I was in the hospital one week ago. What felt like one never-ending contraction ended up being something that has gone unexplained. Hmm...

I'm feeling better. I left the hospital after 3 bags of fluid.

Today I have been throwing up nonstop and I have a cough that will not quit. I am absolutely miserable! I cannot lay down because that makes my cough worse. I cannot comfortably sit up because J starts kicking and stetching. I just feel blah. Luckily the kids are gone a little while longer so I don't have to tend to them right now.

D has gotten better. I'm thinking that he saved up all his energy those few days that we just laid in bed because he is nonstop right now! I'm surprised I can keep up with him. S has been sneezing a lot so I figure she will come down with the crud soon. H has been healthy as always. (He RARELY gets sick). M has been feeling bad, but not so bad that he is out of commission.

I've only been working half days for half of last week :) I think that I'm going to continue that for the next two weeks because I'm only working Monday and Tuesday of those weeks anyway. I look forward to having somewhat of a break. I'm going to try to go back to work full time until I deliver. After that I'll be out of the office for 3 months!!

I've got almost all of the Christmas shopping done. I'm going tomorrow to pick up a few gift cards and then I'll be done!!

Happy Holidays!

D and I ended up at the hospital last night. He has a case on pnuemonia that we caught very early on! Thank God!!! We got home last night about 12:30AM. He is on an antibiotic, cough suppressant, and breathing machine. He is doing so well with it all. We were finally able to get some sleep at 4AM. Got up at 9AM. D is now down for a nap and I'm right behind him.

S decided to attempt a cannonball into the hot tub yesterday. She banged up her leg pretty bad, so we will not be going to the dance recital this afternoon. I wasn't planning on it anyway. It is way to cold and windy here to get D out in the weather... especially in the middle of nap! It worked out get because S fell asleep about an hour ago and is still snoozing on the couch.

I hope that H is having a good camping trip... with the cold and wind. I wish I could call, but I know they don't have phone signal where they are. However, I know that they would either drive up the road to call or just go ahead and come home if things were bad. I'm betting he is going to be worn out tomorrow!

I am at home today... my day off. I was hoping to be lazy and just read, catch up on blogs, and watch TV. My mom kept the kids last night and would take them to school this morning.

D ended up with a fever so she brought him to me a little while ago. Needless to say my break is over! Before it even began! It's working well so far. He is laying on the couch beside me and watching Playhouse Disney. It's nice and quiet, which is unusual, especially when the younger two are around!

H is leaving at 5PM for an all weekend camping trips with friends. S is leaving after the Christmas parade to spend the night with one of her little friends. So, it will just be me and D here. I'm thinking that we will probably lay down early, even if it is to just watch TV.

Tomorrow S has a dance recital (right in the middle of D's naptime)! It will more than likely be a very trying day for us all. I know that she is not going to get much sleep at her sleepover tonight. D and I probably won't sleep much because of his cough and fever. H probably won't sleep well because he will be FREEZING!

Change of subject... I feel guilty because I obviously have not tracked this pregnancy like I obsessively did before. I just do not have a lot of time. M has been working out of town so much, so it's pretty much just been me and the kids since September. I guess the newness wears off and I haven't felt the need to document everything because I don't have complicated pregnancies or anything like that. They are all normal, uneventful, and thank god, no weight gain!! I kind of just hang out until it's time to deliver. However, I still feel guilty that I have not filled out my little pregnancy journal on a daily basis like I have done before. Am I horrible for that?

I do have the nursery complete and more than enough stuff to get us by for the next two years! I'm serious about that too. I have had two huge showers and have gotten more than I could have wanted. The nursery looks better than I ever thought possible... thanks Mommy!!! There's nothing left to do except paint J's dresser white. Everything has already been thoroughly cleaned, including the carpet. So we are ready to rock and roll. Oh, after I pack my back for the hospital... J's is already done.

I'm going to snuggle up with my baby now!!

H had a concert last night. It was a lot better than I had expected it to be. 3 hours later, I was ready to get out of there. We had an hour of prep/practice, and hour and a half of concert, and half an hour of clean up. By 8:30PM, I was ready to go home.

I was reminded on my way out that I needed to bring cornbread for the faculty lunch the next day. Okay, I say. I had forgotten, but that was fine. I was just going to mix the box and throw it in the oven the next morning. I would take it to the teacher’s lounge when the kids were dropped off at school.

Once home, I was hit with the inevitable… D was NOT asleep. Not even close to asleep. I was tired, I felt like I couldn’t even stand in the kitchen to made cornbread or make it to the bathroom to shower. Little did I have to worry because I ended up not having any cornbread mix at all! I’m beginning to panic. Thank God for my mom because she offered to go home and bake it for me. She then offered to take it up to the school the next day.

