Insomnia

No, not the movie, the reality.

Scott and I turned our light out at 12:30am. I woke up the first time about 3. I drifted back off again until 4:30. I got out of bed at 5:22. I've been reading blogs and sale ads since then. Not sleeping is one of the worst side effects of fibromyalgia for me and the reason I've taken prescription sleep aid for 3.5 years. Once we found out we were pregnant, I stopped them cold turkey. For a while I slept well, because my body was so tired! Now though (and the last 3 months) I'm awake every night. My doc says I can take Tylenol PM 2-3 times per week (it's safe every night, but my body will adjust to it) so I do. Usually that helps me, but night before last, I couldn't even tell that I'd taken anything. Bummer. (Sorry that I use parentheses a lot, it's how my mind works.)

Scott's parents are in our guest room, and his sister and her family are in our back room. I'm in the living room. If none of them were there, I'd probably also have two dogs curled up at my feet, but I was afraid they (Zoe!) would get to excited and try to find the rest of the family! When closed doors are involved, she prefers to sit outside of them and cry. I didn't think that would be the family's preference, so they are still in the bedroom wtih Scott!

Christmas was great! I had been planning for last night's dinner since the start of November. That's when I made my menu and started my shopping, buying whatever was on sale that would still be good at Christmas or could freeze. I was really nervous about this meal quite frankly. Scott's mom would be here (you know, a son and his mom that cooks everything and cooks it well!) and I was nervous that something, or everything, would go wrong and I would end up on my bed sobbing. Well, maybe pride goeth before a fall, but everything turned out great! My menu: brown sugar glazed ham, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, deviled eggs, green pea salad, cherry salad, and Hawaiian rolls! Everything came out hot and at the same time, which is more than I can say for a normal lunch some days. This morning's casserole might burn and I might end up on the bed sobbing, but for now, I will revel in the success of last night's meal. Oh, did I mention that I made it all? From scratch? (Well, except for the rolls, because really, nothing is as yummy as Hawaiian rolls!)

Scott might have hated that notebook I started writing in in early November, but he liked the dinner! I'm such a planner, but this proves that it worked! (I lost the notebook in our pit of a house a few times, sending me to tears and him to running around the house until the lost prize was found again!)

So many of you out in the blogosphere (not that many read this page, but I read lots of others!) I was thinking about you today/yesterday. To the ones that lost a child this year, to the ones that gained a child, to the one who has lost both parents at a young age but is such a strong woman, to the parents/grandparents whom I try to learn from, to the many many others that have influenced me with a simple post, thank you for what you do. Thank you for living your life (and blogging about it!), for sharing your lessons, and for just being awesome. God bless you all!

I got tagged!!! Merry Christmas!!!!

The lovely Melissa has tagged me! I've never been tagged before, so I'm really excited! Thanks!

Ok, I'm supposed to go to my 6th picture folder, post the 6th picture, then tell the story behind it. I happen to LOVE this picture, so I'm glad this is the 6th one!

This is my nephew, I. This is his first Christmas as a part of our family. He is 14 months old, and was adopted by Scott's sister when he was 10 months old. He is such a happy addition to our family!

Ok, this picture was taken about 20 minutes after I met him. They had only been home 4 days or so before we were able to get to their house. He was kind of cranky that weekend, but who wouldn't be after being taken from their home, placed with people who spoke a funny language, and flown halfway around the world! You can tell from this picture that he really studies people, faces, and whatever is going on! I just love this little guy! They will be arriving at our house this afternoon to celebrate Christmas, so we'll get to watch him open presents later! Yay!

Scott's parents arrived yesterday night, we went to dinner, then to a Christmas Eve service at our church. Today we got up, had pancakes, and now we're just kind of sitting around. I don't know what today will bring!

It's weird not being with "my" family for this day. I know that Scott's family is mine also, but you know what I mean. These aren't the folks I have memories with, traditions with, etc. My parents took my sister to NYC for Christmas as her graduation trip. Their travel day is a whole post in itself, I'll save that for another time!

I hope that you are with people you love today. I hope that you think about the Son that was sent for us, as a tiny baby laid in a manger. Scott and I played Mary and Joseph at a children's event at our church, and I keep thinking back to that. Here we are, expecting a baby, sitting on hay, laying a "baby" in the manger, and feeling the fear and excitement of being parents of our own soon! I wish I had the faith and trust that Mary and Joseph had!

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!! (Ok, it's only 10am, but maybe you won't read this until night time!!)

So much to do...

Edit #1: 12/11
Edit #2: 12/25

My list of things to do by Dec. 24th (the day Scott's parents arrive) just keeps growing and growing! Scott is in Minnesota until Thursday, so I have very lofty goals of getting things done before then! I will update this list as things get worked on, so you can be really excited for me! Doesn't that sound like fun?

Set up Christmas tree It's up but not decorated yet, I'm waiting for Scott to be home to do it with me!
Put together tall baby dresser Finished by Scott before he left
Put together long baby dresser Also finished by Scott before he left, but I helped him move it into the baby's room!
Paint baby's room Completed the weekend before Tgiving, then touched up last week
Set up day bed Yay, a two day project, done!
Set up crib
Clean up front room - working on it...
Find room divider?
Straighten up garage
Hang Christmas lights
Write Christmas cards (I'm about halfway done...)
Mail Christmas cards (I've bought the stamps!)
Change out hooks and handles on shutters
Change sheets in front room
Install CO detecter and fire alarm
Order my sister's bday present

Wish me luck!

Blogging while I cook!!

