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Preggo #3

Well, things are calming down slightly on this round of pregnancy. Once again, I've suffered nonstop from the joy-joy side effects of pregnancy. My stomach isn't back to being 100% agreeable, but I can eat more often without completely hating all food. I still have to hover the toilet every morning waiting for the inevitable throwing up, but luckily that is reserved mostly to the morning instead of all day. I still don't feel good throughout the day, but I can feel the storm in my stomach starting to calm. Thank goodness, because feeling like you have a stomach flu 24 hours a day for months on end gets pretty annoying. Of course, now I'm dealing with the happy little heartburn issues. But beggars can't be choosers, as my mom always used to say. Other than that, I'm not sure there is much to report. I can't exactly remember what week I'm on, but I believe I'm 15 weeks along now. I'm in that awkward stage where you don't look pregnant, but rather you just look chubby. No maternity clothes and no baby movement yet so all seems a bit surreal for the most part.

Home for Sale...right?

So day 43 on the market and nada! Not a call, visit, or so much as a peep from someone who might be mildly interested in seeing our house, let alone buy it. All in all, I'd say that selling our home is a rather disappointing failed experience thus far. I'd love to say that I'm still highly optimistic, but as the summer grows on, I'm becoming quite the opposite. And without a sale, there shall be no future purchase. So I'm trying to grow used to the idea of raising a third child in our wee little house. It's quite sad really, as our open window to move is closing a little more every day. I suppose that's the way the cookie crumbles.

Summer Vacation

When Alex got out of school for his first official summer break, I told him that he was done with preschool and that it was now summer vacation. The word vacation was chosen poorly on my part. Now, every day I have to explain why we aren't driving somewhere on a vacation. Oddly enough, we've never really taken vacations during the summer so I'm not entirely certain where Alex came up with the conclusion that a vacation involves traveling. "Where are we going on vacation today?" is a very common question I have to answer. So for now, I've explained that we have plans for the summer including swimming lessons, movies, drive-in theater, going to the park a lot, the zoo, and play-dates. So far, it suffices him.

Remember me, the author?

Yeah. That's right. I wrote that book once upon a time. I haven't ever officially updated my Denied-O-Meter on the sidebar of the blog, but let's just say that every letter of inquiry I sent out is officially a denial. I went on a long hiatus from my 'author' life due to massive disappointment from the constant strain of 'nos'. But, aha! I have a new wind! I'm now in the process of revamping, so to speak. I've decided to try a new avenue and need the book to be as polished as humanly possible. So I'm putting a new spin on the current story, will get a few opinions on the difference, and then go down a new very popular route - self publishing. So pending I actually have time to get the story redone, I'll let you all know when it's up for sale via e-readers online. I'm not sure what it takes, but I've decided it's my best bet to get my name out there. In the meantime, I did get another review on it from a family friend and it was a hit with him! So I've got zero hates and all likes from those who have read it. Wish me luck! The first few chapters will be a free preview on e-readers so here's hoping!

And in a sad note, our homemade Big Red Car took it's last ride...with both passengers of the house. Made of cardboard and construction paper, it just wasn't meant to last more than two years apparently. It officially parked it's last park in our recycle bin in the garage. Farewell Big Red Car. You were fun.

Otherwise, it's been rather uneventful around here in the news and updates department. I have been asked to do belly pictures this go around with preggo number three, but I'm still debating whether or not I want to subject the public to the horror that is my belly...clothed or not. Either way is quite scarring to the common eye. There are no words to express the horrificness (no, that's not a real word) of my stretch marks thanks to Alex and Abby. Trust me. I'm not exaggerating. So naturally, pics of my actual belly with no shirt coverage are not an option. But I'll let you know around week 16 what I decide. :) For now I'm off to entertain the kiddos on another lazy spring/summer day. Enjoy your week, all!

Mama's Little Graduate

 

Yep. That's my little graduate...eating three Little Debbie knock-off creme-filled cupcakes. (I made them from scratch. they even had creme filling.) He was wound for sound that night.

 This past Monday was Alex's pre-school graduation. I know what you're thinking. Pre-school has a graduation now? Yeah. That's about what I thought as well. But despite the fact that it seems silly and somewhat over the top, I was a sucker for the emotional event that it was. His teacher is a very nice lady who loves all the children she teaches and puts on a nice little show for all of us to watch twice a school year. The last one was during Christmas and was just adorable. This one was no different. The program had some great singing and dancing from the kids and at the end was a graduation for all of the little ones moving on into kindergarten. When my little boy marched across stage, proud as can be, to get his 'diploma' and his gift, I must admit, I got a little choked up. Not necessarily at the idea of him moving on into kindergarten, but at the thought of watching this same thing 13 years from now from high school. It brings a tear to my eye just thinking about it. I'll be that bawling mom who totally over reacts when he graduates high school so many years from now.

