Monday, October 02, 2006

Fall

Fall is here! The weather is changing and it's time for the kids to need a new wardrobe. I've been surfing ebay for good bargains and also selling on it as well. My daughter has apparently gotten taller since last year because all of her pants seem to be too short. We put out our inflatable witch over the weekend since this is the month for Halloween. My son who is 2 1/2 seems to be scared of scary masks. He get's that from his mom! I'm still scared of a scary mask to this day if I don't know who's inside of it. My husband tries to talk me into going haunted housing every year, but I refuse. When I was little I worked at the haunted caves with my parents - but in the concession stand only. When the "scary" workers would come up for food I would be scared to death even though I knew it wasn't real. My brain doesn't process that very well! Ha, ha! I can't wait until we get to go to the pumpkin patch and pick pumpkins. It's my favorite family activity and a great photo opportunity for the scrapbook.

Saturday, September 23, 2006

Do Unto Others

Sometimes I wonder what ever happened to the "do unto others" theory of life? I get so frustrated with people sometimes. They choose to treat people bad and with a bad attitude, and yet they expect so much in return. I try to never be a confrontational person and that frustrates my husband. If he has a problem with somebody he just tells them so. I on the other hand tend to stew about it, but never say a word to the offender. I just don't find that in most cases "putting it out there" helps solve anything. The people that treat me in such a negative manner have the type of personality that would only get offended by me coming forward. I've started being very irritable towards these people because I can't stand their actions. So I know they probably think I have a problem. I've also decided that spending as little time with them as possible is the best course of action. Then again when it's family that's the problem that can be pretty difficult to do!

Saturday, August 12, 2006

Grandparents

I was thinking about my grandparents last night. Thinking about how they were when I was a little girl. These days they aren't the same people. My grandma has Alzheimer's and my grandpa has a lot of pain from different things and spends a lot of time medicating himself. He's also not the same since having to take care of my grandma who's mind is slowly fading.

I remember when I was little and I used to spend time with them on the weekends or in the summer. My grandpa always had a garden and I loved to help him with it. We would pick green beans and then break and string them. We also picked tomatoes and cucumbers. The best part of helping was of course getting to eat the fresh vegetables. To this day I love a good tomato or cucumber fresh from the garden. There is nothing that compares to that taste. My grandpa always had a big garden and he teased me every year about helping him pull the weeds.

My grandma was never very outdoorsy, but she did always cook us good meals. I was never going to go hungry under her watch. If we weren't eating meals we were eating snacks like trail Bologna and crackers. I miss eating my grandma's meals. It's been a lot of years since she was able to cook. It's funny because every person that cooks makes things taste differently. No two people can cook the same thing and have it taste exactly the same.

I also remember that when I was a little girl my grandma would stay home from church on Sunday nights so that I didn't have to go and sit through the service. My big sister would go to church with my grandpa and me and grandma would bake cinnamon biscuits. We would have them coming out of the oven when my grandpa got home. They were always the best tasting biscuits, especially hot out of the oven with butter and cinnamon baked right into them.

My grandma and I have a lot of things in common. One of those things being the ability to talk! We can also talk to anybody. I caught myself in a store one time making conversation with the sales clerk and realized that I'm just like my grandma! Grandma and I used to lay awake in bed at night and talk about everything. They were religious whereas my parents were not so I would lay awake and ask her questions about God and heaven. My grandma would always joke that I would be talking and then suddenly there would be silence and she knew that I had finally fallen asleep.

It's sad these days because I can't talk to grandma anymore. I try, but questions confuse and embarrass her. She likes to tell you the same things over and over, because they are all she can remember at the time. I miss my grandma. She's still here, and yet she isn't. It's hard to see a women always so full of faith, and always such a good person, suffering. I can't imagine being my grandpa. He married her when she was a teenager and they've been together ever since. Can you imagine knowing someone for almost all of your life and then watching their mind slowly go? It has to be very lonely and sad. I still love grandma, I just miss the way she used to be.

Friday, August 11, 2006

Busy-Busy

Today is my sister-in-law's birthday. It's hard to believe that I've known her since we were in highschool together. I partly became friends with her because I had a crush on her brother! I can see now that it worked out just fine. LOL! We are still friends to this day and now with her having a baby and two stepchildren we are even closer. It gives us more things in common.

