Likes & Dislikes...A Reference Sheet For Those Who Don't Know Me All That Well!!!

Things I like:

Autumn
is my favorite Season~
I love leaves!
The changing colors of this season are awesome!
I prefer the darker autumn colors:
Oranges
Reds
Greens
Yellows
Browns

***
I love ladybugs!
They make me happy!
***

Sunflowers
cheer me up!

***
Frogs
are really cute!
***

Chickadees, sparrows, robins, wrens!
Small cute birds are really neat!

My favorite chocolates are:

Dove Milk Chocolate
and
Chocolate Covered Almonds
by Dove

Black Licorice
is yummy!

Olive Garden
is Great!

Texas Roadhouse
Yum!!! :O)
(I'm a steak and potatoes kinda girl!)

Chinese Food is good too!
LD Buffet
PF Chang's

Cici's Pizza
hurray!

Fragrances:
for things like candles, sachets, etc.
Cinnamon
Lilacs
Mandarin Cranberry
(Yankee Candle Co.)
or
(depends on where you get 'em)
Cranberry Mandarin
(Walmart)

I like pens!
Papermate Profile
in blue
are my favorite!
They're bold and beautiful! :O)
(Don't like fine pens!)

From Bath and Body Works!
Magnolia Blossom
(perfume)

I like GOLD the best!

I love to go to the Movies!
The Movie Tavern
Southlands Stadium 16
(all the theaters above show new movies before 6 for $5, yay!!!)
Cinema Grill
(even cheaper)

Gift Certificate ideas:
(for the areas above obviously, but here's a few others)
Boarders Books
Walmart
Target

******

I dislike:

Pinks
Purples
Lighter Blues:
Especially Turquoise
Grey
And NO White!!!

White and Dark Chocolate!
Yuck!

Jewelry
(I like to look at it, but don't wear it!)
And No Silver!!!

Scents:
Vanilla
Evergreen/Pine

Can't eat Mexican
(It doesn't like me.)

I'll update this more later,
but this all I could think of off the top of my head!

What I've Learned So Far...

