wow, talk about catch-up!

ok, so it's been awhile, and i'm way behind on everything. a newborn and moving and then christmas: gee i wonder why nothing is getting done? it doesn't help that we are mooching internet from one of the doctors offices nearby, like next door.

so i took shannon in to get tested for acid reflux, and she didn't even dribble. the one day that i needed her to spit up and she doesn't. if she continues in the same way that she has been, i'm going to have the doctor treat it and see if she does any better.

we finally got the tree up 3 days before christmas. with the move there was no room, and the tree was buried on the porch (it's a fake tree that we store in a large tote.) the tree went up on monday and didn't get decorated until tuesday. but at least it was up.

we had the sister missionaries over for christmas breakfast this year. for those of you not familiar with the tradition, my family invites the missionaries for christmas breakfast. we have a big breakfast; eggs, bacon, sausage, danish, hashbrowns, fruit; then we open presents with them. it's nothing big, and the gifts are ususally gag gifts. well, the sisters stopped by one day when they noticed that someone had moved in, and we invited them to join us. it was a blast.
one of the gifts i got them was a growing husband. it's about an inch tall, and you put it in water and it grows. shaun was worried they would be upset about it, but they thought it was hilarious, btw-so did i.

shaun had to work today so i had the kids by myself at church. it was fine until we were getting ready to go home and elizabeth wet her pants. it's a good thing i keep an extra pair in their backpacks. i left them in the mothers lounge while i went to get the car. it had a fine layer of ice on it.

it's snowed every day for the last 2 weeks. there's so much snow on the sides of the roads that you can't see the traffic coming from uphill. we got 8-10 inches on christmas day alone. we were just getting ready to leave for church this morning when we noticed that we'd been plowed in. it took us a half-hour to dig out; of course, we were late. not only that, but it rained today instead of snowing.

Moved at last!

At first I thought I would move my office last and not bother my family and friends with the "stuff" that is so difficult to move. Well, it took the better part of a week and a half to move it unfortunately. Family came over and we moved most of the belongings we have on a Saturday a couple of weeks ago. Fortunately enough it was before the snow fell, and it was a nice day to say the least. We were all surprised at the good weather. Now that being said, when I moved all the paintings and artwork that is so difficult to move tonight...it was snowing and blowing at around 10 degrees above zero. Thank goodness my friend Brent helped with some of that. It takes forever. The kids have had a hard time keeping out of the things laying all over the new house. It is a REAL mess. I ought to take a picture of the before and after to give a better idea perhaps. Last Sunday, we had a bunch of friends over for dinner and games. That was pretty nice actually, and would have been even better had we had the whole house together :) We are so fortunate to have found this home. We don't know what the utilities will amount to yet, but at 400 a month, we could not argue for a 3 bed home of our own. It is pretty old and is settled in quit a bit. Nevertheless, we are warm and have a roof over our heads. Well, I am really tired, so Sleep must take priority here. More to come I'm sure. Later everybody.

messy, messy, messy

so, life has been crazy. we moved this last weekend, for the most part. we still have bits and pieces to move, but since there is no one waiting to move in right behind us, it's not a problem. i had spent the week cleaning and running around getting ready for the move. the new house wasn't cleaned well, and i hate moving into a dirty house. the big problem was the tub; there was about a quarter inch of soap scum in the bottom, and that had to cleaned out before i was comfortable using it. so saturday rolls around, and everyone is showing up in about an hour to help move us and nothing is in boxes yet, and i'm done. you know when you are exhausted and you just can't do anything more how you tend to shut down? well, that's where i was at. shaun told me to not worry about it and they would get things taken care of. so i didn't do anything. that was the hardest part.

so, i get the washer and dryer and you can see from a previous post, but i can't take them until the other couple are gone. since monday is laundry day, we were back here at the old house to do laundry. while i'm trying to find things to do to occupy myself, they get into the food coloring and proceed to dump it on the ice cream maker box-thankfully, no clothes got dirty. i got that cleaned up and then they decide they are going to take shauns monet puzzle box apart. monet was an impressionistic artist who used the dot method to create his amazing paintings. these puzzles are torturous to put back together. in fact, it took 3 hours or more to get the 6 small puzzles in order. while i was doing that. taylor put his halloween costume back on by himself, they got into some foundation samples and spread them all over the kitchen counter, and they started in on the office (which is still here. shaun has a project he needs to do and it can't get done if he has no office to work in. we will move it over this weekend, i think.).

