Mega Bus

A coworker was showing me this site this morning. Looks like a great way to get away- and if you book in advance (a month or more?) you can get bus tickets for as low as $2!!! I can go from KC to St. Louis for $5 for my birthday. Not that I will, but I love the thought of it. If they would add a trip from KC to Dallas or the Twin cities I'd be going one or the other once a month. Seriously! The trips are very limited but the buses sound nice. Double decker bus, reclining seats, two bathrooms, tvs for each person (?). Yep, I'm sold. I might just have to plan a quick trip for a couple days in the fall. I won't have vacation days to use but we could get away for a weekend. If I had more time I'd hop on a buses (via Chicago) to Minneapolis, Detroit, and as far as Boston (can't quite get to Maine where my sister is). It's too bad it doesn't go south. I'd like to travel cheap to Baton Rouge and Dallas, too.

Where would you go if you could go anywhere in the U.S. for two or three days? or longer?

Three Months Old and Traveling Again

AJ is now three months old! He's growing quickly and is more expressive everyday. Almost everytime we look at him he's sliming or soon will for us. It doesn't take much to see that beautiful baby smile. Now of course it's followed by coos and throwing his head back because he's excited. So cute! Whenever he sees or even hears us he gets all giddy. Ever since he first smiled he's been quick to smile, for any reason. We love making faces or talking to him just to see the smiles.

Of course, like any baby, he has his upsetting moments as well. He still gets gassy, still taking Mylecon with every feeding, and takes Gripe Water when it's really hurting him. Some nights are better than others. He hasn't been sleeping through the nights as well recently. He's been up with gas and has been a little fussy on and off over the past few nights. I'm really needing my sleep now that I'm working and taking classes at the same time. I get tired very easily. Luckily I'm always busy so I don't fall asleep. Once I hit the pillow at night I'm out fast. I hope this doesn't last too long!

AJ is also having a hard time with being bottle fed at daycare. I didn't realize it was still such an issue until this morning. When I dropped him off I found out he had taken two bottles yesterday morning without crying. I didn't know he'd been crying with every bottle! Poor baby. I'd much rather breastfeed him all the time but that's not possible. So, instead I'm pumping three times a day and freezing it. I'm currently making more than he's eating by bottle so we have a drawer full of milk in the freezer at home. I know at some point I'll not be making enough for him so I am storing it up while I can. We do bottle feed AJ in the car during trips and sometimes when we're out so I knew that he didn't particularly like bottles but I'm sad to hear that he's still having such a hard time with them at daycare. I purposely gave him bottles at times over the two months before he started daycare to try to get him used to them. I guess that didn't work. This next week, while I'm off work and school for Spring Break, I plan to try a couple other bottle nipples to see if we can find something he likes better. These nipples also seem to fast for him so I'll be looking for something slower.

About next week...when I agreed to come back to work earlier than my planned 12 weeks I asked for Spring Break off. This will give me a full week with all three boys. I've been looking forward to this. I don't know when I will get vacation time again since I've used all of mine for maternity leave so I plan to enjoy every moment. We are planning to visit my grandparents in the Dallas, Texas area. My grandmother met AJ when he was about ten days old but my grandpa wasn't able to visit us then. While in Dallas we're planning to find some fun, but inexpensive, activities to do. One each day. The rest of the time will probably be spent hanging out at my grandparents house and doing anything they want to do. Of course we plan to include them in any and all of our activities as well. This will be the first time we've been to Texas in several years and just had time to have fun. The past couple times, which were of course fun as well, we've had other plans, such as Thanksgiving dinners and wedding dress shopping for my youngest sister.

I'll be posting some pictures of the boys and AJ's three month photo shoot at home tonight, either later this evening or in a few days. You'll love them!

Back Again!

