A busy fun weekend

We made it to the game! Nathan and had a blast. He sat on my lap for all of the first half and was screaming and cheering on his team - "GO BULLDOGS! GET THE BALL BULLDOGS!" The first question Nathan asked me when we got there was "Where is the yellow line?". It was so cute. I told him that the yellow line was only on TV and on dad's game. I showed him the markers and told him where to watch for the first down. I'm pretty sure the child knows more about football than I do. Anyway, we had a good time, but the game got 'lightninged out'. They called a lightning delay which by the rules meant that they had to delay the game for 30 minutes. I was ready to go after half time, so I was thankful for the lightning. Right after half time I took the boys to the bathroom. You could see the lightning in the west which TOTALLY freaked them out. When we finally got back to Tracy and Ferber they were making their way off the bleachers (not the place you want to be with lightning around obviously). We made it to the van before the rain came. Natey was a bit upset that we had to go, but he was tired (not that he'd admit it). We went and got Peach at Grandma Sandy's. Apparently she's not a huge fan of Grandma Sandy, but her new best friend IS Papa Ken. I think that probably made it easier on Sandy anyway. That way she could spend time with Caymen while Claire and Ken bonded.

When we were leaving their house it was raining hard outside. Nathan really wanted to get wet by the rain, but his mean mother wouldn't let him. Oh - when we got in the van to get Peach, I asked Natey if he had a good time. He said "I know football. I play it and I know it." Um, you sure do. It struck me as funny though. A simple yes would have worked too.

Yesterday was the Fall Festival for St. Thomas. It had to be inside due to the rain, but Natey had a great time nonetheless. It was about 150 degrees in the auditorium and thankfully I chose a sweater to wear. (Yeah - that was sarcasm.) The kids were soaked in sweat. I tried to con him into doing the cake walk, but he wanted nothing to do with it. The high school girl that watches the kids from time to time was at the ring toss, so he wanted to do that a lot. He won two bottles of pop. He was VERY happy about that. He also enjoyed the football toss (shock I know). He did very well. The prize was candy which he repeatedly turned down. (Maybe he's really not my child!)

It wasn't long before he found his friend Kylie. She goes to his daycare and now is in his class as school. Their teacher calls her Smiley Kylie which fits her to a T. She couldn't have been happier to see Nathan. There were these huge blow up things to play on and she and Nathan rode the slide a gazillion times. They had a great time! We were there for 3 hours. Finally I told him we had to go before I melted. He wasn't a fan of that - at - all. He started to throw a fit until I pointed out that people were looking at him. That's kinda his deal. He'll be naughty at home, but he doesn't want people (other than family) to see him act like that. He straightened up until we got in the van - when he announced that he didn't like me. That obviously didn't fly well since I'd just sat in a sauna for 3 hours with him.

Anyway, fit and all it was a fun time. Justin stayed home with Claire so that Natey could just enjoy himself. I think it's important to let him do his own things from time to time. However, he's so 4 years old some times that I think I might harm him. That too shall pass......right?

No photos.....PLEASE!

Here are a couple of pictures of Nathan in his Halloween costume. He HAD to try it out with his race car. He LOVES this outfit. I was afraid he was going to ask if he could wear it to school, but luckily he hasn't. If anyone had any question on who this child's father is, by these photos all questions should be answered. Sharelle must have a gazillion pictures of Justin like this too (hand up with a frown on).

Here is a picture of Claire. It was taken a few weeks ago, but this face that she makes cracks me up. This is what she does after she takes a bite that she's quite proud of. She's such a happy little girl. On Wednesday Justin had been home for supper when it was time for him to go back to work. Claire puckered up to give him a kiss. It was SO cute! I'll try to take a picture of it, but that might take a while to capture.

Tonight I'm taking Nathan to the high school football game. It's homecoming. He's SUPER jacked! We'll be meeting Mark, Tracy and Dawson there. Caymen and Claire have a date with Grandma Sandy (Ferber's mom). It rained for a little bit but has stopped now. Lets hope that it doesn't start again. Natey has been looking forward to going to a 'real' football game. I'd hate to not be able to take him due to rain.

**I think when I post this it's going to say the 14th, but it's actually Friday today. I uploaded the pictures on here yesterday so it saves it to that date.**

It was......an error in judgment

It's beautiful out today. I'm glad I didn't miss it - sorta. I got home about 8:20 or so and Nathan met me at the door. He wanted me to watch cartoons with him before I went to bed. I told him I could for a little bit, but not long. He had school pictures today and I was taking Claire to get hers done as well, so I had to be up by 11:30 for sure. I made it to 8:30 and hit the wall. I apologized to Nathan and told him that I had to go to bed for a bit, but that I'd be up really soon.

As you could probably guess, my bladder woke me up at about 10:45. I decided to just stay up and get the kids fed before we had to be at the school. After eating, I got the kids ready and we were off.

I think the pictures are going to turn out well. Nathan had a good time having his picture taken. Claire went last and she had a good time too. I'd made arrangements with Pam to take Claire to her house so that I could come home and sleep. After doing so I regretted it, but Claire was tired and this way I wouldn't have to wake her from her nap to pick up Nathan. So I took Claire over at 1 and came home and relaxed.

At 3 I grabbed my keys and started out the door to pick up Nathan. It was such a nice day I thought I'd walk the block and a half to pick him up. He was excited to see me which always makes me smile. He was even more excited that we were walking. On the way home he asked me where Claire was. I told him and he wanted to know if we could walk to Pam's to pick her up.

Against my better judgment I said yes. Pam lives 6 blocks away. I thought that since I wasn't having contractions when I got home from St. Thomas that I would be able to make the trek to Pam's house. (Sound loud buzzer here.)

Natey and I took off to pick up Claire. He rode Lightning and I pushed Claire's stroller. It took me 25 minutes to go the 6 blocks. I started to wonder how much a taxi would be to get home. ;) We stayed and chatted with Pam for about 5 or 10 minutes before we started our way back home. WHAT IN THE HECK WAS I THINKING?????? It took us a good 30 minutes to get home. When we got here I remembered that we were out of milk and that I needed to go to the store. Are you kidding me? UGH! So I told Natey that we had to go to the store and that I needed him to stay in the van with Peach. Thankfully he didn't fuss at that. I got to the store and, of coarse, the milk is at the very back of the store. As I walked back to get the milk, I decided that we'd be having frozen pizza for supper as well.

So, here I sit waiting for the pizza to get done. I've had not quite 2 hours of sleep for the day and Justin doesn't get home until 8pm. I'll do better next time. It's not as if I could have done much worse.

I love kids

I've always loved kids. The funny thing about that statement is that I never really wanted my own until I met Justin. I thought I'd probably have kids because that's what people do, but it wasn't part of that 'normal' childhood fantasy that some girls have.

I always liked babysitting growing up. It was a good way to make some money, but I also liked to play with the kids that I watched. I started babysitting when I was very young. I wouldn't let someone as young as I was watch my kids today. I don't remember how young I was when I started babysitting, but I know that I was in the 7th grade and younger when I watched other peoples kids. If someone is going to watch our kids, I want them to at least be a Freshman in high school.

When I went to beauty school, people with children started requesting me. That continued on through my hair career (at least the one in the salon). A lady here in town would always bring her kids to me. She asked me how many kids I had and she was shocked when I said none. She thought for sure I had children at home. I got that a lot.

Now that I have children of my own, I can't imagine a life without them. Some days they are a handful, but as soon as that passes I realize how lucky I am to have them.

When growing up in Texas, Shannon and I LOVED when it was time for us to play with our cousins. My dad's sister had kids our age that we couldn't get enough of. When we got older we'd spend our spring breaks at our Grandmothers house who lived in the same town as those cousins. We loved to play with them and for the most part we all got along well together.

When we moved to South Dakota that was something that I missed. However, my mom's sister had 3 daughters who I adored. I used to babysit them each Friday night. We had a great time making up dances and cheers and such. They made the move better for me. I'm not going to say easier, because there wasn't much that was easy for me about that move, but at least I had friends in these kids if no one else.

