So, it looks like this baby will follow in his/her sisters' pattern in that s/he will be late. I SERIOUSLY hope not as late as either Ria OR Kat. Ria was 11 days and Kat was 14 days late. The last days are the hardest and I'm totally wiped out. I'm still not able to walk and becoming less and less able to be constantly mobile through the day. The hips become agitated after too much (30-45 minutes) constant standing/walking in the house. Also, fatigue definitely plays a part in how much my hips flare up. For whatever reason, they spasm really badly and I literally cannot move until it stops. It takes much longer to stop when standing, but, unfortunately, that's when it happens most! I'm actually becoming afraid to stand for very long at at time because it's such debilitating pain!
Jessie Helping Lots
Thankfully, Jess has been really good to me this time around. He says it's because he has more time, but, honestly, from my point of view it has MUCH more to do with more wise use of the time available! He actually swept the WHOLE house the other day. It was such a sweet gift to me because I'd been wanting to do it, but just couldn't make myself because I knew after two rooms I would have spasms (the last FEW times that's what happened) and if I can't sweep the whole house the dust and dirt left on the floor just goes from one room to another. It just feels really pointless!
Jess is still the "Dish King" which he has been for a while. My belly has made dishes nigh on impossible for a few weeks now. If I tried to do them (which I did this week), my back ends up spasming as badly or worse than my hips! Rough stuff, let me tell you!
What I Can Do
I have been able to maintain the laundry. I actually have NO dirty clothes in the laundry basket at this time and after Jess comes home I'll still have none because all worn clothes (right now) will be laundered immediately tonight. Of course, that means I have drying and folding to do, but one small load versus numerous loads is AWESOME!
I also spend time with the girls and ChaCha, though I didn't do that either of the last two nights. Ria and I have piano practice to work on, regularly, and I try to do reading class with her sometimes, too. I also want to do more writing class, but haven't made that a big priority because of my attention span, short temper, and fatigue (which the last two are certainly SUPER related).
Ria and Kat Contributing
Ria has been the most awesome helper lately! She's been doing many of her jobs without reminders and when asked to do something, she's totally willing and even lovingly responds, "I'll be happy to help you!" It makes me feel so blessed and LOVED! Kat hasn't been quite as helpful, but for 2 (she turned TWO yesterday!!!), and not having the kind of guidance to learn how to work as Ria did, she's really doing quite well. She also doesn't have as much to do because she doesn't (believe it or not) bring as much out into the house as Ria does. Ria has actually gotten MUCH better about her toys and books, too. She brings a LOT less to the living room than she used to. I think it's sort of sunk in that if she brings it out, she'll have to bring it back! Nice.
Kat and Potty Training
It's basically a done deal! :) She has had a few accidents, but they have (almost all) been due to hyper involvement in something and not allowing herself enough time to get to the potty before she had to let it go. She's actually wearing panties when we go anywhere. She even wore panties when we went from Dance class to Piano class yesterday AND kept them dry! I'm SUCH a pleased and impressed Mama! As I've mentioned a few times, I give her training "credit" to Jess, and Kat, of course. She was not interested in the potty at all until he involved himself and tried to get her to use it! So, Ria trained with and for me... and Kat did it for Daddy. Funny, huh?
Updating
I'm updating my voice mail on a daily basis (at night) to share the news regarding the baby. In the updates I share how many days overdue (as of today) I am, and so forth. You'd likely be able to hear, to some extent, my frame of mind as well as the actual message. The first time I left the message I think I sounded almost as tired as I felt, even though I certainly wasn't trying! The main reason for all this is that, even though I have a cell phone, I do NOT keep it with me. I'm aware of and concerned about the radiation issues inherent in and with cell phones, so treat it much more like a land line than most people do their cell phones. Having said that, it takes me a while to get anywhere and I can't stand to hear the phone ring much (I've even considered reducing the number of rings). So, combining my tolerance for hearing the ring (4 is the upper limit right now) and my inability to move quickly, I am rarely able to answer the phone. Most, if not all, of the people calling lately have been friends calling to check on the status of baby's birth/progress. Since I love that people care, but can't stand to repeat myself over much, I'm leaving the stats in my voice mail. If you have the number and think about us, go ahead and call to check! :) If you're lucky (or unlucky, as the case may be) I may answer if the phone is near me, but more than likely you'll get to hear whatever message I made in the evening of the most recent change. If you don't have my number, and want it, drop me an email and I'll send it along. If you want me to call you back about something specific, please state as much in the message AND let me know if I can call after 9pm, when my minutes are free. Otherwise, you might have to wait until the weekend for a call back!
Thanks for checking on us and loving us! We REALLY appreciate it!
Friday, October 10, 2008
Kat's Birthday
Kathryn Star is now TWO years old! Her birthday was yesterday. We had a VERY busy day, but we made sure to talk to her a LOT about the fact that it was her birthday and how much she means to us.
It was really cute to me that after I wished her a happy birthday she responded, "Wonk you!" That's how she says, "Thank you." Each time throughout the day that I wished her a happy birthday she would respond with her sweet "Wonk you." She was really pleased that it was her birthday, but turning two didn't go to her head, as in making her a big girl, for sure! In fact, she's been determined to be "the baby" even more!
Somehow Kat managed to find a cool cloth diaper in my room. It's black with orange flames and really neat looking. She brought it to me and firmly said, "On!" pointing to her area. I asked if she wanted me to put the diaper on her. She nodded vigorously and said, "Ya!" I said something about her being a big girl and not needing diapers. She said, "Me, baby. ON!" I asked her if she was going to keep it dry and put her pee pees in the potty. She nodded her head, so I figured it couldn't hurt to let her wear the cool diaper. I put it on her and she was just tickled pink! She trotted around the house and made sure to get her Daddy's attention on the diaper and some positive feedback from him about its appearance. She was very pleased with herself in the diaper. While it was on, she would occasionally say, "Baby, me!" It was really funny! She DID keep it dry, too!
Kat is saying "temple" as "hemoo" now. She's still refering to herself as "Kat," though she doesn't correct us when we call her whatever version of her name we happen to call her. She always calls herself "Kat!"
It was really cute to me that after I wished her a happy birthday she responded, "Wonk you!" That's how she says, "Thank you." Each time throughout the day that I wished her a happy birthday she would respond with her sweet "Wonk you." She was really pleased that it was her birthday, but turning two didn't go to her head, as in making her a big girl, for sure! In fact, she's been determined to be "the baby" even more!
Somehow Kat managed to find a cool cloth diaper in my room. It's black with orange flames and really neat looking. She brought it to me and firmly said, "On!" pointing to her area. I asked if she wanted me to put the diaper on her. She nodded vigorously and said, "Ya!" I said something about her being a big girl and not needing diapers. She said, "Me, baby. ON!" I asked her if she was going to keep it dry and put her pee pees in the potty. She nodded her head, so I figured it couldn't hurt to let her wear the cool diaper. I put it on her and she was just tickled pink! She trotted around the house and made sure to get her Daddy's attention on the diaper and some positive feedback from him about its appearance. She was very pleased with herself in the diaper. While it was on, she would occasionally say, "Baby, me!" It was really funny! She DID keep it dry, too!
Kat is saying "temple" as "hemoo" now. She's still refering to herself as "Kat," though she doesn't correct us when we call her whatever version of her name we happen to call her. She always calls herself "Kat!"
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Officially
The "official" due date for this baby is actually October 9th, but I'm seriously hoping s/he will arrive tomorrow because I would much rather Kat and the new babe have their own birth date! Kat's birthday is October 9th, if you didn't remember. If the baby decides to come today, that would be great, too! :)
I have had LOTS of "gentle" action going on for more than the last 24 hours, so I'm still hopeful. :) As of Friday, if I'm still preggie, I will be, once again, overdue. Of course, due date actually just means give or take two weeks... so, even Kat was, technically, not really overdue since she was born 2 weeks after her due date. If you think about it, send me some good "baby come out" vibes, if you don't mind! I will appreciate it, even if it doesn't seem to work.
I have had LOTS of "gentle" action going on for more than the last 24 hours, so I'm still hopeful. :) As of Friday, if I'm still preggie, I will be, once again, overdue. Of course, due date actually just means give or take two weeks... so, even Kat was, technically, not really overdue since she was born 2 weeks after her due date. If you think about it, send me some good "baby come out" vibes, if you don't mind! I will appreciate it, even if it doesn't seem to work.
Monday, October 6, 2008
A Midwife Visit
So, it was almost two weeks between my last visit and the most recent visit (this past Sunday/yesterday). It went well. Basically, everything seems really normal, which is great. Obviously, I'm still pregnant. I'm seriously hoping this baby decides to come "on time" because I'm super done being preggie this time around. I know I've only got a couple days left, but if you know me, then you know my two priors have been quite late. Ria was 11 days and Kat was 2 weeks and they were, neither of them, easy or short labors. I'm ready to get the show on the road! (Totally NOT literally since we'll be staying home to have the baby!)
Some Progress
So far I'm dilated to 2 centimeters and very soft. 2 centimeters isn't very much (given Ria's birth)... I was at 2 for WEEKS. But I don't know the numbers for Kat's, so it could be good... given that this is my 3rd go round! Karen didn't specify how effaced I was, but there is some progress because she said I was really soft AND she could feel the baby's head. YEAY (apparently no breech, which is a relief)!
Walks
I haven't been able to walk (as per my regularly). Last week I only walked to piano class and back (only about 5 blocks total!) and it took me FOREVER! I even specifically asked Jess to make sure to have a ride to work on Thursday because I knew I couldn't handle the (total) 2 mile walk to and from Dance class. Why can't I walk? My hips have been super painful and we cannot afford the gas or the payment for chiropractic visits.
Our Trip and Salt
Today, though, I went along with Jess and the girls to purchase some items I needed from Love (Health Food Store) and WalMart. So, I walked quite a bit. I had to have 1: iron tablets so that I won't bleed to death, 2: oregano oil so I don't have to use antibiotics to treat something going on in the birth canal, 3: a special instrument for 2, and 4: bananas and salty things because my legs have started to cramp up on me in the night! :( That has, thus far, happened when I'm not eating bananas and salty things. The frustrating part of the salty things issue is that I can't just add salt to things I normally eat because then I can't palate it, even though I know I need to salt! Makes sense if you read about the necessity of salt intake (especially during pregnancy) and understand that just because the needs of the body change doen't mean that the taste buds follow right along. Mine certainly nevere have, which in some cases is quite good. Not in this one!
The common (dumb!) thing that western medical doctors generally do is to reduce salt intake. What should they do? Suggest drinking more water and salting to taste (or eating extra salty things if the person doesn't/can't add salt. What most people don't realize is that there are VERY few instances when reducing salt intake is a reasonable reaction to bloating, cramping, or ANYTHING else in pregnancy. BECAUSE the body, as long as it is well, will regulate it's OWN salt balance and will not keep more than it needs! It's really interesting stuff.
The funny/odd thing about this subject is that I'd done some research reading on it as a result of reading something that didn't jive with my intuition (I was right, by the way) and then Jess comes home from Story Time day with a Culinarian's book about Salt! It's neat that he was reading about it after I had, so he totally understood what I was talking about. So often he just sort of trusts my understanding of things I've researched, which I appreciate. But it's SO much nicer to be able to discuss it with him!
A Proud Mama
So, today on our outing Kat wore big girl panties! The thicker training panties, but still NOT "special" panties (pull-ups). I tried to help her use the potty at Wal-Mart, but she didn't go even though she tried. When we got home, which was about 1.5 hours after departing, her panties were DRY and she used the potty at home! YEAY!! I'm so pleased and happy. Of course, there's the possibility of backtracking after the baby arrives, but I really think she's going to stay mostly (if not entirely) on course! I'm so pleased! My second child to day potty train before 2 years old!!! ^_^
Ria; the funny things she says
Yesterday Jess, Ria, and I were talking about something. I can't really remember the actual subject, but it was a sort of serious talk, though Ria was not in trouble or anything. Ria was looking to me to see if her Daddy was telling the truth when he was saying something about wood (he jokes a lot and sometimes she can't tell if he is). I shook my head to tell her he wasn't serious and she said, "You're silly, Daddy, wood doesn't just fall off trees!" Now, mind you, there was nothing said about trees, but there was something said about wood. It was just the funniest thing. More because wood DOES fall off of trees AND because of the WAY Ria said what she did than because of the context in the conversation. I think she is still NOT convinced that wood comes from trees, though! :)
About the Baby
Even if it's a short one, I promise to update here as soon as I possibly can after we have the baby... even, perhaps, in the steady, but not too difficult portion of labor so you know to look for a post baby update. Like, right now (today) I've had regular contractions for periods of time, but then they go away. So, this is not labor. Hopefully, I'll share, in a couple of days, that I'm IN labor and we'll have a baby a few hours later. Hey, it could happen! Even if Ria took 21.5 hours and Kat took 2 days. You'd think I'm due for a quick one this time around. Right? :) We'll see. It totally COULD happen!
This time around has been sort of interesting. I've received NUMEROUS calls from friends and church family to see how I'm doing and whether the baby has come! Let me see... I'd have to say at least an average of 1 a day for the last week. It feels nice. I am unable to catch the phone most of the time, though, so I think I'm going to change my voice mail greeting on a daily basis for those who call because I seriously can't get to the phone fast enough AND can't tolerate the ring to extend how many it can go. So, if you call and hear such a thing and you'd like to talk to me personally, make sure you state as much. Otherwise I'll think you're just looking for an update. ;) Thank you for wondering and considering me/us! It's really wonderful of you!!!
Some Progress
So far I'm dilated to 2 centimeters and very soft. 2 centimeters isn't very much (given Ria's birth)... I was at 2 for WEEKS. But I don't know the numbers for Kat's, so it could be good... given that this is my 3rd go round! Karen didn't specify how effaced I was, but there is some progress because she said I was really soft AND she could feel the baby's head. YEAY (apparently no breech, which is a relief)!
Walks
I haven't been able to walk (as per my regularly). Last week I only walked to piano class and back (only about 5 blocks total!) and it took me FOREVER! I even specifically asked Jess to make sure to have a ride to work on Thursday because I knew I couldn't handle the (total) 2 mile walk to and from Dance class. Why can't I walk? My hips have been super painful and we cannot afford the gas or the payment for chiropractic visits.
Our Trip and Salt
Today, though, I went along with Jess and the girls to purchase some items I needed from Love (Health Food Store) and WalMart. So, I walked quite a bit. I had to have 1: iron tablets so that I won't bleed to death, 2: oregano oil so I don't have to use antibiotics to treat something going on in the birth canal, 3: a special instrument for 2, and 4: bananas and salty things because my legs have started to cramp up on me in the night! :( That has, thus far, happened when I'm not eating bananas and salty things. The frustrating part of the salty things issue is that I can't just add salt to things I normally eat because then I can't palate it, even though I know I need to salt! Makes sense if you read about the necessity of salt intake (especially during pregnancy) and understand that just because the needs of the body change doen't mean that the taste buds follow right along. Mine certainly nevere have, which in some cases is quite good. Not in this one!
