Happily Ever After

That time again

2011-12-15T21:22:00.003-06:00

Hey guys, I'm gonna make this quick, because tucking Eleanor in has put me half to sleep. We are back in December, and I would like to see everybody make it to January alive. So be an attentive driver and do not neglect your health. January's a good month. We should all be around to see it, m'kay?

In other news, Eleanor picked my least favorite book to read to her. In some ways I really love it, but it is such a chore. When Lillian got tubes put in her ears, our pediatrician gave me a book that gives an explanation of the structure of the outer, middle, and inner ears, and what an ear infection does to them. It's called Understanding the Middle Ear: Otitis Media. I really can't figure out who their target audience is for this book, because you have to have at least a high school level vocabulary to be able to follow at all, but it's got all kinds of neat illustrations and a bunch of those holographic images that are different depending on what angle you look at them from. Anyway, once in a while Eleanor will insist that I read that to her, and she spends the whole time interrupting to ask about the pictures or scratch the holographic image, or talk about how cute the baby is in the illustrations, and on and on. I mean, it's kinda awesome, because she can look at an illustration of the outer, middle and inner ear, and point right to the ear drum and tell you what it is, but it is such a chore to trudge through!

Okay, I'm done now. I will reward you with my current favorite picture of the girls, and my nephew, Garret.

Can I have my house back, please?

2011-06-24T10:59:00.005-05:00

Thursday, June 2: Get home from work, A/C is broken. Go spend the night at my parents' house.
Friday morning, June 3: Call home warranty people.
Wednesday, June 8: Service call, couldn't be done over the weekend, lots of people have broken A/Cs. Guy says we need a new outdoor unit.
Thursday, June 9: Service guy tells home warranty poeple we need a new Unit.
Friday, June 10: After looking for a unit locally, warranty people order a unit that has to be shipped.
Wednesday, June 15: Unit "Delivered"
Thursday, June 16: Unit "Received" by AC people
Saturday, June 18: Unit installed (soonest they had time, lots of people have broken A/Cs.) Stayed at my parents' house that night anyway to spend some time with my sister and her family in a place where we could all put the kids to sleep, and stay up and hang out without worrying about the kids sleep being disrupted.
Sunday, June 19: Spent one blessed night at home.
Monday, June 20: Get home from work, A/C is broken. Go to my sister's house and call the home warranty people. They say they'll have a guy out there Tuesday.
Wednesday, noonish, June 22: A/C guy comes and fixes it.
Wednesday, June 22: Get home from work, A/C is broken. It's not that hot in the house, so call Home warranty people from the house. Still too hot to sleep there, though.
Thursday, June 23: New A/C guy comes to look. We need a new motor for the fan in the indoor part of the unit.
Friday, June 24: New A/C guy calls and says they don't have the part in stock, and he can get it shipped to him by Monday (June 27)or Tuesday (June 28).

Thank GOD my parents live in town, and are very understanding.

Happy Birthday Lillian!!!!!

2011-05-17T22:38:00.003-05:00

So she's one. How did she celebrate her first birthday? Well, she climbed up the steps to the playhouse in my parents' back-yard by herself for the first time, and second time, and third time.. around the 5th time she was doing it lightning fast. Then she gave grandma a kiss for the first time (or said 'mmmm' while grandma kissed her), then she practiced her word some, though nobody saw it but me when she waved at Grand-dad and said "Ba-ba" and when I was getting her in her new diaper, I could have sworn (though I could have been mistaken) that she said "diaper." She's such a big girl.

Today was her last day in the baby room at daycare. I don't know how quickly they generally move the babies up, but I got the impression they were scrambling to rearrange the other classes to make room for her in the 1 year old room ASAP. They can't keep her from climbing on the baby swings and falling out, and she plays a bit too rough with the other babies. She's just this little bulldozer, and apparently the other babies are more delicate, and have been for some time. Because of that, though, she won't be using a bottle at daycare anymore, because they don't really do bottles in the 1 year old room. So ON HER BIRTHDAY I found myself packing her bottles in a box to be put away. (Yeah, I get it already, she's not a little baby.) So here's to a year with my Lillian!

Ally

2011-05-09T12:25:00.002-05:00

Ally is a little stuffed dog of Eleanor's. She is black, brown and white. I think she looks a bit beagle-esque, though I couldn't tell you for sure. Ally is sometimes a boy and sometimes a girl. Ally is the first thing she has ever named and so far, the only thing that has a clear and consistant name among her toys. Ally plays Hobbes to Eleanor's Calvin. She brings her everywhere and sleeps with her, and always has Ally at her side. Even Lillian loves Ally, and sometimes Eleanor is nice enough to let Lillian play with her. Last week we lost Ally. I mean, really lost her. It was so depressing. Eleanor was okay with it at first, she would just sleep with other stuffed animals, but then the other day she really started asking about Ally. Nathan and I had already torn the house apart looking for this stuffed dog. I would even think of places I hadn't looked while at work and check those places when I got home. Well, I had to check one more place. Nathan, the SAME DAY we lost Ally, was a good brave husband and cleaned out under the couch. It turns out that Ally was lost after that happened and Nathan and I both assumed that it couldn't be there, the under-couch had never been cleaner. When I found her there I think I almost cried. I love Ally. It's so nice to have her back. Or him. Whatever. So, here's to Ally!

Almost a year

2011-05-06T22:09:00.003-05:00

I've been lame with the updates. Lillian turns a year on the 17th. She's power walking all over the place, and climbs on everything like she has an aversion to the floor. She's so sweet. Oh, when I read a particular book to her, she tends to point at the main (read: only) character's face. Eleanor is potty trained. It is amazing how many fewer diapers we're going through. Sometimes I felt like we waited too long for that, but Lillian made it difficult to give Eleanor the attention I wanted to for potty training purposes, but I think her age (3.5) helped her be mature enough to really catch on quickly once we gave it a good push. Also she can draw an 'A'. It can sometimes be confused with an H or maybe an R, but most of the time it's unquestionable. Now just 25 more to go, and then the lower case.. but we have time.

Nathan has all Saturdays off now. That feels kinda freeing. When making plans with other people it's nice not to have to say, "Oh, next weekend isn't good for you, well how about in a month?"

So yeah. I'm tired. How are you?

She knows my name.

2011-02-09T23:15:00.003-06:00

I think Lillian just said my name. It was totally heartbreaking. We are trying to use Dr. Ferber's method of progressive waiting to help her learn to fall asleep on her own. Basically it's a way to let them fall asleep in the same exact environment they will be spending the whole night in so that if they wake up a little, they won't be confused by their surroundings, and so won't be roused into full wakefulness by that confusion, and so will sleep through the night. But it does involve some letting your child cry, if that's what she chooses to do for a certain period of time. Long enough that the child learns that you aren't going to come rescue her from bedtime, but not so long that the child is scared, because you suddenly disappeared, and you're generally so attentive. Angry or sad, perhaps, but not scared. Anyway, we were waiting the allotted time period (changes each time, that's what makes it progressive)and we hear waaaAAAHHHH!! WAAAAAHHHH! MAA MAAAAA!!!! WAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!

It figures, doesn't it? The first time I hear her call me by my name, it's because I'm disappointing her. She wants her Mama, and her Mama won't come. By the way, if she really did mean me, that was totally her first word.

Words of wisdom

2011-01-19T14:15:00.002-06:00

Last night on our way home from my parents house, there was a brief moment where Nathan's attention wasn't squarely on the road, and he had to slam on his breaks not to rear end the guy in front of us. It was uncomfortably close, so Nathan, concerned for my adrenaline asked, "Are you okay?" I said, "I'm fine, are you okay?" He said, "Yeah." Then from the back seat Eleanor pipes up, in a dramatic worried sounding voice, "I'm okay too! You have to be careful not to bump the cars together!"

Thanks Eleanor.

Oh, Lillian's surgery went swimmingly, her eyes are so clear and comfortable looking and beautiful now. Pics to come soon. That's my intention, anyway.

December again, Twenty Ten

2010-12-07T22:16:00.010-06:00

So yeah, most of you know the drill. This is my annual December post. What happens in December? People die. Sure people die in other months too, but no month is more likely to kill you than December. So, drive with caution and seat belts. Get that growth looked at. Don't tick any well-armed people off. Tell your old people just how much you really really love them. I think that's the big one, actually, just tell everyone how much you love them, because you don't know who it's going to be. It's probably going to be the uncle of a close friend that you never met. (Again, my condolences Chanel.) It might be someone you completely cherish, but you knew this was coming. Then, once in a while, it blind-sides you. Last year for me, it was a seemingly healthy friend in his early 20s I'd known so long, that it was my task to inform him we weren't related when he was about six. I guess my point is, don't get superstitious, but do brace yourself. Hopefully it will be for nothing.

In the spirit of not being superstitious, Lillian is scheduled for a very minor outpatient surgery on 12/9/2010. I can't help it, this month makes me jumpy. But her eyes don't drain properly into her nose (yours do, that's why you get a runny nose when you cry) and she should have grown out of it by now, but that doesn't seem to be happening. Her eye are gooey and crusty all the time. We try to keep a balance between keeping them clean and not messing with her eyes too much. Though, as gentle as I try to be, with cotton rounds soaked in saline solution (because regular water seems to exacerbate the problem), I still will occasionally find a small amount of blood on the cotton round. Her eyelids are just so fragile. We're being as cautious as we can. Some of you may remember that when she was born there was concern about a slight irregularity with her heart, but that normaled out after a few weeks. We got an EKG today so the Cardiologist can give his approval for the use of anesthesia. She has a check up tomorrow with her regular pediatrician for her pre-op approval. This is a totally routine procedure, it just requires anesthesia for about 5 minutes. We'd wait for January, so I'd be less creeped out, but then we'd have to start from scratch with our deductible, and I'm trying not to be superstitious. So PLEASE pray for my baby girl, if just to make me feel better. She's a sweetheart and I like having her around.

Stay safe. Oh, and I love you. Really.

*******
Update:
*******

Lillian's surgery is being postponed at least for a few days. She has a pretty bad sinus infection, and the pediatrician doesn't want her to be ansthetized while she's also horribly congested. So, we're putting her on antibiotics, and will reschedule accordingly.

An odd quiet moment

2010-10-10T22:33:00.002-05:00

The girls are both freshly scrubbed, in clean diapers and jammies and sound asleep in their beds. It's very cathartic, really.

I think I may have lost 5 pounds. I've been trying really hard lately to watch what I eat. I've been shaped like a different person pretty much since my 3rd trimester with Lillian, and I'm tired of this new me. I'm just taking it a day at a time, when I think about eating something with no nutritional value, I take a moment to decide how much it's worth to me, is it worth waiting that much longer to be shaped like myself again? Occasionally the answer 'yes' and that's okay. It's okay, because it's only occasionally, and so far in the past couple of weeks I have at no point given up. There's no reason to. I start over again every day. Sometimes I start over again by the hour. I can do that. I made up the rules. So, now the needle on the scale is sometimes on the left side of 150, instead of the right. (It's amazing how much you can fluctuate in a day.) It's just a start, but it is also very cathartic.

Some pics. (:

2010-06-26T21:52:00.005-05:00

Here's my baby! (the scab on Eleanor's face is strep. She got strep face. Poor child.)

I'm sorry I have no pictures right now.

2010-06-14T13:11:00.005-05:00

They're still not uploaded from Nathan's phone.

I'm going to have to make this quick, because Lillian is starting to lick her chops in her sleep.

Lillian Margaret Miller was born May 17, 2010 at 4:14 PM. She was 8 lbs and 12 oz and a bit over 21 inches long, I think. She was considerably larger than Eleanor (6 lbs and 7 oz) but the labor was SO much easier. I had an epidural for both, but I think the fact that it was the second baby, and the MUCH more helpful nursing staff for Lillian had a lot to do with it.

Eleanor has loved her to pieces from the first time she saw her, but was having a hard time adjusting to how much mine and Nathan's time is monopolized. She had trouble going to bed, her temper was on a hair trigger and she was getting her feelings hurt at the drop of a hat. For the last week though, she's been going to bed with little to no trouble and has been a wonderful helper most of the time, and is just in a better mood in general. She's still a little on the sensitive side, but, you can't really blame her. She's such a trooper.

Lillian at this point can be described as most 4 week olds. She's small, eats all day, sleeps all day, and has little use for toys. She does smile more than you'd expect, and she seems very alert when she is awake and looking around. She looks a lot like Eleanor did at her age, or perhaps slightly older, but she's got a face that's all her own, too. She was born at 41 weeks, and she really does seem older than Eleanor did at this age. Perhaps more than just a week.

She gave me more time than I thought. Anyway, she's mine and I love her, and having her around makes me feel like I have a complete family now, and I'm winning at life. The pictures are coming, I promise.

Friday afternoon is so grand.

2010-05-07T17:35:00.004-05:00

I'm off of work. I don't have to get up early tomorrow. That is such a rewarding feeling.

I'm due on Monday. I'm so close to my due date that when people ask me when I'm due, I tell them a day of the week. I'm so ready to let somebody else hold the baby for a moment or 2. If I can get away without a c-section, I'm totally sleeping on my tummy right away. Or at least lying down on it. Who knows if that will actually be comfortable yet.

I feel like I could fall asleep at any moment all the time. Nathan took a picture of me last week. I'll have to get him to post it. The belly is huge. You don't get to see it in the picture, but the skin is so stretched out that I have to be very careful with it or I end up with scabs everywhere. (Sounds pretty, huh?) I'm going to go lie on the couch and close my eyes. Not sleep, just deflate a bit. Nathan took Eleanor with him to the store, so I have that luxury right now. (:

Eleanor yesterday. (:

2010-03-03T19:45:00.006-06:00

Eleanor was pretty funny yesterday. When we got home I had both of my hands full and even had Eleanor carrying a can of beans for me that I dropped, and when I got inside with Eleanor, I put everything down and I closed and locked the door. Then Eleanor pointed at the doorknob and said, “Mama! Keys!” So I unlocked and opened up the door, and sure enough, the keys were still hanging from the knob on the outside. Thank goodness I have a 2 year old to keep my head on straight, huh?

Then much later I was sitting on the floor after having just re-diapered a little girl who attempted a trip to the potty, and she bounces up and says, “See, Mama!” (which means "Come see, Mama!") and I told her not right now, and she saw that my face was a bit drawn and she asked, “What’s wrong?” and I said, “Mommy’s just sleepy, that’s all.” Then she said, “Be right back.” Then she ran off to her room and comes back with her pillow and her blanket an proceeds to make a bed for me on the couch. So I lied down on the couch and then she brought me her bear and mouse. So I invited her on the couch too and we just snuggled for a while. It was so nice and so sweet. *Sigh*

Oh, and here's what I look like these days.. when I'm in my comfy, but oh so pink fleece pajamas I got for Christmas.