Everybody Needs Somebody
(or at least let them know they care)
All the Time!!!

~~~I think I have learned a bit through what we are going through. Not so much about the decisions we've made, which we believe were divine, but through the thoughts and feelings that we have been having through all this and the way we feel people are treating us. It's made me reevaluate my attitude towards the way we treat people in need, family and friends in particular!
~I've realized that we may have treated our friends the same way we are currently being treated when they were going through a difficult spell. It makes me sick to think that we may have done this...which is to ignore them and now have them ignore us.
~Let me clarify a bit more...it's not that I intentionally ignore them (ignore is so harsh a term), but when you don't know what to do (I've noticed) (especially if you don't have the finances to help out), people have a tendency to keep their distance from people until the hurting person and or family are out of the woods. (It isn't made too difficult if you don't attend Church or have regular contact with them.) But I don't think that people realize how much it hurts to not have contact with their friends or even think they care. And a lot of us don't seem to realize this until we are in the same or similar situation they were once in.
~It's a comfort thing. People just feel too uncomfortable around people that are in trouble, especially when you can't do anything about their situation other than just pray! However, that is where the error lies! Your family and friends need to know that you care! They need to know that you are thinking about them and praying for them, constantly! People need to know that they aren't alone in the world! They need to know that they are loved and needed! They need to know that there are people our there who are willing to help them out!
~There are so many little things that you can do for them even if you can't afford to buy them new tires for their car, or a new large appliance, or financially help out with what ever trial they may be going through.
~What you can do...Send them an e-mail to let them know you care. Or even better, send them a card with a personal note you penned yourself. Or give them a call! It doesn't have to be long, just a quick chat to let them know you're thinking about them. And to top all these, drop by their house to say 'Hi!' (and don't get offended if they don't ask you in, not all of us can keep our houses company worthy 24/7). Just a quick stop to let them know you were on their mind and you wanted to see them and ask how they are!
~~~Other ideas:
~Send flowers to brighten someones day (just make sure they aren't allergic first). Even better is if you know what their favorite flowers are...send those!
~Drop by their favorite chocolates or any other treat that you know they enjoy to let them know you are thinking about them!
~Or bring by a basket with the B.R.A.T.Y diet, tissues, and a movie/book/magazines, etc. if their under the weather! (B= Bananas, R= Rice, A= Applesauce, T= Toast, Y=Yogurt).
~Offer to babysit their kids at their house if they need to run some errands or just need some quality time with their spouse. (Most of the reason people don't take you up on babysitting is because you won't do it at their house where obviously it is the most convenient for them!)
~Offer to drive them to run errands if they don't know their way around!
~Offer to clean their house or help them organize if their having a really rough time for whatever reason.

~~~These are just a few ideas, I'll post more later, but you get the idea! Just be creative!~~~ ***Remember even the smallest gesture can make or break a persons day!!!***

I have actually thought about calling all my friends and apologizing to them for not keeping in better contact and or distancing myself from them in their time(s) of need. It's not that I don't think about my friends, because I do constantly. I wonder how they/you are all the time!!! It's just makes it difficult when you write and write and write and hardly anyone writes back. Then you think, why should I keep in contact when they don't seem to care, they don't write me (or at least that's the way I feel anyway, though it may not, and probably is not the truth)???

I just like to write and talk to people!
I want you to know how we are.
I want to know how you are too,
so that we can be part of each others lives
even if we are far apart
or just down the street!!!

I know every one of us lead very different and busy lives, we just need to let other people know that we are thinking about them, so no one has to feel alone! We need to offer a helping hand if we can, or a listening ear, or maybe a shoulder to cry on, if you don't have the means to do anything else.

It just hurts when you don't think anyone cares!!!

I have a tendency to pull farther and farther away from people (when we are going through trials) hoping one day they will call, or write, or stop by to let me know that they do care and are there for me and my family. And I'm starting to think that's what other people are doing too! But because of this I have hardly talked to any of my friends here in Aurora in a month. And a couple of them live not 5 minutes drive from my house. It's crazy, but I've been isolating myself (not all intentionally due to one vehicle), waiting to hear from any of them to let me know that they care...and unfortunately I haven't.
~I did talk to a friend of mine yesterday when I stopped by to drop off some things at her house. I found out she's been going through a lot with her sister and she hasn't even been to church in weeks either. This last Sunday was her first Sunday back in 3 weeks (we've been out 4 and will continue to be until we get our van back). I didn't know that she was having a rough time too, but I didn't take the time to put in a phone call or stop by because I've been too selfish and hurt about all we are going through, to even take the time to think that other people might need a little help and encouragement too!

Well all that is going to change!!!
I am sorry if I have ignored you in anyway!!!
I am sorry if I have made you feel like I don't care!!!
I do care about you!
And I am going to try from this moment on to let you all know that I care,
even if it's only a little way,
that is within my means!

I know this is a novel, but as I write this I'm learning even more!
Maybe it will open your eyes a bit more too! :O)

***Thank you to those of you who have been thinking and praying for us!
We really appreciate it and continue to need all we can get!***
God Bless!

On the Verge of a New Year

I don't know even where to begin...

I am so emotionally drained I have little emotion left other than self pity...

This New Year is almost here...only 2 hrs. and 45 min. to go. I hope the new year brings us more blessings than the heart aches this year has thrust upon us! At this moment I do not really hold out that much optimism for the New Year...though there are some things that I do wish would happen!

We are stuck in a seemingly never ending void of light in our lives. Each day brings us closer and closer to the edge of a disaster and threatens to break us. And I'm not sure if we are broken that we will be able to recover!

All I want to do is cry! Cry because I see no relief in sight, only heartache growing stronger and stronger every day that we endure these trials!

My mind is lost in a sea of questions. So many questions without any answers, is almost unbearable.

We don't know where to turn, we don't know who to talk to! I feel my self spiraling down and down into the depths of despair. My patience is shot! My temper is flaring! I don't like myself very much right now because I don't have any patience and become agitated very easily and then my temper flares!!! I don't know what to do with the many, many situations that we are constantly being bombarded with! There go the tears again...

What do we do? What can we do? We've told so many people what we are going through, even our Church...We've cried to God for help and nothing has happened!!! What more can we do? Waiting is only making things worse for us! We have no security to fall back on! Why, why, why are these things be allowed to happen? We can't help ourselves, let alone anyone else!!!

What can we do when there is no helping hand in sight? And no one who actually seems to give a dam, other than to tell you that everything will be alright.....and then you feel their gaze slowing shift away as if they are uncomfortable about even being around this kind of situation let alone try to help out?!

I'm so lost...

What's Going On

As the millions of people are out stocking their carts this after Christmas morning I am at home, just woken up about 55 minutes ago. Usually this is one of my favorite days of the year. Waking at 4 am to make it in front of Walmart a quarter to 5. But alas, this year is different and next year will be too! My present supply is pretty much depleted and until our Pitkin house sells we are on a very tight leash for fundage, and I mean very tight, choking leash!!! I never realized just how hard things were going to get because we decided to go along with something that we believed was a divine revelation! I'm not sure what we are suppose to be learning from these trials that we are being allowed to go through. But I have decided that no matter what I am going to trust that God will take care of us! No we are not starving and yes we have a roof over our heads, our bodies are warm. But our hearts are breaking from all the constant bombardments that we are being put through. I just want to be able to give. I want to be able to help other people. But because of our current situation we are almost the ones in need of help! And if we don't stick to the sufficating budget that Jacob says we need to for the next, who knows how long we will probably go bankrupt.

Bringing U Up2Date

Hello...
~I know I haven't been very good at keeping my blog going. Things have been rather hectic here in the last month and until just the last couple days I've been too depressed to really even right about anything. I'm starting to get some of my motivation back though, so I thought I'd submit an entry, even though I don't really have a whole lot of anything exciting to write about. I will update my journal from the 8th till now and I think I'll work backwards and forwards and all over the place, so I hope y'all don't get too confused...