(to the tune of "Whistle While You Work")

Welp, we made it back from Thanksgiving in one piece. Traffic was a nightmare (stupid drivers going way to fast and too close to others!), and we were grateful to get home.

Tonight for dinner, we're having Taco Bake. Layers of tortillas, taco meat, cheese, and refried beans all baked in the oven. Between each step, I'll write a little here, so this will probably just be a hodge podge post. I can do that, this is my blog. :) Oh, while it's baking, I'm also going to cook some tator tots, because that's what Charlotte wants.

Here are some thoughts from today:
~What does it mean when your husband, upon seeing you after work and after taking your heavy coat off, says "woah!" because you suddenly look bigger than when you left for work? We always take my weekly picture on Monday, so it was that time tonight when we got home. Yeah, made me feel really good. This was after I told him I was feeling big and uncomfortable today! I guess I was bigger!
~Walmart at 5pm is always bad.
~I picked up our crib mattress today, that was exciting!
~Scott is finishing the baby's room (painting) right now, then we'll move furniture in there soon.
~Work was long and boring today. I don't think it helped that my back is really tired/sore. Lots of riding in the car+being pregnant+not sleeping well=24/7 achy back.
~Sorry this is a boring post.
~I got my first comment from a stranger today about being pregnant, that was fun!
~I wish that family lived closer sometimes. Not that I'd be over there all the time, it would be nice to have that option though.
~I just put my tator tots in, and we're very excited about that!
~I will post pics whenever I get them off my camera. Maybe tonight?
~Did you catch that I told you my baby girl's name earlier in this post?? Middle name: Elizabeth.

That is it for now. I'm going to go wash dishes then sort mail from the 5 days we were gone!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wow, what a different Thanksgiving this has been! We travelled (took 9.5 hours) yesterday, as did my aunt and grandparents from TX to my parents' house in OK. We get here and find that Mom's oven decided to quit on Tuesday! No problem, they also have a convection oven, so it would take a little prior planning but we could still make everything that we wanted to.

Wait... the convection oven quit last night at 9:45!! As we were cooking the turkey!! So Mom and Dad have a very generous friend who offered to cook it for us, so they took it to her house at 9:45 and went back to get it about 11:45 or midnight. Once it cooled, they were able to debone it to put it in the fridge. They went to bed about 1:30am!

Then today, we had to figure out what could be done in the crockpot. Our solutions: green bean casserole and the dressing. Both turned out well, and everything else was cooked in the microwave. For once, Mom had gotten rolls that just had to be heated, not actually cooked, so that wasn't a problem either!

We have lots of desserts and lots of snacky foods, so we've eaten way too much today. Baby girl (name to be announced soon!) really liked all the food, she's been moving lots since about noon today!

Tonight, after my grandparents went to their hotel (and my sister went to bed - she's not feeling too well) the rest of us played Trivial Pursuit, girls v. boys. I helped my team to victory with 3 of the 6 pie pieces! That never happens, so it was really exciting.

We've been wrangling dogs all day, 3 little ones and one big one. They're really fun to have around and have been the topics of many conversations. I love my pups!

I hope that the rest of you have enjoyed your holiday! So much to give thanks for this year!

Nursery Pictures!!

This is the start of our baby's room! It began with horrible wallpaper of tiny pink roses. We started to take it down easily, so we were psyched. Turns out, you shouldn't start in the closet; they don't use much glue in there! They do, however, use lots of glue in the real room! So it shredded like crazy! We had to get a perferator tool and used 3.5 bottles of glue remover! Huge mess, lots of time, and Scott did most of it. This was the first patch we tried:


Daddy is working really hard, but he poses because Mommy said to.
This is the color we're changing to, it's called Dancing Green, by Sherwin Williams.

This is our jail bird at the door to the baby's room. We didn't want to close the door so it would stay ventilated, so we put up the baby gate. She cried occasionally, and she was barking during this picture!

Mommy made Zoe try out our first big baby gift! She didn't like it until we put the bone cookie on the tray!

Those room pictures really didn't do our struggle justice, it was a pain!!

Bump Pictures!

21 weeks

Ignore the giant butt I have here... It's the pants, I swear!!

22 weeks

See, not a huge butt here... right?

My new haircut!!

We've picked a name!

But we're not telling for now! :)

Name that baby!!

Scott and I are down to 3 names now (from 16 that we started with), who knows when we'll pick one! We really love all three and can't pick yet! What do you think?

Madelyn (Claire)
Charlotte (Elizabeth or Claire)
Sadie (Elizabeth)

I keep getting mixed answers!

In other baby news, we ended up taking down the wall paper in the baby's room. We thought it was going to come off nicely (the parts in the closet did!!) but it decided to shred instead. So we bought this thing that you roll over it that perforates the paper, then we spray a gel over it that (I guess?) disolves the wall paper glue. Anyways, it's a big huge mess, Scott won't let me do it because he is concerned about me not getting enough oxygen, so am I. He's about done though. Our goal is to get it primed and possibly painted by the end of the weekend. I've been taking pictures of the progress, so I need to get them loaded up to the computer!

The weather turned cold and rainy for a few days, and my body seems to be taking it pretty hard. My knees, hips, and back all hurt, as well as the muscles in between. I'm walking pretty stiffly, and I'm having a hard time getting up from sitting or bending over at all. I'm afraid this is what it's going to be like through the winter. Thank goodness we live where there are mild winters!

