New Year's Resolutions In Pictures

#7 Clean the walls throughout the house. Possibly repaint the house as well. This is what 2 large puppies will do to your walls after ONE rainy day! #6 Put together this beautiful cradle my dad bought us. The hardware is in PA somewhere. You'd think that after a week at my parent's house, I'd have remembered to ask for it, but no.

#5 Get a hair TRIM at least every other month. This is what my hair looks like right now! All split and scraggly. Tim is my beautician and he has been lacking. I have to cut his hair every 2 weeks like clockwork...but mine gets pushed to the wayside.

#4 Bathe the dogs at least once a month. We suck at this. Mostly because there are 3 dogs & none of them "love" bath-time.

#3 Lose weight. The jean skirt is actually a skort & the only pair of "shorts" that fit me this summer. The red plaid, school girl skirt, is just that, part of a school girl costume I used to wear in college. (4 short years ago!)

#2 Grade papers. The week I assign them. And then get them back to my students. This is the pile I brought home over break. Yea, not done yet.


#1 Get pregnant. Sometime this year. If I don't get pregnant, start the adoption process.

What are your new year resolutions?

Wordless Wednesday- My mom & 16 1/2 year old brother, Frank

On the road again...

Well, we're home! Yay! We made it!

This morning we slept until about 10:30. Mom and Dad made us breakfast, it was yummy. After breakfast, Aunt Nunny and Uncle Bill showed up. I ran and took a quick shower, because I wasn't dressed yet. Then we sat and visited for a while. After they left it was time to start getting our things ready to go. We all quickly gathered & packed. Tim showered & then we got to work on loading the truck. We got everything settled around about 1:00. We got on the road at 1:15. I slept for the first part of the trip and woke up around 3:30. I decided it was time to start watching for a food exit, and so did Wazowski! We stopped at an Applebee's off of 17. When we got to Fredericksburg we stopped at WaWa (I had to pee again!) and went potty, then we stopped at Target. We bought 3 CDs on sale for 50% off! Yay! We got Trans Siberian Orchestra The Lost Christmas Eve, Disney's Holiday Celebration 2008 Target Exclusive, and The Polar Express Soundtrack and book. We also got 3 Monster's Inc. toys from the "One Spot"! Sweet!
After that we got back on the road. We got home around 9:15. We are completely unloaded & unpacked. Our clothes are still in the suitcases but we'll put those away tomorrow. Tim and Loren are playing Wii & I'm getting ready to go to bed. I had to catch up on e-mail, blogs, and forums, after being off for such a long time!
Night!

Guess what! Today my freaking insane monster period from hell DRIED UP! Completely dry since at least 1 o'clock! Can you believe that! Agony for 48 hours & now nothing! I took a darvacet this morning to get through church & by the time it was over, nothing. I did pray & get prayed over though, for healing & peace. Perhaps this is God's work. I surely hope so (and I believe he heals people in HIS time.)
The message at church today was to see the positive side of things & I really needed that. (Mind you, we were visiting my parents' crazy hippy church.) I had been really down in the dumps and depressed & seeing only the negative of the whole TTC journey.
I got to thinking. Dh and I have been married 2 years and 5 months. We've been together for 5 years in January. We're young and in love. Making a baby needs to be less of a CHORE and more FUN. Now don't get me wrong, we are enjoying ourselves....but the constant worry & nagging & obsessing has dragged (drug?) me down. I'm going to strive to look at TTC as a time for DH and I to build a closer relationship with each other & to truly enjoy the time we have ALONE w/o a baby, so that we will cherish our lives together after a baby even more.
Do you follow that?

Christmas Part 6...

Well, we just got back from Uncle Tony's house. It was a nice visit in my humble opinion. Uncle Tony brought Pizza Hut pizza and wings and Lisa came by with little miss Bailey. She's quite the ham! She let me hold her and play with her for quite a while, so that was nice. Everyone was very taken with her "aquadoodle" toy.