Now that we've all grown up, we've all started having kids. Here is a picture of Emma. She's the daughter of my cousin Nicole. She's part of the cousin crew that I spoke of from Texas. From what I can remember of pictures of Nicole as a baby, Emma is a spitting image. She's adorable!
Emma just had her first birthday. It's hard to believe that Nicole and I are old enough to have children, much less me soon having my 3rd. Look at this adorable picture of Emma. This one is my favorite. It always cracks me up when babies find the holes in their head.
My cousin Holly, who is a part of the South Dakota cousin crew, just had her first baby in May. He had a rough go of it his first few weeks of life, but thank God he's doing better now. It's so much easier said than done, but we should never take life for granted.

Anyway, I hate that we all live so far apart from each other, but at least we have the memories of each other. Thankfully memories last a life time.

September 11th - We Remember

Five years ago, the lives we knew at that time changed. I remember the day well as I'm sure the rest of you do. If you're reading this then I'm sure you know what you did that day and remember where you were when you got the news that our country was under attack. Here is my memory of that day.

I was about a month pregnant with Nathan. We hadn't told many people because of the fear you have with your first pregnancy. You know the one. You're afraid if you tell too many people and then something goes wrong with the pregnancy then you'll have to go down that road. I've since changed my mind, but that has nothing to do with the day at hand.

I was working here in Madison at the time and we had a pretty crazy schedule. We were doing some 12 hour shifts which are hard on the normal person, but add a pregnancy to the mix and it really takes a toll. The only people at work that knew I was pregnant were my boss and a part time worker named Dick. Dick at that time was 68 years old. He's a retired air traffic control officer. He still works with us and is as great today at 73 as he was at 68.

I needed to tell a part timer that I was pregnant so that I could make arrangements to call them in a moments notice to come work for me if I was either too sick or too tired. Dick was my go to guy. Before I got pregnant I'd take a Tylenol PM before I went to bed in the evening to ensure that I'd get some sleep. Now, obviously, I wasn't doing that. I'd called him the night before because I wasn't able to sleep much and I knew I couldn't make it from midnight to noon. Our arrangement would be that I would work from midnight to 8 then he'd finish my shift from 8am until noon.

He came in for me at 8 and I was beyond tired. I remember that ALL I could think of was getting in bed and going to sleep. Justin has a class in Brookings that day, so I was looking forward to just going to bed and getting some rest.

I went to punch out at the time clock and when I came back towards where Dick was he yelled out that a plane had hit a building in NY. He probably identified it as one of the world trade centers, but that would have meant nothing to me at the time. First of all, in my head I was thinking a puddle jumper of a plane, not a commercial air line. Second of all I was just too dang tired to even care. I yelled back "OK" and I was out the door.

I came home and didn't even turn on the TV. I slept like a baby. When I woke up I came to the computer. My homepage is set to KELO news. I opened the Internet Explorer window and that's when I found out what had been going on while I slept. I read what there was to read and immediately went and turned on the TV. I couldn't believe what my eyes were seeing. I tried to call Justin, but he was still in class. I couldn't believe how much the world changed while I slept.

After reading KELO I started thinking of my cousin Holly. Her now husband, fiance at the time (I think), is from New York and it seemed to me that they had either just been there or were planning a trip there. I was scared to death that something had happened to them. I called Mom and she said that they were at home, safe, in Florida. Thank GOD!

I, like many of you, watched the coverage non stop. I couldn't make myself quit. I had this very thankful guilty feeling. I was so thankful that the chances of me knowing some that died that day were slim to none. I was right - I knew no one. I was thankful that my cousin Holly was home safe and sound. I was thankful that I had no reason to be in New York.

I think some of us do in our own way forget about September 11, 2001. I think that New Yorkers were effected much deeper than say, me. I watched it. I was scared by it. However, I didn't live it the same way they did and their feelings about it probably trump mine by far.

Today we're flying our flag proud in front of our house. If we were able to have it at half staff then we'd do so, but we wanted it out there to show that we have NOT forgotten. We just won't!

The weekend in review

It's officially Monday morning by 34 minutes. I worked until midnight and was beyond glad to be done with work for the week. The past two weeks I've worked 4-midnight because I'm training someone again. Usually I do a weekend here and there during training and that's it. In my 9 year career of dispatching, I've never done 4 days in a row on the 4-midnight shift. I always thought I'd love that shift, and I probably would had I not spent it training someone. Friday night was busy while Saturday and Sunday were a total snooze fest. Thank goodness it's over!

Saturday was a fun day. Tracy and I took our kids to Sioux Falls to Chuck E. Cheese. For those of you who don't know, Tracy has a son, Dawson, who's 3 months older than Nathan. She also has a baby girl, Caymen, who's 5 months old. Nathan and Dawson are self proclaimed best friends. The boys are a handful when they are together. They feed off of each other. If Nathan would do something wrong either Tracy or I would tell him to stop and Dawson would take over what Nathan was doing and vise versa. They are very much 4 year old boys.

They both had a good time at Chuck E. Cheese. Here is a picture of them playing air hokey together.
Last time we went they didn't show much interest in this game. However, this time it was GAME ON! Our pizza came and I went to get the boys so that they could come eat. Dawson believed he'd just take his paddle with him. It was very funny to me. I told him that he needed to finish up the game and that they could play it later. They came over and ate pretty well, Dawson more than Nathan. Then they were off to play some more. It wasn't long before I saw Nathan carrying around the air hokey paddles. They obviously didn't want anyone other than themselves to play the game.

Finally we moved to the 'big games'. Claire thought this would be the best time to run - and run.....AND RUN. I couldn't put her down due to the fact that she'd take off. It was a fun game for her. Nathan and Dawson were playing ski ball. You know what that is, right? You get 8 or 9 balls that you roll up an aisle trying to get the ball in bucket type things? Well, they don't make you wear helmets, but they should! Between Dawson and Nathan I'm not sure who was more of a danger. It was FUNNY! There were balls going everywhere. Dawson got his fill and moved on to other things. Not Nathan - he was a ski ball maniac.

One time Tracy came and stood behind him and he goes "Excuse me Trac." He needed her to move because he had to get a run at the aisle. HA!

Speaking of 'Trac', the boys crack us up with Nathan calling her Trac and Dawson calling me Ker. I mean, why not - that is what Tracy and I call each other. The best part is when Nathan shortens Dawson to Das. It sounds so retarded but I think it makes him feel very grown up.

Anyway, we had a good time. We ran to Target and Walmart on a quest for Halloween costumes, but we came up short for the boys. They both want to be race car drivers and neither store came through. I ordered Natey a Jeff Gordon fire suit and he'll be that for Halloween. I think Dawson is going to be Dale Earnhart Jr.. Claire is going to be a ladybug and we don't know what Caymen is going to be yet.

We had to rush home (and I DO mean rush) so that I could work at 4. I was pretty shot today due to all the excitement. I didn't get up until 10 I think it was. I hope for more of the same for tomorrow.

Well, that wraps up that. I'll leave you with a picture of Claire. I'm sure you all can use a good laugh on a Monday.

Simply Amazing - baby update

Yesterday I had another doctors appointment. Justin and I decided that he'd just stay home because I'd be having my glucose test and there's nothing exciting about that.

When the nurse called me back, she told me that she pulled my chart today and couldn't believe that I was 29 1/2 weeks already. I had no idea. I haven't been keeping track this time I guess. It's funny how you just go with the flow when you have a 4 year old and an 16 month old to keep you busy.

