Kicks!

Wow-I will be 22 weeks tomorrow and today is the first time that I've actually felt with my hand on the outside of my belly the baby kicking. It's the most awesome feeling in the world and that's one of the things I absolutely love about being pregnant! Denzil and I were laying in bed this morning feeling him kick and it was soooo cool! It's a relief too because the first 21 weeks when you don't feel him you just wonder if he's okay because you pretty much don't know what's going on in there. But now every couple hours I feel him doing flips and kicking everywhere. I have another doctors appt tomorrow so we'll get to see him again too. Hopefully I don't have to get my blood taken again-YUCK!
Today was the 3rd week of ballet and Phoebe still sat there the whole class and did nothing. So at the end I told her that she couldn't have any candy from the teacher since she didn't dance. Of course this was not okay with her and she started whining that she didn't want to leave because she wanted "candy". So we walked over to the teacher and Ms. Casey told her that if she did a couple ballet moves for her right then and dance next time, she'd give her a piece of candy. So it took a few "come on Phoebe, you do them at home all the time" to get her to do a couple moves but she finally did them and then got her candy. So I've really got to be talking about it every day this next week that she's going to dance otherwise no candy and I think she'll do okay. And I'm not going to sit at the back of the classroom like all the other mom's, I guess I stand up with her on her sticker, as much as I don't want to but I think that will help her.
I went to my chiropractor last Thursday and he adjusted me and then adjusted my neck too and WOW that was amazing!! My back pain is gone and has been since then and I didn't know I could move my neck this far. At the time he did my neck it felt like and sounded like he broke my neck but it feels amazing now!
Well it's getting late and I need to go to bed-

It's 2008!

Wow, it's 2008 and I'm finally catching up with blogging. I can't believe it's already 2008, I remember just yesterday they were talking about how much trouble it was going to be when it changed to 2000...Y2K! It's crazy how time flies. I gave up a long time ago on making new years resolutions because they never last. I always have good intentions but never lasts. I do have many many things that I'm trying to work on though to become a better person, wife, mother, and role model but I think that will continue throughout my whole life. I did come up with a new cleaning schedule and a "routine" for the kids every day and I've done pretty good following it this last week so I hope I can keep it up and it will work because I've got to get a good routine down before this baby boy gets here.

It was a good weekend...we finally a few things done that had needed to be done. Got my first oil change in my van and then Denzil took the nasty car seats out of the van so he could disassemble them to wash the covers. They eat and drink in them, Phoebe's had a few accidents in hers and smelled of urine and Eliott spit up in his last week and smelled of spit up. So they were pretty discusting and I am so glad they are washed and put back together. But they are still in the living room and not yet back in the van so I guess we're not going anywhere tomorrow!! As I sit here and type this I can say all my dishes are done, my last load of laundry is drying in the dryer and all the toys are picked up. Wow! But I know it will be a totally different story tomorrow! I did a lot of laundry this weekend because Eliott kept spitting up (he's been spitting up ever since being on the antibiotics that he's on) and when we picked Phoebe up from Sunday school she had peed in her panties. So Denzil carried her to the bathroom, which got his jacket and shirt all wet and then had to drive home with a naked daughter. That's right when we got to the car she wanted to take her dress off. I had already taken her panties and tights off in the bathroom but when we got to the car she didn't want to sit on her wet dress so she took it off and strapped herself into her seat buck naked! It was pretty funny! She's actually been doing pretty well pottying in the toilet but there were new people in her class at church and one of them was a man and she warms up quicker to women than men so that's probably why she didn't say she had to go but they never asked either.

I am looking forward to this week as on Tuesday at bible study we start a new study and I can't wait to do that and then we'll probably go out to dinner that night for our anniversary which will be fun. I'm really hoping to go to the chiropractor on Thursday too but not sure yet. Speaking of that I've got to go do my prenantel Yoga-

December 2007

In December I also took the kids to the Picture People in the mall to get their pictures taken together and get our pictures taken with Santa. Santa went well although neither one is smiling they both are sitting on his lap and looking at the camera! But the adventure to the Picture People was rather interesting. Eliott didn't want to sit down or be in one spot for longer than 2 seconds and Phoebe didn't like the girl taking the pictures so she was hiding from her and would start throwing a fit when I would pick her up and carry her over to where the photographer said to put her. They do everything digital now so they took more pictures than usual and they did get a good one of each of them...

but I just wanted one good one of them together and here's the best it got...