Aunt Dianne gave us a "Clean Cotton" yankee candle & some Bath and Body Works stuff. I'll pass the B&B stuff to Mandy, because I'm allergic to fragrances, but that's ok with me. We love candles though! Darn sensitive skin...it's a really yummy B&B smell!

Mom, Dad, and Tim are all watching a Jackie Chan & Jet Li movie and Mom is making hot wings. I'll go out when the wings are done, I guess. I just wanted to get a minute to blog.

Lisa started in with the whole "take a break and don't worry about it thing" then she got into the whole "age" thing. I've been getting treatment since my second cycle went over 100 days. The charting & timing has helped us to better understand my body & what's going on. The problem is my body ISN'T working properly & is unpredictable! "Normal" women have regular cycles & ovulate at a regular point in their cycle...their temperatures rarely vary by more than .2 of a degree! My temps are ALL OVER THE PLACE! I'm following a "normal" pattern this month...but not normal for me. My temps went so high I thought FOR SURE I was pregnant...just to turn out that nope...not preggo....just my body actually working this month. Fun stuff.

I hate it when other people bring up the fact that we're trying and then I have to talk about it. I do NOT want to talk about this to others. Especially others who don't UNDERSTAND. I don't mind talking about it on my blog or on Ovusoft or on the Diaperswappers TTC thread. I don't mind talking about it with Melanie (who helps and understands what I need/want to hear) or Ms. Clark (whose been there, done that, and had a baby). I do not want to talk about it with anyone who shares the "just take it easy" mentality. NOT charting & NOT paying attention to my body & NOT timing intercourse are NOT the way for me to get a baby. My chances are already SO slim (PCOS limits the odds, as well as the irregular cycles) that I can't AFFORD not to worry about it. If I just go willy nilly & don't pay attention to anything we could be BDing at all the wrong times & never get pregnant. Not to mention that I wouldn't have any data to share with the doctor, which means we'd have to spend tons of money for expensive tests that my insurance doesn't cover. Because I CHART we know WHEN & that I DO ovulate. Other people have to have tests, bloodwork, and ultrasounds done to confirm that. I COULD do those tests, but I can't afford to so I don't. My doctor & I TRUST my chart and use that information in treating my infertility.

I began looking into adopton agencies last night. It looks like we should be able to adopt for less than $10,000. I don't know what the wait/time span is for domestic infant adoption but if we at least start the process that would make me feel better. I'm going to try talking to Tim about it in March. I want to give myself 2 more months. I am hoping that we can get pregnant in Jan. or Feb. We might take March off, just to avoid the December due date. Although, I really want a 2009 baby....and after March we're looking at a 2010 baby.

Anyway, I think the wings are done, so I've got to go.

Aunt Flo

Well, I'm officially on Cycle Day 1 of Cycle 7. Today marks 1 year that I've been trying to concieve. That's kind of sad. In 12 months, I've had 6 cycles. That right there makes my chances of getting pregnant 1/2 that of a "regular" woman.

I'm beginning to think there are no "regular" women. The ttc boards are jam packed with women who are having difficulties getting or staying pregnant. My IRL friends have had troubles getting/staying pregnant. It's just depressing.

Since I started the provera to induce Cycle 4, my periods have knocked me flat on my back. I thought it was the Provera at first...then I thought it was the Clomid, then I thought it was the miscarriage, now I know that's just how it's going to be for me. I'm expecting a migraine headache that kicks my ass around CD 6-8. I had 2 days of spotting this cycle. At first it was barely there pink tinged tissue. Then it was slightly heavier but still barely there on the tissue & pad.

Around 3 o' clock yesterday (Friday) I doubled over in pain and was in tears. I had the worst cramps. My parents didn't have a heating pad, so I got into the bath tub. I played an episode and a 1/2 of Prison Break while I soaked in a scalding hot bath. That helped a lot.

After the bath, I went to bed and just laid there, curled up in a ball. Around dinner time, my mom came in to get me and I was crying silently from the pain. I was still watching Prison Break b/c I couldn't sleep through the pain. After dinner, I asked Tim and Dad to go out and buy a heating pad. I went back to bed. This time I sat indian style & piled a bunch of pillows in front of me and curled down onto them. It helped.

