I'm taking a survey out of curiosity. I want to know how often you clean you microwave. I know that Cleanin' Cuz '75 and Brother and Mrs. Clean clean theirs all the time. I personally do not do that. When I open the microwave and can pretty much serve my family a three-course meal from the contents baked onto the walls, then I know it's time to clean it... or when Cleanin' Cuz, her mom (my aunt), or Brother and Mrs. Clean come to visit of course.
Please everyone, even those of you who lurk about out there and never make yourselves known, pick a number!!
1. Microwave? What's a microwave?
2. Have one, don't cook!!
3. Clean it everytime I use it whether it needs it or not!
4. Clean it once a day!
5. Clean it after every spill!
6. Clean it on a certain day each week!
7. Clean it when company comes!
8. Clean it when I feel like it!
9. Clean it after a couple weeks and a few overflows!
10. Clean it when the stuff on top starts falling in my food!
11. Like me, clean it when you can feed your family a three-course (or bigger) meal from the contents!!
This is personally one of my top-five most-hated household chores...dusting, mopping, laundry, microwave, putting clean dishes away!!
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Who Is This Child?
D.K. has always been a little "smarty-pants". If you ask him anything about dinosaurs, he could tell you anything you wanted to know from the time he was about three. When he started kindergarten and learned to read with the Accelrated Reader program that their school in AL used for everyone, he read twice as many books as any other child in his class for the entire year. Once he started taking spelling tests in first grade, he never has missed a single spelling word. He always gets A's on his report card in every subject.
A couple months ago we discovered that he had the gift of being able to spell any word that we say to him backwards without hardly blinking an eye. While this will probably serve him no purpose in life, it is very cool. Then a couple weeks ago, my mom was reading to Bee and D.K. was standing in front of her looking down at the book and started reading with my mom... so my eight-year-old was reading at a completely normal adult-reading rate upside-down. Thirty minutes ago I had a thought, so I grabbed the chapter book from his backpack and took it in the bathroom to have him read the reflection of a page from the mirror. His response was "Mommy, that's just backwards, turn it upside down." So I did! He read it without a problem. Amazing!! I couldn't even keep up with what he was reading from the upside-down and backwards reflection in the mirror!
WHO IS THIS CHILD AND WHERE DID HE COME FROM? My pride overfloweth!!
Okay, done bragging!!
A couple months ago we discovered that he had the gift of being able to spell any word that we say to him backwards without hardly blinking an eye. While this will probably serve him no purpose in life, it is very cool. Then a couple weeks ago, my mom was reading to Bee and D.K. was standing in front of her looking down at the book and started reading with my mom... so my eight-year-old was reading at a completely normal adult-reading rate upside-down. Thirty minutes ago I had a thought, so I grabbed the chapter book from his backpack and took it in the bathroom to have him read the reflection of a page from the mirror. His response was "Mommy, that's just backwards, turn it upside down." So I did! He read it without a problem. Amazing!! I couldn't even keep up with what he was reading from the upside-down and backwards reflection in the mirror!
WHO IS THIS CHILD AND WHERE DID HE COME FROM? My pride overfloweth!!
Okay, done bragging!!
Sunday, February 25, 2007
That Just Figures
Okay, so remember how we got Bee the fancy, twist-up, expensive, Crayola markers and equally awesome, twist-up, erasable expensive Crayola crayons for her birthday? Well, I've been throwing away all the little bits of crayon and lidless markers as I've found them around the house this week. I told the boys that I'd buy them some new stuff just for them to keep in their room and not to share with their little sister (by the way did I mention that she just got brand new, fancy crayons and markers for her birthday last week... yah, I thought so). So I bought the boys the 48 pack of Crayola crayons ( I feel abusive if I make them use the cheaper Roseart crayons), a package of Roseart colored pencils, and a package of Roseart markers. Fairly cheap, but all do the job and have already been used by the boys alot.
This being said.... which markers and crayons do you think Bee insists on playing with? Yep, the boys.... the much cheaper, much plainer, but has a pink marker included with them, boys stuff!! That just figures doesn't it!!
Note to self.... they don't need the fancy stuff... go with the simple and they'll be happy!!
This being said.... which markers and crayons do you think Bee insists on playing with? Yep, the boys.... the much cheaper, much plainer, but has a pink marker included with them, boys stuff!! That just figures doesn't it!!
Note to self.... they don't need the fancy stuff... go with the simple and they'll be happy!!
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Another Saturday
Prophet had a another basketball game today. Thankfully instead of being the first game at 9am, his game was the last of the "biddy basketball" games and fell at noon. We were of course still the last ones to arrive. (last week was a fluke) We were not late however. It was a really good game. Prophet was of course his usual smiling self no matter what happened. They only lost by 4 points or so. Prophet scored two baskets and was very proud of himself. For those of you that saw what happened to the ball at Cate's grandson's game a couple weeks ago with the ball, the same thing happened today. It got stuck between the very back of the hoop and the backboard. We tried to get a picture, but it was on the other end of the gym and the ref was tall so he just jumped up and grabbed it down fast.
The other team's coach needed to take a "chill-pill" badly. He yelled instructions at the kids the entire game. He waved his hands up in the air. One time he yelled and jumped about 4 feet off the ground at the same time. It was incredibly ridiculous. I'm so glad Prophet didn't end up on his team, because this mama would have something not so nice to say about it. I wanted to walk across the court, get his in face, and remind him that he was dealing with K-2 graders. As I listened to people around me though, the people rooting for the other team were all very vocal. Most of time we all smile and giggle at the mistakes they make. It's funny and at this age they just have to learn and have fun. But the other team didn't do that. They were showing true anquish when things didn't go their way. It was really sad. I wonder if they were just feeding off the coach or what.
I packed a little plastic box with handle full of crayons, markers, coloring book, playdough, and playdough toys for Bee to play with during the game. She hates to go and usually asks about 30 times when it's gonna be over. Today however she didn't ask once and we had about 4 other girls and boys playing with her with that small amount of toys. Next week we'll have to pack a bigger box for everyone else I guess! I was very proud of Bee for sharing so well! The other kids were very polite. They all asked her if they could play before they dove in.
BTW, now we're getting freezing rain and sleet on top of the snow and mud. Yuck, yuck, and more yuck!!
The other team's coach needed to take a "chill-pill" badly. He yelled instructions at the kids the entire game. He waved his hands up in the air. One time he yelled and jumped about 4 feet off the ground at the same time. It was incredibly ridiculous. I'm so glad Prophet didn't end up on his team, because this mama would have something not so nice to say about it. I wanted to walk across the court, get his in face, and remind him that he was dealing with K-2 graders. As I listened to people around me though, the people rooting for the other team were all very vocal. Most of time we all smile and giggle at the mistakes they make. It's funny and at this age they just have to learn and have fun. But the other team didn't do that. They were showing true anquish when things didn't go their way. It was really sad. I wonder if they were just feeding off the coach or what.
I packed a little plastic box with handle full of crayons, markers, coloring book, playdough, and playdough toys for Bee to play with during the game. She hates to go and usually asks about 30 times when it's gonna be over. Today however she didn't ask once and we had about 4 other girls and boys playing with her with that small amount of toys. Next week we'll have to pack a bigger box for everyone else I guess! I was very proud of Bee for sharing so well! The other kids were very polite. They all asked her if they could play before they dove in.
BTW, now we're getting freezing rain and sleet on top of the snow and mud. Yuck, yuck, and more yuck!!
Mr. Pete, Just Take the Stinkin' Gum
This conversation took place last week, a few days after Bee graduated into the world of gum chewers and took watermelon flavored Extra gum to pass out to everyone at church.
Bee: Mr. Pete, do you want a piece of my watermelon gum?
Pete: No thanks, I'm old and I can't chew gum.
Approximate 20 minutes later....
Bee: Mr. Pete, please try a piece of my watermelon gum I got for my #4 birthday.
Pete: Nope, I told ya, I'm old and I can't chew gum.
Approximately an hour later....
Bee: Mr. Pete, are you sure you don't want some gum, it's really good?
Pete: Thanks Bee, but I'm sure, I'm old and I can't chew gum.
This conversation took place while I was putting together the scalloped chicken the other night.
Mommy: Mommy's making Grandma Nativity's scalloped chicken Bee. I hope I make it right, I don't have Grandma's recipe.
Bee: Well, why don't you call her Mommy?
Me: Well, Bee, Grandma Nativity is dead now.
Bee: Why did she die?
Me: She was just old and it was time for her to die, Miss Bee.
Bee: Well, Mr. Pete better hurry up and die then.
Me: Bee, why do you think Mr. Pete should die?
Bee: Because he's old, he told me so!!!
OH BROTHER!!
Bee: Mr. Pete, do you want a piece of my watermelon gum?
Pete: No thanks, I'm old and I can't chew gum.
Approximate 20 minutes later....
Bee: Mr. Pete, please try a piece of my watermelon gum I got for my #4 birthday.
Pete: Nope, I told ya, I'm old and I can't chew gum.
Approximately an hour later....
Bee: Mr. Pete, are you sure you don't want some gum, it's really good?
Pete: Thanks Bee, but I'm sure, I'm old and I can't chew gum.
This conversation took place while I was putting together the scalloped chicken the other night.
Mommy: Mommy's making Grandma Nativity's scalloped chicken Bee. I hope I make it right, I don't have Grandma's recipe.
Bee: Well, why don't you call her Mommy?
Me: Well, Bee, Grandma Nativity is dead now.
Bee: Why did she die?
Me: She was just old and it was time for her to die, Miss Bee.
Bee: Well, Mr. Pete better hurry up and die then.
Me: Bee, why do you think Mr. Pete should die?
Bee: Because he's old, he told me so!!!
OH BROTHER!!