10 weeks to go!

hope this isn't too annoying

2010-03-02T19:33:00.003-06:00

Almost every time I check my email lately I've had to remove comment spam from random entries in my blog. I have chosen to inconvenience you people slightly, by making any comments require you to do that weird, randomly generated word thing, so I will now be less inconvenienced. Thanks for caring enough not to care too much. (:

Here's a short one.

2010-02-09T20:55:00.002-06:00

Sunday was awesome. It started with Eleanor, sneaking to my bedside like she does every morning, and then saying, "I love you." like she's never done. It was so wonderful. I floated on that moment for most of the day. Then the Saints won the Superbowl. Life is awesome. (:

long overdue. (not me, this post)

2010-01-30T22:09:00.014-06:00

Hey everybody. Just wanted to give a short update, complete with pictures. We're settling into our house rather comfortably. The closer we get it to how we want it the more I just simply love it. We still have a lot of unpacking and purging to do, but we're starting to get somewhere. I'm going to feel like a different person I think when we get the nursery cleared of moving boxes. I actually fantasize about that day.. *sigh* I've been feeling pretty good, though I'm already starting to feel cramped inside myself. I'm about 25 weeks along, and it just seems so soon to feel so big. We're naming her Lillian Margaret Miller, and she is a little athlete in here. Always moving, busy busy busy. So here is my pregnant self:

And pictures of our living room, dining room, and kitchen, which are in an 'L' shape, complete with Nathan at the computer:

(Isn't this table awesome??? It's new! It has 4 whole chairs that don't roll everywhere of their own accord!)

And of course, pictures of my beautiful ham of a child, complete with Nathan at story time:

And just for fun, pictures of Eleanor about a year ago if she were a Keebler Elf.. lush? Anyway, they're really cute:

Joey didn't read my last post.

2009-12-29T22:47:00.004-06:00

Welp, despite my best efforts, December strikes again. Joey David, someone whom I love very much and is indistinguishable from family to me, died last night or this morning from unknown causes. I think he had some drug problems in the past, but as far as I know there was nothing indicating drugs as a direct cause of death. He was around 21 years old and living in an apartment with his mother. His mother is a nurse, and when she came home this morning from a long night shift he was dead and cold in a chair. They are performing an autopsy, so maybe we'll get some answers, but will we really care?

He apparently had expressed a wish to be cremated and his ashes spread at the family fishing camp in Hackberry. Generally, I prefer open caskets, but in this case it's comforting to know that he valued his time in the company of his family so much that that's where he wanted to be laid to rest.

He was the sweetest little boy you would ever know, once upon a time. Then in adolescence he developed an all too familiar habit of making bad choices. He never got a chance to outgrow, and gain distance from, that phase in his life and fully become the wonderful young man we were promised in his boyhood. But he was beginning to.

The Davids have had a horrible year, and I hope this is the last of it. My father's generation has lost their step-mother, their father, a brother, and now a son. All in less than a year. While the David's and my father's family are not family by blood, we are all family by choice, and frankly we're tired of losing them.

Joey always held a special place in my heart. I can't exactly pin down why. Maybe it was even just because I could tell that he thought I was something special too. Damn it, I miss him.

Belated obligatory December post

2009-12-21T21:55:00.002-06:00

So, have you been driving safely and taking your vitamins? It's December again and has been for some time, so congratulations for making it this far through without kicking the bucket, but we're not done yet! This is a public service reminder that December is typically the deadliest month of the year for most people, and for us Murrays, the ONLY month worth dying in. So look both ways and keep an eye on your very old and very young!

(I know I'm supposed to be posting pictures of the house and my baby belly, and probably a few of Eleanor and what not, but not right now, I don't have time!! Maybe just after Christmas, then I can try to include some of those pictures too. Someday I won't be lame, I promise!)

I want to wedge more time in my life with a mallet.

2009-11-23T22:15:00.003-06:00

Sorry about the lack of pictures and updates and things. I have great plans for them. Actually, I'm secretly waiting until I'm 17 weeks along to do pictures, because I want to do a comparative analysis between this pregnancy and last pregnancy, since that's when I posted my first baby belly pics for the last one. But I'm not telling you when that is just in case I fail, and then I can still fudge it, maybe.

If I did manage to fit more time in, I would totally plan on using it for sleep, or cleaning, but then end up just staring at a wall. That's what happens to the time I do have. I get home from work with Eleanor at about 5:00 to 5:30ish, Eleanor goes to bed at about 8:30, and then Nathan comes home at 10:00 to 10:30ish. By the time Nathan is home I'm ready to pass out, but that window before he does and after Ellie is in bed is the only time I have to unwind, so I don't really want to clean. Then weekends are the only time we have together, so we don't want to clean, but we really should. That and we take weekend mornings in shifts. Eleanor wakes up at around 6:45, and hangs out in our bed for an undetermined period not to exceed 30 minutes (her rule, not ours). Then Nathan gets up and lets me sleep (the dear man), and then when I'm done, I get up and let him take a nap. So by the time the house is awake all at the same time, it's lunch time, we have 4 responsible things planned, and maybe a fun thing, and we usually do the fun thing, and have time for half a responsible thing. Either that or we do one whole responsible thing. And then decide the rest will wait until next weekend. Which is why when the baby comes it will just have to sleep in one of the boxes in the room we currently use for storage.

Nathan's home, so I'm going to go eat the food he brought, tell him how much I love him, take a shower (I don't like doing that alone at night), and then complain that I'm getting in bed too late again. Sometimes I try to blame him for that, since I want to see him and this is about the only time we have, but in general, it's my own fault.

Finally!

2009-09-29T21:00:00.003-05:00

Nathan, Eleanor and I have lived in our house for about I week now.. I think. Anyway we FINALLY have internet access. I'm loving my house and will send pictures when it's tidier. So maybe next year. d: I'm tired and catching up on a LOT of email, so I will have more to say later.

Happy Birthday Eleanor. (:

2009-08-29T21:42:00.005-05:00

So.. I kind of owe you an apology. We closed on our house yesterday. (: We love our new house and can't wait to paint it and move in!!

Today was Eleanor's 2nd birthday, so we had the pleasure of throwing her a big ol' party at OUR HOUSE. That was nice. She had a great time. She got cranky a couple of times, but moments later she was always running gleefully around with her cousins or doing something terribly fun. She got fat lootz. She actually blew out one of her own candles. Her uncle Zack said, "She's cool. Other two year olds aren't like that." I was so proud. Here's some birthday funtime pics.

But, really I have to tell you the present that really was the show stopper. Nathan and I didn't have time to wrap it, but we wanted it to be a surprise for everyone, so we just hid it in the laundry room. It was very exciting. Wanna see?

That's what I get for wanting this to be over..

2009-08-03T21:41:00.004-05:00

So.. It the make believe world where everything runs smoothly, and we get to keep out 5% interest rate, today would have been closing day. *Sigh*

Here's what happened: In the process of our appraisal it was discovered that the house was purchased at a Sheriff's sale about 10ish days before we put an offer on it. We actually saw it a few days before, so the current owner didn't own it for an entire week before putting it on the market for a flip. Really, is that such a big deal? As far as our still wanting the house, no. We had the inspection, and we're comfortable with the results. The house isn't any different than before we had that information. However, it makes a great deal of difference to our bank. We've been applying for an FHA loan, and with an FHA loan the previous owner had to have owned the house 90 days before the beginning of the contract, to prevent flipping. Grr! So, okay, no FHA loan, what about a conventional loan? We have the 5% required to put down on it now. No? No conventional loan either, because you have to have had the 5% for at least 2 months prior to applying for the loan, which we did not. GRR! Okay, what's left to us? Rural Development loan? Well, it's a lesser known loan that allows 100% financing. There is a maximum income requirement, which we meet, and the house has to be "rural." Well, the house qualifies, and in this case "rural" means "about 1/4 a mile outside the city limit." Or something. So it's good, right? Well, it's not that simple. Since the Rural Development loan is run by the USDA it has to be approved by some government authority. That process lately has been taking about two and a half weeks. Oh, and it requires a second appraisal. GRRR!!! We'll deal with the waiting, we're relatively sure it will be approved. We'll deal with the appraisal, that falls under "closing costs, which the seller agreed to pay up to $5,000 of anyway. But we're waiting on the approval before getting the appraisal, since there's no point in an appraisal if it's not approved. Also, unlike the FHA loan, there's no mortgage insurance, which helps keep it affordable for us, even at a higher interest rate.

So we are relatively certain we're still getting the house and that it will be totally affordable. I don't want to be relatively certain we're getting the house, I want the keys! But really, if we're just patient, we will get those keys. Someday. *sigh*

I want this to be over.

2009-07-14T18:24:00.003-05:00

We've just started the process and I can tell already, I'm not having fun. We had the inspection today and it turns out that the air conditioner is about Nathan's age. It's broken right now. I don't know if we're going to get them to fix it or replace it or what. I don't think they'll be all smiles about the idea of ponying up the money to replace the thing, so we may have to meet in the middle on that. But where's the middle? Are we going to spend all of our money and not be able to get a new washer and dryer to get to the middle? The AC wasn't the only thing, but it was definitely the big thing on the list. Also, we apparently lost all of our tax information for 2007. so now we're having to request our W2s from work and get a copy of our tax papers from the IRS, which could take several weeks. We only have our rate locked in until August 3rd. I like our rate, I don't want to lose it, but it may just end up expiring while we wait on the mail. Good news though, no termites. So that's something.

So, are we real life adults yet?

2009-07-11T22:32:00.008-05:00

Welp, we have a house under contract. It's a small house, but we like it, and so we put an offer, and they countered, and we accepted. Now we need a home inspection, pest inspection, appraisal, to turn in our check stubs and W2s to the lender, and to close. And then.. we will be homeowners!!

There is so much I'm looking forward to. I want my dishes. I want my furniture. I want to wander around the house in my underwear looking for my left shoe. I want to let Eleanor make a mess and know that the only people it really affects are her parents. I find that in our crazy experimental household (my parents, my sister, her husband, her child, me, my husband, and my child) there isn't a whole lot that the others do that irritates me.. sure maybe a little, but nothing worth worrying about generally. The hard part for me is knowing that there are things Eleanor and I do that others find irritating. I'm tired of worrying about Eleanor being too loud and messy. She's almost 2. No matter how cramped the house is and how respectful of other people's needs we need to be, she's still almost 2. When I don't feel like following her around all day picking up after her (which is most days) I'm tired of feeling like an enormous burden. I know I could do a lot better than I do, and still not be totally un-lazy, but I'm tired of worrying about it. Nathan is just as non-irritating as he is non-irritated. It's like a superpower. While I know everyone here loves both Eleanor and I very much, it' will be very nice to have a place where we don't bother anyone ever. I think I might even be a different kind of parent when it's just me and my husband and my kid. I'm not sure about that, but I do wonder sometimes.

You should come see the house. I think we're going to be happy there. It's small, but it's so homey. It's nice just like it is, but it would benefit from a little sprucing up over time, which I'm very much looking forward to. Heck, I bet I'd be happy if we never did anything to it. I could just sit there and plan and know that it's ours and I don't have to ask some other authority if I want to repaint a room or widen the driveway. I'll finally really be able to unpack. Not just my stuff, but myself. That's exciting. I feel like I've been packed since high school.

I hope Kelley and Chris get to feel this way soon. They deserve it.

Queue triumphant music..

2009-05-21T21:37:00.002-05:00

Eleanor used the POTTY!

It was slow going. She's still really little for potty training. I'm not really trying to push it, but she started showing signs that potty training might be a good idea a couple of months ago, when I saw Eleanor holding her crotch and doing a potty dance. So we bought a potty. I got the cheap, hard plastic one because I didn't think it would really matter. But for some reason they built the thing so the place were her legs would hang over was extra big so they couldn't hang over. It was really dumb and uncomfortable. So we got one of those cushy ones and it was shaped better in general, and she enjoyed sitting on that one. So Tuesday night after I had gotten her undressed for her bath, she sat down and used the potty!!! Yesterday she wasn't remotely interested. But then today she tried twice. The first time she got so involved with flipping over the cushion (she has to place it just so) that she peed squatting on the floor in front of the potty. The second time, she was sitting on it and then stood up to pee on the floor.. It's a work in progress.

Just some updates.

2009-05-01T21:28:00.009-05:00

We went on our big trip last week. Woot! Definitely had the feel of a practice run. A great time was had by all, and we'll do it better next time. First we went to Nathan's grandmother's in Maryland. Eleanor charmed everyone present. She loved the stairs and got comfortable at Grandma Judy's and Papa Scott's right away. Amy came over and got to spend the night. (Sleepover!! woohoo!) Nathan's Dad surprised us all by driving up on his motorcycle unexpectedly. That was really nice. Thus ends the relaxing part of the trip.

Then we flew to Massachusetts, and on the way the plane got struck by lightning. Right on the engine. Lightning? That really noisy bright flashy thing that destroys? Apparently planes, including their engines, have an immunity. Totally no big deal. In Massachusetts we spent the remainder of the week running around seeing as much of Nathan's Grandfather, Aunt Nancy, and Fuzz (the dog); Shanna, Randi, Ryan, Ms. Loraine, and Evie; Sarah, Bob, and their little boy Isaac; Auntie Alice; Ms. Ellie; Aunt Karen; Gail, Matt, Jason, Manny, Manny (yes, two of them), and Smokey (the dog); and my cousin Nathan, and his wife, Sarah as we could. In the process, Eleanor pretty much got over her fear of dogs. Fuzz and Smokey are both big friendly, but docile black labs, and she loved them so much. (: Her vocabulary also had a growth spurt. She now says milk, book, Ashton, Ella (what she calls pictures of herself), good dog, baby, nap, bed, bath, circle, oval, ready (as in Nathan's Dad: "Ready?" Her: "Ready!") and several others that I'm just too tired to think about.

The daycare called me today at 4:15. I get off of work at 4:30. Eleanor had a fever of 101.2, and as you can imagine, they aren't taking any chances with sick kids at this time. So I bring her to the emergency room, since the Dr's office is closed. No flu. She has a double ear infection. This is her first ear infection since she got her tubes, but we know they fell out about a month ago. I REALLY hope this isn't the rebirth of Eleanor's chronic ear infections. She had 8 by the time she was about 7 months old. She had an ear infection anytime we brought her to the doctor for anything, including vaccinations. I don't want to go through that again.