Funny Story

This weekend, we had a garage sale. We had an old couch, a desk, a desk chair, a washer and dryer set and a couple of living room tables plus lots of random items and clothes, and we decided that we really wanted to get rid of it all! So we've been planning it for a while, ran an ad in the newspaper. Friday afternoon, we had the garage door open and we were working on pricing and arranging all the stuff. A neighbor lady came by. I can't remember her name though. She's originally from Germany and her husband is into gardening and is in a gardening club. He gave us a bunch of flowers for our front yard this summer. Anyways, that's all I know. So Germany comes by and says, I saw your great ad in the paper! I've got just a few items that I've been wanting to get rid of, would you mind if I brought them over to sell in your garage sale? Sure, we say, no problem! Just price them and bring them by! So we finish up and go inside about 6pm, but we still haven't seen her again. I just figured that she'll come back over at 7am when we open again. Well, we didn't see her again, so I looked down the street and she's got her own garage sale going on!! Complete with signs and everything!! I was so mad!! It was $25 to run the ad in the paper and she's getting all of our foot traffic!!! Scott just laughed at me, but I was upset. She had people constantly in her driveway and we'd have no one!! Also, we saw at least one person use our driveway to turn around in to go back to her house!!

So I'm checking the mail when I got home today, and this guy walks up and asks how our garage sale went. We'd not met, but it turns out that he lives on the other side of Germany. Nice guy. I told him that we sold our big stuff, and that was the point of the sale so it was successful. He asked how I liked our neighbor lady and her garage sale too. I said it was weird since she didn't have one planned originally!! He laughed and said that her and a few other old ladies on the street wait until someone else on the street is having one then they have one too!! I couldn't believe it! I thanked him for telling me that, then I didn't feel so bad. It's not just me, she does it to everyone! Now I can laugh but not on Saturday!

The sale was fine though, we moved our big items and made a little extra cash. That's good since we just picked up our baby furniture! Our bedding should arrive today or tomorrow, then we'll pick paint colors and get started on the nursery. Green walls, pink and green bedding, cherry furniture. I'll post pics as we get going!

It's a ...

GIRL!

Scott and I are beyond thrilled that our baby girl is healthy and right on schedule! She's measuring right where she should be and it was amazing getting to see her this morning! We have a cd with pictures, but I'm not sure how to get them off yet. Once we get that figured out, you'll get to meet our daughter!

Our daughter... wow...

Pictures!

Baby Bump at 16 weeks

Baby Bump at 17 weeks

Baby Bump at 18 weeks

Baby Bump at 19 weeks

Yay! 19 Weeks!!

funny story

I couldn't find that thing that holds my pants upthis morning (bella band), so I came to work intending to put a rubber band on my pants (through the button hole) to keep them up. Well, my pants have 2 buttons, so that required 2 rubber bands. And the bigger, stretchier ones didn't work, they let my pants gap too much. So I put on 2 little, tight rubber bands. It's worked fine, and I didn't think a thing more about it.

I actually planned lunch away from work today with 2 coworkers. When I got up to go to lunch, I realized that I really need to go to the bathroom first, so I ran down the hall. I got into the stall and looked down to rediscover those rubber bands I'd forgotten about! Not good timing, I really had to go! Fortunately, no one else was in there, because I started dancing around in my haste to get the bands off! I'm going to have to give myself more time next time!! (Or find my bella band!!)

oh yeah

And we ordered our baby furniture this weekend too! JCPenney's had baby furniture 15-40% off, so we took advantage of that and the free shipping by shipping it to our local store!

2 more days!

Great Weekend!

Last week was far from great, so this weekend was especially nice. I wrote last week about the fun weekend we had with family in Stillwater. I left out the part about my nephew throwing up for 3 hours Saturday night. We all thought that his dinner just didn't agree with him, so we all cuddled on him and helped clean up his mess. Then Monday afternoon, his mom came down with the stomach virus, then Tuesday at midnight, my inlaws both had it, and it shot us both out of bed at 3am. From 3-5am we were rushing for the bathroom, sometimes at the same time. Scott and I both took off Tuesday and I stayed home Wednesday, Scott went in after lunchtime. That virus hung around until Friday or so, it was so draining! My aunt was supposed to come and stay with us Friday night, but I called and cancelled her earlier in the week. I'm glad I did, our house was a disaster! We spent the better part of Friday afternoon/evening and Saturday until 2:30 (Go Cowboys!) cleaning, organizing (nesting??) and just generally getting stuff done.

I don't what the reason behind my energy was. Here are some options.
1. First weekend at home where I wasn't sick with All Day Sickness since JULY!!
2. Rebound energy from the ADS (see above) and the stomach virus
3. Second trimester energy??

Whatever the cause, I'm glad it was here. When we moved into our house, we just threw stuff where it seemed convienent, and now that we know our house a little better, I got to organize some stuff. Mostly stuff in the laundry room. We have these great cabinets (that I cannot even begin to reach!) that were just sitting there, empty. I've fixed that problem! I think my new "system" will be great! :)

Saturday night, we had a few of my coworkers over for a Pumpkin Carving Party! I took some pictures, so I will post those tonight once they are uploaded to my computer. It was a lot of fun! I got to do a little cooking for it (I made Mummies (pigs in a blanket), cheese dip, punch, set out chips, and lots of candies!) with very little clean up which is always great!

Scott and I led the 4th grade Sunday School class yesterday morning as subs. We'd been warned about this class before, but it wasn't so bad. It was the Drama unit, so they kids got to get up and move around a little. I thought they followed directions really well. There were only 10 (3 girls, 7 boys) but I'd been warned that there could have been up to 17! All in all, I was pretty proud of the two of us, having never had to have a group of kids organized together!