If The Wiggles have taught my kids anything, it's how to dance.

That's my boy! And that's his teacher, Miss Cindy, handing him is diploma.

Family graduation photo.

I must say that my little socialite son will miss preschool dearly. He will also miss his friends. So a couple of the moms and I exchanged numbers for summer play-dates. Alex is already bugging me to call them. Sadly, as of now, we don't live in the same school district that his friends will be attending kindergarten. We live one town over so he won't get the pleasure of seeing his buddies in school. Now, there is a miniscule chance we will move someday. So pending that day and the possibility that we move to that specific town, he still has a chance to see his buddies again. Here's hoping, right?

On a more personal note, there is one thing I've gained from Alex's year in school. Confidence. Albeit, the amount of confidence is nowhere near what the average mom would be experiencing sending their kid off to kindergarten. But I have more today than I did a year ago. With Alex's ever increasing self-awareness of his food allergies, I've learned that I really can do this next year. Oh, I'll still be horrifically terrified most days, I imagine. That's a given. But he's a great kid and a smart one at that. He knows his issues and is getting more confident daily on what he needs to watch out for. One year down...13 to go.

I know it's a long video and it will probably take me half of an hour to upload, but as I haven't had video on the blog in ages, I'll wait patiently so you can enjoy part of what we got to enjoy this past week. I'm a proud mama today. *sniff* Yep...a real proud mama.

Mother's Day 2012

This year's mother's day weekend was wonderful. Did I get breakfast in bed and catered too like a queen? Ha! Not even in the slightest bit. But I'm not really the kind of self-obsessed person that feels that this is necessary. I still got up with the kids, cleaned the house, and *gasp!* even did all the cooking for the day. But it was truly a wonderful weekend. My folks wanted to go fishing on Saturday so that was definitely something I wanted to do. And as for the kids? They love, love, love to do things like this. Not only does it keep them busy, but it knocks them out at bedtime like nothing else. Bonus! I caught a few fish, had some burgers and hot dogs, and was outside the entire day. That's my idea of fun, in case you were wondering. The kids had a blast. Granted, they spent most of their time throwing rocks into the water and finding dead fish along the shoreline, but nevertheless, it was fun.

At the spillway at the lake enjoying the beautiful day. Look at those smiles!

Family picture time. This is at the end of the day so we all look a bit frazzled.

And this is what Josh did pretty much the whole time. "I hate fishing." His own words. I shall get him to actually try it one day though so he has a reason to hate it.

 I decided that, due to all the birthdays in the year, I was not having a normal cake for Mother's Day. One thing that we don't get the pleasure of in our house is Dairy Queen. It's not exactly the best place to go if you're avoiding milk and peanuts, so we simply avoid it. But growing up, it was a true and rare treat to get one of their famous ice cream cakes for a celebration. You savored every bite of that small slice of heaven on your plate when you were lucky enough to have it. So by golly, I wanted my kids to have ice cream cake! Seems impossible, right? Not if you're me! Ice cream cakes at DQ run upwards of $20. So for the same price, I went out and stocked up on Soy ice cream at the store and a package of fake Oreos. One messy evening later, I had my very own, Alex friendly, safe and sound ice cream cake. It's not the prettiest thing in the world, but it was super tasty. Oddly enough, the consistency of soy ice cream is uncanny to that of DQ soft serve. So, short of the gel and whipped cream icing, it was shockingly similar and we all loved it. My folks were pretty happy to have a giant slice as well to celebrate the day.

One chocolaty grin...

and two chocolaty grins for the win!

See? it looks pretty tasty, don't you think? Not pretty...but tasty!

The kids woke me up with their presents to me (thanks to preschool for Alex's adorable flower pot I'll treasure forever). But best of all was just having them there to smile and give me love for the day just like every day before. I love being a mom. It's rewarding in countless ways and I wouldn't change it for anything in the world. I guess that's why two kids just isn't enough. *sheepish grin* What better post to announce via blog than a Mother's Day one. That's right, my blog followers. Our family of four will be a family of five in November. Next Mother's day, I'll have three little happy grins welcoming me on Mother's Day morning and I couldn't be more happy. I'm just thirteen weeks along today and due November 20th. And even more fun? We aren't finding out what it is via sonogram this time. We decided that with having one boy and one girl already, it would be more fun to be surprised. So don't ask what it is, because you're guess is as good as mine.

Happy belated Mother's Day to all you mothers out there! I hope it was as wonderful as mine was.

