11.25.2010

I AM Thankful!

I truly am thankful for so many things in my life.  Unfortunately, lately I've been much more inclined to grumble and complain about the things I'm NOT thankful for.  So, today, I thought I'd make a special effort to avoid grumbling and complaining.  And, I'm making this (very incomplete) list of the things I AM thankful for:

*A husband who loves me, even when I'm a ranting lunatic
*6 children - true gifts from God
*A 7th child, soon to be born
*Second chances
*A home that, while small, puts a roof over our heads and keeps us close
*A God who supplies ALL of our needs

A relative posted this the other day and I thought I'd share it here (since it was pretty much the inspiration for my post):

This Thanksgiving, "will you be grumbly hateful or humbly grateful?"

11.19.2010

Birthdays, Babies, and (gall) Bladders

I am so grateful my birthday was a relaxing and enjoyable day with a couple unexpected surprises!  My parents came down and took the family out to eat for my birthday.  Tim had worked enough hours that he was able to be home for the entire afternoon.  I got a text from the gal that cuts my hair letting me know if I booked something before January I'd get a nice discount.  As a result of that text I was able to get my hair done (paid for with money I'd just received for my birthday) and I'm pleased with the results. ")  Tim and I ended the evening by watching "Where the Wild Things Are" after which I read the book to Tim since he'd never read it before. ")

I guess there isn't a whole lot to update about the baby.  He's still in there.  We're all still waiting for him to be out here.  The kids are getting more anxious.  Levi says, "It's taking for.ever!"  Victory is looking forward to being able to hug me good again (tough to get the arms around me these days! LOL).

As for the gall bladder... earlier this week I had another attack.  It was the worst yet.  Until last night.  Last night I went to bed but was up after not too long to spend some quality face-to-face time with "john".  Took a shower and headed back to bed even though I still didn't feel very good.  About an hour later I woke up and climbed out of bed to use the bathroom.  I didn't get further than the edge of the bed.  I was in so much pain I couldn't even stand up straight.  I woke Tim to let him know I needed to go to the ER.

When we walked in to the ER the receptionist said, "Looks like we're having a baby!"  Um, no.  I wish!  That pain I can handle! (And even if I was in labor, I would be having the baby, not her... duh.)

After about 2 hours in the hospital (being pregnant gives you an instant pass out of the ER up to L&D) it was determined that my major problem was "significant dehydration".  Guess I need to be more careful about my fluid consumption!

Back to birthdays... I'm hoping to be able to announce another birthday quite soon!! ")  If you haven't already done so, check out my previous post or click the link on my sidebar and enter your guess for when baby will arrive!

11.13.2010

Polling Time!

I almost forgot to do this, but seeings Steph's gender poll reminded me I needed to get a poll going for date and weight of this baby!!  So, click below, or check out my sidebar and enter your guess.

Prior stats in order of birth:

#1:  boy, 9lb 7oz, born 5 days after due date
#2:  boy, 8lb 13oz, born 5 days after due date
#3:  girl, 7lb 3oz, born 5 days before due date
#4:  boy, 8lb 10oz, born one day before due date
#5:  girl, 7lb 12oz, born one day before due date
#6:  girl, 7lb 14oz, born 5 days after due date

All my babies were between 19" and 21".

You'll notice my guess defies logic when it comes to delivery date. ")  Hey, a girl can dream, right!?  And, I have my reasons for picking that date... it was my grandpa's birthday.  I fondly remember celebrating with him and my dad every year and think having a baby on his birthday would be a wonderful tribute to his memory.  It also means I would have plenty of room to eat a big plate of food on Thanksgiving!  LOL

So, have fun guessing!!

11.12.2010

Random

Facebook breaks and more...
Well, I'd been taking a break of sorts from FB (which I'm enjoying immensely by the way!) but I didn't expect to have to take a break from the computer all together!  Last week the computer started acting goofy.  Tim ran a hardware diagnostic and found an error code.  We ended up taking the computer in and found that the hard-drive was failing because the fan for the hard-drive was failing.  It's fixed, and I'm happy to have it back!  I can't tell you how many times in the last week I've thought, "I'll just go print that off... oh, nevermind!"  or had the boys ask a question and thought, "I'll just go look that up. Nope, not happening!"  I'm looking forward to googling again.  LOL  I'm also happy that I can use the computer to develop my menu for the next few weeks along with comprehensive lists for each menu.