The rest of our Sunday was good too. We went to lunch after work, then we went and voted. 6,100 people in our county voted this weekend! Once we got home, it was mid afternoon, and I was surprisingly still awake! I didn't feel the need for a nap, so I got some stuff done for our garage sale this weekend. We've got some big items (couch, washer/dryer, tables) and lots of little things, so I didn't want to wait until Friday to start! I swept out our garage and cleaned off some shelves to set stuff on. I began pricing a few things, but mostly just got things organized in my mind. We'll be ready to go Saturday morning at 7!

Today is 19 weeks exactly. That means that I'll be taking my "19 week" picture tonight! Once that's done, I'll upload it along with my pumpkin party pictures, and I'll try to get those posted on here!

Wows: energy this weekend, finally feeling better, time spent with friends, time spent with Scott this weekend
Pows: a friend couldn't come Saturday night because she was and still is sick

Today is Oct. 20th. That means that there are only 10 days left until we find out if we're having a boy or a girl! I'm so excited! Apparently it's in my subconscious too, because I've been dreaming about it. And not good dreams. I guess I've been reading too much medical stuff because my last nightmare was really sad and scary.

So I'm going to Barnes and Noble when I get off work to buy Belly Laughs and A Girlfriend's Guide to Pregnancy. Both are supposed to be fun and really make fun of the strange things that happen during pregnancy. I'm ready for a few laughs and not so much medical stuff! My dreams need to lighten up!

Wows: 10 more days!
Pows: 10 more days :(

Home for a while

Scott and I (and sometimes the pups) have been traveling so much lately. Three weekends in a row we've driven 6 hours on Friday and 6 hours on Sunday. This was the last of our fall travels until Thanksgiving, and we're so excited about that!

I'm sitting in Scott's parent's living room this morning. We're going to get on the road in about 30 minutes, drive our 6 hours, then be home for something like 5 weekends! It will be great!

We came to Stillwater this weekend to meet up with Scott's sister, K, and her baby, I, to celebrate his first birthday. They already did the traditional Korean Tol birthday. It's really interesting. They put out a platter with different items and let him pick 1 or 2 to see what his future holds: red thread (long life), money (wealth), book (scholar), mask (it was keychain sized - for warrior) and they did something American, a football (athlete). His first item was a book, then he threw it on the ground, so they let him grab something else and he grabbed the money. So Korean tradition tells us that he will be a wealthy scholar! I told K that it must mean that he will take care of his parents in their old age!

That's about all I've got for now. Let's see, wows and pows of the weekend:
Wows: hanging out with Scott's family, snuggling with baby I, seeing Scott playing dad with baby I, watching the OSU Cowboys go 7-0 for the season so far!
Pows: teaching my pups to leave the baby alone (Zoe just wants to be bffs and kept licking him, and Colby didn't like when I was holding Isaac, growling!), riding 6 hours on Friday, (about to ride 6 hours soon!), going back to work on Monday.

I wish the weekends were 5 days long, and the work weeks were only 2!

Writer's Workshop

Mama's Losing It hosts a Writer's Workshop on Thursdays. I've been reading for a while, and I've decided to challenge myself to write it this week. It's a lot like journaling to me, and I've never been comfortable with that, so I'm not too sure what will come out of this! The prompt choices this week are:

1.) Recall a time when you did something to get noticed. Write about it.
2.) Begin with “I wish someone told me…”
3.) If you could rearrange three things about your life what would they be?
4.) What do you love to create?

I'm going to choose #2.

I wish someone told me that life wasn't easy. Wait, people did. Maybe I wish I had more specifics about what would not be easy or maybe that I had just believed "them."

• "They" said that dating was hard. It wasn't, at first. Dating was easy! Get asked out, go to dinner, see a movie, go home. Then feelings get involved. That's where dating starts to become hard. Once feelings get invovled, good or bad, dating is hard!
• "They" said college would be hard. It wasn't, at first, either! Go to class, study, do your work, take the tests, get good grades. Wait, doing all of that doesn't automatically lead to good grades?? What? You can study your tail off and squeak by on a test with a C!! That's where college gets hard! Then trying to figure out how to balance dating and college, that's hard too.
• "They" said that marriage would be hard. Nope, piece of cake! (Getting to the wedding day, challenging, the actually being married part, easy!) Oh, Scott is still in college, I'm working a real job, and a fairy doesn't come at night to give us extra money, do the dishes, do the laundry, cook, clean or take out the trash?? Oooh, that's where it's hard!
• "They" said that pregnancy would be hard, especially for me. At first, it was only hard to not shout our news from my rooftop! Then it was hard to keep my breakfast, lunch, and dinner in my stomach. Now it is hard waiting til the next ultrasound (2 weeks!!!). Then it will be hard to pick a name. Then it will be hard being pregnant and waiting! So far, my fibromyalgia hasn't flared up, and I pray that it doesn't. If it does, that will make things harder for sure.
• "They" say that having kids is hard.
• "They" say that raising kids is hard.

Something "they" don't tell you is to avoid all of these things. No one tells you that any of these items is so hard to never do them. That means that all of these hard things must be worth it! Dating? Yes
College? Yes
Marriage? Definitely yes!
Pregnancy? While I'm not done yet, I expect this to be a yes too!
Having and raising kids? People have done it as far back as Adam and Eve, so I'm going to go with a yes there too.

See, I didn't know where this was going, but I actually like the outcome. This tells me that just because something is hard doesn't mean it shouldn't be done! I'm glad I did this writing today, thanks, Mama Kat!!

