08:00

So, I realized that I haven't been writing a lot lately...between 2-3 doctors appointments in a week, being TOTALLY overwhelmed with how messy our apartment is (but no energy to clean), work, Aidan's school, *trying* to keep up on our household chores, I just haven't seem to find time to get on here. I found myself today and last night just surfing and not having a purpose and getting bored after a few minutes.

So, today, I figured that I would update!!! Aidan is LOVING school and really enjoying going. He had his "thankful feast" today where each of the kids brought in a snack to share with everyone. We brought cheese sticks. He is really excited since he brought home the leftovers!! Hooray, we get a healthy snack that is really quick!! Aidan has been known to grab one out of the fridge when he is hungry or what not. He also says that he is thankful for his books. That just cracks me up since he was in bed last night at the time that he normally goes to bed at, and he read to the light of his nightlight and some of the hallway light until we went to bed last night around 11:30pm or so. I wasn't so thrilled since today we have my nanny job and he had school. So it's 3:40pm and He is lying down for a bit which means he'll take an hour or so long nap. Might make bedtime interesting but if he's still tired, hopefully not.

He was also sick last week. He came down with croup and woke us up one night at least 2-3 times. I felt awful for him and was ready to take him into the ER because he was having a hard time breathing, but we got him to calm down and he was breathing easier while calm. When he coughed...that was another story, he got all worked up again and scared and so it was quite the ordeal. I took him to the doctor and sure enough, he was the 3rd patient with croup that had come in that morning that his doctor had seen. So, he's over that I think I got a bit of the cold though. Oh well.

John is super busy with work and his feet are feeling much better these days due to new boots!!! He is working about 10 hours a day right now which is going to continue to get longer and longer as the season goes on. He comes home and relaxes and I try and remind myself that he worked hard all day and that he needs the break, although I also need some help around here that I want him to "work" around the house when he gets home. So we made a deal, he helps on the weekends and during the weekdays I have him do the simple things that he should be doing anyway such as emptying the dishwasher, and helping with laundry. These simple chores are getting more difficult each week to accomplish. He's quite the sport about it all though.

As for me...well I'm still prego but getting more and more and MORE uncomfortable by the moment it seems. A few nights ago, every time I would roll over I would wake up with extreme pain in my pelvis, well the next night was much better. Let's hope that one night was a one time thing and that the next 7 1/2 weeks aren't all painful like that. My sciatica has been acting up randomly. I'll be walking and literally fall over. John thinks its the funniest thing, but I always tell him that he wouldn't think its so funny if it were him. HA!!! Anyhoo, I am just glad that I am not working at Jamba Juice anymore and dealing with sciatica like I was with Aidan. Not fun. So baby girl is doing well. My amniotic fluid is continuing to increase which isn't so great, but it is a direct "side affect" from the gestational diabetes. SO...since I found that out on Tuesday, I have been eating as little as possible carbs and sugars to try and remedy this situation. They did say it could be reversed!! So we'll see how long I can live on eggs and sausage or bacon. Or ham....oh my it could be a long few months!! Oh well. As long as baby girl is healthy.

So I think that is everything. I have a bunch of photos of my ever expanding belly that we have taken since around week 22 so I was hoping that I get my act in order to get them posted in the next few days or so. I am 32 weeks this week and so it's time to post the photos...it will be fun to see the change over the 10 weeks!! I have to take the 32 week photo tonight or tomorrow so don't expect it tonight!!! Anyhoo, enough rambling. I'm going to lay down while Aidan is and try to relax and hopefully I don't fall asleep. Hope you are all doing well and keep an eye out for those pics!! Coming soon!!

I don't have a title for this post.....

2008-11-16T18:37:00.000-08:00

So, this is super sad, but she is one of my closest and oldest friends and I thought I would share with you. I am going to leave out names because there is absolutely no reason that I need to include them. If you are prego you might want to stop reading now....

So, my friend, we'll call her Sally, went with her mom to her 40 week OB appointment this past Monday, November 10th. She was having NST (non-stress tests) weekly for a few weeks and had been contracting but not close enough to go to the hospital to give birth. Well they couldn't find a heartbeat on her baby boy. The doctor then took her and used the 3D ultrasound and tried and tried. Still no heartbeat. He had passed. She was devastated as anyone would be in this situation.

