A Slice of Life, No Sugar Added

Obligatory 2nd post of the month.

2010-08-18T13:22:00.000-05:00

I'm averaging two posts a month. Go me!

Had Xavi's 9 month appointment today. He's getting so big! His personality is starting to come through as he's starting to push my hands away when he doesn't want me to help or give him something. He's also standing on his own and took a few steps unassisted yesterday. He'll be running around before you know it and then I (and Kayleigh!) will be in trouble. He's on more solid food too, so he's nursing less and less. (But only has two teeth so far!) Thankfully he's sleeping through the night more often, so mommy can feel more rested in the mornings.

K's still making great progress, although her behavior is taking a bit of a nose-dive because of it. I've always heard that when kids make progress in some areas, something else suffers and it's usually behavior. Her tantrums are starting to taper off, but she's still making it known when she's unhappy. Which is often. Because she's a Miss Crankypants. Like her mommy.

I've taken the front off her crib (again) because I was getting tired of all the little bruises all over her legs and arms. I swear the kid threw herself against the bars at night! She's doing really well in the daybed, so that's good. She plays if she gets up in the middle of the night but goes back to bed when she's tired. I also took her paci away last month. She didn't fight it as much as I thought she would. Woohoo!

Patrick has been doing some thinking and is looking into moving more toward portraits, and specializing in special needs kids. As the father of a special needs child, he's more sensitive than most photographers to the sensitivities, quirks and challenges that come with dealing with and parenting a non-typical child. We're still doing some research into it (there's apparently an organization that provides training and accreditation for special needs photography) but I think it's a good idea.

I'm about ready to finish up my business to business (b2b) copywriting course, and I'm liking what I see. It seems like it's right up my alley as it's less hype and hoopla than most of the direct-to-customer sales materials out there. I'm shooting for an official "launch date" for the copywriting business of September 1st--because I'm anal and like to start things on a specific day/date like that. Actually, since Sept 1st is a Wed, maybe I'll start on Monday, Aug 30th. Seems like a good time to toss my shingle out.

We have a freaking flock of hummingbirds around here. There must be at least 15 of the little buggers flittering around out there. I have three feeders out and they just guzzle down the sweet stuff like it's going out of style! I reloaded the feeders on Monday at noon and they were completely out by last night. Piggies! I'm going to have to make more for them today.

I hate summer in St. Louis.

2010-08-09T15:27:00.000-05:00

It's hot. It's humid. It prevents you from going out and doing anything. What a waste of sunlight.

Things are going well here. Pretty much same old same old stuff, actually. The photography business is doing well, I'm about ready to hit the ground running on my copywriting business (yes, again--shut up) and the kids are doing well. We sold our truck about a month ago so the finances haven't been too bad on my mind for a while. Now they're starting to inch their way back again. Sigh.

K's been making some genuine progress lately--it's really encouraging. She's more social, more interactive and more vocal than she was just a few weeks ago. It's great to see her labeling things--mostly "cookie", "car" and "cup"--but she can recognize quite a few of her letters and make their correct sounds as well. She's giving us hugs when we ask for them, and has been moved to the kitchen table (as opposed to her little booster/high chair) and is starting to use utensils to eat. Such progress!

X has finally cut his first tooth last week. His drooling has been kicked up to 11 and he's been just gnawing on anything and everything that's within reach, so I kinda figured it was coming. It sure took its time.

That's about it. See you in another month. :P

Look ma! Two posts in one month!

2010-05-27T21:04:00.000-05:00

A record, no doubt.

We had K's ABA assessment done today. For those unfamiliar with the lingo of Special Ed and autism therapies, ABA stands for Applied Behavioral Analysis. It's an intense--as in 3 or so hours multiple days a week--therapy in which bad behaviors are weeded out while appropriate behaviors are reinforced. It teaches the kids that acting appropriately will get you what you want faster than acting inappropriately. I'm not explaining it very well, but basically it's a very good form of therapy for kids with autism, and the tester thought that K would benefit greatly from it. We think she will because in the 2 hours he was here to do the assessment, she was starting to learn what will and won't work in regards to behavior and getting what she wants. It was pretty impressive. Now he's gotta write up his report and send it to our First Steps coordinator, who will then get in contact with me to schedule a meeting so we can all get together and discuss what the expectations and goals are for the therapy. K ages out of First Steps in about 8 months, so I hope it won't take too long to get these sessions going.

In about two weeks I'll be heading back to PA with two young kids. By myself. On a plane. I'm going to see about getting K some little toys for the trip and pray they hold her attention so I don't have a tantrumy 2 year old on the plane or in the terminal.

Xavi is crawling. I think he's about 2 months earlier than K was at mobility. He's also starting to pull himself up into a kneeling-standing position. We're thinking that walking may happen before Halloween. Or maybe not. We'll see.

I'm going to start pushing my copywriting again. Yes again. I'm getting really sick of writing those $15 articles, as I find myself getting SO easily distracted that I simply cannot concentrate on them well. We NEED the money (especially since I got myself a stupid speeding ticket the other night) so I NEED to write them, but I'm also going to see about getting some higher paying copywriting work. There's stuff I need to do first--like getting my website updated and nailing down a few details--but I'm going to try and get everything ready for a relaunch in July. (2 years since I actually registered the "Written By Annette" name, I may add. LAZY.)

That's about it. Boring life, same old, same old.

I have blogger ADD.

2010-05-17T14:23:00.000-05:00

Yes I do because I totally and completely forget about a blog about 10 minutes after I post. Mostly because nothing of much interest happens in my life anyway, so posting seems really stupid and boring. Yawn.

The calendar is full of appointments galore, as Kayleigh has someone coming every single week now. Her special instructor, speech pathologist and today starts occupational therapy. I've got another packet I need to fill out in order to get her even more intensive therapy to try and pinpoint and work around her various sensory and communication issues, which will mean even MORE appointments. But I got a new phone that will help me keep track of all these appointments so that's good.

Xavi is getting bigger and more mobile every day. I think he's ahead of where K was at his age (which is 6 months today! Happy half birthday little man!) as he's pulling himself up into a hands and knees position and rocking himself to move forward. He's kinda sorta moving his knees and hands in the quintessential crawling manner, so we're gearing up for when he figures out how to move them properly in order to get some actual motion. I don't think K crawled until she was closer to 7 or 8 months--I'm a horrible mommy because I don't have that etched into my memory for all times--so I think Xavi's a little ahead in the gross motor skills. He's also putting the paci back into his own mouth with no help and has been for over a month, and manipulating things with both hands very well. He's not showing any of the social delays that K had and he's ~~yelling~~ babbling up a storm all the time so communication seems to be on track too. Here's hoping we avoid any issues with him and as he gets older he'll actually help show his big sister how to do things.

I'm so sick of rain. Our yard is the lowest in the subdivision so it takes FOREVER to dry out in order to cut, and with all this rain the grass is going berzerk. Once it gets to the almost dry point, we get another storm. Frustrating.

I guess that's it. That's all I can think of anyway.

Spring in my step.

2010-03-24T11:01:00.000-05:00

Okay, not really, I just wanted to try and come up with a witty title. Fail.

Anyway, since my last update--which I haven't re-read so pardon me if I repeat something--we had K's 6 month meeting with First Steps. We're upping her sessions to every week instead of twice a month to see how that will help. She's going to age out of FS when she turns 3, so we're going to take advantage of everything they can offer us. Because she was diagnosed with autism, she's also eligible for the preschool program when she turns 3, which I think will be great for her. (Of course, considering their cut-off times, I doubt she'll actually be able to get INTO the school until she's closer to 4, because of when her birthday lands. Frustrating.)

I've started giving her fish oil, as some research I've done on the subject seems to suggest that kids with autism are deficient in the various minerals that fish oil contains, and giving them the supplements help to 'top off the tank' so to speak. It may be my imagination, but I think it's helping. She seems more vocal and is mimicing us more than she used to. She also seems a little more 'with it' and that adds to her increase in mimicry. I think she's actually doing 'baby talk' so to speak, as in using certain words and sounds for specific things. I think her receptive language is increasing, as she seems to understand us when we talk more. Here's hoping that her responsive language starts to increase as well.

She's driving me nuts lately, however, because she's an outdoor girl like her daddy, and gets so bored just being around the house all the time. I understand this, but I cannot take her out every single day. It's quite a drive ANYWHERE and we can't afford to run thru the gas like that. We do have a large back deck that I'm going to get all toddler proofed so I can let her out there and I can sit at the desk near the backdoor and keep an ear on her while I write my articles. (Because I NEED to write my articles.)

She's at the whiney/tantrum phase right now as well and it's driving me absolutely nuts. She will not let me sit down at my laptop because she's right there at the gate next to it whining and crying and screaming. Then when I go into the living room, she ignores me or pulls me to the door or something. It's ugly and wet and muddy out right now, so we can't go out, which sends her into an even bigger, louder hissy fit. Cripes.

I know I should be grateful that she's not an introverted-in-her-own-little-world child with autism. I know I should be thankful that she doesn't have sensory issues and does behave quite a bit like a typical little 2 year old. And I am. She could have much worse issues and be a lot more of a high needs child. I don't mean to sound like I'm complaining--"Wah, my daughter won't leave me alone!!!"--because other parents of children with autism have much more to deal with than I do. It's just frustrating. I know she'd probably throw these little tantrums anyway at her age, but if she could just communicate, as in understand as well as talk, maybe I could talk to her and explain how the weather's icky or that we'll go out later or something. Not that it would matter to a tantrum throwing 2 year old. But I have things that need done--as in the typical house cleaning and laundry, not to mention the articles--and I cannot be running all over the place because she's bored. It's hard to take her anywhere anyway because she doesn't listen or understand. She'd start running and never look back if I let her.

Which leads me to a source of great sadness right now. When we go out, I see other children her age or younger and they're all doing things she doesn't--talk, listen, walk on their own without having to be hand held all the time, giving their parents hugs and kisses--and it makes me sad. My daughter doesn't do any of those things. My daughter looks older than 2 but acts younger. If she doesn't make improvements, I don't know how I'm going to get my shopping done when Xavi gets older and isn't in his car seat all the time anymore. I guess I'll have to put him in the shopping cart seat and put her in the back of the cart. I'm not sure how well that will work. But I guess we'll just have to see.

I'm trying to stay positive. She IS making progress, and she IS improving. It's hard to remember that when I see all the things she still ISN'T doing. But maybe I'm fostering that by treating her as though she is as young as she acts, if that makes sense. Maybe I'm not letting her try things or not teaching her things because I don't think she'll do it. Maybe a lot of her delays are my fault because I'm not pushing her as she should be. I dunno.

But at least the weather's getting nicer. I'll fix up the deck and put her out there regularly to help get her energy burnt off. When Daddy's not working we'll go out to the park or the zoo or something to let her see different things. Life trudges on.

Marching on with life.

2010-03-07T12:30:00.000-06:00

Since Kayleigh's diagnosis, I've been trying to get all my ducks in a row and get the various paperwork filled out, the information gathered and not tear my hair out trying to figure out our next step. I'm in the process of finishing an application packet for our regional dept of mental health office which will help with therapy and funding. Since she's so young, I'm hoping that getting her extensive therapy will help to get her caught up with her age group.

And because I don't have enough stress in my life with everything else, I decided that March 1st was the perfect time to take K off the bottle. Cold turkey. I honestly didn't know who would crack first, her or me. She simply REFUSED to drink from a sippy and didn't seem to understand when I tried to show her how to work a straw. The poor kid was getting dehydrated because of her stubbornness, so, out of desparation, I took the top off one of her cups and gave it to her like a regular cup. Damned if that kid didn't grab it and start drinking like normal! Granted, the first few times she drank from a cup, she ended up completely soaked, but now she's doing so much better. I have to hold the cup for the most part to make sure she doesn't up-end the thing, but she holds it and tilts it pretty darn well. She's so smart. Just not interested in talking, I guess.

Xavi is getting bigger and stronger and chattier as the days progress. I'm going to start moving him out of our bed at night in the hopes of getting him in his own crib soon. K was in her own room when she was a little over 2 months old, and X is getting close to 4. Granted, you can't expect every child to act like every other one, but it was nice to have our bed and room back to ourselves. X is a little snuggler, unlike his sister, so I expect it to be a hard fight to get him to sleep by himself in his own room. Sigh.

We have K's 6 month evaluation for First Steps this coming Wednesday. We're going to discuss her progress and diagnosis and see if we can increase the number of appts we have to try and get her more intensive therapy. We need to try and get her communication and socialization skills up to par and the younger we start working with her, the better.

The weather's been so beautiful lately, it's great to see the sun again! We took the kids out yesterday to enjoy the warmer temps and ended up seeing a Shriner parade. A fun time was had by all and I think the time in the fresh air and sun really helped everyone's mood.

That's about it. I'm gonna get some lunch and then work on getting our turkey in the oven. Mmmmm . . . turkey. I'm gonna overeat tonight, as usual! Turkey with all the trimmings is SOO delish, though. I can't help myself.

A bittersweet diagnosis.

2010-02-25T10:03:00.000-06:00

About a month ago we filled out a questionnaire for the Thompson Center, a place that evaluates and diagnoses children with autism. Sent it in at the beginning of this month, and got a call from them last week. Kayleigh had an appointment on Tuesday. We drove the hour and a half to Columbia to get her evaluated.

She does have autism.

It's something we suspected for a while, but honestly I was really hoping that they'd say that altho she had autistic tendencies, she was just delayed and would 'grow out of it' or something. Hearing the "A" word in such an official capacity like that . . . well, it was hard. Harder on me than hubby I think because he was more sure that that's what was wrong. I had ~~my head in the sand~~ hopes of something a little less severe, but here we are. The doctor actually said that having the actual diagnosis is better for the kid, because having 'delays' isn't looked at with any seriousness as having 'autism' does. Having that label helps open doors for more intensive help and therapy.

So. The good news is altho she's got autism, it's a high functioning type, meaning she doesn't have sensory issues or the set-in-stone routines or uber-repetative motions like some other kids do. With the right therapy she could be all caught up and overcome her various difficulties by the time she starts school.

The bad news is these services aren't cheap and insurance usually covers nothing. BUT, children with autism can qualify for SSI and Medicaid, so I'm looking into that. I'm really hoping we'll qualify but am worried that being 'high functioning' might not mark her as especially 'needy' to good ol' Uncle Sam. And wouldn't it just be our luck that we DON'T qualify for something like this and need to find a way to pull who-knows-how-much out of our butts in order to get her the help she needs.

But I'm really hoping that Lady Luck, God, Buddha, and the Spaghetti Monster smiles upon us and grants us this one thing. I really don't want my daughter to suffer just because we aren't rolling in dough.

That's it?

2010-02-08T09:28:00.000-06:00

That's all the Super Bowl has to offer? The game was okay I guess, but the halftime show was pretty boring and the commercials weren't anything memorable either. Disappointing.

Yesterday was memorable in other, sadder ways, however, as one of our cats passed away. Squeaker was one of our outdoor kitties and wasn't looking very good yesterday morning. (This cropped up out of the blue as she seemed fine a day or so before that.) We brought her inside, and knew she was too near the end to do anything about it, so we put her in the hall bathroom--the warmest room in the house--and made her comfortable. She was limp, cool to the touch and breathing really shallowly. We checked in on her throughout the day and spent some time with her to say our goodbyes and at about 4, she finally passed. It's hard to watch a pet die, especially when she seemed perfectly fine just a day or two before that. Really hard. I cried on and off all day yesterday and am starting to tear up now just thinking about it. She was such a sweet little girl, I'm going to miss her.

In other news we're supposed to get a snow storm today, dropping somewhere in the vicinity of 6 inches. I know that's nothing major to those who have been getting snow in terms of FEET, but MO just doesn't GET snow like that. We get the bitterly cold temps, and an ice storm or two but snow is usually a novelty 'round these parts. Hubby's working from home today in case we do get it so he doesn't get stuck at work.

All these previously mentioned bitterly cold temps have also sucked our propane down annoyingly fast. I'm going to have to order more in and figure out how to pay for it. Bleh. I hate winter.

I've recently started a new 'business' of sorts, creating designs and selling them on t-shirts and various other products. It's called Nerdy Penguin and I've put up a website and Zazzle store to try and get some money coming in. Will it work? Dunno, but I have to try something.

That's about all for now. Better go get the girl up and start on my housework. Fun, fun.

It's too damn cold.

2010-01-26T10:50:00.003-06:00

Seriously, this is ridiculous. When's Spring? I shudder to think of what our propane tank looks like now. I don't even want to go out and check.

The interest in his photography is still running, and he's got two meetings set up for this week already for weddings. Yay! That show was so worth doing and there's another coming up in August that he's SO there for!

Kids are doing well. K's continuing to make progress and I'm pretty sure she understands us when we talk to her. (Within reason, of course.) She just isn't talking yet, but the understanding has to come first. Hopefully she'll be a little motor mouth soon.

Xavi is doing well too. Growing every day, getting more hair by the hour and babbling and cooing up a storm. I sometimes have a hard time getting him to eat because he's so busy goo-gooing and giggling at me. So freakin' cute. (He LOVES his big sister, too. He'll just stare at her as she's running around.)

I think that's about all. Bring on the warmth!

So far so good.

2010-01-12T11:53:00.002-06:00

2010 seems to be going well so far. Hubby did a wedding show last weekend, one that is billed as the 'largest wedding show in the Midwest'. He has so far gotten 5 GOOD responses from it. One wedding booked for sure, and three more very good possibilities. And that's just one day after the show! Here's hoping that this is a good sign that 2010 will be a good year!

K's been progressing even more as the days pass. She's focusing SO much better and is even looking at her books--as in the pages instead of just the hinges. She likes to scribble with her crayons and play with her wooden blocks. Her babbling is increasing and she's saying more 'words' every day. I'm so encouraged! She's doing SO well in such a short period of time! The only problem is now she's being really frustrating with eating. She used to eat well, at least with her oatmeal for breakfast, but lately it's a hit-or-miss thing to actually get her to finish her bowl. SO FRUSTRATING. But at least she's recently discovered she likes chicken nuggets. That's a good source of protein, so I'm not complaining.

Xavi (or Piv, take your pick) is getting bigger and bigger all the time. He's outgrown newborn sized clothes and is now in the 3 months size. I've also switched their diapers around--K used to be in cloth diapers while Piv was in disposable--because K doesn't go thru diapers as quickly as Piv does. To save some money I gave Piv the cloth diapers and now K is in disposables during the day. (She still wears a doubled up cloth at night.) It seems to be working okay, except I think I need to pick up the next size up for K. She's in a 5 now and I think it's getting a little tight on her. (Naturally, after I picked up a box of 116 of size 5s.) Once she's done with these I'll pick up size 6s.

I'm going to have to try and get K off the bottle soon, as she's going to turn 2 in a few weeks. She wasn't all that interested in sippy cups when I tried her on them a few months ago, but maybe she'll be more open to them now. We'll see. I also need to try and start potty training her, but considering her communication delays . . . I don't know how well that will turn out.

I'm going to need to figure out something, because we'll be heading back to PA in April for my best friend's wedding. Hubby was actually supposed to shoot it, but the one job he got booked at the show was for the same date, and thankfully my friend was understanding enough that she was okay with him shooting the new one and ME shooting hers. (Here's hoping I don't screw it up too bad!) But this just means that I'll be heading back with the kids BY MYSELF. We can't fly, as that'll be too expensive and my folks don't have two carseats for them anyway. So driving is the only other option, meaning I'll have to drive the 750+/- miles all by myself with a 2+ year old and a 6 month old. (How on earth will I pee??) I've been thinking about it a lot lately and one thing that might work is driving overnight. They can sleep the whole way and it won't screw up their sleep schedules and I won't have to stop every 2 hours for food/diaper changes. Course that means that I'll have to be awake and driving ALL. NIGHT. LONG which may be dangerous. Dunno. I haven't decided on anything at the moment. Maybe something else will occur to me that would work better.

We're getting into more normal winter temps, so hopefully the snow will start to melt soon. (And maybe we won't go thru as much propane as quickly!) Our garage door is beginning to break--it's always something!--so we'll have to deal with that soon before it falls on one of the cars or something. I still need to finalize Piv's baptism stuff, too. Always something going on and needing done!