Whew!

Life has been kind of crazy lately! We're 17 weeks along and I'm finally not feeling sick all the time! That is such a blessing. I'm able to be around people eating meat now! I will try to remember to post my latest belly pictures. We've taken them every Monday since week 12. I can tell a difference in the way my pants fit, but nothing is really visible yet.

Last weekend was my Jen's baby shower! It was a lot of fun, but the best part was just hanging out with her and her hubby at her grandparent's house the nights before and after. We went from living together for our senior year of college, to seeing each other about once a year since then; it's no fun! She is expecting Hannah Brooke mid-January, and I can't wait to meet her!

Two of my coworkers have a kindergartner. Every day they ask her what her Wows and Pows of the school day were, Wows being what was the best part of the day, Pows being something disappointing or bad about the day. I've realized that I've been giving myself Wows and Pows daily for a while too without really thinking about it! I'm going to try to put that on my posts here too. What were your Wows and Pows of today?

10/15:
Wows: These yummy gummy life savers I'm enjoying right now; the grace that God made evident during our Wednesday meditation at work; my husband (away on business) called before he left his hotel for the day just to say hey; that my sick dog (Zoe) of a few days ago is home and feeling better; that my BCF (Best Canadian Friend) might be calling me tonight
Pows: That little Zoe has to take medication for the next 6 days; that Scott will not be home until tomorrow night; that someone ate the end of the cherry tomatoes out of the work fridge that I was so looking forward to; that today is National Stillbirth and Childloss Day

Tonight I will enjoy being at home with my pups, enjoying a quiet house, and looking forward to my husband being home soon. I have a coworker who is a year older than me. She and her husband have been married 3 years, but he has been in Afghanistan for the last 15 months for work. I don't know who he works for, but I would hate my husband to be away for that long, and especially to there. I just couldn't handle it. Scott has been gone since Monday, and that's long enough for me!

Happy Wednesday!

15 weeks!

In my 15 week update email about Purple's development, I found out that s/he can hear me! Actually has been able to for a while, but is just now recognizing what s/he's hearing! The email encourages you to talk, sing, read to your baby starting now.

I told Scott that Purple can hear us now, and he started talking to my stomach. It was so cute, I loved it!

Also, he thinks we're having a girl, based on my morning sickness. We shall see, 4 weeks and 2 days from now!

Time to Update!

Hey! Sorry it's been so long! I've been meaning to write a post for a while, but I only remembered when I was already busy! Ok, here goes:

• Scott's sister and her hubby have been home 4 weeks with their baby. He began really sleeping though the night after about 2 weeks. He's starting to eat more foods now. She says he likes carrots, I think!
• We are 14 weeks pregnant this week. We're due March 23rd. We've had one ultrasound so far (actually looking for a hernia!) and that was the coolest thing. Baby was moving, waving his/her hands and feet around, the heartbeat was in the 150s. We got 11 pictures and we've looked at them lots! I was pretty sick weeks 6-13, but that seems to be improving. I haven't gotten sick since last week. For those not pregnant yet, "morning" sickness is a total misnomer; it lasts all day!!
• A friend that I "met" online almost 2 years ago is going through something so heartbreaking. It's not my story to tell, but please pray for this family and the challenging days ahead.
• Hurricane Ike came through about 2 weeks ago. We were told to expect widespread power outages, but we were lucky and didn't have any problems with that. It took us about 1.5 hours to clean up our yard the next day, but nothing major there either.
• Zoe has decided to dig again. She got out of the yard 4 times in 4 days a few weekends ago! 3 of those times, she dug out of our yard, landing herself in someone else's yard! Scott had to coax her back through! So now we've got to tie her up in the back yard. She's on a 30 yard run, so she can cover almost the whole yard, just not the fence lines!!

I know that I had other things I was going to write about, but I don't remember what it was. Scott was home sick yesterday, and today I'm the one laying on the couch. I've had a headache all day. I'm hoping it goes away. Tonight is Grey's Anatomy! Yay!! I'm so excited!

Growing, Growing, Gone!

SIL and her hubby met their baby yesterday for the first time! I cried when I read her email. She held Isaac a bit, then passed him to his Daddy, and eventually he fell asleep in Daddy's arms. I had prayed that their first meeting would be a good one, and God is so good! They were not supposed to have him until Monday, then fly out Monday night at 8:50pm, but the agency said that they will probably be able to have him Saturday or Sunday instead! Yay!!

Also, I'm pregnant!

TRAVEL CALL!!!

My SIL and her hubby got their travel call!! She emailed me to ask if we could have Saturday's shower at another date, because they are probably flying to Korea on Thursday! Please keep them in your prayers for:

1. Safe travel, to a country they've never been to, with a language they don't speak
2. A happy meeting with their forever baby for the very first time
3. A relatively easy travel back. Baby I will be on an 11 or 12 hour difference, so his timing will be completely off for a while. That travel day back to the US will be strange and scary for Baby I, K, and T.

Scott and I are so excited for them! This has been a long time coming, and it's finally here!

So sleepy!

My fibromyalgia has decided to really kick up with regards to my sleep lately. Or my not-going-to-sleep-ever-again lately. It's been probably 2 or 3 months since I slept the whole night through. At first, months ago, I'd wake up, look at the clock like I always do, then I'd roll over and go back to sleep. That has progressed to waking up every hour, staying awake a while, and finally drifting off at 6 before the alarm goes off oat 6:30.

This is true for the weekends too, which really stinks.

