The Johnson's

Work or Play?

2010-12-19T12:00:00.001-08:00

Yep, that's right... He's not even 2 and check him out!!

"Hey Papa, I'm coding!"

Ah! Nuts! Nope, just being a boy!

(LOVE his chubby hands!!!)

Just to say I did...

2010-12-17T13:00:00.000-08:00

I just might manage to get 2 posts up this year... And by now you've all stopped looking at this thing!

I'd be lying to say I'm sad to see this year go, I'm glad 2010 is wrapping up. It was probably the hardest year we've faced, but God is faithful and we've survived! Our family is whole and healthy and for that, we are incredibly blessed! Our beautiful, funny, healthy, and awesomely sweet little boy has kept us going through all the gunk and we are so, so thankful for him!

Speaking of Luke, he's awesome! He's going to be 2 soon, he's not my baby anymore... He's is the happiest kid I've ever known. We rarely have a tough day and if we do, there's is always a medical reason for it. A few weeks ago was rough for him, he had his second ear infection ever, in both ears and was cutting just about all of his back teeth. The doc said it looked like 8 were all trying to come through at once. Beyond that, everyday is a pretty happy day.
Luke hasn't really been up for real word talking but he jabbers a lot! The last few days he's really been open to repeating words though, so I've been trying to add at least 2 words to his vocabulary. He understands everything you say to him now and will follow tasks, like putting away toys, going to find his blankies at bed time, etc. Not only is he happy, but he's super sweet! He loves kisses and hugs and despite being REALLY busy all the time, he likes to snuggle for a few minutes at a time - frequently throughout the day. Luke LOVES Elmo right now, I don't know what it is about that little monster but Luke fell into his trap! Sesame Street is a favorite and we'll catch Luke repeating letters and numbers, singing and dancing along with songs, and giggling with the kids when they laugh. It's adorable! We've also been going to Little Gym once a week and Luke does very well! Typically it's been a Mommy & Luke thing, but Ben joined us last week and Luke was so excited to show his Daddy all that he could do, making it even more fun for Daddy - so I'm pretty sure Daddy will be joining in &/ taking turns with me. Luke is in love with his Daddy! Daddy's little shadow, wherever Daddy goes - Luke is RIGHT behind him, if not attached to his back ;)
The feeling is mutual, Luke has gotten more and more fun everyday and Ben is really loving this stage with his little boy. They laugh and wrestle and chase and dance... Ben's an awesome Daddy! Even though he works nights, on his days off he switches up his schedule to be able to spend time with us, loving on his boy and helping me as much as he can. As difficult as our year has been - we are all in a really good place right now! I almost wish we could just live in this time for awhile and refill our emotional/mental tanks.

Early in November Ben and I made a rather spontaneous decision to get away. We needed it desperately. It was the fist time I'd spent a night away from Luke - and it was a full 6 nights away! My Mom stayed at the house with Luke and kept him busy and Luke got visits and trips with his other Grandma's too. He did great, thought he got REALLY attached to his binky with Mommy and Daddy gone.

We had a wonderful time in Kauai, Hawaii. We stayed on the South Side of the island aka 'the sunny side'. Which was great, because every time we left outside a 2 mile radius of the resort, it was raining. Ben and I got to enjoy each other again like we haven't been able to in a very long time. No phones, no computers/internet, etc... (We had my phone but with all notifications disabled so that the only thing incoming could be an emergency call from my Mom) I thought for sure Ben would go stir crazy without outside contact (and only me!) but we really had a blast! I only cried once, when I called my mom to check in and Luke was awake and I heard him jabbering and laughing in the background... Other than that I was a big girl!
Since then, Luke has stayed a few more nights away :) Ben and I celebrated our 6th anniversary at Salish Lodge a couple weeks ago and Luke stayed with Ben's parents and did awesome again. We had a really great time there too!!! :)
We'd always been told how important it was to get time away together without the kids, once they come but never really made it happen... We found out for ourselves the importance of staying connected outside of Luke, and are now making it a priority to have our time too.

I'm on Ben's little netbook and don't have access to a ton of pictures, but I'm sure there's enough on here to give you a taste:

Our little Snowbaby

Our fireman and his pirate princess, Kaelyn on Halloween

Checking out his reflection in the fridge, with his favorite (Elmo) slippers!

Our favorite beach in Kauai, we found it after missing our turn to go to see the canyon, and following a 5 mile rocky dirt road to the end... And ended in Paradise!

On our Resort's beach at Poi'pu

Family picture time! Aubrey was over and took our pictures after Thanksgiving :o)

Try and forget the scenery in these photos, we loved it and you'll probably see more pictures of our family at this place... I hate to repeat and be 'un-original' but this really was a fun spot.

Attempted Revival...

2010-05-22T20:29:00.000-07:00

It has been months since I've posted! I thought I'd try and get at least one post up this year... I can't believe it's already almost June!

Anyway, I am not going to do several posts with pictures I'm just going to recap this year thus far, with some random photos of 2010. (for those that know the 1st of the year drama, feel free to skip the first bullet)

This year started out quite rough for the Johnson family. If anyone remembers the 'fence incident' with the crazy neighbors from last summer, and how we had to go to court... We thought it was all done and over with, and we thought we had protected ourselves - Wrong! Said crazy neighbors went to Ben's work and made horrible, awful, untrue statements that not only couldn't be proven, but also contradicted what they submitted to the courts and what they said to the police when I had to call them for throwing beer bottles at our house and all the glass shattered all over the back yard. I thought lying to the police and the judge and the sheriff's office would surely be enough to prove that they couldn't be believed. A normal person would think that this, along with all the other neighbor statements verifying that these people are off their rockers and often try and russle up some neighborhood drama - would be enough to assume that Ben (who's normal and has no complaints from other neighbors or anyone from work, ever!) just might be telling the truth about his side of the events... Nope! Ben got put on admin leave and we waited for 8 weeks to hear whether or not he'd lose his job. We were pretty certain it wouldn't be going our way, the case was very one sided and it was clear the internal investigator didn't do his due diligence to really 'investigate' the situation... And then the whole command chain just signed off at the recommendation of the ones below, it was evident that they didn't actually READ the investigation. It was completely mind boggling! All those that read the case were left completely confused as to why this was even an issue, from us, to the guild, to our attorney. After weeks and weeks of prayer Ben got his turn in front of the 'boss' and she dismissed (saying it wasn't her concern) his proof of them lying and submitting false evidence to do so and spoke to him like he was some criminal. Thankfully God put someone in that with a brain and ears who had to have told her that they needed to review his evidence before making a decision. He expected to hear within 30 minutes that he'd lost his job and would have to fight in arbitration to get it back (minimum a year wait) but instead it took 2 more weeks to get the call. They had determined there wasn't enough evidence to continue on and that he would be able to go pickup his car and return to work! PTL!! The alternative was Ben going active on the remainder of his inactive Marine Corps contract and going back overseas... BUT God was there, completely in control and put a stop to all the nonsense. The entire 10 weeks was like a marathon prayer. A big and special thank you to all of those that were praying with us, I know there were a great many that were all over this too!!

(insert somewhere up there that on Valentine's Day Luke started walking!

... A few days later, Ben turned 27 and our sweet little man turned 1! Luke's party was insane, so many people that loved him came out to help us celebrate.
Right around the time that Ben went back to work things started feeling really off for me at my job. Let me rewind though a bit, I went back to work when Luke was 4 months old part time. I had been full time prior to Luke and had worked a new schedule with the partners' approval for a part time return. Going back part time was odd for a while. I don't know that I ever really got back into the swing of things... And people didn't quite respond back to me the same as they did when I was full time. It was very difficult for a while to figure out where I fit back into the office. Flash forward to this year and I just felt off. It became increasingly harder to leave Luke for so long during the day. (I was only at work for 8.5 hours, but I had over an hour commute to Bellevue each way.) It was the middle of busy season so nothing really could be changed at work anyway, and I was putting in extra time when I could. Ben and I decided to spend the rest of busy season praying for a solution. That either things would calm down with Luke (the days I worked were awful when I got home, I couldn't put him down with out him breaking down into and sobbing mess... Not to change, not to cook dinner, not even to pee. The weekend's were just as bad, he didn't want to play with his toys, he pretty much refused to eat at home and naps were almost non existent unless I held him the entire time. I would get him down to a schedule again by Tuesday, so that I could go back to work and start all over again Wednesday) ...Or we prayed that a door would open for a something better for our family. We enlisted the help of some close family and friends to pray this with us and on April 15th busy season ended, and April 22nd I got laid off. Apparently my part time schedule wasn't working for the company anymore. I wasn't aware that it had been an issue for them but instead of being upset about not being offered the opportunity to decide whether or not to go back full time, (after almost 4 years with them) I completely felt like it was God giving me what we'd been praying for... The company was great and offered up referrals and letters and all those good things for my job search... And my friends there have reached out and been great since I left too. I am still looking for part time income closer to home but I am really trying to take advantage of time with Luke... And he seems to love it too!!!
We got to go on a family weekend vacation to Port Townsend with the Baumgartner side which was really fun! Ben took the time off and got to come too which was a total treat! The only real bummer was that Dad and Nick had baseball so they didn't make it out, and the weather was pretty misty too... But we managed to have a good time!
Luke and I are spending time with Emily and Kaelyn doing weekly play dates which have been really good for both kids I think. Emily is less than a month away from popping out and finally sharing Landon with the rest of us... And is now working from home part time, so we have time for fun dates.
There's another baby on its way this year too!! NO NOT OURS! We aren't pregnant! ...However, I have known about this little one for almost 2 months, but Mommy and Daddy aren't sharing the news yet, so I get to celebrate on my own still :)
Planning for a getaway to Moses Lake to play with Aubrey soon!
Went to the Tulip fields with the Trowbridge's and got some great pictures! (this actually happened before I lost my job but I didn't get around to editing until after) Still loving our weekly dinners with them, it's tradition now! There's no question, no firming up plans, just an automatic given that Monday night is dinner - which we love!
Took Chelsey's little brother's senior pictures last weekend which was really fun. I remember going to Chelsey's and Chase would be in underwear and a cape running around, and here I was taking his senior photos... Made me feel a little old, but it was still fun!

The day after Mother's Day Luke got his first haircut! He cried and cried, the woman kept laughing at him while holding the clippers in front of his face, which didn't help. (at Kid Cuts no less) The pictures are still on my camera and if I walk down and get those pics off the memory card this post won't end! Another time, I promise!

So there it is, 2010 in a nutshell. Sounds dramatic, but it was all very good for us. God is working in us and our family right now and we're trying to be receptive and we're really in a good place. It's been a trying but very fulfilling year! Oh and Luke is amazing! We are so in love with him! Still! I have had the most fun seeing Ben interact with his son, Luke is in the Daddy worship stage, right now everything is "Daddy!" Daddy songs, Daddy stories, he'll jabber on for 10 minutes and all you can really make out is Daddy, Daddy, Daddy! It's adorable!

On to the random order of pictures!

Luke's 1st birthday and birthday gifts...

Singing in my wagon!

Daddy's lips

Luke's FAVORITE thing to do!

Tulips

Chase

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-23T05:42:00.000-08:00

WHAT!?!

2009-11-20T21:57:00.000-08:00

I finally remembered to throw my camera battery on the charger so tonight I thought I'd take a few pictures of Luke's new thing: Crawling, but over the last 36 hours he's gone from just crawling, to crawling over to something and rising up on his knees to a kneeling position. He rests on his bum and then rises back up again, so I got a couple pictures to show off my big boy:

Then....

I'm cleaning up his dinner, we tried meat for the first time tonight. Jury's still out for both of us. He ate half the container and was excited for each bite, but after it went into his mouth there was a definite moment of apprehension... And I just still don't know how I feel about some of these baby food flavors. (Gooey meat in a jar, and don't get me started on the mac and cheese??) Anyway, I'm not sure if he really liked it or was just excited to be playing with my water bottle between bites, so we'll try some more Turkey and Rice Dinner tomorrow for comparison. Daddy's discovered that Luke's going to be an artist. When he feeds Luke and is messy by dropping some on the tray, Luke takes the messiness to another level by finger painting! This too evolved a bit tonight when he put his finger in his mouth after a turkey bite and then painted on his tray.

Anyway! ...So I'm cleaning the dinner tray and I look up to see that he's crawled over to his 'drum' that I left on the floor for him (aka my big pot) and used it to do this:

Ahem! Little boy, are you STANDING?

All by himself, with something half his height to aid him up, not pulling up to a coffee table or couch - but he got his feet under him, his weight right and pushed up to stand!

"Excuse me Mister, Mommy is NOT ready for this!"

Family Pictures!

2009-11-20T21:54:00.000-08:00

Aubrey took our family pictures last weekend!

Click here to see!

Thank you dear friend, you are wonderful!

Howdy!

2009-11-05T23:39:00.001-08:00

Grandpa brought over a very old roasting pot and lid for halloween, to use for the lobster picture, but Daddy thought it looked more like a 'cowboy tub'... He shouldn't have said that, Mommy ran upstairs and came down with her camera and this silly hat!

Momma, no more pictures!

Lobster Boy!

2009-11-02T17:14:00.001-08:00

Luke O'Lantern

2009-10-28T22:10:00.001-07:00

Happy Halloween!

GO DODGERS!!!

2009-10-15T19:03:00.000-07:00

Cold Little Punkin!

2009-10-12T23:38:00.000-07:00

We took Luke to the Pumpkin patch... I think we might have to go back for the picture part of it and try again. It's been so cold and we found our pumpkins first so Luke was about done by the time we got to sticking him in the patch. There are a few more pictures, but they're really bad! He just looks miserable, but I promised my Mom I'd post these for her, so here you go Nana!

6 Months

2009-09-17T22:08:00.000-07:00

Luke at 6 months:

28 3/4 inches

19 1/2 pounds

Rolls, scoots and twists to get where he wants to be

Thinks his Daddy is very cool! (the feeling is adorably mutual!)

Still only wants Mommy to snuggle to sleep at night :)

HUGE flirt

Always laughing... He's the happiest kid

LOVES to jump... in the jumper, off your legs... anywhere his feet get contact.

Jabbers, sings, and squeals just about every waking moment

LOVES bananas, and enjoys all fruits

Gags and cries on green beans and peas, dislikes squash & sweet potatos but tolerates carrots

Is the center of his Daddy & Mommy's universe!

pictures!!

2009-09-03T19:22:00.000-07:00

In random order!!

Oh so tired!

On Daddy's new bike

Daddy flipping

Sleepy boy with Lexi

soon...

