Doctor's visit

The checkup at the doctor's office earlier this week went well and it turns out that we may find out the gender of the baby fairly soon!

The girls went with me and were really excited to hear the baby's heartbeat.

Since I'm over 35, my doctor's office is going to send me to another doctor's office for a more advanced ultrasound designed to detect problems more likely to crop up when a woman my age is pregnant. I have already made up my mind not to allow any invasive testing and really not to accept anything just because I'm told I need to do it because of my age, but the nurse practitioner assured me that it's just an ultrasound, and besides, the gender of the baby will probably show up on this one.

We had an ultrasound when I was 18 weeks pregnant but the little one, for the first time in his or her life, refused to move and reveal any telling information. I wasn't disappointed not to discover the gender, especially since the doctor could see how healthy the baby is. (So there!) I was thinking that we may have another ultrasound later on in the pregnancy, but as it turns out it may be sooner than later.

My doctor's office will make an appointment (and clear all the paperwork) with the other doctor's office and let me know when to show up. So for now we just keep waiting ... and growing!

Another tooth gone!

My daughter lost her second tooth tonight, the second tooth she's lost in three days!

She didn't snatch this one out herself like she did the one night before last. She said she wanted it to "fall out naturally." (Good grief.)

Her dad got after her with a string and that didn't work so finally he grabbed it, saying he was going to count to three and snatched it out on the count of one. She stood there and looked at it until I started cracking up (the whole scene really was funny) and then she started bawling.

She recovered from the whole thing quickly, and proceeded to go around the house flashing grins at everyone.

First tooth gone!

My seven-year-old daughter lost her first tooth tonight! Good thing too, because I was getting tired of being ordered to look into her mouth to watch her wiggle a barely-moving tooth.

She was just sitting there while we were practicing our ASL together after our family Bible study and snatched it out. I actually heard it come out.

Now she has another loose one right beside it!

She was really wanting to lose some teeth. Most of the kids her age have a mouthful (or several) permanent teeth and she has all baby teeth. She was 12 months before she cut this tooth that came out tonight or any of her teeth, so we expected the teeth to be "late" coming out.

Now we'll see how long it takes for this next loose one to come out.

Little seamstresses

My daughters made this quilt and pillow this evening with my mom! Neither one of them have ever sewn anything before.

My seven-year-old daughter grabbed these squares and a needle and thread and started sewing them together. She had NO HELP with the exception of me threading her needle. After she had handsewn all the squares together, she sewed them together on the machine with my mom only operating the foot pedal. My daughter did most of the work on the backing and the binding too.

My five-year-old daughter handsewed the three sides of the little pillow then turned it, poked the corners out, stuffed it, and sewed it closed on the machine with my mom just operating the foot pedal.

My mom and I thought this was pretty good work for two little people who've never sewn anything before!

Ultrasound today!

We had the ultrasound today. It's a ...

BEAUTIFUL HEALTHY BABY that wouldn't cooperate so we could determine the gender!

Everything looked great and saw every body part except the telltale part we were looking for. We got a great look at the nice big round head (like daddy), along with the beating heart, spine, hands, legs, and feet. That little baby just wanted to lay face down with its legs curled up underneath it!

Afterward someone told my husband I should have had coffee or some chocolate before we went in for the ultrasound to get the baby hyped up. Normally I do have coffee first thing but the appointment was so early I didn't have time to make any!

I'm 20 weeks tomorrow according to my LMP but the ultrasound has me at almost 21 weeks. I think it's because this is going to be a BIG BABY! My two other children were a few ounces over eight pounds as well.

The next doctor's visit is Dec. 27 for a regular checkup, so maybe they'll tell me then when they can do another ultrasound. This office may like to wait until later in the pregnancy to do the second one.

My children were so excited to find out what the baby is but they weren't very disappointed that we weren't able to find out. We did go around telling everyone we were going to find out today, so it'll be funny to have to tell them we couldn't make it out.

We have a lot of people wanting us to have a boy -- and wanting us to want a boy, but we honestly do not care -- so they'll have to wait a bit longer to find out.

Got my ring back!

Good news ... I got my wedding ring back this evening! I dropped it (actually it was my engagement ring) Sunday afternoon in the car, and it got stuck up under the metal track under the seat that lets you move the seat back and forth. My husband and I tried to no avail to retrieve it by poking our fingers in every imaginable spot under the seat. Finally he decided he'd have to take the seat out.

