Our Nice Long Weekend

Friday-- I took Friday off work as a sick day because I was worried that I might be catching a virus that is going around. My student and my father-in-law both have had the same symptoms. It's pretty much a summer cold. I didn't want it and luckily I didn't get it. Having the extra rest on Friday and then Sunday and Monday really helped and I feel better.

Friday evening we brought the boys to AJ's for pizza and then Logan had baseball practice. After Logan's practice we all went to see Night at the Musuem 2. It was good and we all enjoyed it. This was a treat for the boys because they each brought home great report cards at the end of the week.

Saturday was a very busy day. We spent most of the morning cleaning the house and getting ready for a big party. I had a pedicure at 1:30, picked up some milk, and then headed home for the party. This "party" was the Indian Food Night that we've been looking forward to for months. We had about 20 people in the kitchen, on and off, plus lots of kids in the basement. The kids had pizza and of course we made and ate lots of authentic Indian food. My friend Lotus and her mom organized all the food preparation and her dad brought some delicious rice pudding. The list of what we ate: Split Pea Fritters (always my favorite), a semi-spicy meat dumpling with a fresh veggie sauce (called Mo-Mo's, these were main reason for the party as they take a long time to make by hand and are very yummy, always best made and enjoyed by a large group!), a chicken dish (chicken tiki masala?) served on rice, a fresh chick pea salad, and for desserts--- mango lassi (our family favorite after having a few in Colorado last winter) and the scrumptious rice pudding. We plan to make most or all of these dishes ourselves now. I'm already craving more of the desserts! The rice pudding seemed to be a perfect remedy for my upset stomach a couple times in the last couple days. Unfortunately I've now run out and get to figure out how to make it myself. I've heard Lotus's dad makes it the best. I'm hoping I can come close as it was perfect.

We had a great evening surrounded by friends and enjoying our kitchen. It was the perfect size and set up for this. By the end of the day I was very tired and fell asleep very quickly after everyone had enjoyed their dinners, helped with the clean up, and left for their homes with bellies full. Shaun cleaned up a bit more and I had very little to do the next day.

Sunday-- Typical Sunday although the boys did much better about getting ready for church and we got there a little early which was great. I really don't like to be rushed on Sunday's and am usually frustrated with the boys' slowness. This time it went much better. After church and choir practice we went home and Logan and I watched a Netflix movie online and I dozed for a little bit. After the movie Logan decided that there wasn't anything fun to do. So, I told him he could get his hands dirty in the kitchen. Not technically dirty but you'll get the picture. :) I asked him to go to the bathroom and wash his hands "like a doctor does" (I'd shown him a couple months ago and this is a good way to be sure he washes well and uses soap...boys). After washing his hands we set to making our family recipe of meatloaf. Logan was almost up to his elbows mixing everything together and he loved it. So much fun! After the meatloaf was put into the oven to cook we peeled potatoes together for mashed potatoes and then we balled watermelon and cantalope which was then hidden under half a watermelon with a "lid" placed on top (I'd cut the bottom so that it could sit flat without wobbling but Logan liked the idea of hiding the watermelon inside the upside down watermelon half and placing the lid on to hide the fact that we'd cut it at all). Logan had a lot of fun having this dinner with Shaun, Shane, and I. He was very proud of himself for making it all. So of course we agreed to start a game of Monopoly with him afterward. We haven't played it for a while and the boys like playing it for an hour or so for a few days in a row, or until we finish the game.

Monday-- Since yesterday was Memorial Day it was another day off. I hadn't planned for the four-day weekend but it was a huge blessing to have the time to rest after such a busy weekend. After a couple chores in the morning the boys, along with a couple of Shane's friends, and Shaun went fishing. I opted to stay home and read Three Cups of Tea which I'm needing to finish by Thursday because it's my turn to host the book club. I chose this book almost a year ago but haven't had time to read it! I'm about half way through so hopefully I'll get it completely read in time. The best thing about this weekend is that my house is fully cleaned and I won't be rushing around Thursday evening to make it presentable again.