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Snow and Scalloped Chicken
When I got up this morning to head for my routine trip to the potty at 7 AM I happened to pull the blinds apart and look outside. I knew immediately that we would have a delay so upon finishing my morning business I turned on the television before waking anyone else up. Sure enough we were on a delay, along with many other schools from across our area. The fog was horrible this morning. I couldn't even see to the end of my driveway. It was really wierd. On top of that, all the snow that has melted the last three days with the 40 something degree weather refroze during last nights 21 degree low making our world a huge ice rink. The fog didn't completely left until after 11:00 this morning. There was no way they could have responsibly gone to school first thing this morning as visibility was awful and some of those kids get on the buses before 7 'o clock. So we had a very slow-morning getting ready and eating breakfast. It was nice. I like having my boys around for a little longer in the morning. There are so many days that it seems I don't hardly get to see them between the 3:30 school dismissal, homework, playing outside, church, supper, etc.
Right now the boys are out in our front yard with a bunch of the neighborhood kids playing in the snow. It's perfect....45 degrees and tons of snow. Yes, even after 3 days of 40 + weather, we still have "tons" of snow on the ground. We still have at least 3 feet of it in our front yard because it's one big drift. Their are places in the backyard where the grass is showing thru, but there's also another 3 foot drift still back there. The kids out front were all throwing snowballs back and forth across the street, but now they've all migrated to our yard to dig a tunnel thru one of the 4 1/2 foot piles of shoveled snow on either side of the end of our driveway. Prophet just came in for a dry pair of gloves and threw his wet ones in with the laundry going in the dryer. I hope D.K. doesn't come in for a pair, the only other pair I have is pink and he has issues with pink.
Well, my dinner of scalloped chicken baking in the oven was smelling really good... until I got on to blog. I also had a pan of cream-corn going on the stove top on low. My blogging brain was registering somewhere way-way back in the depths of my thoughts that something smelled funny, but it was until Bee said "oooohhhh, Mommy what's that bad smell", that my senses came back to me and I realized that the corn was no longer edible. It's so burnt that the pan may never be useable again. It's sitting in the sink soaking at the moment, but it doesn't look good. Didn't someone burn something on awhile back and ask for a trick to get it off. I can't remember who it was, but it seems like someone suggested baking soda. Is that right? It's really bad, I mean rreeaallyy bad smelling in here right now. I opened one window in the front of the house and one in the back hoping to air out the smell. When Prophet came in to get the dry gloves he immediately gagged and said something about the smell. I guess blogging, cooking dinner, and enjoying watching my kids playing outside the window next to me at the same time is too much for this non-multitasker
to handle. So now my Grandma Nativity's scalloped chicken will be accompanied by something other than cream-corn.... broccolli maybe? Hmmm, just not the same.
This is not an official Grandma scalloped chicken recipe because there isn't one. She never had one and never (to my and anyone else's knowledge) wrote it down. I did watch her make it several times, so I think I've got it right. We'll see when we taste. I keep wanting to call her and tell her that I'm making it or ask her how she does it, like I used to do when I was making something she made. There are times that I really miss her. She was a good grandma. She liked to cook and was good at it. Her house always smelled like something cooking. I've never attempted to make her scalloped chicken before, but I've been craving it lately so I thougt I'd give it a try. (No the word crave doesn't mean a pregnancy possibility, smack yourself if the thought went thru you little brains, Turkeys. Shame on you.)
Well, it's time to call the boys in for dinner. I've gotta go throw some kind of veggie in the microwave real quick!! Have a good evening!! Hugs to all!!
Right now the boys are out in our front yard with a bunch of the neighborhood kids playing in the snow. It's perfect....45 degrees and tons of snow. Yes, even after 3 days of 40 + weather, we still have "tons" of snow on the ground. We still have at least 3 feet of it in our front yard because it's one big drift. Their are places in the backyard where the grass is showing thru, but there's also another 3 foot drift still back there. The kids out front were all throwing snowballs back and forth across the street, but now they've all migrated to our yard to dig a tunnel thru one of the 4 1/2 foot piles of shoveled snow on either side of the end of our driveway. Prophet just came in for a dry pair of gloves and threw his wet ones in with the laundry going in the dryer. I hope D.K. doesn't come in for a pair, the only other pair I have is pink and he has issues with pink.
Well, my dinner of scalloped chicken baking in the oven was smelling really good... until I got on to blog. I also had a pan of cream-corn going on the stove top on low. My blogging brain was registering somewhere way-way back in the depths of my thoughts that something smelled funny, but it was until Bee said "oooohhhh, Mommy what's that bad smell", that my senses came back to me and I realized that the corn was no longer edible. It's so burnt that the pan may never be useable again. It's sitting in the sink soaking at the moment, but it doesn't look good. Didn't someone burn something on awhile back and ask for a trick to get it off. I can't remember who it was, but it seems like someone suggested baking soda. Is that right? It's really bad, I mean rreeaallyy bad smelling in here right now. I opened one window in the front of the house and one in the back hoping to air out the smell. When Prophet came in to get the dry gloves he immediately gagged and said something about the smell. I guess blogging, cooking dinner, and enjoying watching my kids playing outside the window next to me at the same time is too much for this non-multitasker
to handle. So now my Grandma Nativity's scalloped chicken will be accompanied by something other than cream-corn.... broccolli maybe? Hmmm, just not the same.
This is not an official Grandma scalloped chicken recipe because there isn't one. She never had one and never (to my and anyone else's knowledge) wrote it down. I did watch her make it several times, so I think I've got it right. We'll see when we taste. I keep wanting to call her and tell her that I'm making it or ask her how she does it, like I used to do when I was making something she made. There are times that I really miss her. She was a good grandma. She liked to cook and was good at it. Her house always smelled like something cooking. I've never attempted to make her scalloped chicken before, but I've been craving it lately so I thougt I'd give it a try. (No the word crave doesn't mean a pregnancy possibility, smack yourself if the thought went thru you little brains, Turkeys. Shame on you.)
Well, it's time to call the boys in for dinner. I've gotta go throw some kind of veggie in the microwave real quick!! Have a good evening!! Hugs to all!!
Monday, February 19, 2007
Finally!!
I don't have much time, but while I sit on my butt and watch Smart Guy picking up the house, I thought I'd let everyone know that we made it to Mom and Dad's after school today. Bee got to open her new easel and is very excited. It's sitting in the corner of the dining room right now because her craft room is way too messy to put it in there at the moment. I told her if she wants it in there, she has to clean it up.
Saturday was my mom's b-day, so I baked a two layer yellow cake and frosted it with homemade chocolate-cream-cheese icing... which I never would have thought of but Inkling made it many months ago for Henry David and it sounded good. I used melted milk chocolate chips for the chocolate. It was delicious, but my was it sweet. Neither of the round cakes came out of their pan in one piece, despite being well-oiled and floured. I was rather irritated, but it worked out in the end... lots of frosting covers a multitude of sins.... causes some too I suppose. We had Disney princess plates, cups, napkins, and blow-outs. It was very festive. My grandma didn't realize how big the Disney princesses were with the young-girl-set these days and was just amazed at how colorful and vibrant they were and that all the "princesses" from all the different movies were on one napkin.
Well, I've gotta make heart-shaped jello jigglers for Bee to take to her birthday/late Valentine's day party (no school last week due to a foot and a half of snow). We have to leave home by 7:45 tomorrow and I won't be home until after 3:30 or so. I know for any full-time, working moms out there, this doesn't seem like a big deal, but to many of us that's a long day and I'll be ready to vedge at home tomorrow night!!
Have a good night and fun tomorrow!! Hugs to everyone!!
Saturday was my mom's b-day, so I baked a two layer yellow cake and frosted it with homemade chocolate-cream-cheese icing... which I never would have thought of but Inkling made it many months ago for Henry David and it sounded good. I used melted milk chocolate chips for the chocolate. It was delicious, but my was it sweet. Neither of the round cakes came out of their pan in one piece, despite being well-oiled and floured. I was rather irritated, but it worked out in the end... lots of frosting covers a multitude of sins.... causes some too I suppose. We had Disney princess plates, cups, napkins, and blow-outs. It was very festive. My grandma didn't realize how big the Disney princesses were with the young-girl-set these days and was just amazed at how colorful and vibrant they were and that all the "princesses" from all the different movies were on one napkin.
Well, I've gotta make heart-shaped jello jigglers for Bee to take to her birthday/late Valentine's day party (no school last week due to a foot and a half of snow). We have to leave home by 7:45 tomorrow and I won't be home until after 3:30 or so. I know for any full-time, working moms out there, this doesn't seem like a big deal, but to many of us that's a long day and I'll be ready to vedge at home tomorrow night!!
Have a good night and fun tomorrow!! Hugs to everyone!!
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Our Weekend
Hello friends!! How's your weekend been? Pretty good here!! We were supposed to go over to Mom and Dad's yesterday, but instead we stayed home and watched it snow until about 3 in the afternoon. When we got up yesterday morning everything was covered with the white stuff, again. Prophet had a basketball game at 9:00 downtown, but we weren't sure if they were having it or if we should even try to get there as the roads in our subdivision looked rather treacherous. We waited until 8:15 and called the center to see if we were still on for the game and we were. So we all piled into the van and very slowly made our way into downtown. The roads weren't in great shape, but we got there in one piece and Prophet was the first one from his team or the other team to get there. He shot hoops for awhile and by 9:00 his team had four and the other team had 6. Each team usually has about 10 kids. They started the game playing four-on-four. The beauty of youth basketball is that it's flexible and if there aren't enough kids to play five on each, they change the rules. About 4 minutes into the first quarter, Prophet's coach finally walked in with his two kids who are on the team. At that point they began playing five-on-five and Prophet never did get swapped out of the game. They ended up winning their first game, even though it didn't look good in the beginning. The score ended up being 22-10. Prophet of course hit the floor many, many times in true Prophet-form. I don't know how he comes up smiling when he hits as hard as he does.