this morning while i'm laying in bed with the baby they got into my makeup and proceeded to paint each other. since that was the only thing they got into this morning wasn't terrible. but, it occurred to me that if i can't even handle my children how am i going to be able to handle school on top of everything else. i still haven't figured out what to do with the kids while i'm in classes. maybe going back to school was wishful thinking and i should just forget about it.

potty trained?

so, we just had our first accident free day!! she went in all by herself everytime she needed to go potty, and only once did i have to tell her to go in and go. we'll see how things go in the future though. one day does make it permanent.

washer and dryer anyone?

so, i was talking with brent the other day. i was checking to see how their house offer had gone; when he started talking about the bunkbed and the washer and dryer. this was not unusual, but his tone was. there had been many situations talked about and what they would do with some of their stuff. he's giving us the bunkbed, and he had a deal for the washer and dryer. he told me that anyone who will clear out the junk in the back and the stove and dresser on the porch can have the washer and dryer. moving and getting rid of that stuff requires a truck, and moving the washer and dryer requires a truck also. so, while we are moving our house this weekend, we are going to take a load or two to the dump, and then i can have the washer and dryer after they are gone!! ha! that saves us a lot of money, and i get a NICE set (close to $1500) for free!

housing and sliced fingers

so, we were able to find a place to move into. actually, my neice found it for us. she was at work and talking with a co-worker who mentioned that she had a house that was going to be opening up for rent. turns out the rent is $400 a month, and the deposit was only $200. so, we automatically took it without even looking at the house. at that price, we can't afford to not take it. there are no utilities included, but even then, the price is still going to be less than anywhere else. it's a 3-bed, and actually has enough room to put the two older kids in their own rooms and still have an office. but, i'm not sure that i'm going to yet. AND i will actually be able to put my table in the kitchen!!!
last night, brent came up and informed me that there was a realtor that was going to be showing the house at 1pm today. AAAAHHHHHHH!!!! my house was not clean in the least, and i had been doing laundry all day. so, i called a friend and she came by after she got off work to help me clean. i cleaned my entire house and got all my laundry put away by 1am. turns out, the people who looked at the house are making an offer! they might get the house sold before they leave and not have to worry about renting it out.

i woke up yesterday morning to elizabeth screaming in pain. turns out that taylor had gotten a hold of the scissors i keep on the fridge. they were cutting hair off of ponies, and stuffed animals. and then taylor decided to cut his sisters finger. i just barely got the story today: apparently she was complaining that her finger hurt so taylor decided he was going to cut it off for her. (i occasionally tease the kids when they complain that something hurts, that we are going to just cut it off. i guess taylor took that a little more seriously than i had thought.) the bandaid on her finger makes it look huge!

moving

so, we learned the day before i had shannon that we had to move. the people we are "living" with have decided that they need to get rid of some debt, and the house is one of them. they are going to rent it out.
why can't we rent it, you ask? the zoning of the house is a little bizarre. the house is split into 2 separate apartments, and the zoning is for a single family house. it would take a lot of work to make the house suitable for a single family again. so, in order to rent out both sections of the house, they need to rent it to siblings. neither of us have any family who needs a place to live (actually, i have no family in the area at all). therefore, it isn't possible for us to stay here.
we have been looking everywhere for a place to move to. a 3-bed in rexburg is around $700. (housing in rexburg is slightly inflated) and we haven't been able to find anywhere that we could afford the deposit to. we looked into govt subsidized, and they won't let us in because we have bills that are more than 60 dys overdue. the application for the govt places states that if you have bills that are overdue, you don't qualify for govt subsidized (what! that makes no sense, i know). we did find a place for about $575 a mo, but one of you has to be a student. and i haven't decided whether or not i'm going to be able to handle school yet.
my neice was at work one day and talking to one of her co-workers. her co-worker mentioned that she had a place that was going to be up for rent in little bit. no thinking anything about it, she went home and was talking with her mother-in-law, who immediately put things together. they called the lady who had the place, and got it for us. it's $400 a mo, $200 dep, and a 3-bed. we haven't even seen the house, and we had no idea what was included and what wasn't. at that point, we were past caring and ready to take anything we could find. we did find out that there are no utilities included, but even then, i think it's only going to run us about $600 total a month. i don't know if there's a washer and dryer however, but even if there's only hook-ups, we'll think of something.
the guy who's currently in the house is supposed to be moving out sometime this week. and we should be able to move in sometime next week. depending on the state he leaves the house in, we might be able to work out a discount with the lady for going in and cleaning up after him. we'll see what happens.

