Kaelyn Faye's Birth Story

It's hard to believe that I am actually writing a birth story. Wow. I'm a mom!

Let's start out with saying back labor is horrible. Absolutely horrible.

I woke up at 4am on Friday morning with contractions 5 minutes apart. I wasn't able to sleep through them at all despite trying. I took a shower at 7:30 am. At this point, I wasn't thinking I was in labor yet. An hour later, I was convinced. Jared got up at 8:30. Ctx were timing at 4 mins sitting down and 2 mins standing up. Called my midwife at 8:45am. Arrived at the birth center at 10 am.

After getting initial vitals done, I pretty much just labored for a while there. They brought in a sandwich and chips for me to eat around lunch time which I threw up because a contraction hit while I still had a bit in my mouth. After that, the tub was full so I was able to get in. What a relief! Things still hurt, but having that weight off my back was so nice.

I got out of the tub around 2pm for a check. At my Wednesday appointment, I was 1.5 centimeters. At this check, I was 7 cm. Good news, right? Right...

Got back in the tub for another few hours. Drank a glass of electrolyte stuff. I got out of the water for another check because my midwife wanted to know what was going on. As I got out, my water broke. There was meconium there too. Not bad, but still there. So I get on the bed for a check. Ctxs have now stepped up a notch since my water broke. I had a ctx right when my midwife put her hand in. Painful! I threw up the electrolyte drink. I was probably crying because my midwife kept her hand up there for a little while and I had a few more ctxs. I was fully dilated on the back but still had 2 cm to go on the front. Baby's head wasn't quite evenly down.

I stayed out of the tub for a long time now. I was in several different positions trying to help baby's head in the right place. I knew it was when I had a lot of amniotic fluid/meconium gunk go out of me for 3 or 4 ctxs. I started getting more vocal now. Before I was focusing on breathing through each ctx, but breathing wasn't enough anymore. So I started with some low moans. At this point, I have no idea what time it is or when anything is happening. I was in a ton of pain because I was having back labor this whole time and it wasn't going away.

I got into the shower because I thought the warm water would help my back. It did, but you can only do so much for back labor pain. I stayed in there for a while. I started getting even more vocal by grunting through ctxs. My midwife assistant asked if I was getting the urge to push because that's what it was sound like to them - the answer was no. Things were just really intense and grunting was helping me get through it. She said to try lightly bearing down through a few ctx and see how that goes. It was painful. I couldn't handle it.

When I got out, I leaned my back against my husband and when ctxs hit, I would bend my knees through it like I was pushing but I wasn't because it still hurt to do it.

They wanted to do another check to see where I was and to be able to make better suggestions on things I could do. I just about cried. They had to do a lot of convincing to get me to have another check. They let me do it on my hands and knees. And they had to talk me through breathing the whole time. It helped that they told me it would be short unlike the last time. This time I was fully dilated except for a very tiny lip on the front. My guess is this was around midnight. Maybe 12:30.

They had started refilling the tub while I was in the shower and my husband kept telling me that when that tub was filled, I would have the baby. They said I could get in the tub then but sitting on the toilet would be better so gravity could help that lip go away. I knew I didn't want to sit because everything hurt more. But I also really wanted to be done. So I sat. And immediately stood up because a ctx hit and it was sooooo painful. DH was right in front of me and held me and talked to me. I really cried then because it hurt so bad. After a few ctx of me standing and crying, I got into the tub.

As soon as I got into the tub, I was ready to push. I pushed through I don't know how many ctx. There was one time when I got really panicked because of the pain and Jared said I was really wide-eyed and looking for a way away from the pain. I was extremely vocal. Everyone kept trying to get me to breathe through things. Afterwards, they told me they were trying to help me not be so vocal. Yeah... totally didn't work. It was the only way I could get through. At one point they gave me a little bit of oxygen. Mostly to encourage me to breathe rather than an actual need for it.

Soon I could reach down and feel something. They said it should be hard but it just felt like a smooth hairy muscle. Didn't take me long to figure out I was feeling the hair on her head. Once I figured that out, I knew I was finally almost finished. I could see my progress in the large knob that opens the tub drain. They gave me suggestions on positions to help ease the way for baby.

She was born at 2:42 am, just three minutes after her head came out. They put her immediately on my chest and I could see her and hold her and talk to her. They gave her a little bit of oxygen. The placenta came out just a little bit later. Jared took baby to the bed while I got out of the tub. I didn't realize that every shred of energy would just leave as soon as labor was over! I got into the bed. Longest 7 steps of my life.

Over the next two hours, they checked me and how my bleeding was doing. I tore just a little bit and they asked if I wanted stitches - it would have been 2. I declined. Jared cut the umbilical cord. I had to go to the bathroom. Another long journey! My voice was absolutely shot after all the hours of vocalizing! It took at least 24 hours for it to sound normal and stop being so sore.

Kaelyn Faye weighed in at 7 lbs, 12 oz. It surprised them because I guess she doesn't look that heavy. She was 19 inches long. Head was 13. She didn't have a cone head. She has dark skin and dark hair. She is adorable!

Post-partum was really nice. Good food, a tea bath, an hour massage... My experience there convinced one of my pregnant friends who is due in February to see if she can change care there. We got home yesterday and are beginning to adjust to life as new parents. Learning curves for all of us!

Snickerdoodles

Last week I made my first batch of Christmas cookies. Yes, my first. I haven't made any more because I need more milk. But I do plan on making more. The only way this plan will be bust is if baby decides to come. And I won't complain about that.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Lighter Snickerdoodles
Recipe from allrecipes.com