By them time the game was over and we headed home we knew there was no way we were driving to IL. We have to drive thru open rural areas to get there and the wind was supposed to pick up and start drifting. Bee wasn't very happy, because she wanted to open her birthday present from Grannie and Pa, but she still got to open our presents to her. (she got a cake on her birthday , but we couldn't get out of our subdivision from Monday until Thursday morning, so I couldn't buy her present) I had wrapped them on Friday before I went to bed and hid them so she wouldn't find them. I told her that I couldn't remember where I hid them, so she went on a crazy-present-hunt trying to find them. It was funny and she was so excited when she finally "found" them. She got a bunch of new art supplies to go with the new easel she'll be getting from Grannie and Pa when we go over there tomorrow after school. She's a crafty little nut and loves to color, draw, glue, cut, paint... you name it, if it can make a mess, she loves it. I found these really cool markers with no lids from Crayola. They twist up so there's nothing to lose, although they do still have to be twisted shut again.... I already found one not closed. I also bought her twist-up crayons with erasers. No, they are not necesarry, but they sure are cool and they are a birthday present after all.
I'm at church right now. I never left after services this morning. The thought of piling all three kids back into the car to go home by myself for less than two hours was more than I could stand. So, I stayed here and started cooking for tonight's dinner for the teenagers. We are having southwestern pot pie, salad, and twice baked cake. The cake is in it's "twice baked" stage as I type getting gooey and yummy covered with sweetened condensed milk. Bake a yellow cake mix, take it out and poke it with a fork about a 1000 times (approx. lol), pour on a can of SCM, sprinkle with a layer of cocnut, pour on another can of SCM and bake for another 15 minutes or so until the coconut is toasted. Let cool and cover with cool-whip. I haven't made this for about 18 months and I'm looking forward to it tonight. I'm not eating much sugar right now, but I'm gonna indulge in a small piece tonight!!
Well, duty calls, I must get back to work!! I love you guys!! Later!!
By them time the game was over and we headed home we knew there was no way we were driving to IL. We have to drive thru open rural areas to get there and the wind was supposed to pick up and start drifting. Bee wasn't very happy, because she wanted to open her birthday present from Grannie and Pa, but she still got to open our presents to her. (she got a cake on her birthday , but we couldn't get out of our subdivision from Monday until Thursday morning, so I couldn't buy her present) I had wrapped them on Friday before I went to bed and hid them so she wouldn't find them. I told her that I couldn't remember where I hid them, so she went on a crazy-present-hunt trying to find them. It was funny and she was so excited when she finally "found" them. She got a bunch of new art supplies to go with the new easel she'll be getting from Grannie and Pa when we go over there tomorrow after school. She's a crafty little nut and loves to color, draw, glue, cut, paint... you name it, if it can make a mess, she loves it. I found these really cool markers with no lids from Crayola. They twist up so there's nothing to lose, although they do still have to be twisted shut again.... I already found one not closed. I also bought her twist-up crayons with erasers. No, they are not necesarry, but they sure are cool and they are a birthday present after all.
I'm at church right now. I never left after services this morning. The thought of piling all three kids back into the car to go home by myself for less than two hours was more than I could stand. So, I stayed here and started cooking for tonight's dinner for the teenagers. We are having southwestern pot pie, salad, and twice baked cake. The cake is in it's "twice baked" stage as I type getting gooey and yummy covered with sweetened condensed milk. Bake a yellow cake mix, take it out and poke it with a fork about a 1000 times (approx. lol), pour on a can of SCM, sprinkle with a layer of cocnut, pour on another can of SCM and bake for another 15 minutes or so until the coconut is toasted. Let cool and cover with cool-whip. I haven't made this for about 18 months and I'm looking forward to it tonight. I'm not eating much sugar right now, but I'm gonna indulge in a small piece tonight!!
Well, duty calls, I must get back to work!! I love you guys!! Later!!
Friday, February 16, 2007
Sand
Thank you Queen Mother for the wonderful ideas.... if the truth be told.... I hate sand. I loath walking thru it at the beach... it's scratchy and burns your feet. It gets into every nook and cranny and you end up bringing it home and finding it in the middle of the kitchen floor at the strangest times. I do however like to walk in the wet stuff right at the shoreline. I was soooooo totally kidding about filling me yard with it. Bee is begging for a sand box this summer... maybe just a Little Tykes one, we'll see!!
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Giant Sand Box
I've decided to fill my backyard with sand come spring.... the kids are having a grand time playing in the snow.... I figure playing in the sand in the warmth would be even better!!
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Colonoscopy
After reading Ang's post today, I realized that I never gave you guys my colonoscopy and endoscopy biopsy results. They came back as I figured they probably would... My Crohn's disease is no longer in remission. The Crohn's is officially active again. What does that mean? That means I have to start on meds that cost approximately $400 a month for probably at least a year, or more if that doesn't put it into remission.
Showdown
We have built-in entertainment on the street in front of our house at the moment. A big, black truck is stuck in the ten inches of snow still on the street. He's been trying for ten minutes to get moving and only moves about six inches every minute. Then a minivan came from the other direction down the middle of the road and now a Jeep Cherokee has come along. At some point, some one is gonna have to come along and plow our streets. They've already canceled school for tomorrow and Friday.
BTW....
.... Bee just came running over and wants me to tell everyone that she had gum this morning. This is a very important moment in our house, for you aren't allowed to have gum until you're four. It was never a really big deal with the boys since they are so close in age, but for Bee she's been watching her brothers chew it for years and wanted some so bad. Soooo, she's about to bust from excitement over her first piece of watermelon flavored, sugarless, Extra gum! She tried the spearmint, but decided it was "too spicy" and threw it away. So far, she hasn't swallowed it and has kept it in her mouth. What a big, four year old!!
Holy Cow!!
We ended up with around 17 inches of snow! I only know that because of the news. There's no way to actually measure the stuff around here. In one place you can see little bits of grass sticking out and right next to that area, there's an almost four foot drift. It's really cool lookin'!!
The kids went out to play in it yesterday afternoon, while it was still coming down. After spending 10 minutes getting her dressed, Bee only stayed out long enough to fill a pot with snow for ice cream and to make a snow angel. She'd had enough. She came in and stripped everything off. The boys on the other hand had to be called in after a half-hour or so. They were frozen by the time they came in, but they were happy. After everyone was in and warmed up, we made snow ice cream. We mixed sweetened condensed milk and vanilla into the snow and ate it. It was actually pretty tasty and the kids thought it was so cool to eat the snow!!
I am being blamed for this huge storm. I have said many times that I wanted at least one good snow my first winter back in the midwest. I meant one good, midwestern size snow.... like we had last week... about 6 inches or so. It's been along time since the midwest has gotten this much snow at one time and it's all my fault!!
My mom, the crazy doula, has been hunkered down in her office since Monday evening. One of her clients is due on the 21st and she went about a week or so early last time. My parents actually lives about 45 minutes from town and Mom new the roads would be a nightmare, so she decided to stay in town and sleep in her office just in case the woman went into labor. So her and Dad have been apart during the entire storm. So if you weren't convinced of her committment to her job before, I'm sure you are now. Personally I think if you're crazy enough to hire someone who lives 45 minutes away and you're due in February, you know you're running the risk of bad weather and the possibility of your doula not being able to get there. I guess I lack the committment my mom has at this point in my life.
That's the snow report for the day... later!!
The kids went out to play in it yesterday afternoon, while it was still coming down. After spending 10 minutes getting her dressed, Bee only stayed out long enough to fill a pot with snow for ice cream and to make a snow angel. She'd had enough. She came in and stripped everything off. The boys on the other hand had to be called in after a half-hour or so. They were frozen by the time they came in, but they were happy. After everyone was in and warmed up, we made snow ice cream. We mixed sweetened condensed milk and vanilla into the snow and ate it. It was actually pretty tasty and the kids thought it was so cool to eat the snow!!
I am being blamed for this huge storm. I have said many times that I wanted at least one good snow my first winter back in the midwest. I meant one good, midwestern size snow.... like we had last week... about 6 inches or so. It's been along time since the midwest has gotten this much snow at one time and it's all my fault!!
My mom, the crazy doula, has been hunkered down in her office since Monday evening. One of her clients is due on the 21st and she went about a week or so early last time. My parents actually lives about 45 minutes from town and Mom new the roads would be a nightmare, so she decided to stay in town and sleep in her office just in case the woman went into labor. So her and Dad have been apart during the entire storm. So if you weren't convinced of her committment to her job before, I'm sure you are now. Personally I think if you're crazy enough to hire someone who lives 45 minutes away and you're due in February, you know you're running the risk of bad weather and the possibility of your doula not being able to get there. I guess I lack the committment my mom has at this point in my life.
That's the snow report for the day... later!!
It's Valentine's Day!!
Four years ago yesterday afternoon, I started having contractions around 4:00 or so!! I was almost 36 weeks pregnant with Bee after a completely uneventful pregnancy. (physically anyway... emotionally and mentally it was the most crazy of them all, after two preemies and a miscarriage at almost 13 weeks right before that pregnancy). I felt like I'd been pregnant forever since that was the longest I'd ever carried any of my babies and I was ready to have her. After 3 hours of regular contractions and then being five minutes apart for an hour, we headed to the hospital. They checked me, hooked me up to the monitors and sent me home... crying. I was so tired of being scared that something would happen, I just wanted to hold my baby girl.