weekend

wow! it's been almost three weeks since i've put anything up on the blog. i've been trying to recover from having shannon, and this has honestly been the last thing on my mind. so, a little bit of updating is in order.

we are all doing well. we blessed shannon yesterday. my dad did the blessing, and shaun was able to stand in the circle! (ah, that was a surprise) my parents were out here for candices endowments. she went through on friday, they came up here on saturday and left to drive home after sacrament on sunday. it's a long trip for such a short visit. but it was a lot of fun. we didn't really do anything, just sat around and talked. but it was still nice to have them here. candice and my dad's parents also came up. mom, dad, and candice stayed with us, and grandma and grandpa stayed in IF with my great aunt.
my parents got to experience my daughters attitude. they had a great time with the kids. we are no longer putting elizabeth in diapers during the day. it's past time and then some for her to be potty trained. there are times that i tell her to go in and go potty that she tells me that she either doesn't want to, or it's not time yet, and her attitude is clearly apparent when she says it.
my mom made shannons blessing dress, of course, she's made them all. when she got here she realized that she didn't have anything for the other kids, so they went shopping and taylor got new socks that fit, and elizabeth got new panties that fit. they also got elizabeth a new coat at DI. they apparently had to talk her into it though. it was the only one there and she didn't like it at first. it's way cute and fits her perfectly.

shannon alexandria enters the world!

had to have the pics of the kids holding her!
so, this is our newest little angel. we named her shannon alexandria. she weighed 7 lbs 1 oz, was 19.5 inches long, and had a 14 inch head. we did have a few problems, but they are now fixed. mom had gestational diabetes, and the baby had a hard time regulating her blood sugar from it. they had to check her everytime i fed her and as a result her heals are bruised. to get her sugar to stay up we had to supplement with formula. i hated doing it, but it meant that she was alert and awake when i fed her, and would actually wake up to eat.
both are home and doing really well. the other kids think she's the neatest thing since sliced bread. taylor helps out a lot, i can send him to get diapers and water for me when it's time to feed and change her. and elizabeth i send to get the wipes (that's all she can reach!).
btw-for those of you that are close and can come, we are going to bless her on the 23rd of nov. my parents will be here and then they don't have to figure out a way to come back out again. sacrament starts at 9A and you might want to get there early so you have a seat in the chapel.

moving?!

yes, it's true. we have 5 weeks to move.
not sure yet what we are going to do since we can't just find a place that is the same price, free! we're looking, and will keep everyone posted.

okay... so here's the details. our "landlords" need to cut their losses or file bankruptcy. he's quitting school after the semester is over and they are moving back east and in with his parents. in so doing, they are going to rent out both sections of the house. they are leaving right after finals are over for the term. that's 6 weeks away, and they need time to be able to clean and repaint. therefore we have 5 weeks.
finding a place isn't the problem, it's coming up with the money to do it.

Trick or Treat!

So, the night before Halloween we went to Meleleuca to trick or treat. Taylor and Elizabeth had fun and got plenty of candy. Taylor's costume was a hit. Elizabeth was a ballerina and loved it.
This was the night of Halloween when we went to Grandma Williams and got some more goodies, and chatted. We were able to finish the costume a bit more, but I didn't get the head/helmet done unfortunately. Taylor still wants me to try to do it. We'll see how that goes.