When Tim brought me the heating pad, he said that Dad wanted to watch the latest Mummy movie. So I went out into the living room to watch the movie with them, heating pad in tow. I managed to make it through the movie.

As I was getting ready to go to bed, I had a little heart-to-heart with Tim. I told him I feel like a failure. I can't seem to do it right. I want so badly to be pregnant. I've quit drinking caffiene, I take the folic acid every day, I try to watch what I eat, I have been getting plenty of rest and drinking lots of water. I just want a baby. I ended up crying, but Tim was comforting and reassuring. It's nice to know that he loves me no matter what and that he doesn't blame me. He's not very open about how he feels about all this, so when he opens up even a little, it means a lot to me.

I didn't sleep well last night, but at least this time I wasn't hot! My parents house is ridiculous, it gets hot if someone even walks fast! So it's generally around 77* in here...when we're cooking it can get over 80*! We opened our window last night, so we'd be comfortable. Ahh.... I got up at 9:30 and changed my pjs...my period had come full force during the night. It was a mess. I cleaned up as best as I could and got a drink, then went back to sleep. I got up about 11:30, still in agony, and took one of mom's darvacet pills. Ahhh...within 1/2 a hour, I was pain free.

I think it's wearing off now though, and I'm going to take another I think. We are supposed to be going to Uncle Tony & Aunt Dianne's house soon. They're ordering pizza for dinner. I don't get a lot of time to go online, since we're trying to "relax" and do stuff together.

Oh, we did decide to chart in January and try. If we get pregnant this month it will give us a due date somewhere between Oct. 4 and 14. (depending on when/if I ovulate) If I don't get pregnant in January (but I did ovulate on my own), I am not going to chart in February. If after February, I'm not pregnant I'm going to ask to be put on Clomid again & have more tests done. There is a theory that athough it can LOOK and feel like I've ovulated, the egg could be a cyst on my ovary that never got released...which can be bad. So, if Idon't get pregnant by Feb. I'm going to ask for another internal ultrasound too.

Ok, I think that's all for now.

-Steph

Christmas Day Continued

Well, it took Mom, me, Tim, Dad, and Frankie and it took ALL DAY but we got dinner done & kept the kitchen pretty clean. Aunt Nunny, Uncle Bill, Marie & Julie showed up right around 4:30...Marie & Julie stayed until about 6:30. Aunt Nunny & Uncle Bill stayed until about 7:45. By 8:15 we had the kitchen cleaned up Frank had the dishes going.

Now we're watching "The Last Boy Scout" on t.v. I had an asthma attack & am wheezy. I've got kink in my neck and am crampy.

Did I mention earlier that I am spotting. It is SO freaking unbelievably difficult to get pregnant. It's not fair. I just want a baby.

The True Meaning of Christmas

WHY JESUS IS GREATER THAN SANTA CLAUS

Santa lives at the North Pole. JESUS is everywhere.

Santa rides in a sleigh. JESUS rides on the wind and walks on the water.

Santa comes but once a year. JESUS is an ever present help.

Santa fills your stockings with goodies. JESUS supplies all your needs.

Santa comes down your chimney uninvited. JESUS stands at your door and knocks, and then enters your heart when invited.

You have to wait in line to see Santa. JESUS is as close as the mention of His name.

Santa lets you sit on his lap. JESUS lets you rest in His arms.

Santa doesn't know your name, all he can say is "Hi little boy or girl, what's your name?" JESUS knew your name before you did. Not only does He know your name, He knows your address too. He knows your history and future and He even knows how many hairs are on your head.

Santa has a belly like a bowl full of jelly. JESUS has a heart full of love.

All Santa can offer is HO HO HO. JESUS offers Health, Help and Hope.

Santa says "You better not cry." JESUS says "Cast all your cares on me for I care for you."

Santa's little helpers make toys. JESUS makes new life, mends wounded hearts, repairs broken homes and builds mansions.

Santa may make you chuckle but. JESUS gives you joy that is your strength.