Bring on 2010

2009-12-29T08:46:00.004-06:00

The holidays went okay. Some strife but that's to be expected anymore.

Xavi (I can't stop thinking of him as Pivnert!) is doing really well and is actually smiling and cooing now. We can't remember when Kayleigh started that, but are pretty sure it wasn't this early. Xavi will smile at us when we tickle him but also if we just smile at him, which is something we're pretty sure K never really did. We're seeing big differences between them already. Some of his hair is rubbing off too, so now he's more bald than ever!

K's progressing really well lately. She's babbling a lot more and her focus is much better. She got some wooden blocks for Christmas and will sit with us for 30 minutes to an hour playing with them, which is something that she couldn't/wouldn't do just a few weeks ago. She loves to knock them down! She's mimicing the tv a lot more too, dancing with the characters on Yo Gabba and such. I think she may actually be doing some 'toddler speak' (you know, when the kid says something and the only reason you understand it is because they're repeating something you're saying) and am pretty sure I've heard her say 'apple', 'open', 'up', 'duck' and 'look'. Granted some of those are not exact ('abba' for apple, for example), but I think it's great she's working on some form of speech. We're still looking into getting her evaluated for autism, but the progress she's made so far is very exciting and encouraging.

Ear mites are going around like crazy in the house this year. I have no idea why. We never had a big problem with them before, but now it seems as tho every cat and dog is having trouble with their ears at some point. It's very frustrating.

So far I don't seem to be having any postpardum depression. I had it with K, and think it manifested itself by this point after her birth. I have my 6 week appt today with my OB and will talk to him about birth control options. 2 kids is plenty, thank you, I don't want any more.

God it's cold here! I hate winter, I hate the cold, I hate having to bundle everyone up before venturing outside . . . hate it! It's freaking freezing and it's not supposed to get any warmer in the next few days. And considering how cold we keep the house, it's not exactly warm in here, either! Brrr!!!

Wouldn't ya know it?

2009-12-09T11:18:00.004-06:00

About two hours after making that last blog post, I started getting regular contractions. They were about 10 +/- minutes apart, so it looked like the real deal. We had some supper, got everything ready and headed out to the hospital at about 6:00. I was checked in at about 6:30, fully dilated by midnight, and Xavier Wolfgang Alexander Pope was ejected at 12:17 am on November 17th, after only 9 minutes of pushing. My doc just barely got there in time to catch! (Seriously, I don't think my doctor was there longer than 30 minutes or so.) Xavi was 8 pounds, 4 ounces and 21 inches long. (For those keeping score, Kayleigh was 8 pounds, 11 ounces and 22 inches long.)

Fast forward to now. X is now 3 weeks old and is eating and sleeping like a champ. He's growing like a weed and is just about to outgrow his newborn sized footies. It's hard to get any pics of him as he's almost always sleeping, and when he's not he's got this shocked look on his face constantly. He's got a Stork Bite on his forehead like his sister did, which will fade in time. He's also a snuggler, and loves to just be held or just cuddled next to someone. We take advantage of this by keeping him in bed with us at night, which makes it easier for nursing and diaper changes. (It's also cold in the house so it keeps him nice and warm.) I'm just hoping it's not going to cause problems when we move him to his own room (which still isn't cleaned out and ready for him!).

Because he's so snuggly, it's hard to get anything else done. I haven't gotten any good writing done since he was born and seem to be doing nothing but laundry every day. (His 'little hose' makes for A LOT more laundry than I had with K!) I have a load to get in when I'm done here in fact. It never ends.

Today's weather is full-on winter. We're getting winds that could reach 40 mph and light flurries. COLD! Good thing I did my grocery shopping yesterday. I just wish we had some firewood. Tonight would be a great time for a nice roaring fire!

I can't believe we're nearing the end of 2009. It flew by so fast! Here's hoping that 2010 will be a better year.

Still pregnant.

2009-11-16T12:04:00.003-06:00

My womb must be too hospitable or something. These kids get all comfy in there and refuse to come out.

Saturday morning, in an attempt to move things along, hubby, K and I went to the park to enjoy the 60+ degree weather we'd been blessed with. We walked probably about 2-ish miles, which kind of started some contractions, altho there was no pattern to them. Sunday I had some discharge which I think was my mucus plug thinning out, with some contractions during the day. We almost headed to the hospital last night, but the contractions went away after a while. This morning I think I lost most of my mucus plug, and there is a distinct pressure/heaviness in my abdomen when I walk and it feels like he's going to just plop out. It's quite comfortable when I sit tho, so I'm going to rest for the day and get some articles written and stay hydrated. No real contractions happening, either. I have a doc appt tomorrow so we'll see what he says. I have a feeling I'm even more dilated than I was last week, so maybe he'll recommend we head in for induction tomorrow afternoon/evening or Wednesday morning. We'll see.

Yesterday it started raining and never stopped. It's ugly, dreary, wet and cold out there. Yuck. I'm glad we got out on Saturday when it was sunny and warm.

I guess that's about it. Hopefully it won't be too much longer.

Soon maybe?

2009-11-11T11:50:00.002-06:00

Had my weekly OB appt today and surprisingly I'm 1 1/2 cm dilated. The doc could apparently also feel Pivnert's head--which he says is bald. :P Considering that I was not dilated at all at my last OB appt with K and kicked her out about 5 days later, I'm thinking that Pivnert could be here by the weekend. Maybe. Just because I'm starting to dilate doesn't necessarily mean anything, really.

At any rate, I'm going to head to Wally World today and make sure the house is stocked with supplies and food enough for birth and after while I recover. Don't want to try hauling two kids to Wal-Mart while I'm still sore.

We shall see.

Holiday season already??

2009-11-06T09:30:00.002-06:00

These cats are driving me frickin insane, I swear to God.

So had my H1N1 shot last Saturday. Not too bad, really, and there didn't seem to be any side effects. My nose is stuffy like crazy anymore and my hips feel like they're about to fall clean off, but other than those normal end-of-pregnancy things, everything's a-okay. My blood pressure was a little high, but it started creeping up at the end of K's pregnancy too. (Still not dilated, btw. But I wasn't dilated at my last appt with K either, which was on a Monday, and I went into labor that Friday.)

I'm just hoping I don't go into labor over the weekend. Hubby's got a wedding show (his first!) on Sunday and will be about an hour and a half or so away from home from about 8-9 in the morning until probably about 6-7 at night. Not a good day to need a ride to the hospital! I think I'll be okay, tho.

A local radio station has begun playing Christmas music today. TOO FREAKING SOON. They usually don't start until Black Friday, so I have NO idea why they started today. At least it's not a station I listen to all the time--it's just the one we listen to when the alarm goes off. But still.

I'm going to stock up on turkeys while they're cheap--they're 60 cents a pound at Wal-Mart. I've got two almost 15 pounders in the freezer downstairs and they were less than $9 each. Great for Sunday meals and there's a lot of food left over for everyone.

Well, guess I'd better get to work on my To Do list for today. Gotta try and get stuff done while I have energy for it, which is usually in the mornings. As the day progresses, my energy level drops and hips hurt like crazy. Time to get off the duff and get to work!

Two weeks and counting.

2009-10-28T16:50:00.002-05:00

Had my doc appt today and according to him, I'm not dilated yet but Pivnert has dropped even lower into my pelvis. A sign of impending labor? Dunno. I am hoping to hold out until at least November, altho having a baby on Halloween might be kinda cool. Then everyone (but me) will have a holiday birthday--Pivnert on Halloween, Kayleigh on Groundhog's Day and hubby on Valentine's day. Neat! (To be fair, tho, Pivnert's actual due date is Veteran's Day.)

I also asked the doc about the whole swine flu/h1n1 thing and he said it was important for me to get the vaccine. I wasn't going to, but according to him, once I get the vaccine, my body will create anti-bodies for the disease, and those will cross the placenta and help cover Pivnert for when he's born. Considering we're just gearing up for what could be a pretty bad peak of it, it's probably a good idea for me to get it. I have registered for one on Saturday. I will probably also call K's pedi to see if she needs/can get one. This flu is supposedly worse on little kids, and I'd hate to have K get sick if it can be avoided.

Other than that, nothing much to report. Just kinda on cruise control until Pivnert decides to make his appearance. I've still gotta get my hospital bag and K's 'overnight' bag ready for when labor does start. But I've got time, right?

Dodging the germ-ridden bullet.

2009-10-26T10:21:00.003-05:00

Hubby's been valiantly battling a head cold for the past week or so, and it seemed to hit him full force yesterday. He spent most of the day resting and blowing his runny nose. I picked up some Zicam for him and he's been downing those as well as some Nyquil and seems to be feeling a bit better so far today. Hopefully he got ahead of this cold before it progressed into something longer lasting and worse. His main worry about this illness is passing it on to me or K. But so far so good.

I gotta say, normally I'm not all that worried when flu season comes around, but considering I'm 9 months pregnant and have a toddler, this year is a little more worrisome than most, especially with the whole swine flu thing floating around. I've heard that it's especially dangerous to little kids, which makes me worry about K getting sick. (Not to mention the fact that I'll be in the freaking hospital with a newborn in a few weeks at practically peak flu time.) I'm just trying to stay home as much as possible and minimize K's and my exposure to any sickly people out there. We're just trying to follow basic hygiene procedures, like washing our hands often and steering clear of large crowds. The only time I take the babe out is when we head to Wal-Mart to do our weekly shopping. And I even wiped down the grocery cart with a wipie before heading in for shopping last week. Gotta do what's necessary to minimize any chances of getting sick.

A little over two weeks to go and then there'll be two kids in the Pope household. We started cleaning out the room that will become Pivnert's, but it's going to take a while. At least we managed to pull in the bassinet and carseat from the shop so I could get them cleaned up and ready. He'll be using the bassinet in our room for the first few months like K did, so his room doesn't need to be completely done by the time he gets here, but it would be good to not let it go until we're ready to move him in there! It's just hard finding the time or energy to work on it. (Not to mention the space to put all the crap that's in there!) Our basement is FULL--due mostly to the moving of all the crap that was in K's room before we fixed it up for her!--as is our shop. Of course, a lot of that stuff can be sold/thrown out, it's just a matter of getting it done. We're just such packrats.

K's been making some progress in the interaction area again, mostly with playing with us. The other night hubby was feeding her and she was playing peek-a-boo with him. So cute! I'm also noticing that she seems to be babbling more, which is good. Maybe she's just a late bloomer or something. Hopefully she'll continue to make progress and not be so behind in so many areas.

In the Home Stretch.

2009-10-20T10:34:00.003-05:00

I'll be 37 weeks tomorrow. For the past week or so my belly's felt hard and large, and he's been pretty darn active. I'm hoping to last until November before dropping him, mostly because his room STILL isn't cleaned out and ready for him yet. Bad mommy.

Yesterday I called Dish Network and upped our program package in order to get Nick Jr for K (and Pivnert). Now she can watch her Yo Gabba Gabba and Wow, Wow Wubbzy and the other shows that Nick won't play because they're too busy playing Dora and Diego. (Which I refuse to let her watch because I don't agree with teaching kids Spanish for no apparent reason. We don't live near a large Spanish-speaking community or anything, and we're having a hard enough time getting her to speak ENGLISH.) Besides, I can't stand the way the characters talk on Dora and Diego. It's like EVERY other WORD is SHOUTED for NO apparent REASON!

Anyway, in addition to Nick Jr, the new package includes some great channels for mommy and daddy, such as BBC America, Animal Planet (altho I refuse to watch Animal Cops because it makes me cry), Game Show Network and AMC. With winter coming up fast some new channels will be fun.

My article writing has slowed to a crawl because the titles they have in the queue for us to write are either unwritable ("Diabetes Cures"), miscategorized so badly you can't find them ("How to Boil Water" would be under Health Conditions), or such a simple question that you can't really stretch it to 200-500 words ("What are Aluminum Utensils?"). Honestly, the site boasts about how there are 53,000+ titles available, but what does it matter if there are REALLY only about 10,000 actual writable ones? It's just frustrating. I want and need to make more money, but it's hard with 1) Kayleigh not napping as much as she had been--I don't want to neglect my already developmentally delayed daughter--and 2) having to search for 4 hours in order to find 10 actually writable titles. Like I said, frustrating.

As far as Pivnert goes, hubby goes between being okay and accepting of a second to being upset and disappointed. He likes to travel and was hoping to get some in this month or next month, probably just to Colorado or something for photos. Since Pivnert is due early/mid November, he can't do that and it's making him frustrated. The fact that the weather is getting colder and winter's coming up fast is probably affecting him too, as he gets that Seasonal Depression every winter. He likes to be out and about but can't do that when it's cold, and the trees have no leaves and look dead and it's just a depressing time of year. Once Pivnert actually comes I'm sure he'll be fine. Right now he says it's all "Cost with no benefit", meaning we're spending money and having to curtail our behavior and such because he could technically be here any time. Once the little guy is actually here, I'm sure we'll both bond with him and adjust to life with two.

But yeah, Pivnert's room still isn't ready or even close to it. Every moment I have free I try to get some writing done, and the house/Pivnert's Room/the laundry has suffered because of that. Things don't get done/clean/washed when I'm typing away on the computer, because I feel that making money is more important than those other things. But because of title availability and other factors, I'm lucky to get 2 $15 articles done a day. But that's still $30 more than we had before I'd done them.

But at least we have Pivnert's crib, mattress, crib sheets and clothes HERE. They may not be all set up yet but at least we have them. There are still some things I need to do, such as get darker curtains for his room to block out light, bring in the bassinet and get it washed, set up a dresser and get his clothes all washed and put away, put the closet doors back on his closet (we had taken them off years ago for ease of access), etc, etc, etc. I also need to get a "How to take care of Kayleigh" note written for Carol for when I go into labor. So much to do and only about 3 weeks or so to get it all done. Sigh.

Tomorrow I have to take the Versa in to get inspected (and hope I can get away with only having to buy two new tires instead of four) and will probably have them change the oil and check all the various fluid levels and such for winter. Then I have to head to the doctor for my weekly appt and hope that tiny yeast infection they detected in my pee a week ago has been taken care of with the medicine he prescribed. I've been very lucky to have two such textbook pregnancies. I hope Pivnert's birth goes as smoothly and quickly as Kayleigh's did. (She was out with only 23 minutes of pushing.)

Oh well. Guess I'd better head off and see about getting an article or two written and then work on getting the house cleaned up. It never ends anymore. The life of a mommy!

The lazy mom returns.

2009-10-13T10:18:00.003-05:00

So yeah, looks like I got lazy again. Big surprise. I do well for a while then slack of for months. Typical pattern for me, really.

Anyway, since I can't remember what I last posted about, and am too lazy to go back and read it, I'll just talk about what's been going on recently.

K's been seeing a few 'special educators' the past few weeks. Basically she qualified for these sessions through Missouri's First Steps program, and is seeing someone just about once every week. What this basically entails is someone coming to the house for an hour each week to interact with her and give us tips and ideas in dealing with her to try and get her communication skills built up to where they belong. She's still not saying any actual words, but her non-verbal communication is increasing at an impressive rate. She never used to do anything to interact/communicate with us, but over the past month or so, she's starting grabbing our hands and pulling us when she wants us to do/get something for her. She's a pretty good girl, she just refuses to talk!

I've been kinda sorta trying to get her off the bottle, which isn't going well. She doesn't like the sippy or straw cups, and will have a major meltdown when I give her one of those instead of her bottle. Of course, she's having major temper trantrums lately anyway, which is SO much fun, lemme tell ya. She's reached her 'terrible twos' 4 months early. Woohoo.

I'm still writing for that content provider website, which is bringing in at least some additional money. Considering that we have to get the car inspected--probably with at least two new tires--and get propane sometime soon, not to mention finish picking up the last few things for the baby (like a mattress, crib sheets, mattress pads, curtains, etc) . . . well, I just need to get my butt in gear and write like a fool to bring even more $$ in to help cover expenses.

For some reason our car payment never made it to the bank last month so I had to cancel that check and send a new one with last month's and this month's payments. I sent it on the 5th (last Monday) and as of this morning, it still hasn't been cashed. The bank is just over in Illinois, which shouldn't take THAT long to get there. This is kinda pissing me off. I will not be happy if I have to cancel yet another check and figure out how to send it through the website or something just to make sure that the freaking payment shows up. We've had the car for TWO FREAKING YEARS and have never had this problem before. Yes the bank took it's good sweet time cashing the checks sometimes, but the payments have ALWAYS made it there before. I don't need this freaking aggravation. If it doesn't show up at our bank by the end of the week I'm going to have to call, I guess.

Winter seems to have arrived early this year. We went from 80 degree weather one day to 60s the next, and the high lately has only been in the 50s. Not good considering we have a propane furnace, and propane can get kinda pricey. We're currently at about half a tank, so I should call and see about getting some delivered before it gets too low or too cold. We're going to try and keep the furnace at 62 this year, since last year 60 seemed just WAY too cold. Anything we can do to try and save some $$ wherever we can. (Speaking of the furnace, here's hoping it actually works this year! We don't need it acting up AGAIN.)

I'm about a month away from being a mommy to two kids under two. Yikes. I waver between being excited and thoroughly scared that this was a big mistake. Is that typical?

I guess that's about it. Same old, same old, really.

Getting back to normal.

2009-09-01T12:25:00.004-05:00

Been a while because of various fights and unhappiness that had been going on around here. Hubby and I fought a few weeks ago and there was just general unpleasantness since then. It's hard to think about updating a family blog when you're feeling down and depressed due to a fight with your sigificant other. But after much yelling, screaming, crying, depression, soul searching and finally talking, we're doing better.

I've actually gotten a job writing for an online 'pay for writing' site, wherein they give you an article title and you write it. The pay varies from $5 to $15 per article, depending on which type you choose, and I've been sticking with the $15 ones. Last week I made $175 for just a few hours' work, which isn't great considering it takes about an hour to write each article (making my pay about $15 an hour) but it's twice what I was making at Kohl's, and I can write the artcles whenever I find the time. There are literally hundreds of different titles to choose from, so there's no shortage of work. The trick is finding one that you can actually find enough reference for online to write a 500 word article about. But so far I've been doing well. I'm hoping to get a few more written today.

K's learned a new trick--climbing on the furniture. Problem is, I'm not sure she knows how to get down, especially since she climbs up and walks back and forth on the couch and loveseat. I can just picture her falling right on her head one of these days. So I can't really do much of anything else while she's up because she waits until I walk out of the room and then up she goes!

She's getting more interactive lately, which is great. I'm noticing little things she's doing that she hadn't done before which is also great. (For instance, we were out at a town festival the other day and she was holding daddy's hand while we walked, and she reached up and took mine in her other hand. Granted she probably should have been doing that earlier, but the fact that she's doing it at all is encouraging. Maybe she's just a late bloomer.) I'm trying to work with her as much as I can to try and encourage more interaction and such.

We're getting an unusual cool snap here, which is refreshing. The weather is PERFECT and we try to go out and enjoy it as much as we can before it gets hot again. It's not often St. Louis gets 70 degree weather in August/September!

I feel absolutely HUGE. I think I'm bigger now than I was when I was carrying K. My hips feel like they're separating already and hubby and his mother are betting that I won't make it until November. I think I will, just not much into it. (I'm due on the 11th. I'm thinking I'll go really early into Nov--like the 2nd to the 5th or somewhere thereabouts.) I'm not sure how I'm going to survive another two months, tho. I'm already so big and uncomfortable.

That's about it. We still haven't gotten a crib and the room cleaned out yet. I'm planning on working hard to pull in as much money as I can from my articles to pay for the crib and various other baby things, as well as help out on the bills. It's easy money, I just need to find the time to squeeze in the writing!

Kayleigh's appointment.

2009-08-13T19:46:00.004-05:00

Basically, Kayleigh's appointment with MO First Steps appt went well. It was actually a 'pre-evaluation', in which a coordinator came out and filled out a questionnaire on what K is and isn't doing. Not surprisingly, she scored a big fat zero in both communication and socialization, and she was technically behind in fine motor skills. The next step is to get an actual tester out who will give K a test in all areas (communication, motor skills, etc) and then write up a recommendation based on that. She'll most likely get some sort of speech therapy, as well as socialization. From what we gather, the therapists come out to the house as often as specified (monthly, weekly, etc) and work with her, but also teach us some of the things we should be working with her on. We'll hopefully hear something about getting the tester within the next few days.

