04.30.09
I’m Pretty Sure He’s Also Responsible For The Swine Flu
Remember when I shared about my little problem with not resolving conflict with my Hubby in a timely manner and so eventually I come to blame him for everything?
Well yesterday was one of those days. And it was not pretty.
Belle and Pip had their 18 month and 4 month doctor appointments. Unfortunately Hubby was unable to come with but me being the crazy person that I am I decided to go ahead and take them by myself.
No, I am not really crazy. It’s just an expression. I’m just joking. In case you’re wondering. Ahem.
For the first three minutes we are doing pretty good. Belle is talking all nice to nurse LeAnn and we get into our room and get the babies naked so we can weigh them. Oh, the dreaded scale table. Belle did not take too kindly to it. We weighed Pip first and as soon as he was put on the scale Belle started screaming. No special book, no pointing out the animals on the paper on the scale, no nothing could calm the poor little thing.
We quickly weighed and measured Pip:
16.2 lbs – 80th percentile
25 1/2 inches – 80th percentile
Next it was Belle’s turn and oh my word the screaming. The first try we got her weighed at 20 lbs but we knew that was way off. So we had to do the whole thing again. Finally we got a good weight for Belle:
24 lbs – 50th percentile
31 inches – 30th percentile
We went back into our room and even after the nurse left Belle wouldn’t calm down. She wanted to be held but I couldn’t put Pip on the table because he’s getting so close to rolling over. So I put him in his carseat and thankfully he was having his usual happy day and was just fine.
I finally convinced Belle to sit on the chair “all my herself like a big girl” and read her books so when the doctor came in I could help him with Pip.
He (Pip, not the doctor) still has really bad eczema. We’ve tried about every kind of cream. Tried taking more baths. Tried taking less baths. It’s worse on his face but is also on his arms and legs. Doctor wants us to try one more cream before going to a prescription and then maybe testing for allergies. Otherwise Pip is a healthy (plump) little guy!
By this time I was completely drenched in sweat. I’m not sure why but it’s just overwhelming for me when Belle is screaming at the top of her lungs. Doctor told me he just tunes it out. Um, how?
Anyway we made it through Belle’s exam – Pip sat nicely in his carseat. Belle screamed bloody murder the whole time and it was very frustrating because we had some questions for the doctor but neither of us could hear and we just tried to rush through everything so she’d settle down.
Next came their shots. We did Pip first – Belle sat in her “big girl” chair. But she was not happy about Pip getting touched by the nurses! I calmed him down after shots and got him dressed and in his carseat. But of course at this point that was the last place he wanted to be. So I’m rocking his carseat with my foot while holding Belle as she gets her shots. We quickly get her dressed and FINALLY we get to leave!
And let me tell you Hubby is in trouble because this entire ordeal is all his fault! I’m not sure why. It just is.
Ironically when we leave the room the doctor is sitting at his desk outside the door and now Belle wants to stand there and talk to him. We talk for awhile and I finally convince her it’s time to go. Only to get outside to find that it’s raining!
And yes, the rain is Hubby’s fault too.
We make it home, Pip thankfully falls asleep and Belle and I cuddle up on the couch to watch cartoons until Hubby gets home. I did call him on the way home and chew him out. Just a little. Nothing too harsh. And by the time he got home from work I had stopped throwing myself a pity party.
Thankfully Hubby told me that I made a wonderful supper. And it’s a good thing because if I hadn’t I’m pretty sure it would have been his fault!
04.28.09
What I Learned This Week
1. I learned that as soon as I reschedule my surgery I have a couple of bad days right in a row. Figures.
But unfortunately there’s just too much going on right now in our life and I was on the verge of completely losing my mind. I’m rescheduled for June 29. Things should be quieter at work and hopefully me and the kiddos can take some time and go stay with my parents for at least a week.
2. Hubby’s mom is still in the hospital and we’ve spent alot of time there the past week. I learned that Belle is probably the only one on the face of the earth that LOVES the hospital. LOVES. I think it has to do with the fact that she loves to ride the elevator. And loves to talk to people in the elevator. And loves to run out of the elevator. And run back in the elevator.