While Santa puts gifts under your tree. JESUS became our gift and died on a tree. Yes, from sin He sets us free!

Now thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift!2 Corinthians 9:15But to each one of us was the grace given according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Ephesians 4:7

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve:
Tim and I slept in nice and late. My temperature dropped down to 98.3. Unfortunately with the changes I made to my O date the other day it now looks like AF is on her way. Some of my friends on my blog noticed that my temperatures were not really conclusive to the O date being when the software said it was, so I changed it & that makes me on 13 DPO today. Well, I should start spotting today or tomorrow & have AF for sure by Saturday.
Mom cooked breakfast and then we all get showered and dressed. Mom, Grams, and I went grocery shopping. It was a drag. We had to go all over freaking town to find "just the right"...at "just the right"...store. UGH. It was a mad house everywhere we went, and most of the stores were out of whatever we needed. Fun times. It was well into the afternoon when we got back. I made soup for lunch and then it was time to wrap gifts. I had all of my gifts to Tim, gifts for Mom, gifts from Mom to Dad, and gifts from Dad to Mom. Ugh. I wrapped all the way until Aunt Nunny and Uncle Bill showed up. They brought $40 for Tim and I. That was nice and unexpected. We gave them an autographed copy of Glenn Beck's "The Christmas Sweater". Aunt Nunny has already read it...but her copy isn't autographed. She seemed pleased.
Then we had our traditional Christmas Eve dinner, again. Fried potatoes, sausage, homemade pizza, and salad. We all ate well. After dinner, I got the living room cleaned up and then went back to wrapping gifts. I had a migraine headache by that point, so I was pretty miserable. I finished wrapping gifts just before 1 am. We got them all set up under the tree and then I had to make Pizzelles. Ugh. Tim stayed up and helped me make them. (as much as one can help when you're making cookies 2 at a freaking time)

Then we quickly ran to bed before we could get forced to do anything else.

Christmas Part 5!
Well, let's see. Frankie left Skittles and Juelz in the cage together, so we all got woken up at 4 am. The two birds fight & rip each other to shred. Both birds lost a large number of feathers & Juelz was bleeding. Frankie ran down the hallway & that set Wazowski off, who then set off Tippy...Tim and I woke up, stumbled around to get dressed and then I went to find out what happened. Five minutes later we were back in bed.
This morning we managed to sleep until about 9:30 before being woken up. We got up, I brushed my hair and teeth and then it was present time. My temp. dropped another .3 of a degree, so I pretty much knew I was out. And, AF is on her way. I'm spotting now. I got roller blades, extra wheels, Mario Kart Wii and the steering wheel, "Miracle on 34th Street" (again), a NICE set of pots and pans, Wolfgang Puck knives, a mini food processor, pajama bottoms, 2 picture frames to scrap, "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium", and I think that's it. If I forgot something I'll come back and add it later.
Everyone else had nice Christmas' too...Frankie had the least # of presents, but he got a $1,000 computer...so, you know, he expected it.
After gifts, I played with my roller blades some in the basement, played my Wii game, and basically didn't do much.
Mom had thawed out the turkey and the ham. She had asked Frankie to put the ham in the refrigerator downstairs about 2 days ago. Frank put the ham in the freezer. So, Dad had a conniption fit. Now, dinner is going to be postponed an hour and a half. I'm hiding and getting ready to take a shower. Tim just talked to his parents on the phone...everyone's happy down there.

More later...

On the road again...

Well, yesterday was an action packed day...NOT!



I was up until 4:30 in the morning, getting all that housework done.



Is anyone else anal about going out of town and leaving your house a mess? I have to have everything PERFECT before I can go out of town. I HATE coming home to a messy house. It probably has something to do with how I was raised, but that's just me.



So I cleaned and cleaned, and organized and organized. I finally went to bed at 4ish. I got up at 7:20 to temp & take another pregnancy test. Negatory. (trust me, I'll let you know when it's positive!) Tim went to take the truck to get an oil change and I went back to sleep.