So that's about it. The ball is rolling and we'll hopefully have her in some sort of therapy or something within a month or so. I'm really hoping that she's not autistic and just suffering from developmental delays that can be dealt with quickly and easily.

I have heard about a program called "Theraputic Listening" in which the patient listens to a special music that supposedly 'resets' the brain's rhythm and helps with concentration. I've heard some amazing things with developmental delays and such. The great news is that there are TWO such therapists in our area, and I'm damn tempted to email them and explain K's situation to see what they think. (Oh, and to get an idea on price!) Maybe I'm looking for a magic fix to instantly make K 'normal', I dunno. But if something like that could help her, it can't hurt, right?

Our calendar is filling up.

2009-08-09T15:00:00.002-05:00

Since becoming a mommy, I've forgone the cute kitten-a-day style calendars for ones that have nice large blocks for writing appointments and such on them. Lately, these blocks have been filling up, making it appear, to the untrained eye, that we are more popular than we truly are. Most of the notes are for various doctor appts--mine and Kayleigh's mostly--with some of Patrick's jobs mixed in. (And thankfully, he's starting to get more of them.) Checking the calendar has become a daily habit now.

That being said, this coming week sees four blocks written--Monday I have to go to the hospital to get my rhogam shot (it's basically given to pregnant ladies with negative blood types so that nothing happens in case the baby is a positive blood type and our blood mixes), Tuesday is K's doc appt, Thursday is K's evaluation by the state program called "First Steps" that help catch delayed kids up, and Saturday is a business show that hubby is going to try and shmooze his way into the hearts of the local populace. Busy busy.

So yeah, we've contacted the state program in regards to K's total lack of communication. She's not pointing, not talking, not attempting to communicate--verbally or non-verbally--with us whatsoever. She babbles sometimes, but even that's few and far between. We've been doing some research into autism and there are a scary number of red flags that match up with her behavior and the warning signs. IF she is autistic, we're thinking it's a very mild case, which would be good, I guess. The milder the case, the better, right?

Well, we've got an evaluation scheduled for Thursday, wherein the rep will determine if K qualifies for additional services. She said on the phone that it sounded like K would qualify, and the eval is basically a formality. Once that's out of the way, her therapy can start. Hopefully, between her doc appt on Tuesday (where we'll see about getting her ears/hearing checked thoroughly) and the eval on Thursday, we'll have a clear path to take in order to help the babe catch up to where she should be right now.

Speaking of the babe, I've been trying her out on silverware recently. I tried spoons, but it struck me that a spoon is a bit hard to master because of the necessity to balance the food as you guide it to your mouth. So I gave her a fork. She did pretty well--if I poked the food, she could get it to her mouth and eat it. The main problem is that after a while, she gets bored looking at the pokey end of the fork and flips it over in order to chew on the other end. This makes it a bit difficult to feed her the rest of her food. Frustrating.

I've not gotten any bites on my writing yet, which sucks. So I've been looking around wherever I can online to try and find jobs. No real luck as of yet, but I'm keeping my eyes open.

I hit a few cosignment sales this past week and picked up some good deals on boy clothes. Cripes but boy clothes are hard to find! For every one outfit I find for a boy, there are at least 5-10 girl outfits. I think #2 will be okay clothes-wise, at least for a while. Now all we need to do is find a crib (as well as the money to pay for it) and get the blue room cleaned out for him. If it weren't so hot today, I'd work on getting the shop outside better organized (and find some more things for CraigsList in the process) and start attacking the blue room to get it cleaned. I really need to start getting that done.

So pretty much same old same old going on right now. Pregnancy is still pretty textbook, altho I'm recently experiencing some pain in my abdomen, right below the belly. I think it's because he's sitting so low and putting pressure on my various muscles and nerves down there. It's uncomfortable to walk lately. And I've still got 3 months to go. Great.

Feeling better.

2009-07-25T16:02:00.003-05:00

Been a while since I've written, mostly because I was dealing with a double dose of depression--mine and hubby's. Hubby's been depressed because of varying factors and has wanted to start seeing a doctor about it for a while. I found him one and he had his first appt on Thursday. He's always thought he had a low end bout of OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) and the doctor unofficially verified that based on his thought processes and behaviors. (Basically he focuses on something and runs thru a cycle of being pissed/frustrated/depressed about it instead of just rolling with the punches.) He's been in a better mood since his appt, so maybe this is going to be really good for him. We apparently both see the doc this coming Thursday, so we'll see how that goes.

One of the main reasons hubby's been so depressed lately is because he feels like he's got ALL of the pressure to bring money into the household because I'm busy with Kayleigh. Between the graphic design (which is doing better), the photography (he's getting more interest), and the various marketing he's responsible for for 3 other businesses, that's a total of about 5 jobs he's responsible for. He's right to feel overwhelmed, he's been so darn busy lately! I kept saying that it's hard for me to do anything with an almost 18 month old, but wonder how much of that is just an excuse because I'm being lazy and am scared to even try. So I've been working on getting my freelance writing up and going, to try and bring in some extra income. I'm hoping to get my site (www.writtenbyannette.com) updated this weekend and have started looking around at the freelance job sites online. (Basically you sign up and bid on jobs that you want. It's not great money but at least it's SOMETHING.) I'm also going to start advertising to the local businesses for any writing work they may be in need of. I need to stop making excuses and be more positive regarding the work--I CAN do it, I just need to get off my duff and go out to try and find it. The money IS out there, I just need to actually DO something to bring it in!

K's been pretty darn fussy lately, and I can't decide if it's because she's teething (altho I see one cutting thru on her bottom jaw, next to the two teeth she's already got), going thru a growth spurt, a developmental growth or what. We're trying to break her of her paci and are only really giving it to her when she goes down for naps and the night. (And when we're out and she starts cranking. But she's pretty good without it.) She simply refuses to talk, refuses to use a sippy cup, and is hit or miss regarding actually SWALLOWING when she eats solid food. So stubborn!!

On the up-side, however, K does seem to be getting a little more snuggly. When we picked her up before, she would just kind of hang there limp, and now she wraps her arms around our shoulders and pats us on the back as she lays her head on our shoulder. So cute! She's also starting to come up to me and put her arms up when she wants me to pick her up. (She's heavy, tho, so I can't hold her for long! Altho she does sit nicely on top of the belly. ;P ) She's doing well with solid food, and I really need to give it to her more. It's just hard when we're at work so often.

Well, I'd better get off my butt and get some housework done. Hubby's out on a photo-shoot now and I'd better get things done while he's not underfoot! :P

Mid-July already?!?

2009-07-11T11:26:00.002-05:00

Hubby and I checked out some local preschools for K the other day. Ye gods they're expensive! It's really a shame because she could really use the social interaction with other kids her age. She's still not talking, and maybe hanging out with other kids would encourage her to start experimenting with language. There's only so much we can do with her because 1) she won't sit still to be read to, and 2) she clamps her little lips tight when she knows we're trying to get her to repeat a word. Stubborn!

I'm getting addicted to Mallo Cups again. (For those who don't know what Mallo Cups are, because I think they might be a regional candy, they're basically Reese's Peanut Butter Cups but with marshmallow creme instead of peanut butter. Yummy!) I've had a few boxes tucked away in the freezer downstairs--mostly because I made myself sick on them years ago--and decided to pull a few up to see how they were. BIG MISTAKE. Now I'm getting addicted to them again. And because they're not sold around here, I'd have to order them online when I run out. Money's tight, so spending on sugary candy that I really shouldn't have in the house in the first place--NO WILL POWER--isn't really in the budget. Maybe I'll just enjoy them while I have them and that will be that.

We finally sold our big printing press. We (and by 'we' I mean the business) bought it in 2002 to pre-print a lot of our postcard fronts in order to have them onhand and sell them cheap. Well, just about the time we got the press, the bottom dropped out of the postcard market. (Constantly increasing postage prices haven't helped either.) According to Carol, it seems our business finances started getting tight when we got the press. Maybe it had bad mojo and selling it will help to better our various financial situations. Market Square (a mall information kiosk) seems to slowly be getting some really good interest, and as a result, hubby's photo business is getting attention. (All his portrait flyers have geen taken from the kiosk.) He's out there right now to do a little 'meet n greet' in order to drum up some more interest.

Having the press out of our home shop (it's a detatched garage) frees up quite a bit of space out there for storage. We have plans to do some re-arranging with some stuff out there--and I have to go thru K's clothes to sell and get some money for #2's clothing needs--and then go thru the basement to clean it up. We'll see about selling a lot of the stuff down there and getting it fixed up into a family/play/rec room. Most of the stuff down there is still in the same box we moved with--over 7 years ago!--so it's pretty apparent that we don't really need it. What we keep will most likely be moved out to the shop in order to free up space. (I'm thinking Christmas decorations and such.) We're such packrats. But it's all about space limitations.

Writer's Digest has a short story contest going on, and I'm contemplating sending a few of mine in. Worst case scenario, I'm out the entry fee, best case scenario, I place and get a huge ego boost. (The prize money ain't bad either!) Now I have to get past the whole "I'M NOT GOOD ENOUGH!!!!" fear.

I'm going to try and make it a priority to get to the credit union this week. I'm sick of the stupid fees the bank charges us--I'm mostly thinking those stupid $2 monthly service charges for our various accounts--and maybe a credit union will be more likely to work with us for a loan to get our credit cards paid down. Because they don't have to pay high-salary shareholders and such, they've got more leeway with rates and such. I'm just gonna have to get my butt there and get some accounts opened.

Had hubby cut my hair last night. It was a toss up for me, because I've been putting it up in a ponytail since the weather got hot and it was such an easy 'hairstyle' that it was tempting to keep it long for just that reason. But I'm growing my bangs out--they've hit a certain length and then seemed to have stopped growing, frustratingly enough--and even tho the back looked fine in the pony, I had to clip my bangs back or else they'd just hang in my face, being annoying. Well they're at that length now that even clipping them back didn't look all that good with the pony. My hair always looked unkept. So I had hubby cut off a good 1 1/2 - 2 inches last night. It's about to my chin, and looks pretty darn cute. Of course it means more actual 'styling' because I can't just throw it back into a pony, but at least its cooler on my neck. Summer is MURDER with thick, long hair!

I think that's about it. Better stop rambling and get some work done around the house. Housework is never-ending around here, I swear!

Happy 4th of July!

2009-07-04T23:10:00.002-05:00

So today we headed down to the inlaws' to have some burgers, go swimming at a local workout place, and see the fireworks. K had a nap earlier in the day, so she was good for a while. For a while.

We got to the house at about 3. We hung around for an hour or so before heading out to the rec plex. Hubby, Mother-in-law and baby all went swimming while I hung around on dry land. (I don't have any maternity swimsuits, and thought it pretty stupid to buy one when it was a good chance that I would only swim this one time.) K had a pretty darn good time--she's a water baby anyway--and was SO tired by the end. We got back to the house, I gave her a bottle, we ate and then pretty much headed home. We would have liked to stick around for the fireworks, but K was so tired already that she would have been unbearable by the time any fireworks were over. So we came home, put her to bed, and watched "The Thing" with Kurt Russell. It's such a great movie, I hope Hollywood doesn't try to remake it.

So that was our 4th. Practically all our neighbors have been shooting off fireworks, and we went out on the porch to watch them a little. But pretty low-key.

Tech junkie

2009-07-02T10:33:00.003-05:00

I admit it. I'm a techie junkie. I'm fascinated by the newest, the smallest, the fastest, the shiniest new piece of technology. Last night, I joined Twitter. Why? I don't really know, actually. The idea of only having 140 characters to post with seems kind of constricting, yet strangely alluring. My rambly nature means that it will take me some time to get used to posting in short posts as opposed to these long-winded rambles that my blog entries usually are. Is that a good thing? Dunno. But it's different. (My account, btw, is www.twitter.com/ticklishcorpse Can you tell I like that "Ticklish Corpse" name? You'll find my 5 latest 'tweets' on my other blog, www.ticklishcorpse.blogspot.com too.)

Ran to Wally World this morning and decided that you just cannot go there if you're in a hurry. There were only 2 registers open that weren't the express lines. 2! And there were more than a few of us who had a good chunk of groceries. I could honestly zip thru the shopping portion of that place in 20 minutes, but I usually spend the same amount of time in line. Cripes they need to open more lanes/have more cashiers on hand. It's ridiculous.

I've been trying to give K more real food lately--chicken tenders, hot dogs, etc--in order to try and back her off the formula more. (That stuff's expensive!) She eats the mushy baby food fine, but doesn't seem too enamoured with the real stuff. I did everything right, cut up the hot dog and chicken into nice small bite sized pieces, but she just doesn't seem that into it. She has this really annoying habit of not simply pushing stuff away when she doesn't want it. Oh no. Not my stubborn child. She'll keep shoving pieces into her mouth until there is physically no more room. The kid will not swallow. Honestly, I've seen her running around--after I give up and take her out of her seat--with her cheeks full. Apparently she thinks she's a hamster. And lord help me if I try to pry her mouth open and get the mush out so she doesn't choke. That kid has the jaw muscles of an aligator. She will clamp shut and it's next to impossible to get her mouth open. I'm still unsure exactly how many teeth she has as I value my fingertips too much.

But, I'm trying. She loves french fries and cookies and all the bad-for-you stuff like that, but can't really live on that, can she? It doesn't help matters that we're at the office A LOT lately, and she never naps anywhere but in her own crib (she'll take little cat naps in the car, but they're not exactly quality sleep), so when we go home, she's so exhausted we put her down. She's been getting more bottles lately simply because they're easier and we're sure of how much she's actually getting instead of fighting with her to actually EAT the food we give her.

My stubborn child.

First playdate and another first!

2009-06-30T14:39:00.002-05:00

Kayleigh and I had our first playgroup meeting today. It was at a Playtime, which is basically a less obnoxious Chuck E Cheese's. It went okay. K had a good time running around and seeing all the new sights. She's still too little to really play on the equipment--she COULD have, but didn't try climbing in the toddler area--but had a good time running around and watching the other kids. She didn't play with any, but she had a good time anyway.

I talked to a few of the other mothers and they seemed nice, but it was uncomfortable because they all knew each other and split off into what I assumed were the normal 'groups' during these playdates. Being the horrible introvert I am, I didn't exactly walk up to others and initiate conversations, which was my bad, I guess. I'm just HORRIBLE at small talk and striking up conversations with complete strangers.

So it went okay. I'll probably try a few more to see if it gets more comfortable. K really needs the interaction--as do I, honestly--and if this playgroup doesn't fit, I might see about a different one. I don't know. I'm actually quite proud of myself for even going, considering how anxious I was about it last night and this morning. I'm a coward when it comes to social outings. My comfort zone is very small and I work myself up if it looks like I'm going to venture out of it.

I was going to swing by Wally World or the credit union afterwards, but the playdate lasted about 2 hours and K was pretty tired after it so we just went straight home. I put her down--she didn't nap but sounds like she needs to--and did some MUCH needed cleaning around the house. We've been working and on the go so much lately that the house is getting to be such a horrible mess. The kitchen is cleaner and I'm currently working on getting the laundry done. There aren't enough hours in the day sometimes!

Kayleigh actually learned another 'trick' today! She's been able to get up by herself if she has something to hold onto for months, but today I saw her stand up all by herself in the middle of the floor. I was so surprised! Dancing along with the tv yesterday, standing up all by herself today, she's just learning new things all the time! Will talking be next?

That's about it for now. Kayleigh is looking pretty tired but is fighting going down. I may have to put her down and leave her so she'll figure out that she is indeed tired. Stubborn girl.

New blogs, new behavior, new kitten.

2009-06-29T17:16:00.006-05:00

Hubby is an avid traveler, even tho it is sometimes hard to find the time, money and energy to do it. Yesterday's road trip kind of energized him to do some more little road trips around MO, and he started a new blog to talk about his journeys. http://www.scenicmidwest.blogspot.com/ In this blog he'll talk about the places he goes and his experiences along the way. There will also be pictures of the various scenic sites. It's a good thing to give his photography and blogging some focus.

Kayleigh did something we've never seen her do today--interact with the tv. She loves the show Yo Gabba Gabba, in which is a spot called 'Dancey Dance Time' where a special guest shows the characters a new dance and they all boogie down together for a few minutes. She's seen just about all these eps a million times but today was the first time we've ever seen her actually dance along with the show. We were so amazed that she just started doing it! I tell ya, this kid really surprises you. She won't do something one day then wake up the next and do it like it's nothing. (Of course, we're still waiting for her to talk.)

I've signed up on Meetup.com to meet some area parents and see about getting Kayleigh into a playgroup so she can interact with kids closer to her age. We have our first playdate tomorrow morning at a Playtime near work. Since I'm such a horrible introvert, the idea of actually going out and meeting new people makes me anxious. But I must do it for my baby. She needs the interaction.

After the playdate, I may run over to the local credit union to see about getting accounts set up there. I've heard good things about credit unions, and the fact that they don't nickel and dime you like banks do is great, considering our current financial situation.

Alright, on to the 'new kitten' mentioned in the title. As most of you know, we have cats. Lots of cats. We only got one intentionally--Nuisance--who was basically inherited from his folks as his mother's allergic. Long story short, we inherited three outdoor intact females when we moved out to our rural location, and nature took its course. Thus, the end number of cats you see listed on the right (under Cast). We must have "SUCKERS" tattooed on our foreheads or something.

On the Saturday before Father's Day, a new little kitten appeared in our backyard. She is so tiny, we figure she must be only 3 months old, if that. She was crying, hungry and scared, so we brought her in. SUCKERS. We're now trying to come up with a name for her, which isn't as easy as one would think, strangely enough. (We originally thought she was a he, hence the name Tiberius listed over in Cast.) We had the same trouble with baby names when we found out Kayleigh was a girl, but had no trouble coming up with a name for this baby, who's a boy. We suck at girl names.

So if anyone out there has any names for The-Kitten-Formerly-Known-As-Tiberius, don't hesitate to toss 'em out there.

I think that's about everything. Kayleigh is catching up on her sleep at the moment, and hubby's updating his new blog. I've got a post in mind for my other blog, www.ticklishcorpse.blogspot.com, which is where I put the various weird things I find/think of. I've got a kind of quirky sense of humor, so it amuses me. For now.

Roadtrip and death of a pitchman.

2009-06-28T19:27:00.004-05:00

We took a drive today now that the heatwave has broken. It was nice to get out and take a look at the more rural backroads of MO. There are a lot of small, rundown towns along the Great River Road (Hwy 79) that look like they saw their hey-day about 50 years ago and just kind of lingered. There are some nice scenic spots which should look really nice once fall arrives.

Billy Mays, the guy who yells on the Oxy-Clean commercials, has died. Out of all the people who died this past week, his death affects hubby and me the most, because he was on the tv show 'Pitchmen' on The Discovery Channel and we 'got to know' him thru it. He was fun to watch, and a great foil to his co-host, making for some fun interactions. It's such a shock to hear he had passed away.

Had our big ultrasound yesterday.

2009-06-26T10:18:00.004-05:00

Basically the 'big' ultrasound is usually scheduled for mid-pregnancy and done in order to take various measurements of the baby. (Legs, arms, head, etc.) It's done to make sure there's nothing amiss in there--like holes where none should be, for example--and as an added bonus, the parents can find out the sex. (Assuming baby cooperates.) Yesterday's ultrasound is a perfect example of the good, the bad and the ugly.

The Good: Baby was measuring on target and everything looked great. Two arms, two legs and a head, with kidneys and spine as an extra bonus. :P The tech says that it's 'obviously' a boy, and gave me a pic with little arrows and everything. I can't see a thing, but then again I'm not trained in ultrasound interpretation. (On a side note, this means we were right all along and we're two for two! We called Kayleigh a 'she' before we really knew as well.)

The Bad: We went straight from the office--the appt was at noon--and had to take Kayleigh with us. She doesn't nap at the office and was pretty fussy. Patrick was having a heck of a time calming her while in the room. The tech was talking in such a hushed tone that I could barely hear her and she was right next to me! When hubby said something about it, the tech said "I don't try to talk over fussy toddlers." She was overall dismissive toward Patrick, and announced the sex in that same hushed voice while he has halfway across the room walking Kayleigh to try and calm her! UGH! BITCH!!!!