The common (dumb!) thing that western medical doctors generally do is to reduce salt intake. What should they do? Suggest drinking more water and salting to taste (or eating extra salty things if the person doesn't/can't add salt. What most people don't realize is that there are VERY few instances when reducing salt intake is a reasonable reaction to bloating, cramping, or ANYTHING else in pregnancy. BECAUSE the body, as long as it is well, will regulate it's OWN salt balance and will not keep more than it needs! It's really interesting stuff.
The funny/odd thing about this subject is that I'd done some research reading on it as a result of reading something that didn't jive with my intuition (I was right, by the way) and then Jess comes home from Story Time day with a Culinarian's book about Salt! It's neat that he was reading about it after I had, so he totally understood what I was talking about. So often he just sort of trusts my understanding of things I've researched, which I appreciate. But it's SO much nicer to be able to discuss it with him!
A Proud Mama
So, today on our outing Kat wore big girl panties! The thicker training panties, but still NOT "special" panties (pull-ups). I tried to help her use the potty at Wal-Mart, but she didn't go even though she tried. When we got home, which was about 1.5 hours after departing, her panties were DRY and she used the potty at home! YEAY!! I'm so pleased and happy. Of course, there's the possibility of backtracking after the baby arrives, but I really think she's going to stay mostly (if not entirely) on course! I'm so pleased! My second child to day potty train before 2 years old!!! ^_^
Ria; the funny things she says
Yesterday Jess, Ria, and I were talking about something. I can't really remember the actual subject, but it was a sort of serious talk, though Ria was not in trouble or anything. Ria was looking to me to see if her Daddy was telling the truth when he was saying something about wood (he jokes a lot and sometimes she can't tell if he is). I shook my head to tell her he wasn't serious and she said, "You're silly, Daddy, wood doesn't just fall off trees!" Now, mind you, there was nothing said about trees, but there was something said about wood. It was just the funniest thing. More because wood DOES fall off of trees AND because of the WAY Ria said what she did than because of the context in the conversation. I think she is still NOT convinced that wood comes from trees, though! :)
About the Baby
Even if it's a short one, I promise to update here as soon as I possibly can after we have the baby... even, perhaps, in the steady, but not too difficult portion of labor so you know to look for a post baby update. Like, right now (today) I've had regular contractions for periods of time, but then they go away. So, this is not labor. Hopefully, I'll share, in a couple of days, that I'm IN labor and we'll have a baby a few hours later. Hey, it could happen! Even if Ria took 21.5 hours and Kat took 2 days. You'd think I'm due for a quick one this time around. Right? :) We'll see. It totally COULD happen!
This time around has been sort of interesting. I've received NUMEROUS calls from friends and church family to see how I'm doing and whether the baby has come! Let me see... I'd have to say at least an average of 1 a day for the last week. It feels nice. I am unable to catch the phone most of the time, though, so I think I'm going to change my voice mail greeting on a daily basis for those who call because I seriously can't get to the phone fast enough AND can't tolerate the ring to extend how many it can go. So, if you call and hear such a thing and you'd like to talk to me personally, make sure you state as much. Otherwise I'll think you're just looking for an update. ;) Thank you for wondering and considering me/us! It's really wonderful of you!!!
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Busy Week Already
Monday
Let's see... Monday I had very light contractions through the whole day and through that night. I was able to sleep, though, for which I'm very glad! No further progress in that area since then, except for regular strange pains that I hope are contributing to some cervical development or something similar. :) So, I'm still preggie! I'm ready to have this baby whenever s/he is ready to come out and greet us!
Jess was working through the day and I was in bed for most of it on top of that. The girls were VERY good and checked on me frequently. They even bickered far fewer times than normal!
Tuesday
Tuesday morning my friends Sage and Ozlem came over to visit with me. I know I've mentioned how lonely I've been... well, I was an advocate for myself (which is SUPER difficult for me to do, believe it or not!) and invited them to come over just to spend time with me. Of course, they brought their children and our kids had lots of fun playing together. But it was more for me (to me) than for my kids this time. I'm glad. I felt much better having spent time with girlfriends... and these two are two of the few I trust not to be like that meanie beanie lady.
I took a nap from around 1:15pm, soon after my friends left, until around 5pm! Jess has been really encouraging me to sleep, which I totally appreciate.
In the evening we all went to Jessie's Food Storage Preparation class. He's been doing them monthly with this being the 3rd month. This class was how to use Rice and Powdered Milk. Thus far he's covered some basics with the items one can purchase from the church in the basic supply kit (the one you could buy monthly for under $40). I'm really glad he went that route. His next class is going to be "Soup; It's What's for Dinner" because it's a special request from a regular class attendee. It's really good timing, too, considering we're entering Fall and the next class will be at the end of October! He loves teaching this class so much. And he's quite good at it, to boot!
Wednesday October 1, 2008
Piano class day! Mary Kay and I are actually planning to move it to Thursday, starting next week, but it was Wed this week. It took a while for me to get organized to depart today because I was brining a few things along. I actually wore a hiking pack because I couldn't put all the things I was bringing on top of my humongo stroller (too much weight causes sagging and causes me fear of ruining my special and VERY useful tool for child transpot). In all my preparations I totally put my eyes on the music book and notebook at LEAST 3 times and thought, "I have to bring those!" But I didn't put them in the bag for fear that something would leak and ruin them! Don't ya know, I forgot 'em!?? ARGH! I was almost a block and a half away when I realized it, running late already, in my super slow preggie walk... *sigh* So, I went home and picked them up. We were probably 30 minutes late, which now makes it TWO times I've been late for something with Mary Kay. I'm so TOTALLY not a late runner. It aggravates the daylights out of me when I run late. I honestly don't mind when others do... I'm kinder to them than to myself, I suppose. ahwell She was very kind about my tardiness!
I messed things up for piano class today by having Ria practice a couple hours before class. She was REALLY inattentive and fidgety for Mary Kay. Well, I certainly won't do THAT again! Good to know, right? This week we'll be working on maintaining good finger position, trying to get the whole timing thing down (as in counting and holding for 2 beats with half notes), and integrating those things together as she plays two little songs she has that she's been working on (on the black keys surrounding middle C).
I brought a few things over to Mary Kay and Tim in hopes of helping Mary Kay have an easier time with teaching Ria to play piano combined with her first year teaching. I remember THOSE days! I feel obligated to mention that I brought the food stuffs for a slightly selfish reason as well: I wanted to help myself feel a little better about the fact that I haven't yet done either of the things Mary Kay has mentioned she would like as "payment" for the lessons. She was so super sweet about it, which felt really good! So, I'm hopeful that a few weeks of the month we can do something similar for her, to ease her burdens as she enriches our Ria's life!
Soon after we got home my friend Kelly came over with her neice so we could have Family Home Evening (FHE) together. Jess was home Monday night, so we have FHE with him, too. Ria has often asked for FHE through the week, so she was SUPER delighted to have an older girl come over AND get to have FHE again! It was really nice! Kelly brought chocolate chip cookie bars that were REALLY wonderful. It was completely obvious that they were a hit because Kat at hers, asked for more, and then fussed up a storm to try to get another serving! Kelly admited that she was nervous about preparing something to bring to a Chef's home. If only people knew Jess (AND me!) better, they would know there's NOTHING to fear. We just love generosity and thoughtfulness... and when it tastes good it's icing!
The Countdown
Can you believe I'm SO close to my due date?!? I'm excited and hopeful that I won't have much longer to wait to meet this new addition to our family!
Let's see... Monday I had very light contractions through the whole day and through that night. I was able to sleep, though, for which I'm very glad! No further progress in that area since then, except for regular strange pains that I hope are contributing to some cervical development or something similar. :) So, I'm still preggie! I'm ready to have this baby whenever s/he is ready to come out and greet us!
Jess was working through the day and I was in bed for most of it on top of that. The girls were VERY good and checked on me frequently. They even bickered far fewer times than normal!
Tuesday
Tuesday morning my friends Sage and Ozlem came over to visit with me. I know I've mentioned how lonely I've been... well, I was an advocate for myself (which is SUPER difficult for me to do, believe it or not!) and invited them to come over just to spend time with me. Of course, they brought their children and our kids had lots of fun playing together. But it was more for me (to me) than for my kids this time. I'm glad. I felt much better having spent time with girlfriends... and these two are two of the few I trust not to be like that meanie beanie lady.
I took a nap from around 1:15pm, soon after my friends left, until around 5pm! Jess has been really encouraging me to sleep, which I totally appreciate.
In the evening we all went to Jessie's Food Storage Preparation class. He's been doing them monthly with this being the 3rd month. This class was how to use Rice and Powdered Milk. Thus far he's covered some basics with the items one can purchase from the church in the basic supply kit (the one you could buy monthly for under $40). I'm really glad he went that route. His next class is going to be "Soup; It's What's for Dinner" because it's a special request from a regular class attendee. It's really good timing, too, considering we're entering Fall and the next class will be at the end of October! He loves teaching this class so much. And he's quite good at it, to boot!
Wednesday October 1, 2008
Piano class day! Mary Kay and I are actually planning to move it to Thursday, starting next week, but it was Wed this week. It took a while for me to get organized to depart today because I was brining a few things along. I actually wore a hiking pack because I couldn't put all the things I was bringing on top of my humongo stroller (too much weight causes sagging and causes me fear of ruining my special and VERY useful tool for child transpot). In all my preparations I totally put my eyes on the music book and notebook at LEAST 3 times and thought, "I have to bring those!" But I didn't put them in the bag for fear that something would leak and ruin them! Don't ya know, I forgot 'em!?? ARGH! I was almost a block and a half away when I realized it, running late already, in my super slow preggie walk... *sigh* So, I went home and picked them up. We were probably 30 minutes late, which now makes it TWO times I've been late for something with Mary Kay. I'm so TOTALLY not a late runner. It aggravates the daylights out of me when I run late. I honestly don't mind when others do... I'm kinder to them than to myself, I suppose. ahwell She was very kind about my tardiness!
I messed things up for piano class today by having Ria practice a couple hours before class. She was REALLY inattentive and fidgety for Mary Kay. Well, I certainly won't do THAT again! Good to know, right? This week we'll be working on maintaining good finger position, trying to get the whole timing thing down (as in counting and holding for 2 beats with half notes), and integrating those things together as she plays two little songs she has that she's been working on (on the black keys surrounding middle C).
I brought a few things over to Mary Kay and Tim in hopes of helping Mary Kay have an easier time with teaching Ria to play piano combined with her first year teaching. I remember THOSE days! I feel obligated to mention that I brought the food stuffs for a slightly selfish reason as well: I wanted to help myself feel a little better about the fact that I haven't yet done either of the things Mary Kay has mentioned she would like as "payment" for the lessons. She was so super sweet about it, which felt really good! So, I'm hopeful that a few weeks of the month we can do something similar for her, to ease her burdens as she enriches our Ria's life!
Soon after we got home my friend Kelly came over with her neice so we could have Family Home Evening (FHE) together. Jess was home Monday night, so we have FHE with him, too. Ria has often asked for FHE through the week, so she was SUPER delighted to have an older girl come over AND get to have FHE again! It was really nice! Kelly brought chocolate chip cookie bars that were REALLY wonderful. It was completely obvious that they were a hit because Kat at hers, asked for more, and then fussed up a storm to try to get another serving! Kelly admited that she was nervous about preparing something to bring to a Chef's home. If only people knew Jess (AND me!) better, they would know there's NOTHING to fear. We just love generosity and thoughtfulness... and when it tastes good it's icing!
The Countdown
Can you believe I'm SO close to my due date?!? I'm excited and hopeful that I won't have much longer to wait to meet this new addition to our family!
Monday, September 29, 2008
How Do You Deal?
It's so high school... but I just found out that someone I've liked and wanted to know better just really does NOT like me. When I saw her Sunday at church she was basically the same as always. Come to find out, she thinks I'm a know-it-all, she thinks I talk too much (as in, won't let her say anything during a conversation), she's sure that I want to tell her exactly what she should do with homeschooling (rather than share information, which is all I really ever want to do when I know things about things I think others might not know), she thinks I'm chemically imbalanced because it runs in my family, she specifically mentioned some problems with one of my brothers that I totally do NOT talk about regularly and I'm pretty sure I only spoke about it with her because I was super upset about it at the time and I thought I could... and she's just flat out is not interested in being around me - which I certainly could not tell when I saw her at church on Sunday.
Now, I've heard that this sort of thing is common in my Ward, but this is my first personal interaction/experience with it. I'm sad. This certainly does not help my feelings of loneliness! I think I've determined a couple of things to do to sort of deal with it so I won't be in this position again. One: I'm going to be more careful about who I share things with, FOR SURE! Two: I'm going to pull back from the women with whom this particular one associates. This won't be too terribly difficult as they don't reach out to all that many people... mostly, in my observation, you have to have a certain look to become part of their group. And I certainly do NOT have that look (particularly, I'm not thin, super pretty, and all-the-time wearing makeup). Theirs is a sort of closed group - which is really depressing considering that it's a group of primarily (if not exclusively) LDS women! Third: I'm going to turn more to the older women in my Ward and the women I've met in the community that have similar parenting intentions to that which I aim at and try to spend more time with THEM as well as become active in the already established homeschool groups around town to meet more women like me and children the girls can enjoy. This could be really positive in the missionary efforts side of my intentions, too.
Is this a trial of my faith? I've been pondering this a lot today (as this intelligence came to me Sunday evening). I feel confident in the knowledge that the membership of the Church is not the Gospel. I'm grounded in that foundation of my testimony. But the fact is that I am aching for women with whom to socialize and with whom to feel close. Honestly, if I could feel safe in developing friendships with guys, I'd really rather pursue that at this point... but Jess wouldn't be cool with and so I won't.
Perhaps it's just because I'm at the end of my pregnancy (this aching desire to have friends in real life) and "this too shall pass," but it's so sad to feel that I really can't trust a large number of the younger sisters in my Ward! :( At least I have two really good friends there. I know I need my sisters! I'm working to make at least 2 other women into good friends because they are good and kind and I cannot imagine them speaking unkindly about anyone. *sigh* It's so depressing to have to even consider such a thing. None-the-less, I do know that I have a testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and I know that it is found in its fullness in the LDS Church and that even if the world's manifestation of THE Gospel, in the form of the Church and its membership, were to crumble, I would hold fast to my testimony. So, no worries. Right?! :) All will be well and this really will pass just like everything else.
The only thing we can really count on is change, right!?
Now, I've heard that this sort of thing is common in my Ward, but this is my first personal interaction/experience with it. I'm sad. This certainly does not help my feelings of loneliness! I think I've determined a couple of things to do to sort of deal with it so I won't be in this position again. One: I'm going to be more careful about who I share things with, FOR SURE! Two: I'm going to pull back from the women with whom this particular one associates. This won't be too terribly difficult as they don't reach out to all that many people... mostly, in my observation, you have to have a certain look to become part of their group. And I certainly do NOT have that look (particularly, I'm not thin, super pretty, and all-the-time wearing makeup). Theirs is a sort of closed group - which is really depressing considering that it's a group of primarily (if not exclusively) LDS women! Third: I'm going to turn more to the older women in my Ward and the women I've met in the community that have similar parenting intentions to that which I aim at and try to spend more time with THEM as well as become active in the already established homeschool groups around town to meet more women like me and children the girls can enjoy. This could be really positive in the missionary efforts side of my intentions, too.