1/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cup white sugar
4 oz lowfat cream cheese
1 egg
2 egg whites
2 3/4 cup white flour
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt (which I didn't add)
1/4 cup white sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, 1 1/2 cups of white sugar, and cream cheese. Beat in the egg and egg whites until smooth. Sift together the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt; stir into the creamed mixture. Cover, and refrigerate dough for at least 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). In a small dish, mix together the remaining white sugar and the cinnamon. Roll the dough into walnut sized balls, and roll the balls in the cinnamon and sugar mixture. Place the balls at least 2 inches apart on cookie sheets, and flatten slightly.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove from cookie sheets to cool on wire racks.

~~~~~~~~~~~

These cookies turned out so yummy and pretty! And I haven't felt guilty eating most of them. I took a plate to the apartment complex managers. But I'm selfish and kept the rest.

Dear Baby

Dear Baby,

I don't believe you have been receiving any of my previously sent messages to you. Maybe you are a high-tech baby and use the Internet to receive all pertinent information that you need to know. In hopes that this might be right, I am attempting to communicate to you in this way.

I know our due date is not until next Monday, but you don't really need to wait that long. Tonight would be acceptable. Really. It would be. Neither Jared nor I would be complaining. If you do decide to wait, please come before "sometime in the next three weeks" is over. I do not relish staying in pre-labor for that long since we have already been in this stage for the last three weeks. At least things are progressing--you could help them go faster. There's no need to be shy.

If you are waiting for any of our orders to arrive, please don't. We don't need them right away so it really is okay for you to come.

If you are waiting for Jared to finish work, you're good to come now. Today is his last day at playing cycle monitor and he is ready for a break from work after the stress of being on call/working/at his computer every hour for nearly 24/7 for the last week.

If you are waiting for December, it will be here tomorrow. We can start labor today and you can be born tomorrow.

If you are waiting for us to put up a Christmas tree, never fear because our cats are loving it (a little too much, I might add).

Please consider all that I have said. I ask that you review your timeline for entry into my arms and make adjustments accordingly. We love you and can't wait to meet you. I will wait as long as I must. You are worth it.

Love,
Mom

Newport, Oregon: 11/10 - 11/13

I haven't often been to the Oregon coast. In fact, this was only my second trip. A few years ago we went to Lincoln City for a day -- Labor Day, I think. That was with Jared's family. For our 3-night vacation, we choose Newport. Mostly because we got a good deal on the room. :)

We were greeted by a very friendly cat. Since we had 30 minutes before check-in, we followed our self-proclaimed tour guide, the cat, down to the beach. The trip down wasn't so bad. It was the trip back up the steps and slope that was tiring.

On the whole, I took too many pictures on the trip to be shown here. It's picking and choosing which pictures to show that will be a problem.

Our room had a blue theme. My shirt on one of the days was blue and white striped. It matched perfectly although I don't think a picture of me in that shirt in the room was ever taken. The view was quite lovely looking out over the ocean. Breakfast was good every day even though I wasn't a fan of EVERYTHING that was made. I still liked it.



We went to see the Yaquina Bay lighthouse (the free one), the Newport Aquarium, the beach (several different places), Devil's Punch Bowl, the historic bayfront, and we drove a scenic loop off 101. You'd be looking out over the ocean and then you'd be in forest. Very pretty. And there was a very bright rainbow right then. We attempt to go to the research facility near the aquarium, but it was closed the day we went and we didn't bother to go back. We also walked through many different shops, most of which were on the historic bayfront.



We decided we would get one souvenir to commemorate our vacation. At first, we were thinking "Christmas tree ornament". Then we got to the kitchen shop. Ladies and gentlemen, I resisted. We still had a few more shops to look at. But we ended up right back at the kitchen store ready to make our purchase. I do wish I had a picture of it. I was way too excited to find a whole bunch of cookie cutters. Yes, cookie cutters. Rubber ducky shaped, penguin shaped, turtle shaped, lots of other shapes. Best of all, moose. Heart. I was in love. I'm sure I can do something to make an ornament out of it... just not the actual cutter will go on the tree.



We somewhat expected the weather to be rainy the entire time. After all, that's what the weatherman said. We had plenty of sunshine. Bits of rain but it was mostly at night. All the bits of our trip that didn't involve walking was spent sleeping, reading, eating, and cross stitching (which is another post in and of itself just so I can show off).

Baby Shower

Baby shower went great. The sun was out the entire time. It went away pretty much as soon as it ended. Perfect timing, weather! We had a lot of carb and sugar-filled foods. The crepes were the best. Thanks for slaving over the stove for 5 hours, Dad Lotti!

Here are just a few pictures from the event.

Guess how big Suki's waist is using yarn. Tonnie, who is newly pregnant with her fourth child, measured her own waist and won.

Blindfold Suki and have her guess the objects. I got them all right.

Kera and her baby, Ethan. Isn't he cute? I think this is one of the rare times I've seen him where he doesn't have a mohawk.

The pile of gifts. Or at least a portion of the pile.

Just a few of the receiving blankets and matching burp cloths I received.


Proof that not everything I received had pink on it.


A monkey. Fits perfectly in the car seat. Maybe I'll bring it to the birth to use as imagery. Hmmm... "I'm birthing a monkey" - doesn't sound quite right.One of her only dresses.

"Feels like a 5 lber"

As of Monday:
Baby's head is down.
Baby feels like she weighs about 5 pounds.
I do not feel "really pregnant" and therefore I will not going to give birth to my baby "any day now".
I have gained 40 pounds.
I am measuring just a little bit on the low side.

Other notes of which their worth and interest is questionable:
My baby shower is on Saturday.
I have 13 days to go to work left (not including today).
I have 32 days until my due date.
I have 40 days until I am 8 days past my due date which I have been told is the average for first time moms.
My body has decided that it is now acceptable to need to eat every 3 hours at a minimum and nighttime is no exception. Okay, I know I have to get up lots once baby is born. But do I have to start now?
I still have not received a call saying that my chair is in stock and I can come get it. They had better hurry up.
Next week Jared and I are going to spend 3 days at the coast. Weather forecast: Showers and the low 50s.
I like getting bills that I don't have to pay.

My Day

Check this out. I don't post for a month and then you get 3 posts within the last 10 days.


It is 4:38 pm and I have 22 minutes remaining at work. At least I hope it is only 12 more minutes. Jared went over to a client building and has yet to return. The thought came to me that I could use the remaining time to do some more actual work. But I'm exhausted. Let me tell you why.


As you may or may not have known, work decided to have a team building activity. It was initial scheduled to be in the middle of September. That didn't happen. So we set it for today with a Halloween theme. As is usual with these types of things, I was largely in charge. When I told the managers that I was seeing people decline the meeting invite to come, I got the task of telling people that it was mandatory and they must come or have a most excellent reason for missing out. As it turned out, we only had a handful of people not able to come. We had about 60 of the 80 people present.


I had all my prep work done yesterday and the only thing I had left to take from my apartment was my jello (which was absolutely yummy and I was excited to see a little bit leftover afterwards). I wasn't feeling anxious or stressed about everything being prepared. Despite that, I had a horrible time sleeping last night. I just couldn't. I was exhausted by the time I was supposed to be up that I burst out in tears when my cat found one tiny bit of my leg showing through my blanket on my couch recliner. Not what I would call a good start to my day.