The Ugly: This royally pissed off Patrick for the rest of the day, which upset me. I honestly didn't see how she was acting during the appt because I was focusing in the monitor with the baby, but since hubby told me, I can look back and see that she WAS acting really horribly to him. It's pissing me off the more I think about it and I plan on talking to my doc about it at my next appt. (It's in two weeks so maybe I'll be calm enough to talk about it without screaming or getting vulgar.)

He seems better this morning, which is great, but we're both still annoyed about it. She ruined was was supposed to be a nice family experience by being so exclusive of the freaking baby's father! UGH!

Okay, gotta think about something else.

I got stung by a wasp this morning. It was crawling on the hallway floor and I took some toilet paper, covered it, and stepped on it. When I crumpled up the paper, the damn thing must not have been dead because it stung me on my right middle finger. Holy crap on a cracker that hurt! My whole finger swelled up and it burned where the stupid thing stung me. I ran it under cold water and put some ice on it and it eventually stopped hurting. It's still a little swollen, and hurts when I push on it, but at least it's not an angry red anymore. I was a little worried I might have been allergic for a while there! But woe be it to any other stinging insects I encounter. Revenge will be mine!

I'm melting!!

2009-06-22T10:45:00.003-05:00

Today's high is supposed to be 99 with a heat index of 110. Is it autumn yet?

I joined Meetup.com to see if I could find some local playgroups to get both me and Kayleigh some socialization. I joined one that's about half an hour away--EVERYTHING is about a half an hour away--and might go to the meet 'n greet on Wednesday morning at the mall. If I don't chicken out. I'm the biggest, most severe introvert you're ever going to meet and the idea of going out and meeting a group of complete strangers doesn't exactly fill me with joy. But Kayleigh needs some socialization with kids her age, (and technically, so do I!), so I'll suck it up and check it out. We'll see how it goes.

K still isn't talking so I'm starting to look more into the various programs and such to get her evaluated. If she's behind, even a little, I want to know and see what can be done to try and get her caught up.

I'm about 5 months pregnant now, and will go in for our big ultrasound on Thursday to see what we can see. Hopefully everything will look as it should, and babe will cooperate to find out the sex. Hubby and I are both thinking it's a boy, but aren't necessarily hoping for either sex. We'll see!

Today's our 8th anniversary, and are planning on heading out in a month to see The Music Man at the Muny to celebrate. 8 years! Sometimes it doesn't seem that long and sometimes it seems so. much. longer. :P

Whew, been a while!

2009-06-14T16:49:00.003-05:00

So I'm not sure why I'm even writing here as I doubt anyone is even following it anymore, but whatever.

I'm about 4 and a half months pregnant with number two. I've had NONE of the symptoms with this one that I had with Kayleigh, which is both great and a little frustrating. At least when I was sick as a dog and feeling all the painful twinges and such with K, I KNEW I was still pregnant. When there's absolutely NO symptoms whatsoever, it makes it hard to feel comforted that everything's still rolling along nicely. I am feeling him (or her, it could still be a girl, after all) kick now, just little tiny pokes here and there, which is reassuring.

In less than two weeks I'll be heading in for my big mid-pregnancy ultrasound. Here's hoping that everything is looking good and the babe will cooperate and we'll get verification on gender. I also had some blood drawn in order to test for various possible birth defects, so we'll see what those results are in a few weeks when they come in. I'm not too worried because the pregnancy's been textbook so far and there's no guarantee that the baby will have anything wrong with it just because I've hit the 'magic' age of 35. I'll worry when there's a reason to.

Kayleigh's been on-again and off-again dropping her naps, which can make for a very cranky little girl. Some recent bloodwork came back with a touch of anemia for her, so I have to give her an iron supplement every day until her next appt in August. Maybe the iron's blocking her up and that's why she's been so cranky lately?

A new surprise.

2009-03-18T10:53:00.001-05:00

Wanna know what the definition of 'unbelievable' is? It's taking over 4 years to conceive your first child and getting pregnant with your second the very first month off birth control. That's right. I'm pregnant. The very first month off the pill. Talk about unexpected.

After an initial shock, we're kind of excited about it. Hubby took some time to adjust, seeing how he was really hoping to have an only child like he was. But he's doing much better with it now. We're referring to the baby as a 'he'--and calling him Pivnert—so maybe there's some intuition going on. (We referred to Kayleigh Anne as a 'she' when we found out we were pregnant with her.) I'm honestly good either way. Either sex has its advantages.

I've slowed down a lot on Facebook, mostly because the initial novelty has worn off, I think. But I always sign in at least once a day to keep tabs on my brother and various other old high school friends. (It's amazing to hear these 'blasts from the pasts' from high school!)

Not much else to report. I've got a tooth to get yanked next Monday, a few cavities to get filled and bills to juggle in order to do it. Sigh.

Another baby first

2009-02-16T11:02:00.001-06:00

A new baby is full of firsts, and last night we had baby's first temper tantrum. Honestly, I wasn't even aware that one year olds threw temper tantrums, but that's all it could be described as. We have a blanket draped over the tv stand that houses our satellite receiver, various dvd players and game systems. The reason we keep this stuff hidden is so Kayleigh Anne doesn't crawl over and start poking at the buttons. Well last night we pulled the blanket up so we could get to the dvd player to watch a movie, and she made a bee-line to the uncovered 'toys'. When Patrick grabbed her to keep her from playing with them, she started freaking out! She did this little forced cry and just cracked us up because of the fake-ness of it. It was unreal! We got her to stop when we pulled up a 'Yo Gabba Gabba' episode. Cripes she loves that show!

Of course, she's been pretty cranky lately anyway. I'm not sure if she's starting to get her molars (which are more painful than the front ones from what I understand) or if she's just not feeling well or what. But man, this kid is just being a fussy little crank. She seems to be better when I give her a little Tylenol, so at least that's something.

I've created a page for myself on Facebook. It's pretty neat to play around on, and I'm always open to new friends, so anyone reading this should feel free to seek me out and add me. (Just send me a note to let me know who you are so I'm not adding stalker serial killers willy-nilly!)

Hmm . . . other than that, nothing much happening. I've gotta order some more propane soon—joy--and should really get a tooth pulled but there's only so much money available. (HA! Available money—there's an oxymoron.)

Oh, I almost forgot to add! Patrick had his first wedding shoot on Saturday (which was also his birthday). He did it at a reduced rate in order to beef up his portfolio, and already has two other weddings lined up in March and May. Encouraging!

My little girl is a whole year old!

2009-02-09T11:20:00.001-06:00

I cannot believe an entire year has passed since Kayleigh Anne was born. Where's the time gone?? She's growing like a weed and changing almost every day. At her last doctor's appt, she was a little over 20 pounds and 31 inches long. (The doc keeps saying that she's a tall, skinny kid. Big girl!) She's growing out of 12 month clothes, so I'm going to have to start looking for some 18 month stuff to sustain her for the rest of winter. Jeez! (Unless some kind soul out there is interested in sending me some hand-me-downs from their daughter. ;) The ultimate in recycling!)

I've changed her to the older infants' formula, and am going to start to slowly move her over to regular milk over the next month or so. I've been diligently giving her more 'real' food (as in baby food mixed with cereal) to remove a few bottles during the day. She still gets a bottle for breakfast and one before bed, but I try to give her food for the other feedings. She seems to do pretty well for the most part and is a good eater. She doesn't have any interest in table food as of yet, and doesn't really know what to do with the little finger foods I give her (the dogs stay by her high chair to catch the tidbits as she tosses them over the side) so I guess she's just not ready for REAL people food as of yet. I'll keep working with her, tho. She's just too interested in the goings on around her that she loses interest in eating quickly. She's too darn curious!

She's walking more and more often now, too. She still drops to her hands and knees if she wants to get somewhere in a hurry, but I often see her toddling around the living room as she wanders from her toys to the tv and back again. Mama's big girl!

As of last Tuesday, I am officially off birth control. We're not trying specifically, but we're not avoiding, either. Hubby's still not 100% into another child, but he's willing to 'let go and let God'. If we're meant to have another, we'll have one. If not, we won't. I would like another, and honestly, I think the only reservation Patrick has is the financial and uncertainty of an additional child (he doesn't think he can divide his love between Kayleigh Anne and another child). I think (should we have another) that he'll handle the adjustment just fine. We'll see what happens. It took over 4 years to conceive Kayleigh Anne, so we'll see if my body decides “That wasn't so hard!” and works right or if it reverts back to the irregular cycles and screwed up hormones I had before.

Patrick's been working on his photography business and is doing pretty well so far. He's concentrating on weddings, and is offering a special price for a few months in order to get some shots for his portfolio, then he'll increase his prices. He's got a wedding scheduled for this Saturday, is going to be a back-up shooter for a wedding next weekend, and has another wedding scheduled for March 14 ^th. No he's not going to be making the thousands of dollars that a normal wedding photographer makes, but he's just starting out and needs the shots for a good portfolio. I'm thinking that (depending on the quality of shots he gets from these weddings) he could probably be up to the regular wedding photographer prices by June or July. He's pretty excited about making a career with his photography (which he LOVES) and is looking forward to getting some great paying jobs. Here's hoping!

Other than that, nothing terribly interesting to report. Take care!

New year, new possibilities.

2009-01-10T12:54:00.002-06:00

In less than a month, our little girl will be a year old. A whole year since she was born! Seems like it just flew by! They really do grow up fast. *sniff*

She cut another tooth recently. Her two bottom front had cut thru a few months ago, and just a week or two ago, I noticed one of her front upper teeth has appeared. She's also gnawing on the side near the back, so maybe a molar is working its way up.

Frustratingly enough, she's not walking yet. Considering how strong her legs are, we were thinking she would be walking by at least Christmas. She's cruising a lot, but taking only the smallest of steps by herself. Of course, maybe I should be thankful that she's not walking yet--I'd never get anything done!

Speaking of kids, we're kinda/sorta talking about number 2. I've just started my new pack of birth control pills, but we've been talking about letting things play out as they will after this one's done. We're not getting any younger, and neither one of us would like to be worrying about a pregnancy or newborn care when we're 40, so we've only got a few years if we're going to have another. And since it took over 4 years to conceive Kayleigh, we need to get started sooner rather than later.

Hubby's not that sold on another, but he's open to whatever the Lord gives us. I personally would like another, but wouldn't be totally devastated if we only had Kayleigh. Honestly, I never thought we'd have HER, so we're technically ahead of the game! But I would love to be pregnant again. (Altho there is a slight possibility that if I get pregnant again, it could be twins. What a frightening thought!)

2009 marks the year we really push our various creative efforts to bring some more money into the household. We're currently working on updating my website for Written By Annette, and Patrick's getting some prints ready for sale. I think we can make some income with our talents, we just need to find the right way to get the info out to the right people.

Other than that, nothing much going on. Just trying to increase our income and be happy.

The holidays can't end fast enough.

2008-12-29T12:56:00.003-06:00

On top of all the family drama that took place (and is still taking place, to an extent), we found one of our outdoor kitties had passed away on Saturday night. TJ was in the box we had made them, her paw still in her mouth (like she was cleaning herself and chewing on it to get between her toes). This gives me two points of comfort in her death--1. that she was HOME when she went (TJ had disappeared for a number of months a few years ago), and 2. that it was very quick and she didn't suffer. Honestly, she looks like she was in the middle of cleaning herself and just kind of . . . well, died. We're going to have to wait until the weather warms up so we can bury her. I'll miss you little girl. :(

The babe had a nice holiday, and is happy to play with the toys Santa brought. She didn't get too much, which is great, and she seems to really like what she did get. I had a big tupperware bin downstairs that I had to pull up in order to keep her toys from straying all over the living room, which only comes with being a parent, I suppose.

I'm kinda sorta playing with photography right now, but am not sure how long I'll stay with it. I'll never be as interested in it as Patrick is, but I think alot of that has to do with the technical specs. He LOVES looking thru his photography magazines and learning all the various specs of cameras and lenses and all that. I don't. I want to get a camera, point it at something and take the picture. I couldn't care less what an aperature is, or F-stop, or shutter speed or any of that. I just want to USE it, not spend all my time fussing with settings.

Hubby and I had been watching Lost on the Sci Fi Channel on Monday nights, and were quite into it when Sci Fi pulled a real smooth move--they showed the episodes earlier on Monday a few weeks ago, and now we're hopelessly out of the storyline. I believe we've missed somewhere in the vicinity of 8 eps or so in the last couple weeks. Whose idiotic idea was THAT? I wonder how many people they ticked off with that move. I can count three right now. (His mother was also watching them.) Sure we can catch the eps online, but that's not the point. We had NO indication that Sci Fi was going to do this, otherwise we would have set them to record. Gah. Frustrating.

Well, I think that's about it. I've gotta head out to Wal-Mart (again), so I'd better be moseying.

The clock is ticking.

2008-12-09T12:31:00.003-06:00

2009 is coming up fast. Where's time going so quickly?

Another birthday come and gone. I'm another year older (35 for those keeping score) and Kayleigh turned 10 months on the same day. Pretty neat! But other than that, nothing too exciting. We went to the mall and I got some books (I'm on a supernatural/paranormal/ghost kick right now) and then went out to eat. Haven't been out in a while so it was a nice day.

We're planning on getting some decorating done this coming weekend. I dunno if we'll put the tree up yet--it would just mean that much more time we need to keep the cats and baby away from it--but we'll pull the stuff out and get it organized.

Speaking of getting organized, this past weekend we spent down in the basement, getting the store room, bathroom and office cleaned up so Patrick can do some work at home. Those rooms look really nice now. The main part of the basement is still a HUGE mess, and that's a task to tackle another time.

We had another possom relocation last night. That's two in about the same number of weeks. It's kind of a hassle, but it's the only way to get rid of the things so they won't pose a threat to the outdoor cats or the dogs when they go out at night. (As in rabies and other diseases.)

Our furnace is acting up. Again. We've discovered that our burners seem to be covered in rust and dirt, and that's why it's failing to turn on sometimes. There are 4 burners in there that the ignition switch lights. Only two of them are lighting on some tries, and if all 4 burners don't light, the furnace shuts them all off and tries again in another minute. After three unsuccessful tries, the furnace shuts off and needs a manual restart--meaning we have to pay close attention to when/if the furnace turns on and if/when it doesn't, we have to go downstairs and flip the switch. It's a little annoying, but at least we're not having a cold snap and the baby has a small heater in her room so she's good. Our repairman has looked into the parts and we'll have him out in January to get it fixed. (Money is really tight this month, what with Christmas, taxes and the various other usual monthly bills.) We're definitely going to get it fixed, it will just be another month or so before we can afford it.

Speaking of weather, it sounds like we're going to have some rain and cold weather all day and night, so Patrick might be putting that new office downstairs to use tomorrow. (We live about half an hour from the office.) Looks like we'll be utilizing our fireplace too!

Gas prices as of yesterday were $1.48 a gallon. How low will it go?

Holiday Drama with all the trimmings.

2008-12-03T13:08:00.001-06:00

Thanksgiving is over and aside from some family drama that I really don't want to get into, it went pretty well. We had a delicious turkey dinner at home with all the trimmings (sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, stuffing, rolls, veggies—YUM!!) The baby was napping while we ate, so we offered her some mashed potatoes when we had leftovers the next night. She had fun pushing them around on her tray, but didn't really get that they were FOOD for EATING. Just not really for real food yet, I guess.

We've got most of her Christmas shopping done, with probably only a few more things to pick up before Santa comes. She's too little to really understand this year, so it's not as exciting as it could be. Next year might be better.

Other than that, not much happening. The weather's cold, gas prices are still dropping ($1.55 yesterday) and we're enjoying our little girl. 'Tis life.

Baby's First Cold

2008-11-20T12:42:00.004-06:00

Not exactly a first that's worthy of celebrating, let me tell you. Kayleigh has a horrible post nasal drip that's making her miserable, as she can't breathe when she lays down. I've been rubbing her down with Vick's every night and that seems to help, and I also picked up a 'Heat Mist Vaporizer' that also puts Vick's in the air of her room. It does seem to help, but the poor girl is just miserable around bedtime. Her sinus' might be hurting her too. I think it MAY be clearing up (knock on wood) so hopefully she'll beat this bug soon.

She also got her first flu shot a few weeks ago at her 'well-baby' checkup. I'm not usually one to go for the whole flu shot thing, as I think it only promotes stronger, more resistant virus', but considering her immune system isn't exactly running at full capacity yet, I figured it would probably be a good idea. Much to her dismay--I had promised her no shots at that appointment! Oh well. At least it was only one and not three.

The colder weather has arrived and it's feeling pretty cold in the house. I picked up a little heater for the baby's room that has a temp gauge in it and turns on and off to keep the room at the pre-set temp. Nice! Now we can keep her room nice and toasty without having to worry about some heater on all the time.

We're both trying to lose some weight, which isn't easy considering that our bodies tend to go into 'hybernation mode' in the colder weather. We're eating more consciously and trying to cut out the snacks. (I say this but then go ahead and make cookie dough for snackage. Smart.) I'm trying to get back to--or as close to--pre-pregnancy weight so I can wear my wedding ring again. I miss it!

The other night we had to run out at 7:30 to relocate a stupid possom that's been moving in on my cats' territory. We have a box on the front porch that we built to help keep the cats warm in the really cold weather, and that stupid possom just wanders in and helps himself to the thing! We lift the lid and there he is, laying in there all snuggly and has the gall to hiss at us, like we're disturbing him! It's bad enough he came up and ate the cat food at night, but this was getting ridiculous. Luckily, possoms aren't exactly what you'd call 'fast' or 'smart', so we managed to get him into a cat carrier and relocated him to a wooded area a good 7 miles away. We're just going to have to be more diligent in capturing these things to get rid of them. (Yes, I know we could have just shot him but neither one of us are up to that. Besides, think of the mess!)

Hmm, other than that, not much going on. Just kind of taking things as they come. Living day by day.

Oh, one more thing. Gas prices are down to $1.68. Woohoo! Keep dropping baby!

The weather she is a-changing.

2008-11-07T09:56:00.002-06:00

The cooler weather has returned and I must admit that I'm a little glad. There's just something wrong with it being in the 70s in November! :P Not that I didn't enjoy such warm weather while we had it. ;)

Gas prices have dropped below $2! When I came into work this morning, a gallon of regular unleaded was $1.98. Woohoo! Keep dropping baby! I'd like to fill my tank for less than $20 again!

I think the plastic we put on the baby's window is helping, as her room wasn't as cool as I was expecting last night or this morning. We've still got some left from the pack, so maybe we'll see about putting some up on another window or two. Anything that will help us save some money on heating this year!

I've picked up some more yarn and am soon to start yet another crocheted afghan. I only know one crochet stitch, and I can do it over and over and over and over again really well. :P We won't be hurting for afghans around here, that's for sure.

Hmmm . . . other than that, not much going on. I'm thrilled to death that the election is finally over, as I was getting REALLY sick of all the ads on tv and the radio, not to mention all the billboards, yard signs and postcards. Ugh! At least that's over for another 4 years.

Happy (belated) Halloween!

2008-11-03T11:52:00.002-06:00

Kayleigh's first Halloween costume! Ain't she a doll? XD

Back from the dead.

2008-11-03T10:53:00.003-06:00

Jeez, it's been a while, hasn't it? Whoops!

Kayleigh's baptism went well. Her godparents couldn't make it in due to various family and health concerns, but the in-laws stood in for them and all went well. The babe looked downright angelic in her dress and she was good thru the whole thing. Yay!

It's hard to believe that we've got a 9 month old on our hands. Seems like it wasn't that long ago I was in the hospital! She's crawling like a little bug and starting to pull up on the furniture. She's not 'cruising' yet (holding onto the furniture as she walks) but I think it's coming. She also 'dances' to music she hears on the tv, meaning she sits on her haunches and bounces and recently she's started bobbing her head from side to side. Too cute!

The graphic design business is going well, with our recurring customer now talking with Patrick about re-designing her website. Good stuff! I'm going to pull some new lists to market the business to in the hopes of getting some more good clients.

The writing business . . . eh, not so good. Admittingly tho, I haven't really advertised or marketed myself so I can't be too disappointed. I'm technically writing thru the Galant Design business so it's not like I'm not doing anything with it. But as for 'Written By Annette', I dunno. I might try to push it more after the holidays or just decide to change it into a personal writing site. Dunno. Haven't really given it a lot of thought either way.