Critters Ain't Just for Country Folks

Today, I got home from about a million errands. I went to set my purse down on the kitchen table when I hear two rather loud gasps from my kids and a chorus of, "Mommy! Look!" I look out to see both Alex and Abby staring, jaws agape, at something in the dining room on the carpet. I figured it was probably cat puke or something of the normal sort. But, as I have had black widow problems, I always go look just to be sure it's not something bearing that creepy red hour-glass shape with eight legs attached. As I look down I see, plain as day, a little snake slithering along towards Josh's computer desk. I said, "Holy buckets of cream chowder!" (It's better than cussing, right?) I did a two-second pan of the room searching for something to trap it with and opted for the crayon bucket. Out dumped the crayons and plop it went over the snake! So there I stood, one foot atop the bucket with my odd critter trapped beneath, two children dancing around excitedly about a snake in the house, and one husband taking a shower. As I didn't want to leave the trapped snake in the care of my kids, who would surely free it just to take a peek, I had to wait for Josh to grace us with his appearance.

Now let me explain something to you. Josh is terrified of snakes. One time, we were on a stroll around the block and he walked past a pulverized, quite dead snake. He jumped about three feet in the air and screamed like a terrified school girl. I, being the ever considerate, never joking wife (yeah, right), laughed and teased him all the way home. This is when I discovered his unparallelled fear for the slithery beasts. So when Josh got out of the shower and the kids told him about the snake, I see Josh walk out on the very opposite side of the house with the look of utter fear and shock on his face. I needed something like cardboard to slide under the bucket to pick up the snake so I required some slight assistance. I told Josh that I needed his help and to come here. He shook his head wildly and said, "I am NOT holding that bucket down!" I laughed a lot at his fear of the tiny baby garter snake trapped helplessly beneath the crayon bucket. But a fear, is a fear. So one plastic place-mat, a crayon bucket and Josh's big, brave wife later, our critter problem was outside and freed into the wild of the back alley behind our house.

 

Ain't he just terrifying?

This house has had some strange critters for being non-country living. A hawk that lived here all winter on our fence, bats that fly around our front yard at night, barn owls that enjoy our constant critter water supply, a fearless squirrel I've named Psycho-Crazy-Squirrel who you can walk right up to, a mama bunny and her babies that you can get one foot away from that live in our garage from time to time, a black widow infestation and now an indoor garter snake. Oddly enough, two of our five cats were watching the little snake slither across our our floor unfazed by it's presence. Consequently, Josh has officially fired all five of them. Josh is also watching every step he takes now in the house. Would it be cruel to use this experience as future fuel for a fun prank on him? Hee, hee, hee...I think not.

Dirt Roads

Now that we have our house on the market and the ball is (or rather should be) rolling on to a different home, I find myself wondering what it will all be like. The house, the surroundings, the roads. I have no idea what lies in store for us with a new home. But the dream I have is simple.

Dirt roads.

I love dirt roads. There are few things as satisfying to me as that crunching sound of the dirt roads beneath my feet. Sure. I know the woes of country roads. They are a murky mud pit in the rain. During the dry heat waves of summer, the dust can rival that of the deserts. Snow and ice become death traps on those lightly traveled paths. And a bicycle crash meant picking hundreds of tiny bits of gravel out of your knees and a bottle of peroxide. Ouch. Nevertheless, dirt roads hold far too many fond memories for me. It reminds me of simpler times. Walking sheep with my brothers down the road as we trained them for 4-H. Racing bikes and jumping clods of dirt that pile up on the side from the ever-faithful road grader. Walking with my mom just to talk about the ways of the world. Delivering phone books all day in the blistering heat, then stopping for a coke at the 7-11. It was when hopping on a horse and riding for miles on end was just a normal weekend. I can still hear the clop-clop of hooves on the gravel, echoing between the miles of trees on both sides as I swatted away the horse flies. I remember all the good times we had as a family. No matter the trials life seemed to throw at us, it seemed like it would all be okay out there in the country. You could find us packing up our backpacks and walking or riding bikes to the nearest gas station to spend our meager change on candy (which of course was infinitely cheaper back then). Bug hunting, biking, walking, racing, running, wagon rides, learning to drive, and so much more. The memories flood my mind like a wave joy.

Yep. Something about those dirt roads just makes me smile. Sometimes, when I visit my parents' house, I just enjoy walking down those beautiful dusty roads. I take a deep breathe and close my eyes and remember growing up there. I picture my kids growing up there too and it's what I want most for them. To me, dirt roads remind me of a time when you take joy in the little things like walking your sheep or riding a horse. A time when you could fight to the death with your siblings but it didn't matter because you'd make up five minutes later on a bike ride to catch dragonflies by the creek. They may just be rock and gravel and possibly the bane of your car's perfection to you. But to me, they mean peace. And that, my friends, is what I dream of.

