Weekend Plans July 3, 2009

I usually don’t post about our weekend plans because we usually do something different so then I have to post again to tell you what we really did. Oh well, I’ve decided I felt the need to blog and I’m too lazy to load pictures so I’m going to tell you about our weekend plans and we’ll see how it goes.

Well first let me back up.

What day is it today? Friday, right? After having surgery on Monday I’m so confused. About what day it is. Just to be clear.

My sister was here Wednesday and Thursday to help me with the babies. She’s a life saver and we had a good couple days. Belle had a blast. Aunt Nellie is her most favorite person in the whole wide world.

I’m feeling pretty good. As long as I don’t sweep and vacuum and do dishes and pick up toys and not take my pain pills. I know, I know, stop being an idiot. But I’m so worried we’re going to get a call about someone wanting to see the house and they are going to see the clump of dog hair on the carpet or trip on the toy that Belle left on the floor and then it’ll all be over, ya know.

Anyway, like I said, I’m feeling pretty good. I’m only taking a pain pill maybe twice a day, otherwise just Advil is doing the trick. I had the “robot” version of a hysterectomy which has a much shorter recovery time, less pain, etc. I should be off work for only 2 weeks and hopefully by next week I’ll be feeling alot better.

Hubby came down with a cold last night. Of course. It seems that every time I get sick or I have surgery or something that requires him to take care of me he gets sick. I’m beginning to think that he subconsciously does not want to take care of me. Or maybe he just gets sick alot. So today I bought him some Airbornne which I heard is amazing. We’ll see.

We had a birthday party today – our niece’s daughter turned 1. It was a great party. Amazing chocolate cake. Which almost made up for the chocolate cake that I did not get at the hospital. And then we went home and got ready for Gloria and Pastor Kirk and their boys to come over for supper.

I have a dilemma because I don’t know what to call them. Gloria is one of our babysitters (and Belle’s other most favorite person in the world). Pastor Kirk is our pastor. He’s also my boss (kinda – I have another boss but he’s the Pastor so he’s the boss boss). They are also our friends. So do I say “our friends who babysit our kids and pastor us”? That sounds weird. How about just friends. Because they might not always be our babysitter or pastor or boss. But they’ll always be our friends.

I’m pretty sure this post should have been called “Be warned this post is really random and is written by a post-operative incoherent person who is taking strong pain pills”.

So anyway our friends Kirk and Gloria and their boys came over for supper tonight and we had a great time visiting. Belle had a great time jumping on Kirk and making Gloria play horsey. And Gloria got Pip to stop crying. He’s teething and has a cold and wanted to be bounced but bouncing isn’t so easy for me right now. I wonder if she’d mind me calling her at three in the morning.

Oh ya I did learn a trick today from Grama Barb (Pat’s mom) about Pip. When he gets tried he gets cranky and screams and wants to bounce and sometimes nothing will console him. At the birthday party today Grama Barb started singing “rock-a-bye-baby” to him and he stopped crying. Well I’ve tried singing to him before and he just screams louder. I was thinking he was traumatized by my singing voice but it turns out he just doesn’t like any song other than rock-a-bye-baby. Because tonight at bedtime he was crying again and I starting singing that to him and he stopped crying and went right to sleep. Sweet, huh! Although this is a little disturbing to me because why do I want to sing about my baby falling from a tree? Who ever wrote that song, anyway? Obviously someone desperate to get their baby to stop crying!

Yikes, this post is really long and I haven’t even gotten to the main idea yet. Ya know our weekend plans. I’ll make it short and sweet from here on out.

Hello?

Tomorrow for lunch we’re going over to Hubby’s aunt and uncle’s house to grill out. And then around 4-5 we’re going to Hubby’s brother’s house (the same place we had the birthday party today) to hang out and eat. Hopefully it’ll be nice enough to play on their amazing play set and swim.

I would like to say that this is the first year in probably ten years that I have not went to my parent’s for the 4th of July. I’m a little traumatized by this. We’ve already had a great weekend and I’m sure it’ll continue to be great but change isn’t easy. I’ve shared before that my parents live on the Missouri River and at the resort where their boat is parked they have a boat parade and then a huge fireworks show. The boats all park (I don’t think that’s the right word) out in the marina for the fireworks show and it seems like the fireworks are going to fall right on top of you. It’s cool, really. Anyway, I’m glad we’re spending the holiday at home. Not only because I’m not feeling 100% yet but because it’ll be nice to be with Hubby’s family but I’m also going to miss the festivities at my parent’s.

