Julie Clark is a genius

I say this because she is the sole person who can give me 25 minutes of peace and quiet in the house. The woman deserves every single penny she makes for the bliss I'm sure Baby Einstein gives parents around the world.

Enough of that, I have to finish this post before Symphony of Fun is over.

Jonathan and I grew up in really different families but one thing that is the same is the closeness our parents have with us. Over the years I have heard parents with grown children say how they were so glad to get the kids out of the house and off to college or married or whatever got them to move on out. I always felt sorry for their children (although maybe the kids were just as happy as the parents that they were leaving). My parents and Jonathan's also, were sad when the kids left and would see us any day, any time. I don't think they have ever heaved a sigh of relief when we packed up our stuff and left. That makes me happy, I love my family and I'm so glad my children have grandparents that are so involved and interested in them...and their parents.

I'm excited to start this week, it's the week of tubes!

T-minus 9 days and counting

till Bowen gets his ear tubes!
We went to the appointment today and Dr. Burkett had no doubt that he was a great candidate. Dr. Burkett, whose other name is Dr. I talk 14 million miles an hour, was very nice and efficient, he even took an X-ray of Bowen to see if his adenoids needed to be taken out too. He did indeed talk very quickly and if I hadn't already researched ear tubes, would have been totally overwhelmed at the amount of information he crammed into about 10 minutes of dialogue. I basically got an anatomy lesson, reasons for the surgery, how the surgery will go and Bowen got examined in a very short time. You might think that the doctor was uncaring or very busy, I didn't catch either of those drifts while in his office, I like being dealt with directly and have no problem with no-nonsense doctors.

Anyway, we're happy that Bowen will feel better. I realize that tubes aren't going to solve all his snot and congestion issues but if he can get a snotty nose without getting an ear infection, I'll be happy.

Minivan, Mrs. Bairds, Middle Ear

Those are three things I'm excited about right now, let me explain:

Minivan:
Today was my first day driving my regular day in the new vehicle. It was great, I got the kids in and out in a flash and even let Laine watch a movie on the car ride back from finishing the paperwork at the dealership. She loves the "robot car" Myrtle, and will tell you all about it even if you don't ask.

Mrs. Bairds:
I was the winner of a Mrs. Bairds fried pie for guessing Danny's Sunday phone picture! Danny is the preacher at the church I attend and he takes a picture every Sunday with his phone, people guess what it is, and he gives a prize to the winner. I feel sort of cool because I always grew up feeling like the preacher was a sort of celebrity! Our family had dinner at the Sims' the other night and we had a fabulous time visiting and getting to know them and their children.

Middle Ear:
Most importantly Bowen has his ENT appointment tomorrow. If the Dr. said he could do tubes right there in his office, I would totally do it. I'm so ready for Bowen to be himself for longer than a few days at a time. I'm praying for the soonest time slot possible for his tubes. I want my baby to be well!

Has anyone tried the Cinnamon Dolce Latte at Starbucks? If it was served on a plate, I would lick it clean!

New Wheels

We didn't begin this weekend thinking we'd have a new car, but we do. Mom took Laine to spend the night in Dallas so we dropped Bowen off at Mere and Ryan's so we could go test drive some autos. Well, we spent the majority of the day at the dealership and they made us an offer we couldn't refuse. I'm excited to have a new car for these reasons:

Maybe I wont have to drive everywhere we go now since Jonathan can fit in the drivers' seat.
My inspection sticker is current
All my lights work
We can take people with us in the car

If you hadn't noticed it's a minivan...At first I thought I might lose some hard-earned cool points, OK I did, but it's a COOL minivan and it does COOL tricks. I'm a self-assured woman who can tell all the minvan nay-sayers "Screw you, I have doors that open and shut automatically". So there.

This is my first non-VW automobile, I feel a little sad about that, and I was really sad to leave my pitiful little jetta sitting there yesterday. He was sad and wondering what he ever did to deserve desertion at a Nissan dealership. The jetta was a great car and I will miss the speedy zipping around. However how can that rival doors that open and shut BY THEMSELVES and a built in DVD player and room to move around and cool little gadgets and a key chain that will open all doors from far away.