Thumb vs. Hamster

Abby's new pet hamster, Strawberry, has become quite the entertaining little creature. She's the first thing that Abby wants to see in the morning and the last thing she wants to say goodnight to before she goes to bed. I'm still currently working with Strawberry and trying to train her so she can be handled without nipping or biting...or freaking out and leaping to her ultimate death. So far, she's coming along nicely. She stopped nipping through the cage bars for the most part and I can semi-hold her when I transfer her from one place to another. Each night Strawberry comes out before the kids go to bed and she rolls merrily along in her clear plastic hamster ball around the living room floor. Abby then helps me put her back in her cage and we feed her a few cheerios, carrots, or apples through the cage bars as we say goodnight to her.

Well, this all seems all well and fine until something goes terribly wrong. Oh, don't fret. The hamster is fine. No leaps to her doom yet. However, Abby was not so lucky to come away unscathed tonight. When slipping her cheerios through the bars, Strawberry takes them and hoards them in her cheeks one at a time. Unfortunately, Abby had her thumb through the cage at the same time that the cheerio slipped and fell out of her fingers. Strawberry latched on to the first thing she could find. That was when all heck broke loose. Abby, that caring sweetheart that she is, got bit quite good on her thumb. Despite the pain, she picked up the cheerio that fell, continued to feed it to her dear little pet, and then proceeded to break down into an unstoppable strain of tears. Usually a bandaid and some mama kisses later, Abby would be fine. The problem? Her constant comfort when something hurts or goes wrong is to suck her thumb. Can you guess which thumb got bit? Yeah...that thumb. Every time she went to suck it, it bled like mad so we had to bandage it and hope it would stop. One hour later, she finally stopped sobbing enough to try looking at her thumb to see if it was well enough that she could suck it again. It was. Thank the good Lord above. She plopped that thumb in her mouth faster than lightning and finally began to drift to sleep between those annoying little left over sobs.

Josh and I were heart-broken for her as she fought the urge to suck that tiny thumb for comfort. Why, oh why did it have to be that thumb? But just so you know, all is forgiven. She went out after the bandaid finally came off to tell Strawberry goodnight. I suppose I better start working harder with the training. Bleeding thumbs suck. But when the bleeding thumb is the thumb you suck to make the world all right again...it really sucks.

Leap of Faith

As of tonight, there is a new piece of yard art gracing my front yard. And I wasn't even the one who put it there. If you drive past my house, you will see something I actually never really believed would be there - a home for sale sign. Yep. It's official. After tonight (and after many initials and signatures) our house is officially on the market for sale. *gulp* And naturally, I'm as cool as a cucumber about all of it.

Yeah. Right. Actually I was on the verge of losing my dinner from nerves. I spent the entire day (and several days before this) preparing the house for the day we might agree to put it on the market. But as the nice realtor that we found started whipping out papers and writing down information about the place, I suddenly found myself swept up in a massive tornado of chaos. Before I could blink, there she was. staking down a sign in my front yard for all the world to see. I was perfectly calm through the two hour process. But then, as she drove off and I turned to Josh, a wave of doubt washed over me as a steady strain of "I'm not ready for this...I'm not ready for this..." spilled from my mouth.

Josh, ever faithful and confident, was grinning ear to ear. What was this strange new look I was seeing on his face? Delusion perhaps? Gas? No. It couldn't be! He was actually excited! Huh?? He pat me on the back and said, "Don't worry. It's time we did this. We'll find a house soon. I know it." Now, if you can just picture my bottom jaw about even with my belly button, then you will have a fairly accurate picture of what I looked like as he said all of this. The theory, my dear friends, is that we will quickly sell this place (according to our super excited realtor) and then promptly move in with my ever-gracious parents for a very (God willing) short time as we finish buying our new home (that we haven't even found yet). As you can see from my excessive use of parenthesis, there are a whole lot of questions on the sanity of this suddenly psychotic decision we've found ourselves making. So many questions and so many question marks in their place. Will eight indoor cats survive happily under one roof while living with my parents? Will my parents dog-dander-permeated house cause more health issues for my allergic family than we can handle? Will we really find a home that is better than this mold-infested, spider-inhabited, possibly quasi-possessed house? Well...surely the latter of those questions is yes, but still, I'm nervous. God be with us as we step out of our six-year comfort zone to a potentially better home. For now, I'll just go back to biting my nails and eating my Tums. Leap of faith, Stage 1: Complete.