Jared was beyond amazing today. He helped me out instead of doing the tons of work he had to do. He and a co-worker (Tyler) set up the tables and chairs for me. Then they kept going and put up the bats and table cloths. And they just kept helping. It was awesome. I wish I hadn't forgotten my camera so Rod (the picture taker) had better have taken good pictures of my decorations.

Table cloths: black trash bags cut open. Two to a table. Taped together to imitate stitches like Frankenstein. Jared initially thought up the idea of trash bags, but I don't think he was being serious because as soon as I decided it was a good idea he said "but it's tacky!" Hey, it's Halloween. Tyler thought it was cool.

Center pieces: trees made from paper bags. Took about 15-20 minutes per bag. I used paper clip holders as weights so the trees would stand up. I also made little ghosts from salt dough. I will not do that again. At least not with the dough recipe I chose. A few people liked them enough to keep some though. I also put Halloween rubber duckies and Jack-O-Lantern stress balls that were "party favors" on the tables. The stress balls were really cute.

Bats: I made 150 origami bats. Really easy, just a little time consuming because of the amount. Oh, and then I ended up having to paint eyes on them (pens weren't working for me) with white out. Jared and Tyler put them up on the walls and did a great job with it. It looked really good -- better than I had envisioned!

Halloween Trivia: team activity #1 that was done during the potluck portion of the activity.

Build the Perfect Team Member: This turned out really well. We split everyone into teams (randomly) and gave them a small box of random parts. They had to list 6 characteristics of the perfect team member and then build a team member using the parts they were given. Afterwards, they showed them off and told them why they chose what they did. We now have them on display in our office. Kind of in a remote area of the office but... we don't exactly have a central display case.

All in all today, I started at 8:45 am and clean up ended at 2:15 pm. I got lots of compliments on the decor. Everyone seemed to have an enjoyable time. And best of all, I don't have to take home tons of food.

Oh, and I have Friday and Monday off. I need sleep.

Picture Post

Amidst the creation of bats, spooky trees, and ghosts, I decided to post some pictures - quite on a whim. These were all taken with my new camera (except for this first picture).

This first picture is me at 26 weeks. Just so you can see the difference between then and now.



These next two pictures are me at 33 weeks. Technically, 32 weeks and 6 days. Tomorrow I am 34 weeks.



I chose my top favorite pictures that I took at Colleen's book launch last weekend. I took a little over 100 (and still could have taken more). As a little bit of a background to Colleen's books: she began writing a few years ago. Her first two books are now self-published and she is writing her third. It is a series of 4 books telling the story of a girl from Oregon who has to help two ancient Indian princes break a curse that has turned them into tigers. The first book, Tiger's Curse, takes us to India and the mythical kingdom of Kishkindha. Tiger's Quest, the second book, takes us to Tibet and the magical Shangri-la.

Jared and I, along with other family members and friends, were part of her "early readers group". Jared also built (and is still building...) and maintains her website - www.colleenhouck.com. You can purchase her book through her website. You can also request your library if they will carry it (and get other people to request it too because the more people who request such a newly-published book, the more likely your library system will pick it up).

This is just some of the food of Shangri-la that was at the party. Brad, Colleen's husband, decided I took far too many food pictures.




I just thought this turned out to be a cool picture. The focal point of this picture are a number of bookmarks that were made for Colleen's book. There were also earrings, bracelets, and necklaces. I got an earring/bracelet/bookmark set as a gift from Colleen. Very pretty and well made. There is a link to the maker's Etsy site from Colleen's website. There aren't many pictures up yet, but you can get a feel for what she makes.


Colleen Houck, the author.


Alan, a nephew in attendance.


Sarah, a niece: it took me a loooong time to get a picture of her face. She gets to be quite shy and usually has her chin glued to her chest.


A lotus flower. Colleen has a tier of them in different colors.


Matthew, a nephew. His brother, Alan, won one of the raffle drawings and chose the first book as a prize. Matthew immediately sat down to read it. It took me a while to get a picture. People kept getting in the way.


It was a beautiful day. Actually, not really. It was raining all morning and the early part of the afternoon.


Honey nectar from Shangri-la. Colleen really liked this picture. Jared says the sorbet on the lime mars the perfectness of this picture. I still like it. And it tasted really good. It was served in tall, skinny flute glasses. There were two servers who came and would take my cup away and give me a new one.

It's About Time

It is 6:30 pm on my day off. I've had a great day. Played with makeup, went to a dr appointment, had lunch at Chipotle, and went to a movie. Almost all with Jared. It's been a great day for both of us. It's a good thing we have more days off coming up. I'm really excited about our week long NO WORK week in November. We're going to spend a few days at the coast in Newport. It'll be cold, but whateves. Alaska would have been cold too if we had been able to do that.

My baby's room is looking more and more like what it is intended for and less like a storage holding facility. My crib and changing table is a beautiful dark wood. Funny story that I wish I had pictures of: one day we didn't shut the door after being in there because one of the cats was still in there. A little bit later, Jared went to shut the door. We found Kara laying inside the crib and Jaeden lounging on top of the changing table. Cute, but not a good sign. My wall border is in my possession. In fact, I am staring at it now as it is on the desk in front of me. I haven't quite had the time to put it up yet. I have 4 day weekend next week. We'll likely do it then.

It took me a while, but I finally found a rocker/glider that I liked. Best of all, it was on sale. And out of stock. So now I have a rain check. They said they would call when it was in stock... they didn't know how long that would take.

The first two books that my sister-in-law wrote can now be purchased. We had a launch party for her last week. I'm glad that's over. Quite a bit of prep work involved. My job during the party was to take pictures. We bought a new digital camera that day and so I had some fun with it. Best feature: there isn't a 30 second wait in between pictures. I read a lot of reviews on different cameras and was shocked to be reading that 3 seconds between pictures was slow. I'm not sure what that makes my old camera. What's beyond slow?

Today at my appointment, they couldn't figure out if baby's head was down or up. Previously, she was head up. This time, they're not certain. Even finding the heartbeat didn't help much because it was pretty much close to my belly button which really means any way goes. No worries on that yet. But hopefully she is head down at my next appointment with Patricia. (Which is after my next two appointments which are with Susie, my other midwife.)

I also got the results of my gestational diabetes test. The only reason I took it was because my carb and sugar intake has been pretty high all throughout pregnancy. As I expected, I was in the high range. High enough to where I need to be more careful and diligent, but low enough that I don't have to take the 3 hour GD test. Sigh. I guess I shouldn't make cinnamon rolls too often unless I really use those as an incentive to NOT eat other things.

I still don't have my baby's 3D ultrasound scanned in due to not having a scanner that works with Vista or Windows 7. She's cute, of course. She kept her foot by her face most of the time. She wouldn't roll over so we couldn't get a full face picture, just her profile. It was pretty cool because the tech could cut away part of the picture to make her face the focal point. This was especially good because my placenta was over part of her face and they could just cut that away. She has a Laulusa nose.

Dinner is calling to me now so I bid thee farewell.

Week 28 - but no pictures. Yet.