I slept until about 9:30, when Tim woke me up again. This time I got up. I got to work getting the laundry started & more housework done. Tim cooked breakfast. Loren was up already. We ate and then got back to work. We loaded all of the stuff that needed packed into trash bags and piled it all over the living room. The living room was FULL of bags! Then I cut Tim's hair and finished up all the other items on the list. After Tim's haircut, we took a shower, and then loaded the truck.



After the truck was loaded (around 1:30) we left to go to the bank and gas station. We also got some McDonald's. It was 2:30 when we pulled out of the gas station to get onto the highway. So we officially got on the road at 2:30.



Tim forgot his watch and to pack a hoodie or coat. Oh well.

As soon as we got on the road I took my first nap. I woke up about an hour later, with a very sore dry mouth.

Then I putzed with the computer for a while & talked to Tim. We attempted to watch "Drop Dead Gorgeous" which was a pretty silly movie. We alternated between not being able to hear it & not having power on the computer, so it was a pain in the butt. After that, I took another nap.

Then we stopped at a WaWa to go pee and so I could buy Tim's "chunky" bars for his stocking.

After that, I went to sleep again.

Then when I woke up, I needed to pee and it was close to 8, so we called Dad to find out where to stop for dinner. We ended up stopping at Hardee's and I got something yucky that I didn't eat. Then we got back on the road and I went back to sleep.

We got here around 11ish. We unloaded everything, visited, and then got ready for bed. I think we crashed close to two am.

Wordless Wednesday!

This is what our refrigerator looks like. Can you tell we like kids?

And this is our Christmas card, Christmas tree. It's kind of akward shaped this year, because it was hard to work with all those photocards. You can see more of the babies we love in this picture though!

Blondie Dog

It came to my attention that Blondie gets left out of the blog, so here's a post just for her!

Blondie is 15 or 16 years old. (There is confusion over just WHICH year she was given to Tim.) She is blind, mostly deaf, and very tired.

Tim says he got her when he was 10 years old, she was just a tiny puppy. As a puppy, she was SUPER fast and very playful. She loved to hide her bones in the back yard. One time she even ran headfirst into a fence chasing a cat. She was Tim's dog through and through and he loves her.

About 12 years ago, (when Frankie was 4), Blondie had her second litter of puppies. (Her mate is Mocha, Loren's mini poodle. Peaches, Beth's dog, is one of Blondie's puppies from the first litter.) My parents got Tippy, from the second litter. She is Frankie & Dad's dog.

When Tim and I had just gotten the apartment, so the fall of 2005, Blondie's uterus got an infection. She was still living with Tom and Peggy. They didn't tell us anything was wrong with Blondie until she had stopped eating and drinking water. We rushed to their house. She was nearly dead. Tim convinced her to eat some deli meat and I used a syringe to put some water down her throat. We took her to the Emergency Vet to be looked at. The doctor said that there was a mass in her belly, possibly a tumor. We were so worried. Then he came back and said that he just realized Blondie was "in tact" and that the mass was actually her very infected and ruptured uterus. The condition is called pyometra. She had to have surgery right away to save her life. The doctor expected her to be OK afterwards, so Tim and I decided it was worth the $1,800. Tom and Peggy weren't willing to pay that kind of money. When Blondie got out of the hospital, we brought her to come live with us. We had spent the $$, she was going to live with us, and that's just how it was.

A week after her surgery we had to take her to the vet to get her staples removed. Dr. Watts at PetSmart saw her and wouldn't even sell us an insurance plan, because Blondie was so pathetic, she didn't think she'd live.

Two weeks later, after following the doctor's orders for (DAILY) baths, meds, and attention, we had nursed Blondie back to health. Dr. Watts said she was a new dog! We put Blondie on a PetSmart plan then.

We used to put her out back of our apartment and she'd go to the potty and then wander around. She never went far and it was nice. We had a "stake and chain" that was really a nylon cord we could put her on if there were others around too.