This evening after work he got started on the project. First he went to the store and bought two vacuum cleaners (I would find out why he needed those later) and went out to the garage with his lovely little helpers. A little while passed, and the next time I went out there (laundry room's out there, too, and of course there is always much to be done there) he presented the ring to me. This time he did not have as much of a smitten look on his face as he did 10½ years ago when he gave it to me the first time, and he made sure to tell me getting to it required a lot of work! I was just elated to have my precious ring back.

The vacuum cleaners came next. Actually one was for the carpet inside the house and one of my daughters and I tried it other. The other was a shop vacuum for the purpose of shampooing the carpeting in the car. What's the point of taking a seat out of the car if you don't shampoo the interior while you're at it?

Now I've got a clean car AND my beautiful antique white gold wedding set intact on my left ring finger! Hooray!

Wedding ring gone!

I've lost my wedding ring!

Well, actually it's my engagement ring and I actually do know where it is but it's firmly stuck under the seat of the car!

I took my rings off in the car yesterday to get the hair grease (from fixing the girls' hair) from around my ring finger. I dropped my engagement ring in between the seat and that thing where you put your stuff in between the two front seats.

I could see it but the more I tried to get it the further it went down. Finally it got wedged under the track that allows you to move the seat back and forth.

My husband and I both tried to find it but we can't. Looks like we're (he, that is) is going to have to take the seat out to get to it.

It's so aggravating because I haven't been able to wear these beautiful rings in about five years because of the weight gain from my second daughter. I've been wearing just a plain band that I call my "fake wedding ring." I finally got them resized for our 10th anniversary in August and now I loose one.

For the time being my "fake wedding ring" is back on my left hand. I hope it won't be too long before we can get the seat taken out so I can get my beautiful ring back where it belongs.

Another Student of the Month

My four-year-old daughter, who is in public pre-kindergarten program has just been named Student of the Month for October!

She gets to sit in a special place — on the cafeteria stage at one of the specially decorated tables, no less — for lunch one day next week, and her parents are invited to come eat with her.

It's really exciting for her — and for all of us — because her sister was the Student of the Month for second grade last month. My four-year-old preschool child kid was a little upset because she wasn't Student of the Month as well. She had gotten a time-out, though, so I told her if she'd keep being good with no time-outs she'd eventually get to be Student of the Month. So she did.

The school has character words they work on each month, and the Students of the Month are chosen based on their display of these character words. The word for August and September was "respect," so the respect exhibited by my seven-year-old second grade daughter was a factor in her being chosen Student of the Month for August-September.

The word of the month for October was "responsibility." My four-year-old daughter has been talking a lot about this word and what it means. For instance, she told me it was her responsibility to help me do things around the house. I take it she's been exhibiting some responsible behavior at school.

We're proud of our girls for these accomplishments!

Our crazy adventure

This is a true story about the crazy adventure my family has had in the last 24 hours. This story is so crazy you probably won't believe it — you probably won't even be able to read it all — but I'm going tell you anyway.

The short of it is that we have spent the last almost 24 hours with no electricity because we thought the power company shut it off, but all it was was a blown breaker.

Here's the long story. My kids were on the computer at 6 p.m. yesterday and I was fixing their supper when everything electric in the house totally shut down. I finished fixing their supper and we ate while I silently figured that the electricity had been shut off since I hadn't paid the bill, which was due two weeks previously. It was nearly $200 that I did not have and wouldn't have until the end of the week. Mind you, none of the other utilities for this house or our other one we are trying to sell have been paid for this month.

After we finished eating, I went through my bills as it was getting darker in the house. I indeed found an unpaid electric bill due Oct. 5, but surprisingly I found a shut-off notice with a disconnect date set for Oct. 17, the day before. It evidently came late last week when I was going to the hospital an hour away every day while my father was recovering from serious heart surgery. The envelope hadn't even been opened.

My husband came home to total darkness with me trying to herd the kids in the tub and to bed before they stumbled in the dark and hurt themselves. Now he's the one that always thinks the bill hasn't been paid when something shuts off, and he's almost always wrong, but this time he wasn't. He was slightly miffed, not at me but at our bad financial situation brought on by unexpectedly having to keep up two houses on our income that can barely support one. I was expecting a couple of checks by the end of the week; if both arrived they should have been enough to cover the electric bill and maybe even the rest of the utiltities, but one of my checks sometimes doesn't come until Saturday.