At least it's not the swine flu.

I never knew doors were so scary!

2009-03-26T20:22:00.006-05:00

Well, we had a little scare today. It's the kind of thing that happens when you have 6 adults in the house. Surely SOMEBODY'S watching the toddler, right? The door that leads into the garage has to be deliberately closed, if you want to be sure that it actually closed. Often enough, if you just pull it behind you as you walk through, it will bounce and remain open. So leaving the door open is easy enough to do. I was in the kitchen cutting up Eleanor's pork chop, Dad was in his office, Chris and Kelley had gone out to their car, and Mom was at a neighbors. Ellie had been playing in the kitchen, but she went to go play in the living room, in the opposite direction of said door. The pork chop required some special attention because there was Tony's all over it, and Ellie doesn't do the spicy thing yet. So I hear her playing noises fade into the back of the house, where she can potentially get into things, but I'm not overly worried. So I'm finishing up with her pork chop after a minute or 2 of not hearing her and I go to the back to get her for dinner. She's not in the back. Maybe she's with Dad. She's not with Dad. "Dad, I can't find Ellie." He says, "I think your mother took her over to the neighbor." I knew that was wrong, because Ellie was playing in the living room when Mom left. I run to the door to the garage and there it was. Wide open. Our garage opens out to a neighborhood street, but it's fairly high traffic with enough of a speeding issue that speed bumps were added about 5 years ago. Ellie's not there. "MOM!!" I started running to the front yard. "ELLIE!!" No Eleanor. I go back to the side yard and start heading down the other way, when I hear "Bridget!" from the front. I double back to the front and see Kelley holding Eleanor with Chris, just heading into the house. They were in the doorway, so I didn't see them the first time. Then Kelley tells me that Eleanor was found by a nice lady across the street and 2 houses down, playing in somebody's yard. The lady saw Kelley and asked if Ellie belonged to her, and Kelley took her and answered, "Yes and no." Thank God for nice ladies. I feel bad for Mom. We think it was her that left the door open. She's beaten herself up about it pretty badly, but Ellie's okay, and this won't happen again, and Mom will let it go soon. Besides, she walked less than 5 feet from me to get out of the house, and I shouldn't have let the quiet toddler go unchecked for that long. At least she really enjoyed her pork chops.

In other news.. Nathan and I are going to see his grandparents in April!! We're flying to Maryland to see his grandmother for a few days. While we're there we are also going to see my Amy. Then we'll fly to Massachusetts and see Nathan's grandfather, aunt, and some other family and friends for a few more days. Then we fly home. This will be the first time most of these people will see Eleanor. We're super excited.

Oh, I talked to Emilie Laiche the other day (via email). She was going to be near Natchitoches and wanted to know if anyone was still around. She and her boyfriend are living in Florida and have a cat and a fish. They're doing great, and Emilie wanted me to say hello to everyone. Hello Everyone!

Okay, now for some fun new pics.

Happy 200th Birthday, Incredibly Historic Person of Choice! kazoo

2009-02-12T23:10:00.010-06:00

Today is both Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin's 200th birthday. Do you know what that means? That means that Charles Darwin, and Abraham Lincoln were born on THE SAME DAY. I don't know about you, but that completely blows my mind. It seems strange to me that there are a bunch of people celebrating one, and a bunch of people celebrating the other, and not very many people celebrating them both. I don't really know a lot about either, but I feel like saying a few words about both.

Lincoln. Well, what can you really say? There really isn't a more famous president in US history. As it turns out, I really don't know anything about him at all, except how he died, but you don't talk about things like that on a man's birthday. Does anyone else think it's poetic that on this man's bicentennial birthday, a man who gets a fair amount of credit for helping to free the slaves, the first black man is doing his old job. Not only that, but he's from Illinois, is extremely charismatic, and took the job at a time of great strife. Now I don't mean droves of American citizens killing each other to defend their ideals, kind of strife, but a lot of people are really scared. It's scary. Happy Birthday Abraham. Thanks for helping us get here. By here, I mean closer to true racial equality, not the strife thing.

Darwin. I read some Darwin in college, and it turns out I'm actually a really big fan. The man was quite silly. He used to toss iguanas into the ocean just to watch them swim back, and ride on the backs of giant tortoises. It's his fault we know that worms are good for the soil, and not just gross pests. When doing experiments he would often solicit his young children to help, and engage them in the learning process. As a parent, I really appreciate that. There's a zoo in Australia owned by the family of the late Crocodile Hunter (who's name escapes me just now) and in that zoo is a tortoise that was found by Charles Darwin. He's met him. I want to meet that tortoise. Happy Birthday Charles. Thanks for helping make our differences make sense.

Gratuitous pictures:

Running late

2008-12-16T22:13:00.009-06:00

My annual public service announcement is a bit late this year. What with all the babies and happiness, it's been a bit too cheery for it.. but then, that's the time to be the most careful. Sometimes bringing balance to the force is not a good thing.

Ahem:

It's that time again! Take your vitamins, drive defensively with your seat belt on, and keep an eye on your very old and very young. It's December! The deadliest month of the year, even when you exclude the holiday suicides. We've got a lot of little people this year so be extra cautious. We like having them around, and we want them to remember you.

Everything has been great here. Eleanor is completely wonderful. Garret (my sister's baby) is just a smiley, drooling, lump of goodness. He's starting to kick and wave and hold his head up. Good stuff. Eleanor likes to sing and dance and sort things. She's a strangely orderly child. She rearranges the shampoo bottles in the tub, the contents of the bottom shelf in the pantry, the VHS tapes in the cabinet, and the tupperware in the kitchen cabinet, just to name a few things. That doesn't stop her from knocking everything off of the coffee table onto the floor, but even that is often a very methodical process. (:

We brought her to see the Christmas lights at Acadian Village. She had a great time, but it had very little to do with the lights. She just liked being put down and allowed to walk around on her own. She loves to explore new places. We got to see a few friends there. Regan was drumming with the belly dancers and Cheramie was with him. We also met Jeremy and Bri there, while they were in town visiting family. It was an awful lot of fun.

Nathan's almost done with training, and will soon have his regular schedule. His hours will still be pretty late, but he'll have 2 out of 3 Saturdays off! Woot! Working at the Lafayette office has been fun. It's great being in the same building with Kelley. Though I will admit, I'm missing my Natchitoches office buddies. I also miss Chanel. That's pretty much it though. Oh, and the land people. We had great land people. But it's great here. I like it a lot. Now for some pics to reward you for reading this whole thing. If you just skimmed, go back to the top and re-read before you can see the pics. Just kidding.

Here's Eleanor stacking some cups. She did this totally on her own!

And here she is helping me decorate..

And loving Garret, perhaps a bit too enthusiastically..

And just smiling for the camera.. (:

There you go.

I.. live..

2008-11-08T22:48:00.002-06:00

IN LAFAYETTE!!!

Yep, I'm finally here. We're staying with my parents while we save up for our house. We'll be here a while, (2 or so years) but then at the end, we get a house. I can live with that. (: Working at the Lafayette office for Natchitoches Medicaid is actually going pretty smoothly. There have been some printer issues, but that's been the worst of it. Now I just need to find my reading glasses. Nathan is really liking his job with AT&T so far, but we work opposing hours. That's no fun, but he gets home before I go to bed (unlike our opposing hours with the hotels) and his hours will eventually and gradually improve. Eleanor is happy at her new daycare. It took a while, she was pretty mad at me for a week or two, but now I can tell she has a good time while she's there. Also, when I tell people where she goes, if they are familiar with the place they tell me why they love it. I really like that. There is so much craziness going on, we still have boxes in the garage, and my sister, her husband, and their child still live here while they actively look for their new house. My parents are inhumanly patient when it comes to the big stuff. If I don't post very often that's because a) that's kind of a general theme for my blog, if you've ever been paying attention, and b) It's crowded here and I'm in charge of the 1 year old and making sure she and her mess don't push someone over the edge.

Maybe TMI, your call.

2008-09-23T16:41:00.003-05:00

I'm actually on my period. I haven't had a period since I was 24! (I'm 26.) It cramps, it makes my back ache, and it makes me feel blah. It's just like the last one, and most of the ones before. How weird. Well, I'm not pregnant. Didn't think I was, but still good to know. Huh.

Here goes Nothing.

2008-09-07T21:56:00.003-05:00

Well, Nathan officially lives in Lafayette now, and Ellie and I are still in Natchitoches. My boss got an email from a big muckety-muck at state office that basically said that they see no reason why a worker can't work in one region for another, and they will do what they can to keep me on as an employee. So, hopefully it won't be too long before they are preparing my office somewhere in the Lafayette region, hopefully the Lafayette Parish office, specifically. Nathan has his first day of work at his new job in the morning. I hope he likes it. I hope he has fun. (:

In other news, I'm an aunt! This happened almost 2 weeks ago, on 8/26/08. My sister had her baby boy, Garret Norman Peterson 9 weeks early, but he is very big, strong, and healthy for his gestational age, so while still in the NICU, he is doing very well. My poor sister is also well, but dealing with a very large portion of the breastfeeding/first time mother stress, with a very small portion of the rewards. After almost 2 weeks I think she can still count on one hand the number of times she has been able to hold him. At least she can hold him now, though. I think one of the worst parts about that is that since the baby isn't around, I feel like sometimes the people around her forget that her stressed-out-Mommy switch has been flipped to 'on' and then the handle broken off, so she is still expected to behave like a normal human. I only say this because even I forget sometimes, then I feel kinda bad. I got to see him today. He's kinda got an old man thing going on, but he really is a cutie. So tiny, and so much hair. (:

Lafayette or Bust

2008-08-24T13:13:00.003-05:00

So, Nathan got a new job. In Lafayette. It's finally happening, we're actually leaving Natchitoches. I'm hoping to be able to keep my job, and work for the Natchitoches Medicaid office from the Lafayette Medicaid office. Crazy I know, but it just might work. If it doesn't, do you know anyone hiring in Lafayette? We'll be moving in with my parents for a few years, probably 2 or 3, then we'll use the money we saved up from minimal rent and utilities to actually put a down payment on a house. My sister and her husband are still looking for a house, but until they find one, it will be my parents, Nathan, Ellie, and I and Kelley, Chris and then their little one when he's born. Thank God we're an unnaturally close family to begin with.

I'm really gonna miss it here. It was nice having our own place and our own space. This was Eleanor's first home. My family's first home. We have a great landlady. You can see the fireworks on Front Street from our couch in the living room. The porch is a great place to read. I'll never forget that summer wit the birds. Every night at 6:30 about 20 large flocks of birds would swoop into our backyard to roost for the night. I've never seen so many birds. We have good friends here too. Really good friends.

I am so excited to finally be back in Lafayette soon. Things stay open on Sunday. You don't have to drive an hour away to find anything you can't get at Wal Mart. Eleanor will grow up in the same town as her grandparents and cousin(s). I can actually finally feel like our own real home is just a couple of years away. Then our friends can come over. (:

We're going to have to make trips back up here. I'm hoping once a month. That would be nice.

Wish us luck!

When it rains, it pours.

2008-08-02T23:21:00.008-05:00

So, Ellie has been walking for just over a week now, and in this past week she decided to go ahead and grow a tooth. The first one seems to have breached the surface relatively easily, but I think the second one is coming and it's being a bit more difficult for her. Poor thing. As if walking and teeth weren't enough, earlier today we think she was trying to repeat our friend Chanel. Chanel took something from her and said,"Thank you." Then Eleanor said something that sounded very much like "thank you" three times in a row. Here is Chanel's response.

We said "thank you" several times to her after that, but she was finished trying that one. Then at story time tonight, we were reading a book about a goose and duck. She sounded a bit like she was trying to say "duck," so we would occasionally point at the duck and repeat the word to her. She tried it several times. At first it was "du" and sometimes "du, du" but there were definitely a few times when she could point at the picture and clearly say, "dut." I was so proud. :D Then she fell off the bed and hit the back of her head. Poor sweet one. She's okay, after she calmed down you could easily tell that the back of her head wasn't the slightest bit tender. I hope she didn't forget about the dut.

Here are some pictures of Ellie from when we took her to a playground, back when she still couldn't walk, had no teeth and wasn't using any English. You know, two weeks ago.

The plastic slide seems to have been electrically charged. (:

Short update on the short one.

2008-07-28T22:24:00.002-05:00

Well, Eleanor is now 11 months old, still has no teeth and is walking. She's not too steady, but she's practicing like she's got a marathon in two weeks. She loves it so much. I do too. I really need to clean the floor better. Well she is in bed and I want to be too. So that is all.

Fireworks? Really?

2008-07-13T22:29:00.002-05:00

The craziest thing just happened. My baby just went to bed at 8:15. Most of you are aware that her traditional bedtime is 11:00 and that we've recently been able to maneuver it to 10. I dreamed that one day she'd have a bedtime at 9:30. But She passed out in my lap tonight at 8:00. Nathan said lets put her to bed. I said I'm afraid. But we agreed that it was way too late for a nap and if she was that tired, who are we to argue. So she went down with no extraordinary amount of fussing. We were in shock. Then, apparently there was an event at the riverfront that just had to have a fireworks display. Now, normally this is a really nice perk to our otherwise humble apartment - at Christmas festival, 4th of July, New Years, and apparently random events at the riverfront we can enjoy the fireworks through the window from our couch in the living room. It sounded like a war had broken out just 3 streets away. a full hour before her new and improved bedtime, she slept right through it! I couldn't believe it! I still can't believe it! Now I'm betting that the downside is that she will be ready to start her exciting day at 4 am or so, but we're not there yet, and I can still dream!

Thank you, Dr. Ferber.

2008-07-06T23:24:00.002-05:00

Well, we did it. It's no fun listening to your baby cry, especially the first night. However, since apparently this method was tailor made for our baby, it went much better than expected and the usual 4 minutes of crying every night is TOTALLY worth the fun (not cranky) bath times, the pleasant (not angry) diaper changes and the generally improved mood overall. I love it. She started instantly sleeping all night, and she now goes to bed around 10:00 instead of 11:00. I bet we could make it even earlier. So yeah, should have done this months ago.