At one point, when we still lived in the apartment, the doctors told us Blondie had a liver problem and that she'd need put down or would die soon. We went home and cried and cried and were so upset. It was April. We went out and bought a stepping stone kit and made Blondie a stepping stone with her paw prints, that date, and some gems on it. However, Blondie had other plans. She started eating again and within just a few days was fine. That's the first time we said goodbye.

Then, shortly after we moved into this house, we were locking Blondie in the guest bath when we weren't home and at night, because she was not holding her bladder. She would CRY and CRY all night, so we were sure she was in some kind of pain. We discussed putting her down. Then, we decided to stop locking her up. Sure enough, she stopped crying. She wants to sleep with us. That was the second time we said goodbye.

More recently, Blondie has lost all control of her bladder and bowels, and she cries sometimes. She also has a little bit of a stuffy nose. She's still eating and drinking though.

All she does is eat, sleep, pee, and poo. She sometimes growls or snaps at Rosie if she gets on her nerves. She really likes to climb into the baby bouncy chair and sleep in it. She has a blanket that's all her own.

Within the last month, Peggy has been nagging us to put Blondie down. She even went so far as to say that she'd pay for it if we did it this Saturday. When we declined her offer, she THREATENED to do it while we're away. Tim was actually ok with it and ready...but then we talked last night.

We had decided a while ago, that we'd put Blondie to sleep, if she stopped eating/drinking again. She's STILL eating and drinking. She's not in chronic pain as far as we can tell. She doesn't cry or whine when we touch her or pick her up. She eats and moves and does her business. She's old. Kind of like my Grams. Grams wears diapers because she can't control her bladder/bowels either. She eats mush and not much else. She doesn't go out unless she's got money to spend. She barely socializes and spends all of her time in her room. Should we put Grams down? NO! So why should we put our Blondie dog down?

I'm pretty sure that we are now on the course to let Blondie choose when she dies. Tim's sincere hope is that she just goes to sleep and then doesn't wake up or that she comes to us and then dies in our laps.

Anyway, Blondie dog, we love you!

PS. Blondie even has a Dogster page! Check it out!

We're leaving "today!"

Ugh...today has been a SUPER busy day!

I got up around 9:30 ish. My temperature was still nice & toasty, so I took another preg. test. Glaring NOT PREGNANT. Boo! Then I putzed on the computer for a while. After that I got showered and dressed and planned my day.

I headed to Navy Fed first to deposit a check. I had to wait 40 minutes to be seen, so I could change my pin number. Yay for having one I can remember now! Then I went to Target to get Tim's Christmas shopping. I got him a pair of Levi's jeans, fleece pj bottoms and a jerzees top, a video game (that makes 3 for him!), a pack of pens for his stocking, and a Christmas movie 2 pack (It's A Wonderful Life & White Christmas). It's pretty lame, but it's what I came up with. I also picked up a couple things for my blog gift exchange partner, but I am not sure if she even wants to do it still, since I way missed the deadline. Then I headed to Greenbrier Mall to get my glasses adjusted. I also got some McDonald's for lunch. Then I went to the Dollar Store (all the way across town!) to get some pregnancy tests. Can you believe they only had 4!?! Then I went to A.J. Wright and got a few more gifts. Then I finally headed home. It was like 3:30 by then. Tim was leaving work then too!

When I got home I got to work on the housework. There was a ton of it! I have done laundry, cleaned the kitchen (several times), made Rice Krispie Treats, made No Bake cookies, cooked dinner, swept the kitchen, and put our initials on all of our movies.

Have I mentioned this yet? My MIL is a freaking movie Nazi. Every single time they misplace one of their movies, they instantly blame me or Chrissy for losing it. Mind you, I don't let Chrissy borrow their movies since the kids destroyed the HP last summer (2007) & Peggy knows this. They SWORE and BITCHED that I borrowed/lost/stole "Elf". I don't even like that damn movie. Why would I borrow it? Yea, 2 days after I had a big hissy fit & fussed at them, that I in fact do not have or know the whereabouts of your damned movie Beth found it...behind a couch or something of that nature. Beth has mentioned now 3 TIMES that she is going to borrow movies from us, while we're gone. Now, why does she need to borrow them while we're gone & not before/after we get back? Screw that shit...two can play this game. So now, every SINGLE one of our movies says T & S Goetsch on it. Also, I've read ALL the titles, so I'll notice if one is missing. (Can you FEEL the hostility?) This issue really makes me mad, seeings as what we're talking about are some freaking $5-25 dollar movies! As far as I know all of them are replaceable. (10th Kingdom another one they bitch about all the time is $7 on Amazon, I might just buy it!)