So they admitted her, and induced her. She ended up being in labor for 24 hours and delivered a sweet, perfect in every way, baby boy on Tuesday, November 11th. They were able to spend as much time with him that they wanted to and after awhile invited their families in and let them all meet and hold and say good-bye. I would have loved to hold him and cuddle him and tell him how special he was, but it wasn't my place. Even if they seem like family after knowing her for 21 years, in situations like this I am still not family. John and I feel helpless. She ended up going home a few hours after birth so that she could get a better nights sleep....if that were even possible.

They are still trying to figure out what they want to do in the way of memorial service/funeral, etc. We are hoping that its at a time that John will be able to attend to. He was just informed that this is officially "black out" or "peak" so he can't get off early, and can't go on vacation, etc. So he doesn't know if they would let him have the day off for the funeral. So, I guess the purpose of this post isn't to depress you, although I can say that this week has definitely been a sad week for all who know them and their family. They have been through so much in the last 18 months or so. But rather instead, love on your kiddos and tell them every day how much you love them and don't ever take anyone you love for granted. Also please keep the family in your prayers as they try and put their lives back together...this was to be their first baby and the loss of a child should never have to happen to ANYONE!!!

HOORAY!!!!!!!!!

2008-11-10T15:49:00.000-08:00

So, here's a bit of the back story. I have been following a blog of a little baby who is now 4 months old. She was diagnosed before birth with needing a heart transplant at birth. She has spent only 3-5 days at home in the 4 months she has been alive. She has been waiting patiently along with her parents and older brother and sister for a new heart. Well, according to Mimi, Mia's mom's blog, she recieved her heart early this morning!!! I am so excited for her family to get back to normal and not have to constantly worry about when the heart will come for her. Hooray!! I am so excited for them that I had to share. The fun part is that they live here in the Pacific Northwest and she (baby Mia) has spent majority of her life at Children's Hospital here in Seattle!! Stay strong baby Mia and get better so that your family can enjoy you at home!!

Update...again...

2008-11-05T16:40:00.000-08:00

So, yesterday was quite the day. I was at MOPS (mothers of preschoolers) and we were working on our craft for the day when I received a phone call. My phone was on silent but I was expecting a call from John so I left the phone on the table. When I noticed that it was my midwives office calling I quickly stepped out without saying anything and answered. The midwife asked if I had a second...not good.

So she explained how once a month they get together with the doctors in the office and discuss some of the "cases" (ie: patients) especially the higher risk patients. My case came up at their most recent meeting. Since I have just been put on another medication to help control my diabetes and sugars, I am now deemed more high risk then before. Thus the midwives feel it would be in mine and baby's best interest to be seen by the doctors for the duration of my pregnancy. I am SERIOUSLY bummed and was upset after I got off the phone. I LOVE the midwives and was really looking forward to birthing my daughter with them.

The midwife I talked to thought that the doctors would be able to better assist me if I were to need insulin and such during labor than they would be. I am most concerned with having a healthy baby and staying healthy myself, but also I am NOT wanting a c-section unless it is the thing that HAS to happen. (To all my family and friends out there who are reading this and worry about my uterus rupturing and other complications of a VBAC, I will not let what I WANT affect the safety of mine and my daughter). The midwife didn't see why trying for a VBAC wouldn't be a possibility. So, as of now I am now going to a doctor not a midwife.

Yesterday was spent changing all my appointments that I had already scheduled through December 30th with the midwives. I actually don't know if they ever were cancelled. Oh well. The receptionist was getting on my nerves because she pretty much made it sound like it was all my fault for going to the "new" doctor at "this late in my pregnancy" as she put it. I tried to tell her I was being transferred and she told me to wait for a call. I was told to call back to schedule appointments. I was loosing my patience. Not to mention when she called back later she told me that the only 2 appointments that she could schedule me for were at times I couldn't make it and wouldn't be able to find someone to watch Aidan.

When I told her it wouldn't work she acted like I was being the most difficult person in the world and reminded me that the doctor was "fitting me in" and that this was a later in my pregnancy than most people switch doctors in. The nurse ended up calling me after the office was closed and told me her computer was down and she would call today to help me set up what would work for me.