On Sunday Princess leaves for FLY – the Free Lutheran Youth Convention in Estes Park, CO. It’s a week-long camp and it’s amazing and our church has about 120 kids and adults going. It’s going to be great and even though we’re sad we aren’t going along this year we’ll be praying for many changed lives!

And then a new week begins and I’ll be looking forward to enjoying it at home with my babies. Hopefully with less pain and no need for pain pills. And hopefully I won’t have to print a retraction letting you know what we really did this weekend!

Have a great 4th of July!

July 1st July 1, 2009

I realized that today is July 1st.

Which means August 1st isn’t far off.

Which means August is when Princess goes to college.

Which means life won’t be the same and words can’t describe how much we’ll miss our girl.

Family Vacation 09 Part 2 July 1, 2009

It’s been so long since my part 1 of our family vacation I don’t even remember where we left off. Here’s the link if you want to go back and read it with me…

Oh ya, Hubby had something planned for when we got to the cabin. Here’s our little cabin in the woods.

It was so perfect for us. It had 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a full kitchen, living room, family room and probably best of all a hot tub outside! It’s right at the base of Terry Peak and we would see deer almost every morning and of course lots of other little critters that Belle liked to chase.

We got all settled and then my sister and I ran to the nearest town to pick up groceries for the week. Well actually we drove but I’m pretty sure you know me well enough to know that. I already posted about our grocery shopping trip. Although I didn’t share that we had budgeted $200 for groceries and my bill came to $198 and some change. Nice work. And we only had about 3/4 of the food left over when we left.

Note to self: It really is true that you shouldn’t go grocery shopping on an empty stomach!

We get back to the cabin and Hubby and my dad inform me and my mom that we are going on the night Jeep run with them. I had been pretty bummed because I wasn’t able to ride Thursday or Friday because of how I’d been feeling. But Wednesday’s night run was only two hours and would be perfect.

Here we go…

Notice that Hubby’s Jeep is on fire. Well, it appears that way anyway. Thankfully it wasn’t on fire. This is Hubby, my mom and dad as we waited for the night run and walked around pretending to be as interested in Jeeps as Hubby is.

All lined up and ready to go!

This is the road we drove on. Isn’t that special.

My mom and dad. I’m pretty sure on the inside they are screaming, “WHY DID WE AGREE TO THIS?!!?”

I wish I could find the picture I took of when we got lost and all the guys left me and my mom sitting with the Jeeps. Yes, they left us sitting there, in the dark, all by ourselves so we could get butchered by the Butcher Gultch butcherer. Or a bear. Or a really mean deer. Or something like that.

Thankfully though – and obviously –  we made it out alive! Although I’m thankful for the experience of Jeeping with my Hubby I’d have to say that I was looking forward to the less bumpy, less dusty day that Thursday would bring for me, my mom, sister and babies.

And just because I can, I feel the need to share with you our beautiful Princess and her handsome boyfriend Prankster. This of course was the next morning as Hubby awoke them bright and early to get ready to hit the Jeep trails!

Hee hee. I have a feeling I might pay for that one.

Insert catchy title here June 30, 2009

I’m struggling to come up with a good title for this post. Obviously. Maybe because there’s so much I want to share and dont know where to start. I guess I’ll start with the most important and see how far I get before my latest dose of pain meds knock me out.
First of all…the Bachelorette. Yes I did watch it. For the first time this season! I’ve read other blogs’ updates so I kinda knew what was going on. And I think it’s very good that Ed came back right. And how can the producers of the show sleep at night knowing what a creep Wes is and that Jillian is falling for him. It’s tragic.

The other thing that’s tragic is that i still havent had chocolate cake yet. And it’s also tragic that I’m so lazy ive given up on using correct punctuation. I’ll blame that on this little phone im trying to blog from.

Anyway im still in the hospital. I should be getting out today because all is going well. i finally got the iv and catheter out this morning. Ya!

i have more to share but im at my word limit. More to come.

