9 years ago today

Nine years ago today was the first date I went on with Justin. We'd worked together for 3 months at the Moody County Sheriff's Office. I was working part time at a small salon in Brookings. The girl I worked with was getting married and I needed a date for the dance. I asked Justin if he'd go with me. He did and here we are 9 years and 2 and 3/4 children later. Look how young we look! Holy cats!!!!

Today has been pretty uneventful. I worked last night from midnight to 8. I came home and hung out until 10. Natey had school and Claire went to Pam's for the afternoon. I got up at 2:50 to go pick up Nathan, run a few errands, and then to pick up Claire. Now I have to figure out what we'll have for supper. I don't have a clue today. No idea.

It apparently rained while I slept today. It's 20 degrees colder today than yesterday. The past two days have been beautiful, however, the Asian beetles have been caked to the house which FREAKS Natey out. He couldn't play outside because they were flying everywhere and he didn't want to be near them. He was fine with being cooped up in the house - as long as the bugs weren't near him. Then there are those little black bugs. I don't know what they are, but they bite. I didn't want the kids to get bit up by those little things anyway.

Fall is certainly all around us. The leaves are changing, and like I said, the temperature is changing as well. This weekend we're having visitors. Justin's parents are coming. Nathan is counting down the days. It's DSU's homecoming as well and he and I will be going to the parade on Saturday morning. He's excited for that. I hope it's not freezing. It's supposed to get up to 60 that day, but the low is 40. If there's no wind then we might just be ok. I guess we'll see.

She'll take after me!

Last night while I was on the computer, Claire took out this head set and wanted to wear it. I thought it was a clear sign that she wanted to be a 911 dispatcher when she grew up. Ok, so maybe not, but it's sure a cute picture. :o)

I noticed today that she's getting more teeth. She's getting one next to one of the front ones she already has and then another in the back. That's a bit of an odd spread isn't it? I mean, I know they can cut teeth whenever and whatever, but one in front and one in back just seems odd to me. Of coarse Natey is the only thing I have to compare her to and he had all of his teeth by the time he was 18 months. If Claire's going to do that then she better hurry up.

I gave Natey a hair cut on Sunday. How do you like it? Seriously, I'm not sure where this camera shy (loath) thing is coming from, but it better stop soon. It makes me crazy! He's fine with me taking pictures of him and other people, but him alone is a huge no-no. I don't remember what I threatened him with, but I did manage to get..........


this one. I must have told him that I was going to take Claire's picture or something. Who knows? I got the picture and that's what counts. ;)

Natey wanted his hair cut like Justin's and I didn't want it quite that short. Natey went first and had to go show Justin his new cut. He told Justin "Yours is going to look JUST like this!!" He wants to be just like Justin - which I think is cute.

Here is a video of Claire blowing a kiss. I thought it was cute.

One year ago today

It was a year ago today that I met my boyfriend Keith Urban. :) I've had an obsession ever since. I never really listened to his music much before I went with my sister to his concert. She got back stage passes which is where this picture is from. I don't think I'll ever get over how nice he was. He came in, sang a song, answered some questions, and then took the group pictures. He asked everyone their names and hugged them. There was a little girl in the group that he was SO sweet to. He made contact with everyone in the room. I can't wait for the release of his new CD. It comes out November 7th. Here are a few of my favorite pictures of him.


Ok, so I could obviously go on and on but I won't.

I had a doctors appointment today. I was in and out. Just a tummy check and a quick listen to the heartbeat. Everything is fine. The heartbeat was 130 beats per minute and I measured 34 cm. After visiting the doctor I had some running around to do. I totally over did it as usual. However, it doesn't take much.

To catch you up

Here's what we've been up to!

On Friday night, Tracy and I took the kids to McDonald's. After we ate we came back to our house to play for a bit. Caymen isn't sure about Claire 'helping' her in the walker.

Look at the smile on Claire's face. It would appear that Claire is having MUCH more fun than Caymen at this point.

Claire thought a kiss might make Caymen feel better. However, the walker makes it a bit hard to get to the very protected Caymen. :)

As luck would have it, Claire knows just how to give Caymen the help that she 'needs'.

Dawson and Natey were busy playing football. Dawson had fun tackling Natey. Natey thought this was GREAT fun. Dawson has a funny way of doing his play by play. He's a little caught up in NASCAR right now. This causes him to put an interesting spin on his play by play. It would go a little something like this: "He passes the ball with 60 laps to go!" (lol!!)

We all had a good time as usual.

I'm giddy for Grey's!

First of all, I'll be the first one to admit that I watch WAY too much TV. Tivo makes it so easy for me. My favorite 'must see' shows right now are Project Runway, Amazing Race, Survivor and now Grey's Anatomy. I can't wait for it! I saw on www.tvguide.com that there will be 2 new episodes tonight. Giddy up!

Last night Project Runway was a repeat. WHY on earth do they do that to me? I waited up for it only to find out that it's a repeat. No fair! I think I might have gotten Justin hooked on Grey's last night though. That would be a good thing. He and I don't watch too much TV together. He has his shows and I have mine. When he's watching his shows then I'm usually at the computer and vise versa. It would be nice to watch SOMETHING together and why not Grey's?

The weather has sure cooled off in good old South Dakota. Yesterday I worked until 8am and on my way home I saw some DORK with his shirt off and bare feet taking his dog out to potty. It was our first frost and 46 degrees out. What on earth was HE thinking?

I love the colors that fall brings us, but I don't like what I know is right around the corner. I really don't like it. I'm not ready for kids to be cooped up inside getting sick. I've never had a baby this time of year, so that's sure to be an adventure as well. Why in South Dakota does it have to be 80 one day and the very next 50? Come on!