After talking to me thru several contractions, Mom and Dad decided to head to Kentucky to be sure they'd be there in time for the birth. There was a big ice storm coming towards the entire midwest and uppersouth, so they wanted to beat it to us. They got in around 2 am, about 3 hours after the hospital had sent me home telling me I wasn't in labor at all. By that time I was having back labor. For those of you blessed enough to not have back labor... be thankful!! I never did with the boys, but with Bee I did. Smart Guy and Dad went to bed and Mom and I moved to the living room for the night. I ate a bagel and some yogurt at different times during the night, thankful that I wasn't in the hospital now, knowing they'd probably be starving me thru my labor. Everytime I had a contraction, I got down on my knees and mom would put counterpressure on my back.
The next morning,on Valentine's Day, Dad took Prophet to school and we all hung out at home getting things done around the house. I had an appointment at 11:30 for a Non-stress test, so Mom and I headed to that not thinking I was that far along yet. Smart Guy planned to pick up Prophet from school and then head to the hospital. By the time we made the 40 minute drive to the hospital and the 10 minute walk from the parking garage, I was having contractions every minute or so consistently. I went to triage, where I waited and waited to be seen. When they finally got me in, they piddled around and acted like nothing was going on. After being in there for about 20 minutes, they had me hooked up to a monitor, but still hadn't checked to see if I was dilated. When Mom asked why, they said they had to see how my contractions were doing first. She told them to look at me and they could tell. After being able to change positions with each contraction all night and morning long, being stuck to the hospital bed with the monitor was very difficult. When I finnaly said that I needed to push, they finally came over to check me and were shocked to find that I was complete and ready to push. They hopped into action and got me into a delivery room where it took approximately 10 more minutes for Miss Bee to be born. Just as they were cleaning her up, her daddy walked in. He missed it by a minute or so.... so did my doctor. The triage doctor delivered her, someone I'd never met before.
They were all in shock. Barely twelve hours before, they had told me that I wasn't dilated at all and wasn't actually having those contractions that I was feeling.
Miss Bee was born at 12:30 pm during the biggest ice storm KY had seen for decades. I remember laying in bed that night and watching the blue sparks fly thru my window as transformers popped all over the city. How funny that the only birthday she's ever celebrated back up here, there would be 17 inches of snow on the ground.
She weighed 5 pounds 5 ounces and was 17 3/4 inches long. She was a giant as far as my standards went. After they monitored her in the nursery for the first couple hours, she came to my room and never again left my side. She was my first baby to room-in with me at the hospital. I could pick her up and love her and take care of her whenever and however I wanted. It was awesome! I could nurse her on her schedule instead of when I could get to the nursery!! She actually came home from the hospital the day I came home! I was scared to death all the way home that a branch covered with ice was gonna fall on our car and kill us all, (it actually had happened the day before, it wasn't just a hormonal freaky thing) but we got home without a problem!! The next several weeks of her life, there was snow on the ground constantly and I remember feeling stuck in the house with three small children.
Bee looked like me from the start. I love getting pictures out of me at the same age to compare. The same blond hair and brown eyes. Our personalities are much different though. I was a fairly quiet little girl. She on the other hand is Miss Personality Plus. She'll talk to a blade of grass if she thinks it'll listen. The things that come out of her mouth amaze me everyday!! She's a drama queen... oh my!! She hates bedtime. She loves tomatoes.... she ate herself into a tomato rash last September. She adores D.K.... She tolerates Prophet. She loves her Granny. She loves her baby dolls. She loves to wrestle with her brothers. She asks if she can go to school every morning when we get up. She's a sweet, adorable, and lovable little person. I can't imagine my our lives without her. I can't believe she's already four years old!!
Happy Birthday to my favorite little Valentine's baby girl!! I love you!!
After talking to me thru several contractions, Mom and Dad decided to head to Kentucky to be sure they'd be there in time for the birth. There was a big ice storm coming towards the entire midwest and uppersouth, so they wanted to beat it to us. They got in around 2 am, about 3 hours after the hospital had sent me home telling me I wasn't in labor at all. By that time I was having back labor. For those of you blessed enough to not have back labor... be thankful!! I never did with the boys, but with Bee I did. Smart Guy and Dad went to bed and Mom and I moved to the living room for the night. I ate a bagel and some yogurt at different times during the night, thankful that I wasn't in the hospital now, knowing they'd probably be starving me thru my labor. Everytime I had a contraction, I got down on my knees and mom would put counterpressure on my back.
The next morning,on Valentine's Day, Dad took Prophet to school and we all hung out at home getting things done around the house. I had an appointment at 11:30 for a Non-stress test, so Mom and I headed to that not thinking I was that far along yet. Smart Guy planned to pick up Prophet from school and then head to the hospital. By the time we made the 40 minute drive to the hospital and the 10 minute walk from the parking garage, I was having contractions every minute or so consistently. I went to triage, where I waited and waited to be seen. When they finally got me in, they piddled around and acted like nothing was going on. After being in there for about 20 minutes, they had me hooked up to a monitor, but still hadn't checked to see if I was dilated. When Mom asked why, they said they had to see how my contractions were doing first. She told them to look at me and they could tell. After being able to change positions with each contraction all night and morning long, being stuck to the hospital bed with the monitor was very difficult. When I finnaly said that I needed to push, they finally came over to check me and were shocked to find that I was complete and ready to push. They hopped into action and got me into a delivery room where it took approximately 10 more minutes for Miss Bee to be born. Just as they were cleaning her up, her daddy walked in. He missed it by a minute or so.... so did my doctor. The triage doctor delivered her, someone I'd never met before.
They were all in shock. Barely twelve hours before, they had told me that I wasn't dilated at all and wasn't actually having those contractions that I was feeling.
Miss Bee was born at 12:30 pm during the biggest ice storm KY had seen for decades. I remember laying in bed that night and watching the blue sparks fly thru my window as transformers popped all over the city. How funny that the only birthday she's ever celebrated back up here, there would be 17 inches of snow on the ground.
She weighed 5 pounds 5 ounces and was 17 3/4 inches long. She was a giant as far as my standards went. After they monitored her in the nursery for the first couple hours, she came to my room and never again left my side. She was my first baby to room-in with me at the hospital. I could pick her up and love her and take care of her whenever and however I wanted. It was awesome! I could nurse her on her schedule instead of when I could get to the nursery!! She actually came home from the hospital the day I came home! I was scared to death all the way home that a branch covered with ice was gonna fall on our car and kill us all, (it actually had happened the day before, it wasn't just a hormonal freaky thing) but we got home without a problem!! The next several weeks of her life, there was snow on the ground constantly and I remember feeling stuck in the house with three small children.
Bee looked like me from the start. I love getting pictures out of me at the same age to compare. The same blond hair and brown eyes. Our personalities are much different though. I was a fairly quiet little girl. She on the other hand is Miss Personality Plus. She'll talk to a blade of grass if she thinks it'll listen. The things that come out of her mouth amaze me everyday!! She's a drama queen... oh my!! She hates bedtime. She loves tomatoes.... she ate herself into a tomato rash last September. She adores D.K.... She tolerates Prophet. She loves her Granny. She loves her baby dolls. She loves to wrestle with her brothers. She asks if she can go to school every morning when we get up. She's a sweet, adorable, and lovable little person. I can't imagine my our lives without her. I can't believe she's already four years old!!
Happy Birthday to my favorite little Valentine's baby girl!! I love you!!
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
It's Beginning to Look Alot Like Christmas.....
...oh wait, it's almost Valentine's Day. It's snowing like crazy out there. They're predicting we could end up with over 15 inches by the time it's done. What's wierd is that while there has been 80 accidents or so due to the snow covered interstates in the area, our front walk doesn't have any snow on it. The wind's blowing around the house just right so we won't have to shovel our walk. Of course the road and sidewalk in front of the house has several inches on it. It appears that everyone is listening to the state police and staying in in our subdivision, because there are no tire tracks on the street at this point. It's just a big field of white stuff. I can see the thru the door that goes out onto the deck from here and it appears to be snowing sideways at the moment. I'll be shocked if the boys have school tomorrow either, seeing how it's not supposed to stop until tomorrow morning some time. I guess Valentine's Day will be celebrated the day after this year.
Well, I may be back later today.... stuck in the house with three kids could mean that I need some sanity time.
Well, I may be back later today.... stuck in the house with three kids could mean that I need some sanity time.
Monday, February 12, 2007
My God is So Big
This is for American Wife and her family...
"My God is so big,
So strong and so mighty,
There's nothing My God cannot do!!"
A very simple children's song sums up the reason they have made the decision they have. No matter what, they know that God will ride the ride with them and hold onto them thru the bumps and curves.
We're all praying for you guys!!
"My God is so big,
So strong and so mighty,
There's nothing My God cannot do!!"
A very simple children's song sums up the reason they have made the decision they have. No matter what, they know that God will ride the ride with them and hold onto them thru the bumps and curves.
We're all praying for you guys!!
Friday, February 9, 2007
Attempted Sedation
Don't have much time, but I wanted to let everyone know how Bee's MRI went today.... it didn't. The little booger NEVER fell asleep. She had the MAX dosage of Versed allowed for a 33.4 pound, three year old child. While she got very loopy and couldn't even hold her head up, she never actually went to sleep. She closed her eyes for awhile, so they put her in the machine, but as soon as it turned on, she started flailing around. They give the medication 1 mg at a time into the IV until they fall asleep. The other times she's been sedated she didn't even need 1/2 of the max dose to get her to sleep... this time after 6 - 1mg squirts into the IV she was still talking - we couldn't understand a word of her mumbo-jumbo, but she was still talking. When we got her home, she walked around like a drunk for an hour or so, but was otherwise normal. Before with half the medication, she slept until the next morning. Go figure!! So we have to call on Monday and reschedule. Thankfully they say we won't be charged anything for the whole ordeal. I sure hope not. I don't think the insurance would like a bill for attempted sedation.
