Bye Ray-chul

Is it a bad thing when your 2 year old daughter says: "Bye Ray-chul." when the commercials come on during Rachel Ray's 30 minutes meals??

Maybe I should curb my Rachel Ray obsession!

Hello my old friend....

Morning sickness is back with a vengence!

With Emma it was so bad that I ended up with an IV! With Josiah?? Nothing... With Bean?? Oh it's bad, people! I think we could be well on our way to a repeat of Emma... I wonder if that means it's a girl??!

Yesterday we went on a lovely picinic with some other young couples from our church. Emma got to play with her favorite friend, Maddie. Josiah got to play with his friend (read: baby the same age) Autumn.

I got to eat lots of good food! At least I thought it was good food! We had burgers, potato salad, strawberry shortcake and watermelon. I thought I was doing good having sampled all these foods. I was thinking what good fortune I was having with all this food set in front of me, I didn't have to worry about what I would eat. Because since I feel sick all the time, when left to my own devices, I don't eat. But if the food is readily available I eat!

I did good! Didn't eat as much as everyone else but certainly more than I have been eating. We went on a nice walk, played in the creek (Emma loved it!) and just sat around and talked.

Since it was REALLY hot out we didn't do much moving around other than what was absolutely necessary. By 6pm we were ready to go home. Our house felt like an oven compared to being in the woods all afternoon.

We had a really nice day... and it would have been better if I hadn't had to sit at the great white throne all night to pay for all that food I ate... I think I will go back to eating nothing... it works MUCH better.

So far I have lost 5 pounds... still have 5 weeks left in the first trimester!

Batten down the hatches!!!!

Emma has hit the terrible twos!!

But first I need to clear something up... did I spell batten right?? Cause here is what Webster's says:

1bat·ten Pronunciation: 'ba-t&nFunction: verbInflected Form(s): bat·tened; bat·ten·ing /'bat-ni[ng], 'ba-t&n-i[ng]/Etymology: probably from Old Norse batna to improve; akin to Old English betera betterintransitive senses a : to grow fat b : to feed gluttonously2 : to grow prosperous especially at the expense of another -- usually used with ontransitive senses : FATTEN

I mean if you look at that definition batten down the hatches doesn't sound right...

Okay enough English for one day... Emma has seriously gone off the deep end.. She has become very defiant! She will sit and stare at me deliberately and do whatever I just told her not to do!!! She also runs off in the middle of stores if you let go for even a split second! We have tried all kinds of punishments... NOT WORKING!

My only hope is that she will be almost through the terrible twos when Bean is born. Oh and it would appear that Josiah may be our soft hearted one. He startles at everything! He cries when he hears loud noises and he has to keep mommy in sight at all times!

Today proved to be trying... Emma was into everything! And unfortunately morning sickness (which is NOT just in the morning) is rearing its ugly head pretty bad here. It is getting almost as bad as it was with Emma. Although I must say a big slice of pizza sounds good right now!

Tomorrow is another day.....

Wanna play a game??

It's a guessing game....

Anyone want to venture a guess as to what this might be??


Wait... what was that??? You want to know what a stick with two lines on it is???

Well... I'll tell ya! It would be a positive sign that we (meaning the adults) will be outnumbered by the end of this year. Yup... another curtain climber is on it's way. Why don't we call him/her, Bean.

Now before you drop all your pearls of wisdom on us whether it be by comment, email or phone I would like to say something. Pete and I were surprised to say the least... this was not in our plans. We were using various methods of protection which obviously did not work. So this in no way is a reflection on our level of responsibility... we have been married for going on 4 years and we DO know how to prevent pregnancy. God intervened with our method and still allowed Bean to be created. Pete and I are both firm believers that God makes NO mistakes. He will provide financially, physically and emotionally. Someone smart once said "If God brings you to it, God will get you through it."

So before you sit back and pass judgement on how we should have done something differently or try to give us your unsolicited advice (which we all know is close to bursting out of your mouths!) why don't you take a second look at how Pete and I feel.

We had both believed that we were done. We had been discussing our options and had come to a decision and had executed said decision two days before we found out our news. God has other plans for us. I believe Bean is going to prove to be someone special.

So PLEASE don't remind us of facts that are already glaring us in the face concerning our finances and lives. Instead try to remember all things happen for a reason...

And if Pete and I have accepted it... couldn't you??

AARRGGHH!!!!

You know what ticks me off big time???

When you get a grease spot on a shirt... a new one at that... and don't notice it till you have already washed it, dried it and put it on again....