Anyway, I'm tired. I took a little 40 minute nap around midnight.

Here's my to do lists. I have to go to bed at 3:00 am...so I want to get as much of this first list done as possible, before then:

Wash Clothes (done)
Clean bird cages (done)
Clean the guest bathroom (done)
Vacuum (done)
Clean the office (done)
Print the directions (done)
Clean fish tank (done)

It's 3:32 am...I am done with all that I am going to get done tonight. My scrapbooking stuff is all organized & ready to pack. (I HOPE to have time to scrap while I'm gone!)

This is the stuff that will or has to wait until morning:
Wash sheets (done)
Change bed linens (done)
Bathe Wazowski & Blondie (not happening)
Pack (done)
Go to the bank (deposit 2 more checks) (on the way out of town)
Cut Tim's hair (on my way to do that now)
Clean our bedroom up (done)
Reload the notebook & put my chart software on it (done)
Tim get the oil changed in the truck (done)
Wrap gifts (going to do this in PA)
Leave by 12:30 (we'll see!)

Wish us luck & pray that I have a baby in my uterus causing all this freaking breast agony!

Christmas Part 4!

Well tonight was Christmas with my sisters. It was a CRAZY afternoon. We had to get the sauce made and everything packed and loaded with four kids in tow. It was crazy. Anyway, we finally left the house at 6, which is when we were supposed to be there. Oh well.

We got to Chrissy's at 6:30, unloaded the car, and started getting ready for dinner. We had lots of food to prepare so everyone was helping. The kids watched "The 10th Kingdom". Tim ended up making a grocery store run and I wrapped gifts. We ate a huge dinner. We had homemade pizza, spaghetti, cavadils, salad, little smokies, fried potatoes, and italian sausages. Then it was present time! We gave Amanda a crock pot (just like ours!) and a Rubbermaid set. We gave Tony and Brianna each 3 Bakugans & a booster pack of cards. We gave Ashley a moon sand set and a pack of Bakugan booster cards, as well as an extra moon sand pack. We gave Carolynn Barnyard Bowling. We forgot Chrissy's presents in the car but we got her "The Last Lecture" and a set of 30 Christmas cookie cutters.

Amanda got Chrissy a wall hanging that has the serenity prayer on it. Apparantly it is very important in AA. It has special meaning for Chrissy. Amanda went above and beyond for everyone! She got Tony an IPod Shuffle with an extended warranty! She got the girls Bakugans, polly pockets, make up, pokemon stuff, and 2 board games. (One was Littlest Pets Monopoly!) Amanda also got Tim an adorable Mickey and Minnie Mouse statue! She got me about a gazillion pieces to start a Halloween Village! I've taken pictures for your viewing pleasure! She also got me a pair of baby socks and a set of 18 cookie cutters! All Halloween themed of course! I even noticed that she used orange/white tissue paper in the gifts! Sweet! I LOVE Halloween, just in case you didn't know!

Must keep moving...must keep moving...

Wow! It's been a whirlwind since Chrissy called to ask us to babysit.

I started laundry (and have since done & folded/hung up about 3 loads, with more in line or in progress.

Tim emptied and loaded the dishwasher & then washed a bunch of stuff by hand.

I vacuumed the living room, hallway, our bedroom, and guest room.

Tim cooked the kids tuna casserole.

I moved all of the Christmas gifts & my "wrapping setup" from the guest room to our room.

Tim fed the kids.

I gave Carolynn a bath and got her put down for a nap.

Tim worked on Frank's computer.

I took care of more laundry & have started working on the rest of the kitchen.