Thursday, February 8, 2007
God of Wonders
Lord of all creation
Of water, earth, and sky
The heavens are Your tabernacle
Glory to the Lord on High
God of wonders, beyond our galaxy
You are holy, holy
The universe declares Your majesty
You are holy, holy
Lord of heaven and earth (2X)
Early in the morning
I will celebrate the light
And as I stumble through the darkness
I will call Your name by night
God of wonders, beyond our galaxy
You are holy, holy
The universe declares Your majesty
You are holy, holy
Lord of heaven and earth (2X)
Hallelujah to the Lord of heaven and earth (3X)
God of wonders, beyond our galaxy
You are holy, holy
Precious Lord, reveal Your heart to me
Father holy, holy
The universe declares Your majesty
You are holy, holy, holy, holy
Hallelujah to the Lord of heaven and earth (6X)
Lord of heaven and earth
Lord of heaven and earth
Early in the morning
I will celebreate the light
and as I stumble through the darkness
I will call your name by night
God of wonders beyond our galaxy
You are holy, holy
The universe declares your majesty
You are holy, holy
Lord of heaven and earth
Lord of heaven and earth
halleluiah to the Lord of heaven and earth
halleluiah to the Lord of heaven and earth
God of wonders beyond our galaxy
You are holy, holy
Precious Lord reveal your heart to me
Father holy, holy
the universe declares your majesty
you are holy, holy, holy, holy
halleluiah to the Lord of heaven and earth
halleluiah to the Lord of heaven and earth
halleluiah to the Lord of heaven and earth
halleluiah to the Lord of heaven and earth
halleluiah to the Lord of heaven and earth
halleluiah to the Lord of heaven and earth
Chris Tomlin
Of water, earth, and sky
The heavens are Your tabernacle
Glory to the Lord on High
God of wonders, beyond our galaxy
You are holy, holy
The universe declares Your majesty
You are holy, holy
Lord of heaven and earth (2X)
Early in the morning
I will celebrate the light
And as I stumble through the darkness
I will call Your name by night
God of wonders, beyond our galaxy
You are holy, holy
The universe declares Your majesty
You are holy, holy
Lord of heaven and earth (2X)
Hallelujah to the Lord of heaven and earth (3X)
God of wonders, beyond our galaxy
You are holy, holy
Precious Lord, reveal Your heart to me
Father holy, holy
The universe declares Your majesty
You are holy, holy, holy, holy
Hallelujah to the Lord of heaven and earth (6X)
Lord of heaven and earth
Lord of heaven and earth
Early in the morning
I will celebreate the light
and as I stumble through the darkness
I will call your name by night
God of wonders beyond our galaxy
You are holy, holy
The universe declares your majesty
You are holy, holy
Lord of heaven and earth
Lord of heaven and earth
halleluiah to the Lord of heaven and earth
halleluiah to the Lord of heaven and earth
God of wonders beyond our galaxy
You are holy, holy
Precious Lord reveal your heart to me
Father holy, holy
the universe declares your majesty
you are holy, holy, holy, holy
halleluiah to the Lord of heaven and earth
halleluiah to the Lord of heaven and earth
halleluiah to the Lord of heaven and earth
halleluiah to the Lord of heaven and earth
halleluiah to the Lord of heaven and earth
halleluiah to the Lord of heaven and earth
Chris Tomlin
Treasured Car Discussion
Prophet "Keaton said that when we die, we're dead and there's nothing after that."
Mommy "He did huh."
Prophet "Yep,I told him that yes our bodies die, but our souls go on living in heaven."
D.K. "After all our souls are what makes us who we are so that's whats important."
Mommy "He did huh."
Prophet "Yep,I told him that yes our bodies die, but our souls go on living in heaven."
D.K. "After all our souls are what makes us who we are so that's whats important."
Oh Yah...
... there was a funeral at our church this afternoon. When everyone left for the cemetary, they also packed up all the flowers and took them with them. Of course many of the petal were still left behind on the stage. Bee was in seventh heaven picking all the flowers off the floor. It know it was completely harmless, but somehow it felt wierd knowing that my daughter was collecting the flower petals leftover from someone's funeral.
Bee
Bee's MRI is tomorrow at 11:00. I have to keep her up late tonight and wake her up early in the morning.... which of course means that I'm up late tonight and early in the morning. Smart Guy is at a Family Force Five concert with some teens until late tonight, so I'm on Mom Duty alone until midnight or so. She's already grumpy. If she makes it until 11:00, I'm gonna consider that late enough and put her to bed. She also can't eat anything after midnight tonight until after the MRI because of the sedation. Morning will not be pretty without her bowl of oatmeal!!
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
Happy Birthday D.K.
Eight years ago today, my water broke around 2 in the morning. It was a Sunday. I was 32 1/2 weeks pregnant with D.K. hoping I had another 7 weeks or so left of an otherwise uneventful pregnancy. Smart Guy, Prophet, and myself had just moved from WV to OH the weekend before and my mom was there helping me get my house unpacked and ready to live in...but while my mom was there, my hubby wasn't. He'd left for Detroit for the weekend with all the teens to do a weekend mission project and wasn't due home until sometime that evening. My first checkup with my new OB was the next day and I hadn't bothered to figure out where the office or the hospital was yet.
So there my mom and I stood in the kitchen of my barely unpacked new home quietly, so Prophet wouldn't wake up, trying to figure what on earth we were gonna do. I didn't have a phone book yet, the church directory was in Smart Guys office having not yet been brought home, and I was clueless as to where anything was yet in my new town. Then I remembered a little slip of paper that one of the college girls who grew up in town had given me with her phone number on it just in case we needed a sitter for Prophet. I called her for help and she immediately told me she'd be over in 10 minutes. She was and she drove mom and I straight to the hospital. They checked me in and checked to make sure my water had indeed broken and that I hadn't merely just peed uncontrolably all over the bathroom floor... as if I couldn't tell the difference. The did an ultrasound to see how far along I was. I KNEW how far along I was. After you have a preemie, like Prophet, your next pregnancy is extremely carefully monitored. The tried to tell me after the ultrasound that I wasn't quite 30 weeks. I ignored them, knowing they were wrong. I knew he was past the 32 week mark and that if I had him, he'd be okay.
At some point early that morning, one of the kids moms called the home where Smart Guy was staying with the teens up in Detroit to tell him I was in labor and he needed to head home. So Smart Guy called the other house where the girls were, at six in the morning, and told them they all had a half hour to get up, get dressed, eat, and be ready to get in the van to leave.
Once my contractions started, they decided to send me over to the bigger hospital with a NICU on the other side of town. The put me in the ambulance and away I went in this town I was new to. They got me to the other hospital, hooked me up to the monitors and we waited to see what would happen.
The same mom that called Smart Guy worked in the hospital's finance department and immediately took on the job of making sure all of our yet-to-be-filled-out insurance papers were filled out and filed with the church conference. She sat by my bedside on a Sunday morning and filled in all the blanks as I gave her the info.
At some point in the afternoon, the entire youth group showed up at the hospital and sat in the waiting room waiting for their new youth pastor's wife to give birth.
Finally at 5:55 pm, approximately 14 hours after my water broke, I gave birth to a 4 pound, 8 ounce little boy. He was 16 1/2 inches long. I actually got to hold him before they took him to the NICU for observation. I was elated.
A few hours and several visitors later, I finally was able to go the NICU and see him. A nurse wheeled me down and left me for the NICU nurses to tend to. When I found him, he was in an open bed with no oxygen supplements at all. His chest was not retracting due to struggling breaths, his face was not hidden under a bunch of tubes and wires, and he was so big. They laid him in my arms and I immediately began to cry. The nurse brought me a box a tissues and told me it was okay, that he was doing very well. She didn't have a clue why I was crying. There were no words to explain the joy in my heart. I wasn't crying for fear of the unknown. I'd been to the unknown and back with Prophet. The NICU experience was normal for me, it held nothing new. I was an old pro. I was crying because my baby was in my arms, breathing on his own, and I was discussing when he could attempt to nurse for the first time, and he was only hours old. I spent most of my time in the hospital down at the NICU with D.K. until they let me go home.
They sent me home with a breastpump, which became my best-friend and my worst enemy all within a days time. It was the one thing that only I could give my baby in the hospital, but it also hurt and made my schedule even more crazy than it was with a baby in the hospital, a toddler at home, and a new home. I was determined he would have nothing but my milk, because I had been too sick when Prophet was born to nurse him. Everytime I left the hospital I would check the NICU fridge to see how much milk he had left and would send Smart Guy over with another bottle after my 3 am, half-asleep, pumping if I needed to.
Thankfully he was only in the hospital for 11 days. They let him come home a little early because they knew I'd already done the "preemie thing" with Prophet and knew how to keep him awake to take a bottle and all the other preemie things. When he came home he would nurse to start every feeding and then I'd give him a bottle of breastmilk to be sure he'd gotten enough to grow. Preemies get tired nursing very quickly until they hit full-term or so, so the bottle was unfortunately necessary. I kept in close contact with a lactation nurse. I'd take him in, she'd weigh him on a special scale before he nursed and then again after he nursed to see how much he was getting. On his due date, she said to take away the bottle and see what happened. I did and a week later when I left him with his daddy for two hours to go to a dance recital he refused the bottle I'd left for him. He never again had a bottle. He nursed until he was 17 months old.
He grew fast and by the time he was about 18 months old was the same weight as his older brother. By the time he was about 2, they were same size and I was asked contiually if they were twins. For a couple years I had one size in their closet and they just shared it all. One day when he was age 4, I suddenly realized that he was the tallest kid in his preschool class. The kid who was next closest in height was actually a year older than him. He slowly went up on the charts until last year he finally went off the charts for his age. He's officially one of the tallest kids his age in the entire country.