Is this a trial of my faith? I've been pondering this a lot today (as this intelligence came to me Sunday evening). I feel confident in the knowledge that the membership of the Church is not the Gospel. I'm grounded in that foundation of my testimony. But the fact is that I am aching for women with whom to socialize and with whom to feel close. Honestly, if I could feel safe in developing friendships with guys, I'd really rather pursue that at this point... but Jess wouldn't be cool with and so I won't.
Perhaps it's just because I'm at the end of my pregnancy (this aching desire to have friends in real life) and "this too shall pass," but it's so sad to feel that I really can't trust a large number of the younger sisters in my Ward! :( At least I have two really good friends there. I know I need my sisters! I'm working to make at least 2 other women into good friends because they are good and kind and I cannot imagine them speaking unkindly about anyone. *sigh* It's so depressing to have to even consider such a thing. None-the-less, I do know that I have a testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and I know that it is found in its fullness in the LDS Church and that even if the world's manifestation of THE Gospel, in the form of the Church and its membership, were to crumble, I would hold fast to my testimony. So, no worries. Right?! :) All will be well and this really will pass just like everything else.
The only thing we can really count on is change, right!?
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Parents Joys
Today has been full of awesomeness! I'm going to start with the most recent and go backward. Just because.
Ria just told me, "I've learned from the Lion King that when we die we turn in to grass and the cantelope eat the grass." She added, when asked about it again later, "Cantelope are animals. And then the cantelope turn into food that we can eat. People grind up the cantelope so that we can eat it." I have been giggling about this since she said it to me because it has just tickled me to no end. I'm not exactly sure why because, really, she's only one letter off... but I guess it just has to do with the whole 'insight into what my daughter hears' sort of thing. Ya know?
Moving back in time.... This morning was our Ward's Primary Presenation. Ria has had her part (THREE lines: big-time for a Sunbeam) memorized from about a week and a half after we received it. I'm pretty sure I was more nervous for her than she was for herself as her turn at the microphone approached. When she went up I was worried that she might freeze upon seeing the large congregation. (People who have not been to church in a long while were present, so we were quite full today!) She didn't bat an eye. She arranged the mic and went right into what she had to say, "The Bible and the Book of Mormon testify of Jesus Christ and teach me how to live the Gospel. For example, the Bible hero Daniel showed me how to be true and have courage. The Book of Mormon prophet Abinidi had great steadfastness and faith." She did start to leave the podium before she said the last word, so it was fainter than it should've been, but it was apparent that she knew her stuff and she executed it CLEARLY confidently! Jess and I were both in tears (aren't all parents, especially the first time around?!).
Well, if that's not the coolest thing, ever... I want to and feel a need to add that upon her exit from the podium there was a tremendous and TOTALLY audible exclamation of "OooohhH!" from the audience. Can you imagine my surprise!? I mean, of course I would be effected, but to hear such a reaction from the rest of the whole Ward! My goodness gracious, if there EVER was a more pleased or gratified Mama than me, I certainly canNOT imagine how she would've felt!!! And as for me, as soon as she was near the last couple words tears were streaming from my eyes... upon hearing the Ward's reaction my heart filled so full I felt like I was just going to burst right open. And then, to look over and see Jessie's eyes full of tears. WHAT JOY!!!!
It's not that I had to work with Ria day and night to help her memorize her part or anything. It would be deceptive of me to say that it's ever TRULY difficult to help Ria memorize things (because it's not very hard at all), but I did work with her to help her to her performance point up there on stage. And it's an indescribable joy to feel and HEAR other people's pleasure in her!
I did have to spend a good deal of time reassuring Ria that even though no one would clap after she said her part, they would be very pleased and impressed with her. She argued with me on that point quite a bit. She was just SURE that at least one person would clap for her. When I agreed that at least one person would WANT to clap for her she was mullified. :) My little prima dona... but no attitude prior to or even at church following the show, thankfully! She did have a bit of a breakdown at home this afternoon, but I honestly believe it was due to a let down from the stress/fun combined with her too late bedtime (10:30pm) last night due to the Women's Broadcast. We did experience a similar breakdown after the ballet recital. And I actually had my own little breakdown of sobbing immediately following the Program, so I think it was just a release of FEELING. Ya know?
To top off those wonderful experiences, while still at church Jess and I received numerous compliements from just about everyone that could possibly know we were Ria's parents. Our Stake Primary President was in attendance and she gushed to each of us individually - twice to me - about how completely and totally impressed she was with Ria. Jess told me that people stopped him up and down the hall to tell him that they were tremendously touched and impressed with Ria and that they thought she was just a firecracker! My friend, Kelli, told me that when she went to the bathroom there were a few ladies in there and all they were talking about was Ria and how impressed with her they were. ^_^ Sister Crunkleton, Ria's Sunbeam teacher, expressed how awesome she felt Ria was to me once again. The first time she saw/heard Ria read she was so in awe that she told me she was sure Ria was a genius! :) I did correct her and agree that Ria was exceptional, but probably not quite a genius. (I've done some reading about the subject and that seems to be the case. Of course, I'm not about to stop trying to help her develop guinius like intellect, of course!) Sister Crunkleton also related, from her perspective, her reaction to Ria during the practice. I'd seen it, but it was fun to hear how she felt about it.
Yesterday we had our Primary Presentation practice. Ria was the first in her class to go up to practice. She delivered her part perfectly and returned to her seat. Sister Crunkleton's jaw had dropped and as Ria approached Sister Crunkleton was raving to Ria about what she's just done. That was wonderful and made me feel good, but was also pretty funny because Sister Crunkleton was supposed to direct the next child to the podium and she completely forgot about it because she was just totally blown away by Ria! :) When she told me about it she added something I would never have thought and know is not true, but she said, "I forgot about the other children! What a moron, right?!" How funny! ((*_*))
And, as an added point of interest, if there were any other children with their parts memorized, they didn't stand and look out at the audience while they presented. There were a few who looked up, but not one looked around the congregation while they presented, as Ria did! That, to me, shows what a little star Ria is! She just LOVES to be in front of people and no group (large or larger) puts her off. What a joy!!! I think this is SUCH a humongo deal to me because it's only been in the last few years of my life that I've felt comfortable in front of people (and I don't think I've ever performed in any way shape or form to as large a group as was present for the dance recital). So, it's gratifying that, at least, thus far Ria is unintimidated! ^_^ One of my goals with keeping her in Dance is that she maintain that kind of comfort with an audience. I really don't know why this is quite as important to me as it is, but I feel it will benefit her greatly in the future!
You know, Jess has always wanted to be a performer. Perhaps it's knowing that he would like to stand in front of people and put on a show that makes me feel that one of our kiddos will certainly DO it! I think it's possible that Jess will also, but I have to admit that I hope it won't be really soon just because it would freak me out too much! hahahaha
As for the presentation as a whole, it was just wonderful, special, sweet, and joyful! I think the message, I AM A CHILD OF GOD, was apparent and conveyed very well. The sisters of the primary (less me) sang a song that was just absolutely GORGEOUS! They sounded marvelous and tears sprouted big and blurry in my eyes as they sang. Because of the time at the end of the whole program, the congregation joined the Primary in the last verse of the last song. "If the Savior Stood Beside Me." We'd copied and passed out the song for everyone to read so they could sing along. I was totally in tears during that bit - even unable to finish singing fully. The Spirit had enveloped the room and was huge in my heart! It was just WONDERFUL!
So, the day is just over half done and super full of goodness. I think it could well make up for the frustrations and such of yesterday.
Of course, my hips are still troubling me tremendously. It's actually been excruciating to walk (the little bit I've had to) all day and while sitting (even now) the pain throbs down my left leg periodically. :( But, there must needs be opposition in all things, right? So, that's mine for now, I think. I just really hope I get a break from the hip grinding physical pain I've had lately (for the last week!) before I go into labor because pain is just not something I do well... especially when it's constant and even more when it feels unnecesary or pointless! It sort of wears me down and then I totally crack... like last night. Man, did I crack. Sobbing and crying and ranting a little bit. Well, I think I've only done that sort of thing about once each trimester this pregancy. MAN, Jess sure is a LUCKY guy!!!! ^_^ I tell him as much, but since he doesn't have really any reminders of it - in that there aren't any other preggie women we know well for him to see how rollercoaster off the hook they are - he doesn't really appreciate it, I think.
Before I close I want to add that Kat was amazingly well behaved today. We sat in the pews section of church today. Normally we sit in the overflow area and, even if we sit in a row with chairs in front of it, Kat is all over the place. We were determined that she would be in the area we'd designated as ours during sacrament meeting so that Jess and I could enjoy the whole program. It totally worked out (except for when I took Kat to pee). She was mostly quiet for most of the time and she was actually really cuddly and sweet most of the time to boot!
Also, I don't think I've mentioned (but appologize if I have) that I asked Kat the other day who she was. Her first answer, "Ria!" I said, "No, your sister is Ria. What is YOUR name?" She thought about it for a second and said, "Tat!" That's sort of funny because she can TOTALL say the "K" sound. Obviously, though, she identifies herself with the nickname Kat, of the MANY we use to refer to and call her. Really, the most frequent names (in order of use) are probably: Kit Kat, Kat, and Kitty Kat. Interesting to hear what could well be her personal preference! :)
I wanted to add that this morning, after getting dressed in one of her pretty church dresses, Kat declares, "TEMPLE!" She was just sure we were preparing to go to the temple. When I told her we were not going to the temple, but, rather, going to church, she emphatically declared that I was wrong, in her very own Kat way. And then pouted. It was pretty funny. Then, as we pulled into the church parking lot, she once more declared, "Temple!" I again corrected and let her know that this was church, not temple. I think she thinks of the pointy spire on the building as an indication that it MUST be the temple. I'm glad to have the difficulty of correcting this misconception... it reveals that she has a clear understanding of PART of the temple, at least! :)
Ria just told me, "I've learned from the Lion King that when we die we turn in to grass and the cantelope eat the grass." She added, when asked about it again later, "Cantelope are animals. And then the cantelope turn into food that we can eat. People grind up the cantelope so that we can eat it." I have been giggling about this since she said it to me because it has just tickled me to no end. I'm not exactly sure why because, really, she's only one letter off... but I guess it just has to do with the whole 'insight into what my daughter hears' sort of thing. Ya know?
Moving back in time.... This morning was our Ward's Primary Presenation. Ria has had her part (THREE lines: big-time for a Sunbeam) memorized from about a week and a half after we received it. I'm pretty sure I was more nervous for her than she was for herself as her turn at the microphone approached. When she went up I was worried that she might freeze upon seeing the large congregation. (People who have not been to church in a long while were present, so we were quite full today!) She didn't bat an eye. She arranged the mic and went right into what she had to say, "The Bible and the Book of Mormon testify of Jesus Christ and teach me how to live the Gospel. For example, the Bible hero Daniel showed me how to be true and have courage. The Book of Mormon prophet Abinidi had great steadfastness and faith." She did start to leave the podium before she said the last word, so it was fainter than it should've been, but it was apparent that she knew her stuff and she executed it CLEARLY confidently! Jess and I were both in tears (aren't all parents, especially the first time around?!).
Well, if that's not the coolest thing, ever... I want to and feel a need to add that upon her exit from the podium there was a tremendous and TOTALLY audible exclamation of "OooohhH!" from the audience. Can you imagine my surprise!? I mean, of course I would be effected, but to hear such a reaction from the rest of the whole Ward! My goodness gracious, if there EVER was a more pleased or gratified Mama than me, I certainly canNOT imagine how she would've felt!!! And as for me, as soon as she was near the last couple words tears were streaming from my eyes... upon hearing the Ward's reaction my heart filled so full I felt like I was just going to burst right open. And then, to look over and see Jessie's eyes full of tears. WHAT JOY!!!!
It's not that I had to work with Ria day and night to help her memorize her part or anything. It would be deceptive of me to say that it's ever TRULY difficult to help Ria memorize things (because it's not very hard at all), but I did work with her to help her to her performance point up there on stage. And it's an indescribable joy to feel and HEAR other people's pleasure in her!
I did have to spend a good deal of time reassuring Ria that even though no one would clap after she said her part, they would be very pleased and impressed with her. She argued with me on that point quite a bit. She was just SURE that at least one person would clap for her. When I agreed that at least one person would WANT to clap for her she was mullified. :) My little prima dona... but no attitude prior to or even at church following the show, thankfully! She did have a bit of a breakdown at home this afternoon, but I honestly believe it was due to a let down from the stress/fun combined with her too late bedtime (10:30pm) last night due to the Women's Broadcast. We did experience a similar breakdown after the ballet recital. And I actually had my own little breakdown of sobbing immediately following the Program, so I think it was just a release of FEELING. Ya know?
To top off those wonderful experiences, while still at church Jess and I received numerous compliements from just about everyone that could possibly know we were Ria's parents. Our Stake Primary President was in attendance and she gushed to each of us individually - twice to me - about how completely and totally impressed she was with Ria. Jess told me that people stopped him up and down the hall to tell him that they were tremendously touched and impressed with Ria and that they thought she was just a firecracker! My friend, Kelli, told me that when she went to the bathroom there were a few ladies in there and all they were talking about was Ria and how impressed with her they were. ^_^ Sister Crunkleton, Ria's Sunbeam teacher, expressed how awesome she felt Ria was to me once again. The first time she saw/heard Ria read she was so in awe that she told me she was sure Ria was a genius! :) I did correct her and agree that Ria was exceptional, but probably not quite a genius. (I've done some reading about the subject and that seems to be the case. Of course, I'm not about to stop trying to help her develop guinius like intellect, of course!) Sister Crunkleton also related, from her perspective, her reaction to Ria during the practice. I'd seen it, but it was fun to hear how she felt about it.
Yesterday we had our Primary Presentation practice. Ria was the first in her class to go up to practice. She delivered her part perfectly and returned to her seat. Sister Crunkleton's jaw had dropped and as Ria approached Sister Crunkleton was raving to Ria about what she's just done. That was wonderful and made me feel good, but was also pretty funny because Sister Crunkleton was supposed to direct the next child to the podium and she completely forgot about it because she was just totally blown away by Ria! :) When she told me about it she added something I would never have thought and know is not true, but she said, "I forgot about the other children! What a moron, right?!" How funny! ((*_*))
And, as an added point of interest, if there were any other children with their parts memorized, they didn't stand and look out at the audience while they presented. There were a few who looked up, but not one looked around the congregation while they presented, as Ria did! That, to me, shows what a little star Ria is! She just LOVES to be in front of people and no group (large or larger) puts her off. What a joy!!! I think this is SUCH a humongo deal to me because it's only been in the last few years of my life that I've felt comfortable in front of people (and I don't think I've ever performed in any way shape or form to as large a group as was present for the dance recital). So, it's gratifying that, at least, thus far Ria is unintimidated! ^_^ One of my goals with keeping her in Dance is that she maintain that kind of comfort with an audience. I really don't know why this is quite as important to me as it is, but I feel it will benefit her greatly in the future!