We also had a very nice dinner with my in-laws, who provided the steak and potatoes, and Shaun's cousin Lynn, who provided dessert. We hosted and provided corn-on-the-cob and Shaun grilled the steaks. After that it was early bed time! Wahoo!

Quick Update on Life

The summer seems to have begun! I am enjoying my first of two full weeks without classes. I start taking a class during the first week of June and then another, online, class the second week of June. The first class is only in June and then in July I have a different class. In August I have an online intersession which starts a couple days after my June-July online class. Confused yet? My mind goes in circles and my tummy gets queasy every time I think about how busy I'm going to be with homework!

I am sure I will be taking some of said homework with me to baseball games. Logan and Shane are both in city-league baseball again this summer. Between the two of them we're already finding that Shaun and I will be going different directions for practices and the games will most likely be the same way. We'll have to switch off between kids' games. All of this started this weekend so of course tonight is our first night of seeing each other for only moments while I pick up Logan from home after work and bring him to his practice. Shaun then brings Shane to practice a little later, and we'll all be back home together sometime after 8 pm, just in time for showers and bedtime rituals. Lots of fun, right?

Time to run! The 5:00 bell just rang above my office. I will now begin sprinting (driving) across town at least two times this evening, probably more as I don't feel like watching practice so I may run a couple errands.

A Very Nice Evening

Last night was great! I suggested that we burn the "bon fire" that we'd had sitting in our firepit for the past year or maybe two. So, when I arrived home from work Shaun was mowing the lawn and Logan was washing the outsides of a couple basement windows (!). I went down and helped Logan. Shane had baseball practice later in the evening so I suggested he make himself something for dinner. I had other ideas for dinner but he wouldn't yet be home. After doing some yard work and window washing we lit the fire which was hot and high! Shaun cheated and used his "torch", a large torch-like connection to a propane tank. Seriously! I thought I was cheating enough by using a grill lighter but he wasn't happy with the progress so he tourched it a few times to really get it going. It was probably about this time when we started commenting that we might need a burn permit...Shaun's not sure we need one for the firepit so he's going to call and check, hopefully today.

While Shaun brought Shane to practice and then ran to Walmart for hotdog buns (Wahoo, fire roasted hotdogs! I'm not worried about eating hotdogs while pregnant like some people may be.) and s'mores fixin's I tended the fire. By then it was much lower and easy to control. Logan and I later added a few more logs that our neighbor wanted to get rid of. We got to sit outside all evening enjoying our firepit and loving the fire atmosphere. What a beautiful night for this! It got a little chilly so ended up with a light blanket but it was gorgeous! Once Shaun and Shane got home we finished up the hotdogs and made s'mores. YUMMY! One of my all-time favorite treats. I don't need to camp to eat them. Microwaves make good s'mores too, but the firepit's marshmellows were perfect last night. All in all it was a perfect evening, most of it with my family, and all of it enjoyed outside under the rolling clouds and in front of the fire. I was very content!

Part of the reason we decided to burn the pile we had in the pit was because we plan to move the firepit to a different location. It wasn't really supposed to be where it currently is but ended up there by default for a while. Betsy even circled it with some nice edging stones that we'd bought shortly after she moved in with us a couple years ago. Since we'd used that spot to burn some stuff before it just became the temporary burn pit. Much later (the wood burned was from that horrible ice storm we had a couple Decembers ago) we're still using it. I'm not exactly sure where we'll end up putting it but we planted a few trees along the side of our yard and one of this is about 10-15 feet from the current site so the firepit now needs to move. The tree is still small so it was safe to burn it last night. We now hope to move it, possibly making it a little smaller, and then we're going to surround it with a circle of gravel or something, just so that it's even more safe. I can't wait to get it moved and use it again! I could use lots more evenings like we had last night.

One More Link

I had to add this...15 Pregnancy Symptoms You Didn't Expect (Or Wouldn't Have Believed Anyway) I felt that perhaps they weren't all appropriate for me to list here, and besides, the comments are often better than the lists!

Fewer Frustrations

Thanks for the support! I had a rough few days but yesterday and today have been better. You those FTAN pills I wrote about? I helps if I take them regularly...