Well, she called me within the 1/2 hour or so she said she would today and set up appointments for me the next two and then decided that she might as well schedule me through the end of December!! So we got that straight! She was super nice too. I am anxious to see how things will go at the first appointment in 2 weeks. I went to this doctor for my VBAC consult. It was interesting....but informative. I just hope the good things I have heard about her so far is true and that she is as wonderful as everyone is telling me she is. Oh well.

**Side note!! Since we didn't really use a whole lot of our birthing techniques with Aidan's birth we are doing a "refresher class" and just got a call reminding us about it!! Funny thing is I just registered today! I got a kick out of that. **

FINALLY pictures!!

2008-11-02T22:28:00.001-08:00

Ok, I know you are all getting a little bored with the posts, so here goes!! Here are the photos from Halloween....keep in mind there are 2 videos, and a LONG post below!! All on Halloween!!

Picking out our pumpkins!

Carving his pumpkin with Daddy at school

Aidan after his Halloween party at school

Emily, Nathan & Aidan

Playing pin the smile on the Jack-o-lantern

Aidan's 1st caramel apple

Family photo after trick-or-treating!

My "pregnant" pumpkin!!

Halloween fun!

2008-11-02T22:17:00.001-08:00

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Halloween fun!!

2008-11-02T22:04:00.001-08:00

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Boo!!! Happy Halloween!!

2008-11-02T18:49:00.000-08:00

Wow, what a week this past week was. I have been busy with my typical nanny jobs (Tuesday/Friday with the Schulers, Wednesday at WAC, and Thursday's at Meaghan's-fairly new job). On top of this I was the chauffeur for another family that I have nannied for since the 11 year old was 2 1/2!! I accepted this job last October 2007 so I couldn't back out even though I so wanted to. I didn't have the energy nor did I really want to run her kids all over and drive an average of 50 miles a day just for this family. Anyhow, that's an entire different story.

We got home from our trip and literally woke up and went to the pumpkin patch with Justin & Julia. Much fun was had!! We got some really fun pumpkins!! Wednesday was the next fun activity! Aidan's preschool had a pumpkin carving night! John was able to get off work early and go with us. That was the only way Aidan was gong to be able to go unless my mom came with me. So, we went, carved pumpkins and then I left to go be the chauffeur. I missed the last 1/2 of the evening which his teacher said was the best part!! I was pretty bummed but there is always next year.

So, Thursday was his class party and everyone was dressed up. He didn't know what to think. Another mom wanted to take his picture and he turned and hugged me with a death grip and was a bit freaked out I think. He didn't understand that his cute costume was fun and she wanted to take a picture of how cute he was. Oh well. I got him into his class and he warmed up quite quickly. His teacher Lori, was there and I explained what had just happened and she told me that was normal. I didn't doubt that he would be fine but I wanted to give the heads up in case he wasn't.

I went to the party that afternoon for the last 5 minutes or so and got a fun video that I'll try and post onto here with a bunch of pictures. They were singing the hokey poky but it was the spooky hooky...I think. After he was out of school we played chauffeur....again.

Friday, we nannied at the Schulers and had a great time getting everyone in their costumes. Aidan needed help but Emily and Nathan didn't since they are older. It was fun none the less. I got a fun photo of the three of them!! So, after we were the chauffer...again...Aidan and I went to a party at Cadence's house!! That was so fun!! He played pin the smile on the Jack-o-lantern. He was spot on and everyone else was on the wall. He was even blindfolded!!! I was so excited for him!. We split a carmel apple and he had fun playing some fun games including musical tombstones. We also made a fun picture frame!! Pretty soon the party was over and we were off to our home to get some ingredients for dinner.

We headed to my mom's house WITH John!! He was able to get off at a relatively normal time!! John and Aidan went trick-or-treating...after we coached Aidan a few times at Nana's house. I stayed with Nana, helped pass out candy, and made some YUMMY french bread pizza's!! John and Aidan came back after about 45 minutes and were ready for dinner. We put the dressing on the salad and I made their pizzas and we ate. Aidan thought it was the best to pass out candy to whomever came to our door. We were sitting down relaxing in the family room before we left and Aidan kept jumping up to see if people were at the door so he could pass out more candy!! It was so cute!!