You know, Jess has always wanted to be a performer. Perhaps it's knowing that he would like to stand in front of people and put on a show that makes me feel that one of our kiddos will certainly DO it! I think it's possible that Jess will also, but I have to admit that I hope it won't be really soon just because it would freak me out too much! hahahaha
As for the presentation as a whole, it was just wonderful, special, sweet, and joyful! I think the message, I AM A CHILD OF GOD, was apparent and conveyed very well. The sisters of the primary (less me) sang a song that was just absolutely GORGEOUS! They sounded marvelous and tears sprouted big and blurry in my eyes as they sang. Because of the time at the end of the whole program, the congregation joined the Primary in the last verse of the last song. "If the Savior Stood Beside Me." We'd copied and passed out the song for everyone to read so they could sing along. I was totally in tears during that bit - even unable to finish singing fully. The Spirit had enveloped the room and was huge in my heart! It was just WONDERFUL!
So, the day is just over half done and super full of goodness. I think it could well make up for the frustrations and such of yesterday.
Of course, my hips are still troubling me tremendously. It's actually been excruciating to walk (the little bit I've had to) all day and while sitting (even now) the pain throbs down my left leg periodically. :( But, there must needs be opposition in all things, right? So, that's mine for now, I think. I just really hope I get a break from the hip grinding physical pain I've had lately (for the last week!) before I go into labor because pain is just not something I do well... especially when it's constant and even more when it feels unnecesary or pointless! It sort of wears me down and then I totally crack... like last night. Man, did I crack. Sobbing and crying and ranting a little bit. Well, I think I've only done that sort of thing about once each trimester this pregancy. MAN, Jess sure is a LUCKY guy!!!! ^_^ I tell him as much, but since he doesn't have really any reminders of it - in that there aren't any other preggie women we know well for him to see how rollercoaster off the hook they are - he doesn't really appreciate it, I think.
Before I close I want to add that Kat was amazingly well behaved today. We sat in the pews section of church today. Normally we sit in the overflow area and, even if we sit in a row with chairs in front of it, Kat is all over the place. We were determined that she would be in the area we'd designated as ours during sacrament meeting so that Jess and I could enjoy the whole program. It totally worked out (except for when I took Kat to pee). She was mostly quiet for most of the time and she was actually really cuddly and sweet most of the time to boot!
Also, I don't think I've mentioned (but appologize if I have) that I asked Kat the other day who she was. Her first answer, "Ria!" I said, "No, your sister is Ria. What is YOUR name?" She thought about it for a second and said, "Tat!" That's sort of funny because she can TOTALL say the "K" sound. Obviously, though, she identifies herself with the nickname Kat, of the MANY we use to refer to and call her. Really, the most frequent names (in order of use) are probably: Kit Kat, Kat, and Kitty Kat. Interesting to hear what could well be her personal preference! :)
I wanted to add that this morning, after getting dressed in one of her pretty church dresses, Kat declares, "TEMPLE!" She was just sure we were preparing to go to the temple. When I told her we were not going to the temple, but, rather, going to church, she emphatically declared that I was wrong, in her very own Kat way. And then pouted. It was pretty funny. Then, as we pulled into the church parking lot, she once more declared, "Temple!" I again corrected and let her know that this was church, not temple. I think she thinks of the pointy spire on the building as an indication that it MUST be the temple. I'm glad to have the difficulty of correcting this misconception... it reveals that she has a clear understanding of PART of the temple, at least! :)
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Fatigue, Frustrations, and an Odd Sort of Temple
This week has been hellacious, to put it mildly. I've had way too many days that have been full of too early wake ups and not enough or long enough naps. (And even no naps some days!) I'm exhausted and it is manifesting as an inability to control my temper! :( I'm now feeling like a horrible Mom, wife, and person as a result. I just want a more normal life... as much as it'll ever be possible with a Chef husband. I can officially say that I feel completely done and over having to work in the middle of the night and sleep during the day.
Jessie's boss knows of this crap situation yet, for the second time now in a short time, has scheduled Jess to work a day shift (which he shouldn't be able to do ANYWAY because he should be working a morning job!) and can't do anything to change it except say that he'll try not to do it again. I'm so tired of being TIRED!!!
I'm quite certain I could continue to carp about this frustration of mine since I feel it SO completely right now, but I'm going to discontinue right now.
I don't know why I bother.... Well, okay, I do, but I'm frustrated, ok!? I went to the Women's Broadcast tonight. I could have stayed home and watched it on my computer. But there was a light dinner at the church before the broadcast and I've been lonely, so I really wanted to go for that as well as the broadcast. I was only able to go because Mary Kay gave us a ride. Of course, my girls were along because, well, what else can I do with them!? So, I got to listen to some of two of the talks. :( The dinner was really nice, though. I've been so lonely.... It just feels like everyone has such a full and divergent life and no time to add anyone else in - even though there are so many women who say I should call if I need anything. I'm pretty sure they don't mean someone to talk to and sit with... which is all I really need. :( I'm so lame! And I'm so tired of talking on the phone and not having physical interaction/relationships with people.
On a lighter and more positive note.... Kat was eating a piece of luncheon meat after we returned home from church this evening. She's eaten it into an odd shape. Suddenly she set it down with the flattest part on the plate and said "temple" in the way she does and kept saying it until I acknowledged her. When I asked her if she thought her meat looked like the temple she agreed that she did. This was a heartwarming moment with her after a great deal of frustration in dealing with her at church this whole day (though, of course, we were at home in the middle). I can't remember really being aware of the temple so much when I was young, much less as a toddler. So, I'm really happy about that, at least.
Jessie's boss knows of this crap situation yet, for the second time now in a short time, has scheduled Jess to work a day shift (which he shouldn't be able to do ANYWAY because he should be working a morning job!) and can't do anything to change it except say that he'll try not to do it again. I'm so tired of being TIRED!!!
I'm quite certain I could continue to carp about this frustration of mine since I feel it SO completely right now, but I'm going to discontinue right now.
I don't know why I bother.... Well, okay, I do, but I'm frustrated, ok!? I went to the Women's Broadcast tonight. I could have stayed home and watched it on my computer. But there was a light dinner at the church before the broadcast and I've been lonely, so I really wanted to go for that as well as the broadcast. I was only able to go because Mary Kay gave us a ride. Of course, my girls were along because, well, what else can I do with them!? So, I got to listen to some of two of the talks. :( The dinner was really nice, though. I've been so lonely.... It just feels like everyone has such a full and divergent life and no time to add anyone else in - even though there are so many women who say I should call if I need anything. I'm pretty sure they don't mean someone to talk to and sit with... which is all I really need. :( I'm so lame! And I'm so tired of talking on the phone and not having physical interaction/relationships with people.
On a lighter and more positive note.... Kat was eating a piece of luncheon meat after we returned home from church this evening. She's eaten it into an odd shape. Suddenly she set it down with the flattest part on the plate and said "temple" in the way she does and kept saying it until I acknowledged her. When I asked her if she thought her meat looked like the temple she agreed that she did. This was a heartwarming moment with her after a great deal of frustration in dealing with her at church this whole day (though, of course, we were at home in the middle). I can't remember really being aware of the temple so much when I was young, much less as a toddler. So, I'm really happy about that, at least.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Fullness
Today was a full day and my body is full in more ways than one.
Bloating as Part of the Process
With my first two pregnancies, I started to fill with/retain water around 37 weeks... this time it held off for a week, but I'm definitely feeling it now. :-P Not comfy. At least the hips were better when I awakened this morning... yes, you read right! I actually woke up in the morning hours of the day. Well, I did that on Tuesday as well, actually. Rough week, this one! Sunday I was only able to sleep 2 hours before church, Tuesday was around 6, and this morning was 3.5! UGH!!! I keep hoping the baby won't decide s/he is ready right now because that would make for a difficult labor (starting tired and all). I can do it since I was super tired after laboring for TWO days with Kat, but I'd rather have a more peaceful time this go 'round. Ya know? I was finally able to get to sleep this morning around 5:30am (due to some kiddos night waking issues as of late).
Tire Troubles
Jess awakened me at 9am this morning because one of the tires has been leaking so badly that he had to fill it two times each day for the past two days. That's $0.75 at a "pop," of course. So, he informed me last night (after my totally physically painful evening) that we had to purchase two tires whether new or used, it had to be done. If you can imagine that on top of what I'd just been going through physically you'll probably guess that I broke a bit. You'd be right. But I was sobbing, just a few tears was all. I knew it (about the tires), but it was really depressing to hear out loud. He even went so far as to say that he felt we should use credit. We've been struggling horribly because we're doing our best NOT to add debt to the tremendous pile already on our backs!
I disagreed vehemently and since I'm in charge of the bills, we used our checking account... sort of floating the purchase of tires on other things not yet mailed out, but due sooner than I would like! :( I'm worried about it, but I REALLY believe that Heavenly Father does NOT want us to use credit. So, I'm trying not to actively worry about it and just have Faith that things will work out somehow. They always do... they always have. And I'm really trying to make sure we're doing all the things on our end that we can. *sigh*
Story Time
So, Jess awakened with the girls, figured out where to buy the tires, and then hit the road to do that by 9:15am or so. I was up, of course, to monitor the girls. He was able to get home in time to take the girls to Story Time, which is a huge BIG deal around here because it's one of the few outside activities that they get to count on attending and enjoying other people. And, if you only knew how TOTALLY social these little butterflies are, you would understand how really important Story Time and other such activities are for them both. Right when he got home from taking care of the tires he departed with the girls.
I put myself back to bed to rest. Unfortunately, even in my exhausted state, I didn't fall asleep. I was hoping I would be able to, but it didn't happen. Go figure. Me and my sleep issues, I should've known, really. I did doze lightly, but my mind was hopping the whole time. ahwell
The Mad Dash
The girls and Jess got home RIGHT before noon and we went right to work getting things ready to take Daddy to the drop0-off point so he could catch a ride to Orlando to do service work in the Cannery/Bishop's Storehouse there. He's been SO excited to be able to do that work! He specifically asked for the day off about a month in advance, and then when he was put on the schedule, he traded with someone so he could make sure to be there!
The priesthood requested 12 workers for this particular trip and was able to get that many volunteers a while ago, but this past Sunday a bunch of (at least 6!) people had pulled out at the last minute. Jess was REALLY troubled by that, but was SUPER glad that the Bishop and someone else had spoken to the Brothers about keeping commitments and such. Jess was really disappointed in those who'd signed up and then renigged, though I don't think he knew the names of all involved. It was/is really interesting to me to see how invested he is in "my" church. Honestly, he often refers to it as OUR church, but when it's convenient or he's aggravated with me about something he calls it "YOUR" church. Take of the "Y" and you have... heeheehee ;)
So, even though we left late to drop Jess off, we were able to make it to the drop point TWO minutes before we were due there! YEAY! I'm so grateful for small miracles!
Researching Jobs
Upon returning home I set to work to find jobs for Jess to apply. He's set some really great goals for his employment and I'm doing my best to support him in accomplishing them. Hopefully he'll be able to get out tomorrow after food pickup and put some applications in! We'll see.
I was actually able to find quite a few in the near area. That's pretty awesome to me. In addition, since I was looking in Craigslist, I also looked at property and, believe it or not!, found a house in Ormond-by-the-Sea for $92,000!!!! It's a small home, but from the front door you can see the beach entrance. That is a rediculous and amazing price. Another house in the near area was $115,000. So, it seems that we may not have to move to Orlando to find a home in our price range if things keep at this level and Jess is able to get the job he needs or replace his morning job. Amazing, right!?
Dance Class
Today was Dance class day! Even though I had the van, I took the walk. Who knows when it will be too rough for me to do it, so I'd rather keep plugging along as long and as much as I can! Frustratingly the walk (normally at most 15 minutes) now takes me just over 25 and feels likeI'm creeping along like a snail! :( But at least I'm going!
Ria did quite well in class today and I really only reminded her about her behavior once! I was a pleased Mama. Also, she was SUCH a sweetie... a little girl who arrived right before class started was sitting all alone apart from the other girls (Ria as part of the other girls). I suggested and asked Ria to go sit with her and she was happy to do it. As soon as Ria was over there by that little girl, at least 3 other girls joined her! So, the little girl was no longer all alone! The Grama of the little girl was very appreciative, which was nice, but I was more happy that the little girl wasn't all on her own anymore.
They are definitely learning new steps! It's so exciting to see. And, MAN, I love to see my little Ria lined up with the other ballerinas at the barr for exercises and stretching! It just brings such joy to my heart!!
Kat Dance
Kat has been "tapping" all over the house. There's a particular song from dance class that she LOVES and she'll tap her foot and demand that I sing it for her. Most of the time I love to and I, of course, encourage her desire to dance almost every time she does it. But every once in a while she'll make a poor choice or won't do something she's been asked to do because she's asking/demanding I sing for her dancing. I refuse to oblige her until she's done the right thing. Most of the time she does because she wants me to sing the song SO much! Funny, right?
My Walks
I do feel obligated to add and sort of confess that my "long" walks at this point are 35 minutes. And the distance is puny! No, seriously! It's 1 block west, 2 blocks north, then 1 tiny block north, 2 blocks east, what amounts to 2.5 blocks (in reality) south, and then 2 blocks west to my house. And THAT took me THIRTY-FIVE minutes on Tuesday! UGH. I was totally out of breath through points of it AND sweated a bit at the half-way point (which I knew because I had to stop at the public potty near that playground!). Can you believe it? The funny thing is that I often feel like I should just be able to GO and GO... but then I get out of breath and I realize that having a baby in this belly of mine really DOES put some breaks on me!
ChaCha
I'm still a Top Guide with ChaCha! YEAY!!! It's so much easier to work and build up my payday in TG status. Now, if only I could refuse to answer certain questions!
Typing Training
Oh... as part of my self training I've been working on my typing skills. :) I'm at between 67 and 71 words per minute and 100% accuracy right now. At least, that's how I do when I'm focused and not too tired. I'm pleased, but I would really like to get up to 100WPM! Good goal, right? That could help in numerous ways, too, not just ChaCha (especially since I write....). ^_^ I haven't added the site I'm using to my HS list yet, but it's quite cool. If you're interested in it before I get around to it, just let me know and I'll be HAPPY to share!
Toilet Training (done?)
Kat is doing amazingly well with using the potty! She's kept her special panties (some pull-ups my Primary Preside gave us that have little dinosaurs, which smear if the diaper is peed in, on them) dry each day she's worn them all week this week! Today, as a matter-of-fact, she actually pulled down her shorts and "special panties" to use her little potty ALL BY HERSELF! And then, if that's not cool enough, she actually pulled them back on rather than stripping (as is normal for her as of late). She subsequently stripped a little while later, but still! She hasn't had any accidents since we moved the little potty into the kitchen/dining room for her.
After the last couple times that Kit Kat had accidents, which were really Mama's fault since I couldn't get to the bathroom fast enough to let her in, we brought a little training potty in from the garage. She wouldn't use it when Jess first started her potty training, which is why it ended up there. Jess threatened to toss it a few times, but I couldn't let it go and I'm SO glad!! She's so pleased with herself. But she still uses the big potty for poops, which is awesome. I just hated cleaning poopers out of the the training potty with Ria!
Ria and Reading
So, Jess is picking 2nd and 3rd grade books as a standard for Ria's reading class now. I have to say that she IS, shockingly enough or not, pretty dang competent!! The problem I've encountered since I've been responsible for reading class a few times in the midst of it being primarily Jessie's job is that I can tell he dozes off while she's reading. HOW can I tell such a thing? Well, she's gotten even sloppier than she was when she knew I was attentively reading along with her. She injects inappropriate conjunctions and articles amidst her reading of actual text. Also, she's not as careful with her sounding out of long or unfamiliar words. She's SUPER good at figuring out how to read long and new words on her own, but it's apparent she gets away with sounding confident with Jess because she's not trying as hard when she comes to unfamiliar or infrequently use long words. She seems like she's reading, but she's really guessing. Very upsetting to Mama.