Finals are done and I'm starting a few weeks of no classes. Yay! I'm already liking the break. I was able to help with dinner last night and then tidy up the living room. It felt exhilerating just be able to do that. Shaun and I also started looking through the book of baby names together. :) Fun! I think it's going to be much harder to name this one. Not sure why but the boys were pretty easy.

Today I received an email that I thought was too funny not to share. A couple weeks ago I found a website about pregnancy that I liked for some reason so I signed up for weekly pregnancy tips and baby facts updates. Sounded like fun. Of course at this point there isn't much in the newsletters besides your baby is now this big and weighs this much (currently about an inch, like an olive, and weight of a penny). They also show a drawing of what the weird looking little thing would look like. They send tips for morning sickness and discuss the funny parts of being pregnant like food adversions and breast growth. Yep, it gives all kinds of information. I start my ninth week of pregnancy on Friday so this week I received my ninth week of pregnancy email. Most interesting tidbits were (not making this up):

1. what you're thinking- "I don't look pregnant but I do look like I just had ... ahem ... enhancement surgery!"

2. if you've never kept a journal, do yourself a favor and start one today! Because despite the fact that your pregnancy is literally all you can think about right now, as soon as the delivery is over, you'll barely remember what it was like being pregnant (except maybe those weeks you spent with your head in the toilet). Plus, keeping a diary will help you appreciate all that amazing work your bod is doing. If you're going to spend nine months performing a miracle, you might as well document it. and...

3. a tip to start wearing a sports bra to bed for comfort.

I think I was better off this week with (ahem) breast issues than I had been the past few. Just so you know. Not that you wanted to know. Anyway, these emails are from Parents Connect which actually has lots of good ideas and advice for pregnancy and for raising children. It's a great site with all types of information, not only for what to do for chest comfort while sleeping.

My Beloved Boys

Yesterday being Mother's Day didn't help my moodiness or morning sickness. Unfortunately I think I yelled at my boys twice as much as normal to get ready before church. Showering and getting clothes picked out the night before never seems to do much good even though it's our normal routine. So, yesterday I was feeling quite awful and all I wanted for breakfast was toast. Not a hard request, unless you actually want it soon and warm. I think it took about 20 minutes and then one peice fell on the carpet on the way to my bedroom. I didn't really care because I only needed one piece but then Logan, who had dropped it, started wailing. Oh my! I tried (unsuccessfully) from my bed to calm him down and ask for the remaining piece. I truly only wanted to eat one peice and I wanted it immediately because I was soooooo nauseated. Poor kid! After some love and encouragement from me and some help cleaning up the mess from Shaun, he was able to bring my toast to me and was ok. The toast wasn't great but it was enough to help me get to church. I felt so horrible about being grouchy about my toast and yelling at the boys that I think I apologized all morning through the drive to and from church and while at church. This is something that seems to happen EVERY Sunday and every time we all promise to do better the next week. It's such a horrible cycle.

The rest of the day went much better. At church I joined the nursery for a few minutes so that I could have snack. I'd left mine at home and was starting to feel nauseated again. The kids were nice to let me have a handful of their whales. :) After church I called Shaun and he made me a tuna sandwich as soon as I arrived home so that I could feel better yet again. After that I took a nap. It was supposed to be two hours or less but I was having a hard time getting comfortable so I dozed on and off for a while. Then I must have been exhausted because I fell asleep around 3 and didn't wake up till 5 when I heard Shaun grilling the steaks for dinner. Yes, dinner was great, what I could eat of it. Later in the evening we all watched Marley and Me (which Shane pointed out was NOT a family movie despite the PG rating--too much sex and cussing). What I thought was a great movie ended up grossing me out at times and embarassing Shane. Even though we knew Marley died at the end, Shane, Shaun, and I weren't prepared for how much Marley would remind us of Monroe, our lab who died almost two years ago. We cried our eyes out and Shaun declared it a horrible movie because Shane wouldn't stop crying. He really misses Monroe, we all do. So, my idea of a family movie turned out bad and although the movie was maybe good for adults, it was not a good one for my kids to watch, especially since they still are so attached to our own dead dog.