We also had a great weekend for the 4th, and she was even cheerier for that, even with all the traveling, different people, and screwy schedules. Eleanor even helped Mom with the dishes. Here she is sorting the utensils with wood from the rest. ...and maybe some forks.

Hey.

2008-06-25T23:00:00.003-05:00

Ellie's in bed. It's nice. She wants to be picked up a lot. I think she's old enough and particular enough to officially be considered spoiled. It's no good, I need to start getting meaner. She fed herself a jar of carrots the other day. I was so proud. (:

This weekend we're going to get tough about her sleeping habits. Shes too old to be waking up in the middle of the night every night and she needs to go to bed earlier than 11. There will be a LOT of crying Friday night. I'm already sad thinking about it. But hopefully it will make her sleep better and so be a happier wakeful baby, and me a happier wakeful Mommy. Dr. Ferber had better be right about this.

Have I mentioned how beautiful she is?

Well, she is.

There's no stopping her now!

2008-05-18T22:55:00.004-05:00

Well, Ellie has expanded her boundaries. I'd say last week she was still doing that funny inchworm crawl that requires her to use her tummy as an in between step. Now she crawls like a pro. Not only that, but the day before yesterday she would only occasionally leave the living room and go in the kitchen, but no further. Yesterday she started apprehensively crossing more thresholds. She would do it, but they seemed to make her nervous. Today she doesn't even notice them. She'll go from one room to the next, from carpet to wood to outside (we're watching, don't worry) and back in. She even came into the shower with me. That was pretty funny. She got her clothes soaked! And she shakes her head "no" when she doesn't want to eat something. Not that jerk to the side to move her mouth out of the way, but an evenly paced side-to-side "No."

In other news, Nathan experimented with cooking today. He sauteed yellow squash, corn, and pear together. It was surprisingly good.

Oh, and my family was not at all affected by the train wreck that leaked hydrochloric acid everywhere. But one of Nathan's best friends had to evacuate because of the fumes. She's fine though.

Happy 8 months!

2008-04-29T23:10:00.002-05:00

Ellie is 8 months old today, and to celebrate we dropped her mattress down a level because in the past couple of days she has started pulling herself up! (I mean, as of yesterday.) She's getting tubes in her ears a week from today, so wish us luck on that.

I got my hair cut again. I like it short. Short short short. (:

Nathan now has a new schedule at work. It's so exciting! It's actually Monday - Friday. He has Saturdays and Sundays off!! We've NEVER had the same days off. And now we have the same days off and roughly work the same hours!!! Kinda like real people!

Umm, I'm sleepy, so I think that's all I got. Everybody have a great night. ..next time it's night.. for you. Yeah.

Just some fun pictures!

2008-04-20T22:57:00.004-05:00

That's all I had to say. (:

I didn't know you could really do that..

2008-04-12T22:09:00.002-05:00

Today something crazy and truly momentous happened. Eleanor crawled! The crazy part is that I taught her how to do it! She's been so close for so long now, she was even getting on her hands and the bottoms of her feet, almost like she was trying to stand up, but she could not figure out forward mobility. So I was playing with her on the bed and she was on her hands and knees and I grabbed her hands and pulled them forward, then scrunched her knees up beneath her and did it again and again until I had "crawled" her the whole length of the bed. Then I did it again a couple of times. I didn't think she really learned anything from it, I was mostly just playing with the hopes that maybe some of it might stick, but she's smarter than I give her credit for! When we went to our friend, Chanel's place for dinner, Ellie was playing on the floor and she did it all by herself! It's still a little jerky. She gets on her belly before moving her knees forward, but in just a couple of hours her form has improved greatly.

So that's it! She's crawling! She's crawling and I taught her how! My God, I have to clean!

My tresses

2008-03-18T22:58:00.005-05:00

Apparently word got out that I might be looking a little different these days. Before the baby, I could tolerate my hair getting caught in car windows and doors, and the occasional fire extinguisher. I didn't mind so much the constantly moving it out of the way when I sat, laid down, rolled over, put on a shirt, put on a jacket, put a purse on my shoulder, leaned over, or moved in any other way imaginable. I even put up with the headaches from wearing my hair up and wearing it down. I did all that because I loved my hair. I had beautiful long wavy almost curly, just great hair. Had.

However when you can hold your baby at arms length and she still manages to get her little fingers tangled in it, sometimes, it's just time for a change.

See how the baby is not tangled in anything? It's really nice that way, trust me. I like it better in the mirror than in pictures. But the point is, I like it. A lot. My head is lighter, it never tangles, I don't have to braid it every night, no split ends, I can drive with the window down without being blinded, and I think it looks good.. in mirrors.

Have some more baby.

The moment I've been waiting for for 10 months!!!

2008-03-16T18:17:00.003-05:00

Eleanor...

Sleeps through the night!!!!!! It's not just a fluke, she's done it for a full week. Sleep is amazing. Going to bed at night and waking up in the morning is amazing. Okay, that's all I have time for for now. I just needed to share that with the world.

Hey

2008-02-27T21:22:00.003-06:00

It's been a while, so I thought I'd say hey. Hey.

Ellie is turning 6 months old on Friday. It's really weird. After Friday, she will be closer to her first birthday than to her birth date. She sits up on her own and she's not crawling yet, but she's working on figuring that out. We've started her on rice cereal and she LOVES it. She watches us so intently when we eat. I can't wait until we can share our food with her. Today's my Mom's birthday, so Ellie and I wrote her an email.

I hope she liked it.

Work has been crazy. One coworker is retiring Friday, one left at the end of January, and then the boss is retiring in May. I know May is a ways away, but it's still scary because whoever replaces her is going to have a hell of a time cutting through all the office politics. We have so many favorites vs. red-headed-stepchildren, and then sadly, black vs. white issues that I don't envy the new boss one bit.

That's all I got right now. I'll try to post again soon.

It's ma birfday!

2008-01-13T22:36:00.000-06:00

Yep, it is. So we decided to celebrate this weekend by having the flu together as a family.. in the hospital. I got it on Monday, Nathan got it on Wednesday, and then (oh the sadness) Eleanor got it on Friday. Though, since Eleanor's a baby and all, she got REALLY sick REALLY fast and had a 104 degree fever by the time she saw the doctor. She tested positive for the flu and RSV, another respiratory virus. So he sent her to the hospital just in case things got worse she could be monitored closely. She kept a fever for about a day and a half, and was miserable miserable. She barely moved, never smiled, and didn't make much noise except to complain. When the nurses were trying to give her an IV she told them what for in the form of disgruntled raspberries. They thought that was funny and cute. So she told them what for again. Thpbth!

But then when the fever broke Saturday she was active and happy again. That was such a relief to see. So Sunday (today) we were discharged for my birthday! Yay! Also for my birthday, Ellie learned a new babble that sounds remarkably like Mama. In fact it is Mama, but I don't think she's speaking English just yet. Here's some disgruntled raspberries, a very quick tongue (at around second 20), and the proof of my birthday present, even if she is a little mad. Sorry Ellie. (We don't torture her like this often, I swear!)

Stuff

2007-12-31T09:05:00.000-06:00

Well, I'm currently enjoying my second four day weekend in a row out of three. I love Christmas and New years. Next weekend isn't a holiday, but it is my cousin Ann's wedding. (!!!) I have my dress and it has been altered and I have my cowboy boots. It's going to be a seven to eight hour drive, so we're going to do it at night so Eleanor can stand the long car ride. Hopefully.

I think I have a plugged duct. A couple of days ago Eleanor didn't eat as much as she generally does, and now I feel like I've been punched in the boob. It doesn't hurt like it did that first day, but I'd like the pain to be gone please. I really don't want to have to deal with this while also being a bridesmaid this weekend.

I got to see my Amy!!! She came down from DC and we had crawfish, and ran out of gas, and talked about a bunch of stuff, and had Popeyes. It was great! Now I'm back to wondering when the next time I will see her will be. But that's okay, because it will happen, it's just a matter of time.

Eleanor is starting to appreciate some toys. It's pretty interesting to watch. Well she's getting grumpy and I'm getting hungry. Happy New Year!

This is from her baptism about a month and a half ago. I just love this picture.

December again

2007-12-01T20:45:00.000-06:00

It's December! Drive safely, take your vitamins, and keep tabs on your very old and young. I want to see a recored low on the death toll this year, so everybody, say it with me: Let's stay alive!

Eleanor is now 3 months old and has a lot to say, but has not developed consonants yet, though I swear she said "acorn" two days ago.

I'm trying to find some cheap cowboy boots in sizes 8 and 11 (ladies) for myself and another bride's maid in my cousin Ann's wedding. So if you've got the hook up let me know!

Fridays, I like 'em.

2007-11-16T08:22:00.000-06:00

Well, I'm at home. The computers are down at work for the second day in a row, so I took off and told the boss to call if they came up. Stupid computers. It's Friday. Nathan has off, and normally would be taking care of Eleanor, but she's at daycare so he can concentrate on CLEANING, because my parents are coming up this weekend. So now I can help, and the house will be cleaner, faster and I won't be wasting a day in a coworker's office shooting the breeze like yesterday.

Eleanor coos. I LOVE it. She's getting pretty vocal and it's so great to hear. She's growing so fast! She makes me so happy. With any luck we can get the house clean extra early and then go get Ellie from daycare.

I hate daycare. They're nice and I don't think they're doing anything wrong. It's just that Ellie's been cranky there lately and I hate that. She's not the center of their world, she's one of ten babies. I went there the other day and she was swinging in the corner wimpering in a room full of noisy babies and her diaper had leaked through to her pants. It wasn't a big deal. She gets cranky sometimes and she wasn't out and out crying. And if they didn't change her diaper regularly we'd see more diaper rashes, and we don't so I know it probably just happened and would have been taken care of if I had just come a minute later. But still the image of my sad little girl crying in a corner with wet pants is just depressing. I'm ready to win the lottery now, so we don't have to do the stupid daycare thing. Sometimes she's really happy there. If she's happy there then it's okay and I don't fret, just lately that hasn't been the case so much. She was smiling when I left her today, so lets hope she keeps that up.

Anyway, here are some pictures. That's the nuisance onsie I've been waiting to see her in since before her conception (Thank you Daisy!), and that's a dress a coworker of mine made for her.

"Eleanors don't have good Mondays."

2007-10-22T17:00:00.000-05:00

That was what her daily report said today. It said that her mood was fretful, she didn't eat well in the morning, she didn't want to sleep in the bed, and in the space for notes it said, "Eleanors don't have good Mondays." I think that says it all.

Daycare and such

2007-10-18T16:52:00.001-05:00

Well, Eleanor is 7 weeks old now. She's been going to daycare for about a week and she's starting to adjust. We both are. They send home these little daily reports that say how she slept and ate and pooped and how her mood was in general, and then there was a little notes section. Of course she started off fretful because this was all new to her and everything they did was different. Then one day the notes said Eleanor screamed and screamed today, and I just knew I was a terrible mother for dropping her off every day at a place she hates. But then both reports since then have been really good, so I think we're going to be okay. She's smiling more regularly now, and just paying more attention in general, which is really nice. Night before last she shocked us by going to be early (11:00) and then sleeping through the night! (until 5:00) She had never gone that long without waking up to eat and you know what? I could really get used to it! But of course last night she wasn't so helpful. (:

Nathan's feeling much better since his car accident. It's still really scary to think about how that could have turned out. I thought the van was bad, but this was really close. (If you hadn't heard about this check out his blog. (kelandrian.blogspot.com) He's getting new glasses today since he lost his in the car. I've been wanting him to do that for a while anyway, so I'm kind of excited about it.

That's all I got. Here's some pictures.

My baby.

2007-09-30T21:35:00.000-05:00

You know what's an incredible feeling? When your 1 month old falls sound asleep on your chest while you watch TV. I think that's my new favorite kind of peaceful. Now if only she could sleep in her crib.

It's Been One Week

2007-09-05T21:03:00.001-05:00

As of 5:33 this morning, Eleanor is one week old. Sorry it took me so long to mention it, and for those of you I haven't called and really should have, sorry about that too. She has really been keeping me hopping! Here are some pics!

Ain't she a beaut? Came in at 6 lbs 11 oz; 18 inches long.

We love her so much!

Stupid Stupid Doctor!

2007-08-20T19:08:00.000-05:00

Okay, I know part of why I'm so pissed at her right now is because I've let my annoyance fester a little today, so things probably seem worse than they are. But damn it, once I'm done with this having a baby thing I don't think I'll ever see her again. Last week I had an appointment for 3:00 on Thursday. I used 1.5 hours of sick leave to drive an hour to the doctor's office when I was exhausted because I haven't been sleeping well because my hips hurt when I lie down too long and I get up to pee every two or so hours. When I get there (a bit late, I'll admit) the office was locked up for the day. So I sat in the lobby of the hospital and cried for an hour. I know there are a lot of worse things that could be happening, and in the grand scheme of things, a missed appointment is no big deal, but my patience is kinda thin right now.

So I call the office the next day to figure out what happened and the girl who answered said that the appointment had been canceled. So I asked why no one called me, and she had no idea, and agreed that they should have and was appropriately appalled at what happened and we scheduled me a new appointment for today and she said she'd make sure my doctor know about this.

So today I go to my appointment and we have the fun little exam, and I asked my doctor if she knew why my appointment was canceled and nobody called me. She explained that they canceled all the afternoon appointments because there was an emergency that needed tending to, but she was there and watched them call everyone on her list. Then she said, "It must have been a mistake, no one would have done that intentionally or maliciously. Are you on my list?" Okay, I wasn't trying to imply that there is a devious little Imp in her office canceling people's appointments at random to watch the chaos ensue. Of course it was a mistake, but she basically said, "But it was just a mistake, so it's okay." No, it's not okay! And, how the hell am I supposed to know whether or not I'm on her "list"? I said I don't know. She said that, as strange as it sounds, there are some people that aren't on her list because they just know to come in. So I want to know then, (and I didn't think to ask until much later, of course) do those not-list people just know not to come in too? She did eventually apologize, but it was more, "Oops, my bad" than sincere apology.