All is well…except for the lack of chocolate cake June 29, 2009

Yes, I know enough with the chocolate cake.

Everything went really well with surgery. They did leave my ovaries. At first I wanted dr to take them too so I wouldnt have to deal with pms. But there were quite a few side effects I didnt know about. So hopefully that was a good decision.

Hubby and the babies just left. It was so good to see them. Thank you Jesus for giving me more time with them. I love my family so much and I’m so thankful for God’s blessings.

Now I’m hopefully going to get some rest and watch some tv. Although I love my babies I’d be lying if I didnt say I was looking forward to this little vacation. And my hubby is so amazing they probably wont even know I’m not there!

Have a great night.

my $2836 brownie June 29, 2009

we are on our way to hospital to check in for my surgery. Check in is at 9 and surgery is at 11. I’m starving. I could only have clear liquids for supper and then nothing at all after I went to bed. And then hubby had to make the comment that after they take me away to surgery he’s going to go down to the cafeteria and get one of those amazing chocolate brownies that we feasted on when his mom was in the hospital.

Harsh.

But then he said he’d get me one for later tonight. And in some sort of really weird way that makes my surgery totally worth it.

I’ll check in later tonight. Thanks for your prayers!

I’m a Bad Bad Blogger Friend June 26, 2009

Goodness, I can’t believe it’s Friday. And I just realized I didn’t keep my word and post a vacation recap each day this week. My original plan was to get every post done and then just set them to automatically post each day. Well obviously that didn’t happen.

The past few days have been hard. Yesterday evening and today were the prayer service and funeral for our friends’ daughter Lael. I don’t even know what to say about that except that I’ve cried alot for David and Kristin. I’ve asked God alot of questions. Many that don’t have answers. David and Kristin have been an amazing example of a faith that has been tested – yet they continue to trust. Even through the pain and heartache. They have taught me so much this week.

We officially put our house on the market. Unfortunately it’s not quite ready to be shown but hopefully by Sunday it will be. My mom and dad came last night and will be here a few days to help paint and clean and sort.

And Monday I have my surgery. I’m a little nervous to be honest. Especially with losing Lael it makes you think about your life and how many days you will be given. I know it’s not a major surgery and that things will go just fine. But just in case I am preparing my funeral so Hubby won’t have to worry about it.

Yikes, that was morbid.

Well I’m not sure how often I’ll be around here the next few days. I still need to finish our vacation recap. I’ve got some great pictures to show you. Here are a few that Princess took. Have a great weekend!

Princess was a naughty sister and put Belle’s pink tennies on Pip.

Princess and Belle and pretty flowers.

Jeeping.

Let the Recap Begin June 23, 2009

This week I’ll be neck deep in house cleaning and sorting and throwing and cleaning (getting our house ready to put on the market) and so will be away from blog land.  But I have put together a post for each day this week for you recapping our vacation last week. Aren’t you a lucky duck?

You already know about our little adventure with Belle at our first stop.  She recovered just fine and the next morning (Wednesday 9/17) we were on the road by 9:00 am.  And by 9:11 am Belle and Pip were fast asleep and slept for two hours.

Now that’s what I call traveling well. Don’t worry Pip would remind us on the way home to not take two sleeping babies for granted.

We stopped in Wall Drug again this year. Here’s our stop from last year. It was fun this year because Belle loves to look at everything and point and tell us what everything is. And oh how times have changed:

Last year:

This year:

We walked around Wall Drug some more seeing the sights.  We were trying to waste time because my parents, my sister and Princess and Prankster had all left after us and were about 30 minutes away. We grabbed lunch and Belle and Pip sat patiently waiting for the rest of the family.

Ya, if you believe that one, you’re off your rocker!  It wasn’t too long though and everyone made it there.

My mom and dad.

My sister (Aunt Nellie).

And Princess and Prankster.

Ok, ok, if you insist. Here’s me and Hubby.

After we all finished lunch we walked around a little more. Aunt Nellie decided to have Belle ride on a little merry-go-round. Well Princess didn’t want to be left out so her and Pip jumped on.  Things were going just fine with just Belle on it.

But then when Princess and Pip got on, it didn’t quite come to complete stop – but almost.

I think Princess thought it was Pip’s fault so she handed him off to Aunt Nellie.