That's right. I wanted to write something but I don't have computerized pictures yet. We'll be taking one when we get home from work. Last week we also got a 3D ultrasound done. More on that when I get the pictures scanned in.

I'm staring at the final stretch before the real work begins. A lot of people have started to ask me if I'm ready yet, if the baby's room is ready, etc. A huge big fat no. I have 2 packs of diapers, a gift certificate to Amazon, and a bassinet that I haven't moved to my apartment yet. I'm thinking that not being ready yet will help time not slow down during these last few months. Shout out to Valerie: You know what I want! I'm largely on hold waiting for that one little package from you.

On the up side, I'm going crib shopping this Saturday. Any favorites out there?

----Next Topic----

Last month, I got pears. Half a box of whatever size it was -- I forget. They weren't ripe. And then when they did ripen, they all ripened at once and immediately went overripe. Soooo not much opportunity to eat a raw pear unless you like them mushy. Which I don't. Overall, I ended up making 4 loaves of pear bread and 4 pear pies. I was so pleased with how they turned out. Very yummy and good looking. 1 pie and bread went to a co-worker. I had brought in a pie to work and he loved it and had seconds. Today he said his family also loved the pie and bread. I am quite pleased! I can't fully take credit because I did follow a recipe (which I gave to him upon request). Well, I mostly followed the recipes.

----Next Topic----

When we moved into our new apartment, we said we needed to get curtains. Well, I said I wanted them, then we discovered we did actually need them with a bright light that shines into our bedroom window from across the parking lot. When we came back from Florida last month, we said we really did need to get curtains because we suspected they were the reason I slept much better in FL than I had been. Two weeks ago, we finally went to get curtains. But, no drill. Long story short: we finally borrowed a drill, ended up not having the right kind of drill bits, used the drill anyway but in a different way. And now my curtains are up!

AND I LOVE IT.

I have only woken up once or twice each night in the last two nights. I love it for my cats too. They don't wake me up and are still really sleepy when I get up.

Week 26 Appt and the Bread Machine

Today I had an appointment. I'm 26 weeks along and have so far gained 23 pounds. Yup, another 10 pounds in 4 weeks.

Picture taken 20 minutes ago.

The conversation went something like this:
Me: *talking about what I've been eating and how it's been hard to curb the carb cravings*
Midwife: Well, you look really healthy so I'm not worried. Now if we starting seeing something odd, we may have this conversation again only different.
10 minutes later I weigh myself.
Midwife: Remember when I said we may talk again....
She wasn't really worried (yet anyway) but did suggest that I could try substituting more protein for carbs. If I continue this trend, I'm facing about 60 total pounds of weight gain.

Baby was doing good with her heartbeat in the 140s. Her head is down. And they say I'm pretty much all baby. (And Jared agrees with me that my thighs and butt doesn't look any bigger, so where is all that weight going? The boob growth can't equate THAT much particularly since they haven't grown any more in the last few months.)

They both said they love my appointments because I'm so easy. They assure me I'll be awesome when I go past my due date and also when I'm actually in labor. I'm not so sure about that. Just because I'm laid back now doesn't mean that I'm always like that.

Next topic: Making bread with my bread machine.

Some time ago, my sister-in-law got a new bread machine which means I got her old one. (This is also how I received my sewing machine.) I've never used it. I've intended to use it, but just never had. Well, one thing this carb craving did was to get me to use it. We had a bread machine box mix thingy. I made a 1lb bread because I didn't know if my pan would fit the 1 1/2 - 2 lb. Turns out that it will.

Anyway, I searched online for a manual. None. Great. So I looked at the manuals I could find and found one that had a similar display and interface. All other instructions seemed to be the same for this brand of machine (Oster).



It was delicious to the taste and very desirable. It was also gone in 24 hours. And no, I did not eat all of it. Jared had half of it.

Next time I will try "light crust" because "medium" was too dark for me. (ou should know that I am the person who eats what my husband and my family calls "warm bread" instead of "toast".)

Chocolate: One Woman's Everyday Pleasure is A Pregnant Woman's Craving

I do not love chocolate. I don't think I have ever loved chocolate. Chocolate doesn't spin my world. Chocolate is best with other things. Chocolate-covered strawberries. Those little chocolates with nuts in them. I do like plain hot chocolate. As I was saying, chocolate isn't something I must have every day. Whenever I'm stressed, I don't turn to chocolate. Whenever I need a pick-me-up, it's usually not chocolate.

Then I get pregnant. Baby, what are you doing to me?

It's liking the same stuff as before, just wanting it much more frequently. Chocolate pudding. Chocolate chip cookies. Pepperidge Farm cookies with chocolate chunks. Almond Joys. Snickers. Chocolate muffins with chocolate chips. Chocolate ice cream (with other stuff). Chocolate cake (with good frosting). Chocolate milkshakes. Chocolate eclairs. Chocolate chip coffee cake.

Or anything that has a combination of chocolate and peanut butter. Yummmmmyyyy.

I do not want fudge. Or chocolate milk.

Um. Stuff.

I didn't mean to leave my blog alone for so long. I have a week 22 picture I need to get off my camera and onto my computer. I just haven't done it yet. So I haven't posted yet.

The most exciting thing that has happened to me is the amount of sleep I have been getting. In truth, it is not very exciting. Waking up at 4am was becoming normal to me. So was going back to sleep until 6am. The last several nights have been filled with many more waking moments than not. It is sad when you wish for 5 hours of sleep.

Yesterday I took the day off. I had slowly been approaching this point. It was unavoidable. I was waking up so often and had started crying each time. The day before, I was periodically crying at work. And while it's cooler outside, the car just doesn't stay cool enough with the sun shining down for me to take a nap.

Scheduling 40 people for interviews within 3 days is pretty exciting. And fun! It's a nice puzzle to put together, so I am enjoying it. It does scare me for next week when I'm gone. Balancing conference rooms and schedules is fun enough up front. I won't even be able to see the fruits of my labors and see the interviewers get confused while playing musical conference rooms or the constant flow of people from off site having no clue what room they should be or even not getting into the building because nobody's there to let them in.

I ate a caramel apple yesterday. It had rice krispies on it. And chocolate. And tiger butter (which is a peanut butter based yumminess). And mini marshmallows.

I received my first baby item today (hmm, guess I need to actually start getting the room ready). Pampers Newborn Diapers compliments of a co-worker (male, even). He says he has even more diapers, he just has to find them. Also, a lot of newborn clothes some of which haven't even been used by his little Catie because his parents brought them from England after she was too big for them. Actually, the people I work with are pretty awesome. Someone else (also male) said he has tons of toys and clothes. I just have to tell him when I'm ready to collect or if I'm looking for anything in particular. Jared's parents are paying for our crib (his mother is anxiously waiting to go shopping!). Jared's sister is letting us borrow her bassinet (especially since it's in Oregon and she's in Arizona). Valerie's giving me wall paper border (okay, so the story is that I bought it and got it shipped to her house - brilliant). We are very blessed with the people around us.

A chocolate chip oatmeal cookie sounds really nice right now.

Week 21

Actually, that's week 20. I'm really 21 weeks now. Don't look much different. That one actually looks bigger than what I think I normally look now. (And it took 3 tries to get a picture that good.)

Ah, but let's see. Today I had another appointment. The only other thing they had to say from my ultrasound results were that my placenta was in front which means it's harder to feel baby. Then they asked if I felt her every day... well, I don't know. I can't even tell she's kicking when I'm poking her and they think I should be able to since they can. I'm a first time mom--it's still hard to figure things out like that.