MckMama recently posted about the unspoken rules of riding in elevators. Just for the record these rules do not apply when you are accompanied with a 18 month old beautiful red head.
3. I learned that the time we’ve spent at the hospital the past week has not been good for our desire to lose weight. I can neither confirm nor deny whether the yummy, moist, amazing chocolate cake with thick rich frosting that you can find in the cafeteria has had anything to do with it.
And people say hospital food is bad. Ya, bad for weight loss.
4. I learned that when I get ticked at my husband if I do not deal with it immediately I continue to think of reason after reason as to why I should be upset with him and why he’s such an idiot (even though he’s not). On Sunday night I was irked about something – can’t really even remember what now – but within the next 30 minutes I had convinced myself that he alone was responsible for World War 2 and the return of plaid.
Oh you never do that? Guess it’s just me.
5. I learned that I love my kiddos so much. Yes I did know this before this week but it seems that each and every day the Lord reminds me to cherish these precious blessings.
Princess’s last prom. She’s beautiful! And she’s pretty beautiful on the outside too!
Belle saying “I ruff you”. And counting to 10 all by herself.
Little Pip just being the cutest, chubbiest baby in the entire world! And his laugh is to die for.
Prince. We haven’t seen him much lately. I think about him and pray for him every day. We miss him so much.
That’s what I learned this week. Honestly I learned a lot more. I guess that’s another thing I learned this week. To keep some things to myself!
Check out Musings of a Housewife for more of what others have learned.
04.27.09
Weekend Wrap Up
Our weekend consisted of the following:
Princess’s prom, hanging out at the hospital with Grama Barb and sleeping watching the NFL draft.
Here, let me show you (unfortunately my camera took them really small-sorry):
Princess and the Prankster:
Princess and Belle:
Princess with her mommy:
The whole family:
Princess and Prankster looked fabulous (as you can see!). And although Pip slept through the grand march he woke up just in time for a family picture!
We also spent alot of our weekend at the hospital. Grama Barb is still stuck there and the doctor is still not sure what’s going on. Her knee rehab is going well though so we’re thankful for that.
Here’s Belle pushing buttons. She actually did really good considering how long we were there. And as usually everyone we saw had to comment on her beautiful hair and now that’s she’s talking a mile a minute she really hams it up with people.
It seems that at this point Pip had lost his mind. He was sitting with his cousin Krissy and just wanted to lay back and stretch.
And as I’ve mentioned the rest of the weekend was spent watching the NFL draft:
It was riveting entertainment, let me tell ya.
Probably the best part of the weekend was Sunday night when Belle said “I love you”. She’s always “said” it before – by blowing a kiss. We say “love you” and she’ll blow a kiss and say “mwah”. And I suppose I should be clear, she actually said, “I ruff you”. But I’m pretty sure she meant love.
Hope you had a good weekend!
04.24.09
7 Quick Takes Friday – Prayer Request Edition
I’m just making up the “prayer request edition” myself. Hope that’s ok and doesn’t get me booted out of the 7 Quick Takes Friday circle!
There’s been alot going on in our life lately and because I firmly believe in the power of prayer I wanted to ask you to pray for some things.
1. Hubby’s mom Barb. She had knee replacement surgery on Tuesday of this week. Everything went really well and she was hoping to get home on Thursday. Well on Wednesday evening I believe things started going wrong. We’re not exactly sure what happened but they are now looking at her heart and she was transferred to the cardiac unit. That’s gotta be fun having just had knee replacement surgery! Please pray for healing for Barb, wisdom for doctors and for Hubby and the rest of the family.
Here’s a really bad picture of Princess and Belle 
but a good one of Barb!