My daughter got all her preschool papers in the mail this week. Included in this packet was an apple with her name and room number on it to wear the first week of school. It's exciting for us to be entering this new stage in her life. I'm working on making her a pink princess blanket to take for nap times. She also has a new pink Tinkerbelle backpack.

Our county fair is approaching in another week. My daughter and maybe my son will be entering the fair king/queen pageant. My husband hasn't decided about my son. I think he's the most adorable little boy ever and of course I just know he could win! I thought that about my daughter last year too. She did great, but didn't make the top five. It's just fun to see them do good and let everybody see my babies since I'm so proud of them.

We're having a birthday party next week for my husband's Grandpa. He's been in and out of the hospital since a stroke in early June. His health is definitely failing and I think we all wonder if this may be his last birthday. That's why we all want to make it a special one for him. He's bed ridden and very depressed. It's a hard thing to see. Hopefully a party will bring him a little cheer.

Friday, August 04, 2006

Anniversary Weekend

My husband and I just came back this week from a weekend anniversary trip. It was so nice! This is the first long trip we've ever had without our kids. 5 days/4 nights and it was a great time! We went to Virginia Beach to stay with our cousins. We went to the beach, shopping and of course had breakfast at our favorite place IHOP! The only thing we did decide to do differently next time was to not stay with someone with kids when we didn't being ours. It would have been nice to not deal with ANY kids on the trip, but at least we weren't solely responsible for them like we would have been ours.

The trip was all my husbands idea and it was such a great one! It was an 11 hour car trip which gave us a lot of time to just talk and enjoy each others company. The breakfast we shared together was super nice too. Nobody else with us, no need to rush anywhere, very nice.

Now this weekend I'm going with my mom, my kids, my sister and my nephew to a family reunion. It's a three hour trip and maybe longer with three kids in tow! I'm sure it will be fun though. We don't get to see that side of the family too often. It's only three hours away, but we just don't make the trip as much as we should.

Summer is almost over. It's sad and I can't believe how fast it's leaving us.

Monday, July 17, 2006

Uh Oh! Two New Phrases

My daughter has just this past week learned and used correctly two not so nice phrases. First one was last week on Tuesday. She was riding in the car with her Gramma when someone took their parking space, my daughter promptly says "what a dumb a--". My mom was totally shocked that her precious granddaughter would ever mutter such sentiments! However we do know that her Pop (a.ka. Grandpa) uses these exact words around 50 times a day.
Second time was this weekend, again in the presence of grandparents. She was helping her Grammy and Grandpa clean out their car. Well Grandpa was teasing and carrying on and irritating Grammy. So my daughter turns to Grammy and says "Grandpa is really being a smart a-- isn't he". Grandpa is in the front of the vehicle laughing until his stomach hurts because not only does she use these words, but she usually them correctly without missing a beat. Grammy did however give her a firm warning about saying such things. Again, we do know where she learned this one. Her dad is often calling me and his mother these nice things.
So, I am thoroughly shocked and appalled! I am also very concerned about the fact that she is going to vacation bible school for the first time this week after learning these new phrases. I'm sure the church will be greatly impressed by her vocabulary if she chooses to use them. Let's hope that she's forgotten or finally realized after two tries that they aren't a good idea. I'm now working on the people around me so that she will not continue to learn worse things from them. My husband is prone to saying way worse than the a-- word! So is good old Pop, Grandpa and Grammy. She does have one good influence as my mom, her gramma, even believes that fart is a bad word. :)

Friday, July 14, 2006

Derby Cars & Kittens

My husband and two and half year old son went demolition derby car shopping yesterday. Interestingly enough they came home with one derby car and two kittens! It was so funny and I imagine that's what happens when you take a two year old along for the ride. So the kids spent the whole evening outside playing with the kittens. At one point they even had their blankets and pillows out there. They thought they could sleep outside with the new kitties, it was too cute!