Still couldn't find the heartbeat with the stethoscope so they used the doppler again. Strong and normal. Measuring fine. Eating fine. Feeling fine.

Oh, but this heat. It's been lovely and 100 - 110 degrees the last few days. And we have another few days before it drops down to the 90s for the remainder of the week. It's pretty sad when it's still 90 at 9pm. And really tiring. I thought I lacked energy before? That's nothing compared to now. I think I'll die in Orlando next month.

We've discovered that our cats like ice though. Actually, that discovery happened a few weeks ago. I don't know if it's the shape, the coldness, or the noise they like. But they are drawn to it. So now we put some in their water every day. Hey, I like ice water too. Can't blame them.

I don't have much else to add at this point. Maybe something interesting will come up soon...

My New Job Duty

I wasn't going to complain about work anymore. But...

Last week due to a series of events, the one club that this office has found itself without a contact person. This week, a new person starts and wants to join the club. Oh wait, no contact person? Whatever shall we do? I know! Let's ask Suki.

Let's face it. I don't know anything about coffee. At one point in my life, I liked the smell of it in the grocery store. Then it got to be overbearing. Now it's just gross. My last job required me to occassionally make coffee and also offer it to clients who came in. It was there that I learned what black coffee meant.

Despite my lack of coffee knowledge, I acquired the coffee club. I guess it was because I didn't outright say no. So what does this mean? It means I get to collect dues every month and make sure the supplies don't run out. Maybe Larry will still be awesome and purchase the supplies (yeah, because I don't have a Costco membership either). (BTW, Larry really does rock. He wears shorts in the winter and is always happy. He really wanted to make sure that I got my Christmas present from him and his wife.)

How does this relate in any way to my job? If the club wants to continue, the point person should be a club member. This isn't an office thing. Anyone from the office can join, but a club is a club. And even if you want to pick someone outside the club (because you can still use the supplies, you just have to pay per cup so it's usually more beneficial to join the club), wouldn't it be smarter to pick a coffee drinker?

Consolation: It's a few more months. Just a few more months. (Yes, it's something like a mantra for me.)

Our Visit with Ultrasounds

Friday morning brought our ultrasound visit. We went into work for 45 minutes before going over to the doctor's. Jared thought I was crazy for doing it, but our off-site tape storage guys come Fridays by 8:30 and I didn't want there to be a chance no one let them in.

Someone at work (actually, he works from a different state) jabbered (IMed) me wondering if it was already time that I could be back. He dropped his vote for the pink team.

We arrived at the doctor's office. I drank all the 32 oz of water by this point and walking was mighty uncomfortable. Jared tried to help. "Just four more times of walking!" The view from the office was really nice. It was a nice little forest area which was unexpected since we were in Salem and right next to Willamette University.

The tech was very nice. She took some general pictures before letting me go to the bathroom because "you're all filled up!!" I guess water doesn't shoot right through everybody like it does for me. At this point, baby had its back towards us and was just laying very contentedly. When I got back much relieved from the break, baby had moved onto hands and knees.

Then the detailed pictures and looks started. We looked at spine, measured head, stomach, arm bones, leg bones, checked fingers and toes, etc. Its bladder was full too at this point so it was easier to see (later on, it was empty and much harder to see). Part of the time I had to lay on my left side to get baby to roll over more. We eventually got it face up (I actually had to go to the bathroom again to give baby more room to roll). It is best to check the heart in this position, I guess (hb = 148). She pointed out where the umbilical cord was connected and then pushed this button and red and blue came up on the screen showing us where the blood was to make sure that it was going where it should be. Baby wasn't much of a wiggler, which I already knew because I don't feel baby much.

Then baby finally moved her legs apart for us to see this:
This is the view from the bottom up. Baby is a girl! And this is her little foot (not a very clear picture):
And this is what Jared calls her tragic pose because her fist is raised (she didn't open her fist at all):
And this is just her chilling out:

And wait, there's more! Well, actually the picture taking was done. This was a different place than where I went for 8 weeks. This place makes a DVD for you. It includes all the pictures they took plus a few movement clips, and the heartbeat (I think). They're mailing it to us, so I don't have it yet. Also, included in the charge of the 20 week ultrasounds are free 27 week 3D ultrasounds so we will be going back in early September to get those.

Once we got back to the office (we went out for an early lunch at iHop which was really yummy and I was starving), it wasn't long before I got a phone call from the guy who had emailed me before. "You gotta tell me!" I had some work that needed to be done immediately, but by the time I was able to get an email out about an hour later I (and Jared) had already told several people around the office as well as the few people who jabbered me.

So I did send out a mass email because I knew SOMEONE would feel offended that I didn't tell them. So anybody who currently works on our project knows that we are having a little girl. That flooded my inbox with many congratulations and "hope she looks like her mom!" and "pink clothes it is!" Hopefully there won't really be all pink clothes arriving at my baby's room. I DO like lots of color. I've already encouraged someone to give purple because even though it's not much better than pink, it's not pink.

Quick Update

Sunday morning came around and I wanted to go early so I could either duplicate or undo the weird-ness of the week before. Jared, bless his heart, still dragged his feet. So I only got there a little early. Enough to run through the songs. Luckily, the organ was back to normal (thanks to whoever played in the ward after me). I didn't have time to try to duplicate the problem, but during the closing hymn, I spotted "Acoustic Portrait" or something like that. It's a switch next to the "memory" and "cursor" buttons. (I actually don't understand the cursor button because there's also a spinning knob that acts like a cursor as well. That's one mystery I don't have to find out though.)

Saturday I went shopping. Maternity clothes are way more comfortable than regular clothes. And so much easier to find than modest, cute regular clothes. Now that there's no waist band keeping anything in and up, Jared thinks I look much more pregnant now. I only slightly agree. :) Ah, well. Today is 19 weeks and Friday is our ultrasound appointment.

Happy birthday to Andi today! She's excited to become an "aunt" because she has decided that waiting for Sara will take far too much time.

I've managed to startled Jared out of his sleep for a second time. This time I was close to screaming because my leg cramped up and that jerked me awake.

When I began this post, I actually had something to say but now I have quite forgotten what it is.

The New Organ

July is my month to play organ in church. And man, the organ and I just don't jive together yet. The manual professes it to be the newest, most bestest Allen organ. Except they said it different and used some different descriptions.

So you push the button and it turns on. It goes through its starting up process and menu. Then you can pick which "set" you want to recall. #1 is preset. #11 is mine. There's a dial that lets you select which set. There's a few other buttons that I don't know what they're used for. And there's a transpose button somewhere there.

Then you have your stops. Some of them have secondary sounds on them. There's a bass coupler and a melody coupler. There are also toe pedal stops in addition to the regular pedal stops.

So I'm playing around with my different options and trying some of the regular presets. And my ears start hurting. You know where there's just this.... almost hidden or low sound that just hurts right behind your ear? That's what it was. I couldn't tell if it was a combination of stops or the acoustics of the room (or both). The acoustics, by the way, aren't great.