Then she started in on the inducing again. "I bet you are just so ready to have that baby. Are you sure you still don't want to induce?" Yes. I'm sure. Why do I need to induce? While I am very ready to have this baby, I'm still a week away from my due date. But when your doctor comes into the exam room and the first thing out of her mouth is, "Are you still pregnant?" and then she keeps putting on the pressure to induce, it really does make you feel a good week or two further along that you actually are. Then she tells me that she's going on vacation starting Thursday and coming back the following Friday, and I'd better not have the baby while she's gone. *Sigh* I understand that as an obstetrician if you're going to take any vacations, you'll probably be doing it over somebody's due date. Probably several somebodies. But damn it! Thanks for springing that on me! No, I'm not inducing to fit neatly on your daily planner! I want the most natural childbirth experience I can get, because it will feel so much more personal, and not like a medical procedure. Also, most people I've talked to (including the instructor for the labor and delivery class we went to) say that an induced labor can be a lot harder because your body wasn't given the chance to prepare. I hope the baby is born while she's gone, so her partner catches the baby, because I'm sick of her.

When I got home I looked around on the interweb for ideas on home induction remedies, because I am ready to have this baby and I am sick of waiting. Then I noticed that most of the people and sites and things were talking about inducing after the due date. That's when occurred to me that I'm not being really slow. I'm still right on schedule. There's really nothing to make a fuss over. In fact, according to most sites, most babies are born after their due dates, not a week before. So while I still really would like this baby to get here just as soon as she can, it's still okay if she takes a week or even two. My own doctor is making me feel rushed rushed rushed, and there's less than no reason for that. However, either I'll go into labor naturally before Thursday and I'll be happy with that, or I'll go into labor naturally while she's gone and I'll be happy with that too, or she'll get back on the 31st and want to induce shortly thereafter because she doesn't like them going past 41 weeks (that's when she considers the danger zone to begin). Even the last scenario is acceptable because I'll actually be a week late, and much more open to the idea at that point.

I'm sorry all my posts are stupid long. Apparently, if I have anything to say at all, I have a lot to say. Thank you for your patience.

39 weeks and still pregnant.

2007-08-19T11:22:00.000-05:00

Well, Here I am, 1 week away from my due date and I feel like I'm hopelessly late. A few things have made me feel this way.

1) A while back my doctor said that she kind of expected me to have the baby as much as 2 weeks early. It had nothing to do with how I was progressing. It was just that, according to her, summer babies tend to be early because mothers get dehydrated and other similar reasons. Even though I'm pretty sure first time babies tend to be a little late, I emotionally took her at her word even if I rationally knew that it wasn't about me, it was about a trend she'd observed.

2) Everyone at work (especially my boss) is completely shocked that I'm still pregnant. Some of them seem a little appalled. My boss actually keeps hinting that she thinks I should induce. Keep in mind, these are the people I spend my time with from 7 am to 3:30 pm Monday through Friday. I'd love to just ignore them, but they are ALWAYS around. I'm not even technically due yet people! Chill out! Is late pregnancy obscene or something? Am I offending your delicate sensitivities? When they look at me and say "What are you still doing here?" or "You're back this morning?" or "Haven't you had that baby yet?" I've just started responding with, "I'm sorry." and leaving it at that. I know everyone, including my boss means well. She got little to no enjoyment out of her own pregnancies and what sticks out most in her mind about them is wishing they would finally end. I think I recently adequately explained to her that while I will be very happy to go into labor at any moment, I really am not having such a terrible time, and I'd like the pregnancy to move along at it's own natural pace.

Those are the bad outside pressure reasons. There are also good outside pressure reasons that make me feel hopelessly late.

3) My family and friends are just so excited they are fit to burst. Every time we call any of them, their first question is always, "Is it time yet?" or "Did she/you have the baby?" I actually really enjoy that because I know it's love and it's really great that they are so involved in my life. This event could sadly be celebrated alone, and is for some people in different circumstances. But my pregnancy/baby has it's/her own sizable cheering section and I love that.

4) Then there's Nathan. He, of course, has just as much invested in this pregnancy as I do and he is just like a little kid waiting for a really spectacular Christmas! And the adults won't even tell him when Christmas is! Left to my own devices, I'd be pretty excited about the baby getting here, but I just feel like there is still so much undone that needs doing, that the anticipation wouldn't sweep me away. But Nathan is just infectious. I can't help but be really excited with him around. I'm excited for him, for me, and for us! She's going to be so amazing! We're going to be a real live family! And besides, Eleanor will have graduated high school and there will still be things undone that need doing. Who cares?!

There's also the internal pressure. Get it? Internal pressure? Sorry.

5) My pregnancy has been, over all, a really easy one. There was the first trimester morning sickness, and my body got all cumbersome and weird, but that's to be expected. No big deal. Now though, she's just so big. Just her weight is really getting difficult to carry around. My hips keep doing funky painful things all the time, so it's really hard to walk, or sometime stand (and occasionally sit, in the past couple of days). I'm carrying her all straight out in front and have nothing to counterbalance her weight so my back is really starting to feel the pressure. There's just no room in here anymore, and she's going to get bigger, and I'm not growing to accommodate anymore. We're crushing each other, and I can't move.

But my due date is a week from tomorrow. I still have to wait a whole week before I'm right on schedule. Technically I could not go into labor for another 3 weeks before I'm officially "overdue". I want my baby in August. Not September. September is so far away.

Lint!

2007-08-09T20:46:00.000-05:00

Well, I know I've officially lost my mind to this pregnancy thing. I did my baby's laundry for the first time the other day. You're supposed to wash all the clothes and blankets and stuff to get rid of any irritants. Well when I emptied the lint tray, I kid you not, it was the cutest lint I have ever seen! It was snowy and white, and just seemed so much softer and delicate than other lint. It was amazing. I felt so ridiculous, but I did have the impulse to keep the lint. Nathan's so funny, later when I told him he said that I could have kept it for him to see. We are in so much trouble.

Here's a couple of shadow pics, the first from 35 weeks and the second from 37 weeks:

And here's a picture of me sitting in an old chair. I love this chair, it's very comfy. Somewhere there's a picture of my Mom sitting in this chair when she was pregnant for me. (:

So yeah, that's me. That's all I really wanted to share today.

36 weeks and craziness

2007-08-03T17:19:00.000-05:00

Okay, here's what happened with Lafayette, skip it if you already know all this:

I'm not transferring. I applied to 5 different positions in the Lafayette region and didn't get any of them. I only got 1 interview. But that's more than okay, because while we really do want to move before Eleanor is in Kindergarden, the biggest reason we were making a huge push was that:

A) Nathan and I were working opposing schedules, so we never saw each other except on Sundays and Mondays and they just recently took away our 10 hour days / 4 days a week privilege, so soon we were going to just have Sundays together. So without ever seeing Nathan, or anybody else really, I was beginning to get chronically lonely and was beginning to struggle with some serious depression issues. So if we moved to Lafayette, Nathan might find a job that wouldn't make him disappear, and even if that didn't work out, then I'd at least have my family around.

and B) Like I said, the plan is to move to Lafayette in the foreseeable future and there were 5 different openings that I might be able to transfer into with the same pay and same health benefits. Nathan would have to find a new job, but the other alternatives are to stay here forever, or to both quit our jobs and just move and hope for something. So it really seemed like the right thing to do.

However, even before I got an answer back from all 5 positions (No, are you kidding?, no, no, and no thank you) we decided that we weren't leaving because Nathan was offered a promotion from Guest Services Manager up to HR / Accounting Manager that has better pay and REGULAR OFFICE HOURS. So we keep my current pay, health insurance, and work environment that I'm familiar with, and Nathan gets a really nice opportunity to get more and better experience in the hotel industry, we get more money, I see my husband, and we don't have to pack all of our stuff, and leave the first home we ever made together standing on our own two feet. (I really do love this place, even if Natchitoches sometimes works my nerves.) I really think all the well wishes and prayers worked, because this whole thing did just come out of nowhere and save the day and it's even better than the move we were hoping for.

Okay, Pregnancy stuff:

All the websites and things seem to have this "homestretch" theme. Baby's getting fatter, should be dropping into the pelvis soon, will be at full term by the end of the week. The ultrasound we had about a week and a half ago indicated that she was, at that point, probably 5 lbs and 7 ounces. This past Wednesday my doctor said my cervix is dilated 1 cm and is paper thin. Which is apparently right on schedule. It's kinda scary. I'm dilated. Last night and most of today Eleanor has been squirmy squirmy. I've never felt her move this much before. I'm kinda surprised my belly hasn't visibly dropped or anything. Oh, and rolling over in bed last night seemed to aggravate a muscle or something because anytime I moved, unless very careful, I would be in pain for a good 5 minutes after. My nursery is little more than a pile of stuff in gift bags and a beautiful crib with no mattress, and I'm not packed for the hospital yet, but I plan on rectifying both of those things this weekend.

We have almost nothing prepared, but we're getting really excited. I'm not promising anything, but I hope to put some more pictures up very soon.

Week 26 and Lafayette?

2007-05-22T18:32:00.000-05:00

Okay, most of you know that Nathan and I are making an attempt at leaving behind this land of old ladies, cops, and college students, more commonly referred to as (but not always spelled) Natchitoches. I have applied for positions at the Lafayette, St. Martinville, and Opelousas offices. St Martinville had 2 positions open, but one has been filled, and the Lafayette boss lady, while perched on her broom, told me that I don't have a chance in her office because she doesn't like hiring siblings (that's where my sis, Kelley, works). So that leaves Opelousas and the other St. Marttinville position. Both are temporary, but that's what I am now. Both are about a 30 minute drive from my parents' house. I've still been very hopeful because as a transfer I should get priority on the applicants list. Well, today the boss lady of St. Martinville (who knows my sister) asked my sister to ask me to send her my 2 most recent performance reviews. It doesn't mean I necessarily have the job, but right now it's looking REALLY good. And it's so nice to finally be getting results out of this whole thing, because Ive been working at getting one of these jobs for over a month now, and not hearing anything at all and I'm sick of not knowing where we're going to live 2 months from now. Transfers are supposed to be easy, damn it! So wish me luck! I think this might be it!

Now pregnancy talk. Last week I checked and the average 25 week fetus weighs about 1.5 pounds and is about 12 inches long. No complete strangers have reached out and touched me yet, but one of Nathan's coworkers definitely was almost creepy with the rubbing. She's a sweet girl though, so I didn't slap her hand.

I had to get two sets of blood tests done recently, one for the RH neg thing (me O neg, Nathan A pos equals me getting stuck with needles) and the other for my glucose (gestational diabetes, anyone?). The RH neg test is just a simple blood test and maybe a shot, and the glucose test means I have to fast, draw blood, drink something too sugary for any sweet tooth, wait an hour, then draw another blood sample. They didn't explain this very well to me and they were sending me to a lab in the hospital instead of doing it in the office, so what I remember them telling we was to go to the lab for a blood test and you'll get a shot, you need to fast. You can go whenever you want to before your next appointment.

Then, at the end of my appointment they drew blood for the RH neg thing, and I asked if that was the blood test they were talking about, and they said yes. So I figured I was done and needed to fast when I came in for my shot. I got a call from one of the nurses a couple of days later and they told me I need to give a new blood sample right away because the lab screwed up with the first one and it has to be done before I get my shot which has to happen it this tiny window of time. So I leave work early and drive to my Dr's office in Alexandria to give them my blood. The first try was a dry hole, but they got it on the second. Then a few days later I go in for my shot so that I meet that window and when I get there the lab had apparently screwed up again and I needed to give a new sample. Thankfully this time, they made the lab do it right away so I wouldn't have to drive back again. So they drew my blood a third time for this one test and said said, "why don't you go to lunch while we wait for the lab, and then we'll give you the shot." I said, "don't I need to fast for that?" They said "no, you must be thinking of the glucose test." I said "oh, when do I need to do that?" They said "soon, but you need to fast for it." I said "I have, so I'll just do that instead of eating while we wait for the lab." They liked that idea. So I went downstairs where they do the glucose test and they stuck me, got a dry hole, and stuck me again for a good sample. Then I drank my nasty drink, and an hour later gave another sample. I went back upstairs where my lab results were waiting, and got a shot in the rear. *sigh*

A few days later I get a call from one of my nurses and she tells me that my glucose is slightly elevated, so we need to run another test. This is like the first glucose test, but instead of 1 hour it's 3. I manage to find a lab in Natchitoches I can use so I don't have fast as long or take as much time, if any, off of work. Thank God. So I get there and find out, that the test is like the first, but 3 hours long, AND I get blood drawn right up front, and once every hour. Making it 4 times. My veins are still pretty bruised up from my last adventure, so the phlebotomist and I decided to just leave a needle in my arm instead of trying to poke new holes. So she drew my blood, taped the needle to my arm and gave me a larger dose of that awful drink. An hour later we try to get blood, but the hole went dry. So we gave up on the leaving it in thing and she found a new spot. Over the course of that test we found 2 more dry holes, so I got punctured a total of 6 times, and the first time we left then needle in for an hour. *Sigh*

I sincerely hope that it will at be a while before I need any more blood tests. I think my nurses are out to get me.

Sorry that took so long, here's a shadow shot for your dedication.

Crazy things

2007-04-13T22:12:00.000-05:00

You know what's crazy? I'm halfway through my pregnancy. I'm at 20 weeks. You know what's also crazy? Strangers can tell. At Chef Wok Ms. Suzie asked if the baby was full when she saw that I was done eating. I didn't tell her I was pregnant. Then the next day the lady at Taco Bell asked us if we knew if it was a girl or a boy. I know it's harder to see gradual changes on yourself than it is on others sometimes, but all I could think was, how did they know? Who told them? The REALLY weird part is that I'm apparently PAST the point where everyone thinks, Is she pregnant, or is that fat? I thought I was still solidly in that range where you don't assume, just in case. But apparently not. I hope people don't start running up to me to touch my belly. I think I'd like to skip that part, thanks.

Oh, and I might be applying for a position that might be opening at the Lafayette Medicaid office within the next few months. I'm just applying, if there's even an opening. If I actually get a job offer, that just means I'll think about it. No big deal.

Huh?

2007-04-07T13:06:00.000-05:00

It just snowed. It's the day before Easter, I'm in Louisiana, and it was just snowing big fat flakes. It's done now. I think I need to go to Mass more.

It's a...

2007-04-06T22:37:00.000-05:00

Girl! We're naming her Eleanor Grace Miller. She's really starting to pick up this kicking thing. This morning I woke Nathan up to make him feel her kicking. At first he was annoyed because he was sleeping and I was pestering him. But then he felt a real kick, and it woke him right up. He wasn't annoyed anymore. It was pretty funny. The ultrasound was a lot of fun, she was just kicking her legs and having a grand ol' time, and I couldn't feel a bit of it. It was pretty neat seeing her spine and all four chambers of her heart. Oh, and her face. We did get one good shot of her face, that was really cool. I wish the technician had saved a picture of that. But then I'll be seeing a lot of her face later on. It's so nice to be able to say "her." It just feels a bit more real now that I can imagine her past unisex babyness. I talk to her more now. I think the gender and the kicking coming at the same time has helped that trend. They both make things a little different.