2009-09-02T20:08:00.000-07:00

Just had to update, I know I promised pictures but my weekend (and birthday) was completely overshadowed by the awful case of Mastitis that I got Thursday evening! Feeling better but still on antibiotics... Which hurt Luke's tummy, and he's teething. (and got his 6 month shots) It's been an owie kind of week/end. I'm hoping tomorrow to get pictures up. Got to make room on the memory card for this weekend in Eastern Washington!

So long!

2009-08-27T19:53:00.000-07:00

So the court thing went really well, even though we didn't think so at the time. God had a better plan and we were able to 'settle' with a signed agreement. At first Ben felt like it was giving validation to their outrageous stories, but it now holds them accountable for responsible, adult conduct AND they had to withdraw their rediculous claims to Ben's job. There is still an 'investigation' because they can't just ignore it... But I'm so thankful that these neighbors can't fabricate anything new to add to their interviews - matter of fact they can't even give an interview!
I have been trying very hard to understand what God was trying to teach us in this situation. Ben was over and beyond accomidating and diplomatic with this woman who did nothing but scream profanities at the back of our house, without provication, several times now over the past few months. His tolerance and cool temperment really didn't get him anywhere but smack in the middle of horrible, malicious prosecution. These people have brought out the worst in me on a few occasions (so maybe I can see what God's working on in me)... I pray nightly for them that they find peace with whatever demons they've got working on them... but that they find it somewhere else, in a different neighborhood... soon, hopefully... PLEASE!!! Ugh, probably not going to happen in this current housing market but I can always hope!

Anyway, you guys know what the difference between a 1GB memory card and a 4GB memory card? No? ...It means that there's almost 900 pictures of Luke waiting for me to upload them to my computer instead of 200 :o)

Luke is fabulous! He's so stinkin' cute, and sweet, and just perfect! He's rolling ALL over the place and is starting to get up on his knees and lurch forward... Though we're really not ready for him to crawl yet, we've fought the strong urge to stop him, for fear of being the bad parents that 'hold him back' (we're goning to save that card for something really worth it, like dating) ;)
Luke is still such a good baby! Cries only when he's in pain, too hot, or cold... Or if he's grunted and whined for food for more than 15 minutes and you still haven't gotten the hint. He's doing well at his Grandma's houses while I work and has a blast every morning with his Daddy! I notice though that on days I work, when we get home, I don't get to do much - like eat, clean, sit, etc. unless I'm holding him. He's whiney if I'm not 100% focused on him after work, until he goes to bed... and even then he doesn't sleep as good unless we're snuggling. So if it's Wednesday through Friday and you want to come over - bring food, and don't look at my mess :o)

Sorry, lots of words in this post and no pictures, but I'm pretty sure I've slacked off on this blog so long that no one reads it anymore anyway. Those that do, prepare for a huge picture post (hopefully) by the end of the weekend - I'm going to need Ben home to love on Luke so that I can have some decent time on the computer, like I said, 4GB is a LOT of photos!

Prayer, Please!

2009-08-13T13:22:00.000-07:00

I realize it's been a while, but we have just been slammed preparing to go to court on Monday. We live in a home we got to customize, out in a community we want to be in, and just ONE neighboring home - from the 5 others that we love - have us hating to be home every minute. Our situation wouldn't have gotten to this point except that Ben's career puts him in a tight spot... Where not only is he not allowed to defend his home and family, but brutal lies can be said about him and people pay attention. Please, please pray for us that the judge sees past these malicious stories on Monday morning and that we may move past this awful garbage. I just can't imagine what will happen next if any validation is given to these people. We've been told in civil cases judges tend to error on the side of caution - so we have 5 people coming in to testify on our behalf, pray too that the judge will even let them speak.

Little Boy Laughs!

2009-07-30T23:39:00.000-07:00

Papa making Luke laugh

Thanks Aunt Debbie for posting!

picture update

2009-07-28T22:35:00.000-07:00

Baseball 'photo-shoot' for Papa's birthday frame

A cute outfit that was only worn 20 minutes before he ended up in just the onsie in this 98 degree weather!

Standing against the ottoman all by himself!

... And very pleased about it!

Who's a happy boy?

This kid!

Hanging with Dad at Mom's company picnic

Sleeping at the picnic

Almost too big for the bouncer!

Yummy carrots!

... and Peas

Bathing

2009-07-15T05:04:00.000-07:00

Alright mom's, I need some ideas.

Luke LOVES bathtime, but he also LOVES to arch his back and wiggle out of all his seats (bath seat, bouncer, etc...unless he's harnessed in - to which then he's irritated because then he's stuck) Anyway, this makes bathtime difficult because he's always wiggling out of his sling. I've started just trying to support him myself, but he's very slippery and still a little irratic with his movements - especially when he's that excited! He loves to lay completely back and have his legs out so he can kick and splash. He's all about the foot action too, he doesn't care much about the hands splashing at all. He's also not quite stong enough to sit up on his own so just the tub on it's own is out. And the bath ring seats have such mixed reviews that I'd hate to waste my money on the wrong one.

Does anyone have a baby tub seat or of the like, that they love to reccommend so that I can go buy?!

Many, many thanks!

Beautiful Babies

2009-07-10T08:32:00.001-07:00

So my Aunt got me to enter Luke into this contest put on by a local news station. Voting was to start on Monday but they had a huge wave of voters and it crashed their server. Voting is now back up, but the site is still tempermental. So if the page doesn't load just refresh it, the url is correct. Go to the link on the top right of this page that says, "Vote for Luke" and go give him a 10! =)
... I think voting ends August 4th.

4 months

2009-07-08T05:43:00.000-07:00

Luke was 4 months last Friday and had his appointment on Monday. The boy is over 16 pounds!! I told the doctor that I'm having a hard time keeping up with him (he wants more milk than I can produce) yet he's satisfied and he spits it all back up. Doc said, "feed him!" So we had our first adventure with rice cereal... Luke's not really a fan yet. Monday he got 4 shots and really I think just wanted to be held and fed his bottle, yesterday we made another attempt, which was only semi productive. He's just into it. Can't quite make the connection yet that he's supposed to swallow it, which is very surprising... He's a champ when it comes to medicine/mylicon, but I guess all of that comes out of a tube, so he can suck it out like a bottle. Anyway here was our first attempt:

And I'm back to work today... Lots of prayers!

End of June Already!?!

2009-06-27T15:12:00.000-07:00

It's so hard to keep up with this right now! Luke has ZERO patience for Mommy's PC time. We're all doing well. Luke is still cute as ever! We're enjoying watching him grow and learn everyday. I've got just one more full week off before going back to work, which has been incredibly hard emotionally to come to grips with... Far more difficult than I ever imagined!

Well, I know pictures are what people come here to see, so I won't bore you any further with commentary =)

Completely out of chronological order:

Father's Day Dodger gear

(Ben and Rich are actually in LA this weekend for the M's vs Dodgers)

Luke and Daddy on Father's Day

He looks good in Dodger blue!

Flirting with Daddy during bath time

Passed out in his big boy 2 piece, police car jammies!!

Luke's 3 month pictures

... another one

We watched Papa throw out the first pitch at Uncle Nick's baseball game on Father's Day

(It was a strike in case you're wondering) =)

Uncle Nick keeping a good eye out and let a 'ball' go by

'The kids' at Jake and Heather's house

Family Day!!

2009-06-15T19:05:00.000-07:00

Too many pictures to post!

To view them:

Click Here!

Water Baby

2009-06-10T09:21:00.000-07:00

For Auntie Aubrey

2009-06-01T20:40:00.001-07:00

Hi Auntie! I miss you!

Remember this?

It fits me a little better now!

Come back soon!!

(1 week old vs. 14 weeks old)

Overdue

2009-05-21T08:05:00.000-07:00

Alright, I know, this is long overdue. It's difficult finding the time to type out a post when I can be playing with my boy! Luke is awesome! We are having so much fun with him! It's going to be easier to list out the new stuff he's doing, so in random order:

*Luke is now starting to rub his little eyes when he's tired - it's adorable.

*Sleeps the second half of the night snuggled up to Mommy - he's out in second, compared to 20- minutes of being up and down in the bassinet - that's 20 less minutes I need to be awake!

*Smiles and jabbers up a storm

*LOVES bath time! Loves it! He's like his Mama, the warmer the water the better. I sit him sideways in the big tub (in his sling) and he stomps his little feet on the side of the tub and coos and smiles when the water is nice and warm to his liking. If it's too cool he just sits still and looks at me like, "Really? What's so great about this? I can't 'perform' when I'm cold!"

*He's been lifting his head and 'rolling' over since he was about 6 hours old, so that's not new news. He's still super strong!

*Luke has already been to 2 Mariner's games! Once with me and my co-workers, and just again on Monday - we brought Daddy and Devin and Chelsey along too =)

*He flirts - it's hilarious! He does it to Daddy and immediately gets the, "Daddy's a boy, no flirting with boys"

*Luke has decided that unless his car seat is moving, it is unnecessary to be in it, and gets all mad about it. This means I have literally 3 seconds from the time I walk in the door and put the seat down to get him out. No putting bags or keys down, no potty breaks, he wants out NOW!!!

Ben and I are doing well too. Ben's moved a total of 52 yards of dirt around our yard. Thank God for Lannie! He hooked us up with a bobcat so only the first 10 yards were done by shovels and A (single) wheelbarrow. We found the guy to hydro seed and the guy to build our shed... The fencing has been the hard part. I got a couple bids, did all the prep work and now the neighbors, that were previously not interested in doing anything - just told me to find the best price and they'd sign off - then decided they cared and wanted to get their own estimates. We're not going to have 5 different builders come out to do different sections. Funny thing is they all ended up calling the guy that gave us the best bid for the better materials... $16 a foot (including labor seems to be the going rate). Though we did have one guy show up after me telling him to forget it. He argued on the phone with me for 10 minutes and refused my directions telling me I didn't know my address because his GPS couldn't locate it. Yeah dude, when you screw my fence up this is going to be fun arguing to fix it... Oh and he was "The best price we'll get anywhere... $28 a foot!" And then he left his planner here full with: his business license, registration to his truck, business checkbook, and personal checkbook AND it's still sitting on my porch 8 days later!!! No thanks dude! So lots and lots of yard work for Ben and lots of on the phone price comparing for me lately. Slowly but surely we'll have a yard! As long as the stupid HOA doesn't get in my way!

Because blogger decides the order of appearance, in no particular order:

Us at the game

Chelsey and Devin at the game

Ben, Jared and Marco at Jared's birthday BBQ

(this was great, now that we all have kids the dynamic of the backyard BBQ has changed quite a bit - everyone was 'toast' by 10... And these days 'toast' means tired - not drunk)

Cameron making a face at the BBQ

Daddy and Luke at the game (Luke has his M's blanket from Great Auntie Debbie)

Luke and Dad sleeping in

Luke supervising, um I mean sleeping from his stroller while Mom and Dad shovel dirt

My Mother's Day Flowers from Ben and Luke

Happy boy!!

Does this one really need explanation? He's so freaking cute! THIS is the face that melts me every day! And yes, he's this baby 99.9999% of the time... and even when he's being a punk, he's still this sweet!

Blue Eyes!

2009-05-09T11:10:00.001-07:00

From Wrinkles to Rolls

2009-05-08T19:59:00.000-07:00

Here was my scrawny little guy 1 month ago...

Here he is now:

Daddy calls him the physical calendar, with every day he changes a little more and we get to see time actually pass. I'd be alright if it slowed down a little.

Waitin' on Summer...

2009-05-01T11:18:00.000-07:00

"Yeah, you can't handle this!"

See Luke, Mom was around!

2009-04-27T07:11:00.000-07:00

Being that I'm the one always taking the pictures around here, I'm not actually IN any pictures with Luke. (My Aunt has taken a few but they were early on from the hospital and from the house the day after we came home and I wasn't really 'put together')

Luke and I went up to my work on Thursday to join in on the After Busy Season festivities (they were kind enough to invite me even tough I had to leave early March!) This year's party was a Mariner game viewed from a wonderful suite! So Luke did his first game and hung out with a couple of my co-workers. He was very good and an Safeco Field employee even dug a baseball trading card out of his bag on the way out and gave it to us for his first baseball card. It's a few years old and of a Padre. I wonder if the player or card meant anything to this old guy, but the elevator let out and we were walking to the car alone... And 98% of everyone was long gone so there wasn't a crowd to safely blend into.

This weekend we picked up my in-laws from the airport who were vacationing in Mexico for almost 3 weeks. Grandma couldn't believe how much Luke had changed! He's now about 11 lbs and he's getting little chubby cheeks and legs! :o)

Saturday night Luke slept on my chest all night long, we still had our feedings so he didn't sleep through the night, but I was too tired to try and put him back in his bassinet. He always wakes up when I lay him down and then we do the pick up, comfort, lay down, shake the bassinet, plug with the binky and add in the Mylicon because now he's on his back and the bubbles tend to get painful on his back after he eats... And then again, and sometimes again, if it didn't work. This way he fell asleep immediately while I was burping him, and he sleeps SO GOOD when he sleeps on his tummy, facing us, snuggled in on the chest that it's so hard to want to spend the energy staying awake, when I can just lean back and sleep and snuggle with him. We all get more sleep this way. (I was better last night and he stared out in his bassinet and stayed there until about 3:30.) We even attempted church yesterday morning! We got in there and he slept through the worship part and as soon as the sermon started, he was up and with a tummy ache (stupid antibiotics!) I left the sanctuary out the nearest door when he'd get fussy and it put me smack in front of the newborn-2 year nursery. Kaelyn was in there so I checked on her a few times and then Luke and I sat and pumped his little legs most of the time to ease the pain, after about 10 minutes of that, I'd take him back in and he'd be fine for another 10 minutes and then I could hear and feel bubbles in his stomach and he'd get fussy. The Mylicon was left on the counter so we had to keep repeating the leg pumps and leaving. Lake Sawyer doesn't have a 'cry room' with audio piped in so I missed most of the sermon. Each time I came out the women in the nursery kept begging me to check Luke in so they could oh and ah over him closer, and then I could go back in and actually listen to the pastor, but after surveying the current occupants: 2 snotty faces, 1 barking cough, 1 little cough, and a mystery goo. I just really wasn't feeling it! I politely told them that I just wasn't ready to be where I couldn't hear him yet and then tried to get the chick that was holding Kaelyn to come over to the window and keep her there to avoid her exposure to germ central. Hopefully after these antibiotics are gone (2 more days!!) he'll be feeling better and next week we can try it again. I'm going to have Dr. Mark (our chiropractor) look at Luke again today to see how his right side's doing. A couple weeks ago (right before the ear infection) Luke's head seemed to be always going to the right side and his shoulder was elevated. I should have taken him in then, but was still hung up on how little he was. And then when he got the ear infection on his right side, I knew I blew it! When we went in last Wednesday Dr. Mark adjusted him and he's been much better with his range of motion in his neck since. I probably could've avoided the whole ear infection/antibiotic had I done it earlier, but now I know and am going to have Dr. Mark at least look at him every couple of weeks.