So I finally decide on some different stops for my songs. Except there was still some problem. The most musical member of the bishopric called it 'reverb'. "The reverb is nice, makes me feel like we're the MoTab, but is there a way to turn it off?" Not to my knowledge! I couldn't figure it out. I don't know if it's the same problem, but to me, the sound lingered on after you stopped playing the note. Which... isn't usual for organs so I don't know how to deal with that.

Jared said it sounded big. Like we should have been in a cathedral instead. Someone else said it had kind of an echo. For me, it hurt my ears and made playing the hymns more difficult because I couldn't figure it out and it's not the way it should work.

Unfotunately, the Stake didn't see fit to have the ward organists attend the demonstration by the people who set up our organ. Luckily, our stake president's wife is one of my ward's organists with me. She talked about how you could make it sound like you were playing a grand march or whatever in a cathedral or you could keep it small or you could do this or that or the other with it. Somehow, I capitalized on the cathedral today. Except I used just normal stops! Ones that I used 7 years ago in Scioto Ward and again a few years later in Athens Branch. Our pipe organ only had 6 options for each keyboard so there wasn't much there.

Meh.... I need help. And more time.

Sometimes Plums Taste Like Cherries.

Almost done moving. We just have some cleaning left in the old apartment and then moving the vaccuum and cleaning supplies out. Moving into the new apartment though... we're still waiting for a bookshelf which should arrive today.

Our cats LOVE the extra space. Although for some reason they are now having separation anxiety. Like, you're on one side of a closed door and they're on the other. They hate it. They will meow until you come out or the other person chases them away from the door (multiple times).

My one dislike: the top rack of the dishwasher. Everybody does dishes differently. I grew up washing pots and pans by hand while plates, cups, and the like go in the dishwasher. And it was cups on the side and bowls and little plates in the middle. Jared grew up putting anything and everything in the dishwasher. I was unhappy to discover our wok and our cast iron in the dishwasher. Rusty. Anyway, so our new top rack has four rows of prongs like normal, except they're evenly spaced. And since the bottom of the rack is wavy, it means bowls fall over wherever they want because they can't "rest" anywhere. It is annoying.

And I can't not talk about baby. I had an appointment yesterday. Everything was well. I gained 3 pounds which is probably a good thing since I'm now 17 weeks and that's the only weight I've gained. They had a hard time finding the hb with the stethescope so they used the dopplar which I like better anyway because then I get to hear the hb too! I'm measuring right on. Umm, that's about it.

Oh wait, no it's not! I scheduled my next u/s with a place different from where I got my first one done. They use Salem Radiology when they have to get a mom in quickly, but Diagnostic Imaging is preferred because they're really nice. So I'm scheduled for July 17th. A first for my family: We're finding out gender. So stay tuned.

Bearer of Bad News

My mom always said I took pleasure in giving people bad news. I relished it. Maybe so, but I can't think of any other reason I would put anything pertaining to this guy on my blog (or anywhere else).

Michael Jackson Dies

My condolences to Valerie.

I woke up biting Jared.

And then I cried while he laughed. I understand a little bit better why you don't wake up sleepwalkers.

I was having a dream in which I was being attacked and was fighting back. I don't know who I was fighting, he didn't look familiar. It wasn't Jared. I wasn't even biting the guy. But I bit Jared. And I woke up right before biting him too except I didn't have control over what I was doing yet. But because I was partially awake, it wasn't hard enough to leave marks or anything. Sure startled Jared.

My list of things I don't like about being pregnant keeps growing:
1) Nausea.
2) Constant hunger.
3) Vivid dreams.

Baby keeps on growing though so I wouldn't trade this experience for anything.

We're Moving!

It's official. Across the parking lot and everything! We saw it today before signing for it. We have the rest of the month to move in and they aren't charging us for basically having two apartments right now. Yay! We're paying $30 more for it, but I'm more than fine with that.

We get two bathrooms. Ours has a shower and the other one has a tub and the washer and dryer. Which I already love. It's my favorite feature (besides the baby room). Right now we have ones on top of each other and these other ones are side by side with a shelf overhead. Yay. A place for our laundry detergent! And bigger loads! I love it.

We're going to actually paint. Which is intimidating for me. Picking colors and what not... yikes. We'll see how it goes. We're pretty certain the apartment will get less sun than we do now, so I definitely want to keep the colors light with no really heavy colors. Also trying to pick out a theme for baby's room isn't easy. But in talking with Lindey today, I'm thinking JUNGLE. Kinda like the pants I made and looooved several years back.

Jared doesn't want to do the kitchen though... which may be all right. Except that would probably make it the only room without paint which would bother me. We'll see.

Any ideas, color themes, etc are welcome!

Just some random things.

There hasn't been any sort of interesting things to say about what's been going on in the Lotti household. Or outside the household.

Pregnancy: Today is week 14. Nausea is mostly gone. Appetite is here. Breath support isn't so much here as I noticed yesterday at church. At my appointment last week I got to hear the heart beat and record it on my phone (so somehow I need to get it off my phone to my computer). Patricia (my midwife) said I have a long middle section, firm abs, and baby is well above my pelvic bone. I weighed exactly the same as I had 5 weeks previous. I didn't have to get blood drawn.

Christmas: Is still a ways away, but I'm really excited about it. Disclaimer: Not because my baby's born in December either. Whenever I think "Christmas", I never also think "baby". I see scenes of making Christmas cookies, a puzzle always in the works (usually the one of the tree in Times Square), wassail, Christmas trees and decorations, and Christmas music. I've been working on my nativity set still and finished my 4th character yesterday. I'm 1/3 done. Yay for Christmas!

------
So I'm online with Lindey a few weeks ago. I'm at work and listening to music.

Me: Confession - I still like NSync's music.
Lindey: Confession - Me too.

Then a few days later, I'm talking with Kimmi. I'm at work and listening to music.

Me: *sings* And no matter what I do, I feel the pain with or without you. *dance*
Kimmi: Where's that from?
Me: *sings* It's tearin up my heart when I'm with you and when we are apart I feel it toooooooooo *dance*
Kimmi: *signs off*

Then I reminisced about the days when Josh liked That Thing You Do, NSync, and Collin Dunne "lead boy - I don't like Michael Flatley."

Good times.

Like Father - Like Husband?

I love Jared. And that love is the reason I can tell stories about him.

We got a vacuum as a wedding present. It worked okay for a time but then the suction was pretty much non-existent. It acted like it was doing something before spitting it back out. Finally, I got a new vacuum - the same kind ValeReed as except mine is a blue-green color and theirs is maroon. It arrived on Friday and the office signed for it. We didn't get home in time to pick it up so we had to wait until Saturday.

Saturday is our "make an effort to clean" day. We've been horrible at it this last month because I haven't had any motivation. But hey! I was feeling pretty good so I was cleaning in the kitchen. Jared did the cat litter. And then pulls out our vacuum. Not the nice, new vacuum that we just bought. But our crappy suction-less vacuum. And this was after me saying over and over again "the office isn't open yet! I want my vacuum!" How does this even seem logical?

So instead of going to the office to get the package, he tells me that I can get it whenever I'm ready to. Which worked out fine since the office just opened and I actually could get it.

And man, listen to all that hair and cat litter being sucked up. It was so nice. And it's not as loud as the crappy vacuum. Bonus.

It reminded me of Dad. Love you too, Dad! I can hear Mom laughing now at yet another incident that sounds exactly like something my father would do. :-D

What to say?