We also had wills drawn up, we're now real adults!

One more thing, did you notice the wet stuff on the car and the ground? Wonder what it is? Well guys that's rain. I know, I know you forgot what it looked like, but there it is, it's magnificent!

I'm it!

I was tagged by Shauna, so here goes nothing!

Four jobs you’ve had in your life:
Lifeguard/swim teacher
Luskey's
workout room overseer at ACU
teacher
Four movies you would watch over and over:
Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
As Good as it Gets
Baby Einstein Symphony of Fun...oh wait a minute did I really type that out loud?
Grease
Any of the Harry Potter movies
Four places you have lived:
Abilene, Texas
Stephenville, Texas
Granbury, Texas
Fort Worth, Texas
Four TV shows you love to watch:
LOST
ER
A Baby Story
Sopranos
Four places you have been on vacation:
Cozumel
Ruidoso
Colorado
San Antonio
Four websites you visit daily:
www.dooce.com
Mere's blog
Jonathan'sblog
www.babycenter.com
and lots and lots more
Four of your favorite foods:
Hamburger and fries
DIET COKE
Chicken strips
A salad someone else makes (like Olive Garden)
Four places you would rather be right now: (this is hard I'm at home with my family right now)
A movie
shopping with unlimited funds
somewhere I could get a tan
On a date with Jonathan
Four people I am tagging:
eeek
Jonathan
that's all I know that wouldn't be retagging someone!

Thanks Shauna, that was fun!

Thursday's Random Thoughts

1. I wonder why kids games are SO BORING.
2. There are still sweaters with tags on them in my closet because there hasn't been a winter yet.
3. I haven't been hungry lately.
4. Bowen is getting a bottle of formula at school now because the milk cow ain't what she used to be.
5. I saw a newborn baby today and was glad I wasn't taking him home.
6. I'm ready to get a new car.
7. I'm not as excited about American Idol as I usually am.
8. Jonathan and I need to go to a movie.
9. I started my period this week, it's the first one I've had in 17 months, I didn't miss it.
10. There are no days off of school in February.

Back from the Stockshow

The fam went to the stockshow today, it started off with a fight about not having the stroller. Fortunately it got better. We saw tons of animals, Laine saw 8 day old piglets, bunnies, chicks, cows, goats, and a menagerie of other hoof stock. She was scared of the rooster that crowed, and I held her and got poop all over my jeans from her boots. Then Bowen spit up all down the front of my shirt, I hadn't been that dirty in a long time!

Right now Days of Our Lives is on TV, what the heck, Marlaina is being attacked for the 104th time in her career, the same old stories, different year.

Back from the Stockshow

The fam went to the stockshow today, it started off with a fight about not having the stroller. Fortunately it got better. We saw tons of animals, Laine saw 8 day old piglets, bunnies, chicks, cows, goats, and a menagerie of other hoof stock. She was scared of the rooster that crowed, and I held her and got poop all over my jeans from her boots. Then Bowen spit up all down the front of my shirt, I hadn't been that dirty in a long time!

Right now Days of Our Lives is on TV, what the heck, Marlaina is being attacked for the 104th time in her career, the same old stories, different year.

An Instance when 2 is not better than 1...

Two sick children is not better than 1. I guess I getting initiated into "real" parenthood because since Thursday we've had a vomiting kid in our house. Laine threw up all night last night and now I have a yucky tummy, maybe it will stay yucky and not advance to sick tummy. Blah, and it's three day weekend too.

Sonofa...

This is the THIRD TIME I've started this post. The other two the laptop froze up just as I was finishing, hence the title, it's what I said when it happened.

I'm at home today with the kids, Bowen is still puny. He hasn't thrown up since last night but he's so pitiful, all he wants to do is nurse, be held, and then sleep. I enjoy being at home with my children, even more now that I have two of them. I don't know if I could hack being a stay at home mom, which is good because we really couldn't afford it right now. I would LOVE to work part time, it would be the best of both worlds.