Now it will be derby car madness season around our house. Every year from July to August our barn is full of men and derby cars. Different men and different derby cars all the time. My husband and several of his buddies do cars every year. They all end up at our house at one time or another because we have the biggest barn and the biggest variety of power tools and such. We live in the country, but our one close next door neighbor really loves this time of the year as she gets to hear people banging around at all hours of the night. I have little sympathy though because she is the neighbor that always has a problem with our animals. Thanks to her, our kitten from last year ended up inside her house never to return to the outdoor living.
So there are new projects at our house for everybody. Mine is preparing for the garage sale that I'm having at the end of next week. I can't wait to see how that goes. It's always nice to make a little extra money. Last year the garage sale at my mother-in-laws went very well for me. It even bought the children a whole new summer wardrobe.
Hope you are all enjoying the summer as we are at our house. It will fall and winter all too soon!

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Preschool!

I found out yesterday that my daughter has a spot at the preschool I wanted her to go to. I'm so happy because the schedule is just perfect for us (it could only be better if it didn't start until 11:00 a.m. as we are not morning people!). Anyway, it will work out with my work schedule so that I don't have to pay for preschool and childcare. My son already goes there for speech therapy once a week so I know the building and some of the teachers. My daughter is excited and I know she'll do great there. She is very outgoing and so ready for more learning experiences. She seems so smart for a little girl her age. Everyone says that she talks more like a six or seven year old. She is also going to be attending vacation bible school for the first time this year. We don't go to church yet, but I thought this would be a nice start. She keeps calling it "vacation school." I can't believe that she's finally old enough to start doing all these activities!

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Weekend & Thanks!

First off - thanks to the reader who gave me some insight into where my missing midwife might have gone. I'm still going to miss her, but glad to hear that she didn't disappear due to something horrible happening.

Now to my weekend. My family went up to the lake and camped out with my father-in-law. We had a great time on our boat. We had family and friends in and out the whole time so we kept busy. The kids enjoyed playing with their cousins. My daughter was very happy that she got to swim several times. She loves the water and swims pretty good for a girl of just 4 1/2. The weather could have been better. There were several rainy, cloudy periods over the whole weekend. Including a late night storm which resulted in two kiddos being in bed with me and my husband. It didn't take long for me to be kicked out and sleeping on the bed where the kids had been before.

My only real complaint about the weekend was my fil. My kids don't see him very often. Not because he lives far away, but just because he doesn't choose to try and see them. My in-laws are divorced and my husband doesn't have that great of a relationship with his father. Anyway, the one time we spend time with him and he complains about the kids. He doesn't like that they make messes at a campground, my 2 1/2 year old son shouldn't be in diapers, etc, etc... You would think that if you only see the grandkids on a few occasions each year that you wouldn't gripe when you were with them. It just gives me further reason to not make an effort either. I would rather they spend time with the grandparents that love and appreciate them faults and all!

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Missing Midwife

Well, I have just discovered that the midwife that delivered my babies is no where to be found. She isn't at her old office and the office doesn't know what she's doing. I called the birth center where I had the children and they haven't heard anything from her either. I'm really upset by all this! She was such a wonderful and special person. She worked really hard for all the women that were her patients. She wasn't just good with you when you were pregnant, but she was good to you all the time. I am supposed to have my yearly check up in August, and now I don't know where I will go. I guess it doesn't matter if I don't see a midwife because I'm not planning on any more babies, but I just like the personal care that you get from a midwife. They care about you as a person, not just a patient. It's really disturbing to me that my old midwife would leave her practice and not let anyone know where she went. That's just not like her. Debbie Newton are you out there? We miss you!

Friday, June 02, 2006

Time Goes By

Well I celebrated my birthday this week. It's amazing how time flies by as you get older. I remember when I was little it seemed like time just creeped by and now, where does it go? My daughter is 4 1/2 this month and it just seems like I was finding out I was pregnant with her. I also realized the other day that my son is now the age that my daughter was when he was born. She was definitely more grown up at 26 months then he seems to be. I guess the old saying that girls mature faster is true. I can't imagine having a baby right now. My son is so jealous of my nephew. When I hold him my son is right there wanting me too. My sisters little boy turned three in April and I know she's debating about having another baby. I wish she would. I think her son needs a sibling. Ilove to watch my two together. Sure they fight sometimes, but the moments when they aren't fighting are priceless. Anyway, time just keeps going on by so I better enjoy every moment!