2. My dad Al. They had a scare Wednesday night. He woke up at 1 am screaming in pain. Mom thought he was having a heart attack. They rush to the hospital and it turns out he was having a severe muscle spasm in his back. He’s a house parent for ten middle school girls and earlier in the week they had taken them roller skating. I guess dad was a pro until he got off the rink and fell hard on his back. And he’s also been working hard on a major landscaping project so all that combined made his back revolt! He’s on bed rest now for at least three days and I imagine in some pretty intense pain.
My dad with Pip.
3. My shoulder. Hubby claims it was an accident and I suppose I believe him. The other day I was putting Belle in her car seat and Hubby was sitting in the driver’s seat with the door open. Belle’s car seat is right behind the driver’s side and when I finished buckling her up I closed the van door and then backed up a little. At that exact time Hubby shut his door. Hard. And shut my shoulder in the door. Hard. It’s continued to get worse and I’m pretty sure it’s the same shoulder that I strained right after Pip was born. It makes it very difficult to carry about Belle or Pip. Not to mention just do normal stuff.
4. My surgery. It’s coming up fast. Tuesday, April 28th. There’s a slight chance I will reschedule if Barb is still in the hospital. Hubby doesn’t need to be worrying about both of us plus take care of the babies. And although it’s a royal pain it wouldn’t be life threatening to reschedule. I’ll keep you posted but in the meantime please pray that I would be able to get everything done that I need to get done before surgery. It’s real busy at work and I have some big projects I have to get finished. And then pray for a quick recovery.
5. Our Princess. Twenty-two days until she graduates. WWWWAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH! Sixteen weeks until she goes to college. NNNOOOOOOOOOOOOO! But we’re ok with it. Really.
We still have alot to do before her graduation open house on May 16th. Hubby needs to finish the deck. I have some major cleaning to do. Although with my shoulder, surgery and two babies I’m thinking I might just end up doing minor cleaning. We made good progress on her scrapbooks last weekend but still have a ways to go. It’s actually good timing with my surgery because hopefully that second week I’m home I’ll be feeling good enough to get some scrap booking done. And maybe clean my windows. Or maybe I’ll just hire someone to clean my house for me.
Our beautiful Princess!
6. Belle and Pip. Pray that they would continue to be healthy. That the Lord would protect them. That we would know how to train them and teach them. That some day they would commit their lives to Jesus.
Pip “tackling” Belle!
7. Hubby. He has alot on his plate at work and is also taking on alot at home right now. With his mom being unable to care for the kids and now her not doing well, with my surgery coming up, with everything that needs to get done for Princess’s graduation. Pray that he would rest in the arms of Jesus. And pray for me too that I would be a good encouragement to him.
And this defies all logic but he would like to request that you pray for the NFL draft tomorrow. That the Patriots make good decisions and have a good draft.
p.s. PLEASE pray for me too!
Check out Conversion Diary for more Quick Takes Friday. And have a great weekend!
04.23.09
Sunshine
Our God-child O recently came to visit us. He lives in Florida, across the country from us. Well, let me back up.
If you’ve read about our Two Little Miracles you already know about O.
Hubby and I were still researching different adoption options when my sister called one night and asked if he could come live with us. His mom was struggling with addictions and wasn’t able to care for him. There was the possibility that we would be able to adopt him but we would just have to wait and see.
Here he is, in 2005, having just turned 1.
He lived with us full time while his mom when through treatment and then moved 800 miles away to a half way house. We developed a close relationship with O’s grandparents who were in favor of us caring for him. He was just as much a part of our family as any child would be. We considered him our son. He called us “mommy missy” and “daddy pat”. We loved him so much and prayed and prayed that we would be able to adopt him.
His mom continued to do well though. She was on the road to recovery and almost exactly one year after O came to live with us she was finally able to make a decision that she wanted O back. Although part of us wanted to fight to keep him, we knew that he belonged with her.
Two days after his 2nd birthday we drove O 800 miles to where his mom lived. It was a wonderful trip but it was also the hardest thing we had to endure. We brought with us every single toy. Every single piece of clothing. We felt he deserved to have everything with him that he had at our home.