Elizabeth

I did bless Elizabeth though :)

finger in car door!?

so, i had three ladies at church yesterday tell me that i had dropped. so far, nothing has come of it, well except the contractions that hurt like crazy. only time will tell what will happen
taylor today, tried to break his finger. i was putting the base for the car seat in the van, and rearranging the other seats. he was arguing with lynette in her car, and shut the door on his finger (not sure why). the indentation when halfway through his finger, so i decided to take him in. the doctor said that their bones are soft and they bounce back quite well. she said she didn't see anything on the xrays, thank heavens.
so, my parents are going to be out here the week before thanksgiving to go through the temple with candice. we have decided that we are going to bless the baby while they are here, then they don't have to figure out how to come back out. however, it looks like my dad will be doing the blessing again. one of these times we'll get everything taken care of the right way.

differences

it's funny how just by looking at the title of the post that you can immediately tell who wrote it. mine never have capital letters (just so you know, unless it's a professional document, i never capitalize), and shaun does.

stitches!!!

today started out slow and calm, but quickly went to crazy. i was working on the computer, when taylor comes in crying that elizabeth hit him with the baby swing. (okay, we sent to storage yesterday and got the baby stuff. clothes, swing, blankets, and bath tub) when i looked at him, he had a small slice right above his right eyebrow. when i looked again a little while later, it was really starting to bleed. i cleaned it, and stopped the bleeding for a bit, then cut a bandaid into strips and tried to pull it shut. after calling grandmas, i decided to take him in to get stitches. we got in to see the doctor, he pulled off my strips, and the wound had sealed itself! he cleaned it up again so he could have a closer look. in cleaning it, he opened the wound again. then it came all the way open. he had planned on just using the steri-strips to close it up, since mine had worked so well. but it came all the way open and started to really bleed again. so he decided he was going to put stitches in. he called in some help. we had to hold his head in a vice grip, and lay across his chest with his arms under us (he was not a happy camper). part way through the first stitch, i had to lay my head down cause i was feeling light-headed and dizzy. a second nurse walked in and told me it was time for me to take a break (she took over laying across his chest). in all it took 3 stitches, 2 nurses, and the doctor to get the job done, and a 20 minute wait afterwards for mom (i didn't want to end up on the table also).
when we got back home, i had to lay down and take a short nap. the whole event had left me very tired.

Transform, well, not yet.

This is the initial photo of Taylor and overlay of Optimus Prime I did.
Here is Taylor laying down like the first layout I did, which is above.
This is Taylor standing up and showing how he will move....and uh, yeah, I still have to figure out the chest. I think I will just have him wear a red shirt and hang a grill down around his belly, while the chest section willl be a chest plate. I will do the same for the back probably since I need him to have some mobility. Nadia thinks a tube of red spandex pulled over the foam will work to get him red...I hope so.
This is the stack of blue foam I have to work with...they only sell 4x8 sheets and I decided on 2 inch thick foam, so I have less gluing to do.

Work, Work, Work, and then, Oh, Sleep

I don't know that my posts will be as interesting as Nadia's, but when I look at the ones she has so far, they are so interesting to me. I guess that is because she is now in the shoes I was in at home. Now I am in her shoes...well, if you consider how crazy being on Graveyard shift is, I kinda went overboard taking her place. But I had to get out of the house away from the kids...10 months of Mr. Mom had finally endangered my sanity. I just feel bad that it all switched when she is 6-9 months pregnant. She still needs my help at home, but all I can do is sleep. Its pretty hard to wind down after work, and then the kids are up at 8 or 9 when I should be going to bed. As I wine about this, please allow for the following facts: we live on the main corner for people to reach campus, both students and faculty; when I try to sleep in the bedroom, then kids come in and jump all over because they are awake, so I usually surrender to the office...sadly, away from my wife; and does anybody else have trouble sleeping when it is bright? Nadia really tries to keep the kids quiet, but the house carries the sound well no matter what. I really appreciate her, and I really really miss her. Which brings me to the shoes again...I applied to Meleleuca yesterday, where Nadia just quit to be Mom again. Days part time will almost match my night differential from Walmart, and I can work a couple hours less a day and start marketing my artwork some. Several good things: Days (well nights 4 or 6-10), I need say no more; sleeping at the same time as my family, in the same room as my wife; Meleleuca product checks (we realized we lost them now that Nadia doesn't work there), yea; and no more heavy frieght...oh, and I can dress nicer and not destroy my clothes :) On a different note, I am in the process of building Taylor a costume for Halloween. He told me he wanted to be Optimus Prime when I asked him what he wanted to be. So, I am carving blue foam core into parts to turn my son into the famous Transformer. I'll get some photos and post them, or have Nadia do it. I'm exhausted. Hope I wrote understandably and didn't say too much. Everybody cheer Nadia on these last 3 or 4 weeks! She is so patient with me...and works hard with the kids to keep them in line, or to undo what I have allowed, and do what I never did. We are all alive and healthy for the most part, other than my daily sanity checks. I will go on and on. So, that's it. First post. Hope it made sense. Later
nadia here-you have to understand that the product check was worth $80. that's laundry and cleaning products, and vitamins, and personal products that i didn't have to pay for out of pocket. it was one of the many wonderful benefits of working for melaleuca.