Curses!

The making of trauma

Me: Tediously frosting the cake

The Cake: Done at last!


Emma: Blowing out candles.


Emma: Unsure of the fact that Elmo's head is on her table.

Emma: Warming up to the idea but still only licking frosting off of a fork.

(Pardon the blurries... Our camera was dying.)

How to traumatize a two year old

First take all morning to make a yummy nutritional carrot cake.

Then pour it into an Elmo shaped pan.

Next, wait for approximately 40 minutes for it to cook.

After that put it on a cooling rack in the fridge so it will cool in time for the party!

When that is done spend about 20 minutes trying to mix just the right shades of black, red and orange.

Proceed to frost this Elmo shaped cake with a pastry bag and misc. tips.

Lose all feeling in both hands after 45 minutes of squeezing.

Place cake in the fridge to chill and allow the frosting to set.

At the appointed time, remove cake from fridge and put candles on it.

Bring it to the table lit up.

Allow the 2 year old to blow out said candles.

Ask which piece she would like, pointing out the cool eyeballs.

Cut off the eyeball and place in front of 2 year old.

Sit back, watch her scream, push the eyeball away and refuse to eat any part of the cake.



Mommy should have known that cutting the eyeball off of Elmo would scare the crap out of her!

(Pictures of the cake to follow when the missing camera is found)

Aiming for success

By posting this today I will have come in just under the wire for my goal of posting 2-3 times a week. This is number two.

_____

Pete is doing okay but if he doesn't take his medicine his heart acts up. So he has a followup with our general practitioner on Monday and one with the cardiologist on Tuesday.

Monday they will be discussing the newest symptom... high cholesterol. Has anyone ever heard of an almost 26 year old getting high cholesterol?? And the one on Tuesday I am hoping they will be doing a repeat echocardiogram on his heart to check the fluid.

_____

Today marks a new day for us. I went through the pantry and threw away every box of "convenience" food we had. And also decided once the red meat in the freezer is gone then we will switch completely over to white meat and fish.

I purchased tons of produce, picked up some whole wheat pasta and flour, and avoided all the sweets that were calling my name. I also picked up some natural peanut butter. I already make all our bread I will just be converting it to wheat.

The last thing I want to do is look into raw sugar and buying grains and beans at the coop. It will be slow and hard going but we are going to start eating healthier. Not just for Pete's health but so I can lose weight and we can teach the kids good eating habits.

So our motto is if it ain't from scratch don't eat it.

_____

Tomorrow is Emma's birthday party. I am making the Elmo cake (the last sweets left in the house but it will be carrot cake) and got an Elmo table cover and party hats.
We bought her a doll and some accessories, a couple books and a puzzle. My mom is getting her a sand box. My grandma got her play food. Not sure what else she will be getting. We did a ridding out this past week of everything she has outgrown and doesn't play with anymore.

Well Reba is coming on and I want to watch... Have a great weekend!

I gave him up!

It is offical... Josiah is no longer in our room... *sigh*

I am so sad... it is hard to let him go... being that he is my last one (that I know of anyhow!) and so everything with him is different... It was sad... and hard to breakdown the little corner in our room to move him. Probably because it was his little spot that I had nested in and got ready for him when I was still pregnant.

Yesterday my mom and I spent the day going through Emma's room and getting out all the old clothes that don't fit her... rearranging furniture and trying to convince her it would be fun to have 'Si sleeping in her room.

So after all the work and Josiah's crib and dresser were in there my dad came over for dinner... He was in her room and asked her who's bed is this?? She looked at him smiled really big and said " That's Siah's bed!"

Last night I put her down at her regular bedtime: 7:30pm. And then at 11pm I put Josiah down... It was so hard to leave him in that room... all the way down at the other end of the house!!

At 5 this morning Pete tapped me on the shoulder, woke me up and told me that he heard Josiah whimpering in the monitor... By the time I made it down there to check on him he was already in a full blown scream. I grabbed him up and looked over at Emma... she never even stirred! Thank God! That was my biggest fear! Then this morning she got up without even bothering him...

I am so glad that this worked out... And I know it will until he gets to the age where I do that so-called "sleep training" ( Yes we let our babies cry it out... sue me... but it isn't until after a year old) Then we will have to deal with him screaming and when to put Emma to bed.. But there is lots of time before that!

I am still sad about losing my baby though! Pretty soon he is going to be eating cheerios!

Oh and did I mention he said "dada" this morning?? Not sure if it was on purpose... but it was so cute!