I finally just walked out of the room and went to get a hot bath. About 15 minutes later, D comes in the bath. He has decided that he needs ANOTHER bath. Only this time he will just wash his body. He decides that he doesn’t need body and hair for this one. So I quickly wash my hair and face and get him bathed. We put on pj’s on and go to bed. He lasted about 15 minutes before he crashed. I’m sure I was not even a minute behind him.

I woke up this morning feeling pretty good. We’ve been snacking at work all week and it’s been great. Only that means that I have to make a cheese ball and spinach dip tonight and bring it tomorrow. I’m just going to the store on my way home and picking up everything I need. I’m not relying on my suspicions that I have some of it at home.

Ninja

The kids were watching 3 Ninja's on TV while I was on the phone with my mom for less than 2 minutes.

I come back into the living to find this...

D decided to color his face with a black marker because the Ninja's put black makeup on their faces.

Hmm...

Early Morning

It's 5:45AM. I cannot belive that I am awake this early. I definitely cannot believe that I have nothing to do until I wake the kids up to get ready for school... at 7AM.

I've already gotten myself ready for work, folded laundry out of the dryer, made coffee, drank coffee, made lunches, caught up on blogs, checked my bank accounts, checked my email, and am now posting! I feel really good.

I know I was sound asleep by 10:30 last night because I didn't even hear the second episode of Will and Grace come on. I was finally able to completely sleep through the night. A special thank you to Zantac for that one. I had no heartburn whatsoever!!

I woke up at 4AM and tried to get myself back to sleep. It wasn't working so I decided to just get out of bed. I am glad that I did that so I don't have that sluggish feeling that I get when I do sleep too much or when I force myself to just lay there trying to sleep.

Change of subject...
Here is a picture of our Christmas tree. Please excuse the missing ornaments... they have either been knocked off of the tree or placed in another spot that Daniel feels is better.

Please forgive me that I did not at least try to center the picture. These days I'm lucky to remember to take pictures.

Well, I'm off to find something else to do!

True Love

I love my husband... I honestly do! He is the most amazing man that I know. He's been working out of town lately and I cannot wait for him to get home again! Only 2 more days!!!!!

I love that everytime I look at our youngest son, I see my husband. It's absolutely amazing! It offers me so much comfort when he is not here.

I love being pregnant... especially in the later months when there is so much movement. The frequent trips to the bathroom can stop and I'd be okay with it :)

I love all my new baby gifts!!

I love getting ready to shop for Christmas presents... I cannot wait to see our children's faces!

I really love being me!

Holidays

I cannot believe that the holidays are already here! I have already started my baking for Thanksgiving. We are everyone over to our house again this year :) I cannot wait!

I'm having the kids pull our Christmas decorations out of storage as we speak. They are so excited! We are not going to put it all out until after Thanksgiving dinner, but this will save me a couple of hours that day by having it waiting for us on the back patio.

I have decided to forgo our traditional tree with ornaments that the kids have made over the years. We are making a "Peppermint" tree. Everything is going to be red and white. I cannot wait. I'm going this weekend to buy all new ornaments!

Well, I guess I had better go because they need my help.

Hello!

I can't believe how long it's been since I've been able to sit down and write. It's not that I have not wanted, I just have not had the time to. We are so incredibly busy ALL.THE.TIME! We are running from one thing to next every single night. During that time, I am chasing a two year old that never runs out of energy. Being close to 7 months pregnant does not make that any easier. However, I wouldn't trade any of it for the world.

Daddy and his babies

Trying looking in the doggy bag when....

You CANNOT find your baby anywhere else!


Caught!

D and S being Indians

Trying not be attacked by that wild buffalo!

Look what crept up behind him!


Pregnant today

Too cute and he knows it!

I hope to be better about keeping this up. I cannot promise everyday like I used to, but hopefully a few times a week. Not only for you, but for me to look back on one day myself. If you have any suggested topics, let me know!

I'm Here

Nothing is impossible. Some things are just less likely than others.
~Johnathan Winters

Ponder This ~ Why do we label underwear as a pair?

Sorry that I have not posted in a while. Life has been hectic and blogging has been low on my list of things to do.

A lot of things are changing in life… D is progressing in his endeavor to potty train. He hates “pappers” aka diapers. He hates pull ups because his “wee-wee need air.” It’s a hassle to get them on for naps and night time. He is so into his big boy undies right now. He is doing great!! He only goes through about 2 pairs a day (*see Ponder This above*).

I think that his determination to be and stay dry is what is making this so successful. I just don’t know that I’m ready. I mean, this is a HUGE milestone for a child. HUGE!!!