I wasn't upset about the situation — you can only do what you can do — until he brought up the fact that the one good car we have is in the garage, the door of which is, of course, electric. I was supposed to be somewhere for work the next day. The car he's been using to get back and forth to work is parked outside but we decided it wasn't reliable enough to get me to my work and back in time to get the girls from school. I realized that I just wouldn't be able to get to my work for the next day, but maybe something would work out for Friday, when I was supposed to go to the same place.

We turned in early, all snuggling in the same bed and thankful that the weather was nice and we didn't need any air. It had been hot during the day but cooled off that evening and we were very appreciative.

We got up early the next morning with the alarm on my cell phone piercing the darkness. A few minutes later everyone got dressed by flashlight, which was rather exciting until, of course, the batteries wore out. My husband and I dropped the girls off at school and he brought me back home with plans for me to walk to school that afternoon and walk the kids back home.

It had started raining by the time I got back home, and there wasn't much for me to do in a dark, dreary house. No computer, no phone, no coffeepot, no nothing but waiting for the mail to run, hoping there'd be a check in the mail. I tried to do a few things but finally the darkness and the pattering of the rain took over and I went back to bed. My cell phone rung at almost noon. My husband decided it was too cold for us to do any walking this afternoon. He came after me during his lunch break and I took him back to work.

I checked the mailbox after I got back home, not really expecting a check and if it actually came, I didn't think the amount would be enough to cover the electric bill plus the reconnection. I nearly had a heart attack when I opened it and it was $200!

After making a trip to the bank, I hustled down to the utility payment office to pay the bill plus the reconnection, and the teller only took the amount for the bill. I explained to her that I needed to have service reconnected, but she said we weren't in her records as disconnected. I let her know that our service indeed had been shut off at 6 p.m. last night and I wanted it turned back on. Again she said we weren't down as disconnected and they don't turn anyone's service off after 3 p.m. every day. She suggested that perhaps it was a breaker.

Immediately I called my husband and he told me where the breaker box was. I flipped the main switch and you won't believe it, but every light in the house came on!!!!

Now, I was glad to have electricity back but aggravated that all it was was a stupid breaker switch that we could have flipped last night! We didn't know though, since that had never happened at this house before, and of course we had the dreaded shut-off notice with a disconnect date set the day before to add to it.

You live and learn I guess. That is one crazy story if you ask me.

Big city driving

Driving in the "big city" sure is frustrating after coming from a small town where nobody is in between you and where you need to go. Especially so is this true when you're trying to get your children to school on time and you have to cross a busy road that everybody in town takes while trying to get to where they need to go on time.

But, thankfully, I'm about to figure out how to drive in the "big city." The two keys I've finally figured out are:

1. Be patient.
Yes, it should only take two minutes to go two miles but you must remember that in the "big city," two bazillion people are going that same way, as opposed to only two others in a little town.

2. You cannot make a left hand turn.
There is just no way to cross two lanes of horrendously busy traffic at one time. Just figure out a route that involves only right hand turns, or be willing to turn right and then left and turn back around to the way you want to go.

Sounds like I'm making progress here. The first month of taking my children to school (HOW HARD COULD IT POSSIBLY BE TO TAKE YOUR CHILDREN LESS THAN A MILE TO SCHOOL???????????????) was just a blood pressure-raising fiasco. I have finally figured out the two keys and the trip to school involves a lot less blood boiling on my part.

Today I was all prepared for the crazy traffic and went the new way (the one where you attempt to cross only one lane of traffic at a time with first a right hand turn and then a left) but there was hardly no traffic!

"Where is all the traffic?" I wondered out loud and then realized it's a holiday today. Not one that calls for school being closed, but one that lets just enough people off work so that making the short trip to school isn't so anguishing for me. That and my newfound keys, that is.

A day with the girls

Today was a girls' day at my house. My two nieces came to visit along with their mom and grandma (my sister-in-law and mother-in-law). They all spent the night with us and my nieces spent this morning with their two cousins, my two girls, while their mom and grandma went to a doctor's appointment.

We spent the morning watching television, eating, and getting dressed for going outside. They had a ball playing together until they all left a little bit after lunch.

Afterward my two girls took a bath and the three of us piled in bed for some reading time and a very long nap!

Though my nieces only live an hour away (in our house "back home") it's always a special treat to see them!

Student of the month!

My seven-year-old was named the Student of the Month for second grade for August-September at her school!