In other baby news, my cousin Lisa's water broke about 2 hours ago. So Johnathan Thomas Kroger should be meeting the world shortly. I wish I could be there, in all the excitement. I really want to try to see them soon, but not so soon that my visit would be annoying. Everyone send happy thoughts to Lisa!

Just me and my shadow.

2007-03-27T21:24:00.000-05:00

Okay, I found some batteries for the camera and I mostly figured out how to use it. So here are some pictures. They are not good picture's because I couldn't use a flash or another person to take them, but this is what I got.

Here's me in a t-shirt and jeans. I don't really think you can tell so much like this.

Here's me in something that I feel shows my belly fairly well.

Here's my shadow, I figured this would show you what I'm actually shaped like and it's easier than dealing with a mirror.

So I'm definitely starting to be shaped differently, but whether or not you can really tell is still dependent on what I'm wearing.

So there are your pictures. I hope you enjoy them.

Week 17

2007-03-22T21:18:00.000-05:00

Well, the baby is starting to make itself known. I was told there should be a little fluttery feeling in my belly, and I think I might have posted that I might have felt something like that, but I'm still not really sure I did. But in the past week I have felt the baby at least 3 times. The first was so weird. I was sitting on the porch reading, and suddenly there was this pressure in my belly. It stuck around for a while, and then it went away. It felt like it was trying to push it's way out the front. Then the next night I felt that again while I was lying on my back. I felt my abdomen with my hand and it was hard as a rock, and then softened as the feeling went away. The next time that happened I was ready for it, and Nathan got to feel it too. It was pretty cool. Also, I think it had a growth spurt. Rather suddenly it feels like there's this heavy mass taking up space in there. I mean, I knew it was there, but that was academic and I couldn't really tell before. I can tell now. The skin isn't taught yet, but I don't think it will be too long before it is at this rate, so I need to get me some cocoa butter. I really don't see how I'm supposed to be eating everything in sight. I was told I will be, but there isn't enough room in there to eat a whole lot. My hunger is so much more insistent, but I get over-full so easily.

From browsing the interweb, I just learned that the baby is roughly 5 inches long, is reacting to sounds, has grown eyelashes and fat. The limbs are now proportional to the body (for a baby) and the first movement felt (by me) is called a quickening. So now I'm feeling all Highlanderish and I didn't even remove an immortal's head.. that I recall.

So there it is.

Bye Ze.

2007-03-17T21:10:00.000-05:00

No new baby news. I'm getting a little bigger, but not much. The Show with Ze Frank is over now. I'm sad. I cried. Don't laugh at me too hard, but you can laugh a little. For those of you who don't have any clue what I'm talking about, I'm sure you can find Ze Frank on Wikipedia. I'm going to go hide in a book now.

Week 14 and some other stuff

2007-02-27T18:40:00.000-06:00

Well, I'm not going to make the mistake of promising posts after appointments again, 'cause I'm a big liar now. I just looked up some info on week 14. Apparently the baby is somewhere around 3-4 inches and peeing in it's amniotic fluid. There might be some hair and eyebrows and the baby can do stuff like make a fist or make faces. I may have felt some movement, but it was so small that I'm not sure I didn't imagine it. If you know me, which you do, you can kinda tell that my belly is bigger, of course it's more and less apparent depending on what I'm wearing. I think I'm done puking, but I'll give it a few weeks to be sure, but the indigestion has become annoying. Oh! At the last appointment I got to hear the heartbeat for the first time. Nathan wasn't there for it, but it was pretty cool. He'll hear it next week. So that's pretty much everything pregnancy related lately.

Nathan got his second degree black belt last weekend! His test went really well, and he even impressed one of the other instructors with his mad forms skillz. The whole weekend in Jackson was a lot of fun.

Well, today's my mommy's birthday, so I need to go call her.

11 weeks

2007-02-07T20:55:00.000-06:00

Okay, apparently the deal is that Nathan needs to install a driver for the scanner. Not that this is difficult, it's just difficult to get around to it. The pictures are coming, there may be more ultrasound pictures, or a baby by then, but we are working on it.

I have a symptom that nobody told me about. I didn't read about it anywhere, and nobody else remembers having this symptom when they were pregnant, but everyone agrees that it kinda makes sense. My hips and my lower spine don't fit right anymore. The joints all just feel out of sorts. At first it was just the hips, then I aggravated one of them by trying to fix the mud puddle that is our driveway and I couldn't walk for a couple of hours after that. So I've been taking it easy, but the more I walk the more sensitive they are. It was a few days later that my lower spine started acting up. Now that is sensitive when I walk too (or bend over, or lay down wrong). It's like my pelvic bone is trying to find a new position without consulting the rest of my skeleton first. No big baby belly yet, but this joint business is already making me waddle. Or limp.

I've officially decided that this isn't just fat, I'm actually kinda showing. A little. If you just look at me you can't really tell. But my stomach seemed a tad larger than what I'm used to, so I tested it. Shortly after the morning sickness started I went and bought maternity pants because the pressure of the waistband from my regular pants made me a little ill. So I've been wearing those ever since. My work pants, the last time I wore them fit just so. in fact I had a little room in them. So I tried them on today and, uh, let's just say I'd NEVER wear them in public like that. I had a huge roll where my gut goes and I had some spill-over at the top. Yeah, mostly I look like I put on a few pounds. Though strangely my scale doesn't seem to think I have.

I go to the doctor tomorrow, so hopefully I'll have more fun things to post about.

About 10 Weeks

2007-01-30T19:52:00.000-06:00

Okay, my pregnancy math has been kinda off in my past entries, so I'm going to clarify. The common way to calculate how far along you are is simply how long it's been since your last period. The average length of time from the first day of one's period to ovulation is about 2 weeks. So, you count 2 weeks that you weren't even pregnant. I think it's a little dumb if you know when you ovulated, but most women don't, so there has to be a standard, right? Well, before we were counting 40 weeks after conception to get mid September, but 40 weeks from the first day of my last period apparently equals about August 27. So we're going to be using that kind of calculating from here on out, and that puts me at 10 weeks tomorrow.

On January 11 we went to our first appointment. They took some blood samples and gave me a pee in a cup test. Turns out I'm pregnant. Then we sat with a nurse in an office and spilled both Nathan's and my medical history. Then we determined, that I should be due on August 27 for the reasons given above. Then we got an ultrasound!!! It was the coolest thing ever! we saw the little baby and it's little heartbeat. It was so cute! It even scooched around a bit while we were watching. It was so surreal. I wanna do it again. I would post the pictures, but I don't know how, so everyone pester Nathan to help me get that done. We weren't expecting an ultrasound so soon, but the technician said that the earlier you get it done, the more accurately you can determine the due date. They just grow so rapidly at that stage that a few days can really make a difference. It was about 1 cm at the time and the ultrasound prediction for the due date is August 29 give or take 2 days.

According to several websites I just meandered, Shorty has graduated from embryo to fetus, lost it's tail, has fingers, toes, all major organs, and is starting to pick a gender. Its' about 1.22 inches long (or 3.1 cm) and lots of other little things are getting more human. It's all very exciting.

I'm still nauseated, but I can eat fried chicken apparently whenever. I've vomited a few times, but I might be done with that now. I hope. I'm less tired than I used to be, which is really nice. I can't wait until the queasiness stops, but I hear that shouldn't be too far away. For most women. Yeah, that 's about it. Oh, my regular pants are tight (and make me queasy) but I'm not showing yet. I've been wearing maternity pants 'cause they're much more comfortable, even if I do have to keep pulling them up.

Queazy

2007-01-05T18:41:00.000-06:00

Okay, the eating thing hasn't been that great for the past few days. I'm more hungry than usual, but everything seems to turn my stomach just a smidgen. I've been expecting it to get worse and to let the puking begin, but I'm beginning to wonder if it will. I have a coworker who said her whole first trimester was just like that. I guess it could be worse. I could be VERY queazy and not puking. (I hate that) or I could be puking. Also bad. But this is just annoying. I'd like to eat more, but I'd like to do so by eating less please. No?

Pregnancy Post #1

2007-01-01T13:08:00.000-06:00

If this is news to anyone, sorry I didn't let you know sooner. I'm pregnant! Okay, now that's done. I've been told that I need to post regulary about any progress, so I figure it's time to start. My stomach has been a little queasy the past couple of days, and it stopped me from eating my vegitables for luch, but it did not stop me from eating most of a HUGE peice of Bananas Foster Ice Cream Cake. (SO GOOD)

It's really nice that I've actually made it to what we think is about 3 weeks in. Once this week is over I must admit I'll feel much more comfortable about the whole thing. Most of you probably know I was pregnant for about 3 weeks once before, when I started my period and stopped being pregnant. So I can't wait to be looking back at this point. So far so good.

On Wednesday I'm going to try to make an appointment with a doctor in Alexandria that came highly reccommended. Also, being in Alexandria will make it that much easier for family to make it up when the baby comes. Heh, the baby. Oh, you could do the math too, but we're expecting it'll be mid to late September. (That's so far away!)

So, I think that's all I got so far. If any new stuff happens, I'll let you know. Happy New Year!

*kazoo*

It's that time again!

2006-12-01T19:29:00.000-06:00

Drive carefully, take your vitamins, and keep an eye on your old people! It's December again, the deadliest time of the year. I'm not kidding, this month can be costly. If you care to, I want to hear how each of you are celebrating the unofficial "Try and Stay Alive" month. I've decided to celebrate by watching for pedestrians, and staying away from explosives. Rick, be careful with that gun, the irony alone may be deadly.

Nita Grace Jackson Pettigrew Sept 28, 1916 - Sept 11, 2006

2006-09-12T22:00:00.001-05:00

I now live in a world without grandparents. My Grandma, a beautiful, strong, smart, fun, and loving lady has left this world. I actually got to feel her heart stop, and know exactly the moment that she left. I miss her so much, but not quite as much as I am happy that she's not trapped in that shell anymore.

The wake will be on Friday and the Funeral Saturday. It will be held in Houma. If anyone out there feels they need more specifics, let me know. In lieu of flowers my Uncle John was thoughtful enough to know that Grandma would have wanted donations to go to Peltier Lawless Developmental Center. It is a wonderful place where loving people pour their lives into the happiness and well being of those who are too mentally handicapped for even their families to provide for them.

I love you Grandma. I always hope that sometimes I can be a real lady like you.

Man, oh man.

2006-08-17T18:46:00.000-05:00

Today I was walking around the house to get the mail. On my little trek I noticed a sharp pain in my foot. It felt like a thorn had magically appeard in my shoe and I was stepping on it with each stride. So I just walked a little funny until I got inside. I sat down and removed my shoe and sock to get at the sharp thing in my shoe, but when my foot was bare, I was greeted with a bit of a surprise. It wasn't a thorn, or a bug, or a rock, or a stick, or glass. Guess what it was... Nope, not that either. It was one of my hairs! One of my hairs was in my sock, not surprising. But this hair had burrowed into the bottom of my slightly calloused foot and was sticking out like it had grown there! (It hadn't grown there, for those of you snickering at my hairy soles.) It was just so wierd I almost left it for Nathan to see when he got home. Sorry Nathan, it had to go. So now my hair is SERIOUSLY running out of places to find itself. Yeah.

Things, lots of them

2006-07-25T19:32:00.000-05:00

Well. There have been a lot of things that I've been wanting to post about very recently and I have a lot to make up for, so here goes.

About a week ago, Nathan and I went to Chuck wagon for lunch. We try to have lunch together every day because during the week, lunch is about the only time we see each other. But we have whole weekends together, so that's cool. Anyway, Chuck Wagon is this goofy little western themed place that has this toy train runnung around the ceiling. Just under the train there are numbers that correspond to each of the seats in the restaurant. If the engine stops on one of those numbers and a person happens to be sitting in that seat, they get their meal for free. It's cute. Anyway, the train stopped on my number and my meal was free, so that was cool. Then Nathan has been dangeling this surprize he's gotten for me over my head for some time now. He decidied to tell me what it was because it still hasn't shipped yet. He got me a new French Horn mouthpiece! He didn't know this, but the last time I got a new French Horn mouthpiece I sat and stared at it's shiny little splendor for half hour intervals. Now that mouthpiece has all kinds of scapes and scars from dropping it on asphalt during parades and stuff. Hence the need for a new mouthpiece. It still hasn't come in, but I'm still stoked. Then when I got home from work I decided to go to Kent's house. I grabbed my purse, walked outside, and promptly locked myself out. I couldn't drive anywhere for the same reason I couldn't go back inside, so I walked to the Church Street Inn in hopes that Matt would be there. On the way I realized there was the tiniest chance I'd see John Goodman, because he ws filming a movie in Natchitoches, He was checked into the hotel, and all the movie people trailors were parked on the way from my house to the hotel. When I got there Matt wasn't there but the guy let me use the phone anyway. So while I was waiting for a ride to Kent and Mat's place, I heard a VERY familiar voice. Kinda like Mike Sullivan from Monsters Inc. So I sit and wait with great anticipation.. and John Goodman goes around a cornerand up some stairs no more than 15 feet away from me! I thought that was pretty cool. The moment John Goodman was out oif sight, I heard Matt, who had arrived to pick me up. Then I spent the afternoon With Kent and Matt. So that was one day.

Then I think that week, Daisy went into the hospital with Diabetes, so we went to go see them for the weekend. She apparently had a hellish month due to the onset of the diabetes. She couldn't eat AT ALL and she could not sate her thirst AT ALL. She's feeling a lot better now, but is very not cool with the needles. She's tough though, even if she doesn't think so. She'll kick its butt.

The day after we got back from Lake Charles and Daisy and Joe and the hospital, Mom went to the hospital because her heart was doing a funny little jig. It was mostly just scary, but apparently nothing to get upset about. The doctors say that she's fine. It wasn't a heart attack, and the last I heard they really weren't sure what caused it. Mom thinks it may have been some minor blockage. She's feeling well now, I think we're still waiting on some test results.

Now a moment of silence, please.