This morning we're off to meet an attorney, things are starting to get a little hairy with the medical bills after the accident/delivery and it wasn't suggested, but hinted that I might want to talk to someone (from my adjuster at our insurance company)... The at fault party's insurance offered me like $500 and said that seeing as I was going to have Luke anyway, and that he was alright - they weren't covering the costs for anything pertaining to the delivery. I don't expect them to cover the entire thing, but from what I've heard they are responsible for anything over an normal delivery, i.e the 2 extra nights, for both of us, the additional drugs, the OR, etc. If that stuff goes to my regular insurance, and then we pay the 10% after their coverage and our deductible - that $500 isn't really going to cover it. Not out looking for a huge pay-out, but we'd already paid our portion of a 'normal delivery' to the doctor and hospital. I just want the bills paid... Preferably before we go to collections! Our medical insurance company also believes that Farmer's should pay a portion... which leaves bills in limbo while they're arguing. It's getting messy, so we thought we'd consult an attorney that Dr. Mark recommended, he's supposed to be the non ambulance chasing type. We'll see.

Well here's a couple pictures that my boss took of us at the game, hence the title of this post - I finally have a picture with my boy that I look somewhat 'together'... I wish you could see him better, he had his cute little baseball outfit on!

The HVC group

(minus a few that didn't come)

Luke & Laura... Any GH fans out there :o)

He loves to snuggle in his carrier! See his hat, the whole outfit was that pattern - so cute!

Charlie (new managing partner), Steve (former managing partner - he's 'retiring') - both looking at Luke, Serena and us.

Seriously!?!

2009-04-21T19:55:00.000-07:00

My little man has his first ear infection. After 7 weeks we've officially heard him cry - a real cry... It's terribly sad!

He was in some pain last night and I was nearly in tears and Ben just followed us around the house trying to talk to Luke telling him he needed to stop cause he was making his Daddy really sad... Didn't work.

I totally understand now how people can OD their kids though! You give them the tylenol, wait and wait and when they're still upset after it should've kicked in, you wonder if just a little more is okay... Maybe he spit some out that I didn't see and didn't get a full dose? I was good but man it was hard! He did alright through the night, I set my alarm at the soonest he could have another dose of the tylenol so that there was always some pain reliever working in him to avoid it getting too bad again. He did get a bit worked up and I finally had to put him down to change his diaper and he fell asleep on his changing table. Previously (and all day today) anytime we'd move him we'd wake up so I didn't really want to pick him up only to try and lay him back down again, so what's a Mom to do? Take the changing pad with me. I lifted up the entire pad and put it on our bed in between us and he slept there the rest of the night instead of his bassinet.

With it being so warm the last couple days it's been really hard not to overheat him while trying to rock him. He really loves his car seat so this afternoon after a long few hours of trying but not successfully napping we put him in his car seat and walked around the house for a minute like we were headed out to the car and he was gone! I was able to take him out in that and do a little yard work too! The doctor said we caught it before it got really bad, and we've got antibiotics going so hopefully this will only take another day to get him feeling better! Still with not feeling great he's starting to be a little social. He was on my lap today telling me a story with his sweet little voice! He's not smiling interactively yet, but I think it's close. He's also starting laughing as he drifts off to sleep on occasion, which means that Ben and I hover every time he's falling asleep hoping to hear a little boy giggle.

Here you go Grandma!

2009-04-17T20:23:00.000-07:00

Just Relaxin'

He's holding his head up here and had been for about 10 minutes by the time I took this picture - it kills me because he doesn't even look like my baby with this expression!

He's getting tired

We're done being strong and now realize there's toys to look at!

At the Miller's house - Auntie Rachel likes him a little bit.

In his Easter outfit... 0-3 months and it's still HUGE on him!

When it Rains...

2009-04-15T21:59:00.000-07:00

Today I went in to my OB's office for my post natal, 6 week check up and I had planned on getting an IUD. I really don't do well with oral BC, it always makes me feel sick and I was loving some of the benefits of the IUD. We knew I had a retro-verted Uterus, but didn't know it was tilted so severely. This made the insertion incredibly painful and because my doctor couldn't make visual confirmation it was in right, she wanted me to have an ultrasound to check the placement. It became clear rather quickly, even before my ultrasound that it wasn't right and my doctor quickly got me in and we found that the IUD was no where to be seen (apparently there are long strings attached to allow for placement that get cut when it's right, so thankfully she had a way to get it out, but on the screen they noticed quite a bit of fluid. I called Ben during the ultrasound who was almost to work and told him I needed him. He got to the doctor's office as my doctor was explaining the risks of the emergency surgery they were about to do. Hysterectomy was mentioned and I lost it - to which my doctor got upset too and all but promised me she would find the bleed and fix it before that became necessary, but she wasn't sure she could promise that she wouldn't have to cut my stomach open. (initially it would be laproscopic.) And she was almost sure that a transfusion would be in the picture. She never left my side for more than a few moments, to get her coat and cancel the rest of her day and she wheeled me herself to the hospital (thank goodness the building's connect!)

Ben was with me and my amazing friend Aubrey came to get Luke while I was in surgery. Ben was told it went really well, that the blood on the ultrasound was far more than she would expect with the perforation that the IUD made while shooting out the side of my Uterus. No big incisions, no transfusion, just a few stitches to close up the hole... Praise God!

My mom is staying with us tonight to help with my sick little man (he and his Daddy got a cold) and we'll be spending Ben's work shift with Chris and Dad tomorrow - who are both working from home. I'm actually doing alright, just really, really sore. My prayer request is for a quick heal for me and that Luke doesn't get the Chicken Pox! Yes, the chicken pox. (This is part of the 'it pours') Ben's poor grandfather found out Easter evening that he has shingles, he held Luke for a little while on Easter afternoon and we're praying it wasn't enough exposure to infect him. His pediatrician's office told us it'll be 2-3 weeks before we know and there's not a thing anyone can do for him in the meantime... She doesn't know how many "pray-ers" we're blessed to know!

I've got some cute Luke pictures I took at the request of Ben's mom who's in Mexico right now that I'll try to get up tomorrow.

We love him!

2009-04-09T10:27:00.000-07:00

Luke's pictures aren't on the photographer's site anymore and I've been asked to add these here so people can still look at them. :) Enjoy!

1 month old!

2009-04-03T23:47:00.000-07:00

Luke is such a good baby still! He's been much more awake lately but pretty content to just look around the room. He's now 8lbs, 5 oz!! He's making all sorts of noises in his sleep - I LOVE it! We've tried to avoid getting him too dependent on his binky, but he knows his thumb exists... He's also aware that it fits perfectly in that cute little mouth of his if no binky is present.

It's been more than 4 days since I've been able to kiss and snuggle this sweet boy... I'm going crazy!

Really late night!

2009-04-03T10:35:00.000-07:00

Posting is much, much easier than talking at this time, so I'm very sorry to those that might have normally expected a phone call - this is just a much easier way to update.

Last night I had a new "fun" symptom. My Mom was here and when I told her she started telling me that we needed to go in. Ben called a few minutes later and I was trying to get an ally so I told him expecting him to side with me that she was over-reacting. Dumb move! Apparently the fevers and lack of sleep impaired my judgement into thinking that was a good idea. He totally took her side... And so did the on call doctor. So Mom and I loaded up Luke and headed to the ER for some blood work. I got to do the "ha ha!" when nothing immediately relevant to this pneumonia showed up, but the doctor and both of them pulled the "better safe than sorry" card. 2 iv attempts, 3 blood draws from 2 different sites, 1 big bag of fluids, and an iv antibiotic to jump start the ones I'm already on... And we got home around 3. I was so excited about finally being able to crawl into bed, but Luke was excited about eating. RIGHT. NOW! With being so sick, yesterday my milk production slowed drastically and I was nursing every couple hours trying to keep his tummy satisfied. At 3 am, I was out far earlier than he needed me to be. The binky wasn't cutting it and there didn't appear to be any chance he was going to be able to sleep for any amount of time to let me hopefully get some more 'in'. So I here I am with a very sad baby (not the mad cry but the sad, pathetic little pouty cry that makes you feel so bad!) pacing my room trying to rock him to sleep, crying myself and just begging God to ease his hunger long enough for us to sleep a little and to give me enough to provide him with what he needs when he wakes up. God answered my prayer and finally at 4 he was sleeping and we didn't wake up to eat again until 7, and again at 10 - which I had just enough to get him back to sleep. He is so good!

Thank you all so much for your prayers!

We're going to lay back down but I promise to post later and there will be a 1 month picture and update of my little man!

Please Pray!

2009-04-02T07:59:00.000-07:00

I have Bacterial Pneumonia. The bacterial part is causing the high fever and is assumed to be very contagious. I haven't really taken the mask off at all now, and I don't know the last time I've felt this bad.

Please, please pray that my sweet little boy doesn't get sick!!!

102.4!!

2009-03-31T07:49:00.000-07:00

...Nope, not a new radio station, this was my temperature at 3:30 this morning!!

I started with a little cough yesterday that I completely assumed was allergies, because I never start a cold with a cough! The cough comes at the end usually and hangs around for a few days. I haven't felt sick, even yesterday, just a cough. So late last night the cough got a little more frequent so I found a mask under the sink that I had with the cleaning stuff and started wearing it while holding my boy. Through the night I felt progressively worse and after Luke's 2 am feeding I could not get warm. I had a ton of blankets and I was still shivering, it was miserable! I called the on call doctor at my OB office, which happened to be my doctor last night just to make sure that it couldn't be connected to the c-section. It was on the list of things to watch for and call, but I assumed it had been a long enough time ago. However before I just took Tylenol and toughed it out - we had to be certain. She was confident that it was unrelated... Now I just have to figure out what it is! I hate it, I can't snuggle my boy! Thankfully Ben's home today, but not being able to hold him other than feedings is really, really going to stink!

I'll post pictures of Luke from over the last couple weeks later today... He's 4 weeks old today! I can't believe how much he's changed and how fast he's growing! We moved out of Preemie clothes late last week!

Even Better!

2009-03-19T20:19:00.000-07:00

Instead of me posting pictures I thought I'd share the pro's photos that just got done =)
Click here and click on 'client proofing' on the top. In the password section type: lucas (all lower case)

2 weeks, 2 days

2009-03-19T16:22:00.000-07:00

Time is flying by! My sweet boy had his 2 week check-up on Tuesday and weighed 6lbs, 11 oz. Up 6 oz from last Tuesday. I know that while he's nursing he's not going to get the calories he would on formula, but hopefully I can chub him up a little before his 2 month appointment and get some meat on his little legs. I was really worried that his shots were going to be on Tuesday and the poor kid has no fat to stick that needle into. I was very relieved to say the least that we've got more time!

Late Monday night he also lost his cord, it was really sad for me! Not sure why, it clearly hasn't 'connected' him to me since he's been here but it almost felt like it had and now it's gone... My baby's getting bigger.

The last couple nights we've had to use the Gripe Water for Luke. I'm not sure yet if it's things I'm eating (which are all bland and boring because I'm trying to be careful), or if he's just got a bit of colic at night. Each evening he's definitely had a tummy problem. So far, he likes the taste of it and it's appeared to do wonders. I feel horrible giving him something, but Ben's tried to make me feel better by trying to convince me that we're not medicating him (Gripe Water is all natural with ginger and fennel - no meds!) And it calms him down which is ultimately what I want. Even with the upset tummy, he's still a good baby! He only cries when he gets cold - bath time and changing, and just grunts and whines when he needs to eat. Luke's a total boy and has no bones about being dirty. He's never indicating any discomfort with a wet or poopy diaper - he's content to just fall back asleep and stay in it. Over the last week he's started to make all the sweet baby noises while he sleeps, I love hearing him at night while he's in his bassinet! He let's me know he's alright =)

I had more on my prescription, but took myself off my pain meds last week. I do take the occasional Advil to take the edge off with my neck pain and subsequent headaches. My incision appears to be healing up, I'm definitely still very aware of it every time my abdominal muscles engage (standing, sitting, walking, laughing, etc.) so all the time, but it hasn't stopped me yet... Though blowing my nose has been the thing to avoid since the surgery! Talk about feeling like your blowing your stitches out! I had my follow-up appointment yesterday for a blood pressure check and I'm back down to normal range =)

Today we took Luke down for his first mall trip. We ended up with a couple goodies and walked around the Super Mall twice because we didn't really have a 'plan' and ended up adding stores that we'd already passed to our hit list. We can tell it's been a while since we've done real errands, we both walked in the door and agreed that a nap wouldn't be a bad idea. I'm certain Ben and Luke are doing that now and I'm missing mine, but I thought I'd give an update instead.

I knew that I would love my boy, but never imagined just how much I could... Watching Ben fall in love with his son has also been incredible. We are so thankful for our new little family!

(I know you guys just check this now for the pictures, so I'll throw some up later tonight)

Sneak Peek

2009-03-16T13:35:00.000-07:00

We got Luke's picture taken last Sunday and the photographer just sent me a sneak peek. Click here to see!

As Promised

2009-03-16T13:33:00.000-07:00

Our Sweet Boy

Napping with Dad

He needs more fat to fill in all his little wrinkles

Great Grandma

Great Grandpa

Uncle Nick

Great Great Grandma

In Daddy's Hot Rod

It's hard work being so cute!

2009-03-16T07:50:00.000-07:00

I know I've been slacking a little, I'm sorry!

I'll upload some pictures today, I promise! We've been out the last few days visiting grandparents and finally celebrating Ben's birthday with my mom's side of the family now that things have settled a little. My little guy's doing very well - I thought I'd try to get him on a better schedule with feedings, but he's really still just doing his own thing. 3-4 hours, and as long as he's getting what he needs I'm not too worried about it now.

Ben has decided to take an additional week off so he won't be going back to work until next Wednesday =)

We're really just loving this time with our little boy! We know he's only this little once, we want to absorb and appreciate every moment with him (and each other) that we possibly can.