We've got a few websites in the works, or at least have the domains ready for content. Hubby has www.GalantDesignStudio.com (work), www.PhotoByPope.com (work/personal), www.dslrphotography.com (personal), and www.PatrickTCPope.com (online resume/portfolio). I've got www.WrittenByAnnette.com (work, for now), www.TheJabberwockyJournal.com (personal), and www.WhereTheFurFlies.com (personal). Our joint site will be www.TicklishCorpse.com (it's basically a joke we came up with years and years ago and always loved the way it sounds) where we'll showcase our various creative outlets and such. Granted, there's nothing to see under the last three as of yet, but I'm hoping to get something up on Jabberwocky and Fur within the next month. My main hope and goal for those two is to get a good 'following' and be able to publish some books based on the material there. Let's make some money with my writing!

This past weekend we put some plastic over the window in the nursery, mostly because that room gets darn cold in the winter, and we've grown kind of attached to the baby and don't want her to freeze. My experience with plastic on windows has been of the 'once they're covered you can't see anything until Spring' variety, so I was surprised when we finished and it was perfectly clear! We're having an unseasonal warm spell right now, so it won't be until the end of the week until we see if it helps, but I'm hopeful.

Halloween went well, with the babe dressed as Raggedy Anne. So freaking adorable! I'll have to see if I can get a pic up soon. We didn't trick-or-treat or anything, mostly because she's not even a year old and I always hated to see people hauling around little tiny babies with pails for candy. Come on now. Maybe next year she'll go around to a few houses in her in-law's neighborhood or something. (We live WAY too rurally to take her around here.)

Speaking of candy, we've decided that M&Ms are simply too dangerous to have in our house. It's got nothing to do with the baby, we simply have zero willpower or control when it comes to those little candy coated chocolates. Too addictive! We're both looking at trying to lose some weight so having such a high calorie snack close at hand isn't exactly helping.

Gas prices are dropping--yay!!--and were $2.11 when we came in this morning. Hubby said he saw them at $2.09 over the weekend. Hopefully they'll continue to drop. Anything's better than the $3.99 price I saw (and paid!!) at their highest around here.

I think that's about it. I'll try to keep this updated at least once a week for the 3 of you who read it. ;P

Growth, money and health. Fun subjects.

2008-09-13T11:38:00.001-05:00

Not a whole lot going on right now. Kayleigh is still crawling like a little bug around the house, and thankfully hasn't hurt herself in her little tumbles. (Yet. I think it's only a matter of time.) I try to put her in pants and socks when she crawls around the living room so she doesn't get brush burn from the carpet. I'm going to need to get her some more pants outfits for the cooler weather that's on its way, as she outgrew just about everything she currently has. (This kid is LONG! She's 7 ½ months and fits better in 9 month outfits because of how long she is.)

She still only has two little teeth, and whenever I try to put some Orajel on her gums, she bites me! Little stinker! I am trying to give her more actual food as opposed to the formula, but it's hard to not be lazy. (Bad mommy!) I've bought some apple juice for her as the food tends to bind her up a little. Our plan is to give her a small bottle of apple juice after a jar of food to keep her 'flowing' well.

She's babbling more too, and playing with sounds. I love when she babbles as opposed to the grunting and whining.

We've also finally jumped thru all the hoops the church steered us thru in order to schedule her baptism for October 19 ^th. It's something we've been needing to get done, and the churches we needed to deal with didn't make things any easier or quicker. They never got back to us when we called and took a long time letting us know what we needed to do. “Organized” religion indeed.

Hubby and I are trying to get some extra money coming into the house. In addition to looking for outlets for my writing, I also signed up for some of those paid survey sites and have made a little bit over the past week. (And trust me, 'little bit' is about all you'll make on those sites. If anyone else chooses to do it, sign up for maybe one or two sites and just do it in your spare time. I'm having good luck on inboxdollars.com. I also recommend creating a new email addy for it, as you'll get emails like crazy, most of it spam.) Hubby's putting a bunch of his photos on those stock photo sites. It'll give his photography a little bit of focus (intentionally shooting for stock, in other words), and maybe generate some extra cash over time. Doesn't hurt.

My great uncle died last week, and from what I hear it was kind of merciful. He had been dealing with Alzheimer's for a while, and been shuffled between a few homes because he got a little violent with the residents and staff. Seems he was taken to the hospital last week for pneumonia, but actually died of a heart attack while in there.

My grandmother is also dealing with a health issue, as she was having some abdominal pain and bleeding for months before telling anyone. Stubborn! She's heading to Pittsburgh for some exploratory surgery and to see what's going on. Hopefully everything will turn out okay.

Anyway, that's about it. Kayleigh's growing by leaps and bounds, developing every single day it seems. Such incredible growth and learning in such little time!

Mobility achieved!

2008-09-07T21:39:00.001-05:00

We have officially achieved (pre-walking) mobility. Kayleigh is now crawling forward and boy can she book! Turn your head for 30 seconds and she's across the room. At first there were only stuttery, jerky movements, basically looking like a little froggy. Now her legs are moving independently and she's really moving. Of course, now that means that we'll have to watch her like crazy to minimize the bumps and bruises from her clumsy little movements. She's already taken a number of faceplants. Poor baby.

Other than that, nothing much going on. Just trying to get by, day by day.

Baby prison.

2008-09-03T16:01:00.002-05:00

Bought Kayleigh a playpen after work yesterday, specifically after she took a good knock to the head while at work. She was crawling around on the floor and must have fallen forward and wacked her head against the little bookcase we have her tv and dvd player sitting on. Not a happy girl after that. So we stopped at Wal-Mart and picked up a pack-n-play for her room at the office. Now she can squirm around all she wants and has a larger place to nap in.

Her knock at the office would have been bad enough, but when we got home, we put her down in her crib for a nap, and about 15 minutes later she was screaming. I ran in and she had gotten her arm caught between the bars of her crib. Poor little baby was getting all beat up yesterday!

But she's fine today, doesn't even have a mark where she hit her head yesterday. She's currently napping in her playpen, the little sweetie. Her crawling is getting more and more deliberate and will probably be speeding along in another week or two. Yikes!

Lookout cats, Kayleigh Anne's on the move!

Another day, another new baby development!

2008-09-01T19:55:00.002-05:00

Kayleigh is developing every day it seems. Her crawling is getting more deliberate, she's babbling more and more, and another tooth is just about to poke thru her gums, right next to her first one. She's right at about 7 months now, and getting so big! It's so hard to believe that she'll be crawling (in a more intentional way) soon, and then walking. Our little girl is growing up so quickly!

Today we just spent a quiet day at home. Hubby found a cheap used camera to convert to an IR (infrared) camera and he's been playing with that. I've been doing some looking around at different writing websites—looking for inspiration, workshops, helpful tips, and the like. I'm really hoping to get back into writing in a big way. I need to set aside a specific time every single day and just WRITE. Write thru the block.

I need to do some re-working with our diapers. I had returned my cloth ones because the velcro tabs were not sticking well anymore, and they replaced every one with the newest version of the diapers. Well, I have been putting them on the babe and dealing with some MAJOR leaks. I was changing her 3 or more times a day she was so soaked! So I doubled up on the inserts and the leaks seem to have stopped. Trouble is, this cuts down on the number of diapers available to me, so I'm going to have to do diaper laundry every day instead of every other. We're going to try a few things before ordering more inserts, as they would cost about $50. But we need to do something so I can get full use out of all our diapers.

Other than that, nothing much happening here.

Some time alone.

2008-08-29T21:09:00.002-05:00

Today hubby and I got a chance to head out and spend some 'alone time' away from the babe, courtesy of the in-laws. They babysat while we went out to the bookstore, then the movies (saw The Dark Knight--good movie but intense!) then out to eat at the Outback. It was nice to get a break from the baby and spend some time as a couple again. I think we needed it. Maybe we'll try and get a 'date day' out once a month or so.

Crawling, teeth and moods. Oh my!

2008-08-28T20:23:00.002-05:00

Mobility is coming soon, I can feel it. The babe is rolling, scooching, squirming and crawling (backwards and sideways) all over the floor. She's just recently started moving her arms forward, but her legs have yet to follow. Yikes!

Hubby and I hit the dentist this week, to put our cheap but surprisingly good dental insurance to work. He's got a tooth that chipped a few weeks ago and needs attention and I haven't actually been to the dentist in ~cough30yearscough~ so it was time for me to go. We've got a few more appointments scheduled for various cleaning and cavity filling, and we should be in good shape.

My mood's been better lately, as has our marriage. We had a bit of a tough spot for a while, but we seem to be better now, which is good. I hate when we're awkward and 'off'.

I think that's about it. More news as it develops.

Kayleigh's First Tooth!

2008-08-24T16:44:00.003-05:00

Yesterday we were out and about, doing some errands and such and I was pushing the babe in her stroller. She looked up at me and smiled wide and I noticed a tiny little tooth poking thru her lower gums. Her first tooth! She's been drooling like crazy and chewing on her hands for months so I didn't notice any different behavior from her, so it was a big surprise to see that little tooth bud cutting thru! Now I'll have to make sure to get some finger foods for her--I've already got Cheerios on the new shopping list. I guess I'll also have to pick up a baby toothbrush so her teeth can be well taken care of from the very start.

I should try and feed her actual baby food more often too, but dang it if I'm lazy and think giving her a bottle is easier. I know I can't be lazy when it comes to this, so I'm just going to have to be a little more diligent in feeding her.

She's also getting VERY mobile and will probably be crawling soon. Technically she's got 'turning' and 'reverse' down pat, she just needs to learn to move in a forward type direction. Not that I'm all that eager for her to start becoming mobile--I like to know where she is when I put her on the floor. Besides, the sooner she crawls, the sooner she'll walk (we think she'll probably be walking by Christmas) and I can just picture how that's going to go--first we see a couple cats running by, then a laughing toddler, following by a couple of dogs. Talk about a stampede!

I wish she would 'talk' more. She tends to grunt and whine for the most part, and it can get a little annoying after a while. I love to hear her laugh--which she does quite often--but I also like to hear her little babbling. She doesn't do that enough, in my opinion.

Nuisance still has that boo-boo on her neck. I've been trying to get it to heal by putting a little bit of anti-biotic on it and covering it with some gauze, but it will never scab over that way so I've let it 'breathe'. I don't know if Nuisie can reach it with her tongue, but she seems to scratch the scabs off when it starts looking better. I just don't know what else to do for her. Guess I'll have to put another bandage on it.

Guess that's about it for now. My baby's really growing up!

Changed my mind.

2008-08-22T12:15:00.002-05:00

Decided I didn't like Wordpress so I moved back. I liked the fact that I can sign in to one account and update both blogs at the same time.

So my new personal blog is http://nettiesnotations.blogspot.com/ or you can click on my profile and go from there.

Indecisive. Yep.

No more whining.

2008-08-19T20:24:00.004-05:00

I figured I'd move my personal whining to a different blog and leave this as it was intended--to chronicle the events and happenings with the family. Lately it's become a dumping place for my own personal yakking, with a few little "Kayleigh did this" comments thrown in to justify the post. Bah! No more of that!

So I am going to keep my personal blabbering to a minimum on here. I've created a new personal blog for myself at wordpress.com (it's pretty cool over there, with some features that blogger doesn't offer). For those interested in following my ramblings, the address is http://nettiesnotations.wordpress.com/ I'll stick over there for a while, but if it starts to annoy me I'll jump back here and start a personal one.

Speaking of Kayleigh, the little bugger is getting set to crawl soon! She gets up on her hands and knees and rocks a little bit before scooching backwards. It's scary how soon she'll be mobile! In preparation, I've lowered the mattress in her crib to the lowest setting. Why the lowest? Because I'm lazy. The bottom rack (the one that holds the mattress up) is held in the frame by hex head screws, not phillips head, and moving the thing is a pain in the arse. I don't want to lower it today and have to do it again in a few months because she's standing up in there and falling out. We can still reach her at this setting, so no biggie.

Patrick's currently at a meeting for a photographers' group he found recently. I'm hoping he'll have a good time and maybe make a few friends to go out shooting with on occasion. He loves photography but I'm not that big into it, so he has no one to talk to about the gear or the photo processing.

I'm really hoping to start making some money with my writing soon. I've starting working on a business plan for Written By Annette, which is basically an official name for my 'product'--my writing. I'm going to look into articles and such for websites and magazines, while still looking for copywriting gigs. If I get my butt in gear, I might be able to really get some good work going.

I guess that's about it. I'm going to be doing a little tweaking to this blog, but nothing major. I'm going to concentrate all my personal rambling on the other one, so this one will be more enjoyable reading.

eh.

2008-08-14T15:41:00.002-05:00

Feeling 'blah' again. I'm still trying to keep my positive outlook, but it's hard right now because of this "Whatever. Like anything really matters anyway," feelings I've got hanging over me.

I'm tired. I shouldn't be because the babe is sleeping thru the night now and I'm not having to get up anywhere from 3:30-6:00am with her. Maybe I'm still feeling the 'jet lag' from my traveling a few days ago. Maybe it's my depression sneaking back. Maybe I've got a little demon in my belly sucking all my energy. I don't know. What I do know is that I'm sick of feeling so fatigued all the time. I don't have the energy or desire to do ANYTHING fun. It's really frustrating. I suppose I should go to the doctor to get a full physical and rule out any illness, but . . . eh.

I'm stressed. Life in general is stressful--a baby needing my attention, an awkward feeling over my marriage at the moment (long story, but mostly due to my negativity and general attitude problem), the various chores and such that's involved in the upkeep of pets and a house--but more specifically, I'm stressed about our financial situation. Money and our lack of it, bills and our overabundance of them, and debt and our 'in it up to our ears' status. I'm whittling it away as best as I can, but it's hard, especially with the price of gas and groceries anymore.

I'm bored. I feel like I'm in a rut--we go to work, we go home, I do laundry, repeat--yet I have no energy to do anything that would bring a refreshing break in the routine. I don't even have the energy to do much writing or reading.

My house needs cleaning something fierce. The floor is disgusting, the litter boxes need changed, the laundry needs done. But I'm usually so tired when I get home from work that I have no energy or desire to get anything done. Hell, we usually don't even eat supper until 6 or later most nights. (And supper usually consists of Hamburger Helper, Mac & Cheese or pizza because they're cheap.) See? Rut. Blah.

We're heading to Wally world after work today. I need to pick up a few things so I CAN get some cleaning done around the house. Maybe once the house is clean I'll feel a little better. (You usually feel better after a nice shower, so it sounds good in theory.)

On a side note, I found out my youngest brother has a blog at www.oddcircumstances.blogspot.com. His posts are eloquent and well written, making me think he's got some sort of ghost writer doing it for him. ;) (Just kidding, Jarrod.)

Ah well. Hopefully this little black raincloud will pass and I'll stop being so tired soon. Maybe it's a hormone fluctuation or something. I should start documenting when I have these 'episodes' and see if there's some sort of pattern.

Whoops. Been a while.

2008-08-13T15:17:00.004-05:00

Been to PA and back to see the family. Everyone loved the babe and we had a good trip. Finally met my niece Emily--that girl needs an 'off' switch! But she's a cutie.

Kayleigh is still sleeping thru the night, which is great. She's also eating more baby food, usually finishing off the entire jar (4 oz) and still wanting a bottle (usually about 6 oz)! Little piggy has a hollow leg I think!

My new life outlook is still around, altho there are some days it's hard to keep the negative thoughts at bay. Sometimes I get a little lazy and let them run for a few minutes before shutting them up. I figure blowing off steam for a few minutes won't completely ruin everything, so long as I put a stop to it before it goes on too long.

I'm running low on anti-depressants and birth control pills, so I'll have to get to the pharmacy and get them refilled soon. I think the pills are helping, so I'll try to keep on them for a while.

Been watching the Olympics and am really impressed with some of the athletes. (Michael Phelps kicks ass!) I feel bad for the Chinese competitors, tho, mostly because the Chinese government apparently swoops in and basically kidnaps these poor kids from their families, sometimes when they're as young as 3, if they show any possible skill in any of these sports. I can't help but wonder what happens to these kids once they're 'burnt out' on their chosen sport. Are they kicked out in the street? Returned to their families? China isn't exactly known for being a great country for human rights.

Nuisance has a bit of a boo-boo on her neck. It's not an abscess, I honestly don't know what it is or how she got it. It's an open wound and we're trying to keep it clean and slathered with anti-biotic ointment. Luckily its location doesn't allow her to lick it--it's on the right side of her neck, about an inch behind her ear--so maybe she'll allow it to heal. It doesn't look infected or anything right now, but if it starts to look bad, I guess we'll be running to the vet's again. Sigh. If it's not one thing, it's another.

I need to run to Wal-Mart again. Joy. I swear I'm there every week.

I guess that's it. Can't think of anything else.

So far, so good.

2008-07-29T13:05:00.002-05:00

Well my 'new lease on life' is going okay so far. I don't seem as quick to anger and I don't seem to stay angry when I do get pissed. I'm closing off the negative and nasty thoughts the second I 'hear' them, too. All in all I'm trying very hard to stay positive and have an overall more balanced and 'normal' outlook on things.

Kayleigh has recently begun sleeping thru the night (knock on wood it lasts). We've adjusted the way we feed her (we're giving her more food than we had been) and deal with her at night (keeping her up for a while instead of feeding her and putting her back to bed immediately), so maybe that makes the difference. She's really growing up! Right now she's absorbed in her Baby Einstein dvd. She really likes those.

The babe is also on solid food now--or as 'solid' as baby food gets. So far she likes applesauce and is undecided on carrots. The only problem is I'm having a bit of a hard time feeding her because the high chair we have is too big for her. So I end up trying to feed her in her little exersaucer chair, which can be hard because she's so squirmy. Oh well. We'll deal with it.

We had a bit of a scare with Rufus over the weekend. (He was the one who had a hematoma on his ear and had to go to the vet for surgery for it.) Well he came out of that okay, but got a secondary infection this past week. We noticed on Saturday morning he was looking skinny and lethargic, and he peed outside the litter box. (That's a good indication that there's something wrong with a cat.) So I called the vet and they gave me some more antibiotics for him. After only a day on them he started perking up and is almost back to his old self right now. He sure gave us a scare for a while, tho!

Over the weekend we saw Cloverfield for the first time, and I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. The characters aren't of the usual sci-fi/horror variety--you know, when you can't wait for the monster/alien/creature to do them in, usually the more grisly the better--and the way it was filmed was really interesting. It gave the whole film a kind of first person feeling, as tho we (the audience) were on the move with the characters. I've heard the filming style compared to the Blair Witch movie, which I haven't seen.

Anyway, I guess that's all. I've got a bit of a headache which I think is probably from hunger. I'm going to scrounge up something to gnaw on.

Deep thoughts.

2008-07-23T10:29:00.003-05:00

Been thinking a lot lately about my temperament, personality and overall outlook on life. Have come to one major conclusion that shouldn't be that big a surprise, as it's something hubby's been telling me for years:

I'm a negaholic. No matter what the situation, I'm likely to think of the most negative outcome. Even when something good happens, I'm always waiting for the 'other shoe to drop'. (eg: "Sure we got a good bonus check, but this just means that the water heater will die or the septic tank will back up or something.") It's like nothing is ever GOOD, it's always 'okay--for now'. Like I'm reserving judgement until I'm sure that we're not going to get bitten in the ass by something else. If something does happen to come up, then it's justified the negative voice in my head. If nothing comes up, well, that's never recognized by that little nagging voice. In that instance, it's in a state of 'Just wait. It'll happen.'

I've always thought of it as being a 'realist'--don't get your hopes up and you're never disappointed. But I ALWAYS think of the most negative aspect of any situation. That's not healthy. Now that I'm actually conscious of it, I see it happen an awful lot. I'm concentrating on telling that voice to shut up, because it not only focuses on the most negative possible outcome, but also pipes up with nasty and mean running commentary when it's not necessary.

So it's time to root that nasty weed out. I'm currently on my anti-depressants, and am taking my multi-vitamins every day again. (I quit them when I was pregnant because they were backing me up. I just never really got back into the habit.) I think I might have a little more energy than I used to, so that's helping.