We headed home and as I was walking toward our stairs I noticed that a pumpkin had been smashed. I felt badly for the person who's pumpkin had been smashed. That's when it dawned on me to check our deck. I looked up and Aidan's pumpkin was missing. We had never lit the thing (although it was crawling with fruit flies and already for the most part smooshy. It was GROSS!!! His lid was still on the deck/patio and my pumpkin was still there. After having 5 Halloween's here, and the most major of things to go wrong was our candy that was put out on our deck was stolen. Now this. Both times I have been pregnant. I was livid!!!!!

I guess we are pretty lucky that it was only his pumpkin and that none of his toys on the deck had been stolen too. Aidan didn't notice until the next morning since he was asleep when we got home. I told him that I would share my pumpkin with him. He was satisfied with that thankfully. Anyhoo, its bath time for little man. We hope that you had a wonderful and safe Halloween!! Oh another funny thing as trick-or-treaters were leaving my mom's Aidan would yell "BOO!!!" at them!! John, my mom and I all got a good kick out of it!! We'll see what he thinks next year!!

Our trip....VERY VERY VERY long entry....

2008-10-28T19:19:00.000-07:00

So, we are FINALLY home...not that I really want to be home but its nice to have our own space and our own stuff. Beware it is a LONG post and there are no pictures...I need to go do some chores when I finish and will post a separate post of pics everything tomorrow or the next day!

Friday, October 17
We left at 5am from our place to go to my mom's. Half way there I realized that we forgot Aidan's crocs. His shoes were packed so it was get the crocs or have him go barefooted. Oops. I blame it on the 2 hours of sleep I got. Boo. John got less than me. He put me to bed so that I could be well rested...or try to be. We got to the airport and off just fine. The plane was AWESOME!!! We had the type of plane with 2 seats on either side and 3 in the middle. Don't know what it was but I loved the fact that John, Aidan and myself had the middle. Aidan did great!! Watched some TV and slept some and just sort of hung out.

We got into Atlanta and it was POURING!!! We had our flights changed so we were leaving 2 hours later instead of 1 hour later. So we get on the plane and found out that the fuel truck was broken so we had to wait for it to be fixed. An hour later....we were finally on our way. I don't remember take-off. I was asleep by that point. Aidan was too. I woke up to the beverage cart by me. The stewardess looked at me and smiled and walked right by me and didn't help me until 10 minutes later. Grrr.

We got into Akron-Canton airport around 9:30pm, got our car...had a few minor issues with that but it turned out ok, and went to find food. We went to a restaurant named Friendly's that my mom use to go to when they lived in Ohio. It was a great deal!! Dinner, drink and dessert for $9.99!!! We then headed to Wooster!! We got to my grandparents house around 11:30pm and to my cousin Melanie's house about 2 minutes later. We all went to bed because we had a big day the next day. Overall we had at least 16+ hours of traveling and being prego it wasn't the most fun.

On top of everything, Aidan's car seat was soaked and my luggage was soaked and my pillowcase bled. It more than likely sat uncovered on the tarmac for an hour. I am working on calling Delta to complain. It was so uncalled for. GRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!

Saturday, October 18, 2008
We woke up and got wedding ready and headed to pick up my mom at my grandparents house and headed to the wedding. We left around 10:45am, got to the church around 12:15pm and the wedding was at 1pm. The reception wasn't until 4 or 5pm and we ended up sitting around visiting until appetizers were served. I was filled up on that. Then they announced that the reception hall was open and for us to head in for them to serve us dinner!! Once the wedding party was announced, they cut the cake we were served the first of 5 courses!! Italian wedding soup, salad, sorbet/sherbet (lemon and strawberry), dinner (main course-salmon and fillet minon I think), and then cake. That was all five!! I couldn't finish dinner!!

Then we were able to go to the table filled with all the pastry goodies and tarts and such and fill a doggie bag to take with us!! Its a tradition that Andrea's family picked up from her Italian roots, or that was what I was told. This is done at EVERY shower, and wedding and you don't just take a few and not be piggy....you FILL your box almost to overflowing. If you don't you get sent back!!! It was so fun!! Everyone had a great time and Andrea looked beautiful and Andy was definitely handsome!!