Oh, have you been watching Rosie on The View? I hardly missed a show when she had her own talk show. I feel that they're all very uncomfortable with each other on The View. I hope it lasts. If it doesn't then I hope Rosie gets her own talk show again. I really enjoy her. I actually could care less about the rest of the show, but I like the beginning and hot topics.

Anyway, you can call my house tonight between the hours of 7 and 9, but don't expect me to answer. I'll be one with my TV. :)

Pucker up!

I finally got it! Here is just one of the many pucker styles you might see Ms. Peach throw to you, but none the less, it's cute. Her dialog is always pretty close to the same "Bye! Love you!" then you get the pucker. Sometimes she says "See you later" instead of Love you, but they're hard to tell apart. It's just funny to me.

Here are the type of pictures I've been getting of Nathan lately. He does NOT want his picture taken. He obviously gets that from his dad, but only by default. I don't know that Natey has ever been around when Justin hasn't wanted his picture taken. Therefore I don't think it's Justin's fault, only that they are OBVIOUSLY related. :) It's a default type of thing.


Can you see the cheese around Peach's mouth? I swear my kids NEVER have a clean face. She'd been eating Cheese Pringles when she started to pucker. I thought this was cute so I wanted to add this picture.






It's no secret that children change your life, and I believe, who you are. There is no way that I'm the same person I was 4 years ago. My friend (and co-worker) had a baby on the 5th of September. He was 3 weeks early and weighed 9lb 9oz. Holy cats, right? Had she kept him in there he would have walked out and shook her hand! Anyway, we were on the phone the other night and she said that he saved her life. I thought that was very profound. I know that children have different effects on people, but I was happy to hear that she felt that way about her baby. My friend had a pretty rough go of it and I was very nervous that she'd end up with postpartum - only because of the horrible pregnancy she had. It's just the opposite and I couldn't be happier for her.

4 fillings in 15 minutes

Nathan and I got up bright and early to be in Sioux Falls so he could get his teeth filled. He had to have 4 fillings. The dentist prescribed some valume elixer for him to take before his appointment. I was just as nervous about the valume as I was the actual appointment. I had no idea what it would do to him. Would it make him sick enough to throw up? Would I have to try to carry him in the office because it made him so tired he fell asleep? I just didn't know.

First, I must tell you about getting the valume. Our insurance is such that we pay for the prescription and then they send us a check. After paying $100 for Claire's liquid gold a while back, I'm a little nervous when we get a script to fill. I decided that I'd get the prescription filled on Saturday since I got paid on Friday. Logical thinking, right? WRONG!

I asked Justin to fill it Saturday while I was at work. He called after striking out twice at two different pharmacies in town. I called the third, and only other one available, and they didn't have it either. However, the pharmacist DID tell me that the elixer was very expensive. GREAT! (sigh) That's exactly what I wanted to hear.

So I called Justin back and he told me to call around Sioux Falls to see if I could get the prescription filled. I struck out 3 times.....in SIOUX FALLS for crying out loud! Finally the 4th place I called they had some. I made sure to ask how much it cost and it would be $11. No problem! I worried over nothing. So Justin scooped up the kids and they were off to Sioux Falls to pick up the medication. When they got there he found that for one teaspoon it was actually $2 something. Even better!

Ok, so today I was to give Nathan this elixer 45 minutes before his appointment. He and I left the house on time (something I'm always proud of when I accomplish). I made him some toast because I really didn't want him to get sick. He ate it and then came time for the medicine. He WOULD NOT drink it. I tried everything - even bribery. Nothing was working. He was crying and carrying on while I was driving. Time is ticking and we're getting closer and closer to Sioux Falls and he's not taking this medication. Finally I told him that Dr. Poole was going to be upset if he didn't take this medication. Remember my last post? He doesn't want others to think that he's not a good boy. Therefore, he took it. Whew!

It wasn't long and Nathan was in another world. Actually, he wasn't in another world, but the one that he existed in got a heck of a lot better. I'd look back at him and he'd just smile with a very odd kind of 'this isn't so bad afterall' kind of smile. We got to Sioux Falls and it was misting. He asked me if I saw the rainbow. Rainbow? Uh - nope! I'm pretty sure he's the only one in Sioux Falls that would have seen a rainbow. There wasn't a single ray of sunshine in the sky. It made me laugh, but I also felt bad that I'd doped up my kid. He was acting very goofy. I didn't ask him if he felt funny because I didn't want to point it out to him in case he wasn't sure HOW he got this way.

Anyway, we got to the dentist and of coarse waited a few minutes in the waiting room. They came and got him and it wasn't long before Dr. Poole came in to work on him. Fifteen minutes later she was DONE. Four fillings took 15 minutes. He got the laser fillings. He did great. Can you believe that? FIFTEEN minutes! I would guess that laser dentistry might cost a little more than the old fashion way, but I could care less. He has absolutely no fear of the dentist which I think is awesome.

After we left he said he was very tired. He could hardly keep his eyes open on the way back to Madison. I told him that he didn't have to go to school today because that medicine that he took made him tired, but that he would have to take a nap for sure. He didn't lay down until 1:20 and the medication had worn off by then so he decided that he'd MUCH rather go to school then to have to take a nap, however, I was tired too so he crashed with me. Peach was up in her crib and Natey and I were in my bed. We all took a nap and now we're all ready to rock. I guess I'll go pick up the living room so it doesn't look like the tornado that DID strike the southern part of our county on Saturday hit our house as well. Have a good week!

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.