It's a great pic of Phoebe but Eliott had a day where his tongue would not stay in his mouth so in almost all the pictures he has his tongue out!

Christmas was good but we did way to much on Christmas day. I realized that next year we're going to have to tone it way down. We did Christmas here in the morning then went over to my dad & stepmoms at 11:30, did gifts, ate lunch then went home to give the kids a nap and I made Christmas dinner for my mom and brother...stuffed brisket, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, rolls and my mom brought the deserts. So it was way to much for us to do in one day, we're going to have to split it up this year and maybe we can stay home all day!! I've never been able to do that but that sure would be nice. All the years growing up we'd pretty much do Christmas 3 times on the same day...our family in the morning at home, then my dad's side then my mom's side. Of course as a kid that was great but I'm sure it was really wearing on my parents. I think we'll be changing that tradition really quick!

You know I've been thinking alot about how stressed out these Phoebe fits are making me and how I just don't have any energy to clean the house or anything and it was like a baseball bat hit me upside the head...I thought to myself, you know when these kids are grown and out of the house I can have a clean house everyday for the rest of my life (except for when grandkids come, of course) and I know these fits aren't going to last forever with Phoebe. I just have to be patient and show her the best way to deal with "life" and how unfair it is...even when I don't want her to draw all over her baby doll with an ink pen. So instead of getting frustrated I need to just calm down and try to enjoy her fit in a way since they won't always be here, you know. Boy I think I'm going a little crazy, LOL!! But I really need to put a lot of effort into raising these kids since a lot of parents aren't very concerned with it, they are just concerned about their own lives. I mean I defintely need to keep God as my #1 because without him there would be no way we could raise these kids right and Denzil has to be #2 because when the kids are gone he'll still be here and I want to be able to say we raised the kids together and still have a great marriage...that is my prayer!!

Tuesday will be our 8th wedding anniversary and being together for 13 years! WOW!! I can't believe it's been that long. Great news....we haven't had a fight since....since well Dale left. I guess the stress level is way down and it's been so much better and I am very thankful for that!

Three months worth of blogging!!

Wow-has it really been 3 months since my last blog! Can't believe that. A lot has happened in the last 3 months.

I had about 13 weeks of morning sickness that was all day sickness and threw up every day, ususally more than once or twice. So all that time my house was a wreck and all my energy that I had went to taking care of Phoebe & Eliott and occasionally cooking dinner. I'm feeling better these days but still extrememly tired with taking care of two toddlers that keep me on my feet! I am 19 weeks now, due date is May 30 (exactly 2 weeks after Phoebe's birthday) and it is officially a boy!! Wow! Now the name searching begins. It's really nerving to pick out a person's name that they will have their whole lives, you know. I don't want them to be ashamed of or not like their name so there has to be a lot of thought that goes into it...and research too!

Well lets see what else has happened...we were all 4 sick on Halloween so we did nothing! We all felt so bad we didn't even put the kids in their costumes. Then my birthday came and went and we went to Los Cabos and had what I had been craving...spinach enchiladas YUMMY! And got a gorgeous pair of diamond earrings from my wonderful husband!! Thanksgiving was great. I felt halfway decent that day and so I did eat the Thanksgiving feast. I made the green bean casserole and sweet potato casserole (with brown sugar and pecans on top...no marshmellows!) and we went to my dad & stepmom's house at 1 and then went to my mom's house at around 6.

We bought a brand new pre-lit Christmas tree this year and put it up the day after Thanksgiving and had fun putting it up and the kids helping me put ornaments on it (and take them off!).