Saturday, May 27, 2006

Disney World!

My family and I have returned from Disney World! What a great trip we had. Everyone behaved pretty well - including my husband! When you go on vacations, you just never know who will misbehave. I had my kids ages 2 and 4, and then there was my 3 year old nephew. It was great to see Disney from the eyes of my kids. We took a lot of family trips there over the years, but the best yet was going as a mommy.

The worst part of the trip was when my son threw-up the second night there and did so every 2 hours all evening. I have emetophobia (fear of vomiting), so being trapped in a motel room with a sick kid was no fun for me! However once that night was over we went on to have a great time.

My daughter got her hair done at the Bibbity Boppity Boutique and she loved it. Her hair was adorable and we got lots of compliments all through the park. My son loved everything - but the characters. He usually isn't afraid of anything, but apparently TV characters that come to life and are bigger than both mommy or daddy, was just too much!
It's amazing how fast a week goes when you're at the happiest place on earth. As our plane landed a man sitting caddy-corner to me said "we have now landed at the saddest place on earth." My sentiments exactly! I often wonder why I live in a state with rain and cold when I could live in sunny Florida. Oh well - I don't think moving is in my near future!

Friday, May 12, 2006

New Nephew

I'm a terrible blogger! I haven't updated in over a month. I guess that's partly because I know that very few people ever read my blog. The only traffic I get is from Blog Explosion.
Anyhow - my new nephew arrived on April 18th! He was an adorable little baby - only 5lbs, 8oz. He had a head of dark hair though which totally shocked me. I was at the hospital with my sister-in-law all day until it was time to push. The nurse then promptly kicked me to the curb! It was such a special day for me! I've never been with anyone while they labored and I've always dreamed of being a doula someday. My mil and I both were helping her through the labor while by bil looked a bit lost and grossed out. I will never forget that day!
The new baby is doing great and growing so fast! Him and his momma had thrush last week, but they are on the mend and feeling better already.
In other news my family is headed to Disney World. I'm excited, but nervous about the flight as I have this great phobia called emetophobia. It makes life just a tad bit more difficult! HA!
So for those few people that do read my blog. You now have an update and hopefully will hear from me again after my vacation! Sunshine here I come!

Saturday, March 25, 2006

A Case of the Boring's

My daughter who is 4 has caught a case of the boring's. Yes, everything in her life is boring. She had dance class last night and decided that it's hard and of course boring. Her favorite place to go is my parent's house, but according to my mom, the last time she was there she declared it to be boring! I have no idea how we will ever entertain this child when at 4 she's already decided that life is boring. My husband finally set down the rule that she can only say something is boring twice a day.

She however is not boring! Life is always interesting with her around. Last night in the car she announced that whenever her babysitter burps or farts she blames it on the kids. HA! My husband and I hadn't laughed so hard in a long time. Wouldn't the babysitter appreciate that story?!

Now enough of my boring blog entry! :)

Friday, March 17, 2006

Baby Shower

This weekend is the baby shower! I will be so glad when it's over and we can just wait for my sister-in-law to have her baby. She has had two slight scares with pre-term labor activity and we really want to have her shower before the baby arrives. Of course we also hope he stays put until at least 37 weeks. My sister had a preemie as did a cousin of ours. It's never fun to see a baby have to be in the NICU. It's even harder to see the mommies come home without their baby. I didn't get to see my nephew until he was about a month old. This time around when I get a nephew I hope to see him immediately. I've been trying to convince my sister-in-law that I would make a great doula even though I'm not really one. I did have two babies naturally and I've read tons of books to become a doula. I just haven't gotten to finish that path in life yet. Anyway, the shower is going to happen this weekend and I can't wait!

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Birth Matters

My sister-in-law is having a baby. Yes, in April she will be giving birth to my nephew and I'm so excited! I think about her a lot and her birth too. I'm a woman to whom birth really matters. I had both of my children with a midwife at a birth center. I try to convince every woman to give birth with midwives. It's just something that I feel very passionate about. I think that your birth experience matters and I think that a midwife tries to bring you the experience that you desire.