I've gained 12 pounds so far which is good I guess. I'm eating a lot of sweets so that's bound to catch up with me sooner or later, but as of now it's 12. I've always been a sweets person, but this is nuts. I want it all the time. It's my crack! :)

Dr. Hassebroek came in and told me that they needed me to do another urine sample at the lab because I had quite a bit of protein in my urine. She said she didn't think it was probably that accurate because my blood pressure was fine, but she wanted to make sure. This happened when I was pregnant with Claire too. She also told me that she couldn't believe it when the nurse told her that I was 29 1/2 weeks pregnant. We talked about how Claire turned out at Mayo and the fact that I have a hard time breathing and such. I told her that I've had much stronger contraction type problems with this baby than I did with Claire. She said she was going to check my cervix today anyway. She asked how the baby was moving and I told her that he didn't move much. She got this concerned look on her face and I immediately thought 'Great - here we go!'. She said that if I haven't felt him in a while then I need to rest and do kick counts. **For those of you who aren't familiar with this, you drink some ice cold water and lay on your side and wait for 4 kicks in an hour.** I told her that he doesn't move 4 times in an hour. She said "Ok, if you think about it and you take the kids and work away and concentrate - would you get 4 kicks in an hour?" My answer was still no. She said she wanted me to have a non-stress test before I left to make sure everything was ok. Wonderful (sigh)! So she checked me and everything was good. The contractions aren't doing anything to my cervix which we both figured would be the case. My belly measured 31 cm which, again, is normal for me. The babies heartbeat was 130 bpm. She asked if I wanted to set up my appointments for the rest of my pregnancy and I said sure. I asked if it would still be ok for the baby to be born 10 days early and she said yes. I asked if I could schedule that as well and she agreed.

I got dressed and it was time for my blood draw. I handed my request for scheduling to the receptionist and told her I would be back after my blood draw. I went and had that done quick and I was back to schedule my appointments. We got that done and I had to talk to Dr. Hassebroek's head nurse to schedule the c-section.

While I was pregnant with Claire I got very acquainted with Dr. Hassebroek's head nurse, Rhonda. She's a very nice woman. She and I were very glad to see each other. She asked how the kids were doing and said that this pregnancy must be going well because we haven't had the chance to talk lately. Anyway, we went in her office to schedule the section and I told her that I thought I was supposed to be doing something before I left for the day. She called back to the other nurse and the other nurse said she thought maybe an ultrasound. I said "Oh - that too. I'm supposed to be having the same series of ultrasounds this time that I had with Nathan and Claire." However, that wasn't what I was missing. I told Rhonda that it had something to do with the baby not moving much and she knew immediately that it was the non-stress test. We also talked about the c-section and I asked about the 10th of November. I told her that the weekend works better for us because then Justin's mom is able to help out for a few days during the week. She looked and said that she'd have to ok it with Dr. Hassebroek before she put me in. She decided that she'd just go talk to her quick to get the skinny on the stress tests and now what to do about the ultrasounds.

She came back after speaking to the doctor and she had it all figured out. I would do an ultrasound before I left and they would measure fluid and watch the baby move instead of doing the non-stress test. That was fine with me. Dr. Hassebroek also okayed surgery for November 10th at 2pm. YEA!!!

Off I went to ultrasound. They got me in pretty quickly which I was thankful for. The girl that did the scan was very nice. She started doing a normal 2D when she realized that she could get some great 3D pictures. I was so excited - but also sad that Justin was going to miss this. So here is what I've always had in the past. Here is a picture of the baby with the 'normal' 2D scan.

Here is the 3D scan!

Isn't it amazing? In case you can't tell, the baby has his hand in his mouth. You can see the right side of his face. The left is turned away from the picture. Here's another:

Amazing - right? I can't believe you can actually tell what he looks like. It looks like he's got my nose too! The girls at work thought he looked like Nathan, but with that nose I see more Claire in him. His little mouth is even open. LOVE IT! Want another? OK!

Look at that perfect little hand! His other arm is crossed on top of it while his hands rest on his crossed legs. He's just in there chillin'. :) I just couldn't believe these images and couldn't wait to share them with all of you. I think they are just amazing.

Anyway, everything looked good with him. Of coarse he moved during the whole ultrasound, so that was nice. I also got a call from Rhonda last night saying that my second urine test was fine. So, as of now we'll have our baby November 10th. We're pretty excited to have a date to go on.

Lions and Tigers and DENTISTS - Oh My!

First of all, Nathan was for sale yesterday. This has happened more and more since his 4th birthday. Whoever said children have the terrible twos is crazy - at least with this child. I'd gladly go back to 2 if it meant he would stop acting the way he has been.

He took every single toy out of his toy box knowing that he'd have to put them back in. He HATES that part. After telling him a gazillion times to pick it up, I turned off the TV (a trick my mom used to pull - which I hated!) and watched the fireworks begin. He was so angry. I put the rest of the toys away and told him he didn't get to watch TV or play with any of his toys for the rest of the night. I'm sure he would have sold me had he known he could.

Spring forward to Tuesday morning....
His appointment was at 9 in Sioux Falls. I got up at about 6:40 and started getting ready. I went to get him out of bed at about 7:20. He decided he wasn't going to the dentist. He started to fuss and so I told him that he should watch cartoons while I finished getting ready. "Cartoons? Can I watch cartoons today?" he said. Yep folks, it was that easy to spring him from his bed.

We got done getting ready and we were off for Sioux Falls. Justin and Peach were still sleeping and Justin and I decided that I'd take the Explorer. Nathan wasn't sure if this was a good idea. "Did you ask Dad if this is ok?" he said over and over. He's very funny about this. If I have an article of Justin's clothes on then he wants to know if I got permission to wear such item of clothing.

Nathan told me more than once that he was nervous about seeing the dentist. I told him that it was fine and also normal to be nervous.

I tried to tell Nathan some of the things they'd do. "They'll put you in this really cool chair and lay you back so they can look in your mouth. They'll use this fancy tooth brush to make your teeth shine." That second one might have been a mistake. He thought his teeth were going to turn gold.

Ok, so we got there and were called back. He got to sit in the big fancy chair and 'take a ride'. I sat in a chair next to him. The hygienist wanted to look in his mouth, but he wouldn't open very wide. We found out MANY times that he has a very sensitive gag reflex. Many times he decided he was done and didn't want to open any more. The good news is that he did pretty well. The bad news is that he needs 4 fillings. It pains me to spend money on teeth that are going to fall out, but that's what we'll do I guess. They will use a laser on him so they don't have to numb him which is great. They want me to give him some valium which I'm a bit nervous about, but we'll do it. After we left and were on our way home, I asked him if the dentist was ok. He said "It was ok, but did you see that girl try to make me throw up?" HA!!!!!

After we took a nap, he wanted a bite of Peach's yogurt. I told him to open wide and you should have seen how wide he opened up. I said "HEY! Dr. Poole wanted you to open up today but you wouldn't. Look at how wide you can open up now!" He was so excited. He can't wait to show Dr. Poole how wide he can open now. I hope he remembers that excitement on the 18th when I take him to get those teeth filled.

He seems excited to go back so hopefully he'll do ok. What do I know though? I thought liked the clap-in!

Normalcy - right where I belong

Justin and the kids got home about 6ish last night. They came to see me at work which really made my night. I wasn't feeling the best and I perked right up when I saw them. It was a great feeling just knowing they were home.

When I got home last night Justin was on the computer. He was learning that the Crocodile Hunger, Steve Irwin, was killed. It really made me sad. That guy had such charisma! Why do people with such a zest for life die and we get to keep the skum of America going? I'll never understand this I guess.

I really wished that I didn't have to do another full week of 4-midnights. My body isn't used to that shift. It's a fun shift to work, busy, but I'm so tried as a result of it. Maybe it will be different now that my family is home and I don't have to mope around the house. I guess we'll find out later this week.

Tomorrow Natey has to make his first visit to the dentist. He's scared to death. He told me a couple of weeks ago that the dentist better not use that hook on him. I feel the same way, but obviously didn't tell him that. I hope it goes well. I'll give you all a full report tomorrow.

I guess I better go. I think Claire is trying to get up on the couch but I'm not sure. I do know for sure that she's trying to use Nathan's head as a step stool. TTFN!

Houston, we have a problem!

While Justin is gone, I'm left to care for our dog Drake. I don't spend much time with Drake when Justin is around, so when it's my turn to take care of him he goes puppy crazy. Friday night I went out to feed him when I got home from work at midnight. It was raining and I was afraid that Drake would jump on me and get me all muddy. He didn't though. He was much more worried about eating.

I decided yesterday that I'd go feed him before I went to work so I could at least see what was going on. I went to the back yard and found this. Remeber the call from Noah I didn't want to miss? Well........

