Because mommies really stink at farming the carpet.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Sunday, April 25, 2010
First Date
Last Tuesday, Paul's mom came over to watch the boys during praise team practice, as she has been doing. Paul was actually off and not otherwise busy on a Tuesday, so he went to practice with me. As we headed home, he asked, "Do you want to go straight home, or go for a drive?"
I was a bit bewildered at the thought of doing something other than rushing home to rescue my mother in law, but said, "Oh. I guess we can go for a drive."
About a minute later, as we listened to the sound of the tires on the road and the wind rushing in the open windows, I realized that this was the first time in a long, long time that we had been in the car together without the running narration from the back seat, "Daddy! A TRACTOR!!" "Mommy, look! A water tower!"
It was so nice.
I reached over and took Paul's hand, and we took the scenic route home, driving through the river bottom and looking at the newly worked fields. It may have only been a 15-minute detour, but it's the first date we've gone on since at least last July.
It was the perfect ending to a perfect spring day.
I was a bit bewildered at the thought of doing something other than rushing home to rescue my mother in law, but said, "Oh. I guess we can go for a drive."
About a minute later, as we listened to the sound of the tires on the road and the wind rushing in the open windows, I realized that this was the first time in a long, long time that we had been in the car together without the running narration from the back seat, "Daddy! A TRACTOR!!" "Mommy, look! A water tower!"
It was so nice.
I reached over and took Paul's hand, and we took the scenic route home, driving through the river bottom and looking at the newly worked fields. It may have only been a 15-minute detour, but it's the first date we've gone on since at least last July.
It was the perfect ending to a perfect spring day.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
1st Stage Laparoscopic Right Fowler Stevens Orchiopexy
Yeah. That's the full name of Jacob's surgery. And we had no less than four people say, "Okay, it looks like Jacob is here for a [blah blah blah]. Is that right?"
Uhhh..... Was that English?
Paul, the wonderful, polite, proper husband of mine said under his breath, "Why don't they just call it a 'right nut hunt'?"
The surgery went great. Better than great even, because even though this was supposed to be "1st stage" it ended up being first AND second. When the doctor was checking him over before surgery, he felt around on Jacob's groin and found that the testicle had dropped since his last appointment, so it wasn't that far away from where it should have been. (He had originally thought it was up closer to his kidneys, which apparently is the "point of origin" - which also explains something to me: why guys say it makes their stomach hurt to get kicked in the goods.) So they were able to pull it down and tether it next to the other one. It was an answer to prayer that we hadn't even prayed - we just were praying that THIS surgery would go well, not that we wouldn't have to do another.
He had an inch-long incision near his hip, and another on his scrotum (which they super-glued shut - awesome). They told us the surgery would probably take just over an hour, but the doctor came and got us after 45 minutes, and said everything went well. We had to wait another 45 minutes or so before they came to get us and said he was waking up. The nurse took us back to him, and he was conked out on the child-sized hospital bed. He had an IV in his hand, and a monitor hooked up to his foot.... Poor guy. I picked him up, and he opened his eyes and looked at me, then tried to nurse (it had been 6 hours). So we just sat in the chair and snuggled for a while. Then they told us whenever we wanted, we could change him into his clothes and take him home. We were there just about 3 hours total.
That night Jacob was squirming in my arms, so I laid him down on the floor. He rolled over and immediately started trying to crawl - apparently nothing like a little surgery will keep this big guy down!
And speaking of "big guy" - we found out he weighs nearly 19 pounds. He's a giant.
Tiniest little hospital gown. But he's still kind of adorable in it.
Before surgery. 6:30 in the morning.
Uhhh..... Was that English?
Paul, the wonderful, polite, proper husband of mine said under his breath, "Why don't they just call it a 'right nut hunt'?"
The surgery went great. Better than great even, because even though this was supposed to be "1st stage" it ended up being first AND second. When the doctor was checking him over before surgery, he felt around on Jacob's groin and found that the testicle had dropped since his last appointment, so it wasn't that far away from where it should have been. (He had originally thought it was up closer to his kidneys, which apparently is the "point of origin" - which also explains something to me: why guys say it makes their stomach hurt to get kicked in the goods.) So they were able to pull it down and tether it next to the other one. It was an answer to prayer that we hadn't even prayed - we just were praying that THIS surgery would go well, not that we wouldn't have to do another.