In the last 2 weeks as a new mom, I have found a greater faith than I've ever known before! There are so many things that I never thought would worry me, and now every time I put Luke in his bassinet and attempt to sleep away from him (just a few feet even) and I get so anxious! Mainly, that I'm not going to hear him choke (his only preemie 'issue' is that his digestive system isn't quite developed all the way and he does this from time to time) ... God's getting an earful from me lately! He gives me peace so that I may rest and it's then that I remember that Luke is His first, and then ours to raise and cherish. This I know, but it's much harder than I ever imagined to just trust Him lately without wanting to take it back and panic about it a little more. (I think it's partially because at this point of the night I'm exhausted and probably a little irrational too.) I know this is only the beginning of my worrying days, but I'm trying not to borrow trouble and think too much farther ahead =)

Anyway, Luke's hiccups are finally gone and he's fallen asleep while I've been typing so we're going back to bed for a just a little bit longer...

Dr. Appointment & Bath Time

2009-03-09T13:50:00.000-07:00

Luke had his first appointment this morning and he's right back at birth weight, and doing really well! He's just a tiny bit yellow, so they're not concerned. He actually has gotten a lot of his tone back since we brought him home. I was getting nervous on Friday that he might continue to get more jaundiced and that we'd have ourselves a little glow worm this week with a baby on billi-lights. The doctor called him the "model baby" - both because he's absolutely perfect health wise, and because he told us Luke was a good lookin' boy. They are not adjusting his age, some have told me that before 37 weeks they'll adjust for medical purposes, but they are counting him term at 36 weeks so tomorrow he will be 1 week old, not the adjusted 0 weeks. This being the case he was in the 20th percentile for weight and height for a 1 week old. I know he'll get bigger and bigger, much faster than we'll be ready for, we love how tiny he is now (only because he so healthy!) but already can't believe it's been a week. Time means nothing to us right now, it's like we wake up, blink, and it's 8 at night.

Ben took charge at the appointment today! He never left the side of the table, he undressed Luke, took him to the scale, answered all the questions - I was quite impressed! He doesn't remember his own stats, questions, or complaints at his appointments without confirming with me first! He's so cute with his son. The snow's been coming down ALL day out here, which is Ben's favorite thing ever - I kept finding Ben holding Luke and looking out the window watching the snow. He says he gets stir crazy when he's not working, which is usually very true, he's ready to go back to work after his weekend and likes to work. However I really don't think he's having that hard of a time at home with us right now :) He has gone all primal on me though this evening with his man/provider role and is at a hunter's safety course right now. He's wanted to start hunting for a while now and there happened to be a class open tonight, and seeing how he should be in New Mexico now and Luke and I are fine just hanging out, I told him to go... but not before we gave the little boy a bath, and of course got some really cute pictures!

The 'supermodel pose'

He's not quite a fan of bath time yet

All clean
He's pretty tuckered out over the whole bath thing
Daddy sharing his love of snow with the boys

Luke

2009-03-07T20:53:00.001-08:00

We're finally home from the hospital! It's been quite the week. Even though I had Aubrey post the basics, I've been asked for the story... Here ya go:

Tuesday I left work to spend the evening with Ben for his last night off before his birthday. Traffic picked up a bit as we're rounding the corner on 405 into Newcastle, but the cars in our lane slowed quickly back to a stop. The car in front of me had time to stop, I had plenty of time - no one slammed or squealed their brakes... And then I check my rear view just in time to notice the car behind me was not slowing and I had time to tense up right as she hit me - pushing me the 10 feet or so into the rear of the car in front of me. Thankfully the impact was not enough to deploy my airbag, but I did get a pretty good jolt - not to mention that because I saw it coming, and tensed up, my muscles took an even greater hit. Immediately I had a pain in the back of my head and my back was sore, but before I could grab my phone to call WSP the top of my stomach was hurting pretty bad and I was having contractions. Bellevue's Fire Dept was loading me into the back of the ambulance when they asked if I wanted to go to Overlake. I told them my OB was at Valley but assumed I didn't have a choice and whatever worked. At this point, I still really thought that I would get there and things would slow down and I'd get to go home. The driver told me he would take me to Valley to ensure that I was more comfortable with my own doctors - Bless that man! Things got more and more uncomfortable as the drive progressed and when I got into triage my blood pressure was reading at 250/156... Which everyone assumed was an error and they moved me to a room. Ben got there just moments after I did and I quickly moved through x-rays so they could get me to labor and delivery to monitor me. At this point I was told I'd be staying overnight for observation on the monitors but with any luck, I'd be home and in my own bed by the morning. Then they checked my bp again and the British L&D nurse that was so calm and sweet became somewhat rude and very short with me... She was in and out of the room and wasn't interested in listening to my concern of the new, really sharp pains during contractions in my upper abdomen. Within a few minutes I had 2 nurses working to get me 'stable' and we were being told that the sharp pains making me cry were not due to the pewny little contractions I was having, but my liver was swelling and my kidney functions were down, in addition to an erratic and extremely high blood pressure. The doctor came in and told me that they'd hoped to be able to buy me some time to have a normal induction and delivery but it just wasn't an option and they were taking us down for an emergency c-section. About 10 minutes later Ben was holding our little boy and they were checking my liver for damage and bleeding. My near perfect pregnancy, without a bp check out of normal range had apparently taken a turn that week and my (unkown) pre-eclampsia had turned into HELLPs syndrome. Without the accident, I would have just gone home that night and the doctor said that because I hadn't realized anything was wrong by that point, I may not have had any idea things were so bad until I'd stroked. It was all pretty scary. I was glad that they moved so quick, because if we had time to think about it, it probably would've been harder.

On to the good news: Luke is perfect! We were told that at 36 weeks he still might have some problems and may have to spend some time in the NICU - but thank God he was just fine. He stayed in the room with us the entire time and nurses like a champ for me! One by one I got to come off of the awful meds they had me pumped full of and I slowly got to feeling better and was able to enjoy him more and more. Luke was circumcised yesterday morning, which was A LOT harder for me than I thought it would be! After that they took him and his car seat down to the NICU to monitor him for an hour while strapped in to make sure he was able to tolerate it before letting us leave... It's a preemie thing. He passed and they let us take our boy home around 2. We've gotten the hang of nursing but because he dropped down to 5 lbs, 12 ounces the first night, they gave us some formula to add into our feeding routine for the calories. We tried a little bit the next couple feedings and managed to get hit at 6 lbs again before leaving, so they thought that I should do it a couple times this weekend at home to make sure he keeps weight up until his first appointment on Monday. BAD idea! Last night I gave him some and it completely tore his little tummy up. I felt so terrible, poor kid was so sad. It was heartbreaking.

Ben was able to get out of his New Mexico trip. We found out that if they can find a class later to fit him into, he'll be able to go, so he's not too bummed. His 26th birthday was spent in the hospital room, all day! His first "happy birthday" was at 5am from Luke in the form of a poopy diaper. His first diaper to change, and he didn't even complain! When I put Luke down, it usually doesn't take more than a few moments and Ben's right there to scoop him up to snuggle. He's a great Daddy already!

I swore I'd never be 'that mom' that always talks about how cute her baby is, because it's really all in the eyes of the beholder... Until now - my sweet boy is adorable, really... get your eyes checked. :) No, but seriously I am so in love with this kid! He's got the sweetest little face, really dark blue eyes, this tiny little cry that just breaks your heart! I could just look at him and kiss his little face all day long! He's incredibly strong already as well. The nurse put him on his back in the little hosiptal crib on Wednesday and when she turned back to him is face was pressed up to the side. He's got a great kick, and he can lift his head up long enough to adjust his hands so that he can lay on his fists while on my chest (his favorite position so far.)

We are so thankful for this little boy and that he's healthy... God is so good!

Now for the real reason you all read this post, to get to the pictures:

Hearing test

Daddy giving Luke his supplements

My sweet faced little man!

At home in the bouncer, and the huge hospital binky

So tiny!
Luke: 4 days old
Kaelyn: 4 months old

Guess who's here.....

2009-03-04T19:00:00.000-08:00

Ben and Christina welcome their son ...

LUCAS (LUKE) BENJAMIN JOHNSON

Born: Tuesday, March 3, 2009 @ 11:47 pm
Weight: 6lbs 5ozs
Length: 18 inches long

This is Aubrey, Ben and Christina's friend and they wanted me to let everyone know that Luke is HERE!!! Christina was rear ended last night on her way home from work and they took her to the hospital to make sure all was ok. As they were doing tests they found she wasn't ok, but not from the accident. She had preeclampsia and HELLP Syndrome. They did a c-section and everyone is doing fine. He was born at 36 weeks and he is perfect! He is in the same room with his Mommy. Right now the doctor said they will probably be coming home Friday. My arms are aching to told this sweetheart and give my friend a big hug! She is amazing and I love her! Congrats Ben and Christina he is so precious!!!

Almost 36

2009-02-25T21:55:00.000-08:00

Here you go Aubrey, just for you! I'll have to give more details later about this part of pregnancy because I'm really, really dumb and worked way too many hours today! I literally walked in the door, grabbed the camera, took this picture and after this baby posts - I'm in bed!

Aw man, ya'll might get another one tomorrow because I just noticed there's an interesting shadow under my rear. UGH! That's got to go... later.

I'm Lovin' This Prayer

2009-02-21T21:26:00.000-08:00

My Aunt sent this to me in an email forward, and I'd seen it before - which prompted me to do some research on it. The email says it was offered by Billy Graham and aired over Paul Harvey's talk radio show, the last time I'd seen it they'd given credit just to Paul Harvey for it. However, neither of these men actually wrote this prayer, but it was aired on Harvey's radio show in 1996.

It was written in 1995 and given at a Kentucky Governor's Ball breakfast by Bob Russell. It was re crafted a short time later by a Wichita Pastor, Joe Wright (not to be confused with Obama's former pastor, Jeremiah Wright), in 1996 and offered at the Kansas House of Representatives session in which it ticked off more than a couple democrats, prompting one to actually walk out.

The email actually has a couple different lines than that of this prayer - I like them both equally. It's possible Billy Graham or Paul Harvey 're crafted' those couple lines again - but I highly doubt it. I rather think it was the nature of the mass grapevine that is email forwarding. You may have seen this email too, you may like it, you may not... but this is the story behind it.

"Heavenly Father, we come before You today to ask Your forgiveness and seek Your direction and guidance. Lord, we know Your Word says, "Woe to those who call evil good," but that's exactly what we've done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and inverted our values.

We confess that we have ridiculed the absolute truth of Your Word and called it moral pluralism.
We have worshipped other gods and called it multi-culturalism.
We have endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle.
We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.
We have neglected the needy and called it self-preservation.
We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.
We have killed our unborn and called it choice.
We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.
We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building esteem.
We have abused power and called it political savvy.
We have coveted our neighbors' possessions and called it ambition.
We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression.
We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our fore-fathers and called it enlightenment.
Search us oh God and know our hearts today; try us and see if there be some wicked way in us; cleanse us from every sin and set us free..."

(It went on in prayer and blessing for the Kansas officials but you get the idea)

Now, I can see how this would tick some off and offend others, which is why I'm also inserting another quote I liked by syndicated religion columnist Terry Mattingly, breaking it all down:

"The easy answer is that he read a prayer about sin. The complicated answer is that Wright jumped into America's tense debate about whether some things are always right and some things are always wrong."

Me? I think that I will continue to nightly to pray: "Lord, have your way in me"

(Cause his ideas and plans are just way cooler than mine!)

Water Retention

2009-02-18T20:24:00.000-08:00

... I got this one figured out! For the last couple weeks my ankles, the right one especially, have just been ridiculously swollen. Doesn't matter what I do - they're huge. I'm sure working 6 days a week & stupid long hours doesn't help, but my doctor hasn't had any problems with it yet. I did go to weekly appointments early because last Wednesday my blood pressure was too high - but I'm pretty sure I know what that's from, and I told them when I got there I was sure it was going to be high. They stuck me on the monitor anyway for the non-stress test. I calmed myself down and Luke was just fine jumping around in there with the juice they'd given me. This week I stayed calm and my appointment yesterday went just fine. I'm measuring right on, some braxton hicks contractions but nothing to worry about. My blood pressure and his heart rate were good and they let me go about 5 minutes after I got there.

Back to the puffiness though - this is annoying! I had to take off my engagement ring Monday because both it and my wedding band were just a little too much for the hot-dog looking things that I used to call fingers. My face feels like a balloon, Ben thinks I'm overreacting because I've had such a sweet last 5 months, that may be... but it still drives me nuts! I think it's a lot worse than it probably could be because of the hair cut I got a few weeks ago. I'm so disappointed with it! It was supposed to be easier to maintain, but it's just a nightmare! The color is NOT what I wanted. She added a light tint of red so that when the browns faded they'd still be a warmer brown - she put in way too much. My hair is no longer a dark blond or even close to a light brown - it's freaking red! Which wouldn't be so bad had she not cut off about 2 more inches than I wanted her to. I wanted shoulder length - it's to my chin. I have a rounder shaped face, so I never go too short, pair it with the puffy preggo face and I'm resembling the blow fish a little too much. I know that I can change the color, but the length really has me bummed. My hair doesn't grow that fast, even with the pregnancy vitamins. I know it'll eventually get there - but not before the most photo documented time of my adult life thus far... All the pictures that will be taken when this baby comes - I won't be able to forget it.

Oh well, I thought I'd leave you all a picture of the updated, water absorbing me:

Happy Wednesday!

Cute kids!

2009-02-12T22:48:00.000-08:00

I got pictures from Texas!!

Blayne

Makenna

Brendan

*Not sure what's up with the shades*

Tiff and I have been told that we definitely share some genes. Jake and Ben also have some appearance similarities... After looking at their boys, I'm curious if Luke will look at all like Brendan or Blayne. They sure are pretty cute, so I wouldn't mind =) I think Brendan has always looked like both his dad Jake, and his Uncle Jake! Blayne looks a whole lot more like Tiffany than Brendan ever did... We'll see!

And not to leave Miss Makenna out... she's kills me, she's so freaking cute!