Let's see...Today I have decided that in between catching up on some shows I've recorded recently I am going to try and get the house cleaned up. I have already cleaned most of the kitchen. The downstairs bathroom. The entry way. And dusted the front room. Oh, and let's not forget I started a load of laundry. (Darks are about all we seem to do around here w/ maybe one load of whites and lots of bleach every two weeks.) I still need to vacuum the front room and family room, sweep the kitchen floor, and wash a few windows. I also refilled the cleaning solution bottles and have de-cluttered and organized the lots-of-useful-but-not-
always-needed-things drawer (no it's not the junk drawer, it has band aids, lighters, hair clips, static guard, tape, scissors, etc. you know...lots of useful stuff but not always needed things).

Yesterday I re-listed a bunch of stuff on Craigslist. I started using html about two months ago to make my ads stand out more and hopefully catch more attention. They were more organized and easy to read, but apparently that wasn't a good thing because after re-listing one of my items it immediately got flagged and deleted. After talking with one of the help desk people I found out that because of the html my ads looked too much like a business and businesses are not allowed on Craiglist. People want short and simple. So I went back in after taking some new, clearer pictures and deleted all the html. They are short and non-descriptive and very boring, but I've had more hits since yesterday than I've had in weeks w/ my html. Not sure why because w/ the html I had detailed descriptions and everything was a lot easier to read. It's rather frustrating, but now I can crank out more posts faster, so I guess that's a plus. Now if people will only follow through with their inquiries! ... Well I guess I spoke too soon. I have two people coming by today to purchase items. I am excited! I actually feel like I'm contributing a bit more when I sell stuff. Especially since we don't really have much money right now.

I can hardly believe that tomorrow is Christmas! Can you? Where did the year go? All of a sudden the days just passed and here we are...Christmas Eve. It's crazy. One day you feel like the year will last forever and then you blink and the year is gone. Wow!

On the 10th I went to the doctor because I was having chest pains. Actually I had been having pains for about two weeks before that, but I talked with Jacob and we agreed I should probably go in and get checked out. The doctor did a EKG and it was normal. They ran some blood test and they were normal. She sent me home with a heart monitor that I was suppose to wear 24/7, but since I'm such a light sleeper I took it off at night. I discovered after calling to activate the monitor that I had to have a land line to call the recording in. We don't have one, so I enlisted the help of my sister and my friend Athena (they have land lines). So because I had to go over to their houses to call the recordings in I tried to only have to call them in twice a day even though I was having check pain quite regularly and mostly non-stop. Anyway, I made it to Friday (14th) in the evening. I called Athena several times around 7:15 and wasn't able to get a hold of her so I called Sara to see if it was okay for me to go over there and call the monitor in for the evening. She said yes, so I got in the van and headed over there. I got down to Peoria and Parker (about 5 blocks from my house) and was in the right hand left turn lane stopped. When the light turned green I started around the corner and my back end kept going around to the right. I tapped my brakes and tried to correct, but only made it worse. I finally came to a stop horizontal in the middle of the 3 lane road. I was about to correct myself when I turned and looked out my window and BAM!!! I was hit on my drivers side door. I called 911, but because there were so many accidents going on the city was on Accident Alert. So since there were no injuries we were to just file the claim on-line and call our insurance companies. A security officer for one of the nearby shopping centers stopped traffic for us so we could move out of the way. We exchanged info and I headed home. As I was driving home though I realized that my front wheel didn't seem to be working correctly. And I already knew that my drivers door was toast. The bottom was caved in and top stuck out about 2", unable to close all the way. After filing the claims on-line with both the government and my insurance company that evening I went to bed. The next morning I woke and felt horrible. I think I caught the flu some how. I felt horribly sick to my stomach, weak, and dizzy and my left side had started to hurt. As the day progressed the pain in my left side got worse and by the evening I was calling my Mom to see how bad the pain should be before I went into the emergency room. She said that if my kids were feeling what I was feeling would I take them in? And I said yes, I talked to Jacob (whom was in the middle of a role playing game with his friends). He wanted me to just sit and relax. I went and sat, but I was having more and more trouble breathing. I called to Jacob and he came in I was starting to hyperventilate and he went in to tell the guys he needed to call it a night. My left side started going numb, then my right. Pretty soon I could move either of my arms. And it started heading down my legs and my face also started to go numb. Jacob called 911 and the Paramedics arrived not 10 min later. One of the half dozen people that arrived told me that I was hyperventilating. He started talking me down and getting my breathing back under control. It took awhile and I started to get some feeling back in my arms and legs, but I was still in a lot of pain, so they took me in the ambulance to the ER. There they did some more vitals, took my statement, and some blood work, and x-rays. And low and behold they were all normal. The doctor said that he didn't doubt my pains, but since none of the tests were coming up with anything he wasn't going to diagnose me with having an anxiety attack and give me a anti-anxiety med to take at night before I went to bed to help me sleep and w/ the idea that the med. would carry over to the next day and then he wanted me to follow up with my doctor on Monday.

Monday I got into the doctor. I was suppose to go back the to doctor on Thursday for a cholesterol test, but since I was in on Monday I just fasted before that appointment so I wouldn't have to go back Thursday. Anyway, she said that the med the ER doc gave me wouldn't carry to the next day and gave me another prescription for the anxiety med, plus a pain med for the pains I was still having. She wants me to come back in 4 wks for a follow up unless I don't get better and then she wants me back sooner. I stopped using the heart monitor. They pretty much ruled that out with all their tests. Plus since we only have one vehicle it's pretty much impossible for me to call it in every day. I did have the van last week because Jacob carpooled.

Let it Snow...Not!!!

Lol :O)

Okay, I know we need the snow, but I don't like it. It's always so cold and wet! I don't like to be too cold and I definitely don't like to be cold and wet! Fortunately since I can't really go anywhere anymore I don't have to deal with the snow all that much. Though when the snow stops falling I'm going to have to go out and shovel the sidewalks because apparently there is some ordinance about citizens having to remove the snow from their sidewalks within 24 hrs of when the snow stops falling. Crazy! But it looks like tomorrow is going to be too cold for the weather to remove it for me like the last time it snowed, so I'll be out taking care of business first thing in the morning. Probably before Church starts because tomorrow is a busy day...

Speaking of which...Tomorrow is Tayla's 14th Birthday. For those of you who don't know Tayla, she is Sara and Tim's ward. Before they moved here her mother signed over papers for them to take care of her. And she moved here with them. Anyway, I'm going to be doing a bit of grocery shopping to get some items to make a vegetarian dinner for her Birthday. Plus I was thinking of doing a little something special for the dessert. Not exactly sure what yet, but I have an idea. So Jake and the kids and I will probably be heading to the Commissary right after Church to get the items for dinner.

Not much else going on today besides the snow. It's been snowing most of the day, though it's a really fine powder and not much has accumulated. I think there might be 3 inches outside. But that's not really all the much for snowing all day. I think it just stopped about an hour ago. Nobody has been going outside either because it is so cold. I did go and get the mail in my flip-flops today. I know, I'm crazy, but I didn't want to run up to my room and put on sock and shoes, when it was only a little ways out to the mailbox. Too bad there wasn't anything good in there! Just bills.

Sara and Family came over for dinner this evening. I made two pizzas; a cheese pizza and a bacon pizza. I've found these really great bacon bits that work really great, really as any sort of garnish and extra flavoring for food. I've used them on pizza, in scrambled eggs, and in green beans. I even gave some to David to just eat (that was only one time). He liked that a lot! We watched a couple shows together too! They are coming over tomorrow for Tayla's Birthday meal. I don't think we discussed what time. I'll have to call about that tomorrow!

Well, I'm still not sleepy, but I should probably head to bed anyway. Jacob and the kids went to bed about half an hour to an hour ago. I'm just not tired, so I thought I'd write a little something in my journal. Good night everyone! :O)

Gift Cards are Grrreeeaattt!!!

~ I'm not sure why all the tabloids keep posting..."Gift Cards are Lame Gifts" or saying "Gift Cards a No, No for the Holidays". I recently read this article on MSN.com:

"Gift Cards Are Not Gifts" http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SavingandDebt/FindDealsOnline/GiftCardsAreNotGifts.aspx?GT1=10719