I'm not saying I'm going to turn into some Pollyanna, but being the gloom and doom sayer is not healthy and a downer for those closest to me--namely the hubby. One thing that I'm trying to do is remain focused on NOW--there is no past (to keep me pissed or depressed), there is no future (to focus on what 'might happen' and piss me off/depress me). There is only now. (No that doesn't mean I'm just going to forget everything I've done in the past--that's just foolish and irresponsible. I'm just going to see it as the past, learn from the mistakes and move on.)

Will it work? I hope so. (See, more positive.) I'm actively paying attention to my thoughts and shutting out the unnecessarily negative ones. They're not doing me any good.

What do you call a group of humming birds?

2008-07-22T17:12:00.003-05:00

No, it's not a setup for a joke, I'm asking. Are all bird groups called flocks?

About two years ago I noticed a few humming birds out front, so I picked up some feeders and put some food out for them. Fast forward to today, when I counted at least 8 of the little flittering birds out there scrounging for position at two of my feeders. I have 4 feeders total, two of them have a little ring around the base where the little guys can land to feed. These two are the more popular ones and empty very quickly.

Scratch that. I can see one feeder from my spot on the couch and counted at least 10 birds. At ONE feeder. For all I know there are at least a dozen in total, I just can't count them all--they move to darn fast.

Kayleigh's been sleeping thru the night lately. Sunday night and last night she slept straight thru from the time I put her down (at somewhere between 8 and 9pm) until about 9am. Is this a fluke or a sign of changing habits? I'm not going to hold my breath thinking that it's permanent or anything. It's just interesting.

We put our scooters on Craig's List yesterday and are completely blown away by the response! They're the small 'motorcycle-ish' style scooters and with the price of gas these days, I guess they're really popular. We had bought them back in '01, before we moved, before we were married, before we had a baby. You know, when we actually had money. :P We used them often back then, mostly because we lived in an area that was easily transversed on something that didn't go highway speeds. Since moving out to the boonies, we couldn't ride them because of the way some people drive on these roads. (Can you say suicidal?) They've just been sitting in our garage since we moved, gathering dust. We finally got some pics of them and I put them on Craig's List yesterday. We actually have someone coming tonight with cash in hand to pick them up. Woohoo! Hurray for Craig's List! We're going to utilize CL to see about selling quite a bit of the stuff downstairs.

Boy, those humming birds are going NUTS at that feeder! It's empty little guys, go to one of the other ones I just filled! I've got some food cooling on the stove for them tho, so I'll refill the others later this evening.

Well, I'd better get the babe fed and the ironing done.

Healing kitty and tired mommy.

2008-07-14T12:47:00.002-05:00

Rufus is now de-stitched. We went ahead and removed the stitches ourselves, and he's none the worse for wear. (So far. Knock on wood we won't go home to a bloody mess!) The collar is off, his stitches are out, and he's free to clean himself again. Which he is in DIRE need of--he's a cruddy kitty! If he's still cruddy to the touch tonight, we might see about bathing him. (Yes, cats can be bathed. I bathe Nuisance all the time because she can't clean herself properly.)

Kayleigh is doing her mini pushups much better now. When she's in her crib on her tummy (she's a tummy sleeper) and does her little pushup, she can look over the rail of the front! We're going to have to keep a close eye on that and lower her mattress if it looks like peeking over the rail isn't the ONLY thing she can do!

I'm so tired all the time anymore, it's sad. I have a hard time getting back to sleep when she gets up early in the morning, so I'm living in a perpetual state of tired-ness.

Patrick has been having some back and leg pain for a while and refuses to go to a chiropractor to get a re-alignment. His right leg/hip is really hurting him, too, and I think it's because he's flat footed--more on the right than the left--and his shoes don't give him the support he needs in his arches. I'm going to look for good shoe inserts and see if that helps.

We got a Baby Einstein DVD for the babe a week or so ago and she really likes it. She sits and stares at the images and laughs and smiles and just looks really happy when it's on. I'm going to Netflix more of them and have a nice library for her.

We haven't decided what to do around the house--fix the basement, the home office, etc. It's a 50/50 chance anything will happen and the money won't just trickle out on bills. We definitely have to get a new load of gravel on the driveway, tho--it looks HORRIBLE. It's embarrassing how awful it looks. We'd LOVE to get it paved, but that's way out of our budget.

Just chugging right along.

2008-07-11T14:22:00.003-05:00

Whoa, been a while.

Things have been a little busy lately. Between work and the various things we're doing around the house, there just hasn't been a whole lot of time left for much else. We're still working on the basement and altho it looks kind of bad and messy right now, it's actually better than it was. Most of the stuff laying around is trash waiting to head out. There's still A LOT of other stuff to go thru tho, so it'll be a while before it's completely finished.

We got a check from the IRS for our 2004 taxes that were screwed up royally, and long story short, we've been fighting to get them corrected for a good year. The check was a welcome sight to see tho, and we're trying to decide what to do with some of the money. (A BIG majority is going into savings.) We're looking at taking just a little bit out to use to it's best advantage. Right now, the choices are:

1) Finish off the basement for a nice rec room/family room/play room
2) Build the fence we've been needing for the dogs
3) Finish off the shop outside and move a bulk of the business there
4) Clean up the outside of the property and make it 'show ready' if we should want to move
5) Go on a little vacation (we haven't been away on a vacation since 2004)
6) Take a little and fix the upstairs (paint, lay tile, etc)
7) Take it to the casino and take our chances with Lady Luck

Okay so maybe number 7 isn't likely to happen. ;) And there are chances that nothing will happen simply because we can't make up our minds. Every option has its advantages. We've been wanting to fix the basement for a long time--it would be much cooler down there in the summer and be a great little 'family area' for when Kayleigh gets bigger. (Not to mention it would be a fantastic place to keep all her toys so they don't clog up our living room.) But moving the business to our house would be good too--it would save us on gas and actually make us more productive because we could just go out there and work whenever we felt like it as opposed to being 'stuck' at the office. 10pm and feel like getting some printing done? No problem, the 'office' is only a short walk away!

Personally, I'm leaning toward one of those two options. We DO need a fence, and have needed one for a while, but I think we'd get much more enjoyment and satisfaction out of a nicely finished basement than some fence out front so we can let the dogs out un-leashed. It gets so hot in the summer anyway, I doubt they'd take full advantage of it.

Anyway, in other news, I've got a different prescription in at Walgreens for anti-depressants. I had a doctor's appt on Monday and when I told him that the stuff he wrote for me last time was $110 a month and didn't have a generic form, he seemed surprised. Seems he wrote in my file that he gave me a script for Zoloft, not Lexapril (or whatever it is). So he wrote me the actual script for Zoloft as well as one for the birth control pill and I'll head out to pick them up today.

Hubby's been working on my website for Written By Annette and it's looking pretty good. I still need to pull together some samples and get my portfolio made up, but it's coming together. I have plenty of businesses I can market to, and will go 'list pulling crazy' starting next week. Pretty excited and nervous about this. The nagging little doubts come out and start poking me in the back of the head--Are you sure you're good enough to do this? Why would anyone hire you? What are you thinking?--but I'm trying to stay positive. From everything I've read, there's definitely a market out there for writing work, it's just a matter of going out and finding it. Letting people know I'm here. So here's hoping.

I think that's about all for now. Later!

I'm a business owner now!

2008-07-04T22:34:00.002-05:00

As of about two hours ago, I officially became a new business owner! I registered my company name with the state of MO--Written By Annette--and bought a website for it, www.writtenbyannette.com. I'm a business owner! Yahoo!

Sorry, I'm just a little excited. Technically I'm co-owner of Galant Design Studio too (and Patrick is co-owner of Written By Annette) but with Galant, it's more of a graphic design company and that's more Patrick's thing, not mine. With Written, it's basically my thing. Pretty exciting!

I've also created a 'business blog' for it, www.writtenbyannette.blogspot.com, and altho there aren't any posts in it yet, I'm hoping to get it going soon. (Blogs are apparently a good way to generate interest and get business because they show the 'personable' side of the business-person.)

Just wanted to toot my own horn for a minute. Yay me! :D

Happy July 4th!

2008-07-04T19:19:00.002-05:00

Did some work around the house today, namely got some cleaning done in the basement. Hubby said the other day that we're going to have to be 'brutal' about all our junk down there, and sell or toss the things we're not going to use or need again. (For those who know what a packrat Patrick is, this was a very surprising thing to hear him say.) So we went downstairs today to start going thru our stacks of crap. We had a little bit of water damage in the front corner, so that's the area we hit. We have a good amount of stuff put into the 'to sell' pile, as well as a nice amount to get out in the trash. It doesn't look like much now (the spot we're cleaning usually looks worse as we work on it, because things are all over the place and such) but it's a good start.

Ironically enough, we're cleaning the basement because we need to clean and organize the home offices (there's one upstairs and one downstairs). When we clean the office upstairs, we're going to need someplace to take the stuff we pull out, most of which will be put into the downstairs office. Only problem is, THAT office is in serious need of cleaning and organizing too. In order to have somewhere to put the stuff from THERE, we need to organize the larger part of the basement. It's a multi-step process, and we've barely scratched step one.

In other news, I'm going to look into registering a new business name for my copywriting venture. Technically Galant Design Studio offers copywriting, but we're thinking that 'Galant DESIGN Studio' is going to hit people as a 'design company' and they won't even check out all the services we offer. So I'm kind of branching out with my own copywriting business and will hit different prospects for that.

Kayleigh has been kind of fussy today, and we think we felt something in her gums, indicating a possibility of teething. (Drooling and chewing on her fingers isn't any hint because she's been doing that for months.) We also tried her on baby food again tonight (sweet potatoes) and she actually ate some. (We think. It's hard to tell sometimes.) She was opening her mouth when the spoon came near, so maybe that's an indication that she's ready. Dunno. We're going to try her every night until the jar's gone, tho. (Or until we're not comfortable with the food anymore. Don't want her getting sick.) But it was kind of exciting to see her eat from the spoon like that!

Kayleigh and I will be heading back to PA in a little over a month from now. I'm honestly kind of dreading it because I'm not sure how she'll do with sitting in the airport for over an hour before boarding, the two hour flight, then the two hour ride to my parents' house. I have a feeling she's going to be one tired and cranky little girl at the end of that day. I just hope she'll be good for me.

I need to send the cloth diapers I bought back for exchange because the velcro isn't sticking very well anymore. They have 'laundry tabs' you're supposed to stick the hooky part of the velcro tabs to when you wash them, and they're supposed to keep everything from sticking all together. Well the laundry tabs aren't holding onto the hooky parts anymore, so I have a huge clump of diapers when I pull them out of the dryer. I contacted the company and since the diapers are still under warranty, I can send them back for (hopefully) an exchange. I hope they do swap them out for us because we've only been using them for about 4 months and they should last longer than that. The whole reason we bought these diapers is because they were going to be cheaper than disposables in the long run (they're supposed to last from 8 pounds to 35 pounds). If they are crapping out on us already and the company gives us some sort of hassle over exchanging them, I'm NOT going to be happy.

I guess that's about it. Have a safe holiday, everyone!

My baby is 5 months old today!

2008-07-02T13:10:00.003-05:00

She's getting so big! Seems like it wasn't that long ago we were bringing her home for the first time. We have yet to try her on cereal or baby food again, but maybe we'll give it a try soon. My happy little baby!

Of pathetic kitties and passing time.

2008-07-01T10:23:00.004-05:00

Rufus is at home right now, all patched up and resting comfortably. He looks so pathetic, tho, as all furbabies who come home from having surgery do. He has to wear an E-collar to keep from scratching his stitches and let his ear heal properly, which I don't think he's happy about. But he's still a little groggy from the surgery yesterday, so we put him in our bedroom with food, water and a litter box. It'll keep the rest of the animals from bothering him and give him a chance to rest up. Poor little guy.

I can't believe it's July. Where is time going so quickly? Kayleigh will be 5 months old tomorrow and she seems to be learning new things every day. This year is just zipping by!

We're still plugging away for Galant Design, but I'm going to kind of break off sorta separately and start pushing my copywriting too. While we include copywriting under the Galant Design name too, we're thinking that prospects will only see it as a 'graphic design' firm and not give it much thought. But if I push the copywriting separately, maybe I'll get more bites. From everything we've read about this freelance business, it looks like the work IS out there, it's just a matter of finding it. Meaning cold calls. Bleh. Being an introvert, calling some company out of the blue and asking if they have work they need done is very intimidating. But from all my research, it seems like cold calls are practically THE way to get things moving. Double bleh. But if that's the way to get money coming in, I just need to suck it up and do it.

I think that's about it for now. Later!

The joys of (pet) parenthood.

2008-06-30T16:02:00.002-05:00

Rufus is currently at the vet's. The injury to his ear was not an abscess, it was a hematoma (sp?) which basically means that a blood vessel in his ear broke and the puffyness was his ear filling with blood. It was looking really bad on Saturday morning so I called and got him an appointment for today. He had to have surgery to get the issue taken care of--which he came thru fine, thank goodness--and will be on various medications and such as he heals. Can't say I'm happy to have another charge on the credit card, but what could we do? We couldn't very well leave him with this injury as he could have gotten infected and been even worse off. But he's all fixed up now, which is what really matters.

We had a nice weekend, which is always good. We hit a few bookstores on Saturday because I had some coupons and Sunday we spent with a couple of friends. The weather was absolutely beautiful and a fun time was had by all. Kayleigh slept like a log last night.

I cannot believe tomorrow is July 1st. This year is just zipping by!

Say it ain't so!

2008-06-27T09:21:00.002-05:00

I think Kayleigh may be a *gasp!* morning person! Either that or babies don't seem to have a problem being up at the crack of dawn, which I think is the more likely answer. She usually gets up somewhere between 4-6am, and then I don't think she really goes back to sleep. Or she just catnaps until we get up. It's like she sees the light outside and says "Okay, time to get moving!" Mommy and Daddy don't do well that early hon, sorry.

Rufus' ear is still kind of swollen, but might be looking a little better. We're going to keep an eye on him over the weekend and if he still looks about the same on Monday, I'll call and get him into the vet. We have plenty of outdoor cats, so we know how to deal with an abscess--it swells up, the gunk comes out, the cat gets a slathering of anti-biotic ointment and it heals fine--but Rufus' ear is different. We've been getting the gunk out and slathering it, but it keeps swelling up. He's still eating fine and acting the same old clingy boy he is, so he doesn't seem very affected by it. I'd be more worried if he were lethargic and acting 'off'.

Kayleigh is getting really good at rolling over. We have what hubby refers to as 'baby chocks' for her crib, which are basically little foam wedges that you put on either side of her to keep her from rolling over. Well they don't seem to work for her anymore. She can roll over while she's still in the 'chocks' and we often find her on her side or even belly. This kid's a wiggler at night! When it was colder, we put her on her 'chocks', and then covered her with an afghan I crocheted for her. Well when we checked her later, her 'chocks' were kicked to the bottom of her crib, but the afghan was still tucked around her like we had done when we put her down. Figure that one out!

Well, I'd better get to work. TGIF!

And the heat and humidity of St. Louis summer returns.

2008-06-25T14:31:00.003-05:00

For the last week or longer it's been in the 80s, no/low humidity and just generally nice weather. Today it's in the 90s and humid. Ugh. Hate this type of weather!

Rufus--one of our cats--has an bit of an ear injury at the moment. We noticed on Sunday that he has what looks like an abcess (sp?) on his left ear so we've been working on lancing it every night and getting the gunk out. (Gross, yes. But necessary.) It keeps swelling back up, but not as much. We'll keep at it but if it continues like this for longer than we think is normal, we'll have to take him to the vet.

Shamefully enough, we completely ran out of formula this morning. I mean COMPLETELY. I had to run to Wal-Mart about an hour ago to pick more up or else she wouldn't be able to eat today and she's gotten kinda used to eating regularly. But on the other hand, if we didn't feed her, she wouldn't need changed as often. ;) (Joke, no need to call children's services on us.)

We got her dvd/tv set up at work, so she can now watch some cartoons while we work. It seems to work so far, but I need to keep track of when she starts to get tired and turn the tv off and her classical music on for her to nap. I think the tv is a little too distracting and she can't nap when it's on. Don't want a cranky little baby.

I guess that's about it. Later!

Rainy Tuesday.

2008-06-24T16:32:00.003-05:00

Well I got my ticket for the trip back to PA. I'll be heading back in August, which will work well because one of my cousins is getting married and everyone will be there from that side of the family, and my grandmother from the other side of the family will be having a party the day after that. So I'll hit everyone all in one weekend. Lots of people to fuss and coo over the babe!

I'm probably going to have to call the airline and get some details hashed out before we go, tho--I've never flown with a baby before. Does she need some sort of ID? How will she handle takeoff and landing with the difference in air pressure? Will I be able to handle her all by myself as I hustle thru the airport with luggage in tow? Good thing I have over a month to deal with the details.

She's being REALLY talkative today--no scratch that. Not talkative, but WHINY. Ugh. She has this noise she makes that grates on hubby and my nerves like nothing else, we call it her 'pig squeal'. SOOOOOOOO annoying. But right now she's babbling and chatting to herself next to me. I like when she does that.

I think she's just bored at the office. We have the DVD player and tv, but unfortunately they're a little older and we need a special connector to get them to work together. We'll stop by Best Buy this afternoon on the way home, that way we can get these set up and hopefully give her something to keep her attention when we're at work.

I've been thinking more about my writing lately, which actually kind of sucks because I never actually have the time to work on it. When I surprisingly DO have time, I don't have the energy or inspiration. SUCKS.

Anyway, that's about it. I'm hungry and have another headache, which I think is probably from the fact that we turn the big bright lights off at the office when she's napping and only have some dimmer lights on. When you couple them with the fact that I look at a computer screen all day long, that makes for some eye strain. In fact, that's probably why I have so many headaches anyway. The pain we go thru for our children.

Another Monday.

2008-06-23T13:02:00.002-05:00

And I'm feeling blah again. Hubby and I are both tired today because neither one of us got a great night's sleep. I don't know why, but we had a hard time getting to sleep and then staying asleep. One of those nights where you wake up every hour or so. Frustrating, and tiring.

Kayleigh's been using her pacifier more often lately, which is both a good thing and a bad thing. On the one hand, it's good that it calms her and keeps her quiet, on the other hand, we don't want her developing a habit that's hard to break. Oh well. Guess we'll see how it goes.

We're setting up a tv and DVD player at the office to keep the babe occupied while we get some work done. We've got some Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends, Fairly Odd Parents, and the first disc of Fraggle Rock (I'm not sure if she'll like it yet). I plan on looking for a cheap DVD with Spongebob because we know she likes him. I'll probably borrow or Netflix the seasons for her too.

Still have yet to order my plane tickets for the PA trip in August. I forgot the credit card I was going to put it on at home. I'll see about getting it done tomorrow.

Anniversary Weekend.

2008-06-21T15:04:00.002-05:00

Today we went out and picked up a new hat for the hubby. His old hat kind of fell apart in the wash and he's needed a new one to replace it, so we went downtown to a huge sports store and picked one up for him.

We think Kayleigh might be going thru another growth spurt. She's been sleeping alot and seemed quite hungry last night. She's also been rolling over A LOT recently, maybe it's just the fact that she's 'learned' this new skill? Don't know. But now that she can roll over whenever she wants, we're a little more nervous at night and keep extra alert to the baby monitor. She can roll on her belly, but not back the other way and we're not sure she's smart enough to turn her head to the side to breath if she gets stuck on her belly like that. :P

Tomorrow's our 7th anniversary and we'll be heading out to the Outback for supper. Can't wait! We haven't been there in a while.

Humanity is overrated.

2008-06-20T14:16:00.004-05:00

I know I post a lot of articles involving disgusting crimes against children, and honestly I do not go looking for them. I actually get a large majority of my news from the internet and radio, mostly because I despise watching the sensationalized tv versions. I don't know if these types of stories seem to be more prevelant because they're happening more often, or just because I'm a parent now and I pay attention to them more. They never cease to make me sick, tho.

I could never understand why someone would murder someone else or commit some sort of violent crime against another person for stupid reasons--religion differences, sexual orientation, skin color, sports team affiliations, etc--but violence against children or animals baffles me to no end. These are such innocent, (relatively) defenseless creatures, how can a (supposedly) rational adult commit such violent acts against them? What part of their brain is missing or misfiring that says "The baby's crying. You know, slapping it around a bit will make it stop."?

