CHAOS

I have been neglecting my blog for a while now. Mainly because with the holidays upon us, there are so many more fun blogs to look at. :) However, a few friends have been posting at least one a day lately, so I figured it really wasn't that fair...

So what's new? Well.. the pregnancy is going great! I got a neck massage on the 20th of November and haven't had a headache since, EXCEPT the very next day (and 2 days before we left for Idaho) I felt a sinus cold coming on. So our entire vacation was a little miserable for me. And wouldn't you know, as soon as we got home, the sinus headaches stopped?! Funny how that works... Other than that, the only thing I really have to complain about is a sensitive gag reflex. With both of my previous pregnancies, I would wake up in the middle of the night, on average 1-3 times a night, and choke on my own spit, and then throw up. Stupid, huh? I haven't gotten sick from it yet; just wake up coughing. Last night was the first night I finally realized that I wasn't coughing from being sick... oh well. I'm about halfway done (almost) so I guess I can handle it for another 23 weeks, right? :/ My next appointment is Monday the 7th, and I am very excited, except for the fact that they're doing all my bloodwork. BUT, we are scheduling my ultrasound for about a week after and I couldn't be more excited!!! Maybe they'll let me schedule it next Friday for my birthday! Now, THAT would be fun! Cross your fingers for a girl!!! :)

Life at home has been pretty stressful. Car sales is a lot harder than it looks, and is completely a mind game it seems. Joe is just the guy for it, and has been getting sales, but each sale, for some reason, has been low profit. We just can't figure it out. The other day, we got a call from Joe's previous co-worker/friend Ben, saying that he knew a guy who worked in Richland and needed a drafter at his engineering firm. So he told him all about Joe, and they decided to meet up at the building on Wednesday and just go and meet the guy. It's a good thing Joe brought a change of clothes! It turned out to be an 1.5 hour interview!! Blessing? Uh yeah, I think so. The hours would be better, the pay better (and a for sure thing), and he'd be home at nights!! :) This opportunity just completely fell into our laps. We got another call yesterday saying that they want him to come on Monday for a second interview, and to meet all of the other managers in the building. Crazy, crazy, I tell ya. Not to complain, because I am SO SO SO grateful, but it's too bad it didn't happen like a couple weeks earlier. Oh well... better late than never, right? The Lord does provide!!!

Anyhow, I would post pictures of our Thanksgiving trip to Idaho, but my computer won't cooperate, so another time! Hope you all are having a great holiday season!!

BANG!!!

Sooo.... Yesterday, at 7:30 A.M., Connor was sitting on his knees on a bar stool because he "needed" something that was on the counter. I was at the sink and told him to get down. Amazingly enough, he listened! However, the stools are rather tall, and if he is laying on the stool seat, his feet don't quite reach the step. SO, he tried sliding all the way off, but his feet slid in front of the step instead of out, making him fall down onto his bottom. Because he fell, he pulled the stool right with him and BANG.. the edge of the seat hit him right on the mouth. Poor guy... he was really crying, but I was doing dishes and hadn't seen it happen. I wiped my hands and walked around to him, where he was still laying on the floor, picked him up, and as soon as I did, blood came gushing out everywhere! No exaggeration. I could see a small cut on the outside of his mouth, and his bottom lip swelled up immediately, so I knew that he'd probably bit his lip. Haylie was still in bed when it happened, but as soon as she heard Connor crying, she came bursting out of her room, and started freaking out because she'd seen the blood. I told her to go get dressed... called our neighbor (who was still asleep), and my mom, took Haylie to the neighbor's where my mom would pick her up later. I then threw (not literally) Connor in the car and off we went to the E.R. in pajamas and glasses, at 8 A.M. Luckily, I thought to put a bra on before we left... It's a good thing too, because we didn't get home until 1 P.M. :/

Connor bawled the whole way, and then harder when we got to the hospital. If you know my family, you know that we are buddies with the staff at KMC, as we spent the majority of last winter in the Emergency Room. He kept saying, "But I'm not sick though. I don't want to go to the doctor." Our nurse was so nice.. he got us right in, but of course Connor wanted nothing to do with anything in the room. We sweet talked him until the doctor came in, and after looking at his mouth, Dr. said he would need some stitches. He said we would only leave them in for 5 days, otherwise there would be very noticeable scarring. Unfortunately, Connor wasn't cooperating very well, so they decided to put him to sleep for the procedure. Let me tell ya', I advise all moms to LEAVE THE ROOM if ever you have to go through something like this. One second Connor was awake, and the next he was asleep, but his eyes stayed open the entire time, making his little body seem very lifeless. NOT something I hope to do EVER AGAIN!

After cleaning up his cut, the doctor noticed that the cut inside his mouth was a lot bigger than we thought, so 3 stitches on the outside and 5 on the inside were what we ended up with.Coming out of the anesthesia was a VERY slow process. That little guy just didn't want to wake up. Dr. moved his body around a little bit, and we talked to him about Popsicles and that seemed to help (surprise, surprise!).