I do agree with most of what the lady has to say, actually researching what your friends and family are interested in is a wonderful idea. But what if you really have no idea what a person likes, or what if you do know a persons tastes, but they are extremely hard to please even if you get something you think they would like...Why not give them a gift card to their favorite restaurant or to a Movie Theater they enjoy going to? It doesn't just have to be a Target or Walmart card, but even if it is what's wrong with that? There are hundreds and hundreds of items at those stores that you may not have even thought that your recipient might like or have been eyeing, but not bought just yet because they didn't have the extra cash to splurge on. Why can't you just include a card or note with your gift card that say's " I know you like to shop at ______(fill in the blank), and I thought you might use this card to splurge on yourself for a little something extra." OR "I know this is your favorite restaurant, Enjoy!" I mean what's wrong with that? Isn't it better to give your friend or family a little extra Cash that they can spend on something themselves, than to get them some cheap gift or trinket that will break within the week or they'll never use? I don't know how many times we've had to throw away cheap gifts the day it's been received or shortly after. That's even more heartbreaking to a child than them going out and picking out their own gift with the money they received from a caring relative or friend. It's actually quite fun to watch their little faces light up when they get to pick out something special all on their own. I'm not saying don't give gifts, I'm just saying don't give gifts if you don't know what someone likes. And don't give someone a gift that you wouldn't want to receive yourself!!!

That is my thought on Gift Cards and Gift Giving! Unfortunately we've run into a snag with financing this year and I was not able to get in the bulk of my Holiday Shopping this year. This will probably continue on through most of next year until we can sell the Pitkin House and get some bills paid off! I apologize to all my friends and family that I won't be able to give to until this financial set back is taken care of!!!

P.S. This Posting was not written for any one person inparticular, it is just a compiling of thoughts and observations that I've made over the years through my Family and some of my Friends! It is not meant to hurt anyone's feelings! I apologize if I offended anyone because that was not my intention. This was only written to let people know some of my views on the whole Gift and Gift Card giving idea...

Time Sure Flies

I can hardly believe the month is half over. It seems like I was just writing at the first of the month saying that the month would fly by and see...I was right! :O)

John went down for an early nap today. For some reason he has caught another cold and has his nasty cough back. I also gave him a dose of his neb. medicine. We were actually approved for a new machine that, turns out, is wholly covered by our insurance. So we have a new nebulizer machine for John and a little over 3 boxes of medicine for him whenever his breathing acts up.

Tonight the kid and I have Awana. This is the last night of the Can Can race to collect food for needy families. Next week there is no Awana for the Thanksgiving Holiday. Anna has Wed-Sunday off. Jacob is taking Friday and Saturday off (23/24) for his Birthday. He'll have a 5 day weekend.

We are going to be celebrating Thanksgiving on Jacob's Birthday the 24th (Saturday), plus I think he might be having the guys over for a gaming night. If he doesn't I might just run a mission for him so he can get a game in without having to run it himself. He's always running the games (he's just really good at it, Jake has a great imagination and is really good at improvisation).

Speaking of Birthdays. David's 4th Birthday is Monday the 19th. We are having a party for him at 3:30. Gives those friends who are in school time to get over to our house after school. We are having a Spiderman party for David. I didn't really set a time frame for the party. But I'm guessing probably about an hour and half or so. The kids always have so much fun playing. I don't have any actual games thought up for them, but I'm hoping the whether is nice so the kids can go outside and play for awhile. Plus I was hoping to have the Pinata hung from a tree outback. I was also thinking of contacting friends that have said they are coming to see if they would let their kids wear a super hero type costume. David has a Spiderman costume and we have many others that Anna could wear. Will just give kids another opportunity to wear their costumes out for fun, other than Halloween. We'll see. I think I'm going to ask my sister about it.

I'm hoping to go out after Thanksgiving shopping on Friday. I am getting rather anxious. There isn't really anything that I am looking for, but they have such great deals that day, I will probably end up being up at 4 again this year.

The boys and I heading out after John gets up from his nap. I think we'll be heading to the Mall for a few, then to Walmart to look for a Pinata and maybe the Party store. I haven't found everything that I want for David's Party yet. Hopefully we'll be able to find the stuff in the next couple days. I want to have everything ready by this Saturday if possible.

I better go though. There are a few chores that I would like to get done today and hopefully most done before John gets up. I'll try and write more soon!

Never a Dull Day

Well, just when you think the day is going to be a regular day something unexpected happens. Let me explain. Yesterday was going pretty well. I went and did some running around with the boys and took some stuff back to Target. Then I checked out the after Halloween items again and score 90% off. We got a few items and then I decided that we would head to the other Target over on Havana to check them out (for some reason they don't seem to get as much business as the other Target's, but they carry as much stuff as the larger 24/7 stores). We found all sorts of great deals there and the boys got some costumes for next year and the year after! (Anna already has a bunch of dress-up stuff. She's set for the next couple years too!) Anyway, we got back home around 11 and David had to go and use the restroom. I put John down for a nap and David comes to me to say that he needed some help in the bathroom. Sometimes he tends to use too much toilet paper and this was one of those times. I tried to flush the toilet, but big mistake. The toilet starts overflowing, and flowing, and flowing. Big huge mess. It finally stopped and I had to use a whole roll of paper towels to get it cleaned up. Then I employed the use of this little fan I had to dry the floor, then after it dried I sprayed and washed the floor again, then when that dried, I sprayed it w/ sanitizer pray. So overall probably an hours worth of cleaning. Cleaning bathrooms is one of my least favorite house cleaning issues.
Today we got out again. We never seems to have all the groceries that we need, plus this last shopping trip we didn't get everything. I wanted to make Philly cheese steak, but didn't have all the ingredients. After dropping Anna off as school we had to come back home to address a couple eBay issues. Then the boys and I took off for Walmart. We went and got everything on my list and even found a really great deal on diapers (you can never have too many diapers). We actually almost ran out the other day, now we have plenty of backups.
When we got back home I got everything put away and was about to start cutting up some peppers (for the quick making of philly cheese steak later) when the door bell rang and the front door opened. And who should be at the door, but Jacob. Yeah, Jacob came home for lunch and was being silly by ringing the door bell. Anyway, I was sort of bumming because I wanted to make cheese steaks for dinner, but I have a girls night out tonight. However since Jacob came home for lunch we made cheese steaks for lunch! Yay! It actually wasn't too bad for my first time making it. Jacob said he wanted a bit more cheese. I wanted a thinner cut of meat and the veggies cooked a bit longer, but over all not too bad!
Jacob started his Wed-Sat work schedule yesterday (of course), but he informed me last night that he now has to be at work at 5am. He isn't too happy about it. He already has a hard enough time waking up at 5, but now he is getting up at 4. The good thing about it is that he gets to come home at 3:30, so he gets home at 4. He gets off at 3:30 because he has to take a mandatory 30 min lunch. Getting off earlier is cool though!
I have to go and get Anna from school in about an hour. David is very bored for some reason. He just got finished watching Diego and Dora. We are now watching Iron Chef America. He was looking at a book earlier, but for some reason it fell apart. I need to put it back together.
Hope you are all well! Will try and write more often. I haven't written since February. Can you believe it? Crazy!!! :O)

Getting Caught Up

Well, today was suppose to be the day that the job for Jacob was suppose to be posted. However, for some reason the person who posted it screwed up and only posted it for people within the company again. So we are still waiting and hopefully it will be corrected tomorrow so Jacob can finally apply!

Let's see...I left off around the 20th of January...We spent about three days (not together) working on getting Jacob's new work wardrobe put together! I think he could probably use one or two more pair of pants, but then he'll be done. It will be a different look for him, ie. he'll be dressier than I'm used to, but he'll look very handsome! He always does anyway! :O)

We've done a couple runs to Walmart here and there. Haven't really gotten out all that much though we have made it to three movies in the last month or so..."Happily Never After", "Night at the Museum", and "Aurthur and the Invisibles". The second two were good, but I wouldn't really recommend the first one. We haven't really even done much grocery shopping lately. Mostly it's just been for staples and the rest is eating out. But that too is because I've been so out of energy with all these ailments it's just easier to get something out!

Speaking of which, to add to my previous ailment, I have caught a cold! It super sucks and has drained my energy even farther. I feel like a walking Momby! Still need to do all the Mom stuff, but in a big stuper/haze and I forget half of what I was doing in the first place! Jacob is of course a very big help and fortunately only suffered from the cold yesterday really. And then another addition is another physical pain that I woke up with this morning. So I have physical ailments x's 3 at this time! Not fun!!! Hopefully all will be healed very, very, very soon with the extreme amount of prayer that myself and many of my family and friends have been saying for me!!!