Sunday, October 19, 2008
We slept, and relaxed

Monday, October 20, 2008
more sleeping and relaxing and playing. That evening we went to a delicious restaurant called El Campasino!! They have amazing cheese and I ordered a side of it for my fajitas. It was SO yummy!! We also were turned on to the yummy cheese dip that essentially was queso. This trip to El Camposina was for women only or at least the women in my family. It was an informal baby shower for me and I got many wonderful outfits and gifts from my family!!! THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!

Tuesday & Wednesday
Relax and play around....Melanie had the day off and she and I went on a date to El Campasino. It was fabulous yet again!! Then we headed to the Rubbermaid store to let the kids (Corinne and Aidan and maybe John too) play on all the toys that they had set-up!! Heaven for any kid. We went to the College of Wooster men's soccer game and then headed to The Barn for dinner. Another yummy restaurant. They have amazing honey butter that I was craving!!

Thursday
We headed to Fremont to visit with my biological family. It was so fun!! Aidan ended up getting sick though. He started coughing, then threw up a few times and everyone just sort of sat there while John was the one getting thrown up on. He was fine later. My mom and John cleaned Aidan and the floor up since they both knew I would join in the throwing up if I helped. The whole 2 hour drive he said that his tummy hurt and he hadn't gone number 2 in a day or so so we figured that was it. He even had tears the last 10 minutes of the trip. We stopped 5 times and then between the time we got there and the time he threw up he went to the bathroom at least another 5.

I was given a bunch of little girl clothes that my cousin's daughter, Jaylee (Aidan's age) had grown out of. THANK YOU!!! They are so cute!! So we ended up heading home and we got just down the road and realized that my mom forgot her purse. We turned around and got it. We got to the end of the driveway (on a country road) and Aidan frantically said..."I'm going to go BLAH!!!!!!!!" so John threw the car in park, put emergency flashers that he didn't need to set, as my mom got a bag ready. John got Aid out of the car. Aidan was distracted and was asking what things were and then all of sudden threw up again. It was A LOT too. Poor guy. He slept the whole way home after that. When we got home he had chicken noodle soup and went to bed. The next day he was fine. We still have no idea what that was all about but he's better now and that is what counts.

Friday
My mom, grandma and I went to the Beauty school. My grandma goes once a week to get her hair set and my mom got a trim and I got my brows waxed. We then went to El Campasino. So it was 3-0 between John and I. Next time babe!! I PROMISE!!! Once it had been 24 hours since Aidan had thrown up last we headed to my grandparents house. We had dinner and visited until it was time to go home. John headed to the HS football game through half time. It was pouring and the wind was blowing. It was COLD!!! He had a blast!!! I am so glad that he got to do something fun. Aidan and I had quality time and headed home. John got back when Aid was about to be tucked in.

Saturday
we cleaned, and packed and visited and headed to the airport. We were eating at Arby's and they paged us. Apparently they were trying to leave early and we thought we had another 20 minutes before they boarded. Oops. They had to cancel the baggage pull. We made it and were on our way early too!! The seat belt didn't quite fit comfortable. It was digging into my stomach. Baby girl grew!!! We got to Atalanta, got on our connection and I had to get an extension to my seat belt so I was comfortable.

We got to Sea Tac and while we were waiting to get off the man behind me pushed me from standing partially in the aisle to back into my seat to get by so that he could get off. Jerk. He also was rolling his eyes that people were taking forever to get their walkers. As we were getting our luggage and car seat he was still waiting for his. He hadn't taken anything off and looked rather irate. Oh well. Karma baby!!! So we ended up getting home to our place around 1:30am after going to McD's for dinner. We hadn't eaten in almost 12 hours or at least a meal. WE were all finally in bed by 2am. What a vacation!!

We wish we were still there but had a blast!!! Thank you to everyone for making it a special trip and for making us feel so relaxed. Thanks to Melanie and Corinne who gave up their home for a week for us to stay there. We really appreciate it. Oh and it was the least I could do to clean and wash some dishes and laundry. Sorry this is SO long, if you made it congrats, but that was our trip!!!