We pulled up into the driveway of O’s mom and immediately Hubby started crying. We still had to unload our Jeep that was packed full. We couldn’t start crying already. O hadn’t seen his mom in over six months and so you can imagine his confusion. I bring him into the house and show him around. Show him his bed and all his toys. We put things away. By this time Hubby was crying uncontrollably and said we needed to leave. We weren’t even able to say goodbye to O because he would have been too upset. He was comfortable with his mom and so we snuck out. I regret that now. I wish we would have said goodbye.
We drove away, sobbing, and the first thing Hubby said was, “We need to call Pastor Bill”. This was such a blessing to me because at this time Hubby had still been struggling in his faith. We called Pastor Bill and he prayed with us and then we checked into a hotel to try to get some sleep. Of course we were unsuccessful. We cried and tossed and turned all night long.
We still hadn’t decided if we would go back the next morning. We called when we woke up and O was doing well. We told his mom a few things that we thought she should know. Likes and dislikes. Although I’m pretty sure I wrote about a ten page report detailing all this information. We decided it would be too difficult to go back and so we began our long journey home. Without our boy O.
God brought tremendous blessing through our experience though. Eventually O and his mom moved to Florida where O’s grandparents had moved. They still had family in our hometown and came to visit at least twice a year. And each time O was able to spend time with us. We talked to him on the phone often. We even planned a family vacation to Florida a few years ago and spent three days with them.
O’s mom and grandparents have been wonderful in allowing us to stay a part of O’s life. They show him our pictures and talk about us often. We are so thankful for this.
A few weeks ago O and his grandparents came for another visit. Unfortunately we only had a few hours to spend with him but it was still a blessing. For the first few minutes O is timid and not sure what to do or say. But then he warms up to us. Especially Hubby. They have a very special bond.
Here they are playing a game. They played Sorry, Chutes and Ladders and Mouse Trap. I took pictures and tried to keep Belle and Pip in line.
Me, O and Belle
Belle and O. Belle was completely in love. She kept starting at O and would pat his head. It was so sweet.
The reason this post is titled “Sunshine” is because that was our nickname for O. We would sing “You are my sunshine” to him and he was a ray of sunshine in our life. Even though it was difficult we were blessed beyond measure to be able to care for him.
And we’re so thankful for our Sunshine!
What I Really Need
It was a weekend a month ago or so and Hubby was in bed sick for the entire weekend. I wasn’t feeling 100% myself and so was feeling very overwhelmed and frustrated.
It was also the weekend that I discovered the Sisterhood and decided to finally commit to losing weight.
I needed to run to the store and unfortunately Pip had been crabby all morning. He was not his usual happy self and crying almost non-stop. Nothing would soothe him.
We quickly get what we need in the store. Thankfully Belle was pretty well behaved but Pip was crying the whole time. We load up the van and head home. It was then that I reached the point of no return and decided that I NEEDED to get something to eat. I WAS NOT going to cook at home because… well, I had no reason. I just knew I needed something and I was pretty sure that something was food.
I turn off Veggie Tales and turn on one of my favorite songs, Glorious One by Fee. Belle begins saying, “peas, peas, peas” which means “please turn Veggie Tales back on”. I crank the volume and throw myself a pity party while trying to let the words of the song sink in, hoping that maybe that will help ease my frustration.
But no. It was food I needed.
My first plan was to go to Culver’s because that was closest to the store we were at. No, they are too expensive. Dairy Queen? KFC? Taco Bell? I couldn’t decide which one I wanted.
Frustrated again, for a different reason now, I take a deep breathe and keep driving. Toward my house. Away from the fast food. I keep saying to myself: “I am now a part of the Sisterhood. I need to lose weight. I don’t NEED fast food. I don’t think I’m even hungry. I’m stressed and overwhelmed and ticked off. But I’m not hungry. I need Jesus. He alone can fill me up. I don’t need food to make me feel better. Only the Lord can ease my frustration and stress.”
I made it home without stopping for food. I made it without the Blizzard. I made it without the chicken sandwich and fries. When I got home I made Hubby some chicken noodle soup. And had a bowl myself.