UGH! I somehow managed to make everyone cry on what should have been a great day. On the up side- the boys presented me with their gifts made at school and a nice-looking artifical plant Shaun had picked out (I hate artificial plants but I tried to be nice). Overall the day wasn't great but we did have some good moments and some nice together time. My sweet boys seemed to have just as hard of a day as I did. Believe me, Saturday was worse for me because I was sicker, but they still had a good day. I helps that I can hide in my room and keep distance from them when I'm feeling awful and moody.

Maybe my next post will be more positive. I do really try to have something nice to say. :)

Blah!

That's how I'm feeling lately. I've been sick a lot lately. Morning sickness is not confined to the morning. I'd be much happier if it was. Not that I want to be sick, but just part of the day would be better than all day. I also have a really hard time staying awake. The more sleep I get the better I feel that day. I can't seem to oversleep even if I try. About 20-30 minutes after I eat, anything, I'm finding myself dozing off. It doesn't matter where I am or how busy I am, I start dozing off. It's crazy! I'm normally a very light sleeper but lately that's been going away too.

For example, I was in a meeting yesterday afternoon. This is an annual meeting about year-end purhasing and bill payments. I went because I was strongly encouraged to do so by the office down the hall which does the annual training sessions. I sat in the back because I knew I'd have this problem. Unfortunately the layout of the room caters to everyone seeing each other and everyone hearing each other. As I sat there trying to focus and be interested I started to doze. I caught myself. I drank some lemonade from my 32 ounce cup. I dozed a moment again. It was not quiet and it was not at all having issues with falling asleep. That meeting was torture! I wanted more than anything to sleep but knew that I couldn't because, well, I'm at work, a lot of the people in the room knew me, I was extremely visable (wherever I'd have chosen to sit) and most of all I was afraid that I would snore. Yep, I snore. Not all the time, just when I'm extremely tired. I don't usually wake people up with my snoring except myself. I was terrified that I would snore and everyone would see and hear me! It was horrible. The whole meeting was that way. I'd doze, drink lemonade, doze, drink, ect. The lemonade didn't last long enough. And I couldn't wait to leave!

Because of this fiasco I plan to ask for a quick blood sugar test the next time I'm at the doctor's office. I don't need the fasting glucose yet, I hope. I just want to know that my levels are normal. Even though it's been, um, 7 1/2 years since I was last pregnant I truly don't ever remember being this tired. EVER! Well, maybe on the trip back from Ireland, but never while pregnant, that I remember.

Along the same topic of blood tests...a week ago I had my initial prenatal labs. I've had lots of labs recently to make sure everything was going ok due to the fact that we had no idea how far along I was for a few weeks, but it was time for the normal prenatal labs. Needles no longer bother me like they used to. Having Shane solved that one for me with all the IV fluids and such that I'd had back then. Anyway, so they lab tech poked one arm, didn't get it. Poked the other, dug around (I have tiny baby veins that like to collapse immediately so unfortunately I'm used to this), finally found a good vein and got just enough blood to do the labs. I didn't notice anything different until I arrived back at my office and realized I couldn't straighten my arm all the way. Looking at my arm I noticed that about an inch or so of vein was bulging (sorry for the mental image) out of my arm. It was in my arm, but buldging. So, I figured no big deal and put an ice pack on it. It was one of those lunch ice packs that don't do a lot but it was still helpful. A week later and...I wish I had a picture.

I STILL have a DARK ugly bruise on that spot on my arm. It's dark purple with a green color under and around it. Yuck! It's been so long since I'd had a needle stick that affected me that much. It really has looked horrible for the past week. I haven't even tried to hide it because there is no point. Everyone notices it. It is slowly starting to get smaller but will probably still linger for a while. So, when people ask what happened I tell them it was prenatal labs, and yes I'm pregnant. No way to hide it from anyone and I'm not a good liar so now everyone is finding out that I'm pregnant whether I wanted them to or not. Telling family and then friends is one thing. Other coworkers and people I didn't want to know is a totally different thing. Oh well, life goes on.