I don't mind if she guesses a bit as a silent reader, to some extent... when she's older. But I feel it's SUPER important right now that she read precisely. Not only for her own development, which is the main reason (right practive makes right performance), but because she's reading SO much to Kat! It's entirely possible, even probable, that Kat will learn how to read by reading with Ria... and I don't want her learning wrong habits and guessing strategies! *sigh* Well, it's a problem I'm glad to have (on one hand). I mean, how many Mamas have to worry about such a thing with their 4 year olds!??
Bloating as Part of the Process
With my first two pregnancies, I started to fill with/retain water around 37 weeks... this time it held off for a week, but I'm definitely feeling it now. :-P Not comfy. At least the hips were better when I awakened this morning... yes, you read right! I actually woke up in the morning hours of the day. Well, I did that on Tuesday as well, actually. Rough week, this one! Sunday I was only able to sleep 2 hours before church, Tuesday was around 6, and this morning was 3.5! UGH!!! I keep hoping the baby won't decide s/he is ready right now because that would make for a difficult labor (starting tired and all). I can do it since I was super tired after laboring for TWO days with Kat, but I'd rather have a more peaceful time this go 'round. Ya know? I was finally able to get to sleep this morning around 5:30am (due to some kiddos night waking issues as of late).
Tire Troubles
Jess awakened me at 9am this morning because one of the tires has been leaking so badly that he had to fill it two times each day for the past two days. That's $0.75 at a "pop," of course. So, he informed me last night (after my totally physically painful evening) that we had to purchase two tires whether new or used, it had to be done. If you can imagine that on top of what I'd just been going through physically you'll probably guess that I broke a bit. You'd be right. But I was sobbing, just a few tears was all. I knew it (about the tires), but it was really depressing to hear out loud. He even went so far as to say that he felt we should use credit. We've been struggling horribly because we're doing our best NOT to add debt to the tremendous pile already on our backs!
I disagreed vehemently and since I'm in charge of the bills, we used our checking account... sort of floating the purchase of tires on other things not yet mailed out, but due sooner than I would like! :( I'm worried about it, but I REALLY believe that Heavenly Father does NOT want us to use credit. So, I'm trying not to actively worry about it and just have Faith that things will work out somehow. They always do... they always have. And I'm really trying to make sure we're doing all the things on our end that we can. *sigh*
Story Time
So, Jess awakened with the girls, figured out where to buy the tires, and then hit the road to do that by 9:15am or so. I was up, of course, to monitor the girls. He was able to get home in time to take the girls to Story Time, which is a huge BIG deal around here because it's one of the few outside activities that they get to count on attending and enjoying other people. And, if you only knew how TOTALLY social these little butterflies are, you would understand how really important Story Time and other such activities are for them both. Right when he got home from taking care of the tires he departed with the girls.
I put myself back to bed to rest. Unfortunately, even in my exhausted state, I didn't fall asleep. I was hoping I would be able to, but it didn't happen. Go figure. Me and my sleep issues, I should've known, really. I did doze lightly, but my mind was hopping the whole time. ahwell
The Mad Dash
The girls and Jess got home RIGHT before noon and we went right to work getting things ready to take Daddy to the drop0-off point so he could catch a ride to Orlando to do service work in the Cannery/Bishop's Storehouse there. He's been SO excited to be able to do that work! He specifically asked for the day off about a month in advance, and then when he was put on the schedule, he traded with someone so he could make sure to be there!
The priesthood requested 12 workers for this particular trip and was able to get that many volunteers a while ago, but this past Sunday a bunch of (at least 6!) people had pulled out at the last minute. Jess was REALLY troubled by that, but was SUPER glad that the Bishop and someone else had spoken to the Brothers about keeping commitments and such. Jess was really disappointed in those who'd signed up and then renigged, though I don't think he knew the names of all involved. It was/is really interesting to me to see how invested he is in "my" church. Honestly, he often refers to it as OUR church, but when it's convenient or he's aggravated with me about something he calls it "YOUR" church. Take of the "Y" and you have... heeheehee ;)
So, even though we left late to drop Jess off, we were able to make it to the drop point TWO minutes before we were due there! YEAY! I'm so grateful for small miracles!
Researching Jobs
Upon returning home I set to work to find jobs for Jess to apply. He's set some really great goals for his employment and I'm doing my best to support him in accomplishing them. Hopefully he'll be able to get out tomorrow after food pickup and put some applications in! We'll see.
I was actually able to find quite a few in the near area. That's pretty awesome to me. In addition, since I was looking in Craigslist, I also looked at property and, believe it or not!, found a house in Ormond-by-the-Sea for $92,000!!!! It's a small home, but from the front door you can see the beach entrance. That is a rediculous and amazing price. Another house in the near area was $115,000. So, it seems that we may not have to move to Orlando to find a home in our price range if things keep at this level and Jess is able to get the job he needs or replace his morning job. Amazing, right!?
Dance Class
Today was Dance class day! Even though I had the van, I took the walk. Who knows when it will be too rough for me to do it, so I'd rather keep plugging along as long and as much as I can! Frustratingly the walk (normally at most 15 minutes) now takes me just over 25 and feels likeI'm creeping along like a snail! :( But at least I'm going!
Ria did quite well in class today and I really only reminded her about her behavior once! I was a pleased Mama. Also, she was SUCH a sweetie... a little girl who arrived right before class started was sitting all alone apart from the other girls (Ria as part of the other girls). I suggested and asked Ria to go sit with her and she was happy to do it. As soon as Ria was over there by that little girl, at least 3 other girls joined her! So, the little girl was no longer all alone! The Grama of the little girl was very appreciative, which was nice, but I was more happy that the little girl wasn't all on her own anymore.
They are definitely learning new steps! It's so exciting to see. And, MAN, I love to see my little Ria lined up with the other ballerinas at the barr for exercises and stretching! It just brings such joy to my heart!!
Kat Dance
Kat has been "tapping" all over the house. There's a particular song from dance class that she LOVES and she'll tap her foot and demand that I sing it for her. Most of the time I love to and I, of course, encourage her desire to dance almost every time she does it. But every once in a while she'll make a poor choice or won't do something she's been asked to do because she's asking/demanding I sing for her dancing. I refuse to oblige her until she's done the right thing. Most of the time she does because she wants me to sing the song SO much! Funny, right?
My Walks
I do feel obligated to add and sort of confess that my "long" walks at this point are 35 minutes. And the distance is puny! No, seriously! It's 1 block west, 2 blocks north, then 1 tiny block north, 2 blocks east, what amounts to 2.5 blocks (in reality) south, and then 2 blocks west to my house. And THAT took me THIRTY-FIVE minutes on Tuesday! UGH. I was totally out of breath through points of it AND sweated a bit at the half-way point (which I knew because I had to stop at the public potty near that playground!). Can you believe it? The funny thing is that I often feel like I should just be able to GO and GO... but then I get out of breath and I realize that having a baby in this belly of mine really DOES put some breaks on me!
ChaCha
I'm still a Top Guide with ChaCha! YEAY!!! It's so much easier to work and build up my payday in TG status. Now, if only I could refuse to answer certain questions!
Typing Training
Oh... as part of my self training I've been working on my typing skills. :) I'm at between 67 and 71 words per minute and 100% accuracy right now. At least, that's how I do when I'm focused and not too tired. I'm pleased, but I would really like to get up to 100WPM! Good goal, right? That could help in numerous ways, too, not just ChaCha (especially since I write....). ^_^ I haven't added the site I'm using to my HS list yet, but it's quite cool. If you're interested in it before I get around to it, just let me know and I'll be HAPPY to share!
Toilet Training (done?)
Kat is doing amazingly well with using the potty! She's kept her special panties (some pull-ups my Primary Preside gave us that have little dinosaurs, which smear if the diaper is peed in, on them) dry each day she's worn them all week this week! Today, as a matter-of-fact, she actually pulled down her shorts and "special panties" to use her little potty ALL BY HERSELF! And then, if that's not cool enough, she actually pulled them back on rather than stripping (as is normal for her as of late). She subsequently stripped a little while later, but still! She hasn't had any accidents since we moved the little potty into the kitchen/dining room for her.
After the last couple times that Kit Kat had accidents, which were really Mama's fault since I couldn't get to the bathroom fast enough to let her in, we brought a little training potty in from the garage. She wouldn't use it when Jess first started her potty training, which is why it ended up there. Jess threatened to toss it a few times, but I couldn't let it go and I'm SO glad!! She's so pleased with herself. But she still uses the big potty for poops, which is awesome. I just hated cleaning poopers out of the the training potty with Ria!
Ria and Reading
So, Jess is picking 2nd and 3rd grade books as a standard for Ria's reading class now. I have to say that she IS, shockingly enough or not, pretty dang competent!! The problem I've encountered since I've been responsible for reading class a few times in the midst of it being primarily Jessie's job is that I can tell he dozes off while she's reading. HOW can I tell such a thing? Well, she's gotten even sloppier than she was when she knew I was attentively reading along with her. She injects inappropriate conjunctions and articles amidst her reading of actual text. Also, she's not as careful with her sounding out of long or unfamiliar words. She's SUPER good at figuring out how to read long and new words on her own, but it's apparent she gets away with sounding confident with Jess because she's not trying as hard when she comes to unfamiliar or infrequently use long words. She seems like she's reading, but she's really guessing. Very upsetting to Mama.
I don't mind if she guesses a bit as a silent reader, to some extent... when she's older. But I feel it's SUPER important right now that she read precisely. Not only for her own development, which is the main reason (right practive makes right performance), but because she's reading SO much to Kat! It's entirely possible, even probable, that Kat will learn how to read by reading with Ria... and I don't want her learning wrong habits and guessing strategies! *sigh* Well, it's a problem I'm glad to have (on one hand). I mean, how many Mamas have to worry about such a thing with their 4 year olds!??
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
A Rather Full Day
Off to a... Start
Today started, for me, with a big bang! I awakened to a calf cramp, which is frequent enough to be unsurprising. The problem arose when I couldn't stretch it out and it kept hurting and hurting like the dickens! It hurt SO badly that I called Jess to help me. I figured if he could rub it, it might help. And it did, until he held near my achilles tendon and then it started the whole thing over again and worse. For whatever reason, though, this time I was able to put my foot flat (the normal solution) and it calmed the horrible cramping. So TOTALLY NOT a nice way to wake up! And it was at least 1/2 an hour earier than I'd planned to get up, so I was pooped to boot. BLAH!
Thankfully the rest of the day, while full, was easy. Until the end, that is.
Jess Forgot to Mention
that he had to leave for work early today. He remembered it about 20 minutes before he was supposed to be there. (ahwell) The girls got to watch a movie after his departure because he did reading class with Ria. I spent that time lying down. Normally I'd work on ChaCha during such "free" time, but today I felt REALLY run down since waking up. Not just tired: my head felt ever so slightly stuffy, I was more tired than normal, and I sneezed WAY too often. So, I made myself lie down even though I didn't sleep, in hopes that the rest would enable my body to hunker down with some healin! :) I did feel a little better when the movie was over. What a relief!
Ready to Go?
When the movie was over it was time to get ready to go. Departures, without Jess, take me quite a while lately! :-P One of the less attractive and enjoyable aspects of late pregnancy. But we were on our way in plenty of time thanks to almost complete cooperation from my girls. My right leg has been super weird today (the one with the calf cramp/Charlie Horse this morning). I can't hold my leg up on my toes (when seated) because my leg goes all jittery and shakes like crazy as if it's not strong enough to support itself. That is TOTALLY normal when I have a fever or I'm in labor, but MAN... it's weird when I'm apparently well in every other way. :( So, I took it REALLY slow on my walk to Mary Kay's house. (And still sweated when I was not walking!) Do you remember who she is?? Yep, Ria's PIANO teacher!!!
Piano Lessons Begin!
Today was the first day of piano lessons!! Ria was so completely excited. And I have to say I was pretty darn excited myself. Of course, Kit Kat fed off of all that excitement and was SUPER excited! Sweet toddler girl! She's just SURE that every class or activity we do is for her. Ria and I might talk about something, and here comes Kat, "ME, ME, ME!" And, of course, she is always involved at least a little. She's so funny.
Mary Kay and I (I think mostly me) had a few mixed signals, so I ended up there before she got home. I really think her hubbie, Tim, is wonderful so it was nice to chat with him since he was home reading outside. She called him while we were there and he conveyed that she would arrive in a bit. As I was thinking about it, I decided to leave so they could say hi without an audience and have a few minutes before their family time was barged in upon by piano lessons. I would prefer a few minutes to be home before guests. So, we left and went for a walk up to the beach.
In Love With the Weather
MAN! I LOVE the fall here! The weather is sooo cooled off and the wind... WOW! It's like the wind is wrapping you up in it's powerful gusts of excitement to welcome the change of season! I LOVE IT! Spring is also pretty windy, but not (it seems to me) as rowdily so. :)
We went to the boardwalk and I sat on the bench closest to the end (also only about 4 blocks from Mary Kay's street). A sweet lady, Marjorie, walked by and my SUPER social Ria was all about greeting her, which drew her in to chatting first with Ria and then with me. Kat was fast asleep or she would have made sure her greetings chorused with Ria's (as they usually do). We ended up talking for about 15-25 minutes. She was very impressed with my trailer/stroller and my eldest daughter - as most people are and was determined to remember the name (of the stroller) for her daughter. It was a very pleasant way to pass the time! By the end of our brief conversation she told me she considered me a SuperMom! Can you imagine? ME!??!?! Well, it certainly felt nice, though I would definitely not consider myself such! ^_^ So nice to hear, though!
By this point my hip had started to ache a little, which is why I was sitting on a bench near the beach instead of walking around for exercise.
We returned to Mary Kay's house for Ria's piano lesson after she called us, which went really well. Ria is SO excited and happy about her class. I was able to pay attention to most of it, which is really important to me so that I can properly guide Ria in practices at home. It was lovely to spend time around Mary Kay as well and talk with her afterward. She has a strong, confident, peaceful, and generally pleasing spirit and feeling about her AND in her home!
Exchanging Services as payment for lessons
Because of my time chatting with Tim, Mary Kay knew about my ability with hair AND she's going to let me teacher her how to cut it!!! I'd been racking my brain for things we (Jess and I, or just I) could do as service exchanges. I'd told her about making meals for her (Jess and/or me), teaching her crochet, but had managed to forget that I do hair. Weirdo, right? Well, I noticed that Tim's hair was getting long just this past Sunday, I think. It really looks quite good on him, but I figured it would be useful for Mary Kay to know how to cut it herself if she didn't already know how. So I asked him... she doesn't already know how, he shared our conversation about it with her, AND she's going to let me teach her! I'm so happy!! Also, she's going to accept recipes as a form of payment... not sure how that will work out exactly, but I'm definitely going to work on that one (and work on getting Jess to share some of his private stash!).