But that didn’t really make a difference and poor Princess will never live down the fact that she stopped Belle’s merry-go-round ride. But we got a good laugh out of it.

After that good laugh we were on the road again. We only had about two hours to go to get to our cabin. I was thinking I’d have a nice relaxing evening. But Hubby had other plans!

Little Pip – 6 Months June 22, 2009

Little Pip was 6 months old on June 17th. I can’t believe my baby boy is growing up so fast. One minute he looks like a teeny tiny little baby and the next he’s this huge monster almost bigger than his sister.

He’s been teething for quite some time and finally this last weekend his two bottom teeth broke through. You can tell he’s just completely miserable. He’s also been sick and we’re not sure if it’s just a combination of teething, stomach bug, the altitude from vacation or what. But he’s throwing up alot and has absolutely no interest in eating anything except his bottle. And even that is give and take – he’s definitely not drinking as much as he was a few weeks ago. I’m going to give it a few days and see if it improves. I’m a very bad mommy and forgot to call to schedule his 6 month well-baby check up and so they can’t get us in until July 14th.

Other than feeling pretty crummy lately and being more lathargic than normal Pip is still a happy little boy. Always smiling and talking and laughing. He’s such a good baby.

He still hates being on his tummy but he’s scooting a little more. He LOVES the jumper that he gets to sit in at Grama Barb’s house. He also loves to lay on the floor and roll back and forth. As long as he gets to chew on something he’s perfectly happy.

Pip’s sleeping schedule is still messed up. Well not messed up I guess, just not consistent. One night he’ll eat at 8-9 pm, go to sleep and then wake up at 3 am, eat and sleep til 6 am. The next night he’ll go to sleep at 9 pm, wake at 11 pm, eat and sleep til 5 am. Ya never know what you’re going to get. The nice thing about his middle of the night feedings is he pretty much always falls back asleep.

His skin issues have really improved the last few weeks. I’m not sure why. I don’t think we did anything different. Maybe just doing something consistently, instead of switching it around every few days helped. Basically he gets a bath every night. Immediately after bath he gets rubbed down with a creme except under his neck he gets a special yeast infection ointment. If there are areas that are really bad we’ll use a little bit of the steroid creme but haven’t had to use much at all since that first time. The area under his neck is almost completely healed, praise the Lord! We were so worried about it. During the day we just try to keep it dry and clean and that seems to help. We have noticed that heat really makes it flare up. Not good lately – we’ve had some very hot, humid days so I dress him as light as I can and try to keep him cool.

With not knowing if he’s allergic to food products he hasn’t been eating any rice or oatmeal. We did try veggies and now we’re on to fruits. He did really good with veggies but the last week hasn’t wanted anything to do with eating. Again, I’m not sure if it’s because he feels crummy or what. I know he’s hungry and interested because he’s always trying to swipe our food. In addition to anything else we might have.

Pip loves to watch tv. I never seen a baby so interested in tv before. We try to limit how much it’s on, especially with Belle hearing, understanding and repeating everything she says. I haven’t used any Baby Einstein videos with him yet because he’s such a good mannered baby, he’s just content to sit and chew on something (most of the time).

He’s still as ticklish as can be and it’s so funny to hear him laugh. He’s got the best laugh. We could possibly be convicted of torture because we love to tickle him to hear him laugh. Belle is definitely still his favorite person in the whole wide world. If he starts fussing and I’m needing to finish something up I’ll ask Belle to go talk to him and he’ll start laughing and cooing at her. It’s so sweet.

Here are some pictures of our Little Pip at 6 months:

My two precious babies (notice the Jeep shirts!).

Excited to be on vacation!

A rare moment – enjoying tummy time!

Pip with Aunt Vicki (Hubby’s sister)

Just laying around!

The chunky chunk with his daddy

Thank you Jesus for our Little Pip!

Heavy Hearts June 21, 2009

We are so sad right now as we’ve just learned that our friends David and Kristin lost their baby girl Lael today. We know that they take comfort in the fact that she is now resting in the arms of her Heavenly Father but we also cannot imagine the pain and sorrow they must be experiencing. I know many of you who read my blog do not know them but would you please pray for them today?

For those that do know them they did set up a caring pages site.