Weekly menus...
I think it was back in July when I started planning weekly menus using old daycare food program cards Steph had lying around.  She told me I could use it but wasn't allowed to brag about how well it worked (if it did) because it was an unused resource at her house. ")  Well Steph, I'm going to brag anyway.  LOL  When we don't have menu it almost seems as if nothing else works quite the way it's supposed to around here.  Strange, because we've gone for years without a menu.  When I first started I used the cards, which are separated into breakfast options, lunch/supper options, and snack options, to plan my week Monday-Friday.  Supper was always something from our *typical* unofficial menu and I planned for two snacks a day.  Since then, I've started planning my week from Monday-Sunday leaving no slots empty.  Each week I would sit down on Saturday or Sunday and make my shopping list for the week based on the menu, cross off all items I already have on hand, and then make a final list for the store.  This has been working well, but I would love to create a master list for each specific menu so at some point I can simply print off a previous week along with the grocery list and cut my planning time by half (at least!).  Now that I've got the computer back, I'd like to get master lists done for at least two more weekly menus (completed one the week before the computer died) so it will be easy for Tim to get the shopping done and menus will already be planned for the few weeks following Phoenix's birth.


Baby news...
Not much to report here.  Sunday will be the official 38 week mark.  While we've been hoping for an early delivery we realize there is a possibility it could be as much as 4 weeks until we get to meet the little fellow (Oh, Lord, please don't make me wait that long!!).  Last night Tim was watching my belly as it did it's typical mutant movements and said, "WHAT was THAT!?"  LOL  What I assume was a leg (knee on down) *rolled* across the surface of my belly causing it to stick a good inch or two higher than the rest.  I love watching him move, but recently I've begun telling him that if he wants to move around THAT MUCH he needs to come on out and do that. ")  Not only am I getting anxious to meet the baby, so are the kids.  Levi and Shiloh will even talk to my belly and tell him to come out.  Shiloh said the other day, "Baby Phoenix, come out! Now!"  LOL And so the waiting continues...

Keeping busy...
Over the past 3 or 4 weeks I've crocheted several projects, sewed a few items, and even finished a KNITTING project!  For those of you that know me well, you know I always say I DO NOT knit!  Turns out, I can... I just don't prefer it. ")  Maybe someday I'll put more effort into really learning to knit, but for now I'm just pleased with the very SQUARE corners I managed on that one project. LOL  At some point I may have an entire post dedicated to the projects I've completed.  We'll see... I've found that promised posts rarely make it to the screen, so no promises on this one!

Blast from the past...
Throughout our high school years our class had the privilege of hosting several exchange students.  In 9th grade (20 years ago!!) one of them was a vivacious gal from Brazil named Helena.  Last Sunday, three high school friends and I met her at Rafferty's Pizza in Brainerd/Baxter and had a mini-reunion!  What fun... it just didn't last long enough!!  It was fun to not only reminisce about the past, but also to talk about our lives now and make tentative plans for future reunions.  I had to laugh because I think the last time I ate at Rafferty's may have been when I was in 9th grade!

Oldest and youngest...
This morning I found Jericho sound asleep (and snoring) in Alex's bed.  She has the pillow blocking the light from the window, and her Wubbanub in her mouth.  It was too sweet...  I love how Alex shows his heart in the way he cares for her.  He's growing into quite the young man!

11.05.2010

Yes, they like the dentist!

Today I had all the kids to the dentist (Jericho was the only one without an appointment).  Thankfully, getting my kids to the dentist is NOT like pulling teeth!  ")  They enjoy the dentist, they like having their teeth cleaned, they even ASK when they can go again!

Today's reports were pretty typical... everyone could brush a little better than they have been.  This time, however, Alex and Chase were both instructed to start flossing more often since most of their teeth are the ones they need to keep for life!  Alex has 5 teeth left to lose, and some of those are loose at the moment.  Chase has 2 baby teeth left, and one of those is loose... the x-rays showed the other should be loose soon.  (Sounds like the tooth fairy will be busy around here!)

The bad news was that Levi has two cavities. "(  He'll head back next week to have those taken care of.  Hope it doesn't change his positive view of the "don-tist"!  (Levi always has trouble with "dentist" -- I'm pretty sure it has something to do with all the trips he's made when we took Alex and Chase to the orthodontist...)

The Levi story of the day came as I was scheduling his appointment to have those nasty cavities filled.  The dentist let me know that Levi gave him a good laugh.  I always make the kids brush their teeth right before we head to the dentist's office.  Levi let Dr. Imdieke know that he had only brushed his bottom teeth because he wanted the dentist to brush the top ones.  LOL

11.02.2010

Staying In Touch

A while ago Victory brought me a little scrap of a paper towel with some writing on it.  She said it was her phone number so when she got bigger and didn't live with me any more I could still call her...

That number is 812-6350.

It's clear that we need to work on our numbers (I'm almost wondering if she doesn't have dyslexia because most numbers get written backward... even when she's copying them directly), but it was so cute!  She was pretty bummed when I told her "they" don't allow you to pick your own phone number and she emphatically stated that they really should let you do that!  ")