D.K. has always been a "momma's boy". I don't mean that badly at all. He's just always been more likely to come to me for everything than his daddy. Prophet is just the opposite. Even when D.K.'s in a little "dramatic stupor" he still finds hugs and love for me. It's starting to feel wierd that my little boy is getting almost as tall as me and that in a year or two he'll probably be looking me in the eyes when he hugs me. Just this evening he was standing right in front of me trying to tell me that he's as tall as my forehead. Uh, sorry dude, not quite, my nose, maybe, not my forehead.
It's hard to fathom that it's been eight years since I gave birth to that little tiny baby. He's changed obviously. He's turned into a very dramatic, dinosaur loving, girl-protecting little boy who loves spelling, his brother and sister, and wants to be a paleontologist when he grows up. I can't wait to see what's ahead for this guy as he grows up.
Happy Birthday to my favorite eight-year-old!!! I love you so much!!
So there my mom and I stood in the kitchen of my barely unpacked new home quietly, so Prophet wouldn't wake up, trying to figure what on earth we were gonna do. I didn't have a phone book yet, the church directory was in Smart Guys office having not yet been brought home, and I was clueless as to where anything was yet in my new town. Then I remembered a little slip of paper that one of the college girls who grew up in town had given me with her phone number on it just in case we needed a sitter for Prophet. I called her for help and she immediately told me she'd be over in 10 minutes. She was and she drove mom and I straight to the hospital. They checked me in and checked to make sure my water had indeed broken and that I hadn't merely just peed uncontrolably all over the bathroom floor... as if I couldn't tell the difference. The did an ultrasound to see how far along I was. I KNEW how far along I was. After you have a preemie, like Prophet, your next pregnancy is extremely carefully monitored. The tried to tell me after the ultrasound that I wasn't quite 30 weeks. I ignored them, knowing they were wrong. I knew he was past the 32 week mark and that if I had him, he'd be okay.
At some point early that morning, one of the kids moms called the home where Smart Guy was staying with the teens up in Detroit to tell him I was in labor and he needed to head home. So Smart Guy called the other house where the girls were, at six in the morning, and told them they all had a half hour to get up, get dressed, eat, and be ready to get in the van to leave.
Once my contractions started, they decided to send me over to the bigger hospital with a NICU on the other side of town. The put me in the ambulance and away I went in this town I was new to. They got me to the other hospital, hooked me up to the monitors and we waited to see what would happen.
The same mom that called Smart Guy worked in the hospital's finance department and immediately took on the job of making sure all of our yet-to-be-filled-out insurance papers were filled out and filed with the church conference. She sat by my bedside on a Sunday morning and filled in all the blanks as I gave her the info.
At some point in the afternoon, the entire youth group showed up at the hospital and sat in the waiting room waiting for their new youth pastor's wife to give birth.
Finally at 5:55 pm, approximately 14 hours after my water broke, I gave birth to a 4 pound, 8 ounce little boy. He was 16 1/2 inches long. I actually got to hold him before they took him to the NICU for observation. I was elated.
A few hours and several visitors later, I finally was able to go the NICU and see him. A nurse wheeled me down and left me for the NICU nurses to tend to. When I found him, he was in an open bed with no oxygen supplements at all. His chest was not retracting due to struggling breaths, his face was not hidden under a bunch of tubes and wires, and he was so big. They laid him in my arms and I immediately began to cry. The nurse brought me a box a tissues and told me it was okay, that he was doing very well. She didn't have a clue why I was crying. There were no words to explain the joy in my heart. I wasn't crying for fear of the unknown. I'd been to the unknown and back with Prophet. The NICU experience was normal for me, it held nothing new. I was an old pro. I was crying because my baby was in my arms, breathing on his own, and I was discussing when he could attempt to nurse for the first time, and he was only hours old. I spent most of my time in the hospital down at the NICU with D.K. until they let me go home.
They sent me home with a breastpump, which became my best-friend and my worst enemy all within a days time. It was the one thing that only I could give my baby in the hospital, but it also hurt and made my schedule even more crazy than it was with a baby in the hospital, a toddler at home, and a new home. I was determined he would have nothing but my milk, because I had been too sick when Prophet was born to nurse him. Everytime I left the hospital I would check the NICU fridge to see how much milk he had left and would send Smart Guy over with another bottle after my 3 am, half-asleep, pumping if I needed to.
Thankfully he was only in the hospital for 11 days. They let him come home a little early because they knew I'd already done the "preemie thing" with Prophet and knew how to keep him awake to take a bottle and all the other preemie things. When he came home he would nurse to start every feeding and then I'd give him a bottle of breastmilk to be sure he'd gotten enough to grow. Preemies get tired nursing very quickly until they hit full-term or so, so the bottle was unfortunately necessary. I kept in close contact with a lactation nurse. I'd take him in, she'd weigh him on a special scale before he nursed and then again after he nursed to see how much he was getting. On his due date, she said to take away the bottle and see what happened. I did and a week later when I left him with his daddy for two hours to go to a dance recital he refused the bottle I'd left for him. He never again had a bottle. He nursed until he was 17 months old.
He grew fast and by the time he was about 18 months old was the same weight as his older brother. By the time he was about 2, they were same size and I was asked contiually if they were twins. For a couple years I had one size in their closet and they just shared it all. One day when he was age 4, I suddenly realized that he was the tallest kid in his preschool class. The kid who was next closest in height was actually a year older than him. He slowly went up on the charts until last year he finally went off the charts for his age. He's officially one of the tallest kids his age in the entire country.
D.K. has always been a "momma's boy". I don't mean that badly at all. He's just always been more likely to come to me for everything than his daddy. Prophet is just the opposite. Even when D.K.'s in a little "dramatic stupor" he still finds hugs and love for me. It's starting to feel wierd that my little boy is getting almost as tall as me and that in a year or two he'll probably be looking me in the eyes when he hugs me. Just this evening he was standing right in front of me trying to tell me that he's as tall as my forehead. Uh, sorry dude, not quite, my nose, maybe, not my forehead.
It's hard to fathom that it's been eight years since I gave birth to that little tiny baby. He's changed obviously. He's turned into a very dramatic, dinosaur loving, girl-protecting little boy who loves spelling, his brother and sister, and wants to be a paleontologist when he grows up. I can't wait to see what's ahead for this guy as he grows up.
Happy Birthday to my favorite eight-year-old!!! I love you so much!!
Welcome to ...."The Gapstander"
I have a new person to introduce to my blog family. She's from Alabama, so that fact alone means she can't be quite normal. She was one of our youth sponsors down there. That definitely tells you she's not normal. Her and I have shared many hotel rooms... sometimes while at the Youth Specialties convention I attented back in Cincinatti (I missed her this year as she didn't get to go... so I called her during the David Crowder worship and held up my cell phone so she could worship with us, not knowing if she was actually on the other end because it was too loud on my end to hear) and sometimes while trying to keep a bunch of middle school girls in line while at church camp at Panama City Beach, FL. She always kept Smart Guy on his toes, calling him down when necessary. Actually she's not really southern. If I remember correctly, her dad is a military man and she moved several times growing up and just settled in the south to be a grown-up. I stood in the shower this morning and tried to think of a good pseudonym for her, then duh, I realized that she's calling herself Angie so I probably should too. While contemplating someones pseudonym though I always think about who that person is and what they mean to me personally. Thru this thought I came up with ... The Gapstander.
Some people are bystanders. They stand around letting life happen around them. They allow things to happen to the people around them and don't do anything about it. They watch the hurt of the people near them and in the world at large and always say they'd like to do something, but never actually do it. They are bystanders.
Angie is a gapstander. She stands in the gap for people. When someone isn't able to help themself, she stands in that gap and helps them. She helps them get back on their feet. She helps them see the truth. She helps them help themselves. One of her favorite things to do is to serve God by serving others. She stood in the gap for Smart Guy and myself on many occasions. When a small but loud group at the church down there decided they weren't happy with my Smart Guy, she stood in that gap (actually she dug a hole and planted herself in that gap) and never walked out of it. She was the firewall of protection that God put there for our ministry. I knew we were safe with Angie as our gapstander. She puts up with crap from no one and always points out the truth of the matter. When our finances came to such a spot that we were gonna have to do something drastic a few years ago, she again stood in the gap and made sure that our family was able to stay together. That particular gapstanding made it possible for us to get thru an incredibly hard time together and be where we are today... which is getting closer and closer to being out of debt each month. She's been out of the country to stand in the gap for others several times now. She always comes home already planning her next gapstand across the oceans.
The Christian artist Babbie Mason did a song back in the '90's called "Standing in the Gap". This song has always been my theme song for Angie, although she has no clue of that. I'm so thankful that she has been our gapstander. I tried to get the song on here, but couldn't do it, but here's the lyrics.
Standing in the Gap
I heard that you were hurting
That you were suffering pain
But I didn't dare just turn my head
And look the other way
For when your heart is aching
My heart is aching too
Let me help you bear your burden
That's the least that I can do
I'll be standing in the gap for you
Just remember someone, somewhere is praying for you
Calling out your name
Praying for your strength
I'll be standing in the gap for you
Right now you may be troubled
But everything will work out fine
For the Spirit knows before you speak
What is on your heart and mind
So I'll be interceding
'Til your standing strong again
The peace that passes understanding
Is going to be yours, but until then
I'll be standing in the gap for you
Just remember someone, somewhere is praying for you
Calling out your name
Praying for you strength
I'll be standing in the gap for you
So hang on my friend
It won't be long and you'll have your strength
To carry on
For when two or three are walking together
It will be a much lighter load
For isn't that what a brother and a sister are for
I'll be standing in the gap for you
Just remember someone, somewhere is praying for you
Calling out your name
Praying for your strength
I'll be standing in the gap for you
Now that Angie's soooooo totally embarassed and crying I'm sure.... I'll just wanna say go over and show her how wonderful it is to have a blogging family to talk to and pray with.