I'm leaving on Jet Plane.....

2008-10-17T00:59:00.000-07:00

Ok, this is just ridiculous....John and I are SUCH procrastinators that it drives me up the wall. We are both wide awake...sort of....and we have to be up in 4 hours to go to my moms to go to the airport. It is currently 1am. Why do we do this to ourselves. Seriously!!! OH well!!!! SO...I know I haven't been blogging much but I really won't blog for another 10 days or so until we get back. I will not have my laptop so I don't have the freedom that I have on previous trips to Ohio. I just didn't want to haul it all the way across the country. Lazy I know.

So, I had another ultrasound today and baby girl is still looking really great!! She is still smaller and on course to be a small baby!!! I know, small is not in our vocabulary after Aidan. I am WAY excited to have what another mom referred to as a "normal sized baby!" I got some more fun 4D photos that I have yet to put on a CD so when I do either back in Ohio or when I get back I'll update the blog with more pics. You all are going to be so sick of pics of our baby by the time she comes out!! I have monthly growth ultrasounds and not to mention we are starting Non-Stress Tests at the next ultrasound too in a month.

On some fun news, I was having contractions last weekend. Nothing to be alarmed about. Saturday I was having contractions for about 2 hours and finally took a bath because I couldn't even lay down to go to bed. It was awful. Once I got out of the bath I crashed and crashed hard. I also had another contraction the next day while we were sitting down to dinner at the in-laws house. My FIL was wondering what was wrong with me and John was like "she's having one of those contraction like braxton thingys." That made me laugh....after it was over of course. I have only had mild braxton hicks contractions since. Nothing awful. Just practicing for the real deal!! I never had contractions with Aidan so this is exciting because maybe my body will cooperate with my goal of a VBAC!!!!!! Anyhoo, time to hit the hay. I first must find my neck pillow so I don't buy one in the airport tomorrow. I don't want to get a crick in my neck tomorrow so.....anyhoo, until we get back!!! Be looking for more fun when we get back!! Oh and pics too!! I PROMISE!!!

T minus 5 days!!!

2008-10-11T17:28:00.000-07:00

So, we are in the final countdown....not for the baby but for our much needed vacation!!! We are beyond excited and can't wait to get the heck out of dodge so to speak!! We are flying out on Friday morning and we will be home the following Saturday!! So for those of you who need numbers the 17-25th!! We are headed to Ohio to visit with my dad's family (Megan) and to visit with my biological family as well. My cousin Andy is marrying a total sweetheart, Andrea and we are so excited to be a part of their wonderful day!!

We are actually getting into Ohio the day before the wedding and wish we could be there earlier to help out in anyway we can but with John's job it wasn't an option not to mention it wasn't an option for the odd jobs that I work. Bummer. We are at least there in spirit and helping out in spirit!!

The week is going to fly by as it usually does. I was back there for 3 weeks last summer and it felt like a mere few days. Definitely not long enough...never is. Oh well. We wish we could go in the summer but John can't get time off in the summer due to seniority, so looks like our vacations will always be in October or so from here on out until he gets enough seniority to have an actual "summer vacation!"

So I also had a dream last night that we forgot to pack our wedding attire and trying to find something for my pregnant self to wear was proving challenging. Does anyone know what the first thing to be packed now is?? I do, I do!!! My wedding clothes!! John and I also just realized that this will be our first trip that we are flying together both ways since our honeymoon a little over 4 years ago. Its always been me flying and him meeting and flying home with us or him flying out with us and flying home early. So we were pretty excited about that. Anyhoo, better go start dinner. Oh and by the way.................

GO COUGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

100th post!!

2008-10-06T14:42:00.000-07:00

So, in the blogging world I guess the 100th post is sort of big. I made it!! Also, coincidentally, we also broke 100 days until our due date today!! So only 99 days to go!!! I can't believe that we are finally into double digits!! Can't wait until those single digits role around. That will be exciting!! Just wanted to share!! Now trying to figure out a hospital bill that was billed incorrectly and my insurance company won't cover it unless its filed a certain way and it wasn't...long story. Wish me luck!!