I'm kinda drumming my fingers thinking of something to say. I'm not coming up with much.

My nausea seems to have ebbed. Yay! Only two weeks! *knock on wood* Course now I want to eat every 10 minutes, but hey. I had NACHOS last night and even without sour cream, they tasted soooo good.

My apartment complex tells me that my new apartment will be available in June. Yay! I think it'll cost $10 less than what we're paying now...

Jaeden smells melon. And she begs for it. She doesn't just sit in front of you and look like Charlie does. She puts her paw on your arm, rubs her head on you, and meows so pitifully. How can I resist?

Our new vacuum came today! But I won't be able to get it until tomorrow because the office signed for it and they'll be closed when I get home.

Today I discovered vinyl lettering. Brittany, you're brilliant.

Oh, and I chose where I want to finish out my prenatal care and give birth. Now to actually become one of their patients...

Jeans Every Day!

Being bought by HP has its perks. Today it was announced in a town hall (that again, nobody listened too because who has the time and the bandwidth too?) that every location is jeans every day.

They added that in places that deal with clients that you dress as the client would dress. For some people, that might be a problem. For us, let me tell you Oregon's Department of Human Services dress code.

*long silence*

And that about sums it up. The short of it is "we don't have one, but keep it unoffensive, please".

Our account manager advised us that you dress as you would for the level of client that you're meeting with. So if you have executives with you, business professional. Others, business casual. Poor trainers and managers.

Ahh, but I am NEVER in meetings with the client so I could wear jeans EVERY DAY if I wanted too. EVERY DAY! I probably won't because I'm still at the front desk and am the first person all visitors to our building see. But still. I COULD. Every day!

Coming to a town not anywhere close to you.

After 19 months of trying, it finally happened. I found myself pregnant. And I still am. Currently.

Just in case you care about all this information...

• According to my LMP, my due date is November 30th.
• According to my ultrasounds, my due date is December 7th.
• Going by my U/S due date, I'm 8 weeks 3 days with 221 days to go.
• My first pregnancy symptom was sore boobs.
• My most recent symptom is being nauseous all the time. Although I don't throw up. Which is the only blessing in that.
• My meals typically go something like this: Jamba Juice for breakfast, ignore what I packed for lunch and instead of lemon sorbet and potato chips, and then become desperate for anything substantial by dinner that doesn't include meat, dairy, or anything else that sounds, smells, or looks gross at the moment.
• Things that Jared now does all the time include the cat litter (potentially getting toxioplasmosis is a convenient reason to avoid it), washing the dishes, and any cooking that is done (which is very rare now that I'm not doing any of it).
• I would like a girl but have had many dreams where it's a boy (actually, I haven't had a baby dream since I got pregnant).
• Jared says that if I'm going to say "boobs", I should add that I want to sleep all the time. I'm not sure what the two have to do with each other, but there you have it. :-)
  

I <3 My Sisters

They keep me entertained throughout my otherwise usually boring work days.

Lindey: I'm so mad. Epik High is going to be performing in San Fran a month BEFORE I get out there. D:<
Me: Who is Epike High? I prolly don't want to know.
L: Kpop/Internation artists. They're pretty darn awesome. Especially Tablo.
Me: Yeah... like I said.... :-D
L: *hits you*
Me: :-D
L: DANG IT ALL. Mamma Mia's not actually next month. It's July. GAAAAHHHHHH
Me: *pats*
L: No Mamma Mia, no Epik High. Hmmm, wonder if Rain, Se7en, or Big Bang would be out there... Or DBSK.
Me: Or... wait until you actually have money to see these things? *ducks*
L: ...... *hits you again*
Me: MISS!! Cause I already ducked.
L: *goes low* *hits you!*
Me: I GOT A BABY!! You can't hurt me.
L: ........ D: You fight dirty.
Me: :-D Only way to fight from across the country.

In Need of Vacation Ideas

So. I have 106 hours + 1 day of vacation to take this year. That's 14.25 days. I only have 2 maybe 3 days planned (because I have to cancel 5 other days of vacation). Which leaves me with about 11 days.

Any ideas? I'm thinking maybe a lot of 3 day weekend trips. Or just random Wednesdays off. But... what to do?

What Mandatory Means

You may think I only have interesting things to say about work. Well, that is probably true. And it probably isn't all that interesting, but let me regale you with another story.

Account Manager: *sends out email about new procedures put in place and notifies everyone of an all-hands meeting that will be taking place where attendance is required*
Suki: *schedules said meeting putting "mandatory" in the subject line and put a little blurb from Deborah's meeting in there*
Technical Manager: *sends out a second email further clarifying some points in Account Manager's email*

At the meeting: everyone gets yelled out, jobs threatened, reputations destroyed.

Suki: *schedules follow-up meeting for all the misfits who didn't make it*

I've gotten three types of responses so far.
1) Okay, will be there. --No response necessary.
2) On vacation. Deadline coming up. After this date will be good. --Silly people. Account Manager is not willing to wait more than a week and a half after the original meeting. Maybe the mandatory bit didn't clue them in. Or the meeting happening the very next day of the original email going out. Or the closeness of the follow-up meeting to the original meeting.
3) We already had an account meeting this month, why do we need another one? --Maybe if you had attended... you would know.

Plus, it's more fun to be in one of these meetings with MORE people than less... you don't want a one-on-one lecture. Not with this junk that's going on.

Another Work Moment

Sometimes I get reminders of how nice it is to work in the corporate world. Today was one of those days. I had the privilege of getting my great-grandboss lunch. Good thing I drove today.

Boss: I need you to get Stu lunch. *Hands over a Hamilton* Turkey sandwich, everything but onions, a bottle of water.

The journey: Where? Subway is closest. Let's go. Does he like Subway? Maybe Quiznos would be a better choice. Gonna have to be Subway. Ack! Two different types of turkey sandwiches. Turkey breast will do. Uh oh... the bread choice. She gets to pick whichever goes best. Turned out to be whole wheat. Cheese. Cheddar? Toasted? Um, why not?

Luckily, that was the end of it. Then when she asked as confirmation "banana peppers, blah, blah, and blah?" Yep. Why you'd want nasty dill pickles and five types of peppers on your sandwich beats me though.

Oh, and a bottle of water.

Let's face it. When you are already sometimes decision-challenged (except when I'm at Subway... I know what I like and the only thing that varies is the bread), making decisions for your great-grandboss is even worse. It's a good thing he seems very nice and easy going. And he calls me lady whenever he comes to visit so that is automatic points right there. And I don't think that's because he doesn't remember my name. My grandboss made sure of that.

So a nice reminder of being an admin in corporate America, where you're asked to do things not in your job description because... well, that's what you do.

Managers....

I know. My second post in the same day. How weird is that? I just thought this was too classy to not document.

---------
Manager 1: I need this room for this meeting.
Suki: You're sure it's a separate meeting than this one?
Manager 1: Yes.
*Suki makes necessary changes*

Manager 2: What?????
Manager 2: Why???
*Suki explains*
Manager 2: It's the same meeting.
*Suki faceplants*

Suki: Manager 1, Manager 2 says it's the same meeting.
Manager 1: Then she can go to the other meeting while the rest of us attend this one.

Manager 2: It's the same meeting.

Suki: Manager 2 still says it's the same meeting.
Manager 1: Put her meeting in this room and give me the good room.
*Suki face plants*

---------------
I even told Manager 1 that she needed to talk to Manager 2. I just told her that I'm not doing anything else until that happens.

Grouch.

A Rude Awakening

The alarm went off at 6:20 am. As usual, I thought about how I should get up. I could make 10-grain hot cereal. And then I promptly hit the snooze button and snuggled up next to Jared. 1st snooze.... 2nd snooze.... Okay, now it's 6:40, we really should get up. I start waking up Jared and we're talking a bit. Then we hear a loud noise in the living room followed by a thump onto the bed and across our faces.