Last night, I woke up about 2:30, and I was really hot (another problem plaguing me lately), so I turned the fan up a speed which helped immediately. I thought, great! That was an easy fix. At 3:15, I got out of bed, went to the living room, and proceded to watch 3 episodes of Fresh Prince. It was that or infomercials, but I didn't feel like listening about the chop and scoop anymore.

Colby came out with me, really confused why I was up at 3am. He decided that it would be a great time for him to go outside, so I waited for him to come back in. Then he wanted to walk around, clicking his nails on the ground. That would not help me go back to sleep, so I put a blanket on the floor by the couch and he slept there the rest of the night. I slept with the tv on when I finally fell back asleep.

I emailed my boss at 3:45, told him I wouldn't be coming in until "mid-day;" I like that term because it didn't nail me down to a time! After Scott left for work, I slept 7:45-9:15, then dozed off and on til 10. I woke up and watched Gilmore Girls while eating a peanut butter and honey sandwich. It was a good feel-good food for this morning.

I stayed home until lunchtime to have lunch with Scott, then I finally came in to work. I could have taken the whole day off and not fallen behind on anything at work, but I like to get paid too.
I told Scott that I'm going to be so physically active tonight, it's going to be crazy. I'm going to go for a walk with the pups when I get home, then I'm going to mow the lawn, lift some weights, walk again. Whatever it takes to not sit around before bedtime. I need to exhaust myself even more and see if that helps. My body is so exhauted already, I just don't understand why I'm not sleeping. When I wake up, my mind is wide awake, but my body isn't! Also, all this lack of sleep is making my hips hurt a lot. I can't sit without hurting right now!

Ah, the joys of fibromyalgia. Most of the time, I can handle it alright. Today is not one of those times.

A rodeo, a long drive, and a wedding; oh my!

Friday night, Scott and I went to a rodeo! It actually ended up being more fun than we thought it would! We saw calf roping, barrel racing, bull riding, and calf wrestling! I thought that there would be a lot of drinking around, but they didn't even sell beer which was great. There was a family with 5 kids in front of us, and when they first sat down, I was worried that we wouldn't enjoy sitting by them, but it was really quite the opposite. They were so well behaved, enjoyed their cotton candy, and really liked each other's company! I think their dad must have been a rodeo guy sometime; he looked like one and dressed like one!

Saturday, we got to sleep in a little, then headed out to Norman, OK for a friend's wedding. It's our third and final wedding of the summer. It took about 5 hours, but it was really a fabulous wedding. I didn't really know any other guests except for a few that were Scott's classmates. When they all got back together, they talked about their current jobs. They're all engineers, so it was pretty boring! One of them, a bridesmaid, is the only one I knew, so during the reception, we chatted when we could. It was nice to see her and her husband since we weren't able to make it to their wedding last year.

We stayed at a nice hotel, slept in a little this morning, then really took our time getting back home. We went to Cracker Barrel in Norman on our way out of town; it was so yummy! Then we hit the road until we stopped for a little outlet mall shopping. Some books, a tie, and a few kitchen odds and ends later, we got back on the road and drove back to Tyler.

Overall, this was a great weekend and a great change of pace from a "regular" weekend. We were glad to get back home and see the pups! Some friends watched them, and said they did well, so we were happy to hear that! I hope you all had a fabulous weekend too!

Rodeo?

Ok, now that we live in Tx, I decided that we needed to do something totally Texan! I heard about a rodeo on the radio yesterday, so I bought tickets today! It's tonight at 8, with a concert by Chris Cagle after the rodeo is over. I will try to take pictures of us there, because it should be a hoot, but I think my camera is on the fritz. Boo. It really will be funny tonight... :)

4th of July Weekend

Scott and I had a great holiday weekend! Scott's sister, K, and her husband, T, came to visit! They hadn't seen our house before and had only been here to visit one other time, so it was really exciting. Usually T has to be back at their church to lead the youth Sunday school, but he took a week off so they got to stay! We went to see fireworks Friday night, the zoo and Hancock on Saturday. They even came to our church on Sunday and got to see me sing in the priase band.

They are such great people, great as family members, and great as a couple. It's always great to see them, but it's just different when it's the 4 of us. I wish we could do it more often. But that's all about to change! K and T are adopting a baby boy from Korea at the end of the summer! This adoption has so been a God thing. From the timing, to the funding, to the timing again. People who don't believe in God need to hear stories like this adoption (really can't share details, as they are not mine to share!), feel the goose bumps of things "just working out" and see that there is something bigger at play. God is so awesome, and I am lucky to have K and T, and soon I, in my life! I love that little guy already! He'll be about 10-11 months when he comes home, so it will be a huge change!

5 Item Meal:

Thanks, Shannon, for hosting today's Works For Me Wednesday! I am always looking for easy meals, and you can't get much easier than 5 items or less!

Taco Soup:
1 lb. ground beef, cooked and drained
1 packet taco seasoning
1 packet dry ranch seasoning
corn
beans

Put in crockpot and stir it up! Cook on low 4-5 hours, or high 3. This also works on the stovetop. I personally like it better the next day, once the flavors are really blended. This is easy to put on the stove or in the crockpot while you are making tonight's dinner, then enjoy it tomorrow!

This recipe is very flexible. Add what your family likes, leave out what they don't! We like veggies in our soups, so we add 2 cans of corn and 1 can of pinto beans, sometimes two. Also, if you have it on hand, feel free to add green beans or another kind of bean, I bet black beans would be good. Also good with a can of rotel, a little different flavor. Is this cheating? It's more than 5 ingredients if you add all that stuff, but it can be very simple!