I had someone tell me today that her daughter just found out she's pregnant, I think she is 19. You know we hear so much about teaching kids abstinence, which I agree is the best choice, but when are people going to realize IT'S NOT WORKING. Our young people and their parents need to realize that sex is happening and TALK ABOUT IT. I want Laine and Bowen to choose abstinence until marriage but I hope that if they make the decision to have sex that I have taught them to protect themselves. I mean I might be reaching for the stars here but I would also hope that they could come talk to Jonathan or I about that decision so we could help them work it out. Actually what I really hope is that we raise them in such a way that abstinence will be their choice because it's what GOD wants, I wants them to have hearts that seek Him and His word.

Speaking of all this sex, I found out that a certain someone who is really cool is pregnant! Yipee! She emailed me this week and told me she was feeling a bit tired and she hopes is goes away soon. Hmm hmm...(read clearing throat sound). I'm sorry to tell her that not only will it not go away but it will get SO. MUCH. WORSE. Fatigue was hands down the yuckiest part of pregnancy to me ( I didn't throw up, that would have won had I barfed my toenails up each morning). And thy tiredness shall grow and thy shalt be tired every second of the day and thou wilt think that the tiredness will never end. The good news is it does, mine got better by sixteen weeks or so and you feel like a human being again.

Wondering

Is it embarrassing or funny that after my XYZ post my zipper has been down, not once but twice today?

XYZ

Here is how my first day back at school went...I had just dropped off the kids and stepped back in the car, I looked down to put on my seatbelt and my zipper was down. Yes. It. Was. I tried to convince myself that my shirt had covered it up but then I remembered that when I scooched Bowen up further on my hip my shirt rode up above my jeans. I wasn't embarrassed just wishing someone had told me!

It was back to the real world today, these are the times I question my working full time. I love my school and the people I work with but I wish I had a couple extra days a weeks to spend with the kids. I can't think about that too much or I really get sad. And speaking of sad, my anti-depressant is working but I think the dosage will be pushed to the limit with school starting back, I might need to call the doc and discuss it. You know, I was a person that always thought depression would never affect me, I'm a happy and positive girl. Let me tell you this has been the most challenging time I've faced in a while. I really thought I'd never feel good again. I still don't really feel like being social all the time but at least I'm not angry at anything that moves or feel the overwhelming desire to get in my car and drive somewhere far away.

I really had a great Christmas, time with family and presents are always good too! I have a great family.

I'm post happy!

Thought I'd try some pictures! These are my yummy children in various stages of Christmas happiness. Don't you just want to eat them up?

OK I'll do it too...

So my sister has started a blog and I love reading blogs so I thought I'd start one too. My life is pretty tame, nothing too crazy. I think my first blog will be about my trip to the mall today. You see going to the mall with two small children, one in a stroller, one not, is an open invitation for craziness. Laine wants to take her My Little Pony baby so I let her, it was a great choice, she talked to it and played with it but it kept her a good 10 paces behind me. We venture into Victoria's Secret and I look and Laine does not have MLP...we had just eaten some pretzels by the fountain with turtles and MLP was playing on top of one of the turtles. So we go back down the elevator and see MLP sitting happily on the turtle's back. Back to VS we go, I'm looking at PC pants and Laine is again playing with MLP and looking at the lingerie -clad mannequins. I tell her to stay by me and she does, I look again and she is touching the aforementioned mannequin and a sales lady comes from nowhere and in a condescending voice says "oh no little girl those are worth $8,000". What the heck...I give her the Are you kidding me look and promptly drop my would-be purchases and head out. As if I'm going to buy over priced panties from a place that has even more overpriced mannequins that my kid can't touch. Then on out way out, Laine is still walking behind me and a security guy comes up and asks me if she is mine. Good grief...I left immediately.

So on to other things, I've been contemplating how lucky I am to have such healthy children...like I said I read other blogs and this one breaks my heart. Please pray for Ira and his family: www.brooklynchurchplant.blogspot.com

I feel like I've rambeled lots, I 'll get better at this!