The next thing I know, Jared has his hand to his face yelling "My eye! Owww!!!" I move his hand away and see a scratch above his eyebrow that is bleeding a little bit. A few seconds later I notice blood gathering under his closed eyelid. "Uhhhhh...." I ask if he can open it. He can't. So "Um, okay. Emergency room." Jared: "Maybe it will fix itself?" I call my mom. While I'm trying to get dressed fast while formulating a coherent question in my brain, Jared stands up. "Uh, I feel sick." Then the blood starts flowing down his cheek. Easy fix: tissue. He didn't mention not going to the ER again. We throw clothes on--I feed the cats--and we're off.

It wasn't very busy. By the time we get past the check-in point (the second one), the blood has stopped and he can open his eye better. His eye looks fine. It's just his eyelid. We think.

The doctor comfirmed it. It wasn't deep enough for stitches. His eye wasn't touched. As for where it is... you know when you pull down your lower eyelid and there is a fleshy part? Well, the cut start at the top of the eyelid where you could see it and the continued on the inside of the eyelid on that fleshy part. It seems pretty amazing that the eye wasn't touched with the cut located like that.

The doctor prescribed an antibiotic ointment that we're to put in his eye several times a day. Jared tried to and couldn't. So I get to squeeze it in. It's not too hard. If he would stop blinking. I told him that now he knows how Jaeden felt when we had to do it to her.

I did enjoy going into work late though. :-)

If I had anything brilliant to say, I would say it.

As per my random habits, I tripped onto YoungLDS one day. I'm a predominate lurker there. Can't quite break entirely the habit of venturing there every once in a while. As some of the Old Timers say, you don't have to be single to be there. Besides, I'm still young, right?

Perusing the "recent posts", I came across one titled Engaged before a mission? Trust me, the topic had turned from that to something different and I didn't read the whole thing. A few people were discussing how their parents behaved towards the people they dated, the questions they asked, and what they seemed concerned with.

Someone has a 2 month old girl. She said " I trust her judgment, yes. But sometimes people get caught up in lust and fall for the wrong type of people. That's all." To which someone, let's call him Sam, replied with this post about... "if you do insist in still asking a bunch of questions, please know that it's imperative that you NEVER ask them in an accusatory way and know that it IS possible your child may feel like you don't trust their judgment."

I stated my opinion of that I like to think that my children will have a good relationship with me and that they'd feel comfortable coming to me. Since the first person has a girl, I specifically used the phrase "giggly girls" to represent being really good friends. Sam took it pretty literally. To paraphrase, there's nothing giggly about serious questions. Some questions might be giggly, but the more serious ones could turn into a trust issue. The first girl agreed with me that she hopes to be really good friends with her daughter.

I clarified my point by expressing how I would hope to know my kids well enough that I could tell if something was going on based on their actions when dating someone. There is value in serious questions, but there are some questions to which the answers are acceptable or unacceptable or would just be a nicety.

Sam ripped me open for having such a high ideal. He made it sound like I should lower my ideal because reality would most likely be much different. He tried to hit on some raw nerves to make his point (he missed). He said you can hope, but it just won't happen.

I dislike people who live in a pessimistic realistic world. Optimistic realistic is much, much better, geez. There is nothing wrong with having an ideal. Things may not always turn out the way you would like, but try like it will. Let me give you some classic examples that can all be titled rationalization. "I need to lose 50 pounds." "Never gonna happen. When are you gonna exercise? You're probably not going to change how you eat either." "You're right... okay, maybe 10 pounds?" Or try this one. "I'm not going to lie." "You're human, of course you'll lie." All of a sudden, it's less important to not lie and you feel like a little lie every now and again is okay.

Can you explain it? I don't get it. Let's let pessimism rule our life and tell us that we can't do it and come up with reasons why not to do something. Or we can be optimism, set our sights high, and reach for it. Just be aware of the reality around you and not let other things fail because of what you're doing. Let's just not lower ourselves because "it probably won't turn out that way."

Dave's saying applies anywhere, not just to Ramseyites. If you will live like no one else now, then you can live like no one else later.

Dear Blog,

I forgot about you once again. Please forgive me as work has been busy. Not only that, but our laptop is still broken. We ordered parts for a new computer, but some of the parts came defective so we have to send them back and get new ones. I've enjoyed not having my own computer. I've been able to do lots of other things instead.

I wanted to write to you and let you know that I'm okay. Jared and I recently returned from a short jaunt to the MotherState of Ohio. I brought back a bruise and a cold. I saw all my nieces. Only Lily didn't like me. Some presents found their way to me: a moose ornament that is decorating my cubicle wall, a cornhusk girl that Josh won just for me, a lunch bag that works really really well for me, and a moose shirt that is now my new favorite shirt. We played a game where the catch phrase is "it's not over until the Kings are wild". And Pit. We saw Bolt - for 50 cents each!! Each!! That's $3.50 total! Which only pays for like half a person here in Salem.

I got enormous amounts of exercise and was outside a lot. It was glorious. I also realized how smushy I've become being away from the farm. Calluses? I don't have those. Stamina? You don't need that for a desk job. But the sun was really nice. We came back to Oregon to the overcast gray skies.

There isn't anything else that is new although I do have a book report I must write now at GoodReads - my favorite book place.

I proclaim a celebration!

Yup, that's right. A celebration, folks! Today, Jared and I knocked out another debt. Another thermometer filled up on our wall. One less to creditor in charge of our money. One more step to being debt free. IT FEELS GREAT!!!

On a separate note:
Oh, how I love thee, T36-C5 Melaleuca Oil. You make my razor blades feel nice. You helped my scars after foot surgery. You smell good. But most of all right now, you make the hard sticky stuff on jars go away.

You know. That stuff that when you take off the paper label, the glue is still there. And you can't peel it off because it's not that gel-type substance but that hard junk. It's gone! T36-C5 Melaleuca Oil took it right off! I just put some on a cotton swab and rubbed it. And it was probably about 30 seconds for it all to be gone.

Now I can use my jar for my pampering pennies. :-) Yay.

Just another update.

So my dad is yet again officially old at the ripe age of 50. My younger sister asked "does that make him over the hill?" :-) We love our father.

My first 2 nieces are 2 years old. My second 2 nieces are born. And I am still not pregnant.

My sister wants to go to a college in San Francisco and is extremely excited to be going out in the summer.

Jared and I are escaping work while Jared can and going out to Ohio next weekend. Yipee!

We've gone grocery shopping once a week for the last month. It's working out really well for us. You spend less and you actually plan for what you're going to eat that week. And we're much more likely to use what we buy. And we're able to eat more produce this way. I can't wait until the Saturday market opens up again because last year we got some really good lettuce and I want to try more of what is available.

I sit on a bouncy ball at work. I wish I had one at home. Not sure how the cats would react to it... we would probably be shortly without a ball.

Our laptop randomly stopped working yesterday. It worked Wednesday evening. Thursday evening, it didn't.

I had the best day on Tuesday as I was Pampered Princess of the Day!

We're going on an Alaskan Cruise in September. In order to go on the cruise, we have to get passports. In order to get passports, I have to order a certified copy of my birth certificate. In order to get a certified copy of my birth certificate, I have to get a certified copy of our marriage certificate.

And to quote my friend Wendy, "All is well in my world."