To eat, we like it with tortilla chips, a little cheese, and if it seems too spicy, a little sour cream.

Enjoy!

Blood:Water Mission

Last night I went to a Sara Groves concert with special guest Donald Miller. It was benefitting the Blood:Water Mission, "a grassroots movement founded by the members of the band Jars of Clay to personally and creatively empower African communities to provide clean blood and clean water projects." (From the flyer at my church) It was called the Ride:Well Concert with a group that is riding across America. They left the west coast June 9 and arrived in Tyler, TX yesterday. They are ending in about 3.5 weeks in South Carolina, I think. Sara Groves was really good, and Donald Miller did a great job. They both captured the hearts and checkbooks of Tyler people. The goal was $40,000, which is enough to build 10 wells in Sub Saharan Africa. The total we heard, and they were still counting, was over $72,000! That's 17.5 wells! I was so incredibly surprised, but very excited. That's awesome!! And this morning, I got on facebook and found out that I know one of the riders! There were probably 20 or so, and I know one! I went to high school with him in MS, and I'm not at all surprised that he's participating in the ride. Good luck, Matt W!!

I've been busy lately, and I don't see that slowing down anytime soon! VBS was a few weeks ago at the church, then I got 45 youth off on a mission trip to MS. The next week was our Mission Week for our church. Our church as well as 2 other Methodist churches sponsor Mission Week every summer, and hundreds of people participate across Tyler. I think like 5-6 hundred! I worked with one of the youth projects and learned how to roof a house! I nailed shingles 7a-noon 2 days last week! It's really hot, hard work, but I felt really good when it was all said and done. Those kids are amazing, and I love being around their youth, excitement and (most of the time) attitudes. They are a blessing to my life, and I'm lucky to know them.

This past weekend, Scott and I traveled to Stillwater, OK for a friend's wedding. I was a little worried since I only knew like one other person at the wedding (the groom is Scott's friend), but it was really fun! The bride looked stunning, like she just stepped out of a bridal magazine! And the whole time could be described as casual shabby chic. Really fun weekend overall too. We got to hang out with friends and just sit around, chat, and play the wii on Saturday afternoon.

That's about it for now! Scott's sister and brother in law are coming to visit for the weekend. We're going to go see fireworks on Friday night, but no other plans besides that! It should be fun!!

*Update, He's not a rider, he works for Blood:Water Mission. Still cool!

My Kids

Let me introduce you to my two children: Colby Jack and Zoe Jean.



This is our family from Thanksgiving 2007. Zoe is the black and white pup on the left, Colby is the reddish one on the right. I was just looking through my pictures on this computer and there aren't very many of Colby! Those are all on the other one! So this post will be mostly filled with Zoe!

This is Colby. He's a hybrid doggie. We've been told he looks like any/all of these: daschund, golden retriever, corgi, chihuhua, and many others. To us, he looks like a long haired weenie dog. Whatever he is, we love him!!

Likes: Playing ball, riding in the car with his head hanging out the window, wrestling with Zoe, chasing his cousin dogs around the yard, chewing bones, playing soccer, food, cheese, snuggling with me, playing with Scott, going for walks, dog classes, putting his ball under the couch or bed then barking at it until we get it out! hot dogs (ironic, right?)

Dislikes: getting in trouble, not being allowed to sleep on our bed, being outside without us, being separated from Zoe, taking medicine, getting his nails trimmed, taking a bath, anyone coming to the door

Full name: Colby Jack H__ Nicknames: CJ, Cheese Puff, Jackster, The Boy, Brother, Weiner Dog, Fatty, Chubby, Chunky Monkey

We got Colby almost 3 months after we got married. He'll be 2 in August (we got him when he was about 4 months old). He is grouchy, loving, protective, silly, and our first child!


This is my Zoe girl, celebrating Easter in her bunny suit! Zoe is also a hybrid dog, with the vet's best guess being the oh so vague, "wire terrier mix." Who knows what that means! We've watched the Terrier parts of dog shows, and she doesn't look like any of them!

Likes: Everything! She is so happy! Food, treats, being held, chasing birds, chasing Colby, chasing bugs or anything else that flies, riding in the car, now with her head out the window like big brother, rawhides, stuffed toys, sour cream, dancing on her back paws, watching tv, digging


Dislikes: being separated from Colby, people sneaking up on her, anyone yelling or being too loud, having toys taken away


This picture is from the first night we got her. Scott was playing video games and she just zonked out in my lap!

Full Name: Zoe (said like Zo-E) Jean H__ Nicknames: LBG (Little Black Girl), Sister, the Little One, Zo (said like Joe), Baby Girl, Little Girl
We got Zoe on Saturday, October 26th (also about 4 months old). That first week we had her, she started getting sick and was diagnosed with Parvovirus and we were told she had a 50/50 chance of surviving it. She was put on 24 hour care with IV drip through the weekend. We picked her up on Sunday morning, and our little fighter has been amazing ever since. We fell in love with her in that short week, both cried when we had to sign her euthanization forms, and were so happy that she made it through the weekend!

Not a single day goes by when we don't say something like "look how cute Zoe is being" or "Colby, you're so weird!" We love our little dogs!

Dog Days of Summer

Today is Take Your Dog to Work Day! I heard it on tv this morning, and I casually mentioned it to my pups. Colby didn't look thrilled, but Zoe jumped up on the bed with me and started licking my face! She really wanted to go with me! I wish I could have, that would have been a fun day!