The character word for August-September was respect, so she was chosen for displaying respect toward others. She also sets a good example in class for behavior and academics. (When she gets home she's so tired of being good and smart and so sometimes she turns into someone else altogether!!)

One of the perks for being student of the month is a special lunch, which was today. She got to sit at a decorated table on the stage in cafeteria where everyone could see her. Her dad couldn't come eat with her because he got stuck at work, but I did. We had our picture made together, and today she brought home a copy of it.

We're really proud of her and all her hard work! She's not only setting a good example for her fellow students but also her sister, who now wants to be the pre-kindergarten Student of the Month!

Working up to the big day and living through the aftershocks

The realization has hit me that being pregnant is rather akin to preparing to move. Being as we just moved and I'm in the early stages of my third pregnancy, I feel that I am qualified to point out the similarities.

The thing is that with both of these major adjustments in one's life is that it's just the precursor to the REALLY big adjustment — having a new baby, another child to care for, around; or trying to get settled into your new home and community and learning all the ins and outs of important things like where to pay the bills, where a good doctor for the kids is, and all that important stuff.

But these two life-changing situations have something else in common: after the big day not too many people are concerned with how you are getting along. Most of the inquiries about how things are going come before the big day, while you're pregnant or while you're trying to get ready to move.

Sure, you think you're going nuts sometimes and wish the whole thing would just be over and you appreciate the concern, but you feel like a dropped hot potato sometimes after the real thing happens and nobody's much interested anymore!

It's not that people don't care, they've just moved on (it took you long enough, after all) and you're stuck with the end result!!! Boy, what a deal.

Big news!

As if moving away from my hometown for the first time ever this past summer wasn't enough to turn our lives upside down, we got some surprising and exciting news exactly a week before our 10th wedding anniversary — we have another baby on the way!

The girls are beside themselves with joy while their father and I are still trying to get used to the idea. It's been a while since we've done this -- our younger child will be five in November -- so we're out of practice, out of the loop, and pretty much put ourselves out of the baby business when I gave all our baby stuff away to keep from moving it when we relocated.

The girls want a little sister, my husband and I don't care, and all our friends and family back home want a boy this time. We'll find out this winter and then begin the process of choosing names and obtaining something for the poor little thing to wear.

There hasn't been any sickness at all, which is wonderful, and the little one-inch baby has a ravenous appetite. I'm officially eight weeks along so if I were going to be sick it would have happened by now.

One thing's for sure, we are in for some excitement come next April and for a long time afterward. We're looking forward to it. Mostly.

Missing home

Never before have I missed home, never really had to even though no one in my family except me lived where I was raised in over a decade. I missed them but never missed home, until now.

We moved a whole hour from our home in Eastern Arkansas to Central Arkansas this summer, and there are many similarities, being that it's so close. The people are pretty much the same, friendly and respectful, and that has made the adjustment a lot easier for me.

I don't see anyone I know when I leave the house, though, and I really miss that. There's no one to wave to as I drive down the street. I don't know the children at school, I didn't go to school with their parents, and I didn't even go to that school.

Sometimes you take these things for granted when you are surrounded by them, when they are all you know, and then when this reassuring daily life isn't there anymore, you take notice. You even miss it.

It sure is tougher to get from one place to the other. Back home, in the small town of nearly 4,000 where I was raised and lived 35 years, it's a snap to get anywhere. You zip down the street to get to the school, you hop on the interstate to get to your next job.

Not so here in the "big city" of 60,000, not quite 250,000 if you count the adjoining twin city of 180,000. Traffic is everywhere; it's nearly impossible to cross the street just to drop the kids off at school not even a mile from the house. The places where you need to go are spread out further, too.

The place where I'm from is full of its idiosyncrasies, but something about it being home just makes me miss it. Thankfully it's only an hour away so we can visit fairly frequently.

Life explained

On the first day, God created the dog and said: "Sit
all day by the door of your house and bark at anyone
who comes in or walks past. For this, I will give
you a life span of twenty years."

The dog said: "That's a long time to be barking. How
about only ten years and I'll give you back the
other ten?"

So God agreed.

On the second day, God created the monkey and said:
"Entertain people, do tricks, and make them laugh.
For this, I'll give you a twenty-year life span."

The monkey said: "Monkey tricks for twenty years?
That's a pretty long time to perform. How about I
give you back ten like the dog did?"

And God agreed.