Jacob and I seemed to have undergone some type of role reversal here in the last week and a half or so. I have become the patient, understanding, careing one who doesn't eat much (the eating thing is probably due to the fact that I have been so ill) and Jacob has become easily aggitated and impatient and seems to really like the junk food! (Remember these roles are usually reversed!) Not sure what is going on, but as I have thought about it a bit I'm thinking that maybe this (most likely temporary) role reversal is to let us each see what the other is usually feeling on a daily basis! And to be honest I would much rather be Jacob all layed back and calm, with nary a care in the world other than what's important! Jacob's such a great man!!! It is really interesting to actually be like someone else for awhile! Really makes you re-evaluate your perspectives on life!!!

Anyway, now this is pretty much up to date! Though I'm not sure that I mentioned our puppy! Though I'm not sure how long this is going to last...of anything he is pretty much the only thing that has set my temper to overload, but it isn't his fault, he just wants attention (though he's not suppose to be my dog), it's mine and my damned selfishness that makes me get so angry! Buddy is a bloodhound, great dane/lab mix. He weighed in at a whopping 42 lbs a little over a week ago. He's an orangey rust color and quite adorable w/ his droopy sad puppy dog eyes!!! I'm amazed with how well he does with the kids even though he's only 4 months. He still likes to get his rough play in, but usually settles down shortly after starting! He's a very good boy!!!

Well, I better go. I can feel my eyes drooping as I type and type...Hope you are all having a great week!

Awesome Faiths and Bleak Circumstances

(Christel, Thank you for sending me your blog, I wish that I have the faith that you and many of your fellow bloggers seem to possess.)

Life for us recently has been pretty bleak. I have been dealing with a frustrating and tiring health issue for over a month now, which has currently gotten me pretty much bed ridden to try and combat the effects it has on me. I spent over 12 hours in the ER on Monday (didn't get home till Midnight) hoping to get some light shed on the issue, but all the tests came back normal, so they sent me home and told me to double my meds. and do a follow up with my doctor which I am doing tomorrow morning. Unfortunately now that Jacob is now out of the Military our insurance isn't anywhere what it used to be and I'm expecting with all these trips that I keep having to make to Doctors that we'll have a couple thousand dollars in medical bills here in the next few weeks...So hopefully tomorrow the doctor that I'm going to see will either be able to diagnose something no one else has thought of, or give me some meds. that will help clear the problem up!

Since my last blog a lot has happened. So much so that I don't think that I can write it all now. I'll just give you the highlights and more details of recent events...

Let's see...Our house went on the market in August, the 19th. We had a couple open houses and only 5 showings all together. There was a period in there for over 3 months that we didn't even have one showing. Then a couple days before we decided to take the house of the market (will give you more details about that in a later paragraph) we got a call 20 minutes before they wanted to show our house, from 3-5, for a showing time. We agreed and commenced cleaning house. After cleaning till about 4:40, and no one showing up, we decided to leave to get out of everyone way and took off for an errand till just after 5. When we got back home there were no cards left and I contacted our relater who later told us that the people never showed...

Anna and I have been doing Awanas Wednesday nights. It is fun and I am always glad that I go, after working with the kids!!!

My sister had her baby on the 7th of October, Ezekiel Josiah. My mother came over to help out and be with her. They had planned to head back to Idaho for my brother's Wedding which was on the 5th of October, but a week before the Wedding, the baby started pinching Sara's syatic nerve and she was put on heavy meds and told to pretty much be bed ridden. So we all missed the Wedding. (I missed the Wedding for at least a half a dozen reasons, that I won't go into detail about, though none had anything to do with my brother and his fiance' at all.) The Tuesday after he was born, my Mom, sister, her daughter and new son all headed to Idaho for a visit.

During this time my Mom got a job in Kremmling, CO and when Sara came back to us Mom moved over here! She now has a job at the Hospital in Kremmling. She has been trying to visit every other week (like today), but has been having more and more trouble with car issued than you could shake a stick at...So she won't be visiting us till she gets her car figured out!

While my sister was gone she got back together with Z's (Ezekiel) father, engaged. They planned the Wedding for January 4th. The next couple months were a whir of activities, too many to mention, but mostly getting things ready for the Wedding. With the help of my mother, she and I, pretty much planned and executed all the events (with Sara's Wedding input ideas) that took place at Sara's Wedding. The description of those events in itself was a seven page e-mail that I sent out to most of my family!!! So Sara Miller, became, Sara Eberly on January 4th, 2007! And then on the 9th of Januaray, she and her family moved back to Idaho.

The house became solely ours again shortly before noon on Januray the 9th. Rooms were cleaned and Anna was moved into Sara's room and David took over the larger of the two rooms, which would serve as the play/movie room for all the kids and David's bedroom.

Jacob's last day in the Air Force was January 13th. For many reasons, we embarked on this out of Service journey, thus felt it the right time for him to get out! He was promised a job back in September (the job would be available around the 18th of December), which also helped with our decision, and then found out that it wasn't available the 18th December (maybe the 1st of January), not available the 1st of January (maybe in two weeks), not available in two weeks...now it's February 1st, and he just heard today that it should be available to apply for on Monday the 5th. We'll see how that goes...So we are trusting in God to take care of our needs as we are living off of Jacob's separation pay. It should last us about 6 mo. if we are really frugal (That too is after paying off all our debts, Praise the Lord!)! So we are just waiting and watching to see what miracles and blessings will unfold in near future as far a job for Jacob is concerned...we did toy around with the idea, for a bit, of me maybe getting a job, but now with my health issue, it isn't going to work!

My 28th birthday came and went...and as always was one of the most uneventful days of my year! A few of my family members remembered and gave me a Birthday phone call (they were the highlight of my day) and none of my friends remembered! I spend most of the day crying in my room, feeling sorry for myself, so it wasn't very fun! I got no special Birthday dinner, no cake, no presents! So I think in future years I'm just going to not have a Birthday and then I won't have to worry about all the hullabaloo that I would have liked to of had! We'll see, maybe one of these years someone will actually give me the Birthday of my dreams!!! :O)

To back track a bit...the 20th of January we took our house off the market. We talked with our relater and after discussing our current situation we all decided that taking the house off the market was probably the best thing for us right now. Since Jacob doesn't currently have a job, if the house were to sell, we would have the finances to back up a loan to get our next house. So we will wait till Jacob's new job is secured before putting our house back on the market. Though we are actually hoping to find the new house that we want first, then we will put our house on the market at hopefully a much more buyer appealing price and sell the house really quickly to get into our new house ASAP. This all within the next 5 1/2 months so that the Military will move us one last time free of charge!

Anyway, I have a little more to talk about to update you all, but now that I've actually gotten myself back into this I'll try and be a better writer!

God Bless you all! Will write more soon (hopefully)! ~Jenny

Update!

Dear Family and Friends,

Sorry it is so long inbetween posts, but when I sit down to write these I'm usually on for awhile and recently I just haven't had the time for that! But I am going to try and update you now and then make more frequent posts after this...

So...

We are trying to get our house ready to put on the market! Tomorrow we having the carpets cleaned and the house is getting pretty bare as Jake and I just rented a storage until yesterday and have taken 3 trips there w/ the van loaded up! I think we probably have at least 20 boxes of stuff and several pieces of furniture. Though we plan to move more here in the next couple days. Our realtor is coming Wednesday to look at the house and give us suggestions! I hope we have done a good job on our own though and don't have much more to do because we are all tired due to how much we have been working on the house!

Though this evening we got out! Went to McDonald's and took the kids! They have a play place and Jacob, Sara, and I played Uno while we ate and the kids played/ate! It was nice to get out and not have to worry about any house stuff!

Well, I couldn't finished this last night, so here I go again!

Today we are having our carpets cleaned. They will be here in about 2ish hours. Not sure what we are going to do exactly while they are here, though we can leave, but I'm not sure that's what I want to do. Most of our important stuff is out of site or in rooms that they won't be cleaning! I might just stay and see if Sara wants to get out. I can make David go down for a nap and have Anna do some art projects or something. Though they said it would take 2 to 3 hours to clean the carpets, then 1 to2 hours for them to dry. So that's apporx. 3 to 5 hours we have to be occupied some way and not messing w/ the carpets too much! Jacob should be home about 4 so he'll probably be home before they finished unless they are pretty quick...