My sil is not using a midwife. :( She's using an OB in a small community hospital which gives more epidurals than you care to count. My sil says that she doesn't want an epidural and that she wants to go as natural as possible, but alas I feel she's doomed. Said hospital loves to give Pitocin which often leads to them giving the before mentioned epidural. When your water is broken too early or when you get Pitocin it makes for harder more painful contractions and who wouldn't want drugs? During my second birth my midwife was in California visiting her daughter and I had a terrible military midwife who broke my water at 4 cm. I was in so much pain I thought I might die right there. I had, had a baby before and I knew that it didn't have to feel the way it did. When I talked to MY midwife after the birth she agreed that it was the premature breaking of my water that probably made everything so miserable.

Anyhow, I wish I would have been able to convince my sil to have her baby elsewhere. She won't be able to eat or drink. She'll have an iv and monitors on, so she won't be able to be up and about much. And, there will be no fabulous tub for labor. I loved the giant jacuzzi that I was able to labor in.

I know that every woman wants and needs different things, but if you want a natural birth I think you need a midwife. I also think that you need to not have fear. My sil has fear because she doesn't know what to expect. My midwife made sure that I was not afraid. She said fear was the worst thing to have because if you're tense everything works against each other and not together. When I had my daughter with MY midwife it was so beautiful! Yes, there was pain, but it was manageable. Most of all it was the moment of a lifetime! I just want every woman to have that kind of birth experience. Especially my sister-in-law who I love and care about deeply!

Friday, February 17, 2006

Almost Two!

Tomorrow I am having a birthday party for my son's 2nd birthday. The big day isn't until Monday, but we have to have the party a few days early. I can't believe that it's been 2 years since he was born. His due date was actually on March 7th, so he surprised us by being a February baby. I guess I shouldn't have been too surprised because my daughter was born 10 days before her due date. I never knew what it was like to be an overdue mom waiting for the day to come. The only disappointing thing about my son's birthday was that he chose to be born while my midwife was in California visiting her daughter. I got stuck with the most horrible midwife ever! His birth story was not a good one and to this day I'm upset when thinking about it. I often wonder if I would have stayed home, rested and drank water if he would have been born on a different day. Instead I went to the birth center at the hospital and ended up having my water broken by the before mentioned horrible midwife and ended up with a long and horribly painful labor that ended with a totally surprised and unplanned water birth. I'll never forget just looking at him after he was born and not really feeling any emotion. I was so exhausted and traumatized that I couldn't feel anything. My daughter's birth was perfect in my mind and the midwife that delivered her was wonderful! I just couldn't believe how this birth had managed to go so wrong. I was healthy and so was my baby, but it was just such a different experience from before. Oh well, it's been 2 years and I should be over that. What's important is that I have a beautiful little boy who lights up each and every day and he's getting ready to turn two!

Saturday, February 11, 2006

My Poor Hubby

I'm at work right now and my poor hubby just called to say that if one more spill happens he's going to lose it. I guess the 2-year old boy dumped the entire gallon jug of milk on the floor and then at some point the 4-year old girl dumped her large glass of chocolate milk on the floor by the computer. I have to smile because I can so relate! I only work part-time so I'm usually the one dealing with the large frustrating spills and such that occur often at our home. I guess I can take it better because I'm so used to it. He told me once that if I could get a job that would support the family he would stay home with the kids, but I think he may change his mind after these Saturday babysitting gigs!

Friday, February 10, 2006

Pneumonia

I've just realized what a boring blog I've had so far! Thanks to my son coming down with Pneumonia I haven't been able to add anything exciting. After a weekend of no sleep I took my son to the doctor last Monday and discovered that he had Pneumonia. Now we've been doing antibiotics, breathing treatments and cough medicine (at night only). What a week, but he's finally on the mend. My daughter has decided that when her brother is sick he gets way too much attention. :) I'm just glad that he's hopefully going to be better by his birthday which is just over a week away.