At the beginning of December Phoebe was in her first Christmas play at church and it was the cutiest thing ever!! She's so adorable!!

Then the second weekend in Dec Denzil and I got to go on a little get away for the night. We dropped the kids off at my dad & stepmom's house and drove to Stillwater. His work had a little holiday thing there on the OSU campus and the Artherton hotel. We went to the wrestling hall of fame which couldn't have ended soon enough...I am so not even interested in wrestling and that was on the bottom of my list to do in my life. Although at dinner I found out that it was one of the guys biggest dreams to go to that before he died, so I guess he got something out of it! Then we went back to our rooms where I tried to take a nap because I was not feeling good at all but the wild ones in our party were right next door and way to loud so the nap didn't happen at all. We then went to dinner where Denzil and I ordered I think it was a 32 oz steak. It was supposed to be a steak for 2. The other 2 couples at our table ordered it also we thought why not. Well it turns out when you order a 32 oz steak it takes about 3 hours (ok I'm exaggerating a little but not much) to cook the thing to medium. So when we all cut into our steaks we have blood all over our plates. Okay that is soooo not cool! So we send them back and back again and when they come back it's still too red but by this time is 9:45 at night and the last thing I want to do is eat this really red steak so I just ate the outside and left it. So dinner wasn't so wonderful. But we had a great time enjoying ourselves with no kids and a lot of adult conversation. The next morning we had breakfast and the ice storm of 2007 had begun. Denzil being the safety manager was having to deal with the weather and the trucks, the roads, the conditions, etc. so I was up to date the whole time. They cut it short since the roads were so bad in Stillwater and all started to drive back to Tulsa. We made it back to our children, picked them up went home went to sleep that night only to wake up to no power. Denzil got up at 4 am, hence the road conditions and all of his trucks on the road and was out the door at 5. When I woke up at around 6 there was no power. So when Eliott woke up around 7:30 I got bundled up and bundled him up and well ate cereal for breakfast since there was no making oatmeal. It was getting way too cold in the house so we called my dad & stepmom, Great they have power, we're on our way over. So we go to their house with our bags packed with a few days clothes, they were already packed for the kids from the night before and my stepmom had washed all their clothes while being there so they were already all clean! Well about 3:30 pm their power went out. But they have 2 fireplaces with plenty of wood to heat the house, whereas our fireplace does not work because some man of the household tired to be nice and save a bird and ruined the flu pipe instead..OOOPS! So we decided to just stay over there and our neighbors were staying home so they would call on my cell phone if the power came back on. Well by Tuesday night still no power and freezing our butts off (make that our dirty butts LOL! since we had no way of taking a warm shower) we needed something else to do. We could tell we and probably our kids were driving my dad & stepmom crazy with all our stuff and fits, etc. On Tuesday night about 2 am Phoebe woke up screaming because she had a fever of 102 and felt horrible but luckily got her calmed down and back to sleep before she woke Eliott up. Wed morning went to the doc and then went to a friends house that had just gotten power on to give the kids a bath. Wow, finally clean kids!! Denzil found us a hotel room in Owasso, the only one he could find and so we said we'd go there. We didn't have the money for a hotel room at all but I guess that's what we have to do. Talk about some stress!! It was so stressful not knowing when you could go back home to your own bed. So after the bath and some chatting at a friends the kids and I drove to our house. Now the driving part was pretty scary. It really looked like a war zone here. Looked like a tornado hit but left all the houses alone and just demolished trees. They were everywhere and all over the streets. You had to drive slowly and especially in the dark with limbs sticking out or down you could run straight into them. So I went in while our neighbor stayed in the car with Phoebe & Eliott and got us some more clothes and some other toys, etc. Walking through your pitch dark freezing cold house was so eerie!! So we're off to Owasso to meet Denzil and this hotel. By this time it's 7:00 and we still hadn't officially eaten dinner...snacked but no dinner. So we were going to get to Owasso get food and then go to the hotel. The kids are worn out, tired, hungry, thirsty, wanting out of their seats so I start saying I know we just want to go home don't we...Phoebe we need to just pray and ask God to turn our power back on so we can go home and go to sleep in our own beds and have a warm house. So we both start saying "Please God just turn our power back on, we really need our power, we are very thankful for our power and we would really like to go home and not to a hotel." Well 30 minutes later we get the the first exit of Owasso, 76th St North and my cell phone rings pick it up and it's my next door neighbor and he says "it's back on" and I yelled in his ear "yeahhhhh are you serious!!" He probably thought I was crazy but we were just talking to God here and I ask Phoebe to pray with me and poof he answers her prayers...Wow, I'll remember the next time I really want something, just ask a 2 year old to pray for it!! So we exit turn around and another 30 minutes later we are in the Taco Bell drive through get food go home eat it and we all go to bed. AHHHHHH...our own warm comfortable bed!! Yeah! It really makes you stop and think how thankful you should be for the things we never think about...our electricity, heat, hot water, lights, your warm bed, etc.