He had an inch-long incision near his hip, and another on his scrotum (which they super-glued shut - awesome). They told us the surgery would probably take just over an hour, but the doctor came and got us after 45 minutes, and said everything went well. We had to wait another 45 minutes or so before they came to get us and said he was waking up. The nurse took us back to him, and he was conked out on the child-sized hospital bed. He had an IV in his hand, and a monitor hooked up to his foot.... Poor guy. I picked him up, and he opened his eyes and looked at me, then tried to nurse (it had been 6 hours). So we just sat in the chair and snuggled for a while. Then they told us whenever we wanted, we could change him into his clothes and take him home. We were there just about 3 hours total.
That night Jacob was squirming in my arms, so I laid him down on the floor. He rolled over and immediately started trying to crawl - apparently nothing like a little surgery will keep this big guy down!
And speaking of "big guy" - we found out he weighs nearly 19 pounds. He's a giant.
Tiniest little hospital gown. But he's still kind of adorable in it.Before surgery. 6:30 in the morning.After surgery - IV in his arm.
One of the incisions. I'm just amazed at how non-invasive surgery can be these days.
12 hours after surgery. The "X" on his leg is the doctor's "note to self" - this is the side we're working on.
Friday, April 16, 2010
I Love Spring!
I have decided that spring is officially my favorite time of year. I have always had a hard time deciding between spring and fall, but I've decided that the weather is similar, but you just don't get the beautiful flowers and blooming trees in the fall. The red bud trees are just gorgeous right now!
We got about half of our garden planted. After it being SO wet all winter long, we felt really pressured to get out there and get the soil worked up, and rush to get things planted before it rained again. But it is only the middle of April. Even though it's been in the 80s for a week, it still is early. If it was mid-May I'd be a lot more anxious. We got corn, lettuce, beets, radishes, carrots, beans, and peas planted. All that is left are my "hill" plants - tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, squash, zucchini, and watermelons.
We are looking in to refinancing our house again. Something about spring must make me want to get out of debt - this is about the time we tried to refinance last year. I just SO want to get away from Bank of America (Dave Ramsey calls them "the old boa" - so accurate to how I feel!). Interest rates aren't as low as I'd like, but we should be able to save $100 a month. And if we continue paying the same amount we are right now, we'd be able to save like $30,000 in interest. I just hate feeling like we have this huge debt hanging over our heads, and that we can't do anything because of it. You know the Proverb about the borrower being slave to the lender? I hate being their slave. So I'm praying that THIS YEAR, God will see fit to bless us and allow us to refinance.
I've been bad about exercising this week. I've just been so tired, and my back has been hurting. Sometimes it's not bad at all, then other times, I have a hard time standing up straight. I have no idea what happened to it - it just started hurting Easter Sunday. Things have loosened up today, so I'm hoping that two nights of not having to share a bed will help. The weird thing is, it doesn't hurt when I stand, or even when I sit up straight. It's when I sit to nurse or sit at the computer or any other time my back isn't straight that it hurts.
Jacob's orchiopexy surgery is Monday. I'm more nervous about him being anesthesized than I am him being cut on. I guess that's because I trust the hands of a surgeon more than I trust a drug Jacob has never been exposed to. And this is only "stage one" - they find the testicle, but they won't actually pull it into his scrotum until 3-6 months from now... Another operation, another anesthesia.
Well, it's time to put Nathan to bed. I can't decide whether I want to be industrious and clean this disaster area of a house after he's in bed, or whether I should be lazy and go to bed and read a while. I guess we'll see how much energy the bedtime drama sucks out of me.
We got about half of our garden planted. After it being SO wet all winter long, we felt really pressured to get out there and get the soil worked up, and rush to get things planted before it rained again. But it is only the middle of April. Even though it's been in the 80s for a week, it still is early. If it was mid-May I'd be a lot more anxious. We got corn, lettuce, beets, radishes, carrots, beans, and peas planted. All that is left are my "hill" plants - tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, squash, zucchini, and watermelons.
We are looking in to refinancing our house again. Something about spring must make me want to get out of debt - this is about the time we tried to refinance last year. I just SO want to get away from Bank of America (Dave Ramsey calls them "the old boa" - so accurate to how I feel!). Interest rates aren't as low as I'd like, but we should be able to save $100 a month. And if we continue paying the same amount we are right now, we'd be able to save like $30,000 in interest. I just hate feeling like we have this huge debt hanging over our heads, and that we can't do anything because of it. You know the Proverb about the borrower being slave to the lender? I hate being their slave. So I'm praying that THIS YEAR, God will see fit to bless us and allow us to refinance.