Sara and I got the house cleaned up today the rest of the way though...Well at least we got the stuff off the carpets so they can be cleaned! There are still odds and ends that we just can't figure out what to do w/. Might go to Michael's and see if I can get some baskets to put stuff in that we still use, but they don't really have a place!

Jacob and I ran some more stuff to the storage facility yesterday! A couple bookshelves, and a table and more boxes. We rented a place Saturday and took two loads and our last load we took after thier office was closed and we got stuck inside the fence because the gate wouldn't open for us. Jacob had to go up to the peoples house and tell them...apparently they are still having problems w/ the gate because it was permanently up yesterday when we went.

Another adventure we had was yesterday. David keeps finding ways to get out of the house to the front yard. And yesterday he got out and was in the van...he got into the pens and markers that I have in there and wrote all over my dash board/console, and the passanger seat and window. I was not happy! Actually I really wanted to cry I was so angry! Fortunately the Oops! that we have got almost all of it cleaned up and the Advantage spray worked well too! We have to keep the van locked from now on and the front door alarmed, though I'm not sure that's how he actually got out, through the front door that is!

Anna starts school in two weeks. We aren't ready yet! we don't have any of her school supplies and we aren't even sure that she will be attending this school the whole year since we will hopefully be moving here in the next couple weeks! And we haven't been working on a get up schedule. The school has changed it's hours from 8:20 to 8, so that means we need to be up at 6:30 instead of 7 like before. I usually sleep in till 8:30 or 9 and I'm going to have to get used to getting up just after John's last feeding instead of going back to bed. I'm not really looking forward to this! The whole getting up early thing that is! We'll see how it goes! The kids aren't used to getting up either, so this will be interesting for all of us!

John is doing well...He has started cooing and smiles a bunch and he's even laughed a few times! He is getting bigger every day and I almost need to move him up to 3-6 month clothes though not quite yet! He was almost 12 pounds at his 2 month visit and 21 1/2 inches tall! He and David have doctor appointments scheduled for September 27th. Anna has a well visit on the 23rd at 3:30, just after she gets out of school!

Well, I'm gonna wrap this up...can't really think of anything else to talk about though I am sure there is more, so I'll try and post it when I think of it! God Bless!

Getting Ready to List the House

Wow, sorry it's been so long since I posted my last entry...

We have been so busy, w/ barely a break...what with taking care of the kids, chores, and now trying to get the house looking tip top shape to put it on the market, there is barely any time to sit down and spend writing on my computer...however...Sara and I just got some more painting done this morning and we've all had lunch. David is suppose to be down for a nap and Anna is watching the show I put on for David to get him to fall asleep. John has been sleeping for awhile and should be up soon, but I thought I would sit and write for awhile and get you all caught up!!!

Let's see...since the 24th of June, we've done a ton! Mainly working on the house. We got both bathrooms painted and even had some tile installed in the upstairs bathroom. I got two walls painted myself Monday and today my sister helped me get almost the entire livingroom painted and hallway to the Masterbed and Office. The only things left to paint are the remaining two walls to the livingroom and down the stairs to the hallway. We aren't going to paint the downstairs hallway or we would have to end up painting all of downstairs and I'm just not up for that! The ceilings in the livingroom and kitchen were painted last Saturday. Turned out to be an all day event though I had actually hoped to get all the painting done that day. It was really hard to get the ceiling cause it is so high in places and was even tough for Jacob, who is over 6 ft. Oh well at least we got it done!!!

Jacob's Mom Vonnie was here from the 26th-29th. I think we had a good visit! We went to the Denver Downtown Aquarium and got a membership. Even Sara is on it cause the kids (David, Jade, John) are free till they hit 4. So that was cool! We are probably going to go there Saturday. We all need a break from all the house work and the kids really need to get out!

I don't really have any more details for the last many weeks. It was actually like the first week of July that Jacob made the decision to get out of the Military and thus decided to try and get the house on the market ASAP cause we are staying here, but we need a bigger house! It was my idea to get the house on the market by the 1st of August and if we bust our buns we may actually get that accomplised. I'm hoping to have an 'Open House' the first week we are on the market what w/ everything being newly painted and cleaned and the house being to decluttered. Hopefully we will get an offer right off!!! Please pray for us in this whole process cause many of our feelings are being bruised due to lack of focus!!! Anyway, There really isn't a whole lot more that needs to be done! We keep getting more and more accomplished every day and it's only a matter of a few more dedicated days and we should be able to get everything in order and call our realtor to take a look at the place and hopefully get some more suggestions for what to do w/ the house to get it to sell quicker!!!

Anyway, I need to go...David needs some attention. Hope you are having a great summer!

Getting Out

It has been awhile since I've actually gotten out...actually we all seem to be suffering from a bit of cabin fever as it's usually too hot to go outside and there isn't much space for the kids to play in their room (not that they don't have space, just not enough to run off all their energy). We didn't get out early today...actually we weren't out till almost Noon. Went to lunch at a couple different places and then went to Cold Stone so Jacob and Anna could get a treat (Jacob shared with David). I opted for Cinnabons Carmelatta Chill instead of ice cream which I got when we left the Cherry Creek Mall.

The Cherry Creek Mall is where we finally went to...we walked around a little at first and I got a couple tank tops at the Motherhood store (only maternity tops seem to be long enough to fit me properly). I was pleased to fit into a Lg. and have decided that I am going to start working out on Monday so hopefully I'll melt off even more pounds quicker!!! ~~~The kids finally got down to the play food after 2 and I brought John over to feed him because he was suppose to eat at 2. However once we sat down and John was still fast asleep I decided that I would just wait to feed him till he got up which was a good idea because at about 2:20 one of the security gaurds came around and asked everyone to leave so that the cleaning crew could come in...I was really ticked cause we had just sat down and the kids had been waiting to play and now they would have to wait another 15-20 to get back in. We walked around a bit and finally came back after they were done. The kids probably played for a good 45 min. to an hour. Then we left cause David didn't want to keep his socks on. (I had taken David to the Doctor on Monday to find out about his major blistering/peeling feet. The Dr. said that he probably has foot and mouth disease which is very common for this time of year in young kids and it should clear up soon. However, it only seems to be getting worse...especially on his feet. I'm thinking of takeing him back in again this next week because it really seems to bother him.)

After the Mall we went to the Wizard's Chest. Sara was very excited and we spend probably an hour there! Looked around at all the cool stuff! I went right to the stuffed animal section... They have really neat and unique things that you can't find at a regular store! I found a really cute 'Gotta Get a Gund' dragon in light boyish colors (blues, greens). I got it for John. Jacob found a really cool Batman utility belt for David. And Anna got two princess type figurines to match some of the others that we have already collected! Jacob wanted one of the levitron things that he looked at before, but they were all sold out. He was bummed! I got a really cool pen that was carved on top into a frog head and the cool thing about it is that I can just unscrew the cap on the bottom and insert new pen ink cartridges when the one in it runs out! It's really cute!!!

After there we stopped by Timbuk Toyz to look for a prince for Anna to use w/ her princesses, but they didn't have any. So we went home...

I sat down to eat a cinnamon roll really quick before I needed to feed John. Jacob turned on Oblivion, now He and Sara are playing 'Perfect Dark'. The kids are in bed and I was checking e-mail, eBay, and a few other things. Will be heading to bed after this entry...

Our realtor, Vicki, came over for dinner Thursday night. I told her what I had in mind for when we put the house on the market and she gave us a more tips on what we could do with the house. However, all that will become much more extensive once we actually decide to put the house on the market! I guess our grounds will really be an issue if we put the house on the market in the spring, but not so much if we do it in the winter since everything will already be dead and we won't have to keep it alive, which we are struggling to do this summer!

Jacob is still trying to figure out what to do with his Career! Still checking into Military and persueing the Government job outside of the Military...Hopefully we'll know more by the middle of next month. He has a meeting on July 12th that will maybe open a few more interesting door within the Military...We'll keep you posted! But either way we look at it we are definitely selling this place by next summer!!!

Well, I need to go, it's almost 10 and we have Church tomorrow, so I better hit the sack...Hope you are having a great summer! :O)

Sooooo Tired...