The week before all this ice storm stuff we got rid of our big headache!! Yes we got rid of another dog but it was for the good of our family. Glory was a great dog but 2 months ago she started climbing our fence and getting out of the backyard. So I finally buy a stake and leash attached to it to put her on while we're gone at least. That lasted for two weeks until she had yanked on it so much it came out of the ground and she jumped over the fence with it on her neck. So then she gets stuck to a tree because she's wrapped the thing around it so many times. I was very thankful that we didn't come home to a dog that had hung herself! Then during all this she was eating all the kids food, off the table, out of their hands and she would knock them over to get it. Whenever we would start playing with her she would get so wild that she'd just run right over the kids and make both of them cry on a daily basis and I knew that if she was doing that to them there was no way I could trust her with a baby around. So I called the Tulsa Boxer Rescue and asked them to find her another home and they did. I really miss her but it was for the best and we will not be getting a dog for a very long time!

Then the week before the ice storm Dale drove to Houston for a job interview, got the job, drove back up here got his stuff and moved back to Houston. He's doing good, working 12-14 hours a day as a Service Manager and going to NA meetings.

So with all this stress of Dale leaving, Glory leaving, staying at Oma & Opa's house for a night and then the whole ice storm stress sent Phoebe over the edge. She's been throwing fits like crazy. She had 3 night terrors 3 mornings in a row after we got home from the power outage and I had no idea what they were at the time. She would cry like she was awake so I'd go in there to get her and she would all of a sudden start kicking and hitting, arms and legs flying with a limp body. Her eyes were usually open but she was just screaming and crying. I had no idea what to do or what was wrong with her so I just held her while she threw this what I thought was a huge fit. I even told Denzil that it was like she was asleep and had no idea what was happening. Well after those 3 wonderful mornings I got our monthly email from babycenter.com about our 2 year old, 31 month old and one of the things they talked about was night terrors. I read about them and sure enough it was called a night terror and there is absolutely nothing you can do about them and should either hold them or just leave them alone. It's like a really bad dream but once they wake up they will never remember it, thankfully! But after I read that she didn't have another one of those but the daily sometimes hourly fits kept on coming. Over little stuff, stupid stuff and I'm sure some of it was 2 year old stuff but it was way tooooooooo stressful to deal with. Every day the last 2 weeks, ever since we got out of the routine of going to school for Christmas break, we've dealt with fits at naptime and bedtime. Screaming fits. And they have stressed me out so much I don't know what to do. But today was the first day back to school and yes, even a fit this morning when she woke up. Just screaming and crying not telling me what was wrong or anything but I was not going to give in and not bring her to school. So I got her dressed and finally got out the door with her and took her to school. THANK YOU SO MUCH GOD, we got our daughter back today (Tuesday). She was a totally different kid when I picked her up from school. Ms. Eliza said she talked the whole time, sang, danced...not her usual shy self! And no fit throwing for naptime or bedtime...WOW!! What am I going to do when school gets out for the summer!! And plus we'll have a new baby. Hopefully by then she'll be 3 and "acting" better.

Well I think this blog is long enough...I'll finish another time.