I just got back in touch with Austin after a long while. He didn't know that I didn't know that a friend of ours passed away. Some of you may have heard me talk about Chaz Crawford, but if any of you knew him (besides you Jeremy) I'd really be surprized. He was in high school band with me. He played the trumpet. He helped tie me to a chair right before Mr. Walker called me to his office. (I was a happy and willing participant, and Mr. Walker took it in stride.) He had a passion and talent for explosives, but was very safety minded when expressing that passion. Once I got to go with him, Austin, Karen and maybe Matt, (but I'm not sure) out into the woods and blow up an old refridgerator. It was so loud, and so fun. I heard he once (maybe more) jumped off the bridge on Pinhook in Lafayette. I also heard he climbed to the top of the flagpole at LHS and started screaming something about reaping his vengance on a white whale. He didn't go to prom because his date was struck with appendicitis that night, so he stayed at the hospital. He had so much energy to burn, but with all that wacked-outedness, he was still a nice guy. He was always nice to me. He didn't have to be. I bet I annoyed him sometimes. We were never close, but I always hoped I'd see him again someday. Chaz was in the military and spent some time in Iraq. He came home and then went back there to work for some security company. While he was there, Chaz was killed in a car bombing. At least it was big and loud. We'll miss you Chaz.

"Home"

2006-05-28T20:08:00.000-05:00

I figured something out today that I just needed to put to words. Nathan and I have lived in half of a duplex since January. It is the first place my smaller family has had to itself. It's a nice place. It has everything I need. I really like it. In fact I might even love it. However I've always felt something very temporary about it. I know we won't be here forever and that is part of it. It is my home, but not completely and I just figured out part of why I feel that way. The only place that has been 100% home to me not only is the place where my larger family and I lived and where I grew up, but is a place I can absolutly navigate with my eyes closed. The building itself has very few secrets from me. Every scuff on a wall or stain in a carpet or irregularity in the woodwork is part of the house that I know so well. I could probably walk though this place with my eyes closed, but it would be a test full of uncertainty. All of the little dents and holes are a part of someone elses experience. While I've seen them before, they aren't part of a familiar whole. I think now that I've realized this, it might be easier to forgive the house for my not knowing it better. Nathan is sleeping, so I will stop clacking at the keyboard.

Doo do doot doot doot doo doo

2006-05-12T17:01:00.000-05:00

I have the song "Seven Nation Army" lodged in my brain. It makes me feel like I should be doing something really bad ass. Like defending all of my coworkers from a chainsaw weildng lunatic whose Medicaid we just cancelled while armed with nothing but my keen psychological skills, with which I show him that he is a worthwile person who wants nothing more than to make his own way and to get a puppy. Yeah..

Instead, I sit and consider eating for entertainment purposes. No good.

(:

2006-04-29T17:40:00.000-05:00

Well, we're back from New Hampshire and I must say it was worth the 25 or so hour drive (one way). It was really great hanging out with Adam and Andy on the way up and to and in South Carolina and it was awesome hanging out with them and Cory, Kristan, and Cade while we were up. It was just magical seeing everybody again. There were some important people missing, but it brought me back to a time when Cade was the visitor from far away. Now we are home and broke, though not as broke as we thought we were. The day we got back my arm was sore. It took me a while to figure out why, but once I did I felt so pathetic. My arm was super sore from 4, maybe 5 games of air hockey. They wer intense games (from my/the losing side), but that's still sad. We're going to try to find a way to see Katie while she's down, but I don't know if Nathan and I will have a day off together, so maybe one afternoon. At worst we should hopefully be able to arrange a Leesville trip. So there. Have the good day.

Um,

2006-03-26T10:38:00.000-06:00

Kelley and I were looking to see when some books we were interested in were to come out. But we found this instead.

http://www.tor.com/jordan/

So keep him in your prayers, and not just because you want to see the next book.

Moving right along

2006-03-19T11:19:00.000-06:00

well my parents just left and I had a good time with them. They just saw my house for the first time and liked it. That always makes me happy. They also got to see our new car and Nathan's new workplace. Oh, and our house is clean. I hadn't seen the resort yet. It's really nice. I may have to spend a weekend there sometime. I'm getting the hang of the way our new car shifts. I really like it. I'm kinda sleepy. Nathan's training at the resort now, so I might just lay down for a bit. We'll have to drag Kelley and Chris over there at some point. (: My thought's don't seem to work anymore, so g'night!

Playin Hookie

2006-02-27T19:33:00.000-06:00

Well, we just spent another weekend in Jackson with all the Hop Ki Do people. This was our first year as actual members of the USKMAF (United States Korean Matrial Arts Federation). I gotta say they are good people. I think maybe next year I might participate. Maybe.

I took a sick day off of work today 'cause I don't feel so good. Nathan doesn't either, but he doesn't get sick days. Bleh. Mom, I think, is feeling worse than both of us put together twice, and it's her birthday! My poor Mommy. I like that I get sick days. Even with all that time I'm taking off to go to New Hampshire, it doesn't touch my sick days, so I still have them all to myself. (:

I talked to my Amy and my Kelley today on the Google chat program. I forget how much I suck at typing to two people at once. It was great to hear from both of them though.

I thisk this is all the Wal-phed (Walgreens Pseudoephedrine) will let me say today, so have a good one and be healthy!

'lo

2006-01-18T19:29:00.000-06:00

I just thought I should update.

We moved! I love the new place. I got the Kitchen cleaned yesterday. So far Amy, Chanel , and Kelley and Chris have used my guest room. Everyone should come and do the same. (Please give me time to clean it up a bit though). It was so great seeing Amy. I can't wait until next time. I wish I had some idea when that would be. I think its my turn to go up there. It's gonna be a while though. It was also great to see Chanel. I hope she's having a blast in Disney World. I sometimes wish I still played WoW so I could hang out with everybody including her. Kelley and Chris were a HUGE help to me during the move. They kept me sane. And Mopped. And lifed heavy stuff. And saved a lizard. And cooked pizza. It was great.

We get to see Daisy and Joe on Saturday. It's been a while and we've been long overdue for a Leesville trip. I'm excited. Speaking of overdue, Katie's gonna bust, and Adam's sister has. I want babies too. Lots of 'em.

Nathan and I are each a year older. We both had quiet birthdays. It was kinda nice, especially after the move. I got the Complete Calvin and Hobbes!!!!!

I'm feelin' good.

tada!

Happy #*@%ing Holidays!

2005-11-23T17:44:00.000-06:00

Well, the holidays are officially here. My great aunt Mary died today. I guess she was trying to beat the traditional Christmas rush. I think she was eighty-eight years old, and I know her mind ws starting to go. She was usuially surrounded by loved ones, and had one with her at the time of her death. It was almost instant and totally unexpected. I think I'll try to go that way. I'd write more, but I have to go get ingredients for pies. I love you Aunt Mary. Happy Thanksgiving.

It's official!

2005-11-17T18:46:00.000-06:00

Nathan and I signed the lease on the place we went to look at yesterday. It's the back half of a duplex. It's kind of small, but not too small for a married couple. There are some minor layout issues involving the bathroom. But that won't be too much of a bother. We're gonna have a guest bedroom and we're getting new carpet in the living room. I'm so excited! I've been trying to arrange all the furniture in my head. The guest bedroom will double as kind of a place to put things that don't have other homes, like a sewing table! Maybe the computer too, though I'm not sure. We'll see. I can't wait to get all of my stuff in there. I can't wait to decorate for Christmas!! I wonder where we'll put the tree!

I'll try to keep people updated in case people want to help us move in December. Or Just so y'all can see our new place! (:

Um, hi!

2005-11-15T20:26:00.000-06:00

Wow, I haven't posted in a really long time. I feel like I should, but I'm not sure what about. My job is going well, I don't have to ask near as many questions anymore and I'm almost efficient at what I do, which is mostly renewing people's medicaid accounts. I eat out everyday with the coworkers, and that's kind of expensive, so I need to cut back on that.

Nathan got rear ended in the car a few weeks ago. He's fine, and the car is mostly fine. The right rear quarter panel is nasty and we can't open the trunk anymore. Also, the right tail light hangs like a eyeball out of a socket. The insurance people came and looked at it today. It, of course, is totaled. So we are gonna get a fat check which we will unfortunately have to spend some of to repair the car a bit. The eyeball thing is kinda gross. Oh, we just put new tires on the car. They are So great! The road feels way different and we don't slide around anymore, rain or shine! So that's the car.

December is coming, and that means we're moving soon. Nathan and I had a talk about how much we want to move. I want to move and he wants me to be happy, so to that end he wants to move. For some reason it upset me that he didn't want to move for himself so much, but after our talk I don't feel as bad about it. Although, the closer the move is, the more apprehensive I am. I just get myself all confused sometimes. I really want our own place, but I will miss Kent and Chanel. Having roommates is cheaper, and your friends are right there. But I want my own space, and I want Nathan and I to be independant, and I want all of my wedding presents out of storage.

So that's how things have been. Oh, and I have health insurance. (:

Yay!

2005-09-28T16:56:00.000-05:00

We got our power turned on while I was at work yesterday. Mmmm home.

Ugh.

2005-09-26T19:18:00.000-05:00

Well, it is now Monday afternoon and it has been an eventful weekend. Thursday I found out that I wouldn't have work the next day. Then Thurday night we got a call from Nathan's sister. She needed a place to stay because they didn't want to be in Lafayette when the storm hit. So she, her four kids and her boyfriend all got in at 6 am on Friday. We had a good day with them and then at 4 am on Saturday we lost power. It was an exciting storm. I've never been through one with so many trees around. The trees make a pretty big difference. The Aynsley crew left on Sunday. I think their house got power back Saturday afternoon. Dealing with the kids was crazy, but it was still fun, and I'm glad I got some time in with Aynsley and Max. Good God, the kids. So Sunday night we went to Matt's house and spent the night. I didn't have work today either. (: We still don't have power and I don't know when we are going to. Most of Natchitoches has power. I do have work tomorrow. ): So we are going to be at Matt's for a while.

So how are you?

Bridget Miller: Medicaid Analyst

2005-09-13T17:20:00.000-05:00

So today was my first day at my real job. With hurricane Katrina badness and our manager not beingthere the most helpful and productive thing I could do at work was stay out of the way. I did leard how to scan things, and I got my own username and password for the system, an "employee number" so people can send scanned stuff to me, a cubby hole, a stapler (and other general office supplies) and my very own desk (in a storage room of sorts). I don't have a computer. I'm mildly useless without acess to a computer. It's not my fault. I think I'll be getting a computer eventually. Until then I will scan things and check on the things I scanned intermittently on other people's computers while they take a quick potty break. I spent a good 5 hours at least being totally unproductive. One of my coworkers had pity on me and handed me a magazine. I like my coworkers. Their all moms, some are grandmas. Two of them referred to me as a baby. I coud go for being the mascot if that means I get to stay. (:

Now what?

2005-09-01T12:28:00.000-05:00

So Katrina has come and gone and New Orleans looks like a bowl of soup. The last I heard from Kent he hasn't been in contact with his family. All that really means is that phone lines are down, but that's to be expected. I hope they're okay.

I had family down there that I hadn't heard about until yesterday. I thought for sure their house would be underwater. They got about 3 to 4 inches inside and the whole family is up to their armpits in search and rescue. I really shouldn't have expected any less from Kevin and Cindy. My grandmother was in a nursing home in Houma. That nursing home doubles as an evacuation shelter, so she's just fine. I don' t know if she even knew there was a storm.

It really is amazing that a storm can be so big that it swallows up half of the Gulf of Mexico but a few miles one way or the other can make such a difference. Lafayette got a nice breezey day.

Daisy, I'm so sorry for your loss (Regan too, if you're reading). I know how much you really loved New Orleans. It was a city that touched many in a very special way. I don't think it's gone forever, but if there were a hospital for cities New Orleans would be in the ICU. We're all hopeful for a speedy and strong recovery.

I hope all of your loved ones are safe. I hope that they all have a place to sleep.

Today

2005-08-19T23:24:00.000-05:00

Well, I went to the doctor today, and I didn't get a mamogram after all. I got an ultrasound instead. (Haha, I got mine before Katies! Just kidding.) The gel is really warm! The doctor was a mildly grumpy old lady and she didn't see anything besides breast tissue. She told me to stop having so much caffine and that would help. I still don't know what its called. I think the grumpy lady was a bit annoyed at me for having something so trivial and worrying about it enough to bother her. But it is confirmed, no cancer. Apparently its some condidtion that isn't that uncommon and isn't really harmful, just uncomfortable. So now my right breast has been added to the long list of "harmless annoying little ailments that aren't that uncommon, but nobody else seems to have." Then Nathan, Kent and I had lunch with Charlie and Amanda at a sushi bar. It was good to see them, and the food was good, but I think my facination with sushi has reached its end. Kent was with us because his car broke down while he was trying to leave Natch to get to his grandfather's funeral. That sucks, I hate missing funerals.

A little about the job. I start training in Shreveport on the 29th. Basically my job will be to go over people's medicaid applications and decide whether or not they qualify. I will also be helping the effort in making it a paperless system by scanning a ton of things, apparently. I don't know much about the insurance situation, or when and how often I get paid or anything like that, except that it has to be better than the current insurance situation and how often I get paid now.

(;

2005-08-17T19:58:00.000-05:00

Um, I'm a Medicaid Analyst.

(:

Interviews! ..oh, and cancer.

2005-08-17T14:49:00.000-05:00

I'm getting a mamogram on Friday to be sure, but the doctor is almost certain that the lump-like object in my breast is NOT cancer. Always good to hear. She said it was probably this other thing that some women get as part of their cycle, starting around the age of 20. So now I have to cut back the caffine and find a good source of vitamin E. There, now you know. (:

I had an interview today. I prepared for it the night before thinking up answers to difficult questions with the help of Kelley. So I went to the interview all prepared and the lady barely asked me ANYTHING. She seemed excited that I didn't already have a job. She explained that there was the chance that the job might not last long, so she didn't want anybody quitting a different job just to be laidoff of this one. Se was impressed with my psych degree because "psychology is hard" I got to tell her that my roommates don't party all the time and actually really enjoy board games. But I had to work to get a word in edgewise. She spent the whole time explaining the job, explaining how easy it would be to transfer to another state job after having this one, what all is involved in the hiring process, I would get insurance, but I wouldn't get retirement. If it became permanent I could buy that spent time of retirement. I'm hesitant to say it, but I think she decided to hire me within the first five minutes of the interview. She still has people to interview, so that could change. I'm sending a thank-you note for backup.

I got a call for another interview after I got home from that one today. It's in Shreveport, as is the job, but it pays well, and the interview won't be until after I know for sure whether or not I got this other job. I'm suddenly very popular. It's nice.