25 things

2009-02-10T22:20:00.000-08:00

I've been tagged via facebook and blogger with this same thing... So I'm posting it both places:

1. I don't like early mornings but love having a FULL day to do as I need when I can get up and moving
2. Not a big fan of chocolate, or anything really sweet. However put peanut m&m's in front of me and all bets are off
3. I enjoy every season, I'd alot the amount of time for each a little different, but still really love certain aspects of each seaso4. The thing I miss the most about not being pregnant is being able to hug by husband really really close.
5. I love the smell of summer rain on hot pavement
6. I am grateful to have learned early that the best way to live is with God in control. (It just works so much better!)
7. My husband is my most favorite person in the world.
8. I don't do the bickering/picking thing... It's all or nothing, be nice or lets hammer it all out.
9. My Dad's potatos are still my favorite breakfast.
10. I wish I could stay home with Luke when he's born but also appreciate the ability to help support my little family
11. I really don't like surprises - possibly because I've never been totally surprised.. So I should say that I really don't like knowing something's coming or going to happen and not knowing what it is. It's actually really frustrating for me!
12. Really hates the new style of 'scary' movies and get semi-irritated people see them. It takes a really sick mind to come up with this latest stuff and we're just throwing money at them.
13. (pre-pregnancy) Can't fall asleep unless it's completely dark!
14. If I'm going to eat anything sweet, it's got to be with a cold Diet Coke, or it's just not worth it!
15. Even though it wakes me up, isn't always comfortable, and makes me lose sleep - I secretly love that my husband has to sleep with at least one foot touching mine.
16. As tiring as it is, I work much better under pressure. When I have too much time to complete a project it becomes boring.
17. I hate doing dishes... Give me a dirty bathroom before a sink of dishes!
18. I have crooked pinky fingers, I think it's genetic. Thanks Grammy!
19. I get really, really grumpy and (attempt to) pick stupid arguments with my husband when I miss him - thankfully we're both aware and now he knows if I snap at him, that it means I need some of his time… and a hug.
20. Am constantly working on myself and my "need" for outside approval.
21. I've recently come to appreciate the quiet and stillness that can come when alone… but only for a short period of time… like a few hours :o)
22. I love to sing very loud to music when I'm all by myself… in the car... or in the shower - but again, only when no one can hear me!
23. …I wish one of my gifts was a good singing voice =)
24. I very frequently think that God had some paperwork mishap, and gave me the life He had set aside for a better believer… but I thank Him everday for it!!
25. It took me almost 3 days to complete all 25 of these.

Almost 33!

2009-02-04T21:11:00.000-08:00

I feel like this kid's really starting to pop out. Seriously, like he's trying to escape! He stretches himself out, what feels like sideways across my torso, and tries to push as far out of my sides as he can. It's an incredibly odd feeling while I'm sitting, but when I'm trying to walk, the muscles are being used (I'm guessing) and it's actually a bit painful. My abdomen is pretty tight now all the time, still no stretch marks =) And I'm REALLY hoping that carries through the next 2 months! Interestingly enough I can eat Hot Tamales, strawberry lemonade, pizza and even a diet coke (not all together) and not get heartburn, but bananas and water seem to be the big red buttons. Gotta have water, therefore I have a travel pack of Tums that I grab for more often than my cell phone, wallet, and chap stick combined. Sleeping has been a bit of a joke lately. Between the 3rd trimester sinus drain down my throat, lower back pains from being up and moving all day, thinking about my previous/or next LONG & draining day at work, and needing to get out of bed every 1.25 hours to empty Luke's new speed (punching) bag - formerly known as my bladder... Not much resting happens. However, I still manage to get up, out of the house, and through my days alright. Even though it doesn't feel all that rejuvenating, it must be doing the trick.

All in all the most annoying thing is the sinus issue. I've read that it can feel like you have a cold during the 3rd trimester, unfortunately for me my sinuses are tipped or something because whenever I'm sick - it doesn't quite make it to the front of my face to drip out the nose, just flows right on back down the throat. TMI? Sorry, it's so gross, It's also not really new because of pregnancy for me. I was once told I had overactive glands in my sinuses and given a steroid nasal spray to shrink them. It worked after a few weeks, but you have to keep taking it... I'm not much of a medicine taker unless it's really necessary. I couldn't see the benefit of shooting steriods up my nose for months only for it to inevitably destroy all the tissue up there and cause other problems... Certainly don't think I can take any now anyway. Enough about that!

Otherwise, we're doing really well. Ben is gone this weekend for HIS LAST DRILL!!!!! I'm so excited! As proud of him as I am for serving, I'm ready to be done with this phase of our life. YAY!!

SO much to talk about...

2009-01-29T21:30:00.000-08:00

So little time to post! Work's been crazy, tax season has come a bit early this year, and my IT responsibilities are in full force - so it's made for frequent 11-12.5 hour days already. Here's the rundown:

2 weeks ago we traded Ben's Wrangler in for a Grand Cherokee... He's officially a 'big boy' now. I pointed it out to him that evening while driving up to Kelly's wedding. He had been kind of 'strutting' while driving his nice new car, until I said something and then every wrangler that passed by he let out a little sigh... just to tease me of course for making him trade his dirty, lifted, rock crawler (that never did quite make it out to crawl many rocks) for a responsible "Daddy car".

Kelly's wedding was beautiful and she was just absolutely gorgeous! I got to see some friends from high school and catch up, which was really nice.

This past weekend I had 2 awesome baby showers thrown for me, one by my mom & Chris, and the other by my Aubrey. I am still in total awe about all the wonderful goodies I brought home. We are so lucky to have such an amazing support base. I told Ben that we'll have to get up and get fancy everyday until Luke's 2 so that he can wear all of the clothes he got :o)

Over the last couple weeks Laurece has been painting the nursery and she finished last night! It's so stinking cute - I love it!

Aubrey, Brandon and the kids have been on town for a while too - unfortunately my poor friend has had a heck of a time with her sick little boy and his asthma :( It's so nice having them closer, even if I don't see her everyday - I still hate that Moses Lake is 'Home' for her!

Cut about 5 1/2 inches off my hair and died it brown with some red undertones... but the lady didn't believe me when I said that my hair takes to red REALLY well, and left it in a little too long, so it's a little more red than I wanted - supposedly it'll fade 'soon'.

Had my 32 week appointment today and he's still doing really well! I've been a bit more uncomfortable these last few weeks, but I've been expecting that. My doctor said she can restrict my hours to no more than 8/day and 40/week and I just laughed at her - not during tax season! That might be more stressful for me. He's sticking out a little bit farther the last week or so, she said we're measuring at 34, but that she really doesn't think he's a big baby or that he'll come early - just that my body's run out of internal space and finally starting to try and accommodate the busy tenant. She laughed at him because he kept kicking the doppler thing that she pushed into my stomach to get a heart rate. It needs to register 8-10 thumps to give her an accurate reading and we'd get to 5 and he'd kick it. (Literally, right where she was pushing it in, not near, right on - the kid's got great aim so far)

I don't have pictures of either shower, or the new car yet... but to make up for it, I do have pictures of his new room! :o) It's not all put back together yet - and Restoration Hardware still hasn't sent out his bumper yet (from 2 months ago!!) but here's Laurece's handy work!

Oh, I have these pictures too! Jared hung out with Ben during Sunday's shower, so Emily and Kaelyn came home with me and we hung out for a bit. No pics of Jared, Emily, Ben or me... Kaelyn was kind of the 'star':

GREAT story!

2009-01-22T10:12:00.000-08:00

I heard this on my way into work this morning. Every morning the radio show I listen to reads a 'good news story'. I thought it was just way too cool and had to share. It may not change the course of these kids' lives much, and it doesn't change what they've done to get themselves where they are... but it's got to be one of the coolest ways to show God's love to troubled kids that I've ever heard of! ...It just might work!

tagged again

2009-01-18T21:09:00.000-08:00

Got tagged in the "3x4"... We already did the 4x4 picture post...

Seeing as this is actually pretty fun, I thought I'd share again. Here's Brendan and Makenna, Halloween 2005.

30 weeks

2009-01-15T22:35:00.000-08:00

Well, not for another 26 hours, but I've been meaning to take one of these for a while now.

...As of just moments ago, here's what my very, very close to 30 week baby belly looks like:

You think New Yorker's are tough...

2009-01-15T13:48:00.000-08:00

Don't mess with their birds!

2009-01-13T12:01:00.000-08:00

I had my normal appointment this morning, Dr. Hanlon got called out for a C-section a few minutes before I got there and then had an emergency one call her back moments after she walked in the door, so I didn't get to see her. I did see another doc in the office and with a few of the occurances this last week that I told her about, she felt it was best to get an idea of how the boy was doing. I got hooked up to a fetal monitor for about 40 minutes to check on him.
He 'looks' good according to the monitor output... She said from whatever they can tell from that little print out he's looking like that of a 32-33 week baby. Let's hope not - I need to go to the END of March! Ben's out of town from March 8-12, and I'm really not interested in having this little boy while his Daddy's gone! However, I'm no longer measuring a week ahead, I'm back on with 30 weeks, so hopefully that means something! I was a bit freaked out yesterday (and Ben called during this freak out so he got really concerned) so it was really nice to find out this morning that they're not worried and he's doing well! I do have some new 'rules and restrictions' to adhere to if these 'instances' occur again, but they're more to be on the safe side, than they are things to panic about. :o)

almost worked...

2009-01-10T09:13:00.000-08:00

My 'aunt' Laurece is an amazing artist. She free hands these awesome murals and they just come out incredible! Such a talent! Anyway, she's offered to paint Luke's room for us and is going to be stopping by to get some ideas. I don't know if it's because my Mom always decorated with such beautiful pictures and shelves with candles and greenery, but we never used paint anywhere as part of the decor process. So last year when we owned our condo I was always a little hesitant to paint walls. (Except my red wall above the fireplace - I knew I wanted that)

Now that the house is brand new and pro painted, I'm even more hesitant! If I screw it up and want to go back, it'll never look the same! I know I want Luke's room to really 'pop' so I've decided that as long as Laurece is doing it, I'm comfortable. However I'm a bit of a wuss and take no chances, which does nothing for her mural abilities. I mentioned this to Aunt Cindy and she surprised me by jumping on the mural wagon!?! She sent me these and I absolutely LOVE them!! We've decided to not use them, as the room won't allow one whole open wall to be furniture free, and you just can't cover this up. It's my favorite, but now I'm trying to get my little brother to put it in his room, so at least I'll be able to enjoy it on occasion.

I would've had her make a couple changes:

6 lockers (2 baseball, 2 football, and 2 soccer)

probably only 2 shades of blue for the lockers and alternate them - but I love the look that the shaded red gives, so somewhere red would be in there (are you noticing I'm into that darker red?) Maybe even use the browns and dark reds to add a more vintage look to them...

I don't know, I love it but it's just not going to work this time. Rest assured I did find something. Something still absolutely adorable, and a little less dramatic for us wimps over here... Ben likes the one we'll use much better, he's not into the sports stuff like I am. I'm not into the team type stuff, but this stuff above is just so BOY to me, I love it!

I've decided to wait to share what we've found until after I see Laurece and go over it with her, but you'll probably even have to wait until it's all done - I want to wait and give you the full effect! :)

(Click 'awesome murals' above to see her work website, Rustic Painting - it's also on my blog list to the right)

2009-01-07T20:43:00.000-08:00

A really long, irritating day at work = possibly not worth the money made,

2.75 hours of traffic commuting in disgusting weather = about half a gas tank,

Hearing the little jingle on your cell phone and realizing you've got to walk back up and down the stairs = tiring on the newly swollen - 3rd trimester feet,

Getting a text from your working hubby that just reads, "I love you" = joy enough to want to do it all again tomorrow!!

yucky!

2008-12-31T13:47:00.000-08:00

I survived this morning's glucose test... That was awful though! I kept praying that the 'juice' wouldn't be that bad and that I could get it down... Getting it down wasn't the problem - it was keeping it down! Those that know me, know I'm not big into sweet stuff. A little now and then is fine, but really sweet things just don't go well with my stomach. I managed to get Aubrey on the phone and talk to her for half my drive, which kept my mind off of the yucky feeling in tummy. I got to the office, heard his heart rate (solid 140 beats/minute), got measured - still measuring 1 week ahead (have been for the last 2 months), weighed in at +4 from my last appointment - right on with the pound per week, had a quick laugh with my doctor, and then to blood draw. The lady does the drawing for the office is really, really fun. She's very sweet and has an amazing memory with faces. My stomach had finally calmed and I sat in the chair for the test. Right about the second vial of blood I got amazingly light headed, hot, and really nauseated! I didn't say anything but all of a sudden she's bent down in my face telling me to breathe (apparently I wasn't doing it well?) she got me juice and peanut butter crackers and then made me sit there gabbing with her for another 20 minutes. I've never gotten like that with a blood draw - and she remembered that too from the visit she took 6 tubes out of me with no trouble... It was a little embarassing but she grabbed a bottle of the glucose drink off the shelf and showed me all the side effects and assured me that much sugar in such a small time frame wreaks a bit of havoc on the body, especially if your body isn't typically subjected to a ton of sugar. She also said to expect a killer headache, but thankfully I've avoided that :) I do kind of feel like I've hit a wall though this afternoon. I don't typically run out of energy until the very end of the day, but I'm dragging a bit already. The doctor asked me to start counting kicks daily to make sure once he's active, I feel 10 movements within that hour period - yeah that won't be a problem!! Once he's moving I get 10 kicks in a matter or a few minutes... Well, that's all I've got. It's not incredibly interesting but it's my update :o)

27 weeks

2008-12-30T06:46:00.000-08:00

Saturday I entered my 27th week of pregnancy. I'm still feeling really good and have only minor complaints. Bending isn't so easy anymore, especially if I need to breathe while doing it... The only time it really bothers me is in bed when I'm trying to get up (to pee every 45 minutes) or get comfortable - it takes so much more energy to move when you're abdominals aren't able to flex the way you need them to. I haven't grown out as far as everyone around me seems to think I would have by now. To be honest, it's kind of nice. I was concerned about getting a little 'extra' during the pregnancy, but so far I'm a tad under the doctor's healthy weight chart - with no extra effort on my part :o) (i.e. don't rag on me for depriving my body, or dieting - I'm not!) I eat when I'm hungry and it doesn't seem to take much to fill my stomach (I think he's compressing that as well as my bladder). I'd be alright if he wanted to push out a little though, breathing might be a little easier.

I realized that I haven't blogged much about the pregnancy itself, so just giving a little update. From the post at 13 or so weeks where I talked about what a pain the baby was during the ultrasound: moving all around, hiding under my pelvic bone, etc. He hasn't slowed down much at all! He moves during the day, roughly every 45 minutes to an hour and is active for 5-10 minutes. At night he tends to be a little more active, for longer periods of time and shorter intervals in between... He seems to have more strength then too, the kicks to the ribs actually sting for a second.