Humanity really disgusts me a lot of the time. I can only hope to calm myself by thinking that Karma will catch up with these violent, abusive monsters, and then they'll find out how it feels to be on the receiving end of such a senseless attack.

I honestly need to just stop reading news articles. There's never anything 'feel-good', only violence, destruction, theft, and death. 'Good news' doesn't make for good news, I guess. Better to make someone feel sick to their stomach by reporting some horrible crime than hopeful for humanity. Cripes.

Why yes, I do have a depressive personality. Why do you ask? :(

Another disgusting news article.

2008-06-20T14:10:00.002-05:00

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25275201/

The gist: a british man shot his wife and 9-month-old daughter because of growing debt and an unsatifying sex life. Apparently he shot his wife in the forehead, likely killing her instantly, but shot his baby in the abdomen, meaning it probably took her a minute or two to die of blood loss.

This actually brought tears to my eyes. The thought of that the poor little baby bleeding to death for an agonizing 'minute or two' because this f&*ker shot her in the stomach instead of the head is heart wrenching. Why did the wife deserve a quick death and not the baby?

All these stories make me want to hug my baby and not let go. :(

TGIF!

2008-06-20T13:27:00.002-05:00

And I have yet another headache. Jeez.

I had a dream last night that I was pregnant again. Not yet, please! Let me enjoy my little Kayleigh-Baby before dealing with another pregnancy. I got the Depo Prevara (or however it's spelled) shot in April that's supposed to last 3 months for birth control, but I think when I go for my yearly in a few weeks I'll get a prescription for the pill again. I just don't trust some shot that's SUPPOSED to last for XX amount of time. I've also heard that some women who took a while to get pregnant got pregnant REALLY easy the next time, as tho their bodies realized that this getting-pregnant thing wasn't that hard after all. I really want to enjoy Kayleigh's childhood and I can't do that if I'm practically ready to drop when she turns 1. It's just not fair to her, and I'm really not ready for another one yet anyway.

Well, Battlestar Galactica had it's 'mid-season finale' last week so tonight we only have Doctor Who. Sigh. What's the deal with shows going on these months long breaks in the middle of the season? And those network execs wonder why the ratings aren't what they used to be. Uh, maybe because the audience all WENT ON WITH THEIR LIVES during your little break? Take a show off the air--especially mid-season--and you risk the audience losing their place in the storyline, or finding something else to do on that night. Seems easy enough to understand. Duh.

Anyway, this weekend is sounding like it's going to be nice, with only a little threat of rain. Maybe we'll head out and spend some time outside again. This Sunday's our anniversary--7 years and still going strong--so we'll probably splurge and head out to the Outback for supper. Yummy. Love their steaks and bread! Babe is pretty darn well behaved in restaurants, so we'll just make sure she's fed and changed before we head out and she should be fine.

That's all for now!

Very productive day!

2008-06-19T19:24:00.003-05:00

I stayed home from work today because 1) there wasn't a whole lot going on at the office, and 2) it gave me a chance to get some things done around here that's been needed for a while. And boy was I productive! I got the laundry done, cleaned the kitchen, bathrooms, living room and litter boxes, got all the trash gathered up and taken to the end of the drive, and gave the fridge a good cleaning. Woohoo! Go me! :D

See, this is why staying home, at least a day or two out of the week would be great. I can get the various household duties done so the weekends are ours. (Of course, this isn't even touching on the fact that Kayleigh gets bored at the office something fierce.) Besides, I'm MUCH more productive starting in the morning--when it comes to cleaning--than I am after we get home. I'm usually so tired and hungry that I'm lucky to get a load or two of laundry done after work. (Especially since we sometimes don't even get home until 6 or later.)

So I'm going to look into some more marketing for Galant Design tomorrow and see what I can manage as far as being a 'stay-at-home mom/wife' goes. At least part-time anyway.

"Let's have babies together. It'll be fun!"

2008-06-19T18:45:00.004-05:00

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25272678/?GT1=43001

For those who don't want to read it, the gist of the article is that 17 girls in a Mass. high school all got pregnant on purpose so they could 'raise their babies together'. From what it looks like from the article, they weren't really choosy about the baby daddy, either. It's the ultimate and most basic version of "Have sex as often as necessary just to get pregnant". I saw a lot of that when I visited a pregnancy/fertility message board, and seeing a bunch of teenagers with the same mentality blows my mind.

I can't for the life of me understand why a 16 year old--or younger--would WANT to become pregnant and have a baby. That's so young! This is a little human being--another life you are completely and totally responsible for--not a little puppy or doll you can play with until you get bored. And for crying out loud, just because you're friends with someone in high school doesn't mean you're going to be BESTEST FRIENDS FOREVER!!!, and having babies together isn't going to change that. High school is not real life, girls. The sooner you figure that out, the better off you'll be.

And lemme get this straight. This school isn't allowed to pass out condoms, but they DO administer pregnancy tests? Did I read that correctly?

This is the problem with parents totally freaking out and not letting schools teach sex ed. It's the lame old "If they talk about it, the kids will want to do it!!!" argument. People, teens are ALREADY having sex, and it's really no surprise when you consider how much sex is bombarding our kids every day--in music videos, ads, magazines, and just about every other aspect of every day living--not to mention the cut and style of clothing that's being marketed to girls of all ages. (Seriously, why would I want my 5 year old dressing like a slutty 16 year old? But that's another rant for another day.)

So, apparently the schools and teachers aren't allowed to approach the subject, but are the parents picking up the slack and talking to their kids about it? More importantly, are they approaching the subject in a manner that really imparts upon the kids the utter, well, danger that having unprotected sex can bring? Not only pregnancy but STDs. The risk of either can be dramatically decreased with proper use of condoms, which the kids can't get their hands on, because parents refuse to even admit to themselves that their kids are having sex in the first place.

Now, I'm not saying I have all the answers and know exactly how I'll handle THE TALK with Kayleigh when she's old enough--which, considering how the world is going anymore should be in about, oh, 5 years or so--but I hope to be realistic and not convince myself that MY perfect little girl isn't having sex, so there's no need to talk to her about it. Honestly, the thought of talking to my daughter about s-e-x makes my elbows sweat. But it will need to be done, and it will need to be done right. All we can do is our best and hope she makes the right decisions.

You never really realize how many ways there are to screw up until you become a parent!

People literally make me sick.

2008-06-18T10:57:00.002-05:00

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/06/15/state/n141411D61.DTL

Seriously, this story made me want to vomit. I can't imagine the pain that poor little boy went thru those last few moments of his life. I can only hope that the first few blows knocked him unconscious and he never really felt the end. This monster will burn in hell with the 'demons' he claimed to want to rid the boy of.

Stories like this always made me sick, but now that I'm a parent, they literally make my stomach turn. I've read many like this since Kayleigh was born and they all make me want to cry. In one, a 4 month old boy was taken to the hospital with both arms, both legs and both collarbones broken. They had to give the baby morphine to change his diaper. (And the kicker is the grandmother and father 'didn't know how it happened'. Right.) There's another where the baby was thrown against a wall by her father. Another was sexually abused and suffered brain damage. On and on it goes, all this horrible violence against such tiny, innocent, helpless little babies, usually by the person/people who should care about, protect and love them. Disgusting.

Nobody's a perfect parent 100% of the time. Sleep deprivation alone can rattle a person's nerves something fierce. I know there are times that Kayleigh drives me nuts with her whining or crying. But I have never, NEVER considered laying a hand on her in order to make her 'be quiet'.

I swear I don't go looking for stories like this. I stumble across them from a link and usually have read them before I can stop myself. (I'm a very fast reader. Which is a curse in instances like this.) Then I feel sick and sad and want to hug my baby. Looking into her big beautiful eyes makes me melt and I can't for the life of me comprehend WHY or HOW anyone could hurt such a perfect little thing!

These people will all burn in hell, tho. Or get what they deserve in prison. I've heard that child molesters and abusers aren't looked upon too nicely in jail. Which says something, really.

Is it the weekend yet?

2008-06-17T11:40:00.004-05:00

God I'm tired. We switched curtains with the baby's room so she'll have the darker ones to encourage her to stay asleep. That means we have the more transparent ones and they let the light into the room when the sun comes up, which means I am usually awake at around 6 am or so because I need dark to stay asleep. If the sun's up, I'm up. I can usually fall back to sleep--after caring for the babe, that is--but it doesn't really help. I'm so tired anymore. Yawn. But the darker curtains seem to help her, so it's worth it.

Kayleigh's constipation seems to have subsided. She's going much easier now, so no more hearing her scream as her little face turns red from pushing. What a helpless feeling for a mommy!

I'm going to have to get some things in order and see what I can do from home. Having the babe at the office can be very distracting and we have a hard time concentrating sometimes. So we're going to see what I can do at home while I be a stay at home mom. Can't say I'd really hate that, to tell the truth. I think Kayleigh gets bored at the office--all she does is get juggled from her little rocking-vibrating chair to her swing in order to keep her quiet--and I'm worried she isn't getting the interaction she needs because we get involved in what we're doing. I know she's not getting the naps she needs because she is usually REALLY tired by the time we get home and seems ready for bed at 6:30 some nights. I just want to do right by her and I KNOW that once she becomes mobile she won't be able to go in anymore--it's too dangerous for a baby to wander around there. Daycare is out of the question because 1) we can't afford it, 2) I don't know these people or what they could be capable of (paranoid perhaps, but you can't be too careful nowadays), and 3) I don't want some stranger to be in charge of my baby's formative years. Besides, daycare kids are ALWAYS sick because of the germs being passed around there. Why expose her to some virus if it can be avoided?

Anyway, I'm doing some research into becoming a stay-at-home mommy, which would honestly be just fine by me. I can keep the house clean (YAY!), keep the laundry caught up (double YAY!), and spend some real quality time with the baby (triple YAY!). When I have work to get done, I can put on some Baby Einstein, Spongebob or other such stuff to occupy her. Not to mention that I can see about getting her on a real nap schedule so she'll be well rested. There are plenty of pros for a move like this. (Not to mention that Patrick and I will have some separate time. I love the guy to bits, but some separation would probably be good for the both of us.)

So anyway, I'm working on some marketing and such for Galant Design and trying to see about getting all my ducks in a row. Hopefully I can make the transition by the end of July or so. Oh and I guess I need to look into plane tickets for an August trip to PA. Gotta remember to do that before they become too expensive.

Nice, but tiring, weekend.

2008-06-16T10:12:00.002-05:00

We went to the Elephant Rocks on Saturday and it was a really nice day. It only took a little over 2 hours to get there, and used about half a tank of gas. Not too bad, really.

On the way out we stopped at a Wal-Greens and I picked up some sunscreen for everyone. We HATE the feel of the stuff--very greasy and icky-sticky--but being of the fair skinned ilk, it's a necessary evil. Besides, we needed to get some for Kayleigh anyway, so I just picked some up for us too. It helped, I only got a little red, and that was just because we walked around a little before putting any of the stuff on.

We think the babe might have gotten either a little too much sun or a little dehydrated (or both) while we were out, because Saturday night she threw up when we put her down in her crib. She seemed kind of dazed and constipated too, so we spent Sunday trying to hydrate her again by giving her a little more water in her formula. She seems better this morning but we're going to keep her on the higher mixture for another day or so, just to be sure. (I'm also taking her off the cereal I had been giving her in her bottle for a while. Seems like every time I give her cereal she gets bound up. Maybe she's still too young.)

It was a nice day, but man alive, driving round trip for 4 hours and then spending hours walking around in the fresh air and sun REALLY sucks the energy out of you! We were so tired on Sunday we didn't do much of anything. I think I was more tired Sunday night than Saturday! But I managed to get our laundry and a little house cleaning done yesterday, so it wasn't a total waste.

Patrick enjoyed his Father's Day weekend. Kayleigh and I got him a digital picture frame for Father's Day, something he's been saying he's wanted for a while. He was really surprised and happy with it.

I'm going to see about maybe heading back to PA in the beginning of August, because one of my cousins is getting married and apparently the whole family will be in for it. That way everyone will see the baby. Flying will probably be the best option for it, considering that either way (fly or drive) it will cost about $300. Might as well choose the option that doesn't have us on the road for 14 hours or so. That's a hard drive with just the two of us, I couldn't imagine how hard it would be with a baby! Of course, flying means that Patrick would have to stay home, but that just means he can keep the business going and take care of the animals.

I guess that's it. Here's to a quick and short Monday!

Road trip!

2008-06-13T15:23:00.002-05:00

(Yes I realize the irony considering the bitching I did a few days ago regarding gas prices. Shut up.)

Tomorrow the family is heading down to the Elephant Rocks, which is about 3 hours away. Patrick's been wanting to get back there (we went when I was still pregnant with Kayleigh) and this weekend seems like it's going to be perfect weather for such a jaunt. He's pretty excited to be getting out (he's getting a form of 'cabin fever' because all we ever do is go to work and go home) and will hopefully get some good pics. Besides, it's his very first Father's Day weekend. Pretty special!

It'll be Kayleigh's first long ride (longer than an hour) and we're hoping we'll remember everything she needs and that she'll do okay. She babbles to herself in her carseat for a while before konking out, so she should do well.

Speaking of carseats, I had to bite the bullet and buy her a larger one. The kid is so long her little feet stick out past her current seat! So I got one that SHOULD last her until she's 2 or so. We'll get her all set up with it tonight and let her try it out tomorrow.

That's about it for this rainy, ugly day. Hopefully the weather will cooperate tomorrow!

RAWR!

2008-06-12T13:37:00.002-05:00

I'm in a pissy mood today. I don't know why. Everything seems to be pissing me off, tho. EVERYTHING. I must be PMSing. Joy.

We're still exercising at night and averaging about half an hour, 4+ miles and 100+ calories burned a piece. Hopefully we'll stick with it.

My work computer is crashing like crazy. I think it's showing its age. We can't afford a new one so I'm going to have to deal with it. Bleh.

Our machine is down at the office too. AGAIN. The company we use for service likes to double, sometimes triple bill us, then cut off service because according to their records we haven't paid. So Carol has to battle them about that. When we DO get a tech out, he spends 75% of his time telling us that the crappy copies we're getting 'look good' or that we're running paper through that the machine can't handle. Yeah, because when they were looking at buying the machine they gave absolutely no thought to the stock we run regularly. Stop making excuses and just fix the thing, and if you can't figure it out, send someone who can. Cripes.

I have another headache. Seems like I've had a headache every single day for the past two weeks. A throbbing head doesn't help my mood any.

TV Ramblings.

2008-06-11T16:33:00.004-05:00

The Sci-Fi Channel has started playing Star Trek: The Next Generation on Monday nights. Hubby and I watched them last week and boy, oh boy. It's a miracle the show lasted as long as it did with the lousy writing/acting/plots they started out with! Such HORRIBLE dialogue! Plot holes you could drive a semi thru! Acting that either chews the scenery or makes the computer seem Oscar worthy! Gah! And to think that was THE show to watch back then. Does that mean there was truly nothing better on, or have our tastes and standards improved?

Since TNG is on Monday nights, Enterprise has moved to Tuesdays. That was a pretty good show that got the shaft because it was on a lousy network (UPN? I don't remember which) that pre-empted it practically on a weekly basis for sports. Speaking of shows getting the shaft . . .

Firefly is a GREAT show by the wonderful Joss Wheden (sp?) that Fox pretty much killed because it was constantly moved around in order to make room for football/hockey/baseball games. Ridiculous!

It really sucks that well written shows get screwed because of stupid scheduling choices. And these idiotic reality shows are coming out of the woodwork and pulling in the big ratings. It's bad enough that the shows we DO like and watch regularly are going on these year-long breaks that make you practically forget the characters and plotline. Heroes, Eureka, Jericho, Battlestar Galactica, all shows we watch and have to endure 6 month to year long break either between seasons or even in the middle of a season! (Galactica's 'mid-season finale' is coming up this Friday and then we'll be lucky if it comes back before October. ARGH!)

There are relatively few shows we watch regularly. (And I'm not counting the shows that are being rerun like TNG and Enterprise listed above.) Monday used to be Heroes (they come back in Sept.), Tuesday is Deadliest Catch and/or Eureka (once it comes back in July), Wednesday is Mythbusters, Thursday is nothing, Friday is Sci-Fi night--Doctor Who and Battlestar Galactica. Saturday and Sunday are free-for-alls, because we usually get together with a couple friends on Sat night. With the baby, our default channels are Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network. (She loves Spongebob.)

The old joke of '500 channels and nothing to watch' sure rings true, doesn't it?

To go to PA or not.

2008-06-10T14:59:00.003-05:00

All this thinking about gas prices made me wonder if I'm going to be able to take Kayleigh back to PA to meet my family this summer. The way I figure, and I was using conservative prices, it will cost somewhere in the range of $150 each way to drive there. (Not to mention 13 hours, probably longer with 'baby stops'.) I checked some airline prices, and it looks like it will cost around $300 for me and Kayleigh to fly there, with her sitting in my lap on the plane. (I never checked what it would cost if I bought her a seat for her carseat.) So basically, we either pay $300 to drive and Patrick comes, or $300 for me to take the baby alone. Hmm. (Not that we even HAVE $300, but I'm just playing with numbers and options.) It's a tough call.

I would really like to get the baby back to PA so the rest of my family can meet her, but with our financial situation the way it is, not to mention the ever-increasing prices of just about EVERYTHING, it's going to take some doing. I can only hope that we'll have a few Galant Design Studio jobs under our belts in a few months, and that will help fund a trip, whether by car or plane. I've got a great list pulled and am in the process of pulling a 'cold calling' script together so we can start calling these places and maybe get some business.

Sigh.

Cheapest gas in country?

2008-06-10T13:16:00.003-05:00

http://www.slate.com/id/2193222/?y=1

Apparently Missouri has the cheapest gas in the country due to a number of various reasons. While I'm not happy to be paying $3.88 at the pump (as of this morning), I'm very thankful that it's not $4 or more. Yet. I anticipate that it will very well continue to climb, especially as the summer goes on. We've been very careful how we drive our Nissan Versa, and are getting about 34 miles to the gallon. Yes, the Prius gets 40 or so, and Patrick's Honda Insight can easily get 60 or more, but we don't have a Prius--and we cannot afford one anyway--and the Insight is only a two-seater. Not exactly a car for a family with a baby. Besides, the Versa is MUCH more fuel economical than our pickup, which only gets at most 20 mpg. (And works now, by the way.)

Cripes. Money is SO tight to begin with--as it ALWAYS is with us--that spending $40+ at the pump every week and a half or so (depending on how much we drive) can get pretty pricey. For crying out loud, $10 used to practically fill the tank in my New Yorker back in the early 90s! Those were the days . . .

Gone. Gone forever. I would be very surprised if gas falls to anywhere below $2 ever again. Hell, I'll be happy if it drops below $3 again! Hopefully this is the kick in the pants these car companies need (and car buyers--without demand there is no supply after all) to start engineering more fuel efficient vehicles. With any luck, the few hybrids on the market now are only the beginning. (And hopefully the prices will come down, too.) I'm hoping to see less of those huge pickups/SUVs on the roads too. How much gas do those things take from smaller, more fuel efficient cars? Just one tank for one of those things could probably fuel two smaller sedans. And they get 15-20 mpg if they're lucky! Some less! Ridiculous!

Bleh. It sucks, but what can you do? Not much. Sucks!

To tame the gut.

2008-06-10T10:07:00.002-05:00

On Saturday we bought a recumbant stationary bike at Wal-Mart. It was pretty inexpensive as exercise machines go, and we'd been thinking about it for months. It's low-impact and VERY quiet, so we can do it while watching tv, playing Oblivion or reading. We used it for the first real time last night and plan on using it as often as we can. We each did about half an hour on it, Patrick going about 7 miles and me going 4. (He pedals faster than I do.) I'm really going to try and stick with it to lose the rest of my pregnancy weight. Gotta do that!

I think my milk is all dried up. :( I had planned on nursing for at least 6 months, but that didn't happen because I went back to work a week after giving birth and I couldn't nurse her on demand like we needed. If I don't nurse her often, my body thinks it doesn't need to make milk anymore, so it doesn't. I'm disappointed, mostly because formula is relatively expensive and she's a good eater which means she goes thru it quickly. So yeah, I'm disappointed about that. But what can I do when I had to come back to work so quickly?

