Missing My Oldest

Today my parents and Colten left for a ten day road trip camping and visiting family. They are going to a remote camping area in SE Oregon called Steen's Mountain. Colten's been excited ever since he found out several days ago he was going. I know he will behave himself and have a great time, but I still miss him. Dinner was quiet tonight and only having one boy to bathe and bedtime to do really leaves some gaps in the routine. It is nice because Carson goes to bed earlier than Colten, so I can escape and get stuff done, like paying the bills.
As far as the pregnancy goes, I'm feeling miserable. What was my bad days weeks ago are now my good days. I'm just trying to get through the next few weeks. The one thing I am thankful for is that while I feel nauseous anytime I eat, at least I don't throw up. That would be really rough. I'm not gaining any weight though, and I'm not eating very healthy. Whatever is in my empty kitchen and sounds good is what I have. This last week my diet was mostly carbs and cheese; quesadillas, mac 'n' cheese, ramen with cheese, etc... I hope when I feel better, I will start eating better, or I'll be gaining weight fast. Tony is worried that something's wrong, but I keep telling him it is ok. I think he just wants the next few weeks to go by fast so he can hear the Dr. say I'm healthy and fine and see the ultrasound. I hope these days go fast, even though they are my summer. I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired. One nice side benefit, my father in-law weeded and watered my flowerbeds today and my mother in-law cleaned the kitchen and fixed dinner!

Stupid governments!!

It has been a few days but I'm finally calmed down enough now to vent my frustration about the way the City of Olympia does things. I know, Olympia is known for their "hippy" culture, their Evergreen influence, and their numerous protests about a variety of things. None of this keeps idiots from being in positions to make poor choices about how their city is run. A few weeks ago, Tony put in an application for a water systems job opening with the city. We didn't hear anything from them for almost a month and Tony had given up hope. The city told us, don't call us, we'll call you or you just don't qualify. Well, we finally got a call!! Tony was so excited and nervous for an interview and we were ready to practice interview questions. Tony was one of 16 finalists out of over 200 applicants! This was great. The day after they called to schedule the interview, they called to cancel it. They explained that the city was experiencing budget cuts and was laying off workers and would fill the position from the people laid off. This all makes sense, but why would you post a position, review applications and set up interviews only to change your mind the next day??!! Was there some miscommunication betweeen human resources and accounting, or even the city council for that matter??!! Ya think!! It just irritates me how inconsiderate some people are. With a new baby coming, Tony is looking for jobs in other cities to make more much needed money to buy baby stuff.

The Crappy Days of Pregnancy

If you don't want to hear me whining, skip this post!
For all those girlfriends out their who heard me say I wanted a third child, I'm telling you, "No more babies after this!" Somehow I got lucky and don't really remember the 1st trimester of being pregnant with my oldest, and the 1st trimester of being pregnant with my second wasn't all that bad. I remember having problems cooking and/or eating meat of any kind when I was pregnant with Colten, but not being sick all the time. With Carson I was just tired and didn't want to eat. No smells really bothered me either time (other than meat cooking or cigarette smoke). This time, I'm only 7 weeks along and I've already felt sick for the past three! The worst part is just starting! No matter what I eat I feel sick after I eat it, and I feel sick when I'm hungry too! The smells bother me so bad I'm holding my breath to open the fridge, the garbage, or diaper pail.
I'm so exhausted this time too! It's like having the flu and being comatose on the couch the entire time while the kids wreck havoc all around you. I try to sleep at night and toss and turn, and can barely function during the day. My poor children are confused and frustrated with me and I just can't keep up. They want a mommy to play with them and watch them and all I want to do is close my eyes. The best parts of the day are when they are asleep (nap and bedtime) because then I can sleep too. My husband has been so wonderful through this. He gets the boys up and dressed in the morning, plays with them after dinner, and helps with the bedtime routine. He's even been a sport about the easy dinners I've been cooking since I don't really feel like eating. I'm sure he's sick of sandwiches and hot dogs. I'll try to make it up to him in three or four weeks when the worst is over.
The only good thing about these horrendous symptoms is that it means my body and the baby are producing the right hormones to keep the pregnancy going well. I just have to keep telling myself that it is good (is a strange way) that I feel like this and that it will get better, in three or four weeks. For now, my days consist of trying to feed and play with my children, lying down as often as possible, and eating only what sounds good to me. Thank goodness for my family and in-laws because they like to help watch the boys for some time so I can catch up on the dishes or laundry.
In other family news, our cat Wendel, whom we thought was coyote bait after being gone over a week showed up at the door this morning, a little skinny and pitch covered, but very alive. We think he might have gotten cornered up a tree and taken a while to get down. He is sticking very close to the house and to his brother Bob, who missed him very much. Hopefully this will inspire him to stay close to home. Tony and I had just talked yesterday about getting a kitten to keep Bob company since he seemed so lonely, but our prayers were answered and Wendel is home!