It's getting a little strange to think that he'll be here in just 3 months! Exciting, yet dreading busy season at work while in my third trimester! I'm praying to have the energy and the ability to get as much of the overtime as I can get. For one, it's my job; and two, it's extra time that I'll be able to take off after he gets here! I have my glucose test tomorrow morning, I've had the red 'juice' sitting in my fridge since my last appointment and from what I hear it's really yucky :o(

I'll let ya'll know if I get anything interesting tomorrow, in the meantime here was our update from babycenter on Saturday (every Saturday morning we get our weekly update on the progress of the baby and read it before Ben goes to work)

Oh, and his hiccups, tend to last way longer than a few moments - yesterday sitting at my desk we had a 5 minute episode! Every 20 seconds or so I got a little 'jump'

"This week, your baby weighs almost 2 pounds and is about 15 inches long with his legs extended. He's sleeping and waking at regular intervals, opening and closing his eyes, and perhaps even sucking his fingers. With more brain tissue developing, your baby's brain is very active now. While his lungs are still immature, they would be capable of functioning — with a lot of medical help — if he were to be born now. Chalk up any tiny rhythmic movements you may be feeling to a case of baby hiccups, which may be common from now on. Each episode usually lasts only a few moments, and they don't bother him, so just relax and enjoy the tickle."

We're still here...

2008-12-23T11:18:00.000-08:00

The snow hasn't buried us completely. Just made it incredibly difficult to get anything done! Made it to work all but last Thursday when Bellevue was shut down. Ben's days off are Sunday-Tuesday, so we've just been hanging out. He's had a few projects, I made cookies out of my great grandma's old cookbook (they didn't turn out like I'd hoped - I know it's not the recipe she used), we ventured out yesterday to get our Santa picture and finish up some Christmas shopping. It's been nice just having full days together! We even decided that because Ben's working Christmas Eve and Day that we'd have our Christmas early. So last night, we opened our gifts. I was instructed to not get upset - that after a few months, he wouldn't be able to do fun stuff like this again... This is what my sweet guy got me:

Rapid Deterioration

2008-12-16T11:36:00.000-08:00

Yesterday sucked! A few irritations at work, a couple personal things, followed by 2 really big blows sent me into my first little meltdown during this pregnancy. I think I've been incredibly even, hormonally speaking, during this pregnancy and I asked Ben about it last night and he agreed. I haven't picked fights, I haven't been too emotional - if anything I think I'm a little calmer when things come up... Anyway that has not been the case over the last 24 hours!
I'll skip over the crap and get right to the BIG stuff.

I signed up for supplemental short term disability coverage in late 2006, with the idea of using it for a maternity leave eventually. I had my meeting with the agent and we went over the plan I was purchasing and I was told, and specifically verified the amount of time of coverage after labor - I know I was specific, because this is the only reason I wanted it and I knew my leave would be unpaid from work. Yesterday I met with the new rep handling our coverage, as our rep has suddenly disappeared. I do not have the amount of time that I thought... Matter of fact I have much less then I imagined. The insurance doesn't completely cover my normal salary, so I've been saving to make sure that I had enough to supplement that income. Not even that account in it's entirety can cover the time I was planning to take (and I've been so proud at my savings going beyond what I would need for that- this way it could cover the 'unknown' expenses to arise)
My meeting with the new rep was not really helpful, she understood what he did, but couldn't do anything about it... She was actually his regional manager and now he's no longer with the company - she implied that situations such as this were the cause, but couldn't outright say it. So now instead of comfortably taking 12-16 weeks off after Luke comes, I am covered for only 6 (less the first 7 days for their processing time - so really only paid for 5). If I have to go on bed rest or become unable to use the bathroom, feed or dress myself during the pregnancy or delivery - I'm covered up to 6 months. (Good for the worst case scenario, but statistically, and hopefully not the case here) In addition to feeling totally screwed over, the realization of how little he will still be when that sends me back to work is really, really disheartening. I spent most of the drive home trying not to cry, which didn't work. And then I talked to Ben - just his voice asking if I was okay was enough to throw me over the edge. He assured me we'd figure it out, and that everything would be fine. He said because of it being spring/summer there's plenty of overtime to be had - but the last thing I want is him gone every single day of the week. On top of that, the unknown leave time is hard to coordinate now at work, they kind of want specifics but are understanding in that this is all new info and I have no idea yet what we'll really be able to afford...
Leading into issue #2, the new King County contract has eliminated our current insurance. Ben got an email yesterday that I'm not totally sure he wouldn't have ignored for a bit had I not been snuggled up next to him watching his laptop. It gave no plan specifics and said basically we'd know more come January - NOT HELPFUL to a girl who's got OB appointments every 2 weeks starting in January. So then I got all panicked because our out of pocket is more than it used to be, delivery in the new plan isn't covered like our old plan, and I had no idea if I could keep my doctor. We managed to lose quite a bit of money yesterday without much notice or recourse, which didn't help my emotional state much.

Ben calmed me down, we made dinner and I even managed to sleep a little last night. This morning's long drive to work gave me ample time to get emotional again, but made it in without major mascara issues. I didn't get anywhere with the woman at King County benefits, she clearly didn't like her job! Thankfully, I managed to scrounge up a number for the new insurance company and they even had our info in the system already to make sure that on January 1 we'd be covered, he sounded like an older guy and was very helpful. Good news is, I don't have to find a new doctor that can manage to fit me in on short notice (every 2 weeks) and then for a March delivery! AND she's 'in-network' which gives us the highest coverage! Giant weight lifted!!
Now, I just have to keep praying that God will take care of the leave; either making it work for a little bit longer (preferred), or helping me through going back so soon.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUBREY!!

2008-12-14T13:30:00.000-08:00

Your birthday present is waiting for you under my tree!

You are awesome! I love you and can't wait to see you this week! Have a wonderful day!

Name update

2008-12-11T07:55:00.000-08:00

I wasn't sure if I should post it, just in case we changed our minds... And then I realized that I can still do both! :o) Our little guy will be:

Lucas 'Luke' Benjamin

I'm not a huge fan of Lucas, I really just wanted it to be Luke, but Ben insists on naming him Lucas and calling him Luke. Ben tried really hard to battle against using his name anywhere in the baby's - but as a compromise for Lucas, and becuase I made a decent argument - he conceeded. Truth be told, I've been calling him Luke since before I knew (for sure) it was a boy :o)

random rant

2008-12-10T12:33:00.000-08:00

Okay so no one carries plain little hats anymore!?! I've been looking for just a set of little baby caps in solid blues to match some outfits that don't come with them and I can't find any! They have little packs but they've got random designs or goofy little sayings like "bald hair day"... And that's just so not me. I'm a total hat freak on baby's when they're tiny (and born in winter)... First off because it's cold and they're used to the internal temperature of human womb, and second because I think they're so cute!
I swear they used to have plain sets in boy/girl/neutral colors in the past 9 years I've been shopping for friends/family babies... Apparently it's not 'in' anymore! :(

To Ben:

2008-12-04T12:32:00.000-08:00

Your smile gives me strength

Your grumpiness challenges me to be more positive

Your laugh fills me with joy

Your strength & determination inspire me

Your silly humor makes me laugh even when I'm angry

Your arms are the safest place I know

Your love makes me grateful for everyday

I am so proud to be your wife! Thank you for being the amazing man that you are, and thank you for making me stronger, safer, more secure; filling me with more love, hope and happiness than I'd ever known before or even knew was possible. I love our life together!

Happy Anniversary!

I love you!

Thanksgiving Weekend

2008-12-03T17:20:00.000-08:00

Well that blew by! Thanksgiving was busy, as usual - filled with lots of family and yummy food... and usually a little bloating :o)

Aubrey was in town and we did our midnight madness shopping out at the outlet, I did better than I thought staying up that late. It was great to get out and spend some time with her! Shopping was actually pleasurable! People were in their jammies, laid back, still semi-comatose from turkey... just the way you need to be when spending $$! I got into the stores though and completely froze, didn't know what to buy! That faded eventually and I got a couple jammies, some burp cloths, a couple little outfits... all at 80% off, so I did really well! Breakfast with Brandon, Aubrey, the twins and Brady Saturday morning, followed by some afternoon shopping with mom. Sunday was the start of me not feeling so hot, Ben had the beginnings of a cold for a couple days, but up until Sunday was feeling pretty normal. I made some soup and we laid low all day.

I actually stayed home Monday thinking if I just rested enough it might not hit me. Rest, we did. We both slept most of the day, awake for maybe a few hours in the afternoon and then back to bed. It worked for Ben, but after work last night I was toast, and rapidly felt worse throughout the night. I made it to work today but couldn't make it past 3. Now I'm siting in my sweats with a yucky cup of hot Thera-flu (my doctor assured me it was safe) but yuck!

I actually have ZERO pictures from this weekend, I decided to leave the camera at home and enjoy the festivities instead of trying to capture everyone else's enjoyment - and bug them to death with pictures :o)

Coupons!

2008-11-25T06:14:00.000-08:00

Not quite sure how Carters got my email address, but I'm glad they did!

I love Carters clothes! The onsies especially! They're not super wide and really short like some others you find - and at the actual Carters store, they're always on sale! Apparently the store opens at midnight Thursday and you can save 10% off the already 50% (entire store) markdown if you shop between midnight and noon! I haven't been able to find if the Supermall store qualifies for the midnight opening or if it's just the outlet in North Bend - I'm not much for the 5 am shopping spree after Turkey day, especially at a mall, some chicks drink a little too much Joe and are kind of scary. I'm all for saving a few bucks, but not at the risk of having to literally box for it! Midnight shopping might be fun however :o) Thought I'd share these in case anyone else has little ones that need adorable Carters clothes! And Mommy's that might want to save 50% + 10% if you get up early enough... OR 50% and the additional 20-25% for spending $50-100. Seriously, it's like robbing the store! (Osh Gosh is owned by the same people and are having an equally kick butt sale, if anyone wants those too, let me know!)

*It looks like they need to be printed directly from an email - these might be too small to be valid if printed off here... if anyone's interested and doesn't want to put their email in my comments (if I don't already have it) email me at chrissy828@hotmail.com... This is my coupon/fun junk email address so that Ben doesn't get mad having to filter through the floods of crap-mail on the home computer - I'll check it regularly for the next couple days for this!

**If you're a 'secret reader', please don't be shy - I blog hop too, and always feel a little stalker-ish :o) Everyone can use a good deal right now - I'd love to forward these on!

Weekend

2008-11-24T00:46:00.000-08:00

Saturday: Lazy morning with Ben until he left for work, Costco with Pink Gramma, goofing around a little with my little brother, calling Ben only to get the,"Call you back, I'm at the South Center shooting." (line disconnects) - Always fun for a wife... Then waiting 3 1/2 hours to hear from him, watching Get Smart with Nick and Gramma (to keep me awake until Ben got off), beating Ben home by a few minutes with a yummy Costco Pumpkin Pie to eat while he tells me his stories about very eventful day! Ben finally got to feel the little boy move! Maybe I'm a nerd - he thinks so, but I wanted to make sure that Ben felt him first before I let others feel him move, so that was nice for the baby to finally be active when Ben was home!

Sunday: Both of us were really tired after staying up so late, Ben was pretty sore after running around in his gear all Saturday afternoon (how quick his body forgot about Iraq) so he suckered me into rubbing his back for a while before bed early Sunday morning. Needless to say when the alarm went off for church, I was not ready to move! I looked over at Ben and he tightened his eyes and made a pouty face... so we were naughty and slept in. We finally rolled our bums out of bed to go meet some old neighbors for the Seahawks game. I realized that my body IS actually different now that I'm 5 1/2 months pregnant, on our hike to the stadium from the parking spot we found. We planned to eat before the game somewhere but ran out of time, so there I was walking away and started feeling light headed, then dizzy, the air was really cold so I was feeling like I couldn't get enough oxygen anyway... Yeah, Ben stopped and grabbed me a water right about the point I thought I was going to pass out. I had such a head rush that noises were muffled, and things were getting blurry. So the notion that I wouldn't drink a ton of water before the trip into Seattle to avoid having to pee all the way there turned out to not be such a great idea! Anyway, we finally got up to our nosebleed seats (another fun task, huffing and puffing all the way, with frequent breaks) Ben grabbed me some food and another water and we got to watch the Seahawks blow another game with all the disgruntled drunk fans around us. We decided that NFL games in person aren't our thing, especially up in the cheap seats. There ware too many fights and stairs covered in vomit to enjoy it for me. I love football - but I think I love it more from home! Walking back to the car turned out to be not a problem for me, it had to be the no food/water thing!

After finally getting home we took out our lists and the suggestions from the blog and narrowed down our names for the little boy!! We got a top 5, and then each numbered them in order. Our top 3's were in slightly different order, but the same so we dropped the bottom 2.

We're both kind of excited having 3 names left on the (only) list, our little guy's getting closer to having a name! I like names you can't shorten whereas Ben wants to lengthen them to give him an option later to use it if he wants, so we have 2 that would be lengthened officially but we won't call him that - unless he's in trouble. With our last name starting with 'J', we always get the one's who like to call us by initials, and than was a big thing for Ben to avoid with the baby too - he hated it. I think our 3 will avoid that situation too. :)

So the final names are:

*Luke (Lucas)

*Noah

*Finn (Finnigan)

(We're still unsure about middle names as, with these names, the same one wouldn't work for each of them)

Can't beleive I'm doing this...

2008-11-21T16:03:00.000-08:00

... I've got a short list of names I like, and Ben has his list that he likes... So now when we open the baby book of names - we just fix on those few and all others get passed over. We're trying to stay away from the really, really common and really traditional - the kid's going to have the most generic last name, we've got to give him something to work with :o)

So, please use my comments section to give your boy name ideas... It would be nice to get a few more that we can add to our 'both like' list!

Thanks!

as promised

2008-11-20T18:45:00.000-08:00

Here they are - it's really kind of boring until we get the bedding set up... I SO, SO badly wanted to post Ben's muscle man picture, but he's starting to read this now and again... I'd hate to get caught! The dresser does house clothes already, as does the closet (you can see the stacks on the floor in the first picture) all from Auntie Aubrey and Brady - who grew out of them all way to fast! I've done very well! I haven't bought an outfit yet! Unless of course you count the outfits I bought for Brady, that I now have back :o) I'm saving up, Aubrey comes home next week... That means, there will be kiddo shopping.