I just about had a heart attack. I took this picture and called Justin so he could see the damage. Drake was locked in and I couldn't get him out. I kinda dumped his food in his kennel so that he'd at least have food. Well, Justin wanted me to get the tarp (and rain) off the kennel so it didn't collapse while I was at work. Keep in mind it's 3pm and I work at 4. :)

I cut what was holding the tarp to the kennel thinking that a gully washer was sure to follow - but no. That wire stuff is on the top of the kennel too and after I cut the tarp free it just sat there. Dang it! SO I took my scissors and cut the crap out of the tarp. THEN came the gully washer. I was a MESS! Thank goodness I decided to do this before I took a shower because I was in HUGE need of one when I got done.

I finally got Drake out of his kennel. He didn't jump on me, but he thought this would be a GREAT time to play fetch. Finally I got all the water off the tarp and put Drake in the basement so that he would be safe. It was 3:30 by then. I took a shower and in the shower started having contractions. HOLY CATS! I about croaked! I wore a sweat suit to work because I knew I wouldn't make it long with something hugging my waist.

It was all quite an experience!

It turns out that the Meyer's were able to get the camper to the campsite yesterday. I thought it would be too muddy, but Justin said it wasn't. I'm glad they were able to camp at least one night. I'm just looking forward to them getting home! When I talked to Justin last night he said they would come down (to work) to see me when they got home. I'm so excited!

Anywho, that's about it for today. I'm going to make some lasagna and clean up the kitchen before I have to get ready for work. Have a great holiday tomorrow!

A house is just a house

I've never had a problem understand this common phrase. However, I feel it much more this weekend than normal. My house is just a house this weekend. My family is in Pierre and I miss them something terrible. I worked last night until midnight and stayed up until 2am in hopes that I'd sleep most of the day away before I had to go to work today. I made it until 10:30, which I thought was pretty good actually.

I'm tired today and I'm not sure if it's because I'm really tired or if it's the weather. I checked the answering machine and caller ID yesterday to make sure that Noah didn't call to tell me to get on the Arc. I'm not sure how much rain we got here, but it had to be a good amount.

The campers got rained out in Pierre. They're hanging out at the Meyer house. Good thing they didn't plan the camp out elsewhere. I got an e-mail from my mother-in-law wondering how they were going to get smores. I know it has to be a huge shock that I'm usually the smores maker. Me bringing sweets? Never! ;)

Justin and the kids will return tomorrow, but I'll more than likely be at work. That means I won't see the kids until Monday. OY! That seems like so far off to me. I've already put in my request with Justin to let me sleep in on Monday. I'm sure I'll be half dead by then.

I greatly look forward to my house going back to its home status.

Work - work - work

This weekend I'll be working while Justin and the kids are in Pierre camping. It's the annual Meyer camp out. This is the first time I've completely missed it. The first year Justin and I were together (I think) he and I visited there, but if I remember right we both had to work so we didn't get to actually camp.

Starting today I'll be working 4-midnight while I finish training our newest hire. I'll do that all weekend and then again next week. I like the work on the 4-midnight shift, but I don't feel like I get anything else accomplished when I work that shift.

In October I'll be working a bit of a different schedule. I need to continue to work 5 days a week so I came up with this plan. Thankfully my boss okayed it. I was a little leary that she might not, but she did. I'll work Thursday through Sunday from 8am to 4pm. Then on Sunday I'll come back and work midnight to 8. I know that sounds kinda hard, but this way if I want to go to bed at 6pm then I can. This past week was a perfect example of why working Sunday night will be better than Tuesday night. Justin didn't get home until 10pm and I got 45 minutes of sleep. Justin is off on Sundays which will allow me to come home, get supper done, and go to bed. I'll get more sleep than I ever would working any other day. I'll get off work Monday morning at 8am and not go back until Thursday at 8am. It's perfect! I only wish I could start sooner.

I better go get the dishes done before I go to work. Boo-hiss!

Happy Birthday Shannon!

Today is my sisters birthday. I thought I'd post my favorite picture of us. I'm wondering who cut my sisters bangs. Mother - was that you?

I called Shannon to wish her a happy birthday. I asked if she felt old and she said no. My response was "Well you look old." :) That's what sisters do. HA!!!!

I'm tired today. Last night Justin had to work late and I got about 45 minutes of sleep if that. I got about 6 hours of sleep today, 3 this morning then 3 this afternoon. I'm ready for bed and it's twenty to nine.

Speaking of time, I've noticed that the times aren't correct when I post. I know it doesn't make any difference, but I'm not sure why that happens. This isn't the best website in the world - that's for sure.

Well, that's about all I have for today. I hope you had a great birthday Shan! Love you!

A GREAT DAY!!!!

Here are our visitors. From left to right we have my grandfather (Papa), Nathan, my mom (Grandma Suze), Claire, my grandmother (BJ), and me. (My step dad was there too. He's in another picture.) My grandparents are from New Mexico so seeing them was a HUGE treat for us. The last time we saw them was two years ago, obviously, before Claire was born. In fact, we found out not too long after seeing them that I was pregnant with Claire.

Nathan was SO excited about seeing everyone today. He woke up and wanted to know if Grandma Suze was driving to see him yet. That was at 8:30 and they weren't coming until noon. That's a LONG time to a 4 year old. Papa and BJ got to the house earlier than I thought they were going to. I was actually in the shower when they arrived. Justin said "Your grandparents are here!" I told him I'd be out soon. It wasn't long before Natey (who could obviously hardly contain himself) came screeching into the bathroom and said "Your PARENTS are here!!!! Wait! I mean your GRANDparents are here." We were all pretty excited about their visit.

Claire and BJ hit it off right away. I was a bit surprised because Claire is very leary of strangers. She had no problem with BJ and Papa. She played and played with BJ. BJ teaches the kids very fun games. Today's top game was take the empty Kleenex holder out of BJ's purse and then put it back in. That was WAY fun for Claire. BJ also played games with Claire's feet which she wasn't sure if she liked at first. As you can imagine, it turned out to be a hit.

Nathan kept himself busy by throwing the football at Papa - and I do mean AT. Thankfully it was a soft squishy one because if it weren't he would have run Papa's bell. Justin had to work at noon so he missed most of the visiting. :(

None of us had eaten lunch so we went across the street for a quick burger. After that, Nathan showed our guests his Lightning McQueen. After he drove it around a bit being the center of attention, I asked him to give Peach a ride. Well he did and it was HER turn to be the center of attention. I thought we were all going to collapse laughing so hard. When she rides with him, she has one arm around him and the other hanging on to the door for dear life. Well, as they went down the sidewalk, she turned around and would wave like she might never see us again. We all CRACKED UP! Of coarse due to the reaction she kept on doing it. It was so freaking funny!

Anyway, the long story short is that we had a great visit.

I also wanted to let you all know about Natey's first day of school. Last year I believe he was 1 of 8 children. This year there are 16 in his class. That was a HUGE deal to him. He kept saying over and over how there were A LOT of kids in his class. Just so you know, I was wrong about the clap-in. I thought he liked it but it actually scared him. In hindsight I can understand why. However, thankfully, he's excited to go again on Wednesday.

I'll leave you with a picture that I think is adorable. From left to right we have Nathan, Papa Roger, Grandma Suze, and Claire.

School is in session!

Nathan was ready for the first day of school. When he got up it was the first thing he said to Justin - "Today is school, Dad!" He was so cute! It was much easier for me than I thought it was going to be. It was raining so he thought he needed a jacket. He decided he didn't when he got into the van.

Here is getting ready to play. Some of you might remember me talking about McKenzie from last year. Nathan couldn't WAIT to see her this year. She's in his class again (thankfully). I'm not sure he'd be so willing to go if she weren't. She got there just before we did and wasn't very happy when her mom left. She cried which made Natey sad. He needed to come stand by me for a bit to make sure everything was going to be ok. One of his friends from daycare is there this year which I think made things easier. In this picture, Nathan is on his way to make sure that McKenzie is ok.

Nathan goes to a catholic preschool. We got a note saying that there would be a 'clap in'. I saw pictures of this on the school website last year, but had no idea what it was about nor why they did it. We pulled up to the school and there were all these kids lining up along the walk way. It wasn't long before they were clapping. This made Claire EXTREMELY happy. She was right along with them clapping. The kids would bend down and tell Nathan "Welcome to school!!!" and pat him on the back. It was actually pretty cool. Nathan really seemed to enjoy it.