so, here's a recent pic of mom and munchkins. we had a stake activity on friday, and shaun brought the camera. this is a perfect example of the character of elizabeth-sassy (daddy was just trying to get her to smile at the camera).
nadia looks like she's ready to pop, and she feels like it too.

speaking of nadia, she met with the doctor today to go over her blood sugar numbers. the doctor wasn't too concerned, which made us all feel better. he told us that if i were on insulin, the numbers they gave me would be accurate. since we're just trying diet at the moment, my high can be about 15 pts higher. he's running a blood test that checks on management history, and he said if the number comes back normal, we'll just keep doing the diet thing. if it comes back high, we'll do meds. i'll find out on wed when i meet with the midwives again. oh, and i'm only 1 week big now!!

patience trying

it's actually been an uneventful week. it's my first week being home full time. that, in and of itself has been interesting. i lost taylor in 2 stores in one day. we went to kmart to try and find elizabeth a jacket that fit, she's grown so much. while she and i were looking, taylor took off. when i went to find him he was playing with the doors at the front of the store-running out one and back in the other one. then in broulims (grocery store). the kids love to use the mini carts that they have at the store. while i was checking out, he decided that he was going to go put the mini carts away. when i got done, and went to find him, he was gone. i looked around the carts, and went partway back into the store, but couldn't find him. i had decided that i was going to go out to the car and see if he was there. as i was walking out the door, i heard him yelling for me to wait, and here he comes running up behind me. i've about decided to stop taking the kids with me to the store, but then i would never get any of my errands run.
the kids have started trying my patience to the limits. taylor takes over an hour to get himself dressed. this morning, for church, i tried for 20 min to get him to get dressed, then i forcibly dressed him. i was not happy. then, we were almost a half hour late to church. by that time, i had almost decided to keep us all home, but i knew i needed the time to myself and with the lord, so we went anyway.
i've been working on pj's for the kids for christmas. since i was working, i didn't have a whole lot of time to do much on them. i still haven't. i decided i was going to decorate some cloth bags i had for the kids for halloween. i found some halloween clip art on the internet, and blew them up to fit the bags. then i did piecing (i love wonder-under). when i get them finished, i'll get pictures taken and posted.
i had a poncho that i'd made for one month-end at work that wore yesterday. the kids decided that they wanted one too. so, when i went to get a few things at walmart, i let the kids choose some material for their ponchos. then i spent the rest of the day getting them and the bags made. but, like i said, i haven't done much on the pj's.

haircuts

so, taylor found my leatherman this morning, and proceeded to give the worm a haircut as well as his sister. thankfully, i stopped them before they could do more damage than that. there are two spots in elizabeths hair that are shorter than normal, and unless her hair hasn't been brushed, you can't tell they're there.
i went looking for maternity pants and nursing bras today. pants i finally found, but only at motherhood. and it took me 20 min to find nursing bras. the ones i tried on that are the "correct size," didn't fit. we tried a size bigger, that didn't fit either, then we went into the plus sizes. i finally found one that fit, and i hope it still fits after the baby comes.
oh, our gas prices have dropped about 20 cents in the last week. we're now paying 3.36, much better than the 4.09 it was a month ago.
and it's snowing! they predicted snow for thursday, none came. they predicted snow for friday, none came. they predicted snow today, and it finally showed up! it didn't start until late this afternoon, but i'm glad it waited. if it had snowed this morning, we would have had a blizzard on our hands. with winds at 10-15 miles an hour, it would have been a miserable day.