Kayleigh's becoming more squirmy lately. We'll put her down in one position and find her in a completely different one a little later. I'm afraid this kid is going to become mobile before we're ready! When that happens, I'm probably going to have to stay home with her somehow because the office will be too dangerous for a mobile infant.

Monday again. Bleh.

2008-06-09T09:55:00.003-05:00

And an ugly, rainy Monday to boot. Double bleh.

Before I was pregnant, I had a little 'hair-falling-out' problem. Every time I took a shower, I'd lose a good sized handful of hair--first as I washed it, then as I brushed it out later. Then I got pregnant and my hair grew in nice and thick and I didn't lose any. Well now it's falling out again. I'd be more worried if it seemed like my hair was actually getting really thin, but it's not. I guess it's normal. But I gotta say it's kind of annoying to go into the bathroom and see 'Nettie hair' all over the counter and floor, even if I run the brush thru once. Makes me a little paranoid!

Kayleigh is going thru a 'I'm incredibly exhausted but refuse to sleep' stage. She's barely napping during the day but cries and screams when we put her down for the night. She's gotta be exhausted, but simply refuses to calm down and allow herself to go to sleep. Stubborn girl! And we keep forgetting to try her on cereal at night. Dangit.

I still have to call the pharmacy about my depression medication. I know, I know. I really need to do that. But I'm lazy.

TGIF

2008-06-06T10:21:00.004-05:00

The truck is in the shop. The fuel pump is bad. It needs to be replaced to the tune of $700. Yippee.

We got another call for Galant Design Studio yesterday afternoon. Hopefully this means that interest is increasing!

Patrick's having some problems with his real estate. One of the more difficult homeowners he's been working with basically fired him by fax. Asshole. This guy's been a problem from the very beginning because he chose the cheapest program we had to list his home, but expected Patrick to do the work of the full commission program. He's let 2 or 3 contracts fall thru because of his paranoia (he's worries that someone will move into his house and start a meth lab or prostitution house. Yes, really. Seriously, who worries about something like that when they're selling??) and now has decided to jump to a larger company that will 'do more'. What he thinks this company will actually do I'm not sure. We've worked with the larger real estate companies. We KNOW how they work. They slap a two line, extremely abbreviated listing in the newspaper and call it a day. Patrick had the house listed for about 6 months or so, and always had interest and showings. But a larger company will 'do more'. No you ass, a larger company will only CHARGE YOU MORE, not 'do more' marketing or anything. But whatever. Be a lemming and go to a larger company and pay more because you think they'll 'do more'. Let's see THEM put up with all the crap you've put Patrick thru.

Ugh. People can be such morons.

Anyway, that's where we are now. I'm going to get a script pulled together so we can start cold calling companies next week for Galant Design. From all the books we've read, cold calling really does work, as much as we are going to hate doing it. But hey, if it brings paying customers, then it'll be worth it!

LATER

Forgot to add that Kayleigh has learned a new trick. She can take her diaper off. We discovered her this morning, laying all askew in her crib with her diaper half off and her head in a wet spot on the sheet. We've been putting her to bed in a t-shirt and diaper because it's been so hot--and honestly, it makes middle of the night diaper changes easier to not have to deal with the snaps on a onesie--and I have been noticing that she's been fingering the velcro tabs on her diapers but never really thought about it. I guess we'll have to put her in a onesie for bed again. We can't have her stripping half naked in the middle of the night!

So I've got a crib to re-make when we get home and a sheet, mattress pad and her diapers to wash. This isn't even taking into considering the complete and utter mess the rest of our house is, not to mention the rest of the laundry I have waiting. Our carpets are a MESS because the shampooer is broken and not picking up all the shampoo in the rug when we rinse. I'm going to have to go over them with just water and see if I can get as much of the gunk up as possible. I need to pick up a new one, but that's an expense that can hold off as long as I can.

Ugh. Such is life, I guess.

Pretty good Thursday.

2008-06-05T15:34:00.003-05:00

Kayleigh's doing well after her shots yesterday. We had her on baby Tylenol and she slept a lot of the day away. She's fine today and we haven't had to give her any medicine. (The spots she got the shots on her thighs look a little red and swollen, tho. Poor baby.) But she's doing well. No adverse reactions or anything. Which is always good.

Our meeting with the possible client for Galant Design Studio went REALLY well. She has a pretty established business and needs to have some better materials for presenting to corporate executives and the like. We came up with some pretty good ideas that she seemed to like as we talked, and are now pulling together some concepts and pricing for her. She's not officially a client as of yet, but depending on her budget, she might be soon. Here's hoping!

I still haven't gotten my anti-depressant medicine, mostly because of the whole price/insurance issue. I meant to call Wal-Greens today and see if everything's been hammered out and what price we're looking at, but haven't gotten around to it yet. I'll try and get it done first thing tomorrow.

Sent some of the beginning-of-the-month bills out today. Oh boy, how I love doing bills. I can just hear the checking account empty.

Kayleigh's perfect.

2008-06-04T10:37:00.003-05:00

According to her doctor, that is. She's right on track with her development, and is still in the 95th percentile for height and 75th for weight, which basically means she's a tall, skinny kid. She grew 4 inches since her birth and weighs close to 15 pounds. She's murder on the arms and back if you hold her too long!

Her second round of shots went better than the first round, actually. We have some baby Tylenol and gave her some about an hour before her shots, and she seems to be doing okay. We'll keep her on the medicine for today and maybe tomorrow depending on how she's doing. Last time she got her shots, we didn't have the Tylenol, and she was miserable practically the whole day. My poor baby. But she's good for another two months.

Played a little more Oblivion last night and am at level 8 already. Not bad considering I've only been playing for a little over a week. I'm still not finding better weapons or armor, however. Frustrating.

We turned the air conditioning on for the first time last night, mostly to get the humidity out of the house. We usually open the windows and turn on the attic fan in the evening to pull in the cooler outside air, but 1) the air outside was no cooler than the air inside, and 2) because of our outdoor cats, our screens are all full of holes that allow bugs in when we open the windows. We're going to need to find new screen material and fix those.

We're meeting with our first potential client for Galant Design Studio tomorrow at 1:30, which is pretty exciting. Here's hoping it all works out and we actually start making some money from it.

Well THERE'S a surprise.

2008-06-03T09:33:00.002-05:00

The doctor said I had all the classic symptoms of depression. No duh. He gave me two prescriptions--one anti-depressant and one to help 'level' out the extremes. At the moment, I only have the 'leveler', mostly because the anti-depressant he wrote for me supposedly doesn't come in generic form and one month's worth of it costs $110. The guy at the pharmacy said something about the insurance company going to contact the doctor to 'approve' it or something and then it will go thru but if it's still expensive, I'll have to call the doc and have him call in a different type for me--one that I can get generic form of. We simply cannot afford $$$ for anti-depression medicine. Money's already really tight, and if we're stretched even thinner because of that, I'll be even more depressed!

We seem to be in a spring/summer merge, as they're calling for thunderstorms off and on all week, possible tornados today, and upper 80s-low 90s temps all week. Oh, and let's not forget the humidity. The heat wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for that damn humidity.

Played some more Oblivion last night and have discovered that I really hate goblins. They move too damn fast. The little turds.

Crappy Weekend

2008-06-02T10:48:00.002-05:00

This weekend was pretty crappy, and it started on Friday. Seems that we (and when I say 'we' I mean the company we do marketing materials for, Express Properties) were offered some nice cubicles from a lending company that was leaving its leased spot at a really good price. Only problem was, the stuff had to be out THAT DAY, and there was A LOT of it to disassemble and load. Patrick and Carol (my mother-in-law and owner/broker of Express Properties) went down to get the stuff and were originally going to use our pick up to bring it all back to the office. Well, our pick up has been acting up lately, namely simply refusing to start for no apparent reason, and guess what it did once they had everything taken apart and the first load on the back? Yep. So I get a phone call asking to try and call around to find a rental truck to use to transport the stuff. Luckily Penske had a truck available for a decent price so they got that, loaded the stuff up and then headed home. (It was way too late at that point to take the stuff to the office and unload it.) Patrick got home after 8pm on Friday night, sore and exhausted.

Saturday we head out to the office at around 10am to unload the truck, but oh wait, we still need to rearrange the office a bit to fit all that stuff in first! So it was closer to noon or 1 before we started actually unloading with any conviction. Long story short--I know, too late--we worked all day Saturday, loading, unloading, building, tearing down and generally making the office a jumbled mess that we STILL need to sort out. But the cubicles do look nice up front. Now all we have to do is find places for all the other crap that needed rearranged for them to fit.

After we finished at the office, we still needed to head back to our house to drop off the rest of the cubicles that weren't necessary there. THEN we had to head back out to return the rental truck. We didn't get home until after 8pm, sore and exhausted. Sunday we didn't do much of anything because 1) we were still pretty tired and 2) the way gas prices are--$3.88 as of this morning--we couldn't think of anything to do that warranted the expense. Disgusting that we have to weigh the pros and cons of going anywhere because of how expensive gas is.

So yeah, it was a pretty crappy, unrestful weekend. The only good part is that Kayleigh rolled over completely all by herself on Sunday. Before that she would roll on her side and then kind of get stuck. Our big girl!

My doctor's appointment is this afternoon for my depression. I'm hoping to get something to help even me out because I'm sick of my emotions being all across the board like this, and would like to be able to focus on something and possibly do something I enjoy again.

Doctor Week

2008-05-30T09:38:00.002-05:00

Next week both Kayleigh and I have doctor's appointments. She needs her 4 month shots--and won't she just LOVE that?--and I need to talk to my doc about my mood. I think I probably have Post Pardem Depression as my emotions are ALL over the place and I've been feeling very down for a while. Considering my already depressive tendancies, the possibility of PPD doesn't surprise me at all. I'm just surprised it took this long to rear it's ugly head.

I want to be home playing Oblivion. I just don't feel much like doing ANYTHING and there's nothing like an addictive video game for reality avoidance.

Ugh.

2008-05-27T11:51:00.004-05:00

If there's anything worse than a Monday, it's a Tuesday that thinks it's a Monday.

It's rainy, overcast and dreary. Not helping my already down mood.

I started my own character on Oblivion yesterday and have discovered just why the game's so addictive. Once you start playing, 7 hours can go by and you wouldn't really notice.

Kayleigh's doing well, she's getting ever closer to rolling over completely. We keep meaning to try her with some actual baby food, but keep forgetting.

That's it.

Best Heroes and Sequels

2008-05-24T13:23:00.003-05:00

Most Iconic Heroes

http://movies.yahoo.com/summer-movies/Indiana-Jones-Kingdom-of-the-Crystal-Skull/1808404510/photos/349/8781/#info

Other than the fact that there's only one woman on there (Tomb Raider? Excuse me? Where's Ripley from the Alien movies? Linda Hamilton from the second Terminator?) I would kind of agree with their choices. Especially the last one. BRUCE! XD

Best Sequels

http://movies.yahoo.com/summer-movies/Indiana-Jones-Kingdom-of-the-Crystal-Skull/1808404510/photos/351/8867/#info

Aliens is my favorite movie from that series. LOVE that movie. But where's Shrek 2? Hottie human Shrek, cute little Puss, action, excitement, and an evil fairy godmother? C'mon now, it's a no brainer! :P

A Joke?

2008-05-24T13:11:00.002-05:00

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24804721&GT1=43001

So some German lady put her baby on e-Bay and claimed it was a 'joke'. There are a lot of things rolling thru my mind in regards to this, but the most glaring is WHY? Why on earth would you 1) think something like that is funny and 2) actually do it? The whole 'not really funny' thing aside, didn't she think that oh, I don't know, someone MIGHT call the cops about this? Cripes people are stupid!

Honestly, I don't care if this was a 'joke' in her mind or not, I seriously hope she either never gets her kid back or has a really hard time of it. Thinking that selling your child is a funny joke is not something that should be taken lightly. After all, if selling the kid is 'funny', what else would this person think is good for a laugh?

Fussy Babies and Rainy Days

2008-05-24T12:26:00.003-05:00

Kayleigh is still being fussy and I'm at a loss as of why. She's not napping as much as I think she needs to, and has been doing what I think is her 'tell' when she's sleepy--she tugs on her right ear. So I KNOW she's tired, she's just being stubborn and fighting it. The little snot.

She's also discovered her hands and has been studying them closely lately. I'll look over and she's got this look of extreme concentration on her face as she stares at her hand, slowly opening and closing the fingers and moving it this way and that. So cute.

Right now she's on a quilt on the floor yammering away. She's tired but refuses to go to sleep. She can hold her head up for a good amount of time when she's on her belly and almost rolled over completely--she gets onto her side and just kind of gets stuck--so that shouldn't be too far off.

In other news, it's raining and miserable out today. We were supposed to only have a chance of rain on Thursday and nothing but nice, sunny weather from Friday to Monday. Well, so much for that. Sounds like it's now supposed to be ugly, overcast and rainy all weekend.

I'm going to try and get some writing done this weekend. I haven't written anything for a LONG time, and would like to get back into it.

The Afternoon Cuteness

2008-05-22T15:19:00.002-05:00

All right. I know I'm boring. Here's a cute pic.

The Uberman Sleep Cycle

2008-05-22T10:08:00.002-05:00

In Patrick's latest Men's Health magazine, there's an article about the Uberman Sleep Cycle System, which entails sleeping only 20-30 minutes every 4 hours. This isn't something that you're supposed to do for a limited period of time or anything, this is supposedly a new way of life. It sounds good in theory--sleep less and get more awake and active time back--but c'mon. 20 or 30 minutes of sleep every 4 hours and that's it?? How many people could actually do this and not simply collapse from exhaustion?

Personally I couldn't do it. I know it. After a certain point, my body would simply revolt and shut down for hours until it had recharged itself. Besides, from what the article says, until you're used to the new schedule, you can't do anything that needs too many brain cells at the beginning. So you're looking at a lot of tv watching and mindless things like that. What's the point of being awake if you're just vegged in front of the boob tube? Seems like a waste of perfectly good time you could be having a nice deep sleep.

Supposedly, Leonardo Da Vinci subscribed to it and I've heard that Edison only slept a total of 4 hours a night too. Maybe only a certain type of individual is geared to function on such little sleep. Which begs the debate--did lack of sleep make these people more creative and inventive, or were they that way already and the sleep schedule arranged itself around that?

Pregnant man? I don't think so.

2008-05-21T22:07:00.004-05:00

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1993487/Pregnant-man-Thomas-Beatie-mows-lawn-at-seven-months.html

Is it just me, or is this kind of . . . well, stupid? This isn't a MAN, this is a WOMAN who went thru a partial sex change. PARTIAL. She's still got her female reproductive organs, even if she is legally living as a man. That doesn't make her a man, tho. She's still technically a woman. This would be more news-worthy if this person was actually BORN a man and science somehow made it possible for him to carry a baby to term. As it is, I find it kind of annoying. The news is making a big deal out of this when it's not that amazing. It's a person with the correct reproductive organs using them as they were intended--NOT some sort of totally miraculous thing. False advertising anyone?

I could legally change my name to Ming Chang and speak nothing but Chinese but that wouldn't MAKE me Chinese. It's the same basic principle.

Gas Prices and Growth Spurts

2008-05-21T21:02:00.003-05:00

As we were coming home this afternoon, a gallon of regular gas was $3.78. Diesel was $4.39. Gah. Ri-freaking-diculous!

Kayleigh's been going thru her 3 month growth spurt lately. Saturday she went thru at least 15 ounces of formula in a span of 3 hours. She's been fussy and simply refused to nap for the past few days. She's just now starting to get back into napping, altho she likes to fight it as long as humanly possible, but is still scarfing down food like it's going out of style. My tired little piggy. ;)

All this means I'm going to have to go thru her closet AGAIN and pull out the clothes she's outgrown. This kid was born fairly big (8 lbs 11 ounces and 22 inches long) and is simply growing like a weed. Cripes!

Patrick is addicted to the game Oblivion for the X-box 360. He's logged almost 200 hours on it and is probably not even halfway thru the game. Not bad for a game that only cost us about $20!

I can't believe we're almost at the end of May already. Where is this year going??

In about a month, Patrick and I will celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary. 7 years. In some ways it doesn't seem like it's been that long, but at the same time, it sometimes feels like it's been much, much longer. Mostly when we fight, but I guess that stands to reason.

Our anniversary is coming up and I can't even wear my wedding ring. :( I took it off at some point during my pregnancy because it was getting too tight and haven't been able to wear it since. I miss wearing my ring.

I guess that's it. More news as it develops.

And Now Back to Our Program

2008-05-21T14:07:00.003-05:00

All righty, I think I've gotten all the background out of the way. Time to move forward with actual posts. GASP!

It's been nearly 4 months since Kayleigh was born. I can still remember that night so clearly it could have been only 4 days ago. My labor was surprisingly fast, considering I was a first time mother. (First-timers usually have long labors.) We were checked into a room at about 11:30pm, and she was born at 9:57am the next morning. My labor was as textbook as my entire pregnancy--no complications, no problems. Everyone should be so lucky.

We've taken to this parenting thing pretty easily actually, considering neither one of us had any experience with babies at all beforehand. She eats well, sleeps well and is an overall good little baby. She's currently vocalizing more and more, grabbing and reaching for things, and smiling quite a bit. So cute!

I'm doing okay post-pregnancy wise. I might have had a touch of baby blues a while back, but I'm such a depressive personality to begin with, who can tell? I still have 15-20 pregnancy pounds to lose, which is hard because I have ZERO willpower and cannot stop eating things I shouldn't. Cookie dough is my enemy. I could eat the whole batch if I'm not careful, which is not exactly helpful for weight loss. But none of my pre-pregnancy bottoms fit (jeans, shorts and such) which SUCKS because it's getting warmer and I have NOTHING to wear for the nicer weather. I really don't want to buy new jeans and such because 1) money's tight and we can't really afford it, and 2) I don't want to be stuck with a bunch of clothes that are too big if I do happen to lose the weight. (And that's a big IF considering how lazy I am and unwilling to simply PUT THE FREAKING FORK DOWN. Argh.)

Anyway. I'd better run. Kayleigh just blew out (pooped big time, in other words) so I must attend to her. Ah the glamorous life of a mother! :P

Pets

2008-05-21T12:34:00.005-05:00

For those interested, I thought I'd make a post detailing all of our various pets.

We currently have two dogs (Shih Tzu's) and 15 cats. Yes, fifteen. We only had one when we moved, a big ol' cranky girl named Nuisance (we did not name her, she came with the name, which is very appropriate), but we inherited three outdoor females. Before we could get everyone caught and spayed, we ended up having a few litters of kittens, one of them with 7 babies. With us being the suckers we are, we kept them, got 'em fixed and are now caring for everyone.

So. Our pets, names and gender, are as follows:

Dogs:

Loki (boy)
Molly (girl)

Cats:

Nuisance (girl)
Mama Cat (girl)
Squeaker (girl)
Zoe (girl)
Baron Von Grover (boy)
Cheddar (girl)
Tiger (boy)
Buyo (boy)
Rufus (boy)
TJ (girl)
JJ (boy)
Spot (girl)
Miss Sakaki (girl)
Miss Kagura (girl)
Domino (boy)

Yes we can tell all the cats apart, even tho a majority of them are orange. No they are not all in the house but they are fairly evenly split between indoor and outdoor. Yes they all get along with the dogs, in some cases better than they get along with each other or even us. (Domino, for example, is not a popular guy. He's indoor and is the source of many unhappy sounding kitty arguments.) But all of our cats are freakishly social, some to the point of being annoying because they want to snuggle so much. (I'm afraid they've been kind of neglected a little bit because of the new baby. But we give them as much love as we can, especially after the baby's in bed for the night.)

No, we have not had any problems with the cats and the baby, mostly because the cats steer clear of her for the most part. If she's on the floor with one of her toys, one or two of the friendliest cats will go over and lay next to her, but we haven't had any aggresive motions from them. Besides, we are always watching, so it's not like we put her on the floor and go to the next room for three hours or anything. Please, we're not stupid!

All in all, we love all our little furbabies, and will care for them as long as we can. As Kayleigh grows, she'll have lots of animals around, which we agree is good for a child. I guess our little family isn't so little when you count the animals too!