Wow! And I thought I didn't have much to say today! I guess when I'm writing I can go on forever. Kinda like talking... I'll let you get back to reading other people's blogs now. :)

Upon Reflection: My Trip to Paradise and Back

As the semester winds down I have just finished my final paper for the Peace and Conflict in Northern Ireland course. After doing so I re-read all my journal entries (now blogs) from that week. Wow! I miss Ireland/Northern Ireland terribly! I wanted to cry. Ok, so I'm pregnant and that might be playing with my emotions also. :)

A few things I wanted to add/clarify to my notes and journal entries:

Londonderry/Derry is one city. It is in the County Londonderry but the city itself is called by both names. Catholics (Nationalists) call it Derry while British (Unionists) call it Londonderry. The city in its entirety is about 100,000 or twice the size of Manhattan, KS. It is crammed together so it doesn't actually seem to be larger, but it is. They also have public transportation...

Meeting John Hume: The first full day we were in Derry we enrolled in the University of Ulster, Magee Campus. Later that afternoon we had the pleasure of meeting John Hume, 1998 Nobel Peace Prize winner! Mr. Hume was very kind, soft spoken, and had a modest personality. I'll never forget that I had the chance to meet him. I also had a picture taken of me and him (see my Facebook photo albums). He told us about the hotel where the U.S. military was stationed during WWII and we were able to visit it (Beachhill) the next afternoon, on his recommendation. The last day in Derry Mr. Hume again came and spoke with us. He's such a delight! I sat right beside him (the only open seat in the room once I got there). I was a bit nervous sitting by him for some reason but I think more excited than anything. He's such a down-to-earth gentleman.

One place we visited on our second day in Derry was accidentally left off my previous blogs. This was one of my favorite places. It was a large circular place with stairs and walkways going around and up. It was all outdoors and the view from the top was amazing. The day was so windy that once I was blown very hard while on the top I felt that I was going to be blown off! I quickly grabbed the wall and then helped myself down to a lower level. I wish I could remember the name of this place. I have a picture of the name so that I could remember it however I don't have it with me (I think it started with an A!). This place was at least 4,000 years old and was used in ancient times as a place to worship the sun gods. It was somewhere on the way to Donegal, IE. While there I jumped off one of the low walls and hurt my right knee/calf area (see previous entry were I refer to this). It was fine, just sore for the time we were in Ireland. I had simply re-bruised an internal place I'd injured a month before.

Lastly, I know I haven't uploaded any more pictures. Sorry! I meant to. They're all on Facebook...all of them. I can't bring myself to load them onto my blog since they are already online and it takes soooo much time to upload even a few. So, please, if you'd like to see them visit me on Facebook.

I truly miss every moment that I spent abroad and hope that someday I able able to return with my family. I feel that I've learned so very much about a culture that I'd known almost nothing about previously. I learned a lot about myself and even more about conflict resolution. If you ever get the chance to do something so amazing please do so!

This Evening's Adventures: For Celeste!

Shaun and the boys left for a scout camp out for Logan's pack at noon today so...Tonight I had my friend Celeste and her four daughters over for dinner (homemade BBQ grilled chicken pizza and brownies- no need to be too healthy!) and baby photos. It was lots of fun and they kept me awake and semi-energetic. Since I was still awake when they left a couple hours ago I decided to go ahead and process (edit and play with) the pictures of the baby. She's gorgeous and fun. Even though she wouldn't smile at me much we were able to get some great shots! I think she's around 3 months old now. Celeste and I have been trying for the past couple weeks to figure out a time to get together for this and tonight worked out quite well. Here are my favorites. I couldn't narrow it down any further. :)






The girls have nick-named the baby "hippo mouth."











This was the only kinda-belly shot that looked good. She's not a happy belly baby, yet.






This was the reaction we got most of the evening. She wasn't in the mood for this.









Something made her happy! Probably mommy making faces!







This is one of the most beautiful baby blessing gowns I've seen. I love the details and scalloped edging.




Oh my!





Blue-eyed baby.






She did this several times. I think this is what she thought of me! :)









You mean we're done? That's it! Yay! Now I can smile and be happy.