Things and stuff

2005-08-13T17:34:00.000-05:00

Well, I didn't get a phone call about that job like I should have, so I'm guessing I didn't get it. Oh well. I have a couple of other jobs I'm sending in applications for on Monday and I'm going to do the smart thing and ask NSU for help in my job search.

It looks like we're going to be staying at the 8 mile house for another month. We decided that none of us have the money to move right now, so I called the land lady and she said we could stay.

I went on a walk today. it was really nice. I walked to the track, made four laps and walked back. I felt like I did something good, and the sunshine was really nice. I think I've been missing being outside recently.

Today is my daddy's birthday! He's 56 today, my how time flies. I'm gonna call him soon. Then I'm gonna call Amy! Because it's her birthday too! She will be joining many of us in the ranks of 23hood. I think she might be in Florida, so I hope I have her cell number. I think I do.

Happy birthday people!

Ooh, if it's their birthdays, it just might be meteor shower season. When I was little Dad told me that God put on a fireworks display every year for his birthday. Or maybe I told him that. Anyway it's true. They're Amy's fireworks too.

I think that's it. Yeah, that's it.

The job hunt

2005-08-09T16:44:00.000-05:00

Well, I had my first interview yesterday. It was with CASA of Natchitoches. They are a sort of extension of the court system dedicated to helping the courts make the very best decisions for children in abusive or negligent situations. It's a supervisory position that pays like a real job and is Monday through Friday from 8 to 5. Paid holidays, paid vacaion and sick leave that you have to earn. You know, a real job. The interview was okay, the director or whatever her title is is a really sweet lady and I think she liked me too. But liking someone isn't the same as wanting to hire them. I think I asked good questions, and spoke well in general, but when she said, "so tell me about yourself" I completely drew a blank! I talked about the karate school and wanting to be a clinical psychologist. But I really didn't have much to say. I learned a lot about the position, but I blew my shot at letting her learn very much about me, and after all, that's what an interview is for. So I called my sister and she told me to write a thank you note and say that I was nervous during the interview and then answer her query more fully. So I did and mailed it today. I talked about my extended and immidiate family, I talked about Nathan, I talked a lot about my brother, I talked about camping, gardening, the children I plan to have, french horns and the fact that my socks don't always match. I thanked her for her time and wished her luck in her decision and for the future of the organization, basically. She told me during the interview that I'd find out whether or not I got the job this Friday. Friday's a long way away.

Then this morning I got a call from a mental intsitution in Pineville for a job I previously applied for. It pays 6.50 an hour for the first 6 months, then there's a 4 percent raise, so that's 6.76. It was that psych aide position I may have told some of you about. They want me to come in for an interview at 8 something in the morning (an hour away, mind you) on what day? Friday! It is less like a real job, but it's in my field. It's an hour away. It pays less. We would HAVE to get another car. I'm more likely to get that job. It would probably be full time, we need the money. Damn it all!

Then there's the medicaid analyst position I applied for. It is here in Natch. It pays like a real job. It's minimum qualification is listed as "a bachalor's degree." I applied a while ago and I never heard back from them. They reposted the position! I'm going to apply again, but it just makes me so mad that I know that they didn't just simply not get any applicants! I applied! Someone there said, "well what about her? we could interviw her." the someone else said, "nah, lets just post it again and hope for better replys"

Grrrr.

So that is how things have been. I think I'm gonna go buy lottery tickets.

Post Pool Party Post

2005-08-01T12:50:00.000-05:00

Well, that was fun. Everybody seemed to have a good time, I'm kinda proud of my annual shindig. Though next time, I'll try to plan the food a little better. I don't think anybody went hungry, but I'm not sure how. My parent's were a bit surprised at how clean the house was when they got home, so that was good. I'm just still so dazed from the whole weekend that I just don't have much to say. Except that our new niece has hair on her ears. I find that funny.

Happy birthday Simo, you didn't get sunburned.

Update!

2005-07-25T21:19:00.000-05:00

Well, I just woke up and it's 9 pm. Believe it or not, that's an improvement. For about the past 3 weeks untilvery recently I've been goin to bed at 6 am and waking at 3 pm. It started out just as a few odd "nights" and it became my daily routine. I think it was because I was reading so much at the time. Anyway that is about the worst sleep schedule to be on when trying to make yourself look for a job. Bleh. Well today I sent in an application for a civil service job. I applied for a medicaid analyst position. It pays like a real job! I had to take an exam for it and I got a 98! That basically means that I did better than 98% of all the people who take that test. They must not be all that bright. Kelley's applying for the same job in Lafayette. She, of course, got a 99. Go Kelley!
I hope we both get these jobs, that would be so fun!

Anyway, waking up at 9 pm is a good thing because I have once again disjarred my sleep schedule. For the past three days I've slept at different times every "night." So hopefully, by the time I settle into a routine, I'll go to bed in the dark and wake in the light. That would be nice.

Nathan andI gave in. It was so unexpected, I didn't even know he wanted to. But then everybody started making new characters on a new server and the next thing I know, we too play World of Warcraft. We're both on the same account, so we can never play together. But I love my tauren druid named Chamomile.

This weekend is going to be so great. Of course there's the pool party, but the goodness starts on Friday for me! The place where my brother lived had invited us to join them in a little memorial ceremony for Michael. They're going to plant a tree. It makes me so happy that they miss him that much too. It is so good of them to care so much. I miss him.

So then there's the pool party! I'm so looking forward to it. I have yet to get a hold of Vilbas. So if anyone talks to him, please bring it up. Sadly my parents aren't going to be there. They aer going to Hackberry that weekend and going to visit my great aunt Mary. Sorry people.

Well, now you're caught up! Have the good day!

Grumble Grumble

2005-07-08T00:33:00.000-05:00

I hate cramping.

Cramping makes me angry. It doesn't make me angry with God, but it gives me a better understanding of him I think. God is not a man that would just be silly, God doesn't have any use for gender. He is just as much woman as he is man. I say "he" only for convienience. But I really must assert that God is NOT a woman. No woman God would make the possibility of someday producing offspring such a pain in the uterus! I'm sure there is a good reason for all childbearing women to be the martyrs of the species, but I'll be damned if I know what it is!

My reproductive instincts are getting steadily more severe. There is definately a small part of me that feels a little cheated that I'm not pregnant right now. There was very mild concern that I might be, and I am glad that I'm not. Having kids right now would be foolish of us. But if I were, then at least this annoying pain and this foul mood would be accomplishing something! It makes me want to break things. So instead I take the pain and anger out on qwerty here.

If I were a dragon in a cave I woud be sitting and hoping that some fool knight would come in that I might get the chance to toast him.

Wait, there's the advil, I feel it now. It's a good feeling. I can feel the cramping wither away. It cowers in a corner now. It will come back later, but for now the pain is locked in a small box, huddled and motionless.

Pool Party Season

2005-06-24T21:53:00.000-05:00

I have just sent out the emails about this years pool party, so go check yours. If you didn't get it bug somebody who probably did to foreward it to you or ask me to. It's currently being planned for the weekend of July 30th. I'll see you then.

Other Home

2005-06-16T14:19:00.000-05:00

Well, now I'm back from two weeks in Lafayette. It felt kinda like I was in this really long dream where I lived at my parents' house again and so did Kelley. We each lived in our respective rooms and Kelley's husband was there too. I missed Nathan a lot but In this dream it was just like life before Kelley went to college, except that everything that happened between then and now did in fact happen. So his not being there wasn't that strange, nor was his being there. I told you, kinda like a dream. I'm glad I babysitted for Aynsley, It really gave her boys and me a chance to really get to know each other. Now when I go over there I won't feel like I'm re-introducing myself to people who have forgotten me. And Brodi is so smart and responsible. When he isn't being a defiant little three year old (like he's supposed to be at three) he's like my little hero. Oh, and Ayla BITES. I still have colorful bruises from where she cheerfully needed to feed upon human flesh. Ashton is just a cute little boy who's mostly happy except when he remembers that there is food he's not eating. It was exhausting! They reall weren't that bad cosidering that they are three, two, and almost one year old. But geez, that in no way makes them NOT three, two, and almost one year old. They just run you in circles all day long. Thank the Lord Almighty for naps! I seriously don't know what I would have done if one or two didn't periodically just fall over in exhaustion every now and then. (Never all three at once. I think they agreed on that beforehand. Ayla worked long and hard on her part of the bargain on the last day. Have you ever seen a baby screeam for an hour at the top of her lungs out of sheer exhaustion? She fell asleep periodically for a few seconds, woke up, then continued to scream!)

Yesterday Nathan, Kelley, Chris, Adam and I went to see Batman begins. It was really fun. The movie wasn't perfect, but it was far better than a few other renditions of Batman. Then later Nathan Adam andI went to see Mr. and Mrs. Smith. That was also great. It was downright cute. I would be willing to see either agin if people are looking for someone to seen them with.

Now I'm back at home and I need a job and for life to normal out again.

Home

2005-05-29T21:58:00.000-05:00

I am at home, as is Kelley and Chris. Nathan will be here Tuesday night and almost every definition of "home" for me will be met. We put together their room today and it still isn't convincing that this isn't just another visit. I hope this step is a good one for them. I think it will be. Anyway, it makes my sister more visitable. (: We have a lot of cleaning up to do here before my cousin's party. She got married last year at a small private wedding and is throwing a reception for the family at my parents' house.

I drove my mother's car some while I've been here and I actually had to readjust to an automatic. Very strange.

A smalller greener van, that is not a van at all.

2005-05-19T13:26:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I'm not going to tell the meaty part of the story because it is not mine to tell, and everybody loves to see Nathan tell exciting stories. Nathan and I went to South Carolina to help a friend move and visit some other friends. After some deliberation, Kent decided to be spontanious and come with us. We suprised all of our SC friends wit the presence of Kent and a good time was had by all (when Kent wasn't too busy being sick). It was so great to see Katie ad Andy and it was the first time in a long time that we had all really gotten a chance to get some good visiting time in with them. Oh, and Adam was pretty cool too. (:

At some point of the trip all the guys except for Kent went to this RPG event and the girls and Kent did other stuff. At some point I had a bread bowl with vegetable soup. It was good even if there wasn't meat. I just really live the whole bread bowl concept. Oh, and Sean was wearing this cute dragon flamey diaper that he could take off at any given moment. It was so cute.

Anyway, eventually Katie and I were at their house with the Forester, Kent was at the hotel with the van and the boys were RPGing with the Echo. I asked Nathan to go pick up the van so he could bring me back to the hotel. So on the way home, Andy was by himself in the Echo and Nathan and Adam were in the van. Then it started pouring. Come to think of it, the lightning did give the night an eerie feeling. Katie and I get a phone call and the caller ID says that it's Nathan and this makes me happy. So I happily answer the phone and Nathan tells me that he had a wreck. Oh shit. Is everyone okay? Yes. Is the van okay? No. So I start trying to get directions to the crash site, and Katie does the smart thing and asks to talk to Andy. So now people who actually know the area are giving and recieving directions. We pack Sean up and get in the car and slowly start our way to the boys in the dark rain. Katie couldn't stop talking and I couldn't speak more than five words. We were both trying so hard to be calm, but when we finally got there I definately was out of my seatbelt and opening the door before the car was stopped. I closed the door again and chastized myself while I waited for Katie to park. I found Nathan in the rain and my first thought was how much he hates standing in the rain. He didn't seem to notice it. I gave him a big celeratory hug and he apologized about the van. I told him I didn't care, and that's when I saw it. At first, it didn't look that bad, just upside down, but upon closer inspection, it was a lot shorter. Then we went to the place where it all started. When we looked at the creek they almost fell into I wanted to vomit. There was at least a 10 foot drop into shallow mud and I don't think things would have turned out so well. then we went back to the van to start pulling stuff out of it. I had a flaslight and was peering into the van ans I noticed that a tree trunk was on the side of the van opposite me. You couldn't really see it unless you looked through the side and back window. Then I noticed the other sliding door was behind the tree. Nathan was the one who pointed out that that tree trunk was about a foot and a half from where Adam's head was during the accident. That earned more hugs for everyone. So we started searching for things worth keeping and hauling them to the Echo trunk. (We never found my glasses.) When I as bringingan armfull of stuff to the Echo I notice something hanging slightly out of the trunk. It was a pendant of the Blessed Virgin Mary. I asked and it didn't belong to Katie or Andy and nobody knew how it got in their trunk. They said I could keep it.

Geez this is long.

So we went back to their house and Katie found dry clothes for Nathan and I and Adam had to hang around in a towel until his clothed dried and we spent the rest of the trip very thankful and trying sucessfully to continue having fun. Dad offered to come get us (24 hours round trip) and rent a uhaul for Adam's stuff, but I got a hold of my family in Birmingham to see if they could come get us. (Adam will find another weekennd to move down) They were sweet enough not only for Rick to come pick us up, but they also gave us a car. It's a little green Tercel with great gas milage. So Nathan and I had to quickly learn t drive a standard. It really is a lot of fun. We both picked it up pretty quickly.

So yay for Kent surprise, yay for Katie and Andy time, yay for flamey dragon diapers, yay for loving and giving family, yay for little green cars, but most of all, yay for living Nathans and Adams.

for those of you who are interested...

2005-05-04T20:52:00.000-05:00

okay, I doubt it, but this might fall under the too much info category. so just read cautiously... or something.

I broke my record!!!

Around the time I was origianlly supposed to ovulate this cycle I got sick, and then there was crazy finals stress. The strain on my body has apparently caused my body to stall ovulation and save it up for later. Anyway, I haven't had my period in 57 days. I'm not pregnant. I just had a second mucus patch about two weeks ago, so I should be starting any day now. Only there's no cramping, and I don't think I'm moody, so the end is nowhere in sight! What happens is you have your regular mucus patch and around the end of it you ovulate. (A mucus patch is when you secreet mucus from your cervix, and it shos up further south and provides a happy environment for sperm to live in.) But when it's really stressed sometimes, at the last moment, it decides not to ovulate and you have a second mucus patch later, pushing your whole cycle back and you ovulate then. I think that it might be possible that the events of this past month may have caused something that I've never seen recorded in any NFP literature I've seen! I'm on the lookout for a third mucus patch! Most of the finals madness happened while I was in my second mucus patch and it may have pushed it back further.

I have no reason to believe this has happened except that I see no sign of starting any time soon. I'll keep the oddly curious updated.

Just so you know, I think this is what caused a miscalculation on our wedding night.