I decided that since it was the first day of school, I should probably get ready (actually take a shower and do my hair) to take him. When I was done getting ready, Natey told me that I looked beautiful today. How incredibly sweet is that? I had Justin take a picture of me so those of you who live far away can see just what 11 pounds looks like. ;)

There I am! I'm 28 weeks pregnant. It's going very quick this time. I have my OB appointment next week, so you'll get that update soon.

For now I've got to go clean up the house. We're having company tomorrow which I can't wait for. I'll tell you about it in the next post along with a school update. Chow!

Nothing in particular

I'm listening to the new song out by Keith Urban. It makes me dance in my chair. I LOVE IT! His new CD comes out November 7th. I only have hopes that my favorite ex-DJ, turned office person, would be able to get me it sooner. (Wink-Wink) If you haven't heard it and want to listen to it, go to www.keithurban.net/main/index.htm and click on Listen to Once In A Lifetime.

I have so many things to talk about yet none of them tie in to each other. Let the ramblings begin.

I'm thankful to have a husband who loves his family so much. Today he took the kids to Prairie Village. It was all his idea to do so - which makes me very happy. He's taken Nathan to parades and such just because he knows that Natey would enjoy it. I love simple things like that.

I've been told MANY times that I'm a forward person. I don't know when or where this came from. I don't remember being like this in high school. Maybe I was and I thought it was just me being a bitch. I don't know. I don't like the title though. I don't really want to be so forward. I try not to be, but I know I am. Have I always been? Go ahead, comment. I'm asking.

Do you have TiVo or DVR at your house? I'm not sure how we went so long without it. If you've ever had it in your house, I'm not sure how you'd go back to not using it. When I'm at work, I find myself reaching for the pause on the remote - which isn't there. I'm MUCH more of a TV junkie because of it though. This way I catch everything I want to see AND the things I think I might want to see. It is odd that my kids will only know TV this way. I think of that type of thing all the time. They'll always have TV in the car (DVD player). I couldn't have imagined such things when I was a child.

I've only gained 11 pounds so far this pregnancy. I guess I'm right on track as to where I was when I was pregnant with Claire. I'd gained 13 pounds at this point with her. It's odd that 11 pounds looks like - THIS.

Nathan would like to know who the parents are of this baby that I'm carrying. I tried to explain to him that I was the mommy and Justin was the daddy. He wasn't buying it. I think the problem he has is that this baby is in my belly all by itself and we all know that babies can't be alone. He told me last week that he wasn't going to play with this baby. He just plans to play with Claire. He'll play with this baby 'later', but not right away. I told him it was fine because the baby wouldn't do much but eat, cry, and potty when he's born. He thought that was pretty funny for some reason.

THE KIDS START SCHOOL TOMORROW! For some reason it seems like a bigger deal to me this year and I don't know why. Maybe it's because I'm used to having Nathan all to myself this summer. I'll be fine, really I will. (Don't call me tomorrow around noon because I'll be bawling my head off.) I'll be fine, really I will. ;)

Hot Wings

Last night I did something I rarely do. I made breakfast for supper. I'm not much for breakfast at any time of the day, but I thought what the heck. Last week Justin took Nathan with him to coffee and they shared an order of french toast. Nathan couldn't stop talking about it so I thought I'd make it for him at home if he liked it so much. So I did. We had french toast, bacon and eggs. Everyone seemed to enjoy it.

While we were eating Natey was chattin it up as he usually does. I'm not sure how he got to this point, but he said something like this: "You know in cartoons when someone hits their head really hard and that stuff flies around the top of it (birds or stars)? Well, those are called hot wings." It was so funny. Justin had NO idea what he was talking about so I had to explain it to him, but then laughed when he realized what he was trying to say. Nathan said that Patrick on Spongebob always has hot wings flying by his head. Funny! He told me to let him know if I ever see hot wings flying around his head when he hits it really hard. Sure sweetie, you'll be the first to know.

Speaking of Spongebob, Claire tries to sing the Spongebob theme song. It's SO cute! She'll stop what she's doing when it comes on and try like heck to sing it. It's a catchy tune - you might just sing along too. :)

She's also been doing something that I've been meaning to report. It cracks me up! Every night when I'm in the kitchen cooking supper, she comes in and plays peek-a-boo with the baby in the stove. She stands there and giggles and then gets out of the reflection and quickly goes back and ......"DOOO!" She gets that baby every single time! HA!

Nobody puts Baby in the corner - except Baby :)

This is Claire's new favorite spot to be. I'm not sure why, but she likes to sit in this corner and play with toys. The other picture was taken of the kids on Monday. I should have put my camera on the action speed because keeping up with Peach is a chore. I would try to take the picture and she'd bend forward towards me and say "Doo!" That's what you say when you try to scare people. As you can tell, it was cracking Nathan up. He has a 'sucky' in his mouth. It's actually a chewy Gobstopper. I got some when we were in Aberdeen visiting my sister once and Nathan has loved them ever since. He'll ask me what they're called, I tell him, and he goes back to calling them sucky's.

I've been busy on my days off. I've been going through Natey's baby clothes to see what I can and can't use. WHERE on earth did he get all those clothes? MY GOODNESS! Nathan keeps insisting that I pick up my mess. I refuse until it's done. The bad thing is that most of these clothes are upstairs and I can't go up and down the stairs very easily. I hope to be done soon.

Yesterday I took the kids outside to play. Nathan was riding Lightning and Claire was walking up and down the sidewalk. Nathan went to the far north end of our block (in Lightning) and stopped. He yelled "I'm out of gas!" I yelled back, "Well get out and put some in." He looked back at me with distaste. He yelled "I'm not talking to you - I'm talking to my pit crew!" Oh, my bad! Usually I'm his pit crew. How could I ever had made this mistake? (Whatever) Then it wasn't long before he won another race. He was jumping up and down screaming and carrying on. Then he sat on the side of the car. He had his foot kind of propped up and was holding his knee while the other leg dangled. I thought 'please tell me he's not doing an interview' (at least in his mind). He wasn't. He was only talking the race over with his pit crew. (DEAR LORD!)

I took the kids to get Nathan registered for pre-school. I'd already done this and don't really understand why I needed to do it again - but alas. Nathan got to see some of his friends which he really seemed to enjoy. He starts on Monday. My niece, Evie, gets to start pre-school this year too (in Aberdeen). She'll go Tues.-Thurs. while Nathan goes Mon., Wed., and Fri.

Speaking of Evie, Shannon and I were on the phone the other day when Evie decided she'd had enough of her mother. She was going to run away and visit Santa. Shannon and I couldn't help but ag her on. I told Shannon to tell Evie to make sure and take her coat. Evie said she didn't need to because it wasn't snowing out. Then I told Shannon to ask Evie if she knew how to get to Santa's. She said she did. She was going to take her toys to show Santa, but then she decided she was only going to pack her purse. I was cracking up at all of this. It was even better when she declared that the reason she was doing it was because she was mad at Shannon. Yep - I thought that was funny. She lives with a drama queen - I live with a red neck who loves NASCAR. What a mix!

Must I dream?

Do you remember your dreams? I do. I dream all the time. I dream even more when I'm pregnant or on medication. Sometimes I don't feel rested because I've been busy dreaming all night. Last night was one of those nights. I had the most ridiculous dream. I only remember parts of it so I won't bore you with it, but my point is that I don't feel like I get a good nights rest when I dream so much.

Once I had a dream about Shania Twain and Christopher Reeves. I dreamed that I went with them to space. This happens to rank high on Justin's 'Most ridiculous Kerrie Dream' list. I remember this well because the colors in this dream were unreal. They were amazing! Going into space for me in this dream wasn't like astronauts do it. We were in more of a space ship type thing. Anyway, I was able to speak to Shania Twain and was surprised when she told me she was 60. HA! For some reason Justin thinks that in my dream he was hitting on her which really wasn't what happened. I was just shocked that she looked so great at 60.