A week Camping

We just got back from a week up at our favorite camping place Ft. Flagler. It was a busy week with all the parents and brother joining us for a few days. Tony was great and watched the boys and took them for bike rides and walks. I was really nauseaous a couple days, but Tony watched the kids and let me rest. It was a great time. We spent lots of time on the beach with the puppies.

Colten took a ferry ride with the guys.

The boys found a cool driftwood fort to play in.


We hung around our camp and chased after Carson to keep him from running into the street.

You can't see it, but we found freckles on Colten's nose! His first five!

We got home, and the boys passed out and wouldn't wake up for anything!

A new addition, part II

Ok, so here is the big news! Tony and I just found out that we are expecting a baby the first week in March. For those of you who are wondering, no this was not a planned blessing, but a big surprise. My exhaustion and flu-like feeling at the end of the school year was really my body telling me I was pregnant. Tony and I are still adjusting to the fact that we will have a third child just two years after Carson.
Yesterday was my first visit to the Dr. and the baby is due March 6, 2009. I am 4 weeks and 5 days pregnant. I was going to wait to post this information until later, but most of you who bother to read this already know. My appointment yesterday was really just a formality, nothing exciting happened. I didn't even see the Dr. and instead had my height and weight (scary sight) taken and spent the next 1/2 hour discussing my medical history with a nurse who isn't even married, much less ever experienced pregnancy! I had no questions and knew what to expect and what I should be feeling like, so after leaving some blood and pee behind, I got to leave. My next Dr.'s appointment isn't until August 12th, but they will do an ultrasound then, so it will be good. I did get signed up for the same doctor who looked after me when I delivered Carson, whom I really liked and respected. That is good.
So right now, I am always exhausted and feeling yucky! I'm not throwing up, but feel sick to my stomach after I eat anything, doesn't matter what, which makes me really look forward to eating more! Probably the worst thing about how I feel is that my favorite food, chocolate, doesn't appeal to me anymore! That is a really big deal if you know me! Instead, I'm really craving equally unhealthy foods like cheese. I've been living on cheese quesadillas with salsa and sour cream when nothing else sounds good. But for all you worriers out there, I have been eating my veggies!

A new addition to the household!

Yesterday I bought a refrigerator, a new one. Our old one was only six years old, but in those six years we have constantly been having problems with it keeping the freezer frozen, and the food cold. We have had new thermostats and even a new compressor put on it, but still it was giving us grief. Maybe it was the HOT weather this last weekend that messed it up. I just know that the state of ice cream in the freezer went from being soft to runny Monday night. Tony and I talked about what to do. Do we just wait for it to really die, or pay the absurd house call fee for someone to come and look at it again? We finally decided to turn it to the coldest setting and see if that helped. The fridge was on all night long running and the next morning, while things were cool, they weren't cold. The frozen stuff was soft still, and the produce in the fridge was starting to go bad. I spent my day shopping for a new refrigerator instead of cleaning and sanitizing the camping trailer for next week. The new fridge is nice, but a bit smaller than our old one. It still fits all the food we have just fine and the price was right! $400! Tony doesn't like that it is smaller and there are gaps on the sides of it now between the cabinets and walls. I told him that if he didn't like it he needed to take it back and get another one. He was the one who sent me shopping for it in the first place because he was too busy to go with me. He asked me what the price on one like our old one was and it was $650! He then decided that the new one was just fine. So if any of you are in need of a cool, but not cold refrigerator, one is available. I think we will just sell it to a used place. They will probably be able to clean it and replace one small part and then sell it for $500. We just didn't want to bother anymore!

What do I do???

I know it has been a long time (three weeks) since my last post. A lot has been happening since then. I finally got my laptop back from the shop (the last day of school! Big help there!) and now have fast access at home.

I've also started my summer vacation and for the next ~10 weeks, I'm a stay at home mom. So, what do I do? My first day of vacation I did five loads of laundry. Today, was for myself mostly. I got a new hairstyle and sat around mostly reading. I'm trying to get over the "end of school slump" as my husband puts it. Some student also graciously gave me their flu bug too, so I'm trying to recover from that. Other things I'm doing? Watching the cats play outside, watching cute bunnies eat my flowers, feeling like I should be out pulling the big thorny weeds! Since it seems the boys are on different schedules for napping, I've been speding lots of time outside with each of them alone.

Today I was out with Carson. He did the usual things. Pick mommy's flowers, play in his house, and drive his car. He also chased the kitties and tried to throw the toy for the dogs.

Colten was so exhausted because this morning my parents took the training wheels off Colten's bike. He was zipping around so fast and he didn't even need to worry. The hardest part for him was getting started and not running into things since he was going so fast. He even rode almost to my parent's gate and back! He is growing up so fast.

One last thing I'm planning to keep doing is enjoy my view each morning and night when the boys are both busy or asleep!