On the third day, God created the cow and said: "You
must go into the fi eld with the farmer all day long
and suffer under the sun, have calves and give milk
to support the farmer's family. For this, I will
give you a life span of sixty years."

The cow said: "That's kind of a tough life you want
me to live for sixty years. How about twenty and
I'll give back the other forty?"

And God agreed again.

On the fourth day, God created man and said:
"Eat, sleep, play, marry and enjoy your life. For this,
I'll give you twenty years."

But man said: "Only twenty years? Could you possibly
give me my twenty, the forty the cow gave back, the
ten the monkey gave back, and the ten the dog gave
back; that makes eighty, okay?"

"Okay," said God, "You asked for it."

So that is why the first twenty years we eat, sleep, play and enjoy ourselves.
For the next forty years we slave in the sun to support our family.
For the next ten years we do monkey tricks to entertain the grandchildren.
And for the last ten years we sit on the front porch and bark at everyone.

Life has now been explained to you.

Family time

We moved into our new house a few minutes from my husband's job to have more family time. I have been delighted with the results these past three weeks, but my family informed me, in their nice little way, that they want to see more of me. That is, more of me NOT at the computer. They didn't come out and say it that way, but I got the message loud and clear.

They're right. I spend too much time at the computer. Some of it is working and some of it isn't, but too much of a good thing is definitely not a good thing.

To remedy this situation before it turns into a problem, I plan to implement something similar to my work schedule for computer use. That is, from about mid-afternoon until after the kids go to bed is time spent with the family, mostly away from the computer.

There are no hard and fast rules with this, but I try my best to get the bulk of my work done in the mornings and after the kids go to bed. This same routine ought to work for computer use as well.

I'm putting it to use starting today, and hopefully everyone will be happier with my decreased use of the computer while everyone is up and around.

Making ourselves at home

For the last three weeks (has it REALLY been THREE weeks?) we've been super busy trying to get settled into our new home and getting back to our normal routine. It's been exciting and we're quite enjoying it.

We have more time now together as a family, which was the main reason for the move. With my husband being only 10 or so minutes from work, we see a lot more of him, and most days we eat at least a meal together, sometimes even two. That was very rare for us at our other home.

We have taken up learning American Sign Language as we are attending meetings at the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses with the ASL group near here. It's something my husband and I have both always wanted to do, and we felt that this would be an excellent opportunity for our children to learn a foreign language, and of course so we could talk with more people about the Bible. It's going really well and we are learning new signs just about every day, and most certainly at every meeting.

We are still trying to sell our other home and are having some work done on it. We've been back there (or at least my husband has) every weekend since we've moved to work on it or just to get more stuff. There is something odd about that. Before we moved we spent many weekends over this way, either househunting or doing other things related to moving, and now that we are here, we keep going back to the other house every weekend.

Another odd thing about the work is that we always wanted to do things like paint our house and do other aesthetic improvements but never had the time or money. Now it seems that I have the house I always wanted now that I no longer live there. Just within the last couple of months we pulled up most of the carpet I detested and replaced the floor and flooring, and then moved into a house totally carpeted!

I've stayed busy with my writing work and of course have taken the girls with me. We've also done some fun things like go to the movies and explore new places available here in the "big city" where we now live.

We really like our new home, our location, and the fact that we see more of each other. More good things await us in our new surroundings!

Life-changing experience coming up!

Our lives are getting ready to change drastically! The big move is coming up this weekend!

Today is the girls' last day of school, as tomorrow, the actual last day of school here, we will be at our new home getting our phone/cable/Internet hooked up.

Moving takes place on Saturday, and we'll have some help on both ends, so that's good. The settling in and getting back to our routine will be all our own job, though.

I'm looking forward to it all!

Awards day!

Today was a special day at school, one in which my daughter and pretty much everyone else in school were honored for their good grades and behavior. It was the "Good Behavior" assembly for the first graders, and my daughter earned her fourth good behavior ribbon (one for each of four nine-weeks grading periods).

For receiving four good behavior ribbons, she also got the coveted "Gold Medal" award. The school really drums this up and all the students are so very proud to receive the gold medal!

My niece, a second grader, received awards for being on the honor roll and for her excellent behavior at the school, although her time there has been very short.

Afterward I went back to class with my daughter and read a couple of my favorite books to the class, and then I had lunch with all three of my girls, my two daughters and my niece.

Once everyone arrived home we took photos of the award-winning girls and put their ribbons and medals in a safe place.

Congratulations, girls!