I forgot just how tired one can get when you have a new little one! I thought I'd be fine because I occationally don't get the full 8 or more hours of sleep, sometimes only 5 and seem to function just fine, but after nights and nights of having to get up every three hours for anywhere from half hour to 1 hour incriments I'm am sooo tired! Naps during the day are out! Especially because a during the day nap usually just makes me crankier! And David doesn't always take naps so I can't just leave him running around the house unsupervised! Anna would be fine, oh well!

And along with being tired I think I have lost a little of my memory capacity. I have become a total space cadet, and can hardly remember what we did earlier in the day let alone the day before or earlier. The hours just seems to mess into eachother and all I can think about is what I can get done in the short times between baby feedings or that maybe I can get a little rest in before I need to get some other chore done. Hopefully once John starts sleeping through nigths I'll be albe to regain some energy and sanity. Right now I just want to go back to bed, but the kids are up and I need to get them some breakfast.

My Mom arrived yesterday! My sister, Jade, and Anna went and picked her up at the Airport. I think her plane got in earlier than they said it should because when I called about the time they should be finding her at bagage claim they were already half way home. We spent the evening pretty much just vegging, though Mom, Sara, Jade, and I went to blockbuster to rent some movies. We got "Pink Panther", "Auquamarine", and a suspense thriller w/ Demi Moore in it, not sure what it's called. Then Jacob and I went to Safeway and picked up some tomatoes, salad, and a banana creme pie. I got out some extra cash so that we could pick up the pizza that I had ordered at Cici's. There pizza is really good and inexpensive, the only drawback is they don't deliver. But at least they are only about a five min. drive away!!!

I'm not sure what our plans are for the next few days!? Friday Jacob might get out of work early and we'll all go to lunch at the Chinese Buffet, and Saturday I know for sure that we are going to the Renaissance Festival. Only I just realized in the last week that our van is at max capacity now that we have John so we are going to have to carivan. Not sure who will go in which vehicles yet...

I have started to list stuff at the Thrift Store again! I actually want to list stuff every Tuesday and Thursday this month. Though I'm afraid that they might get too many toys and I won't be able to list anymore. I could just stick w/ clothes, though I can only list 5 at a time and I have way more clothes than just 5. But at least I'll only have to come up w/ 7 more items to make the full 12 I can list.

I'm also thinking of listing some things on the Colorado Garage Sale site. Not exactly sure everything that I want to list yet, but I have two for sure that I'm gonna take pictures of. Sort of a pre-moving on-line garage sale. I don't have to list everything at once, but I would like to! I might just list the first two and after our Realtor comes on Tuesday to take a look at the house then we'll know what more we need to pair the house down to before we have our first open house. Not sure when we are going to list the house just yet. There are some repairs that we need to make before we list because we want the house to sell ASAP. Can't afford to get a new house with this mortage too!

Well, I need to go for the day, not really much more to talk about. Hope you are all doing well! Would love to hear from you! God Bless! :O)

Hard, Late Night

11:30 is about when we finally got home...

Yesterday evening after I fed John, about 6:30, I joined Jacob outside on to swing to watch the kids jump on the trampoline. But when I got out there I noticed that Toby wasn't acting like himself. He was walking around all drunk like, and could barely support himself on his back legs, his head hanging almost to the ground. I thought maybe one of his hips broke again, so I told Jacob to check him out, but when Jacob called him, it took him a really long time to respond because he could barely get up. I decided that we needed to get him into the vet ASAP. Anyway, it was 7pm and unfortunately they were closed, but they had a phone number for an Emergancy place, that I called and they said to bring him right in. We left the kids w/ Sara and headed in. After examination it looked as though something was seriously wrong w/ Toby, possibly a total system failure (w/ little to no chance of recovery), liver failure (wide margin of recovery depending on the extent of damage, but w/ major expense and long term mediation and medical treatment), or possibly a galbladder obstruction (w/ chance for recovery after surgery). Though most of the things we heard from then on out were all very limited and didn't really answer any questions that could really help us make a decision on what to do. (The vet seemed to be leaning more towards advanced liver failure.) We ended up going w/ more bloodwork, which only confirmed that something was pretty wrong w/ him, but w/out more bloodwork, ultrasounds, and a belly tap (they found a large mass of fluid in Toby's belly), they couldn't really tell us anymore. And all of these just to find out what was possibly wrong w/ him would amount to over $500 and that didn't neccessarily mean that they would actually find out what was wrong w/ him. After much talk w/ the Vet, Jake's Mom Von, and together, we finally decided that we should just let Toby go. He seemed to be suffering so much and Jacob made a point that we didn't want him to suffer anymore by having them poke and prod him until they maybe found out what was wrong w/ him. Anyway, I couldn't really think anymore about what to do and just wanted to take Toby home, so we decided that after a fluid flush to try and make Toby more comfortable we would take him home so everyone could spend a little more time w/ him and say goodbye and we could take him back the next day. But while we were waiting on the fluids, Jake and I talked some more and decided that it would just be better go ahead w/ it right then because it wasn't right for us to make Toby suffer more just because we wanted to spend more time w/ him. I couldn't stay in the room, but Jacob did. It was hard enough for me to just stand outside the room and barely hear what was going on inside. I could hear a bunch of sniffling and nose blowing and wanted to go in because I could tell Jacob was hurting, but I didn't want to go in there w/ Toby still in the room. When Jacob finally came out we just held eachother for awhile. This whole thing was so sudden! We loved Toby so much, I couldn't even go to sleep last night w/out a massive dose of my pain meds. And then my heart hurt so much I thought I would't be able to sleep last night at all. But I finally did.

This morning for me was hard because I had to tell Anna that Toby had died (David didn't understand). She and I cried for awhile. But even though Anna seemed to have gotten over it quickly, I haven't. I keep seeing things of Toby's or thinking about what he looked like before he died and I keep breaking down crying. The afternoon has been better, but I still can't stop thinking about him and if we made the right decision...

Spurts

Hello!

Sorry I haven't written much lately, but things have been rather busy around here...But by busy I mean spurts of business filled by half hour sessions of baby feedings! I have gotten John down to a schedule of eating about every 3 hours. And at night he'll go for about 4 or 5 hours once he's had his approx. 9pm feeding.

Monday I spent about 2 hours waiting to get into and 3 hours actually in the ER. Thought I had a more pressing matter than it actually turned out to be and got some medication for the actual problem. I will be doing a follow up w/ the Midwives on Friday just after John's 2 week appointment. Hopefully I'll be able to figure out why it's taking me so long to recover this time around! But the whole ER thing really sucked because Monday was Jacob and My 7th Anniversary. Spending 5 hours at the Hospital wasn't my idea of a good way to spend our Special Day together. But we did get to go out to dinner afterwards and Sara watched the kids, including John later that evening so that we could go and see X-Men III. We had wanted to go and test drive cars for the fun of it, but we didn't get to do that! Oh well, maybe some other day!

We've been running around doing errands. Got some hoses w/ holes to get some extra water to sections of the lawn that we just can't seem to keep green! Today I took the kids w/ me to Target and K-Mart. We were in and out pretty quick and got exactly what I went in for!

Tomorrow I need to take John in to get registered in DEERS. It's our insurance... I also decided that I wanted to list some items at the Thrift store on Base and have those all ready in the van to take in tomorrow as well. Might get a few groceries too, depending on the time. Might need to feed John again.

Anyway, I had better go. Need to get something to drink and go and feed John here in about 20 min. Jacob will be heading to bed soon, he went back to work today and has work tomorrow and Friday. I also need to get out the VVA donation bright and early tomorrow morning, so I will need to hit the sack right after putting John down for the night. Hope you are doing well! God Bless!

Not Quite There Yet...

Sorry it has been so long since I've written! But after I sent my last post a lot has happened!

First of all, May 26th at 6:24pm, John Wesley Lacock was born! He weighed 7 lb. 10 oz and was 19 1/4 in. long. My water had broke at about 3 in the morning, but I didn't realize it till I got up about 6:30. I walked around for a little while to make sure and then woke up Jacob. I called the Midwives and they said that if nothing happened on it's own by 9 that I could come in and discuss options of what to do. We were at the Hospital by 9 and once we got in we decided to induce since nothing was happening. They started the pitocine at 11:20, took them forever to get an IV started because I was so swollen, they poked me 6 times before finally decideing to put the IV in a central vein in my inner arm (where they usually draw blood). Once they got that in things started pretty slow. The midwife wanted to take it easy and Jake and I just sat around for like 4 hours watching TV and movies on his PSP. Things started to role about 3 or so and I was getting so uncomfortable that I decided to go w/ an epidural. After that I pretty much didn't feel anything until it was time for me to push. Even w/ the epidural the contractions were getting painful, so the midwife decided to check and decided I was really to push! Only took 20 min. this time. Unfortunately on the way out John's left clavical was broken, though it seems to be healing nicely now!