On top of that, he is going to be a big brother. He talks to the baby in my belly everyday, but I’m afraid of how he will feel when he is not the baby anymore!! It makes me sad to think that he may feel differently just because there is another baby. I feel so very sad about that. Any suggestions or words of encouragement would be greatly appreciated!

So, that introduced my next big change… pregnancy. I have my first appointment on Monday the 16th. I should have more definite details at that time. Based on my last period, the great Internet tells me that my estimated date of delivery is the 24th of January 2009!! 2009!!!! Wow, it feels weird to say that. That will be just a couple of weeks after D’s 3rd birthday.

What to do with 4 kids?! They will be these ages when the baby is born… 11, 9, 3, and NEWBORN!!! I think I’m getting dizzy now J

H will be going into 6th grade. Here, where we live, that is considered Middle School (or Junior High). I still call it JH. He’s nervous, but excited. I’m just depressed. My gosh, how fast time flies by.

S will be going into 3rd grade. Nothing new with her… she’s just an airhead!!

Talk with you later, friends.

I am at home sick... blah!

Nothing new going on with our family. Just being extremely busy as always.

I am leaving in two days!! Yeah for me!!

I've already got my shopping list ready! Oh, I'm typing this on my new (pink) laptop. Thank you very much Dell. It's going with me so I can get directions for all my excursions! Who knows, but maybe I'll even blog all day... maybe I'll even have something interesting to say!

Things are great at home! The kids are all in bed and M is talking on the phone. A few minutes of peace and quiet. I thought I had forgotten what that was. Now I am remember and I'm going to have 2 WEEKS of it. I cannot wait. I'm sure I'll miss it the second night I'm there, but I'll at least enjoy it while I can.

I'm beginning to make a dent in my blog reading. I got so far behind that I can't even catch up yet. I found a Blogger friend was a couple of months pregnant... I had missed the post announcing it!

I've still got to take pictues of our hardwood floors so that you all can see the treasure that was under our carpet. I've got tons of pictures to download off of my camera and to print off for my albums. I don't even have anything to current to share with all of you. Hopefully I can get that taken care of while I'm gone.

My oldest will be 11 on the 27th. I cannot believe it. He has changed so much this past year. I mean so much that you can tell just by looking at him now and not comparing how he looks to a picture a year ago.

Well, M is off the phone so I'm going to visit with him for a while before we go to bed.

I miss you guys!!

I think my trip in a couple of weeks is going to go so much better than I had thought. I talked to my Courtney this week and we are going to meet up for dinner one night. I can't wait to see her again. She got married shortly after we met and I really excited to talk with her about married life. Who knows who I'll meet this time?! Or what I'll get to experience?! Anyway, my point is that at first I wasn't looking forward to it, but now I am. I'm actually starting to count down the days.

I plan on doing a lot of shopping while I'm there. A LOT of shopping. It's so exciting to get something new **wink wink**

Work has been crazy busy. We are implementing a new system next week and I cannot stress enough that I have a bunch of idiots that I have to help with this. I sent out an email today (since I am off tomorrow) and let everyone know that the new system will be up and running at 8AM on Monday morning. I had people calling me and emailing me that they tried logging in but it wouldn't work. Well, asshats, no shit it won't work. Didn't you read my f*cking email... 8AM on Monday. What do you not get?

I digress...

My life has been interesting the past week... really interesting. I cannot go in detail now, but it's been great. Hopefully fulfilling here shortly :) I look forward to the very near future.

I feel much better now after venting to you, my dear Internet. Yesterday was pretty rough. I eventually got over my anger toward M and he got sooooooooo lucky!! He was still smiling today.

Those last few sentences brought me to another thought. I know several of you have read my "self destructed" posts (posts I have written about the inner most private aspects of my life, only to delete them the next day). Well, I believe I have decided to just let them be from this point on. If they offend you, you don't have to continue reading that particular post.

Well, I thought I had time to write a little bit today, but my kids just got home and will be sitting on the couch with me in about .02 seconds so I'll talk to you later.

Even More Editing

My baby is BEAUTIFUL!!

More Editing

Am I HAWT or what?!

I started this big long post and D shut down the F*cking computer. All I can say is that everything and everyone sucks a** today!! It took me 30 GD minutes to write that post too.

What I remember is this...

due to an idea from some random weirdo today (smile, you know who you are) I am stealing this particular idea from Kellan. I'm going to leave this opportunity open through Friday. You can ask me any questions you want... anything. I will answer as openly and honestly as I can in a new post. You can leave the question anonymously if you wish. As long as they are serious.

I putting myself out there for you, but you only have a limited time to take advantage.