I can do this, I told myself. Yes I like food. Yes I love food. Yes I use food as a soothing balm when I’m frustrated and overwhelmed. But I don’t need food. At least not the fatty, greasy food that I’ve been accustomed to eating. Although I haven’t won the war yet, I won that battle. And I was happy. And proud. And yes, a little bit hungry.
But with God’s help, I had won.
p.s. Almost forgot! It’s time to weigh in.
Missy: 164 – same as last week – down 3 pounds total
Pat: 211.5 – down 1 pound from last week! – down 5.5 pounds total
04.21.09
Little Pip – 4 Months
Our big little boy is 4 months old! He’s such a funny little dude and about 99% of the time we are having a blast with our two babies. I won’t talk about the 1% because when both babies are screaming it is not pretty!
Pip has his 4 month check up next week but we guesstimate him to weigh about 1/2 a ton. He’s a porker. And he still doesn’t have a neck. Or if he does we can’t find it.
He’s still eating about every 3-4 hours, usually about 6 ounces but we recently bumped that up because he seems to never be full. We also started giving him a little rice cereral and he actually did really good with it. We don’t want to rush that but the poor fella seems to be starving all the time.
He still sleeps like a champ – at night anyway – when he’s in his carseat. Yes, he’s still sleeping in his carseat. We are trying to transition him to his crib but he’ll usually wake up at least once, sometimes twice. I’m really torn about what to do because you have no idea how wonderful it is to sleep all night.
During the day Pip takes little cat naps. He’s definitely awake alot more – it’s so amazing how they transistion to sleeping all the time to only sleeping a few hours during the day.
Pip is still the happiest little dude around. Always smiling and laughing. Everytime he sees you coming toward him he’ll get all excited and start shaking his arms and laughing and his eyes light up. Oh it’s so precious. He loves to stare at Belle, especially when she’s dancing around the house “singing” at the top of her lungs. The look on his face is priceless because you can tell he’s just not too sure about her and her wild antics!
He also loves to “talk”. When you combine Belle’s jibber jabber and singing and Pip’s recent addition to the conversation it’s quite noisy at the dinner table. But it’s so fun too because Pip will just talk and talk and talk (almost shouting) and then all of sudden he’ll poop out and fall asleep right where he’s sitting or laying!
Pip is very close to rolling over. He’ll get to his side and then get stuck. He still doesn’t like tummy time, which is pretty normal, and we keep torturing him with it. He sits up so well – he’s probably been sitting up for at least a month. Not by his own, but in his purple little chair and propped with pillows. We have to keep a close eye though because he’ll pull himself up and forward and fall over flat on his face!
He loves to take a bath. We have a pretty good routine now. We’ll fill the tub just a little and both babies get in. Pip hangs out for awhile and then he gets out and we put more water in for Belle. He’s also been really consistent with his schedule – usually having his last bottle and going to sleep around 9:00-9:30 pm every night. That is so nice because when Belle was 4 months she was a night owl. Kinda like she is now!
The other night Hubby said to me, “I’m so glad we have the babies”. Even though life is crazy and hectic and our house looks like a tornado passed through, I would have to agree with him. We’re so thankful for the blessing of Little Pip (and Belle too!) and can’t imagine life any differently!
Pip with one of Belle’s very first toys. She’s pretty possessive about it but getting better about letting Pip play with it!
With Mommy at 4 months…
Compared to Pip with Daddy when he was 1 week old!
Getting a little too big for the boppy!
And Pip at 1 month in the boppy!
Our little dude is so cute!
Pip with my dad, Papa
04.20.09
As If Backing Into My Brother’s Car Wasn’t Enough Fun For One Day
We enjoyed a restful Easter weekend at my parents house. We didn’t really have much planned which was perfectly fine with me. Play with the kids. Work on Princess’s scrapbooks. Back into my brother’s car. Ya know restful relaxing stuff like that.