I had a dream once after my grandmother died that I'll never forget as long as I live. I could even smell her. To set this up I have to say that I was very sad that I didn't get to tell her that I was pregnant with Nathan before she died. I knew I was pregnant when she died, but we weren't telling people just yet and she died rather quickly. In my dream Justin dropped me off at some college type setting and I got lost. I must have been lost for a while because everyone was really happy to see me when I found them. His family was there to greet me and so were mine. At the end of the line was my late grandmother. She hugged me as I stood there bawling. (I'm bawling now! I can't get over it and it was 4 years ago!) She hugged me and we spoke, but only with our minds. I said to her "I wish you could see my baby." She said back to me "Sugar, I do see your baby." Even now it chokes me up - goodness!

I don't understand dreams. I wish I did. This morning Justin was obviously dreaming when my alarm went off. I pushed snooze and he asked me to print it. :) - GIGGLE!!

Growing up

I was raised different than many people I know. I was primarily raised by my mother who has had MS all of my life. My mom NEVER gives herself enough credit for the lessons she instilled in Shannon and I. I didn't know it at the time, but she taught me to care for others and to try to be patient with them - among many other lessons.

Now that I'm a mother, I try to live my life in the here and now. I don't want to wake up one day with a disease and regret that i didn't play outside with my kids as much - or something of the sort. What I'm saying is that even if a I have a load of house work that needs to be done, I'll still choose playing outside with the kids over doing what probably needs to be done more. Get what I'm saying?

I've been trying to get Nathan to practice writing his name before he heads back to school. He's not interested in that in the least. I told him yesterday that if he practiced writing his name then I'd take him and Claire to the park. Funny how such a bribe would work. He had his name on his paper so fast it would have made your head spin.

We couldn't decide what park to go to, so we drove around looking at prospects. We stopped at a park that Nathan thought looked fun. We got out and played for a bit. Natey went down the slide a couple of times and took a spin on the mary-go-round. I told him that I was taking Peach over for a ride on the swing. Natey's never been a big swing guy, but he thought he'd join us. We got over there and it wasn't long before he noticed these odd bugs that were digging in the sand. I enjoyed watching them myself, but he was COMPLETELY freaked out. It wasn't long until it was time to move on to another park.

We drove around from park to park and nothing suited Natey's fancy. Then I thought maybe we'd go out to the State Park to see if the playground out there looked like fun. We got there and Peach was getting cranky so I knew it probably wasn't going to last long. We got out of the van and walked up to the park. I noticed a butterfly on the slide. I was very excited! I love butterflies and from what I knew, Natey did too. We see the white ones in our yard all the time and he loves to chase them! So I pointed out this butterfly and Nathan about freaked. He wanted me to make it move. I asked him what the deal was and he said he just didn't want it on the slide. So I motioned my hand near it and off it flew. Nathan was very leary to start playing on the equipment. He finally did but was quickly derailed by a cobweb. It wasn't much longer (seconds) before he screamed because he saw the butterfly again. I pointed to the tire swing and said "No Nathan. The butterfly is over there." He looked over at the swing and said "Well there are two because that one is up here." I didn't point out that there were actually 3 on the tire swing. I asked what the deal was with the butterflies and he said that he likes the small white ones but he does NOT like the big ones. We were at the State Park for less than 15 minutes - and that's counting how long it takes to drive through the thing. (sigh)

My point? I should have just stayed home and chose dishes or something! :)

WARNING!

I'm sure many of you have seen the e-mail that's been around about the stupid warnings they put on items. Well here is one that was on some PJ's that I got for Claire. I thought this was utterly retarded. First of all, I have no idea how many (or which for that matter) of the kids clothes are flame resistant. I don't go to Kohl's and look at the tag and only get the ones that are flame resistant. Was this tag a necessity? I'm just wondering.

I don't wear my clothes to tight because I don't want anyone to see my almost fat roll. I don't wear my jeans to tight for obvious reasons - spontaneous combustion due to my thighs. I just thought this was strange.

Wouldn't you want your clothes to be loose in case of a fire? If they are tight then I'm going to have a heck of a time getting them off their bodies. My kids have large heads - one of us would be burned to death with me just trying to REMOVE the garment.

Ok - I'm done. I thought it was retarded and wanted to share it with you. You're welcome!

So my checks have a picture of me and Keith Urban on them. I love them! They bring me great happiness. I was just at the store and the clerk told me that my husband looks a lot like Keith Urban. I told her that it WAS Keith Urban on the check and she was stumped. Seriously, stumped. She obviously had it in her mind that the man in that picture was my husband. I had to explain to her, twice, that it was indeed Keith Urban in the picture with me and not my husband. Then she decided that it wasn't me in the picture. Lordy!

Nathan has decided that he'll pretend that our house is a store and he'll ask me each time that he has to go to the bathroom if he can use it. "Excuse me ma'am, may I use your restroom?" This comes from us using the restroom at one of the beauty supply houses in Sioux Falls. He wanted to know why I called it a restroom. At least he's polite about it. :)

I worked the over night last night. I came home and watched some TV with Nathan before falling asleep on the couch. Finally around 9am I went to bed. I was up by 11:45am and haven't been back to sleep yet. My right eye feels as though it might fall out of my head due to being tired, but when I get in bed I can't breath and I can't sleep.

Yesterday Peach was cranky. I don't know what her deal was. Maybe she didn't have enough of a nap - I don't know. She seemed to be ok when she woke up, but the longer the day went the worse she got. I just hope she's not getting sick again. It's so hard to tell! She was still sleeping when I went to bed today, so hopefully she's back to her happy self today.

He's just so funny!

I've said it before and I'll say it many times over. Natey cracks me up! He says the funniest things. I'm sure all kids do this, but he's our child and he makes me laugh.

He helped me make brownies while Justin was taking his nap. After we got them in the oven I got supper ready. We were eating supper when the brownies got done. Nathan was SO excited. He ran to the front door and yelled "We're having brownies today. We're having brownies today." For those of you who don't know, we live right across the street from McDonald's, so it's not like there isn't anyone around to hear him.

We ate and then had brownies and all was great. I was getting up from the table and Nathan said he was going to say something outside. I couldn't understand him but I DID hear him say something about an emergency. I told him not to yell anything about an emergency outside. Of coarse he asked me why and I told him it was the rules (my standard answer).

He said he wouldn't but was still heading towards the door. I asked what he was doing. He went to the door, opened the screen, and yelled "RUN FOR YOUR LIFE! The rain is COMING!" I about died. Ok, so I laughed first, but what the heck? Where on earth did that come from? Run for your life? It wasn't raining, cloudy - yes, but it wasn't raining.

Then a little bit later Justin got up. The NFL channel was on the TV. Natey wouldn't let me change it because he wanted to watch the Cowboys. I'm not sure he watched a total of 5 minutes, but we HAD to have it on. Justin got up and Nathan asked him to take him to the NFL to play football. Justin told him his standard answer - maybe. I was checking my e-mail before I went to bed and Nathan came over and said, "Dad might take me to the NFL to play football. You could come watch me. (Short silence due to an obvious thought that was coming to him.) You could even put make-up on your belly if you want to."

I'm telling you people. He CRACKS me up!

Awake from 12:30am - 3:15am OY!!!!

First and foremost - I'm sick of contractions. I just want to make that clear. Yesterday I was fine when I came home from work. I played with the kids and Justin took a quick nap. Then I started to cut some fruit and get supper ready. By the time we (Justin and I) were done cooking I could hardly walk because of the contractions/tightness. I'm also having muscle spasms which I'm NOT a fan of either. Three more months to go - whew! Believe me, I know it could be worse, but sill - it's just not fun.

Justin got called into work last night just after midnight. Claire woke up at 12:30. I went upstairs and put her pacifier in her mouth. She was restless. By 1:15 I'd been up to give her her pacifier 3 times, but she wouldn't settle down. I went up and got her and brought her down stairs and gave her some Motrin and later some milk. She didn't have a fever, but I thought maybe it would help. After about 45 minutes she perked up and wanted to patty-cake non stop. At 2:30 I asked her if she was ready to go back to bed. She said "No" and shook her head. It cracked me up. Her usual answer to everything is "Yes" or "Yep". Since I had to work at 8am, she didn't have a choice. I finally got back to bed at 3 and last looked at the clock at 3:15. Justin still wasn't home yet. I could hear him talking on the scanner, but I wasn't paying attention to what was going on. My guess is that he got home between 4 and 4:30.