We finally got it

2008-11-19T06:22:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I left work early to take my car in, 3 hours of stop and go commuting a day tends to wear on the breaks. Apparently I need them done every 6 months - last time they worked on the brakes I know they stiffed me a little, I was by myself and didn't understand completely and I think they took advantage of that. This time, thankfully Ben was off and he went in with me. When they called to give the diagnosis I just passed the phone off and I heard him go back and forth a bit and come off with semi good news. We had to get all new stuff, BUT this time they were going to do it right, on both sides, and warranty it... Seriously? This needs to be negotiated? I made the mistake of assuming when they say everything they do is warrantied, that I didn't need to question it - Ben pointed this out to the guy on the phone that he was completely unimpressed that it wasn't done right the last time and we got a serious deal! (Still expensive - but not what it could've been)

While the car was getting fixed Ben and I took Dad's truck down to pick up the baby furniture, grab a late lunch and create a baby registry at good 'ole Babies R US ... There was a woman in there at the registry desk ahead of us, maybe in her mid 30's, looking at the suggested items for new parents list and she looked over and said, "I can't believe someone would get a monitor... I'm never going to leave my baby!" And she was disgusted that someone would register for one!! Ben just looked at her like she was nuts (I think she might have been though, which is the really sad part!) and did the panic, "Oh no don't leave the room!!" ... She continued on with all the safety cabinet locks and protective covers for sockets. She was making a fuss about all these things on the list and then totally confused over what a bouncer was and why you'd need a stroller, "Don't I just carry it?" (the baby) Needless to say I said a little prayer for that baby and we took our scanner and started on the other side of the store! Ben's certain he's going to meet her child in roughly 15 years at work... Assuming it's not smothered in its sleep by the mom that won't go out of ear shot :(

Dad was thankfully around to help unload the furniture at home and though Ben was going to wait to assemble everything until this morning, he changed his mind at 9 last night so we played in the baby's room instead. The dresser was already assembled and the crib was a piece of cake once we got the cats out of the way, they're nosey little punks, but I'd actually like them to hang out in the baby's room with the furniture and get used to it before he comes. That way it's old news and hopefully they won't give a rip about it later. This is what I'm praying anyway, if not my adorable little nursery is going to have to have the door shut all the time to keep the beasts out. I didn't have time to post the couple pictures I took of the process, but I'll get them up later. (except the one of Ben flexing his muscles for the camera - he was very clear that it wouldn't make the blog - but he didn't say I couldn't tell you all about it) :o) It was pretty funny!

Monday night Chelsey and Devin came over for dinner and 'catch up'. The boys were out in the garage looking at Ben's 'toys' in the safe, and Chelsey and I were trying to decide how long it had been since we've actually spoken more than just the 'how are you's?'... Yeah um, like 10 years! We were friends in Jr. high but didn't really have enough in common to keep us close beyond Lakota's walls. We got to talking and have more in common than I think we ever thought, and the boys hit it off well - it turned into a pretty fun little evening.

Free Photobook!

2008-11-14T12:12:00.000-08:00

Snapfish is giving away a free photbook this weekend with new accounts!

Go here

Create an account before 9pm PST tonight

Upload pictures and create your book before Sunday (9pm PST)

Just pay for shipping!

The boy's room

2008-11-13T11:43:00.001-08:00

I've already posted what the furniture looks like, here's a glimpse of the bedding we found and love! I loved the stuff at the new Restoration Hardware Baby & Child store but some of it's not exactly Target priced, so I wasn't really planning on being able to make that work. However, A coworker of mine snuck up on me when I was being naughty and looking at baby stuff at work and then surprised me with a gift certificate to RH as an early baby gift. That, combined with RH's discount for having a registry, AND the friends and family sale they're having this weekend for 20% off - I'm going to get this set for less than most of the sets at Babies R' Us!!! I'm so excited!

*The Friends and Family20% off coupon is good at the regular RH as well, so if anyone is interested, the code to use online or via phone order is FFBC801 (13th-16th)

2008-11-11T17:25:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Babe!

2008-11-10T11:10:00.000-08:00

It's the United States Marine Corps' 233rd Birthday!

Don't forget to wish your Marine a happy birthday today!

(And tomorrow's Veteran's Day too!)

More Blayne

2008-11-10T10:07:00.000-08:00

So Texas is being stingy with their pictures! No, I imagine they're still settling in down there, I'm trying not to hassle them with demands - Jake's had family in from out of town this week to see the little guy, so I know Tiff's probably pooped!

However, Jake finally gave us another little cookie, and I thought I'd share him.

*Oh and just in case you've forgotten how cute Blayne's big brother and sister are, here's a new one I've got of them!

Here Aubrey!

2008-11-04T20:32:00.001-08:00

19.5 weeks

*I got a sweet message from a friend wishing us luck tomorrow when we find out what the baby is and I realized that I did say we were finding out on the 5th... We actually had to change that because they realized I wouldn't be 20 weeks (exactly) by then and apparently I NEED to be... So the ultrasound is for a week from today, Tuesday the 11th. Thank you though, Mary! You'll have to check back again :o)

My Sweet Guy!

2008-11-04T14:09:00.000-08:00

Sorry, I gotta gush for a moment... Sunday 'we' (i.e. Ben) helped my Mom move into her new place... ALL DAY LONG! There wasn't really any help so it took a long time. After we got home we both slumped on the couch watching reruns of NCIS and House. We finally decided to hit the sack and when we stood up I got big hug and 'I love you', before I could tell him back, he put his hand on my stomach and said, "And I love you too"... YEAH, that's right. You.Just.Read.That!

I don't mean it to sound like he's been against this baby, because that's totally not it! I just wasn't expecting any of that sweet, mushy, connection type stuff from him until closer to or after 'it' was born. It was pretty cute! I love him!

Blayne Michael Ryan

2008-11-03T06:23:00.000-08:00

He's finally here! He came VERY early this morning at 6 pounds 11 ounces, I had to steal these pictures off of the myspace page of Jake's brother Nick (who's actually in New Zealand and got these via email from his parents) - because my Aunt and Uncle are in Cabo this week. I'll update the post when I know more (and add better pictures when I get them!) ...Gotta love the Internet!

Congrats Jake, Tiff, Makenna and Brendan!

4/4

2008-10-29T21:29:00.000-07:00

I was tagged by Aubrey to post my 4th picture in my 4th folder. I finally got myself situated enough to get onto my backup drive that houses my pictures and play the game. All of my folders are by year/season... This 4/4 happens to land in the Christmas 2005 folder and as badly as I wanted to pick picture 3, or 5, or any other number, I'm going to play by the rules. I'm so glad Tiff doesn't read this - she'd kill me!

Here it is, picture 4... Makenna and Brendan got these yucky teeth, I couldn't get them all the way in my mouth - they were huge! Tiffany has the bigger mouth :o) hehehe! That or I was laughing too hard.

Alright, I'm tagging Chris, Gramma, Aunt Teresa & Laurece! Post your 4th photo from your 4th folder! :o)

Moving in the baby...

2008-10-25T22:14:00.000-07:00

I took Monday and Tuesday off this past week to hang out with my husband and kind of regenerate after the busy tax deadline. Ben's new shift means that I come home Wednesday - Friday to an empty house and spend Saturday's by my lonesome - however Sunday - Tuesday he's home ALL day! He's really enjoying it though, it's taking a bit to get him adjusted to a sleep schedule after working nights for so long, but he's getting a lot of action at work. (He's got some yucky area's now that I do better just trying not to think about!)

Anyway, we're excited for night sleeping Saturday and Sunday's off to start going back to church regularly! Woo-Hoo!

Back to the point - baby stuff! Monday Ben and I wandered down to the higher end baby furniture store that's usually very high priced and kind of just for fun, and ended up finding a huge sale! They've just been bought out and are getting rid of their high end manufacturers product, for higher end European products that are just too ridiculous to even think about paying for. Seriously, the store is about to belong in Manhattan or on Melrose... instead of Andover Pkwy in Tukwila where it currently sits. We found a very sturdy, solid wood, well made crib and dresser for what we would have paid for a crappy knock off from Babies R' Us. We bought it! I'm so the type that needs the instant gratification of a purchase - sitting around thinking about the money I spent on something when it's going to take 8 weeks to get here, just isn't my cup of tea! Large or small purchases, it just doesn't matter... If the cash isn't mine anymore, I want something to show for it! I googled the style and found a picture of the set and I thought I'd share. Ben was a total trooper and didn't even seem to be having a problem with the shopping trip. I was amazed - he hates furniture shopping... let alone for a little person that isn't even going to be here for 4.5 months!

We got this set, minus the hutch part of the dresser. This is shown in the Cherry stain, our set is in the Dark Espresso color, I just couldn't find a picture online.

I felt the baby move last Wednesday (the 15th) for the first time. It wasn't the 'butterfly flutter' feeling that everyone said I'd get... This was a very distinct 'thump'. It felt like someone walked up and flicked my tummy (but from the inside!) It's totally weird, but still very cool. Over the last 2 days I've felt it ALL day long. It's really like that last ultrasound, wild! It's still not a flutter but more of a 'tugging', like it's grabbing onto random inside parts and just pulling on it, it's not 'annoying' yet, but as soon as it gets bigger - we might have to have a chat about calming down a little - I'm totally going to lose, but it's nice thinking that I might have a little power over something my body's doing. This sitting along for the ride stuff's not my style :o)

Annie

2008-10-24T22:59:00.001-07:00

Chris brought home a new little kitty today... They ended up naming her Annie!

Their (much) older kitty Lucy, isn't quite thrilled about it yet and Gus the dog doesn't really care so much - but little bitty Annie freaked out with Gus in the room. I think he was a bit too big and a bit too foreign!

I went over after work, Jill and the girls were there as well for a slumber party... Here's some little Annie pictures:

Annie's encounter with Gus went a little like this:

I loved this last one, I'm so glad it turned out - she was so scared though!!

Someday, I will steal my friend away...

2008-10-24T05:54:00.000-07:00

... And we will fly to the midwest, rent a car, and take this very road trip! Gramma sent me an email full of fun blogs she's been into lately and this was the latest post on one of them. I don't think we'll get to see Sarah Palin on our trip, but I suppose it's possible to hit a women's confrence... but what I really want is to go to these antique malls and see the beautiful architecture, and most of all: That Candle Co Outlet with all that fun Christmas stuff (which according to their web site is out all year long!!!)

Alright Aubrey, start packing, this is where we're going!

( I can't complain about not being able to hit antiqe shops like this lady though - Ben LOVES them and never gets tired of them! He actually takes longer than I do going through! He has to read everything and find out what every single little tool and gizmo was once used for!)

Alright, alright!

2008-10-21T20:14:00.001-07:00

Here's a belly pic. I took it early last week but then after procrastinating on posting, I was going to wait another week because, no joke - I swear it's bigger than this picture already... According to my baby center updates, by next week the baby will have doubled in size from last week... So that's when I 'll take another picture. Maybe I'll see if Ben will take it so I'm not all twisted like in this one :)

In other news, Tiffany is home - she found out that the 'let's just try this one other thing, that isn't the stuff that's been making you sick' was actually an experimental drug, not just to see if it worked on her, but literally an experimental stage drug - she was so mad that she checked herself out of the hospital and has been at home for the past 2 nights. Tired of being poked and sick... and SO not in the mood to be the guinea pig! She's still having contractions but they're erratic and non productive (maybe the experimental stuff wasn't so bad!)

Ben, Jared and Rich brought Ben's gun safe to the house finally on Sunday, the monster one, this is how I found Ben after everyone left... He's got a new 'camp' (I'd say fort, but Soldiers have forts, Marines have camps)

I married a big nerd! He's really good to me... and he's cute, so I shouldn't complain too much! By the way, he's sitting at the edge, this picture doesn't do the thing justice! It's huge! Today I hit the terrible selection of maternity clothes at Target and left the store with Halloween candy and Q-tips... I was bummed! Ben took me to the Pumpkin patch to cheer me up, which can I say is so much cooler on Tuesday than a weekend! We finally used a gift card for dinner that's been sitting in my purse for almost a year - we had a 4 course meal that filled us to the brim.

More Kaelyn

2008-10-21T14:41:00.000-07:00

We went to Emily and Jared's yesterday with Pizza for Monday Night Football. These are some pics from the night:

Jared and Chloe boxing

Little Miss Kaelyn

Ben & Kaelyn

She decided to wake up for about 5 minutes

The little family

(Chloe is not snuggling with the baby she's trying to hog Jared)

Tiffany update

2008-10-18T12:39:00.000-07:00

Well, Blayne is still 'cooking' for the moment. Tiffany didn't tolerate the last round of drugs to keep him in well and was very sick last night! Like officially listed between serious and critical condition for a while sick, but was able to get the second round of steroids in - so in the long run it's going to be worth it! Aunt Cindy's on her way down to Dallas now, they're not stopping the progress anymore so it's just a matter of time until he's here. Yesterday the neonatalogist was very pleased with how Blayne was progressing and said the latest tests put him around 5 lbs, not the initial 2-3 lbs like they first thought. PTL!

As far as I know Makenna wasn't hassled yesterday again by those mean little boys, that or Brendan the little bruiser knocked 'em around a little and handled it :o)

I think Aunt Cindy's probably going to the hospital first to be with Tiff so I don't know if that means the kids will have a little Daddy time, which I hear they're needing pretty badly - but I'm certain as soon as Nana leaves Tiff and heads to be with them, it'll be 'Mommy and Daddy who?'

Oh, and to reply to Aunt Debbie's comment on the last post about Tiff's baby machine being broken. They'd planned to voluntarily disconnect the wires to that machine. Her body does not appear to like the Y chromosome. Makenna's pregnancy went flawlessly, however she started rejecting and kicking both boys out around 5 months... this one a little worse than Brendan. If she were to have another little boy we don't know that either one would make it out unscathed!

2008-10-16T20:03:00.000-07:00

In other baby news, I just got a phone call and my cousin Tiffany went into the hospital today and is in labor. They've been giving her medication to stop labor for almost 2 months now and her body isn't accepting it any longer, they've decided she's far enough that she can have him if he's coming. He's decided he wants to come right now, but now there's word that they think he's much smaller than they previously suspected he'd be. The doctors are making Tiffany very ill with all the junk they're pumping into her to keep Blayne in until they can give her the last round of the steroids to help him develop. As long as Blayne will tolerate the drugs, Tiff's just got to suffer through. Please pray for Tiffany, Jake, and baby Blayne... That they all make it another 12 or so hours to get that last round. (Makenna and Brendan aren't taking it well either, Makenna got bullied today at school and the kids said awful things about something happening to the baby - then with Tiff going into the hospital in labor, Makenna's kind of a wreck - poor coincidence!)