The Hip Flares
We returned home, which walk was very painful for me. My right hip was in full-on throbbing cramps at points. And I still had to make dinner! Ria and Kat are so used to this sort of thing by now, which I'm SUPER grateful for! I can only imagine how scarry it would be if I started crying the way I did tonight out of nowhere! They were quite worried this morning, though... Ria has this sweet funny thing she says to me when I'm having a BIG pain. She says to me, "At least it will be over sometime! Remember, it will end sometime." SO true and it helps a great deal to hear that EVERY time! :)
Thankfully lying down to help Kat fall asleep has calmed the pain a little. Now the pain in my calf is more apparent. Well, I suppose a dull throb is better than extreme cramping throbs! :-/
Thursday
And tomorrow is another one....
Today started, for me, with a big bang! I awakened to a calf cramp, which is frequent enough to be unsurprising. The problem arose when I couldn't stretch it out and it kept hurting and hurting like the dickens! It hurt SO badly that I called Jess to help me. I figured if he could rub it, it might help. And it did, until he held near my achilles tendon and then it started the whole thing over again and worse. For whatever reason, though, this time I was able to put my foot flat (the normal solution) and it calmed the horrible cramping. So TOTALLY NOT a nice way to wake up! And it was at least 1/2 an hour earier than I'd planned to get up, so I was pooped to boot. BLAH!
Thankfully the rest of the day, while full, was easy. Until the end, that is.
Jess Forgot to Mention
that he had to leave for work early today. He remembered it about 20 minutes before he was supposed to be there. (ahwell) The girls got to watch a movie after his departure because he did reading class with Ria. I spent that time lying down. Normally I'd work on ChaCha during such "free" time, but today I felt REALLY run down since waking up. Not just tired: my head felt ever so slightly stuffy, I was more tired than normal, and I sneezed WAY too often. So, I made myself lie down even though I didn't sleep, in hopes that the rest would enable my body to hunker down with some healin! :) I did feel a little better when the movie was over. What a relief!
Ready to Go?
When the movie was over it was time to get ready to go. Departures, without Jess, take me quite a while lately! :-P One of the less attractive and enjoyable aspects of late pregnancy. But we were on our way in plenty of time thanks to almost complete cooperation from my girls. My right leg has been super weird today (the one with the calf cramp/Charlie Horse this morning). I can't hold my leg up on my toes (when seated) because my leg goes all jittery and shakes like crazy as if it's not strong enough to support itself. That is TOTALLY normal when I have a fever or I'm in labor, but MAN... it's weird when I'm apparently well in every other way. :( So, I took it REALLY slow on my walk to Mary Kay's house. (And still sweated when I was not walking!) Do you remember who she is?? Yep, Ria's PIANO teacher!!!
Piano Lessons Begin!
Today was the first day of piano lessons!! Ria was so completely excited. And I have to say I was pretty darn excited myself. Of course, Kit Kat fed off of all that excitement and was SUPER excited! Sweet toddler girl! She's just SURE that every class or activity we do is for her. Ria and I might talk about something, and here comes Kat, "ME, ME, ME!" And, of course, she is always involved at least a little. She's so funny.
Mary Kay and I (I think mostly me) had a few mixed signals, so I ended up there before she got home. I really think her hubbie, Tim, is wonderful so it was nice to chat with him since he was home reading outside. She called him while we were there and he conveyed that she would arrive in a bit. As I was thinking about it, I decided to leave so they could say hi without an audience and have a few minutes before their family time was barged in upon by piano lessons. I would prefer a few minutes to be home before guests. So, we left and went for a walk up to the beach.
In Love With the Weather
MAN! I LOVE the fall here! The weather is sooo cooled off and the wind... WOW! It's like the wind is wrapping you up in it's powerful gusts of excitement to welcome the change of season! I LOVE IT! Spring is also pretty windy, but not (it seems to me) as rowdily so. :)
We went to the boardwalk and I sat on the bench closest to the end (also only about 4 blocks from Mary Kay's street). A sweet lady, Marjorie, walked by and my SUPER social Ria was all about greeting her, which drew her in to chatting first with Ria and then with me. Kat was fast asleep or she would have made sure her greetings chorused with Ria's (as they usually do). We ended up talking for about 15-25 minutes. She was very impressed with my trailer/stroller and my eldest daughter - as most people are and was determined to remember the name (of the stroller) for her daughter. It was a very pleasant way to pass the time! By the end of our brief conversation she told me she considered me a SuperMom! Can you imagine? ME!??!?! Well, it certainly felt nice, though I would definitely not consider myself such! ^_^ So nice to hear, though!
By this point my hip had started to ache a little, which is why I was sitting on a bench near the beach instead of walking around for exercise.
We returned to Mary Kay's house for Ria's piano lesson after she called us, which went really well. Ria is SO excited and happy about her class. I was able to pay attention to most of it, which is really important to me so that I can properly guide Ria in practices at home. It was lovely to spend time around Mary Kay as well and talk with her afterward. She has a strong, confident, peaceful, and generally pleasing spirit and feeling about her AND in her home!
Exchanging Services as payment for lessons
Because of my time chatting with Tim, Mary Kay knew about my ability with hair AND she's going to let me teacher her how to cut it!!! I'd been racking my brain for things we (Jess and I, or just I) could do as service exchanges. I'd told her about making meals for her (Jess and/or me), teaching her crochet, but had managed to forget that I do hair. Weirdo, right? Well, I noticed that Tim's hair was getting long just this past Sunday, I think. It really looks quite good on him, but I figured it would be useful for Mary Kay to know how to cut it herself if she didn't already know how. So I asked him... she doesn't already know how, he shared our conversation about it with her, AND she's going to let me teach her! I'm so happy!! Also, she's going to accept recipes as a form of payment... not sure how that will work out exactly, but I'm definitely going to work on that one (and work on getting Jess to share some of his private stash!).
The Hip Flares
We returned home, which walk was very painful for me. My right hip was in full-on throbbing cramps at points. And I still had to make dinner! Ria and Kat are so used to this sort of thing by now, which I'm SUPER grateful for! I can only imagine how scarry it would be if I started crying the way I did tonight out of nowhere! They were quite worried this morning, though... Ria has this sweet funny thing she says to me when I'm having a BIG pain. She says to me, "At least it will be over sometime! Remember, it will end sometime." SO true and it helps a great deal to hear that EVERY time! :)
Thankfully lying down to help Kat fall asleep has calmed the pain a little. Now the pain in my calf is more apparent. Well, I suppose a dull throb is better than extreme cramping throbs! :-/
Thursday
And tomorrow is another one....
Friday, September 19, 2008
Pictures Update
Some Random Shots
A sweet Kit Kat smile!
Ria with the black eye and bum lip.Notice they are both on the right side.
What does THAT mean?
Kitty Kat at Dance Class:
The Evolution In An Hour
After a nap, she eats a snack.OH! And can you tell she has
a little bun in her hair!?
She DOES!
And it stays for ALL of dance class!
More snack eating while watching Ria.
Still working on the snack in
a new watching position.
Running in her new tap shoes
after Ria's class is done.
Do you see the fully joyful look
on that little shmoook?
Oops, the shoes slipped off again.
She's not perturbed a bit.
"Just takes a minute and,
I'm off again!"
DADDY'S POCD AREA/SPOT
This is what you see as you approach his areafrom the house. Quite tight... small.
Looking at it from right next to the striped chair.
Looking at it from behind the striped chair.
The view from sitting on the couch.
Another of the same.This is really just to show you
how close he is to the parked van.
Sort of a width shot.This shows that the "entertainment" shelves
are not fully dedicated to his area
AND how little they actually are.
This is the view out from the couchto show you his saved fan.
He is SO very pleased with it
and how COOL his area stays with it in place!
Jess just joked Sunday (the 21st) that he was going to steal
the leather recliner we received from some friends
who moved and put it in his 2X2 space.
That was both a joke about the amount of space he has
(being as little as it really is)
and an acknowledgment of the space that is JUST his!
Temple Trip and Lots of Other News
TEMPLE TRIP
We were able to get to the temple on Tuesday. It was WONDERFUL for me. Jess let me do an endowment, which is at least 30 minutes longer than if I serve in an alternative way. I was able to converse with a lady I met last month. It was really nice. Jess and the girls were really hot when I was finished. I'm so grateful for their sacrifice for me! (Especially Jess, the girls were just totally happy to be at the temple!)
Kat was especially pleased to be there. She shrieked when she saw the temple spire the first time and then when she saw it (and I was present) each time after that she would say in her sweet loving way, "Bumpoo," which, 'in Kat,' is temple, of course.
Ria was totally and completely excited to get to go to the temple when we told her about the trip the night before. She was thrilled to be there and excited about the prospect of a picnic for breakfast, made possible by a sweet, generous, and totally thoughtful gift from someone we all love! That gift enabled us to have STORE BOUGHT food (we've been bringing our own lately) and that was RIGHT UP THERE with the joy of being at the temple for Ria! ^_^ It's pretty funny how into food our girls are... but, then again, maybe not. ;) We were able to stop at Chick-Fil-A on the way home, which was our first meal out in a restaurant in a VERY long time. And our girls really seem to LOVE eating in restaurants! It's pretty cool and sort of funny. They are quite well-behaved, too! Believe it or not.
Acorn TEA!
Jess and the girls gathered acorns for the purpose of making Acorn Coffee. Ria was just tickled pink that she would get to have some "coffee" and Mama is not pleased about the name of the beverage. We're trying to call it Acorn Tea, but Ria is really attached to "coffee" much to Mama's chagrin! Jess cracked the acorns and the girls and Mama worked to remove the meat from the shell on Wednesday. Jess finished the preparations and we had Acorn TEA with out dinner on Wed. It was actually pretty interesting in flavor. And then we tried it with some creamer - even better! And finally we added some Quick... WOW! What FLAVOR!!! And, apparently, acorns are FULL of nutrients (the squirrels knew it all along!). Indians used it in everything and it's really good as a fortifier! So, we're hoping to experiment with it (especially Jess). There will, surely, be a blog post about ACORNS from Jess before too long. ^_^
Midwife Non-Visit
Today at dance class someone made mention of the fact that Karen, my midwife, is the only one in her practice so that if she had a birth and I had an appointment I wouldn' t get to see her. I acknowledged that, but added that I probably wouldn't want to see anyone else even if there was another midwife in the practice. Well, Karen had a labor this evening and I had an appointment... so I didn't get to see her. It toally IS a bummer, but I still feel that I wouldn't want to see anyone else, so it all works out. She's planning to come on Saturday, so I'll still get to see her this week. I'm in my weekly visits now, so I think she feels it's important to make sure to see me this week.
People really look at you oddly when they find out you home birth... I never really KNEW it the way I do now because when I was preggie with Kat I couldn't really talk about it since my midwife was sort of not totally legal and all. It's weird how totally brainwashed basically EVERYONE is... okay, so out of 5 women, MAYBE 1 will be admiring or say something positive about the prospect and fact of home birth. The others just look at me like I'm a freak or say something negative (or both, really). I don't say rude things about their choice to expose their newborn to untold numbers of pathogens by having a hospital birth when they are completely and totally healthy... but hey, at least I know it! I'm glad hospitals are there, but I just wish people knew how unnecessary they are for the majority of births, mothers, and babies! ahwell...
DANCE CLASS
I had two talks with Ria before her dance class about her behavior in class last week and how she SHOULD behave. She did MUCH better even when she wasn't moved away from the other girls. She's SUCH a total social butterfly/magnet, though! A few times I saw her move from an "outskirts" sort of position (put there by teacher) to a position IN THE MIDDLE of the other girls. One of those moves is caught on a video you'll be able to view before long. When I asked her about it (without leading) she said that even after her teachers moved her the other girls came around her! ....hmmm.... that's TOTALLY NOT what I saw. But, obviously, that's how she felt things were happening! How funny, right?
TAP SHOES ALL AROUND
Ria received her special pink sparkly tap shoes in class this week. She's TOTALLY happy with them! I'm pleased that she's so happy and now Kat gets some tap shoes, too! :) TWO winners for the price of one! They are both SO in love with dancing and, especially right now, their new tap shoes!! Kat was completely and totally happy to get to wear tap shoes (even though they are AT LEAST 2 sizes too big!!). She snuck her little feet on the grey dance mat during class time to do her own tapping to the music and when the class was over I let her run around on the mat with her tap shoes on. She was IN HEAVEN!
I took some video and pictures of our two little dancers. They are so fun! Ria is actually very attentive and DANCING (she wasn't so much, last week, if you recall). Now, I just have to make the time (amidst my work and other activities) to upload them to the computer and then load into blogger (here).
Daddy Gifts
I have this tradition around the time of the birth of a new addition to our family. I feel it's really important and a way I can show Jess how much I love him and appreciate him and all he does. It's a gift of some sort that I give to him in expectation of the new arrival or shortly after the birth. With Ria I couldn't really think of anything particular, so I arranged for a few of his buddies to take him to a bar across the street and hang out there for a while. He really enjoyed spending time with his friends, but wasn't thrilled with the whole bar atmosphere anymore. A joy to hear, but also a crimp because I would have to come up with a new "gift" for the next birth.
When I was still preggie with Kat things were crazy and I knew they would get even crazier after she was born, so even though the "gift" wasn't extra humongo or anything, I arranged for a day that I would encourage him strongly to go off and fish on his own. Considering that I was packing the house while trying to deal with our unruley 2 yr 6 month old Ria, sacrificing a day of him being away was a BIG gift from me at the time! He was pleased with it, though. If you know him, you'll think, "Duh, give that man some time to fish and he's happy for a week!" But, if you know me, you'll know that I would like to do more for him.
This time (currently pregnancy) I had something very specific I wanted to do, but never any time to do it. Seriously, I haven't even finished the new baby's blanket, jacket, hat, shoes, or Tigger!!!! Well, the other night I decided to sacrifice work time (money making time) and baby gift making time to work on his special "Daddy" gift and some other house stuff. The reason for the "other house stuff" is that I couldn't possibly do just one thing, as per Tori, I had to have at least 3 things I could vascillate among depending upon my interest and ability to focus my attention on any one of them. It worked out quite well and I accomplished a GREAT DEAL in 3 hours!
This particular gift is especially huge considering the amount of physical effort required. I have tried NOT to complain too much about the pain I've had more and more of lately, but it's getting quite rediculous, really. I'm going to share a bit about it here and now only to illustrate further what a great gift this thing that I did for Jess is. :) Illustration of my pains: most days I wake up and either my hips or back hurt VERY very baddly and I either have constipation and/or a totally upset tummy (like unable to eat barfy feeling upset!). My hips will throb off and on through the day and cause my walks, when I can kick my butt out the door (usually only 3 or 4 days a week right now), are very slow, but, amazingly, I still sweat! Perhaps I sweat as a result of the pain... either belly, back, or hips hurt every time now. Anyway... When my back hurts, it hurts ALL day. Major bummer, of course, but almost more tolerable than the off and on pulsing throb of the hips, which LITERALLY stops me in mid step and causes me to shriek when at their worst. I'm TOTALLY not exhaggerating. My poor girls are getting pretty desensitized to hearing Mama in pain... but then, maybe that's a GOOD thing! ^_^ I'd rather have neither of those pains, of course! And the upset tummy thing... well, I'm not eating very much. I'm drinking tons of milk (to get the protein in) and for whatever reason I can tolerate that. But I can often eat only 1 banana for breakfast and a ramakin size amount of most anything else. (I just discovered this is basically the perfect size (FULL) when I'm hungry. If I don't feel hungry, but need to eat, if I full the ramakin about 1/2 way it's enough to help me feel good about eating, but not feel barfy 30 minutes later. How annoying, right? Anyway... motion often aggravates the upset tummy feeling. ARGGH! BUT helps move the stuff that causes the constipation. Win on one hand, lose on the other! anyway...