I haven't talked to him yet today so I'm not sure how Peach is doing.

Nathan woke up just before I came to work. I turned cartoons on for him and asked him to let Justin sleep a little. Spongebob was on until 9, so my guess is that Justin got to sleep at least that long.

I'm working from 8-4 today, have 8 hours off then come back at midnight tonight. Our daycare is closed on Thursday and Friday and we didn't have anyone to keep our kids. So I switched my schedule to this crazy one, but I'll have Thursday off to keep the kids. My friend Tracy has a blood treatment on Thursday so I'll keep her kids while she does that. In return, they'll go to her house on Friday. Aren't friends awesome? The answer is YES!

Separation anxiety - age 4

I'm not sure what's going on and I really thought this would end sooner than this, but Nathan has a very hard time seeing Justin and I leave him. We always thought we were very lucky because Nathan didn't have much separation anxiety when he was 'supposed to'. When all the books said watch out for it - we just kept watching because it never came.

Then came the night we had to go to Aberdeen for Justin's nose surgery and Nathan and Claire stayed home with Justin's mom, Sharelle. We told him how fun it was going to be and tried to prep him as well as we could for us leaving. Well, he bawled his head off. It took us forever to get out of the door. It wasn't much fun. It wasn't long and Sharelle called to let me know that Nathan was fine and back to his normal self. I knew he'd be fine, but it was really hard to leave him for the first time and for him to have such a hard time with it.

When we got home from Aberdeen, he wasn't exactly the most behaved child. I think it was his way of 'showing us'. In June we left the kids again with Justin's parents so that we could attend a friends wedding in Rapid City. He didn't cry like he did the time before, but he wanted us to leave on his terms, not ours. When we got home it was the same way it was when we left him the first time. We had to remind him a few times that he wasn't the boss and such.

Now he's having a hard time with us leaving for a few hours at a time. Just this past Tuesday when we took him to daycare, he cried and cried because he didn't want us to leave. He's done this to Justin in the past when he drops the kids off at daycare for work. It doesn't have a thing to do with daycare - he just doesn't want us to leave him. When I ask why he does it he said "Because I miss you so much". Yeah - deal with that one!

I was leaving to come to work on Thursday and he was bawling his head off again because I was leaving him. Justin said he woke up to Nathan crying on the couch because I'd left to come to work. WHAT ON EARTH IS GOING ON?

Last night he and I were sitting on the couch and I said "Why do you cry when I leave you?" He said "It's just because I miss you so much, mommy. I can't help it. I think I might cry tomorrow when you leave for work." I told him there was no need to because he gets to hang out with Justin all day and then I'd be home to hang out after that. He just gave me a look as to say that he wasn't sure he would be able not to cry. Thankfully he was still sleeping when I left today.

So you must be asking - is he just doing this to get a reaction? I really don't think he is. It's not that kind of a cry or emotion. It seems genuine, but who knows I guess? Anything's possible. Have any of you had this happen to children this age? Go a head and post your comments. I welcome anything.

Claire is doing so much better. The medication she was given cost $93.66 for 10 doses. Do the math people! That's just under $10 a dose. $10 A DOSE! As it should, the liquid gold seems to really be helping her. She's sleeping much better and is more herself - which is appreciated. On Wednesday when we put her to bed, she had a 103 underarm temperature which scared me to death. She woke up cool on Friday and hasn't had a fever since. Thank Goodness!!!

That's about all for today!

Update on Claire

Justin sent me a text message this morning shortly before 8 telling me that Claire had a fever. I called the doctor in Sioux Falls and they could see us at 9:15. I rushed home, picked up Claire, and she and I were off to Sioux Falls.

Poor little thing was just on fire. I didn't have time to take her temp., but by the time we saw the doctor her fever was gone. It turns out she has a double ear infection and some congestion in her chest that we need to watch. She was given a prescription which we started right away. Her fever hasn't been back, thank goodness, and she seems to be feeling better. She's still very tried. She took a 3 hour nap today, plus she slept all the way home from Sioux Falls this morning.

Hopefully she's on the mend now. When I got to the doctors office I figured that I over reacted and wished that I was in bed - not the doctors office. However, the doctor said "It's a very good thing you brought her in today. Her ears are pretty infected. I'm glad we saw her." It made me feel TONS better to hear her say that.

I didn't get to sleep until 12:30 and had to be up by 3:45 to go get the kids. I'm a little beat today. I'll be extra happy to see Justin walk in the door tonight. By then I'm sure I'll need a break - or 8+ hours of sleep. ;)

Baby update

We had a baby checkup yesterday. I had to see the nurse practitioner this time which I'm never fond of. I don't know why, but I'm just not a fan of hers. I told her that I was having a hard time breathing and let her know about the contraction things and, of coarse, there was nothing she could do. I already knew there was nothing she could do to help me.

Anyway, the babys heartbeat was about 146 beats per minute. He was kicking up a storm while she was trying to get the heartbeat. She would move and he'd kick. She measured my belly and I measured 26cm which is normal for me. Next time I have my glucose test.

We did some running around in Sioux Falls and were back in Madison by 4:15 to pick up the kids. I was wiped out. We were walking around Wal-Mart and I was having horrible tightness/contractions...whatever they are. Justin went into Pam's to get the kids and she said that she thought Peach had a fever. Pam gives the kids a cookie before they go home and you could hear Claire breathing while she was trying to eat the cookie because she was so stuffed up. Poor thing!

We got home and I took her temp. It was 102.6. I called Pam to try to figure out how long she thought she'd had the fever and to make sure that Claire ate ok for her - that kind of thing. She said that Claire hadn't been herself all day. She put her down for her nap and then woke her up so she could have a snack and be ready to come home. She said that she was fine when she laid her down but for sure had a fever when she woke up. She'd eaten fine and drank well, so that was good. I gave her some Motrin right away and it wasn't long before she started to sweat. Holy cats did she sweat! Her fever broke and we had supper. She was feeling better by then. You could tell she was tired though. We ate and it was time for me to go to bed so that I could get up and go to work. Justin gave her a bath and said that she was doing ok when she went to bed. Hopefully they had a quiet night. I'm still at work so I haven't heard.

Natey was sad that we had to leave him this morning. He was crying and crying. It's NEVER easy for me to leave him when he's crying. I knew he was just tired and would be fine in less than 5 minutes, but it about rips my heart out when he does that. He said he had a good time at Pam's and all was well when he found out that Justin and I got him some chewy Gobstoppers. He loves those things.

Anyway, I'll update everyone on Claire later this evening.

Life is a highway.....

Peach is going to ride it all night long! :)

Here are some pictures for you. Claire sat in Lightning today. I'm not sure who was happier about it - her or Nathan. This worked great because Claire thought she was doing something really fun and Nathan was happy because it allowed him and I to play baseball. It's great when we all win. :) Here is a picture of my birthday cake that Nathan and I picked out (to answer your question, Sharelle). We went out for supper and then Nathan and I went and got the cake. We got it in the house and before any of us knew it Nathan stuck his fingers in the frosting.
We had another long night with Claire. I went to bed at about 10ish and Justin stayed up a little later to finish watching a show. When he was ready to go to bed, Claire woke up. Nothing he did helped sooth her. He came to bed at about 12:15 and I was up with Claire at about 12:30. First I tried to rock her, but that didn't last long. Finally I thought maybe she'd feel better if I gave her some Ibuprofen. I was just about to give it to her when I realized that I better make sure Justin didn't give her some too. I was carrying Peach when I went into the bedroom. Justin was sleeping. I had a hard time waking him up. "Justin...Justin...JUStin....JUSTIN!" Finally Peach must have had enough to because I'd say Justin and then she'd repeat it. "Justin..justin..JUstin...justin...JUSTIN...justin". It was pretty funny. Finally I woke him up and asked if he'd given her any medicine. He said yes. I asked how much and he said half a bottle. "OF WHAT?" I said. "Of milk" he said. I said "That's NOT medication, Justin. Did you give her any MEDICATION???" He woke up enough to realize what I was saying and confirmed that he had not given her anything other than milk.