Some people are bystanders. They stand around letting life happen around them. They allow things to happen to the people around them and don't do anything about it. They watch the hurt of the people near them and in the world at large and always say they'd like to do something, but never actually do it. They are bystanders.
Angie is a gapstander. She stands in the gap for people. When someone isn't able to help themself, she stands in that gap and helps them. She helps them get back on their feet. She helps them see the truth. She helps them help themselves. One of her favorite things to do is to serve God by serving others. She stood in the gap for Smart Guy and myself on many occasions. When a small but loud group at the church down there decided they weren't happy with my Smart Guy, she stood in that gap (actually she dug a hole and planted herself in that gap) and never walked out of it. She was the firewall of protection that God put there for our ministry. I knew we were safe with Angie as our gapstander. She puts up with crap from no one and always points out the truth of the matter. When our finances came to such a spot that we were gonna have to do something drastic a few years ago, she again stood in the gap and made sure that our family was able to stay together. That particular gapstanding made it possible for us to get thru an incredibly hard time together and be where we are today... which is getting closer and closer to being out of debt each month. She's been out of the country to stand in the gap for others several times now. She always comes home already planning her next gapstand across the oceans.
The Christian artist Babbie Mason did a song back in the '90's called "Standing in the Gap". This song has always been my theme song for Angie, although she has no clue of that. I'm so thankful that she has been our gapstander. I tried to get the song on here, but couldn't do it, but here's the lyrics.
Standing in the Gap
I heard that you were hurting
That you were suffering pain
But I didn't dare just turn my head
And look the other way
For when your heart is aching
My heart is aching too
Let me help you bear your burden
That's the least that I can do
I'll be standing in the gap for you
Just remember someone, somewhere is praying for you
Calling out your name
Praying for your strength
I'll be standing in the gap for you
Right now you may be troubled
But everything will work out fine
For the Spirit knows before you speak
What is on your heart and mind
So I'll be interceding
'Til your standing strong again
The peace that passes understanding
Is going to be yours, but until then
I'll be standing in the gap for you
Just remember someone, somewhere is praying for you
Calling out your name
Praying for you strength
I'll be standing in the gap for you
So hang on my friend
It won't be long and you'll have your strength
To carry on
For when two or three are walking together
It will be a much lighter load
For isn't that what a brother and a sister are for
I'll be standing in the gap for you
Just remember someone, somewhere is praying for you
Calling out your name
Praying for your strength
I'll be standing in the gap for you
Now that Angie's soooooo totally embarassed and crying I'm sure.... I'll just wanna say go over and show her how wonderful it is to have a blogging family to talk to and pray with.
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
Thought You Might Need a Laugh
I had a 5 pound cottage cheese container from church full of meatballs and sauce leftover from the teenagers Super Bowl party on Sunday night. So I thought I'd cook some whole wheat spaghetti noodles, mix them with the meatballs and sauce, put them in a casserole dish, bake with mozzerella on top, serve with salad and garlic bread and call it dinner. I boiled my noodles, drained them, mixed in the meatballs and sauce and went digging for a 9 X 13 dish. This is when it dawned on me that I need both of them for the jello jigglers that D.K. is taking to school for his birthday tomorrow. I'm figuring that we won't finish the entire dish tonight and I don't wanna have to wash it to make the jigglers, so I decided to use two 8 X 8 dishes instead. This seemed like a great idea until I started pouring the stuff into the first dish. Halfway thru the initial dump, I realized that I hadn't broken the noodles in half. This made pouring just half of the mixture into a small dish next to impossible. About the time I started to pull the pot away from the dish, the dish slipped sideways making the pot full of heavy noodles and meatballs fall forward. Well, let's just say that the mess took awhile to clean up. Thankfully I managed to keep it all on the counter so we are still having baked spaghetti and meatballs for dinner.
Lesson learned: If you want to put spaghetti noodles into two separate dishes, you need to either break them into small pieces before cooking so they will not dump out in one big clump, or you need to spoon them out with your spaghetti thingy!!
Lesson learned: If you want to put spaghetti noodles into two separate dishes, you need to either break them into small pieces before cooking so they will not dump out in one big clump, or you need to spoon them out with your spaghetti thingy!!
Snow
Well the snow has about stopped. The roads are horrible now. They never did dismiss school early, which I couldn't believe. When Bee and I left to go get the boys we tromped thru the unshoveled snow at the front of the church, filled our shoes with frigid snow, had to clear the snow off the car to see, and then had to stand out in the wind to put gas in my van so I wouldn't run out while in line at the school. The card reader at the pump wouldn't read my card so I had to go in. By that time, my hands were freezing. I hated to leave Bee in the car, but there was no way I was gonna get her out in the cold just to walk in. So I locked the doors, ran in, watched the car and ran right back out. I pumped my gas and then left for the school. They hadn't plowed anything around the school so everyone was spinning their tires and the kids kept falling into the snow as they were getting in the cars. This wouldn't be a big deal if it were 30 degrees, but it's under 10 degrees and miserable.
Anyway, I've got everyone with me now. They're all excited to actually have a good snow. Hopefully it'll warm up enough for them to play in it tomorrow. It is pretty. Bowzer loves to jump around and eat it in the backyard. It's a very fun sight to take in.
So we have snow and freezing cold wind in the midwest and Ang, Temera, and Inkling have fog in the Northwest. I'm presently loving the snow, but I'm ready for spring to come in a month or so. We'll see!
Please pray for Lauren right now. Everyone that knows her, knows why. Those of you that don't, just know that she needs our prays for comfort right now.
Toodles!! Later!
Anyway, I've got everyone with me now. They're all excited to actually have a good snow. Hopefully it'll warm up enough for them to play in it tomorrow. It is pretty. Bowzer loves to jump around and eat it in the backyard. It's a very fun sight to take in.
So we have snow and freezing cold wind in the midwest and Ang, Temera, and Inkling have fog in the Northwest. I'm presently loving the snow, but I'm ready for spring to come in a month or so. We'll see!
Please pray for Lauren right now. Everyone that knows her, knows why. Those of you that don't, just know that she needs our prays for comfort right now.
Toodles!! Later!
It's Snowing
Good morning everybody!! It started snowing about an hour ago. The boys already had a two hour delay because of the intense cold, so they just left for school about 15 minutes ago and now I wouldn't be suprised if they get sent home early. I'm watching the snow fall right next to me thru my dining room window. It's so pretty. I think this is the hardest it's snowed during the daylight hours this year. They're saying we could get up to six inches. Cool!! Bee wants to put a bowl on the deck to catch the snow so we can make snow ice cream tonight!!
Well, I had my colonoscopy and endoscopy yesterday. I was totally out of commission from 4:30 Sunday afternoon after my first dose of the prep stuff until this morning. I felt completely horrible as I don't do well on no food at all. Jello and boullion does nothing for me... yuck. I ate it, but it sure didn't fill me up at all. Thankfully Mom was here seeing how Smart Guy was at the Super Bowl party at church with the youth. I was ready to pass out by the time they did the test at 2:00 yesterday afternoon. Fortunately they knocked me out good, so I don't remember a thing after saying "my lips feel wierd" and hearing the anestes -the "knock out guy" - say it was because of the meds. The next thing I remember is being back in the recovery room with Smart Guy waking up. I pretty much slept and layed around the rest of the day. I feel somewhat better today so I'm gonna go over and get some work done at church.
They found some mild erosion in my esophagus and some inflamation in my intestines. The dr. took several biopsies to send off so I should know something by Friday. Please pray!!
Can I just say this... "I'm so sick of hearing about the Super Bowl and the almighty Colts." Where we live most of our local news channels are based out of Indi, so that's all we've had on our news for two weeks or so now. Yesterday when the Colts landed at the airport, got on their busses, and rode all the way to the RCA dome.... we all got to watch the entire thing with a birds eye view from a helicopter camera. I do mean the entire thing.... I finally changed the channel. How silly is it to spend an entire news hour just watching a bunch of busses driving around on the interstate. I must say in defense of the midwest, there were only 8 people arrested in the celebrations of the game on Sunday. Most people managed to celebrate within the boundries of the law. Although many of the Indi schools had a problem yesterday morning when several of their busdrivers called in sick..... uh, yah, right, sick, I don't think so.... hungover maybe... There were actually a few school that even canceled school.... I'm sorry but what is wrong with us when sports has become so big in our country that school is called off and the gov't pays for security for the game... Sorry if this offends anyone, but that's screwed up priorities!!
Anyway, off my soapbox... I've gotta get ready to go over t the church in this snow and get some work done. Later!!
Well, I had my colonoscopy and endoscopy yesterday. I was totally out of commission from 4:30 Sunday afternoon after my first dose of the prep stuff until this morning. I felt completely horrible as I don't do well on no food at all. Jello and boullion does nothing for me... yuck. I ate it, but it sure didn't fill me up at all. Thankfully Mom was here seeing how Smart Guy was at the Super Bowl party at church with the youth. I was ready to pass out by the time they did the test at 2:00 yesterday afternoon. Fortunately they knocked me out good, so I don't remember a thing after saying "my lips feel wierd" and hearing the anestes -the "knock out guy" - say it was because of the meds. The next thing I remember is being back in the recovery room with Smart Guy waking up. I pretty much slept and layed around the rest of the day. I feel somewhat better today so I'm gonna go over and get some work done at church.