Monday, January 30, 2006

Our Weekend

Well we survived another weekend! :) Friday evening was rather exciting around our place as our new high speed internet modem arrived. My hubby decided to try and install the whole thing as was disappointed that it wasn't as easy as our friendly sales person said it would be. So he called the 800 number and waited for 45 minutes to get a live voice, then his cell phone went did on him and he had to start the whole process over again! Grumpy husband alert!! It ended up taking about 3 hours total to have our new system up and running, but the results were a much faster internet connection. Now my 4-year old daughter and I can fight over who gets to use the computer.

Saturday we spent some time with my husbands family which I do enjoy. They are a very fun family, but busy and we don't get as much time together as I would like! My sister-in-law is pregnant and we did spend a little time discussing the baby shower we need to plan. I can't wait to throw her a super fun baby shower! We've already picked a really cute theme that fits the mom-to-be perfectly.

The only down side to Saturday was when my almost 2-year old son refused to get dressed. He wouldn't do it for mommy at all. My husband had to get out of bed and then my son nicely got dressed for daddy. What's the deal with that?

Sunday I looked at the house that my in-laws are thinking about buying. It's very neat. Built in 1910 it has all kinds of that old house style charm. My kids loved running around the big empty house and their Grammy decided that the grandchildren definitely approved. We also went to Wal-Mart for the second time of the weekend. We have a second computer that we decided to put again and it worked for about an hour and then pooped out on us. We went to Wal-Mart for a new power cord only to discover when we got home that, that was not the problem. Who knows what's wrong with it.

So, that was our weekend! Now it's back to our regularly scheduled weekday routine.

Friday, January 27, 2006

The Biting Boy

My almost two year old son had suddenly turned into the biting boy! He has decided that when his sister makes him mad it's best to give her a big old bite. Yes, he's done it twice now - once on the arm and interestingly, once on the middle of the back. Now how you bite a persons back I'll never know as this one happened at Grammy's house.

The first time I was thankfully in the shower and my hubby was in charge of the children. They were playing with the ever so annoying "Amazing Amanda" that my parents bought my daughter for Christmas. The daughter doesn't play with it too often, but my son who can only say a few words likes the fact that the doll mostly asks yes or no questions! Two words he can easily say to her. So, anyhow my daughter says that she was sitting Amanda on the potty and my son was trying to feed her. Well, duh, you can't eat and potty at the same time, so she took Amanda away. Then my son took a bite out of my daughters arm. Daddy had to do the discipline and I'm glad because I'm no good at that. Plus, somehow when they do something bad I manage to get some of the blame.

So, a couple of days later the children were at Grammy's and he bit my daughter again. Don't know why as I wasn't there, but lets hope it was the last time.

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Little Girl, Big Attitude

My daughter - the little girl with the big attitude. She is 4 years old going on 14. Everything has suddenly become boring, especially being at home with her mom and dad. This is a little girl who loves to stay the night away from home. She's always asking me if she can stay somewhere else. After all she says how can she ever miss me if we're always together.

Then the other morning on the way to the babysitters house I was playing her Strawberry Shortcake CD and skipped a song that she never wants to listen to. Well, that was a big mistake! From the backseat the 4 year old says, "Mom - you did the wrong thing." She wanted to hear that song apparently and I messed it all up! Can you imagine this little angel once she has PMS! HA!

On the other hand, she does have her adorable, loving side! I wouldn't want you to think it was all about bad attitude. She does tell me that she loves me a kazillion and that I'm the best mom in the world.

Saturday, January 21, 2006

Emotional Girl

My daughter is a very emotional girl. Last night I was working on a project for my sons 2nd birthday. It is a slide show of his baby pictures until now and has music with it. Well, my daughter wanted to watch it with me and she is 4. Part way through she started crying because she said the pictures were just so cute. I kept trying to get a better feel for why she was crying, but she had no reason. I guess she's just going to be emotional like me. I always cry over little things like that. When I was a little girl I remember crying whenever I watched Charlotte's Web. Then I would hide my head under a blanket because I couldn't explain what made me cry either! Just the way we are I guess! It's in her wiring. Poor thing! :)

My 1st Blog

Hi! This is my 1st blog. I recently stumbled across some great blog sites, such as Very Mom and decided I wanted to start my own. After all, I have two children who do some cute, funny and aggravating things! I also have lots of thoughts and opinions that could be fun to share. So, here I am and hopefully at some point there will be something interesting to read here.