He seems to be doing a little better, although he's still sore. He complained about his neck hurting when we got home, so I'm guessing it jarred him a bit when the chair landed on him. He also had a bit of a loose tooth, but the doctor said it would probably tighten back up. Other than that, he's a pretty tough little guy. Thank goodness children are so resilient! I think it freaked me out more than him...

Recipe for Quiet

1. A few chairs

2. A few blankets

3. Some "fish and those" (aka fish crackers and dried cranberries)

4. A LONG movie, such as Mary Poppins

What do you get?

Happy kids. And what do you get from that? A happy Mom.

It seems like with Joe working such crappy hours, no time off this past week, being pregnant (i.e. hormones galore, fatigue, more hormones, etc. etc.), our lives are just so jumbled. Things just feed off of each other. I've been having headaches which makes me grouchy, which makes my kids naughty, which makes me yell, which gives me headaches. Do you see how it's a never ending cycle?

Today, all of a sudden, I had a genius idea! Actually, we've done it before, but never has it sounded so appealing! We set up this little "tent" in the living room, put on Mary Poppins (which is a good 2 hours or more long, which means by the time it's done, it'll be lunch time and then nap time :), threw in some blankets and pillows and now I am sitting here in peace and quiet, feeling VERY headache free. :)

Necessities

Last night, I went in to check on Haylie before we went to bed, and I found her in our bed, sound asleep, with a naked Barbie and Joe's knife, clutched in her little hands. I mean, a girl's gotta have her stuff, right? Good thing we caught her before she rolled over or something... after looking closer, we noticed that the knife was out of it's sheath. :/

::Headaches::

When I was pregnant with Connor, I think about halfway through, I started getting headaches. Not like a little pain; severe pain where I wasn't able to function at all! I remember just laying on the couch trying to ease the pain with warm and cold washcloths, tons of acetaminophen, hot baths, etc. etc. You name it, I probably tried it. After about a week and a half of a constant headache, we met with my doctor. He had me go in for a CAT scan, which scared the living daylights out of me, but I went. Of course, everything was clear. Back to the Dr's. office I went! This time he prescribed me something (that I can't remember the name of). It worked TOO well. It definitely kicked the headache. It also made me feel like I was drunk. I know Joe thought it was pretty funny... I remember one night we went to see Pirates of the Caribbean at the dollar theater, and I fell asleep about 20 minutes into the movie. That stuff just knocked me out every time I took it! And of course, because of the effects, he only gave me like 10 pills. However, as soon as I would wake up in the morning, the headache would be back, 100%! I kept asking my doctor if he would prescribe me a massage to see if that would help, and he wouldn't do it. SO, I went by myself. My good friend had her license, so she gave me a massage on the base of my skull and all over my neck. I didn't have a headache for almost a month after that!!
SO, when I got pregnant with this one, I wondered if I would get them again. Yep. I've had one for about the last 4 days now. Today I called my nurse and told her the history, and she said, "Why don't you come in tomorrow?" So here I go! Hopefully they will prescribe me like a weekly massage or something. If it gets rid of my headaches, GREAT!!! Plus, it's always nice to get pampered...

Fresh Air

On Joe's day off last week, we took our dog Rusty to the river for a little walk and some retrieving practice. The kids were very excited for a day out with Daddy, especially Haylie, as she is our "outside child." Connor was having fun too, but he doesn't really like to get cold, especially his hands. He had also been a little under the weather last week, so we contemplated taking him. BUT, being cooped up in the house kind of got to me, so we bundled up and headed out. Once we got outside, we realized it was a pretty nice day. :)

This is at the Yakima River, just about a mile down the road from our house. I'm pretty sure Connor is in mid-blink here... kind of a funny picture. :D
Rusty, waiting for Joe to throw the dummy.
Haylie walking down the trail. We are always leaving Connor behind. Every time we go somewhere, inside or out, he has to stop and inspect every little speck of dirt or blade of grass. So, since we were out all by ourselves and I knew he couldn't get hurt, we just kept walking. I tried all sorts of, "Bye, Connor,"'s and "Let's go Connor!"'s but nothing worked. When we finally got back to the car, he was still standing in the same spot, so I sent Haylie after him and this is them running back.

::Our Halloween::

Joe had to work until 7 on Halloween, so the kids and I headed into Prosser to do some trick-or-treating with Kortnie and Alison. :) Then as soon as he got home, we headed back and did some trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. We have a great neighborhood... minus the fact that because we didn't hand out candy this year, someone egged our car. REAL NICE!

:: Cowboy Connor ::

:: Princess Haylie ::

(Which actually turned into a princess fairy when she insisted on wearing the wings)
I took this picture first, and Haylie wasn't being a good sport because of an upset tummy (before trick-or-treating...????) but she cheered up quickly after I told her, "Haylie. Don't smile." ;) What a trooper. She walked in those heels the entire night! Hope everyone had a safe and Happy Halloween!!! :D