Let me back up. (Oh the irony)
It was Saturday and my brother Jim and wife Leana came over to my parent’s house for brunch. We enjoyed a great meal and then decided to veg out and watch Marley and Me. I had already seen the movie and so about half way through both babies laid down for a nap and I decided to run to the store to pick up a few things. A pretty sweater for Belle. Chocolate. Maybe a new outfit for me. Necessities.
Being the idiot that I am I didn’t even look behind me when I pulled out of my parent’s driveway. Because there are NEVER any cars parked behind our vehicle. Oh except this time. BAM, backed right into my brother’s car. I sat there for a few minutes wondering if I should just flee the scene. That probably wouldn’t be very nice. Plus he probably knows how to find me. Don’t tell anyone but when I was in college I backed into someone and I did flee the scene. They weren’t in the car and I just barely tapped them and there was no damage done. Classy, huh.
Unfortunately this time there was damage done. The right corner of my bumper was smashed in and the left corner of his front fender – or is it bumper – was cracked. Hubby was out geocaching and so I called my Daddy and he said we didn’t have to call the police man because it was on private property. Learn something new every day! I just had to call the insurance on Monday and they’ll take care of it along with raising my rates.
Although I was exhausted from all the bumper smashing commotion I decided I might as well still go to the store. I hop on the interstate and after driving for about a mile I hear this very loud scary noise like something exploded in the back of my van. I look in my mirrors but can’t see anything. I decide I better pull off at the next exit and investigate.
Well ya don’t see that every day now do ya? It was actually kinda funny and I might have laughed if I didn’t feel so awful and hadn’t already started crying. I call Hubby and thankfully he had just finished walking 18.6 miles to find a geocache – WHY might I ask?
Anyway, as I waited three people stopped to see if I was ok. Not three people in one vehicle. It was actually seven people total in three vehicles. I heard things like this:
“Are you ok?”
“You lost your bumper!” (What! I had no idea)
“You’re not from ’round here are ya?” (What does that mean? I thought. Then realized they were referring to my license plate.)
“Do you need help?”
“Do you need help?”
“Can we help you?”
As it turns out I didn’t need help because my Hubby was on the way to rescue me. But I’m glad to know that if I would have needed help, help would have been there.
Hubby finally got there and we ended up having to call my dad anyway because we had no tools in the van. We had Goldfish crackers, a Dora video, a couple of books, army men and some day old french fries. But no screwdriver. Unfortunately my dad didn’t have the right size or kind of screwdriver or something like that. So Hubby used his manly strong hands – the ones that had just been waxed - to pull the dead bumper off the van and not even ruin anything in the process.
We have yet to get a new bumper. I think Hubby’s looking for one that we don’t have to ship from across the country. The good thing is that our van is now very recognizable. Like this morning at church. I started to walk towards a van that I thought was ours. I said to Hubby, “oops, I thought that was our van!” And Hubby said, “Nope, ours is the one without the bumper.”
Oh ya.
04.18.09
Dear Emily – Updated
Nevermind friend. I called back the third time crying and they are going to give me enough drugs to get through the weekend. Woo hoo!
———————————
Not only are you my friend, but you’re my friend who is a pharmacist. I’m pretty sure that has nothing to do with the reason we are friends but today I’m thinking it’s definitely a bonus.
You see my doctor doubled my dose of drugs. The drugs that don’t really fix my problem but make it manageable and allow me to leave the house. Unfortunately since she doubled my dosage I’m out of said drugs. I called the pharmacy last night but they said it was too early to refill my prescription. So now my problem is about ten times worse and I can’t even leave the house because, well, you know.
I did get out of church cleaning but that’s about the only good thing that has come of this.
I wasn’t very nice to the pharmacist when I called this morning. I know the pharmacies have rules and all that, but come on, I’m not going to overdose on progesterone. I’m very close to losing my mind and poor Hubby has lost all hope for me.
So. Just in case you work today if you happen to slip a few progesterone pills in your pocket I won’t tell anyone. I promise. And I’ll love you forever and ever.
Your wacked out friend,