And since I'm already is a pissy mood, I just go ahead and vent about sick and tired I am of M's hours. I am sick and tired of being here by myself all the time. I didn't sign on the be a single parent and I'm ready for a little bit of help. I told him that I didn't mind him working long hours every once in a while because I knew he had a really big and expensive project going on BUT he goes in a 4AM all the time now and he just now walked through the door.

In two weeks, I am leaving for 2 weeks with my job. Secretly I am so glad. I need a break. I need time to myself. I need to leave this behind and I'm going to enjoy it. Does it make me a bad Mommy that I look forward to being away from my kids? Am I a bad wife for being upset and feeling extremely distant from my husband? I'm ready to put the kiddos to bed, shower, and go to sleep myself. I don't even want to be with him tonight.

What Do You Want to Know?

Due to a sort of inspiration from some random person today (smile... you know who you are), I am totally stealing this idea from Kellan All you have to do is ask me a question. I am going to answer any questions about myself that you might want to ask (I know - boring). You can ask personal questions, questions about my kids or family, about my background, about blogging - about anything. And ... you can leave up to as many questions as you would like. I will try to answer every question and publish the questions and answers in a post in the near future.

Hello Again

I'm back. Life has been crazy busy. Now that I cannot post at work, I am seriously not going to have the time to maintain this as much as I would like to. I am hoping that M orders me a new laptop (my previous one was damaged last summer). If so, I will be able to get on here more than I am now. This is M's work computer so he is on it at night doing whatever he didn't have time for during the day.

I do want to post a picture that I have been working with!! Not on Photoshop though because it seriously sucks a** and I cannot figure it out at all and I cannot find anyone to help me with it. I am been using this program call Picnik. It's totally free OR you can pay like $25.00 a year and get the premium package (I would totally go this way if I were you). Anywho, let me show you what I did today in like 3 seconds.



So, you think I'm sooooo awesome now, right?!

Look how big my babies are getting. I cannot believe it! H will be 11 in one month. Wow! Time flies.

What have you guys been up to?

More Cruisin

Still having fun Posing for Mommy
Um, crash! H ran his remote control Jeep into the Stang, but the Stang ran it over! Mischevious little monster!
Uh oh!! Now he has to fix it :)

New Wheels

Have I showed you all pictures of D's new ride? No? I didn't think so!! Where has my mind gone?!

He and his sissy have been cruisin everywhere together! The first picture definitely captured when he first hit the gas. This ride is totally different than he .5MPH four wheeler! I really think that S enjoys this more than D does. H wants to build himself a car that is suitable for a 10 year old. He just wants to be able to drive around the yard with them. Who can blame him? He is at that age where he is just too big to do the things that the youngers kiddos are doing. You know, like being thrown in the air, being swung around, and just plain goofing off. He fights back too hard and it's just not as enjoyable when it's not cute. Do you understand or am I just crazy?

Anyway, I really should be in the shower right now, but seeing as hubby just got out of the shower, and started the washing machine, I don't think I'll make it right now. In his defense, I did tell him I was just going to forgo tonight. I guess I'll be up at 5AM freezing my a** off in order to take one. Oh well, maybe it will get me going for the morning!

Super Bowl

What do you watch the Super Bowl for? Game, commercials, half time? I guess we really just watch for Monday morning talk. I mean we would hate to miss out on something as exciting as another wardrobe malfunction!!

I don't understand a thing about football, yet we were tuned into it tonight. Were you all that impressed with the obvious lip singing done at the half time show? I wasn't. I mean really, was it all that necessary to do that? Whatever... I digress.

I finally had a day to just sit around the house. M took the kids grocery shopping and to wash/vacuum my car. It was relatively satisfying to not have to do much. We bought D a little scooter last night. He loves it!! However, I did not get any pictures of him on it with my camera, just the camcorder. I will post some as soon as I get them because he is way too cute!!

Hi... am I supposed to doing something now?

Ohhhh, my eye!!
At the lake
S caught a butterfly

Brag Post

I just wanted to post some pictures for everyone to see. I'll try to write a post later after I catch up on all my blog reading.

Granny and D

Our biker babes

My boating babes

Baking Christmas cookies Daddy and D
D mixing cookie dough
D licking cookie dough
Our little train conductor
S at her dance recital
-Me and H at his Christmas party D wearing our dog's sweater

Man, so much has been going on since the last time I posted... a month ago!!!

How have you all been? Blogger is blocked from my Workplace, so I feel like I am missing out reading and commenting you all.

The biggest thing that has happened is that my youngest turned two years old!!

That time has gone by so fast and I have such mixed emotions about it all.

I Am Here

Let me just tell you this from the beginning... they have blocked this site from my work, so more than likely I will not be posting that much.