With the epidural I had I couldn't use my legs, took until the next morning for me to be able to stand w/out my right leg giving out. That's a weird experience! We planned to head home after John's last Biliruben test the next evening, but when they checked they found that his levels were a bit high so we ended up staying until Sunday night. John spent 18 hours under the blue lights to get his levels down and I spent every 2-3 hours feeding him to help him get things flushed from his system! Anyway, it all worked and we came home Sunday night, were in by 10. Got the first semi-peaceful nights rest in three nights! Was nice to be back in my own bed!

Monday we all seemed to get a slow start to the day. I was really hurting because I hadn't been able to get my pain meds filled and still didn't get them filled till about 3 in the afternoon. We had to take John in for one last Biliruben test Monday to make sure his levels were okay, which they were, so we came home.

This recovery for me is taking quite a lot longer than I remember w/ the other two. I remember being up and around and other than a little soreness w/ Anna, none w/ David pretty much bouncing right back into the swing of things. But this time around things are different and I'm not exactly sure why!? My back has been killing me since the epi. wore off! Not at the sight, but my upper and lower back radiating down into my hips. The pain meds don't seem to cut it every time, though Thursday after a horrible, horrible morning I seemed to perk up and felt 100%. Cleaned the upstairs bathroom, downstairs movie room, did a load of wash, and even organized the master bedroom a bit. Hopefully this is all temporary, which is what the anasthesiologist said when I talked to her about how much I was hurting. If things don't get better by next Friday I think I'm going to take the 2 week check-up for me to get this whole thing for me evaluated...

Jake went to work Tuesday to take his PT test. He was so excited, he did 50 push-ups, 67 sit-ups and ran the mile and a half in a little over 10 min. We all basically just hung around the house that day, though I made John's appointments for his 2 day Well Baby, and for his Echo-cardiograhm.

Jacob took from Wednesday-Tuesday the 6th off. So Wednesday, Jacob, David, and I took John to his Well Baby check-up. Everything looked great and we got a referral to go to John's Echo the next day. I think Sara and I went and got groceries that afternoon.

Jacob has been going to get Anna from school this last week. He takes her bicycle and has her ride it back home. I'm not sure how she likes it, Anna hasn't really made any comments about it.

Thursday I put Anna's sack lunch together for her Field Trip to the Zoo w/ her Kindergarten class. It was a really big lunch! I had picked up some treats for her to take in her lunch, watermelon, baby carrots w/ ranch, and some cookies. Jacob made her a bologna and cheese sandwhich w/ miricle whip. However, Anna doesn't like mw and only took like two bites of her sandwich. Almost everything else was gone. Aparently she had a good time, but we weren't sure that she was going to get picked up from school on time. The bus was suppose to get back around 2 and Sara was going to pick her up. However, the Boys and I had to go to John's Echo. We left at Noon and didn't get back till 4. Sara was having a crisis w/ Jade who had apparently caught something and was throwing up all over the place. Once things settled down a little and they both got cleaned up she was able to go and pick up Anna. Anyway, John's Echo-cardiograhm found that he no longer has the hole in his heart! He is a healthy baby boy! So we don't have to go in for any follow-ups or anything! Just regular baby check-ups!

Friday, yesterday, we didn't do much...though I found out that my friend Jeannie had her baby at about Noon on Thursday (she wasn't due till the 4th). She had a little boy, Marcus Anthony, via c-section because apparently in the last week or so he turned and was breech. She seemed to be recovering pretty well, or at least sounded so over the phone...it had been 24 hrs since the baby was born. She said that they might be able to come home on Sunday morning. All depending on recovery I guess. I also got an e-mail from my friend Christel whom I had been wondering about! She was also exspecting, due May 30th, but she wrote and said she had had a little girl, Emily Madison, on May 15th and were still trying to get into the swing of things w/ a new baby, this is her first, and Jeannie's first as well! Other than the news from my friends nothing much else went on...

Friends have brought us meals the last couple nights, which has been wonderful! This is such a blessing, espeically when you haven't quite gotten your feet back under you yet! And Jake has been in food heaven because the last two meals were two of his favorites, lasagna and chicken pot pie! I definitely haven't had the energy by the evening to really think of even eating, but it works out great cause everyone else needs to eat!

Anyway, today is Saturday and again I don't believe we have any plans...Jake stayed up late last night, 3:30 am, and finally came to bed. Unfortunately the kids have been super noisy this morning and woke him up...I apologized, but found out that the kids actually weren't the ones who woke him up, it was the neighbors using power tools next door! Though that was funny because the kids were much louder than the power tools! Guess he's just really good at tuning out the kids when he wants some sleep!

Well, I better go. I probably need to feed John here soon and Jacob and I need to talk about what we want to do the next couple days while he still has time off! Hope you are all doing well and I'll try and respond to your e-mails here in the next day or two if I haven't already!

God Bless!!! :O)

Olive Garden and Home...

The Olive Garden was good (food, waiter, atmosphere) though after being there for about an hour I was really getting uncomfortable w/ lots of pressure. I had to roll my chair back and lounge back a bit, but I didn't feel better till we got back in the van and I could lounge even more and I'm even better now that I am home and can put my feet up as well...

As we drove back home we noticed the storm moving in... It wasn't quite here yet and we really needed to mow the front lawn, so Jake filled 'er up w/ gas and took care of that while I used the weed wacker and went around the edges. Looks so much nicer now!!! And now it's going to rain and water our nicely mowed lawn!!! It smells really nice too! I like the smell of rain!

Anna was going to jump on the tramopline before it rained, but her tummy hurt cause she ate so much. Filled up on paste, bread sticks, and salad. Though she is feeling better now and just had a slice of the cake that I made earlier...

I was quite upset after finishing the cake, Anna and I went in the bedroom to look over the activities that the Church is putting on for the kids this summer and Anna decided to go and check and see what David was doing. She starts yelling cause David is aparently into her cake...I rush in there and indeed he has pulled a couple chunks out of the side of the cake and has frosting in his hair. I was no happy! He was sent to his room to await his Dad's arrival from PT not to far in the future...

Now that we have all had our cake (except for David who doesn't get any today) I'm not sure what we are going to do. I think the kids and Jake are cleaning up the play dough mess that the kids made before we do anything. Might watch a show or play a game...we haven't really discussed it.

The storm is almost upon us...lightening and thunder. No rain yet...

Hope you have a good evening! Will write more soon!

39 wk OB visit and More

Well,

My OB visit wasn't as promising as I had hoped though I had the lady do something to hopefully help spur things on, but so far it doesn't feel like it has helped.

Jake wasn't sure about work today and turns out he isn't going, but still needs to head in for a PT taping. Which I thought was a video taping, but he actually just meant for measurements, silly me... :O) He should be taking off here pretty soon to get taped and then head back home so we can all take off for an early dinner at Olive Garden. That's where Anna decided she wanted to eat. And I got Anna's cake baked, just need to flip it over and frost it. It's actually turned out to be a strawberry (bunt) cake and we'll be putting white frosting w/ sprinkles mixed in to top! Anna was okay w/ it. They didn't have the strawberry frosting at the smaller Walmart so I had to get something different. Anna thinks the sprinkles are cool!

Sara and I watched the Season Finale of 'Lost'. These show really tick you off sometimes, they leave you w/ so many questions that you aren't going to get answered till probably Sept. I mean what's up w/ that. I mean if you like the show you're going to tune in next Season, so why do they have to leave you hanging all summer, that's just mean!

Jake just took off for the PT thing...if he gets in really quick he should get back home by 3:30 and we can probably make it to Olive Garden by 4ish.

No plans for this evening. Not sure what Anna is going to want to do. We don't have any shows taped or new movies rented. We might sit down and watch some more Rune Soldier. We started the Series the other night, but didn't watch more than two episodes.

Tomorrow X-Men III comes out! I am really looking forward to seeing it! I'm not sure if we are going to take Anna or not, but if we do we'll have to find a sitter for David and Jade because they probably won't sit through it...Not sure who to ask though...especially because Jade doesn't really know any of my friends well enough...Not sure how she would do...We'll see. Might just split up and watch them two to two. Not sure who would go w/ who though.

This weekend is looking pretty boring for us. We have no plans what-so-ever, so that will be four days of nada going on! I'm actually not looking forward to it, that is unless the baby comes and then we'll definitely have something to do!!! Anyway, I'm sure we'll come up w/ something...will let you know what we decide on!

That's all for now...hope you have a wonderful day! God Bless~