Daddy's POCD Area/Spot
Back to the gift! So, when we were given the awesome livingroom furniture we have now Jess wondered what to do with the old $10 couch we'd purchased from Goodwill. I already knew what I wanted to do with it! I moved it to the garage and started a corner that I wanted to turn over to Jess as "HIS SPOT" at some point. He bugged me about getting rid of the couch, so I had to share my plan. He was really happy with the idea and subsequently found a really nice arm chair that seemed to go REALLY well with the couch! Then someone from Jessie's work gave him a small TV and VCR, which were the PERFECT size to fit in the shelving that I'd designated for his "entertainment center". You see, I got this idea that I wanted to make a corner in the garage for Jess from a house on my longer walks (way back when!). The front half of that garage was dedicated to a whole outside hang-out area/grill spot. While we couldn't do that because we park our vehicles in the garage, I could totally see using a small area for a Daddy area.
Well, over time the area was sort of jam packed with random things. Jess hadn't started using it because the TV/VCR came many moons after the furniture and he just never went out there to hang out alone when it was just the furniture. And the shelves had stuff he didn't want to move when he DID get the TV... so it just collected stuff.
The other night I spent the majority of the 3 hours I put ChaCha aside to clean up and clear out the spot I wanted for Jess. Just as a note, my back AND hips hurt really bad that night, but I just couldn't see it getting better and I wanted to have the area ready for Jess BEFORE this baby arrived. So, it was completed that night! The projected entailed reorganization of that whole side of the garage, movement of lots of things, large and small. It's been 2 days since the work and my shoulders are STILL killing me! My back actually felt better mid-way into the effort, but my hips have been significantly worse since then. But Jess is REALLY happy with it! Unfortunately, he found out about it WHILE I was doing the work because he heard something that woke him up. I was really hoping he would take the girls out there for Story Time and see it then... but, alas, he foiled my plan! My hard sleeping hubby actually awakened! :P
I had the joy of realizing exactly how much he loves his area over the past couple of days. I call his area "DADDY's POCD Area/Spot". The acronym stands for: Pissed Off Cool Down. ^_^ Appropriate, don't you think? So, not only did I find Jess with our girls chillin and sort of neslting down in HIS area after Story Time yesterday, but he told me how cool people at work thought it was (he doesn't tell people at work all that much, so that's a HUGE indicator of how much he loves it), AND again he and the girls were hanging out there today when I got up! ^_^ So, I'm SUPER pleased that he's so very happy with his spot!
Daddy's So Pleased
Jess has been Ria's primary HS teacher as of late. He's SO pleased with her reading ability and bragging to me about her reading level. I've sort of taken over the "Principal" role, in that I ask him to focus on ____ and follow up with questions about how it went afterward. It's been kind of nice. Difficult for me because he does classes SO different from how I would prefer... especially Writing Class, but I'm doing REALLY well at not criticising and just letting it happen. As Principal, though, I have asked him to be a little more attentive to reading class (since he falls asleep a lot) and to work more closely with Ria during Writing class so they can focus on spacing, which she doesn't stick to very well.
When they went to the library yesterday, Jess picked out a bunch of books that were all 2nd and 3rd grade reading levels. When he was reading through the levels of the books, he came across one that said FIRST and he turns to Ria, all surprised, and asks, "Who snuck that one in there!?" Of course, it's totally not a big deal because we DO want and ask her to choose books SHE wants to read. But it was REALLY funny for me because he was just SURE that ALL of them were 2nd and 3rd grade reading levels! ^_^
I'm not at all surprised that her capacity is so high since he's had her reading the HUGE Disney watercolor illustrated books (like +60 pages and totally NOT easy readers)! He bragged to me when I awakened today that her reading class consisted of a 3rd grade book and she'd done perfectly well with it. ^_^ As it happens, it was a 2nd/3rd grade book, but still!
What a pleasure it is for me to hear him speaking with such excitement about her education! I mean, he's been totally supportive and all, and happy for my excitement, but he just wasn't getting excited about her abilities. Now that he's involved, he totally is! So, this is another way I'm trying to see this difficult time as a positive experience. He's becoming more invested in her education and intelligence! I'm so glad I turned classes over to him since he's home!
We were able to get to the temple on Tuesday. It was WONDERFUL for me. Jess let me do an endowment, which is at least 30 minutes longer than if I serve in an alternative way. I was able to converse with a lady I met last month. It was really nice. Jess and the girls were really hot when I was finished. I'm so grateful for their sacrifice for me! (Especially Jess, the girls were just totally happy to be at the temple!)
Kat was especially pleased to be there. She shrieked when she saw the temple spire the first time and then when she saw it (and I was present) each time after that she would say in her sweet loving way, "Bumpoo," which, 'in Kat,' is temple, of course.
Ria was totally and completely excited to get to go to the temple when we told her about the trip the night before. She was thrilled to be there and excited about the prospect of a picnic for breakfast, made possible by a sweet, generous, and totally thoughtful gift from someone we all love! That gift enabled us to have STORE BOUGHT food (we've been bringing our own lately) and that was RIGHT UP THERE with the joy of being at the temple for Ria! ^_^ It's pretty funny how into food our girls are... but, then again, maybe not. ;) We were able to stop at Chick-Fil-A on the way home, which was our first meal out in a restaurant in a VERY long time. And our girls really seem to LOVE eating in restaurants! It's pretty cool and sort of funny. They are quite well-behaved, too! Believe it or not.
Acorn TEA!
Jess and the girls gathered acorns for the purpose of making Acorn Coffee. Ria was just tickled pink that she would get to have some "coffee" and Mama is not pleased about the name of the beverage. We're trying to call it Acorn Tea, but Ria is really attached to "coffee" much to Mama's chagrin! Jess cracked the acorns and the girls and Mama worked to remove the meat from the shell on Wednesday. Jess finished the preparations and we had Acorn TEA with out dinner on Wed. It was actually pretty interesting in flavor. And then we tried it with some creamer - even better! And finally we added some Quick... WOW! What FLAVOR!!! And, apparently, acorns are FULL of nutrients (the squirrels knew it all along!). Indians used it in everything and it's really good as a fortifier! So, we're hoping to experiment with it (especially Jess). There will, surely, be a blog post about ACORNS from Jess before too long. ^_^
Midwife Non-Visit
Today at dance class someone made mention of the fact that Karen, my midwife, is the only one in her practice so that if she had a birth and I had an appointment I wouldn' t get to see her. I acknowledged that, but added that I probably wouldn't want to see anyone else even if there was another midwife in the practice. Well, Karen had a labor this evening and I had an appointment... so I didn't get to see her. It toally IS a bummer, but I still feel that I wouldn't want to see anyone else, so it all works out. She's planning to come on Saturday, so I'll still get to see her this week. I'm in my weekly visits now, so I think she feels it's important to make sure to see me this week.
People really look at you oddly when they find out you home birth... I never really KNEW it the way I do now because when I was preggie with Kat I couldn't really talk about it since my midwife was sort of not totally legal and all. It's weird how totally brainwashed basically EVERYONE is... okay, so out of 5 women, MAYBE 1 will be admiring or say something positive about the prospect and fact of home birth. The others just look at me like I'm a freak or say something negative (or both, really). I don't say rude things about their choice to expose their newborn to untold numbers of pathogens by having a hospital birth when they are completely and totally healthy... but hey, at least I know it! I'm glad hospitals are there, but I just wish people knew how unnecessary they are for the majority of births, mothers, and babies! ahwell...
DANCE CLASS
I had two talks with Ria before her dance class about her behavior in class last week and how she SHOULD behave. She did MUCH better even when she wasn't moved away from the other girls. She's SUCH a total social butterfly/magnet, though! A few times I saw her move from an "outskirts" sort of position (put there by teacher) to a position IN THE MIDDLE of the other girls. One of those moves is caught on a video you'll be able to view before long. When I asked her about it (without leading) she said that even after her teachers moved her the other girls came around her! ....hmmm.... that's TOTALLY NOT what I saw. But, obviously, that's how she felt things were happening! How funny, right?
TAP SHOES ALL AROUND
Ria received her special pink sparkly tap shoes in class this week. She's TOTALLY happy with them! I'm pleased that she's so happy and now Kat gets some tap shoes, too! :) TWO winners for the price of one! They are both SO in love with dancing and, especially right now, their new tap shoes!! Kat was completely and totally happy to get to wear tap shoes (even though they are AT LEAST 2 sizes too big!!). She snuck her little feet on the grey dance mat during class time to do her own tapping to the music and when the class was over I let her run around on the mat with her tap shoes on. She was IN HEAVEN!
I took some video and pictures of our two little dancers. They are so fun! Ria is actually very attentive and DANCING (she wasn't so much, last week, if you recall). Now, I just have to make the time (amidst my work and other activities) to upload them to the computer and then load into blogger (here).
Daddy Gifts
I have this tradition around the time of the birth of a new addition to our family. I feel it's really important and a way I can show Jess how much I love him and appreciate him and all he does. It's a gift of some sort that I give to him in expectation of the new arrival or shortly after the birth. With Ria I couldn't really think of anything particular, so I arranged for a few of his buddies to take him to a bar across the street and hang out there for a while. He really enjoyed spending time with his friends, but wasn't thrilled with the whole bar atmosphere anymore. A joy to hear, but also a crimp because I would have to come up with a new "gift" for the next birth.
When I was still preggie with Kat things were crazy and I knew they would get even crazier after she was born, so even though the "gift" wasn't extra humongo or anything, I arranged for a day that I would encourage him strongly to go off and fish on his own. Considering that I was packing the house while trying to deal with our unruley 2 yr 6 month old Ria, sacrificing a day of him being away was a BIG gift from me at the time! He was pleased with it, though. If you know him, you'll think, "Duh, give that man some time to fish and he's happy for a week!" But, if you know me, you'll know that I would like to do more for him.
This time (currently pregnancy) I had something very specific I wanted to do, but never any time to do it. Seriously, I haven't even finished the new baby's blanket, jacket, hat, shoes, or Tigger!!!! Well, the other night I decided to sacrifice work time (money making time) and baby gift making time to work on his special "Daddy" gift and some other house stuff. The reason for the "other house stuff" is that I couldn't possibly do just one thing, as per Tori, I had to have at least 3 things I could vascillate among depending upon my interest and ability to focus my attention on any one of them. It worked out quite well and I accomplished a GREAT DEAL in 3 hours!
This particular gift is especially huge considering the amount of physical effort required. I have tried NOT to complain too much about the pain I've had more and more of lately, but it's getting quite rediculous, really. I'm going to share a bit about it here and now only to illustrate further what a great gift this thing that I did for Jess is. :) Illustration of my pains: most days I wake up and either my hips or back hurt VERY very baddly and I either have constipation and/or a totally upset tummy (like unable to eat barfy feeling upset!). My hips will throb off and on through the day and cause my walks, when I can kick my butt out the door (usually only 3 or 4 days a week right now), are very slow, but, amazingly, I still sweat! Perhaps I sweat as a result of the pain... either belly, back, or hips hurt every time now. Anyway... When my back hurts, it hurts ALL day. Major bummer, of course, but almost more tolerable than the off and on pulsing throb of the hips, which LITERALLY stops me in mid step and causes me to shriek when at their worst. I'm TOTALLY not exhaggerating. My poor girls are getting pretty desensitized to hearing Mama in pain... but then, maybe that's a GOOD thing! ^_^ I'd rather have neither of those pains, of course! And the upset tummy thing... well, I'm not eating very much. I'm drinking tons of milk (to get the protein in) and for whatever reason I can tolerate that. But I can often eat only 1 banana for breakfast and a ramakin size amount of most anything else. (I just discovered this is basically the perfect size (FULL) when I'm hungry. If I don't feel hungry, but need to eat, if I full the ramakin about 1/2 way it's enough to help me feel good about eating, but not feel barfy 30 minutes later. How annoying, right? Anyway... motion often aggravates the upset tummy feeling. ARGGH! BUT helps move the stuff that causes the constipation. Win on one hand, lose on the other! anyway...
Daddy's POCD Area/Spot
Back to the gift! So, when we were given the awesome livingroom furniture we have now Jess wondered what to do with the old $10 couch we'd purchased from Goodwill. I already knew what I wanted to do with it! I moved it to the garage and started a corner that I wanted to turn over to Jess as "HIS SPOT" at some point. He bugged me about getting rid of the couch, so I had to share my plan. He was really happy with the idea and subsequently found a really nice arm chair that seemed to go REALLY well with the couch! Then someone from Jessie's work gave him a small TV and VCR, which were the PERFECT size to fit in the shelving that I'd designated for his "entertainment center". You see, I got this idea that I wanted to make a corner in the garage for Jess from a house on my longer walks (way back when!). The front half of that garage was dedicated to a whole outside hang-out area/grill spot. While we couldn't do that because we park our vehicles in the garage, I could totally see using a small area for a Daddy area.
Well, over time the area was sort of jam packed with random things. Jess hadn't started using it because the TV/VCR came many moons after the furniture and he just never went out there to hang out alone when it was just the furniture. And the shelves had stuff he didn't want to move when he DID get the TV... so it just collected stuff.
The other night I spent the majority of the 3 hours I put ChaCha aside to clean up and clear out the spot I wanted for Jess. Just as a note, my back AND hips hurt really bad that night, but I just couldn't see it getting better and I wanted to have the area ready for Jess BEFORE this baby arrived. So, it was completed that night! The projected entailed reorganization of that whole side of the garage, movement of lots of things, large and small. It's been 2 days since the work and my shoulders are STILL killing me! My back actually felt better mid-way into the effort, but my hips have been significantly worse since then. But Jess is REALLY happy with it! Unfortunately, he found out about it WHILE I was doing the work because he heard something that woke him up. I was really hoping he would take the girls out there for Story Time and see it then... but, alas, he foiled my plan! My hard sleeping hubby actually awakened! :P
I had the joy of realizing exactly how much he loves his area over the past couple of days. I call his area "DADDY's POCD Area/Spot". The acronym stands for: Pissed Off Cool Down. ^_^ Appropriate, don't you think? So, not only did I find Jess with our girls chillin and sort of neslting down in HIS area after Story Time yesterday, but he told me how cool people at work thought it was (he doesn't tell people at work all that much, so that's a HUGE indicator of how much he loves it), AND again he and the girls were hanging out there today when I got up! ^_^ So, I'm SUPER pleased that he's so very happy with his spot!
Daddy's So Pleased
Jess has been Ria's primary HS teacher as of late. He's SO pleased with her reading ability and bragging to me about her reading level. I've sort of taken over the "Principal" role, in that I ask him to focus on ____ and follow up with questions about how it went afterward. It's been kind of nice. Difficult for me because he does classes SO different from how I would prefer... especially Writing Class, but I'm doing REALLY well at not criticising and just letting it happen. As Principal, though, I have asked him to be a little more attentive to reading class (since he falls asleep a lot) and to work more closely with Ria during Writing class so they can focus on spacing, which she doesn't stick to very well.