Tim is at the grocery store with Ashley getting: tomato paste, tomato puree, soda, ice, dog food (for the puppies), and hangers.

I'm about to get a shower and then get dressed down to the waste. My jeans aren't dry yet & I am not sure if I can wear them or not. The stomach thing hasn't been nearly as painful today, but I've been wearing boxers all day.

I still have to:
1. wrap gifts
2. cut up cheese & pepperoni for the tray
3. make sauce
4. finish cleaning the kitchen & living room
5. clean the guest bathroom
6. clean our bathroom
7. change the sheets on our bed
8. vacuum my car
9. pack
10. go shopping for my gift swap (sorry Jenna)

AGH!

The kids are coming...the kids are coming....

Chrissy just called and asked us to babysit....ugh, must get moving!

Christmas Parts 1, 2, and 3!

Christmas Part 1 was last Saturday night when we went to James and Missy's. We gave Trevor two Little Tykes construction trucks and J & M a $25 gift card to Target. J & M gave us a $30 giftcard to Target. Yea, we know each other like that. Unfortunately, I didn't get ANY pictures at all from that visit, so there's nothing FUN to report.

Christmas Part 2 was yesterday at Tom and Peggy's house. Loren flew in on Friday night so it was good to see him. We had "white sauce" with chicken & noodles for dinner. I mostly ate corn. Then we watched almost all of The Santa Clause. Near the end of the movie we decided to open presents. We gave Tom a drill and a goofy car toy, it makes noise when the car shakes/turns/stops quickly! We gave Peggy a set of 3 Christmas flavored Yankee Candles. We gave Beth two Sims 2 expansions and she REALLY liked them. We also gave Loren "The Christmas Sweater" by Glenn Beck and a $30 Kohl's gift card.

Here's some pictures of them:

Loren gave Tim two different Collector's Sets of "Cars" cars. They are nice! He gave me a nightlight (it's purple) that is also an essential oils burner. Beth gave Tim a Family Guy doll and a gift card to WalMart. She gave me a giftbag full of scrapbooking supplies! Tom and Peggy gave Tim a giant (over 6 foot tall!) fleece tie blanket, a $50 Visa giftcard, and a 20 count set of Craftsman screwdrivers! They gave me a purple fleece tie blanket, a $50 A.C. Moore gift card, a deviled egg serving platter, and a S'Mores Hot Chocolate gift set. They all really went above and beyond, we weren't even expecting anything from Beth or Loren! We are SO thankful for all the gifts!

Christmas Part 3 was at Rob and Melanie's house yesterday! We didn't get over there until close to 8:00 so it was a late night. The kids opened their presents and were all happy! Chloe got a Cat's Cradle Klutz book, Sophia got a Ming Ming doll and coloring book, and Jack got 15 Hot Wheels cars! We gave Rob and Melanie a $20 gift card to Panera!

Here are some pictures of them:

OK, I have to interject here, because although Chloe LOVED the book...she had a rough start! She didn't want to let Melanie and I help her learn how to do the moves and she wasn't getting that it was a partner game. So Melanie and I commandeered the string and played by ourselves for a few minutes! Then after Chloe had putzed around for a bit, not making anything on the string, she came back and was more in the mood to be "helped" and taught how to do the Cat's Cradle. When she got the first one done correctly, she was SO happy!

Can you tell HOW happy?Jack was SO into his cars that he wouldn't even look at the camera...but that's ok cause you can still see his ear-to-ear grin! Sophia was probably the most animated of all! She was shouting and whooping with glee!
She screamed, It's for YOU and ME! talking to Jack when she realized what it was in the package! She carried Ming Ming all over the house & the two littles periodically broke out in Wonder Pets song!

Melanie told me a couple days ago that she ordered a gift for us, to be shipped to our house, but she refuses to tell me what it is. Clues so far are: 1. it might have some purple in it, 2. it is to be used. 3. Melanie has one too & she already got hers. Yep, that's it. I'm hoping it comes Monday because I don't want to be in suspense all week! Stay tuned for Christmas Parts 4 (Tonight!) and 5!