After 3 hours she was feeling better and went to sleep. Thankfully Justin got up with Nathan at 8 and I slept until 10. Peach woke up at 10:45. I think she finally got some good sleep.

Tonight I gave her cough medicine AND Ibuprofen, so hopefully she'll have a good nights sleep. We have to get up early to see the baby doctor tomorrow, so I'm headed to bed myself.

A natural phenomenon?

Ok, so I know this is going to sound crazy, but I'm going to say it anyway. I know I'm pregnant for many different reasons; I look pregnant, I have a hard time breathing, my feet are starting to swell, I'm tired. I know I'm pregnant! However, every single day - and I do mean every single day, I feel the baby move and it stops me in my tracks. For a least a couple of milliseconds I have NO idea what the feeling is. I'm serious! I'll stop and think "What on earth was that?" and then pick right up and go "Oh yeah, the baby". Why on earth is this happening? Is it because this baby wasn't planned? Planned or not I know I'm pregnant. It's the strangest thing. I've even talked about it with other people - told them this story - yet still each day I have no idea what's going on inside my body for some reason. It's very odd to me!

We still haven't picked out any names. We're at a total standstill. Nathan came very naturally to us. Claire was my favorite of girls names and it took some coaxing, but one day Justin decided he liked it too. But this baby is different. It's different all around. First he was down way low like Claire was (where I felt the movement), but yesterday and today he's been high like Nathan was. It's all very abnormal to me. After we found out that Claire would be a girl, I wanted to name her immediately. We know this is a boy....but we've got nothin'!

Speaking of Claire, she had a rough night last night. She and Nathan have both had a cough, but Claire was up coughing much of the night. I asked Justin to give her medicine at about 3ish (I think). He went and gave her some, but she would cough and cry and I don't think she ever went back to sleep. Justin went and got her up at 4:30ish. She would cry and cough and carry on. I wasn't able to sleep and I guess possibly did here and there, but not near as much as I wanted or needed. She didn't want to eat. She didn't want to play or at least not for long. Justin put her back in her crib and she coughed and coughed. Poor little thing!

Natey's had some sort of allergy thing going on as well. It's been going on for well over a month now. This past week as Claire got her cough, Nathan got one too. He doesn't seem to feel bad, he just coughs, sniffs, and sneezes all over the house. Sick kids make me sad. :(

Thanks to everyone that's called, e-mailed or text me today. You're all so nice!

My mom always said....

When I was growing up, mom always said she was tired of being tired. I never fully understood what she was saying until I became a mom myself. Now being pregnant with our 3rd child I understand it even more. I'm always tired. Most days I feel like I could sleep for a week. I really am tired of being tired! Do you suppose it will go away? I'm afraid the answer is no.

Last night we had a LOUD thunderstorm. There was a massive crack of thunder that woke me up. Justin was just getting ready to come to bed and said he thought that lightning hit the tree, but it didn't. Holy cats was it loud! I'm not sure how much rain we got, but it must have been quite a bit. There were still large puddles when I went to work at 8. It's a good thing - very welcomed. We need the rain. Justin said that he needed to mow when I get home from work tonight. He hasn't had to mow much all summer long due to the dry weather.

We had friends over last night for a while. About 25 minutes after they left, Nathan was very sad because he already missed his friends. He does this with one of his babysitters too. It makes me laugh. Our friends were at our house for about 3 hours so it's not like they were only there for 20 minutes before having to leave. He's the king of drama some days.

This morning when I was leaving he was worried that the baby was going to miss him while I was at work and probably cry. Before I could even explain to him that the baby couldn't cry yet he took matters into his own hands and gave the baby a hug. "That should take care of him", Nathan said. Whatever works I guess. ;)

Claire is walking up a storm. Justin and I can't believe how fast she's caught on to it. She's even scraped her knee already. She is VERY MUCH enjoying being able to chase after Nathan or to at least try. However, if he goes faster than she can she gets on her hands and knees and crawls after him. She's not dumb - it is faster. :)

The need to BREATHE

I had high hopes that I wouldn't have the breathing problems that I had when I was pregnant with Claire. Hopefully it won't last, but this morning I had a horrible time trying to breathe. It was no fun at all. Horrible actually. I would stand up to try to get more air and the contractions would start. It was a catch 22.

This went on until at least noon. I've battled it on and off all day, but it was much worse this morning. I'm just too short to carry children!

I go back to the doctor on the 8th so we'll see what she says. I have to see the Nurse Practitioner this time around. I don't like it when I have to see her. I'm sure she knows what she's doing, but she doesn't seem as confident as my regular doctor does and that makes me nervous.

Not much happened today so I guess that's all I have to report. I'm tired so I'm off to bed. Nite!

Wonderful slumber

Whoever says sleep is over rated OBVIOUSLY isn't tired enough!

Today I came home, ate a bagel, started watching 'My Little Pony' with Nathan and then went to bed. I was SHOT! I woke up at 1ish to go to the bathroom and then I was back to sleep until 3:30. That was awesome! I'm even tired now which is actually good news. Wednesday night I usually can't sleep very well because I've slept during the day, but I think sleep is going to be in my favor tonight.

It's SO nice out today. It's about 84 and feels great! After I got the kids from daycare, we came home and played outside. Nathan was riding Lightning and Claire was walking up and down the sidewalk. Nathan zoomed by us and got to the end of the sidewalk. He got out of his car and STOOD ON THE HOOD. I knew what he was up to and was trying not to laugh. I wanted him to get down, obviously, but I also wondered what he was going to say. He said "Nathan Meyer gets another NASCAR victory" and threw his arms up in the air. It cracked me up!

We have one of those collage picture frames that's hanging on the wall in the stairwell. There is a picture of me holding a broom at Tracy's wedding. Justin had put saw dust (or something) on the floor and got WAY too much so I was sweeping it off and someone took a picture. Nathan was looking at that picutre and asked me if I ride brooms. Nice! When I told him no he said that his dad says I do. That was quite a while ago when Justin said that. Nathan doesn't forget much - that's for sure.

I'll end this post with a link to Nathan riding Lightning McQueen. This isn't from today, but fun. I think this might be the one where Claire tells me what a cow says too.

Boy am I tired!

Holy cats - that's a total understatement! As I type this it's Gary Meyer's birthday. Happy Birthday Gary!

It's early Wednesday morning. I might do two entries today, but I also might not. This one will reflect more on yesterday than today.

I've been working the midnight to 8 shift on Tuesday nights, so I'm currently at work. As I said before, I'm beat. Yesterday our town took part in National Night Out (NNO). For those of you who don't know about NNO, it's a gathering to help people get to know their city police, fire and other such departments. Madison had their first NNO last year. It was very well received. There was face painting, music, demos from the drug dog and the fire department. They had this drum line come from Sioux Falls and Nathan LOVED it.

Last night was much of the same. They had it inside due to some much needed rain. I thought poor Claire was going to wilt. She's such a hot box! Anyway, we had a hotdogs, chips and pop that were provided to us by the city. Since it was a police thing, we knew quite a few people there. Nathan could not wait to see the drum line (Su Fu Du). There is also a DARE train that he got to ride on which he couldn't had been happier about.

Anyway, I told Nathan that he had to take a nap earlier in the day and of coarse that wasn't working out. I was tired so I told him that I'd lay down with him. We laid down and every few minutes he'd say, "Mom, is it time to get up yet?" Then 5-10 minutes later it was the same. I was SO tired and every single time he said it I was almost asleep. Well finally he fell asleep and, of coarse, I had to go to the bathroom. I didn't even get done before Nathan was scolding me for getting out of bed. He was also done sleeping now. He probably got all of 10 minutes. (sigh.....yawn)

So anyway, we went to NNO and had a good time, but I didn't get to bed until 9pm. However, I couldn't sleep. I laid in bed for an hour and then decided to get up. I knew it wasn't going to happen. THAT'S why I'm so tired. I'm looking forward to 8am.

Here is a link to Claire doing 'patty cake'. I have other videos that I'll get downloaded soon. Enjoy!