still on schedule

so, the midwives want me to keep track of my blood sugar for another week to see if the high fasting numbers are going to be consistent. they allow for 2 high days a week, i had 6. all my other numbers are great. it's just those fasting numbers that have us worried. they told me the next step, if diet and exercise don't work is oral meds. if the meds don't work, then it's insulin. if i go on
insulin, i become a dr patient and not a midwife patient. hope we can avoid the insulin then.
oh, the midwife doesn't think the baby is very big yet. that's exciting news!
i have 2 days of work left before i come home for good. i'm so excited. the hard part is going to be getting the kids back on a normal schedule.
still waiting to hear back from the school as to whether they'll let me back in or not. if they do, i need to go see my advisor and figure out the best way to get me graduated.

oh dear, early labor

so, conference was great! the kc temple took me by surprise, as i'm sure it did most of the saints in kc.
while we were listening to conference, taylor decided that he was going to take the sunscreen and empty the can all over the bathroom. so, instead of making bread and cleaning the front room and the kids room, i deep cleaned the bathroom. i had to clean the toilet and the counter, and i had to mop the floor. but, spray sunscreen is hard to get up.
after that was all done, i started having some hard consistent contractions. they built up for about an hour and then i started timing them. they were an average of 3 min apart, and lasting 40-50 seconds. so i called the midwives and they had me time them and drink two large glasses of water to see if it was just dehydration. after an hour, they started decreasing. after 2 they were entirely gone. but it made me tired and sore the rest of the day.
needless to say, nothing got done yesterday. i went and got groceries only because i had to, there was nothing left in the house.
the bread got made today, the rooms didn't get cleaned (again), and the laundry didn't get hung up. the oil didn't get changed in the car, and shaun didn't make it to priesthood. he didn't make it cause he stayed up all day to listen to the rest of the sessions.

early birds and on time vs early

my children were up this morning at 7a. most of you know that i am not a morning person at all. needless to say, this upset me slightly. when i got home last night, they were both asleep in my bed. not a big deal, but they had been asleep for awhile before i got home. since they went to sleep early, they were up early. but, i was able to get elizabeth to take a nap today, so that helped a little, but i was short on sleep and i don't deal well with that in any way. shaun, bless his heart, stayed up and watched the kids so that i could get a little bit more sleep.
shaun has really started hating his job. his hands hurt all the time, which is a bit concerning for an artist. he worries about it constantly. his back is always hurting as well, which is nothing new, but still not comfortable.
i went to see the midwife abt my blood sugar levels. i've been keeping track now for abt a week. she was impressed with my numbers, but a little concerned about my fasting numbers. they are usually over 100. so she wants me to keep track for another week, and if they continue that high, she's going to have me talk to the doctors. so, we'll see what happens next week. on a happier note, i am no longer measuring 3 weeks big. i'm now only measuring -1.5 weeks big, and my weight gain has been minimal. the walking has really paid off, and i'm not sure what to say changed the measurments. probably nothing at all, but still the same. i'm glad that i'm not that off from what i should be.

month end

i really have month end. all the people that call in wanting to cancel their accounts, and then getting mad that they still have to place an order cause their letter had to be in by the 25th. everyone that waited until the last minute to place their orders and call in their enrollments. everyone that thinks they are the exception to every rule and policy in the book. i get really tired of dealing with idiots. then those that call into the english line, when they obviously should have called a language line. like the korean lady i had today! but, this is my last month end, so i'm not complaining too much, just about the times that i had to be there. 7a to 1:30p, and then 5:30p to 10:30p. i requested a split shift cause i just can't sit there for 12 hours straight.
so, i go for a followup with the diabetes thing tomorrow and then i go see the midwife on thursday. we'll see how things are going to progress from here. my best days have been when i haven't eaten a whole lot. imagine that!
anyway, it's late, and i'm VERY tired so i'll try to post again when i'm more coherent.

three going on 13?!

we do sunday night dinners with the neighbors downstairs. sometimes his brothers and their wifes come too.
so, we're downstairs talking after dinner, and elizabeth comes and asks me for some water and ice. i told her that she would have to ask brent, the guy downstairs. in true elizabeth fashion, she whines that she can't. then she noticed that there was a pen on one of the side tables, and takes it over to brent. she hands it too him and says that it's his. they have a short conversation about the color being blue, and then she says she wants some water and ice. this is not something that she should have knowledge of at 3 years of age! this is something that preteen and teenagers do, not 3 year olds. we had a good laugh about it though. i think when she starts dating, we may need to invest in a gun!