They found some mild erosion in my esophagus and some inflamation in my intestines. The dr. took several biopsies to send off so I should know something by Friday. Please pray!!
Can I just say this... "I'm so sick of hearing about the Super Bowl and the almighty Colts." Where we live most of our local news channels are based out of Indi, so that's all we've had on our news for two weeks or so now. Yesterday when the Colts landed at the airport, got on their busses, and rode all the way to the RCA dome.... we all got to watch the entire thing with a birds eye view from a helicopter camera. I do mean the entire thing.... I finally changed the channel. How silly is it to spend an entire news hour just watching a bunch of busses driving around on the interstate. I must say in defense of the midwest, there were only 8 people arrested in the celebrations of the game on Sunday. Most people managed to celebrate within the boundries of the law. Although many of the Indi schools had a problem yesterday morning when several of their busdrivers called in sick..... uh, yah, right, sick, I don't think so.... hungover maybe... There were actually a few school that even canceled school.... I'm sorry but what is wrong with us when sports has become so big in our country that school is called off and the gov't pays for security for the game... Sorry if this offends anyone, but that's screwed up priorities!!
Anyway, off my soapbox... I've gotta get ready to go over t the church in this snow and get some work done. Later!!
Saturday, February 3, 2007
In My Own House
Hello everyone... I am currently sitting in my own home blogging. I talked Smart Guy into borrowing his laptop from the office to bring home for the evening. I won't be able to keep it here because this is the one that runs his power point stuff for the youth, but at least I can drag it back and forth to have here in the evenings.
Oh yah, in Jessie's defense... I did invite her up on the couch with me when she was here with Mom and Dad last weekend. I had forgotten about that. She probably considered that a permanent invite.
Well, since I already posted earlier this evening I have nothing to write for now!! It's sure nice to know that if I need to though, I can. Later taters!!
BTW.... go Bears!!
Oh yah, in Jessie's defense... I did invite her up on the couch with me when she was here with Mom and Dad last weekend. I had forgotten about that. She probably considered that a permanent invite.
Well, since I already posted earlier this evening I have nothing to write for now!! It's sure nice to know that if I need to though, I can. Later taters!!
BTW.... go Bears!!
Haircuts, Neuro-Dog, B-ball, and Cold Snaps
My hair is cut, my laundry is being worked on, my house isn't as bad as it seemed, my shoe at least stays on my foot, my ear has been hurting a few times the last few days from talking to everyone on the phone so long, I got a nap this afternoon, and I've decided (with no guilt, well maybe a little) that my boys are having school lunches this week while I get caught up and have appointments for myself and Bee. Thanks for all the encouragement.
I got my haircut yesterday afternoon and I really like how it turned out. I also enjoyed the conversation while she cut it. It's always relaxing to have someone wash your hair and then style it. She only charged me $17 too... that's the cheapest haircut I've had for a long time.
We are "babysitting" Jessie the neurotic black lab that belongs to my parents. They are having an early birthday weekend for my mom in Indi. She has a baby due around her b-day later in the month and can't leave then. Mom and Dad stayed over last night and went to Prophet's basketball game this morning. When we left the game, they left for Indi and we went home.... to find that Jessie had peed twice in my house and had eaten an entire loaf of whole wheat bread. It's a good thing I love her. She's so funny. At mom and dad's house she knows she's not allowed on the furniture. At our house, Bowzer's not allowed on the furniture. But Jessie has decided that it's okay to sleep on the chair in our living room. She got up there and just spread out everywhere. Oh well, at least she feels at home!!
Bee continues her new teenage venacular. She keeps saying things like... "Mommy, this shirt sooooo needs to go in the Libby (my cousins baby) stuff, it's sooooo small on me," and "I'm sooooo totally tired of this cold, I soooo want to move back to AL." I think I've figured out that it's coming from all the teeny-bopper shows on Disney. Yes, she watches them. The boys never did at her age, but they do now. They have to have something to watch and the preschool shows don't cut it now that they're in 2nd grade. Since they watch them, so does she. We only watch Disney though, Nickolodeon is, in my opinion, horrible once the preschool stuff ends in the afternoon. Yesterday when we picked up the boys from school, one of them asked her a question and her answer was.... "absolutely". I couldn't believe it when I heard my not yet four year old child say "absolutely". It was hilarious.
Prophet got to play in his basketball game this morning. They all played their little bahooney's off, but in the end they lost 28 - 20 in the last 3 minutes. He coughed a little, but really did pretty good. He loves to play. If you've never seen a bunch of K-2 graders play b-ball, I just have to say that it's entertaining to say the least. What they don't have in skill, they make up for in humor. They'll carry the ball half-way down the court and then realize they need to be dribbling. They'll shoot and completely miss even the backboard. There's always someone on the floor. Prophet's team coach seems like really nice guy. He had three of his kids with him on the sidelines today. His daughter in on the team. Then he had a 3 or 4 year old boy, and a 6 month or so baby with him. He coached most of the game holding the baby on one arm while he (the baby) grinned at everyone over the sock he was chewing on. He was encouraging to the kids. He'd put an arm on their shoulders to give advice or encouragement with one arm and hold the baby with the other. Who said men can't multitask. He was doing a better job at it than Lauren or I could have. I was impressed.
This cold is getting old REALLY fast. It's currently 15 degrees with a wind chill of 0 degrees. During the night the wind chill is supposed to get down to 15 below. Tomorrow's wind chill is supposed to be 20 - 30 below. The high on Monday and Tuesday is supposed to be around 5 degrees. One of the school systems not too far from here has already delayed for Monday and Tuesday morning. It was the headline article yesterday because they did it sooooooo early they were getting alot of slack for it. The super. just simply said that no one could fault him for putting the welfare of the kids first and he wanted parents to have time to make arrangements for their kids. I don't think he's crazy. That's simply too cold for kids to be walking to the bus stops and standing there. They're saying that frost bite can set in in less than 10 mintes when the wind chill is that cold. Many of those kids are out longer than that between the walk and the wait. My hands get painful just walking out to the car with gloves on right now.
Well, I gotta go!! I love you guys and miss our daily chats horribly. I'm trying to talk Smart Guy into borrowing a computer from the youth room until we get a new one... we'll see if it works!!
I got my haircut yesterday afternoon and I really like how it turned out. I also enjoyed the conversation while she cut it. It's always relaxing to have someone wash your hair and then style it. She only charged me $17 too... that's the cheapest haircut I've had for a long time.
We are "babysitting" Jessie the neurotic black lab that belongs to my parents. They are having an early birthday weekend for my mom in Indi. She has a baby due around her b-day later in the month and can't leave then. Mom and Dad stayed over last night and went to Prophet's basketball game this morning. When we left the game, they left for Indi and we went home.... to find that Jessie had peed twice in my house and had eaten an entire loaf of whole wheat bread. It's a good thing I love her. She's so funny. At mom and dad's house she knows she's not allowed on the furniture. At our house, Bowzer's not allowed on the furniture. But Jessie has decided that it's okay to sleep on the chair in our living room. She got up there and just spread out everywhere. Oh well, at least she feels at home!!
Bee continues her new teenage venacular. She keeps saying things like... "Mommy, this shirt sooooo needs to go in the Libby (my cousins baby) stuff, it's sooooo small on me," and "I'm sooooo totally tired of this cold, I soooo want to move back to AL." I think I've figured out that it's coming from all the teeny-bopper shows on Disney. Yes, she watches them. The boys never did at her age, but they do now. They have to have something to watch and the preschool shows don't cut it now that they're in 2nd grade. Since they watch them, so does she. We only watch Disney though, Nickolodeon is, in my opinion, horrible once the preschool stuff ends in the afternoon. Yesterday when we picked up the boys from school, one of them asked her a question and her answer was.... "absolutely". I couldn't believe it when I heard my not yet four year old child say "absolutely". It was hilarious.
Prophet got to play in his basketball game this morning. They all played their little bahooney's off, but in the end they lost 28 - 20 in the last 3 minutes. He coughed a little, but really did pretty good. He loves to play. If you've never seen a bunch of K-2 graders play b-ball, I just have to say that it's entertaining to say the least. What they don't have in skill, they make up for in humor. They'll carry the ball half-way down the court and then realize they need to be dribbling. They'll shoot and completely miss even the backboard. There's always someone on the floor. Prophet's team coach seems like really nice guy. He had three of his kids with him on the sidelines today. His daughter in on the team. Then he had a 3 or 4 year old boy, and a 6 month or so baby with him. He coached most of the game holding the baby on one arm while he (the baby) grinned at everyone over the sock he was chewing on. He was encouraging to the kids. He'd put an arm on their shoulders to give advice or encouragement with one arm and hold the baby with the other. Who said men can't multitask. He was doing a better job at it than Lauren or I could have. I was impressed.
This cold is getting old REALLY fast. It's currently 15 degrees with a wind chill of 0 degrees. During the night the wind chill is supposed to get down to 15 below. Tomorrow's wind chill is supposed to be 20 - 30 below. The high on Monday and Tuesday is supposed to be around 5 degrees. One of the school systems not too far from here has already delayed for Monday and Tuesday morning. It was the headline article yesterday because they did it sooooooo early they were getting alot of slack for it. The super. just simply said that no one could fault him for putting the welfare of the kids first and he wanted parents to have time to make arrangements for their kids. I don't think he's crazy. That's simply too cold for kids to be walking to the bus stops and standing there. They're saying that frost bite can set in in less than 10 mintes when the wind chill is that cold. Many of those kids are out longer than that between the walk and the wait. My hands get painful just walking out to the car with gloves on right now.
Well, I gotta go!! I love you guys and miss our daily chats horribly. I'm trying to talk Smart Guy into borrowing a computer from the youth room until we get a new one... we'll see if it works!!
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