I've been bad about exercising this week. I've just been so tired, and my back has been hurting. Sometimes it's not bad at all, then other times, I have a hard time standing up straight. I have no idea what happened to it - it just started hurting Easter Sunday. Things have loosened up today, so I'm hoping that two nights of not having to share a bed will help. The weird thing is, it doesn't hurt when I stand, or even when I sit up straight. It's when I sit to nurse or sit at the computer or any other time my back isn't straight that it hurts.
Jacob's orchiopexy surgery is Monday. I'm more nervous about him being anesthesized than I am him being cut on. I guess that's because I trust the hands of a surgeon more than I trust a drug Jacob has never been exposed to. And this is only "stage one" - they find the testicle, but they won't actually pull it into his scrotum until 3-6 months from now... Another operation, another anesthesia.
Well, it's time to put Nathan to bed. I can't decide whether I want to be industrious and clean this disaster area of a house after he's in bed, or whether I should be lazy and go to bed and read a while. I guess we'll see how much energy the bedtime drama sucks out of me.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
5 Months: 1st Tooth, Sitting, Crawling, NAPS!!!
....Okay, so maybe not quite crawling yet. But definitely up on his hands and knees. He doesn't quite have the move the knees, move the hands down yet - he usually gets the knees forward then does a dive. I'm going to pronounce him "able to sit" - he wobbles occasionally, but most the time if he topples over, it's an intentional action to get to that intriguing toy that's just out of reach.
And we F.I.N.A.L.L.Y got that first tooth. I've sworn he's been working on it since the middle of January. And I thought it made an appearance about a month ago (rough spot, white peeking through), but apparently not.... This is the OTHER front bottom tooth. I think he's finally figured out (a week later) that chewing on his fingers is going to hurt from here on out. So he chews on his toes instead.
.....I wish it were possible for me to look cute when I stick my foot in my mouth.
We're starting to mess around with solid foods. He had his first cereal last week. A few days later I tried cereal mixed with some banana. You should have seen his eyes when I put that bite in his mouth. What the deuce?? We're not going to get serious about it until after he's 6 months, though.
Jacob has FINALLY started taking naps. My life can begin again! Seriously. I've been waiting 5 months for this. I don't know how I discovered it, but I started putting him to sleep on his belly. I know "experts" say you're not supposed to do that, but I figure he rolls over onto his belly by himself anyways when he sleeps, why not put him down that way to begin with? If I don't put him on his belly, he wakes up in about 20 minutes. (And has slept enough to take the edge off and doesn't want to go back to sleep, but not enough that he's not cranky.) I don't know if I can describe how wonderful it feels to know I will have a couple hours each afternoon to get stuff done around the house. Or sit on my backside. Whatever I feel like doing!
Easter this year was awesome. We had an incredible church service (very Holy Spirit-inspired), followed by a great afternoon with my whole family. Paul had to work, though... The only damper on the day.
We finally got the garden plowed. It was such a wet winter that we never got in there after the plants died. Heck, we could hardly get in there even BEFORE the plants died - we didn't even get it tilled! We still had tomato vines and corn stalks everywhere. Paul managed to get it plowed the afternoon before it rained last Thursday. A few days later, he was able to get half of it tilled twice (the other end was still too wet).... Then it rained again that night. I may never get anything planted. But last year we had an exceptionally good garden, so even if I don't get as much in, we should have some left over to carry us part way through winter at least.
I have gotten to exercise three times this week. I haven't exercised hardly at all since Jacob has been born. Monday I told Paul I wanted to walk, but didn't get left when I wanted, due to a little someone not wanting to take his nap. I knew if I didn't go for a walk, I'd eat all afternoon, because I was dragging. (I eat when I'm tired. And bored. And happy. And.... Well.... I just like to eat.) Paul had a chiropractor appointment he needed to leave for in 20 minutes. So I took off walking, and checked my watch before I was even halfway and I definitely wasn't going to get as far as I wanted if I only had 20 minutes. So I started jogging. I ended up jogging a mile! I walked 1/4 mile or so on either end of it. I am proud of myself, that I could do that without killing myself. (Long, cold winter indoors, coupled with having one or the other boy awake and in the living room where I could do an exercise DVD, made exercise virtually impossible.)
My legs were seriously sore the next day, so I didn't go again (and the 30 mph sustained wind was a big deterrent, as well). But yesterday and today I've gotten out again, jogging a mile, and walking a mile. It feels SO GOOD. The beautiful spring weather is a wonderful motivator, too. My lower back does hurt today, but I think that's from muscles being used that haven't been used in a LONG time - they're finally getting back in place after having two pregnancies! (About time.)