this is the newest picture we have of our family. sadly it's almost 2 years old! but those are some cute kids!!!

anyone want to trade days?

what a day! i washed the sheets, and got a flood. then all the drains backed up too. ok, so, the house is old, the drains are also old, some of them have been replaced though. and we consistently have troubles with the pipes. shaun was asleep, so i ran downstairs and got brent, the owner. we ended up putting half a bottle of draino down the drain pipe for the washer, half a bottle down the kitchen sinks, and half a bottle down the tub. then we filled sinks and tub with HOT water and then let them drain and push things down. we finally got every cleared up. and it only took us a half hour!
then, was making dinner, and the stove decides to go on the fritz. we only had 3 burners to begin with. one of the large burners was already dead. however, i'm down to just the two little burners now. so, i have meatloaf cooking on the stove, and the burner stops working, i tried again, and still didn't work. about an hour later, i finally move it to the small burner and it actually starts cooking this time. then, after shaun gets up, he fixes the big burner so that it's working, and puts the pot back on it. it cooked a little too well. we either had burned or raw meatloaf; there was nothing in the middle. needless to say, i was a little upset. i'd been hungry for this meal for about 2-3 weeks, and now i wasn't going to be able to eat it! so...we went out to eat. i had balanced the checkbook, and we had just enough to go out.
i did get bread made, and the kitchen partially cleaned up. i had gotten some humanitarian clothes to sew, and i was able to get those done. i went to start on pajamas for christmas, and found that i still need a few things. i have some interfacing, i'm just not sure where it is at the moment. and as my corner needs to be straightened again, i didn't feel like trying to find it at the moment. the house didn't get cleaned for sunday though.
but, we survived, the kids are in bed, and as soon as i finish this, i'm also headed in that direction.

lovely children

so, i had my two weeks notice already to turn in. it was signed and dated and everything. then the children found a pen and the only paper available to them was my two weeks notice! i get to reprint it before i can turn it in!

gestational diabetes

just got back from my diet planning session with the diabetic dietician. and i was right, there wasn't much they told me that i didn't already know, or had figured out on my own. however, i did learn a few things: like during pregnancy they like blood glucose levels to be lower than normal people. so, my fasting # of 101, was abt t20 pts higher than they were looking for. and my 1 hr level of 170 was abt 30 -40 pts higher than they wanted. which is why it only took the 1 hr test to diagnose me. they did give me a meter and teach me how to use it. after watching my mother-in-law for 7 years, i knew the basics.
i'm supposed to keep track 3 times a day, and keep track of my carbs as well. turns out, carb counting isn't hard at all. a tuna fish sandwich only has abt 30 carbs. mayo amd relish are free, and meats don't have carbs, just protein. the only carbs are in the bread. even the peaches g-ma brought me, have abt 7.5 carbs each (they are really small peaches). so my lunch had abt 45 carbs today. not bad if i do say so myself.
the midwife is going to call in an rx for the supplies i need for the meter. and cause it's pregnancy related (obviously!), the medicaid will cover it!

potty success

so, i've been trying to potty train elizabeth. so far, it's not been terrible. it does help that any time she goes potty, she gets candy. but any incentive is helpful. i used to give it her if she just sat on the toilet, now i've gone to she has to do something on the toilet to get it. i got home from work tonight and was getting the kids ready for bed and things settled for the night. i sent her in to go potty before we put pajamas on. she pooped on the toilet!!! i was so excited, and so was she.

rocky start

well, i create this blog on sun, and didn't have time to do anything more with it. on mon i get an email from the "webmasters," i guess, and they tell me that my blog has been labeled as spam. how does that work! i haven't posted anything to it, i wasn't even able to add anything to it. i just got it created. so, i requested that they look into it, and tell me my blog was fine. so far, i haven't heard anything yet. we'll see what happens.
on a different note, i finally heard from the hospital for my diet planning. for those of you who don't know, i have gestational diabetes. i have 9 weeks until my due date, and it took them a week to get me into see the dietician. i think it's cutting things a little too close. i was told that it would be about a 2 hour meeting. what can i do for 2 hours?! i already know i need to avoid sugar and watch my carbs. learning how to use the meter will take like 5 min at most. what else is there? course, it's possible that they are literally going to plan menus with me, but i doubt that. we'll see what happens on thurs.