2008-10-16T19:30:00.000-07:00

Kaelyn Elizabeth White

7lbs 11oz, 20 inches

10/16/08 2:00 am

Kaelyn and her very sleepy Daddy

The family's doing really well! Emily's water broke just before 10 last night and 4 hours later they were holding their girl! They haven't slept more than an hour between nurses and family coming in, I think going home will be a relief tomorrow!

Congratulations Emily and Jared!

sick of tax returns

2008-10-14T12:33:00.000-07:00

I have been in this office, working on tax returns for 9 days straight! At least in April I get Sunday's off, not this busy season... We are slammed! It's rediculous! And totally depressing too - the last return I processed, the guy's W-2 read $15.8 million! Just his W-2!!!

Ben was off yesterday, and I was stuck here at work for most of the evening, I got home last night just before 8 and he was reading my fit pregnancy magazine (thanks Aunt Debbie)... It was pretty cute, "Did you know it takes about 4 months for a baby to learn to roll over!?!" :o)

Right when I get to start getting home at decent hours again, he's starting his new shift. 1pm-11pm... I'll really miss not having him around for dinner time, but it'll be nice when at least I'll get to snuggle up to him when he gets home. The set days off will be nice too, no more guessing when his days off fall when trying to make plans :o)

Though, if anyone wants both of us for anything on the weekend, it's gotta be Sunday, he's working Saturday's :o(
(I'm afraid this will mean that he'll miss all the birthday parties now)

Got to get back to work! 29 more hours until our deadline!

Happy Birthday Nick!!!!

2008-10-13T09:59:00.000-07:00

You're my favorite 12 year old!!!

Love, Sissy

I love this kid!

2008-10-10T10:44:00.000-07:00

My little brother is so stinkin' cool! He's going to be 12 on Monday, and the gift he was going to get from us turns out to not beavailable until after his birthday, so I emailed him for some ideas. this is the response I got back:

A HUG
cell phone
i pod touch
Xbox Game Battle Field Bad Company (T)
Gift Cards (Target, iTunes, and Gamestop)
Football Cards
Termonater Sarah Conner Cronicles Season 1
I love u

Do you see number 1 on his list!?! If he wasn't already so sweet I'd think he was buttering me up for one of the $$$ items on his list, but he really is a good boy! It's also perfect right now, I've been so slammed at work this week, extensions are due Wednesday which means really long days all week and weekend overtime!

I also just found out that he made a select babseball team and got offered a spot in some pretty cool training that most kids have to try out for! He's now in public middle school this year, transferring from private Christian school for all of his elementry years, and apparently he's been dubbed 'Nicky' by his new ball buddies at school. A few years ago he started giving terrible looks and always told me it was no longer okay to call him Nicky, it was a baby name... I get to call him Nicky again! This is his school picture from this year (Thanks Chris, I stole it from your blog)

Baby update: I had an appointment yesterday and the baby's heart rate is a little lower than it has been in the past but still very strong according to the doctor. It was difficult for her to get a count becuase 'it' kept kicking and that would muffle the sound of the heartbeat... Fun, fun!

So, I did it...

2008-10-04T18:02:00.001-07:00

...I bought a few things maternity today. It's so weird, I'm not yet big enough that I feel like I should need them, but after trying a few things on - and feeling SO much more comfortable, I think it might be worth it. A pair of jeans, pair of work pants and a 3/4 length sleeve tee was all I could bring myself to buy. Another something that I enjoy about the maternity clothes however, is that when I wear them I actually look pregnant, as opposed to wearing my regular clothes, and looking like I've just been eating bon-bons for the last 4 months. I also bought a book of baby names. I know there's 3 million web sites of them, but I'd like to be able to sit on the couch next to my boy and thumb through them instead of trying to rope him into sitting near the computer (of which there's nothing nearby to keep him occupied so he either falls asleep, or just leaves!)

I am 15 weeks today. Still getting nausea frequently throughout the day but not for super long periods of time and I'm not getting sick, for the most part. I have terrible motion sickness, even if I'm the one that's driving. No aches or pains yet, except for a little bit of lower body joint pain, which is actually very typical for me this time of year when it starts to cool down. I've not gotten cravings, but usually have the reverse - I have no idea what I want, but I can list all the things that will definitely NOT work with my stomach. Ben says this is nothing new, I've always done this - it's just way worse now that I'm pregnant! Sorry babe! It's true, ask anyone that's ever been out to eat with me! I don't make decisions for a group for food - makes me uncomfortable... If I make a suggestion to places that are "easy" or perhaps "nearby" know that I'm not trying to make more options for you, those are my places of choice :o)

I don't think any part of the last 15 weeks have I been emotional or overly moody due to pregnancy hormones. I have noticed that I am far less patient at work though - not a good thing! We have a few people I work with that love nothing more than to walk over to someone and state the really obvious, it has always driven me (and most others) crazy, but now I'm over the edge and feel myself making a face when they turn to walk away. Totally juvenile, I know - but proven entertaining for those that sit around me and wish they could do it too. :o)

I'm still pretty low on energy, especially on work days - I think it's the 1.5 hours I drive in traffic EACH WAY, that do it to me. That low patience thing is a terrible quality to have when navigating 405 during gridlock hours. It also bites, because anytime I take 1 drink of water, it means I have about 10 minutes before my bladder thinks it's full! I'm not used to needing to get up that many times a night to pee! I'm not quick to fall back asleep either so it makes a good night's rest difficult.

The baby's the size of an apple now, I'm getting impatient to know what it is, I think so is Ben a little :o) We want to know what we should start calling 'it', because 'it' just isn't working for us anymore!

Yay Judy!

2008-10-01T10:06:00.000-07:00

Aubrey's mama, Judy makes the sweetest quilts! I got one this year for my birthday and absolutely LOVE it! I sleep with it every night and Ben makes sure that he finds it in the morning when he comes to bed so he can get his boy germs all over it when he snuggles with it during the day. Aubrey's kids have a ton of them and love every single one to pieces!

"Gamma Judy" has finally decided to start selling them! She's got a new blog that you can check them out on and also opened a store on etsy. Click on any part of this paragraph to go to her blog! (and then you can get to her etsy site from there too)

Go take a look!

Will the Ring Test finally be wrong?

2008-09-29T10:30:00.000-07:00

In my family there is a crazy tradition done during pregnancy by my Grandpa, and previously by his dad. It's typically done when the belly's sticking out a little more, but we tried it on me yesterday when the family came over for Aunt Cindy's birthday. It's called the Ring Test. You take a the wedding ring off of the pregnant one and tie it to piece of string, preferably sewing thread as it's lighter. Have her lay on the floor and suspend the ring just over the baby, once the string/ring completely stop moving, it's held still. The ring will eventually start moving again in one of two ways, back and forth - indicating a boy. Or in a circular motion - for a girl.

I know it sounds crazy, Ben couldn't believe that we were all doing this and totally buying into it - However, Papa is 5 for 5! Tiffany, Jake, myself, Makenna, and Brendan - were all right on! We tried mine twice and both times got the same result. Papa wants to try it again because it took forever to get moving - he thinks my bump isn't big enough - and because he wanted different results.

According to this - it's going to be a girl.

Ben and I are both okay with whatever we have, just wanting it healthy! Obviously, if one could 'pick' there's usually a preference... If that was the case, we both wanted a boy first - I think me even a little more than him. Ben thinks we're all crazy by even playing along with this ring test notion, but hey - every time it's right we get a little more into it and it's totally for fun so it's not hurting anyone! (I will say though that it only works - as in the ring will only start moving again over the belly - with the pregnant woman's ring... Something about the metal absorbing her energy and then making it move again when close her body? )

Anyway, Ben said he will go to Papa and apologize in person for thinking he was crazy and doubting him if it turns out to be a girl. And then joked (because it's Ben) and he'll burn him at the stake for being a witch. :o)

November 5th we'll know for sure!

already a pain!

2008-09-22T22:00:00.000-07:00

So I haven't posted in a while because a TON has happened and I wanted to do it all justice with posts, but now it's been too long and if I don't write it now - it's never going to be on here, and then I get in trouble

Wednesday: We met my new doctor, love her! Got some blood taken and then an ultrasound of our little 'lime'. (We tossed our printer/scanner in the moved. It never printed and it only scanned after an hour of messing with it - that's why you don't get to see the picture yet) Baby was kicking and moving all over the place! Came home and unpacked some more!

Thursday: Unpacked, bought shower game prizes... unpacked some more.

Friday: I went back to the doctor's for a screening. Ben wants to be mentally prepared, if there were any problems with the baby, before it's born. So we opted to do the tests, usually they take blood at 12 weeks and then again at 15 and then if some indicator comes up, you can have an amnio done to "know for sure". However my doctor loves another test that they can do as long as you're just before 13 1/2 weeks. I had only a couple days to get in and thankfully it was no problem. They do an ultrasound and measure the thickness of the back of the baby's neck. If it's enlarged and they get indicators on the blood work - then usually that means there's a problem. This method is far better at detecting than the blood work and you eliminate something like 90% of the 'false positives' that lead women to get the amnio when their baby's fine. No big deal, takes 25 minutes, in and out of there! WRONG! Ben was exhausted so I didn't wake him, but now regret that he missed the show. The "little booger" as it was affectionately named by the ultrasound tech would not cooperate! Every time she'd push a little on my tummy with the wand it would throw it's head back, arch it's little back and kick it's feet straight out. It did this over and over (looking just like it was throwing a fit!) She was cracking up and just kept telling me I was in for it! Once it got tired of this little trick, it would flip back and forth putting it's head from the left side of my belly to the right so she'd have to keep chasing it with the wand. Finally for the final trick, it turned around, flashing it's little neck letting us think for a moment we had a good shot at getting the measurement, only to flip upside down and hide it's little head behind my pelvic bone so that we couldn't see it at all with the wand. Now, obviously it has no idea what's it doing or what a pain in the rear it's being for us - but how coincidental! God's preparing me all right - he's warning me now I might have a wild one! Darn Ben! I've heard all these stories about how hard headed he was (still is!) it looks like it's taking after Daddy! I was good, I was hoping it was good enough to even this kid out, but it's not looking like it.

So anyway, I'm virtually upside down on this bed hoping gravity will toss that kid out from under it's rock when the tech apologized but said we had to do the rest of the ultrasound the "other way" if we were going to finish... So she leaves (still laughing) and my first words talking directly to the baby were "You're a poop already!" So we start the internal ultrasound only to have the baby switch right when she gets it on the screen. Without missing a beat she grabbed the belly wand, flipped the switch on the computer to make it work, found it and paused the screen before it could move again. Thankfully it was a good enough shot to get the measurement we needed (she'd tried this several times before and couldn't ever get a clear enough measurement that she was comfortable with). She said she can't tell me anything for sure, but that the size looked "good and very typical"... She thanked me for the entertainment, told me to get my sleep before I could feel it tumbling around in there, and let me go. On my way out I was smiled at by just about every nurse and told good luck... She shared the story while I was getting my blood drawn. When I got home Ben was half awake, I tossed the pictures on the bed and 'yelled' at him, "It's all your fault, the baby's just like you!" {trying not to laugh!}

He thought the story was great!

Saturday was Emily's shower here at the house and then yesterday we spent the day at Emily and Jared's watching football! I love football! (Em and I did break away for a quick trip to the Supermall so I could get a 'belly band'! It's great! I can now leave my top buttons undone on my pants and the band covers them like a little under t-shirt/cami. It made today so much more comfortable being back at work!

There it all is... Now I'm going to bed!

So far...

2008-09-17T21:55:00.000-07:00

My house is still littered with boxes - most empty, others full and I'm hoping they'll just disappear!

A freaked out cat that can't handle ceiling fans and howls at the top of the stairs because he's too much of wimp to go down them!

A big grocery shopping trip with my Mom who's helping me 're-learn' how to cook again. (I haven't made meals consistently since January! With busy season not being home, then putting the condo up for sale and not being able to be messy, and then moving - I couldn't put a week's menu together on my own right now if I tried unless we could have tacos three times, and then spaghetti twice)

Another ultrasound today, showing us a very active baby with a strong heartbeat!

And a husband counting his days in his district after being told he got his transfer! We've known he got it but we finally got a date for his official move. (The last guy waited 6 months, they have to find replacements for district positions before moving to specialty type units - they're way too understaffed already to just go plucking guys off the streets)

A much needed 2 hour phone call to Moses Lake!

Up next: finish putting things away (or hiding them in closets), shopping for Emily's baby shower that will be HERE on Saturday. Friday morning I go back to the doctor's for some pre-screening for genetic and birth abnormalities - I'm a little nervous for those. I 'know' that everything will probably be fine, and then I think of all the other pregnant women that think the same thing and hear tragic news.... I've been told this new found anxiety and worry (and memory issues) comes from being pregnant - yippee, just what I wanted!

My Generation?

2008-09-15T05:07:00.000-07:00

Lindsay Lohan: "I really cannot bite my tongue anymore when it comes to Sarah Palin," "Is it a sin to be gay? Should it be a sin to be straight? Or to use birth control? Or to have sex before marriage? Or even to have a child out of wedlock?"...
"Do what you know is right in your heart, vote for Obama"...
And then my favorite part:
"In the words of Pamela Anderson, 'She can suck it''

Really? Somehow this girl thinks that her recent switch to homosexuality and her release from rehab has made her the one who's moral compass is the one to synchronize with. In her rant on Palin, she's urging people to vote for Obama, because Palin personally believes that homosexuality is wrong.

The religion of our candidates alone is NOT the reason I believe we should vote for one or the other - we are in a war and an economical crisis here... I personally hope that the person in charge of our country seeks God for wisdom while making decisions, but that's me!... However, conservatives are not to be convinced that a radical Muslim upbringing, and separatist 'christian' teachings of 20 years with pastor J. Wright should weigh in at all when it comes into Barack Obama's decision making, yet the Christian beliefs of the GOP, VICE presidential candidate qualifies?
I thank God he sent his son to teach us compassion, love, forgiveness and grace for the sins we commit... And know that we can love each other while not agreeing or condoning those sins. Palin never attacked this girl personally, just disagrees with choice she chooses to make.

I love that Lohan continues with such an intelligent comment about what she thinks Palin should occupy her time with... A classic from yet another 'moral icon.'

Brilliant! Lord, help my generation!
Oh P.S. After this rant, Lohan tripped in a doorway while walking - but assumed she was tripped by a photographer - so she turned around and punched them in the nose!

...So I was thinking about joining the LL fan club - anyone in for a group discount?