It's finally Friday, and we don't have any great plans for the weekend. We're going to go see a movie (don't know what movie yet), do a little gardening, and maybe tackle another fan installation. We will see. Hopefully, I'll get some sleep!

Happy weekend to you!

blah

I haven't updated in a little bit, but that's because I've got the blahs. I just wrote my mom an email, so I'll put some of that on here too:

It's raining again (second or third day this week).

We got our new dryer installed this morning. Scott said he ran it before the Lowe's guys left, and said it doesn't make the thumping noise, so we're off to a good start! (We just got a new set last week, and the dryer made this strange noise. Turns out it had a dented drum, and since we were in the 7 day period, we got a whole new machine!)

Yesterday, I hosted the Mid high and Senior high Bible study at lunchtime. I ordered 6 pizzas (the church paid for them), and no one showed up. I was just the location, not the actual study part. It was me, Scott, the guy leading the study, then one girl came. She thought it was for the Presbyterian church. I guess she got two things in the mail, and confused the information. So I just had leftover pizza for lunch.

Since our house was already clean, we invited the L's over for dinner tonight. I'm going to try a new recipe for Pineapple-Glazed Porkchops, with baked potatoes and salad. Apple Pie for dessert. Now you wish you were here, don't you??

Work has been slow this week, but it's a welcome change from the past few weeks. Things will pick up again next week, so I'm enjoying this down time. My coworker's mom is still in the hospital. She had developed fluid in her lungs (strange how similar her stuff is to SIL) so I've been up to the hospital twice. Since it's to visit someone from the church, I get to count it as working time. Passed the Senior Pastor in the hallway on my way to her room, I think that got me some brownie points.

I'm so worn out. I've been calling my doctor's office every other day to no avail. The last I heard, the Doc was writing a letter, and the nurse would get back to me about more Provigil to last me a while. That was a week ago, and I'm still waiting to hear back. The last time I called was Tuesday morning. The voicemail said that Doc would be out of the office the 18th-20th, so now, even if I heard back from them, I can't get the script since he's gone! I'm having serious issues with the nurses. The other one is FOUR WEEKS this Friday on calling me back about something. I've also mentioned this issue in every message I've left. Four stinking weeks. Seriously!!!

Can you tell that I'm kinda bored? Because I am. I enjoy this down time (I do have something I could be doing, but it would put me to sleep right now), but it gives me lots of time to sit and think, and that's not always good.

SIL and BIL are going to come see us over the 4th of July weekend!

That's about it for now. Nothing too exciting!

Happy Monday!

We had quite a weekend! My parents came to visit and see our new house, and we were very busy. My backyard had a good start (shaped beds, lots of trees) but it was really overgrown and weedy. Now, I have 2 small beds and one very very large bed weeded, planted and mulched. My back is feeling that mulch this morning! Oh, and since having mulch near your house can encourage termites, we put egg rock against the house instead. About 6 inches deep and 6 inches wide, it took lots of bags, but I really like the way it turned out. We've got bugs on one big plant and a mildew on another, so those need to be sprayed down, but other than that, the backyard looks awesome!

Last week, I had an EMG (electromyography). I'll try to explain what happed.
Background: Lots of pain in my hands since last November, but lots of blood work did not come up with any answers, so my doctor wanted to rule out carpul tunnel using the EMG.
The procedure: the doctor hooked a ground wire to my arm and attached two small pieces of metal attached to the machine on my hand. (You've seen what they put on someone when they are watching their hearts? It's like that but smaller.) Then he drew on my hands, wrists, and arms different spots that he wanted to check. He then used something that looked like a two pronged fork, felt around for a certain nerve or muscle, then shocked me three times in each spot. The first shock wasn't too bad, the second one was a little worse, then the third was really painful. He would measure from where he shocked me to one of the marks he drew. Using that measurement and the readings from the metal dots to determine how fast my nerves felt the shock and how fast it sent that shock back. After about 8 spots per arm, with three shocks each, he said that I have "Olympic class nerves." Unfortunately, we still had to finish the test, even though he didn't think it would turn anything out.
Part 2: This was very strange. The doctor took a needle and poked me in 5 spots in each arm. He would put the needle in, then irritate the muscle by moving the needle around. This time, the machine was listening to the firing in my muscles. When he would move the needle, it sounded like a record scratching; when he stopped moving it, the sound would change to a sound like "fit-fit-fit" which was the firing in the muscles. One place, he his a blood vessel and that really hurt. I got a stick in my bicep, tricep, another up top, one in my forearm in the doorknob turning muscle, then the last place was the most painful: if you make an "L" with your finger and thumb, there is that little flap of skin between them. That spot. No fat, no muscles, just nerves! It really hurt, and my hands and arms were sore for the next 4 hours or so.

I've got to finish getting ready and go to work. More about the updates on the house later!!

I want to win!

Rocks in my Dryer is giving away an awesome set of cds this week, and I want to win! The giveaway is sponsored by http://www.wowonline.com/ because of the new cd WOW Hits 1. They are giving away a block of 18 cds, and I want to win!

Thanks Shannon!!

First Post

I think that this blog has been a long time coming, seeing as how I've been reading lots of others' blogs for over a year! It's about time my comment is linked to somewhere!

About me: I am a 24 year old college grad working as an administrative assistant at my church in East Texas. I mostly love my job, but there are of course days that I just don't want to get out of bed! I am happily married (2 years this Sept.) and we just bought our first house. We moved last week, went out of town for a wedding, and my parents are visiting this weekend. I suspect this summer will be very busy, but I'm excited about the people I will meet, friends I will see, and the things I will do!