When they went to the library yesterday, Jess picked out a bunch of books that were all 2nd and 3rd grade reading levels. When he was reading through the levels of the books, he came across one that said FIRST and he turns to Ria, all surprised, and asks, "Who snuck that one in there!?" Of course, it's totally not a big deal because we DO want and ask her to choose books SHE wants to read. But it was REALLY funny for me because he was just SURE that ALL of them were 2nd and 3rd grade reading levels! ^_^
I'm not at all surprised that her capacity is so high since he's had her reading the HUGE Disney watercolor illustrated books (like +60 pages and totally NOT easy readers)! He bragged to me when I awakened today that her reading class consisted of a 3rd grade book and she'd done perfectly well with it. ^_^ As it happens, it was a 2nd/3rd grade book, but still!
What a pleasure it is for me to hear him speaking with such excitement about her education! I mean, he's been totally supportive and all, and happy for my excitement, but he just wasn't getting excited about her abilities. Now that he's involved, he totally is! So, this is another way I'm trying to see this difficult time as a positive experience. He's becoming more invested in her education and intelligence! I'm so glad I turned classes over to him since he's home!
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Me and MY Music
Okay, so it's not "MINE" in the formal sense... like, I didn't write it or sing it or anything of that sort, BUT I'm totally diggin' it! Now, if you know me very well (mostly only some of my family will recognize this), music can really REALLY aggravate me. Perhaps even ridiculously easily. Most people have no idea why. I don't generally try to explain it anymore because when I have those to whom I've spoke look at me like I'm a bit nuts. If you know me, you might think they're right. But, seriously, I'm not any more nuts than most people! Anyway... I attribute this hyper sensitivity to music to a few things, but the main cause I'd have to say would be my experiences in Australia because it was after that trip and time that my skin became SUPER sensitive to tunes. So... long story cut REALLY short, I'm just SUPER excited to find these new bands that make my heart race and cause me to feel wonderful and thoughtful, but don't agitate my skin!! If you'd been in my skin trying to listen to lots of music (especially ANGRY MAN music and stuff with HARD base beats) you'd understand and be super excited right along with me. Well, you would if you cared. :)
I'm letting ya know that I've reformatted my blog to show only THE most recent posts (as in most recent 3). Why? Well, I want the YouTube music videos to be at easy access BECAUSE I would LOVE it if you'd check them out and tell me what you think! If you hate it, please state comments as kindly as possible. They each have MySpace accounts that you can check out for more of their rockin' vibes. And of course, there are more YouTubes of them.
I'm letting ya know that I've reformatted my blog to show only THE most recent posts (as in most recent 3). Why? Well, I want the YouTube music videos to be at easy access BECAUSE I would LOVE it if you'd check them out and tell me what you think! If you hate it, please state comments as kindly as possible. They each have MySpace accounts that you can check out for more of their rockin' vibes. And of course, there are more YouTubes of them.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Tori and ChaCha STUFF
I'm still a Top Guide! I'm VERY happy and relieved about that because I'm really REALLY close to payday and have certain goals I really want/need to reach. If I don't make my goals we won't be able to make our temple trip for the month. That would be particularly depressing to me because I REALLY look forward to our family trips and we've been going monthly for almost two years now!
YEAY for Top Guide status!! I'm actually very pleased about it this time because my stats are the best yet. This is more than a perfectionist's desire to do well... it's about security of pay/income. If I can keep my stats high, I'll stay a TG and my pay/income will be better. So, what were these stats, anyway? Well, Quality Control relates to whether my answers are satisfactory or not. I received a 100% for my QC rating. It has to be 95% for TG. I completed 469 searches for the week and to be qualified for TG you have to complete 200 for the week. Then there's % Complete, which has to be 95 for TG and mine was 100% for this last week!!! YEAY ME! :) I have to be happy with something I'm doing regarding ChaCha since I'm doing SO much of it!!!
Another ChaCha news bit... I actually did a REALLY awesome 2 hours during nap time on Sept. 12. It's my best yet. I made $5.50 per hour. That doesn't feel as hopeless and frustrating as it was a few weeks ago! I'm actually getting to my goals so much more quickly, which feels good!
Music
I'm going to link some music into my blog. I've been running across some really nice new bands through my ChaCha work (and some ANGRY man music that I don't like at all). But, of course, I'll only share the things I like thus far. ^_^ So, if you don't wanna hear it, turn your speakers down way low.
My Schedule
Oh... and just because I want to have a record of it for myself (and I'm planning to print out my blogs for my family journal keeping type thing) I'm going to share my schedule with all of you lovely people who just HAVE to know. RIGHT! hahaha So, for the past month or more this has been what I do:
MOST DAYS
>I wake up between 12:30pm and 2pm (I try for 1 or 1:30, but it doesn't always work out.)
> I eat "breakfast" and try to spend time with Jess and the girls before he goes to work.
>Jess departs for work at around 2:30pm at least 5 days per week.
>The girls nap/have quiet time OR watch a movie (depending upon behavior and whether Ria and Jess did school already).
>I work on ChaCha while they nap or watch a movie (about 2 hours).
>We get ready for our walk when their movie is over.
>Lately the walk has been 45 minutes most of the time.
>When we get home, I make dinner and we eat.
>It's usually 7:30pm or later by the time we're all done and we do night night things, which routine takes at least 30 minutes.
>I lie down with the girls until Kat is mostly asleep (or asleep) and then get up to work.
>My goal is to be "at work" by 9pm, but that doesn't work out every night. It's sometimes as late as 10:30pm! :(
>When Jess comes home from work I try to take a break so we have some time to talk without interruption. I usually always have to "kick him out" to go to bed. The time is different depending upon when he gets home and how much pressure I feel to work (earn $$), but it's pretty much always by 1am.
>I work from then until 3am or 5am and go to bed to read/wind down and sleep.
>Every other Fri (right now) Jess goes to Daytona to pickup church assistance food, which means I'm up a lot with Kat. Makes for a rough Mama!
>And of course, church, for us, meets at 9am! UGH! Rough Tori, for sure!
So, I'm a busy little bee, right? Oh, and though I don't think it's necessary to remind any other Mamas, but for others of you, I want to make sure to mention that I DO still take care of almost all house maintainance. I have turned dishes over to Jessie entirely. I touch them only to eat. The belly causes that to be THE most difficult and painful job and my time is really not my own any more. I'm basically working full-time, so I feel very much that he should have housekeeping responsibilites! Since he does Ria's school almost all the time AND the dishes, I am placated. :) Oh, he also helps me make beds (usually) because just doing one causes my back to ache relentlessly! Weird, right? I can walk for 45 minutes, but not make 1 bed!
Kat and Potty Training
Kat had 2 accidents today. :( Both were matters of slow Mama problems, though. One, I took too long to get off the potty and the other was caused by Mama getting to the bathroom too slowly. How frustrating for both of us!
Ria Roughness
Ria has had a ROUGH week! Man, you'd think, to look at her, she and Kat were fist fighting or Mama or Daddy were beating her up. But, I promise, she has been goofing off at JUST the wrong moments and TOTALLY beating herself up! I need to take pictures!
The first incident occured a few days ago. Ria was walk/running down the hall from her room all crazy with arms akimbo and head wobbling. She was just totally being GOOFY! Well, as she rounded the corner in our living room/dining room (the corner is defined by the kitchen counter) she totally whacked her eyelid on the corner of that room seperating counter! And DOWN she went! WOW... the worst, for me, is that I was sitting RIGHT across from her when it happened and I totally could not have stopped it! Thankfully the bugger of a knock happened on the bone above her right eye and not ON her eye!! She had to sit with ice on her eye for a long while after that.
You'd think she'd be more careful? nope. Friday, 9-12-08, she fought the floor and lost! Actually, she was trying to climb (NO NO!) on a chair and fell off of it and banged her lower lip (on the RIGHT side) REALLY well. This time it happened while I was trying to sleep, so I didn't see the incident for myself. But I certainly saw AND can see the effects! WOW. Once again she had to sit with ice on her boo boo for a LONG while. For whatever reason, she HATES to hold ice on her sore bits. We'll see if she tries beating herself up some more anytime soon! *_*
Piano Lessons on the Horizon
I went my normal route for my walk today and happened to "run" into Mary Kay. She was actually the one running. :) She is such a delight and breath a fresh air in my low IRL (in real life) contact world! She was starting out for her run and stopped to chat with me. I'm grateful. I enjoy her and it was really nice to hear her thoughts on piano lessons and how she's doing with her first year (first 2 weeks!) teaching. Basically, she's willing to start lessons at any time with Ria, but we DO need to have a piano in the house for Ria to practice on. That is really doable now since just within the last week my dear friend, Sage, offered to let me use her little keyboard for Ria until we can get a piano! So, we may be able to start piano lessons THIS coming week! I'm soo excited! You'd think I was about to start piano lessons myself. ^_^
Just in Case You're Wondering
I've been working on this one post for the majority of my work hours today (9-12 &9-13). I work between searches and while pages load (very little time in a chunk). So, if I seem disjointed, please attribute it to preggie brain and ChaChaING! :)
I'm still a Top Guide! I'm VERY happy and relieved about that because I'm really REALLY close to payday and have certain goals I really want/need to reach. If I don't make my goals we won't be able to make our temple trip for the month. That would be particularly depressing to me because I REALLY look forward to our family trips and we've been going monthly for almost two years now!
YEAY for Top Guide status!! I'm actually very pleased about it this time because my stats are the best yet. This is more than a perfectionist's desire to do well... it's about security of pay/income. If I can keep my stats high, I'll stay a TG and my pay/income will be better. So, what were these stats, anyway? Well, Quality Control relates to whether my answers are satisfactory or not. I received a 100% for my QC rating. It has to be 95% for TG. I completed 469 searches for the week and to be qualified for TG you have to complete 200 for the week. Then there's % Complete, which has to be 95 for TG and mine was 100% for this last week!!! YEAY ME! :) I have to be happy with something I'm doing regarding ChaCha since I'm doing SO much of it!!!
Another ChaCha news bit... I actually did a REALLY awesome 2 hours during nap time on Sept. 12. It's my best yet. I made $5.50 per hour. That doesn't feel as hopeless and frustrating as it was a few weeks ago! I'm actually getting to my goals so much more quickly, which feels good!
Music
I'm going to link some music into my blog. I've been running across some really nice new bands through my ChaCha work (and some ANGRY man music that I don't like at all). But, of course, I'll only share the things I like thus far. ^_^ So, if you don't wanna hear it, turn your speakers down way low.
My Schedule
Oh... and just because I want to have a record of it for myself (and I'm planning to print out my blogs for my family journal keeping type thing) I'm going to share my schedule with all of you lovely people who just HAVE to know. RIGHT! hahaha So, for the past month or more this has been what I do:
MOST DAYS
>I wake up between 12:30pm and 2pm (I try for 1 or 1:30, but it doesn't always work out.)
> I eat "breakfast" and try to spend time with Jess and the girls before he goes to work.
>Jess departs for work at around 2:30pm at least 5 days per week.
>The girls nap/have quiet time OR watch a movie (depending upon behavior and whether Ria and Jess did school already).
>I work on ChaCha while they nap or watch a movie (about 2 hours).
>We get ready for our walk when their movie is over.
>Lately the walk has been 45 minutes most of the time.
>When we get home, I make dinner and we eat.
>It's usually 7:30pm or later by the time we're all done and we do night night things, which routine takes at least 30 minutes.
>I lie down with the girls until Kat is mostly asleep (or asleep) and then get up to work.
>My goal is to be "at work" by 9pm, but that doesn't work out every night. It's sometimes as late as 10:30pm! :(
>When Jess comes home from work I try to take a break so we have some time to talk without interruption. I usually always have to "kick him out" to go to bed. The time is different depending upon when he gets home and how much pressure I feel to work (earn $$), but it's pretty much always by 1am.
>I work from then until 3am or 5am and go to bed to read/wind down and sleep.
>Every other Fri (right now) Jess goes to Daytona to pickup church assistance food, which means I'm up a lot with Kat. Makes for a rough Mama!
>And of course, church, for us, meets at 9am! UGH! Rough Tori, for sure!
So, I'm a busy little bee, right? Oh, and though I don't think it's necessary to remind any other Mamas, but for others of you, I want to make sure to mention that I DO still take care of almost all house maintainance. I have turned dishes over to Jessie entirely. I touch them only to eat. The belly causes that to be THE most difficult and painful job and my time is really not my own any more. I'm basically working full-time, so I feel very much that he should have housekeeping responsibilites! Since he does Ria's school almost all the time AND the dishes, I am placated. :) Oh, he also helps me make beds (usually) because just doing one causes my back to ache relentlessly! Weird, right? I can walk for 45 minutes, but not make 1 bed!
Kat and Potty Training
Kat had 2 accidents today. :( Both were matters of slow Mama problems, though. One, I took too long to get off the potty and the other was caused by Mama getting to the bathroom too slowly. How frustrating for both of us!
Ria Roughness
Ria has had a ROUGH week! Man, you'd think, to look at her, she and Kat were fist fighting or Mama or Daddy were beating her up. But, I promise, she has been goofing off at JUST the wrong moments and TOTALLY beating herself up! I need to take pictures!
The first incident occured a few days ago. Ria was walk/running down the hall from her room all crazy with arms akimbo and head wobbling. She was just totally being GOOFY! Well, as she rounded the corner in our living room/dining room (the corner is defined by the kitchen counter) she totally whacked her eyelid on the corner of that room seperating counter! And DOWN she went! WOW... the worst, for me, is that I was sitting RIGHT across from her when it happened and I totally could not have stopped it! Thankfully the bugger of a knock happened on the bone above her right eye and not ON her eye!! She had to sit with ice on her eye for a long while after that.
You'd think she'd be more careful? nope. Friday, 9-12-08, she fought the floor and lost! Actually, she was trying to climb (NO NO!) on a chair and fell off of it and banged her lower lip (on the RIGHT side) REALLY well. This time it happened while I was trying to sleep, so I didn't see the incident for myself. But I certainly saw AND can see the effects! WOW. Once again she had to sit with ice on her boo boo for a LONG while. For whatever reason, she HATES to hold ice on her sore bits. We'll see if she tries beating herself up some more anytime soon! *_*
Piano Lessons on the Horizon
I went my normal route for my walk today and happened to "run" into Mary Kay. She was actually the one running. :) She is such a delight and breath a fresh air in my low IRL (in real life) contact world! She was starting out for her run and stopped to chat with me. I'm grateful. I enjoy her and it was really nice to hear her thoughts on piano lessons and how she's doing with her first year (first 2 weeks!) teaching. Basically, she's willing to start lessons at any time with Ria, but we DO need to have a piano in the house for Ria to practice on. That is really doable now since just within the last week my dear friend, Sage, offered to let me use her little keyboard for Ria until we can get a piano! So, we may be able to start piano lessons THIS coming week! I'm soo excited! You'd think I was about to start piano lessons myself. ^_^
Just in Case You're Wondering
I've been working on this one post for the majority of my work hours today (9-12 &9-13). I work between searches and while pages load (very little time in a chunk). So, if I seem disjointed, please attribute it to preggie brain and ChaChaING! :)
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