We are going on a little trip this weekend to see my little sister direct her school's play. My whole family is going out (minus the brother in law - it seems like if Paul's there, Keith's working, or vice versa). It should be fun. And interesting. :)
And it looks like the weather this weekend is going to be GORGEOUS!!! I don't know if I've ever been so excited about Spring. It was a really rough winter.
Well, I have loads of laundry to fold. I still haven't folded last laundry day's laundry. Or the towels from the time before that..... We are completely out of towels in the kitchen and the bathroom..... They're clean, just not folded an put away.... We keep going to the pile when we need them. I should probably get on that since we need to be able to find the clothes we need to pack....
And we F.I.N.A.L.L.Y got that first tooth. I've sworn he's been working on it since the middle of January. And I thought it made an appearance about a month ago (rough spot, white peeking through), but apparently not.... This is the OTHER front bottom tooth. I think he's finally figured out (a week later) that chewing on his fingers is going to hurt from here on out. So he chews on his toes instead.
.....I wish it were possible for me to look cute when I stick my foot in my mouth.
We're starting to mess around with solid foods. He had his first cereal last week. A few days later I tried cereal mixed with some banana. You should have seen his eyes when I put that bite in his mouth. What the deuce?? We're not going to get serious about it until after he's 6 months, though.
Jacob has FINALLY started taking naps. My life can begin again! Seriously. I've been waiting 5 months for this. I don't know how I discovered it, but I started putting him to sleep on his belly. I know "experts" say you're not supposed to do that, but I figure he rolls over onto his belly by himself anyways when he sleeps, why not put him down that way to begin with? If I don't put him on his belly, he wakes up in about 20 minutes. (And has slept enough to take the edge off and doesn't want to go back to sleep, but not enough that he's not cranky.) I don't know if I can describe how wonderful it feels to know I will have a couple hours each afternoon to get stuff done around the house. Or sit on my backside. Whatever I feel like doing!
Easter this year was awesome. We had an incredible church service (very Holy Spirit-inspired), followed by a great afternoon with my whole family. Paul had to work, though... The only damper on the day.
We finally got the garden plowed. It was such a wet winter that we never got in there after the plants died. Heck, we could hardly get in there even BEFORE the plants died - we didn't even get it tilled! We still had tomato vines and corn stalks everywhere. Paul managed to get it plowed the afternoon before it rained last Thursday. A few days later, he was able to get half of it tilled twice (the other end was still too wet).... Then it rained again that night. I may never get anything planted. But last year we had an exceptionally good garden, so even if I don't get as much in, we should have some left over to carry us part way through winter at least.
I have gotten to exercise three times this week. I haven't exercised hardly at all since Jacob has been born. Monday I told Paul I wanted to walk, but didn't get left when I wanted, due to a little someone not wanting to take his nap. I knew if I didn't go for a walk, I'd eat all afternoon, because I was dragging. (I eat when I'm tired. And bored. And happy. And.... Well.... I just like to eat.) Paul had a chiropractor appointment he needed to leave for in 20 minutes. So I took off walking, and checked my watch before I was even halfway and I definitely wasn't going to get as far as I wanted if I only had 20 minutes. So I started jogging. I ended up jogging a mile! I walked 1/4 mile or so on either end of it. I am proud of myself, that I could do that without killing myself. (Long, cold winter indoors, coupled with having one or the other boy awake and in the living room where I could do an exercise DVD, made exercise virtually impossible.)
My legs were seriously sore the next day, so I didn't go again (and the 30 mph sustained wind was a big deterrent, as well). But yesterday and today I've gotten out again, jogging a mile, and walking a mile. It feels SO GOOD. The beautiful spring weather is a wonderful motivator, too. My lower back does hurt today, but I think that's from muscles being used that haven't been used in a LONG time - they're finally getting back in place after having two pregnancies! (About time.)
We are going on a little trip this weekend to see my little sister direct her school's play. My whole family is going out (minus the brother in law - it seems like if Paul's there, Keith's working, or vice versa). It should be fun. And interesting. :)
And it looks like the weather this weekend is going to be GORGEOUS!!! I don't know if I've ever been so excited about Spring. It was a really rough winter.
Well, I have loads of laundry to fold. I still haven't folded last laundry day's laundry. Or the towels from the time before that..... We are completely out of towels in the kitchen and the bathroom..... They're clean, just not folded an put away.... We keep going to the pile when we need them. I should probably get on that since we need to be able to find the clothes we need to pack....
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