No, I haven't gotten my new battery yet... Seems it's not even in stock like the email had said, and so they haven't sent it. The company will receive its shipment of batteries on February 9th and we'll receive ours (supposedly) on the 10th or 11th, now with Free overnight shipping. We'll see if we actually receive it when they say this time. While talking to the company about the battery (I was at my evening class) Shaun figured out that if you take the battery out of the computer and then plug the computer in, it works! This is how we know that it is the battery that needs replaced and that the charger is working just fine. It's nice to be able to use my laptop again, even if it has to be plugged in in order to do so.

This past week passed by very quickly! I finished my online intersession course, with a solid C unless it's curved. I started the new semester (Earth Through Time-Geology 102, Geology Lab 103, The Family- FSHS 550 (?), and will soon start the Ireland course- FSHS 700).

Logan and I flew to Dallas and back over the weekend. My grandpa is in the hospital after a major surgery and wasn't doing so well for a few days. I'm happy to say that he is now finally out of the ICU and in his own room and seems to have been progressing well over the past couple days. I think it's because we visited: Logan and I, my sister Betsy, my aunts, uncles, and three of my cousins. My sister Betsy is still in Texas- she arrived a couple days before us and will stay until Papa is released from the hospital. She's such a wonderful nurse! Mom and Lester and Granny will be able to handle everything after that. You can tell how much love there is in our family when so many people are able to gather together so quickly in support of our loved one. We really missed those of you who couldn't be there, but it did happen suddenly and it's not always easy, or neccessary for everyone to drop everything and be there. I really wasn't sure if I'd make it there but was glad that I did. Fortunately Papa is doing much better now and has a good prognosis. We love you Papa! I'm sure you'll have a speedy recovery now that you've gotten so many hugs and kisses. :)

The trip was quick but very managable since we flew. Now I've got to catch up a little at home but that won't take much as Shaun and Shane did a little house work while we were gone. So, life will soon be back to normal, whatever that is!

Short Updates

1. I'm ready to go to Ireland! Ok, maybe not quite yet, but I did register and pay. I also received my passport, over Thanksgiving break. I am thrilled about this as I haven't ever needed a passport before now. Previously my short trips to Canada and Mexico, both just over the border while growing up, didn't require a passport. I also now have a passport card which will let me cross the borders without having the passport book. Of course that means getting my kids passports if I ever plan to bring them to Canada while visiting relatives in Minnesota. I'll probably do that at some point, just in case we get the chance.

2. I'll be photographing a wedding in late March! I'm very excited to do another wedding. The bride is a friend from church who has seen my photography over the past few years and knew she wanted me to be the photographer. We talked yesterday and it sounds great! Maybe I'll even get my website up and running before then. That's my goal. I'd like the wedding party and guests (and of course the bride and groom and their families) to have a way to directly order from me online but not have to go through another company's ordering process.

3. I have updated photos on Facebook so if you don't have a Facebook account, or if you're not yet my friend on Facebook, now might be the time to do so.

4. Christmas plans: We are hoping/tentatively planning to go to Colorado the day after Christmas, or possibly even Christmas Eve. You can go here to see more about our place in Colorado. I say "our" loosely as it actually belongs to my father-in-law's painting company.

5. Christmas cards: I hope to get these out on time this year. We'll see how that goes. I have the cards and evelopes and need to compile a list of addresses again. If I don't have your address please feel free to email it to me! If I do have it, you can email it to me too, just so that I have it in my email.

I think that's it for now! Take care and have a great holiday season.

I've got it!

Wow! I don't know how more than a month got by without my even reading my own blog.

I finally figured out a name for my not so booming photography business. Now if I could only find the time to do it... Let me know what you think of Outdoor Portraits, Inc. Very simple, and it doesn't seem to be taken online. In the little time I've had recently, I've worked on some pictures I took earlier this summer. I'm finding new ways to edit my digital pictures, and am very pleased to say that the darker indoor pictures that I've taken are looking much better.

I'm planning to take Golda and Jeremy's engagement pictures over Thanksgiving weekend. Other than that, if we can find time, my schedule is open. :)