Too tired to think of a witty title

Happy day though! I got a phone call from my new OB's office in Boise. They got the referral and I have an appointment for the end of April. I have to go back to the base clinic in a week or so to check my glucose numbers, but then it should be just to Boise after that.

These glucose numbers are going to do me in. 30 weeks of watching every single thing that goes into my mouth? Remember that lovely Bipolar and ADHD thing? I went off my meds, with my doctor's approval of course, before I got pregnant to hopefully avoid some rather nasty birth defects. Which means that life has been rather interesting at times. With Amanda moving, that means lots of stress. And when I am stressed I get depressed. And then I want to eat. Pizza, jelly beans, swiss cake rolls, nutty buddy's, pasta alfredo, peanut butter Captain Crunch....... you name it. These are no good for my sugar numbers. The doctor is going to have a hay day with some of the ones I had today! I must really be diabetic already, because a normal person would have been fine. I'm trying not go eat this stuff, but all I want to do really is take my happy pills again, pay someone to clean my house, and go take a 3 day nap.

I think the stress has started me into a slight depressive episode.

I'm losing my mind too. Oren's teacher called to let me know I missed our parent/teacher conference today. I could have sworn that was tomorrow! The only other opening she has is Wednesday afternoon, which is Nathan's therapy. And a piano lesson. But I need to talk to her and see how his afternoon dose has been working, so I guess the other things will be rescheduled. I don't really know how I mixed the days up! Of course I wasn't home when she called, I was at Amanda's new house helping her get her kitchen put together. Oops!

Nathan's Adventure!

We had a great day in Boise today. I left the other boys with Mark, and Nathan and I had some special time together. We hit the doctor's office first, where he got a huge hug from Dr. Beck. She cleared him for therapy, said he was healing great. No trace of a hole from the infection and wants to see us back in 3 months to see how the palate healed. Yay! She wasn't running too far behind, so we didn't have to spend 2 hours just waiting to see her today.

There is a new Joanns open here so we headed over there. I needed a duck applique for a baby towel I am doing for a friend, and I got the perfect one. Nathan got a treat since it was our special time. He doesn't get a lot of those, just him and a parent. It's the whole middle child thing, I think.

Next we popped over to Cost Plus, where they have some really neat home decor and even more important..... neat ethnic foods! Imported stuff from Spain, Indian curries, British candy, Italian pastas..... fun stuff. We got some multicolored alphabet pasta for dinner tomorrow and some cool pencils just for fun.

All this running made us hungry so we stopped into Carl's Jr for some lunch before heading home. Next time I am getting a kids meal, or just splitting Nathan's. Neither of us could finish our food! I about fell asleep on the way home so decided to take a nap when I got us there. Then there was a phone call from Steph that thoroughly enjoyed until Nathan tripped coming out of our reading corner and plowed into the corner of the piano bench.

Once I got the blood cleaned up the cut looked a little deeper than I would like to see, so Steph and I had to get off the phone so I could get kids ready. We stopped at Amanda's, they were doing yard work today, to get a second opinion before I dragged all 3 kids to the ER. She agreed it may need sewn up, he gashed a decent amount right below his lip, almost in the corner. She kept Oren there with her to help pull weeds and play with the neighbor girl.

1 1/2 hours later we swung back home with 2 stitches by his lip. They didn't use enough lidocaine to numb him up so they had to back and inject him with more, but he was a trooper. Even as easy-going as he is, I had them wrap him in sheets since he is so big and I knew he would be a bit scared. He's had stitches before and remembered them. But he did great and earned 2 stickers! What a fun day for him!

I, however, and thoroughly exhausted. After getting home, Mark pulled in for dinner. I remembered we have an elder's quroum social tomorrow and I am supposed to help bring bacon, and another breakfast-ey thing. I didn't have bacon, or enough eggs, so I left the boys there with Daddy while he ate and I ran to the store for those. By this time it was 6:30 and I had no dinner ready since I had just gotten home from the ER. Those rotisserie chickens have never looked so good! Needless to say, that's what we ate for dinner. And it was yummy!

Although, the taco salad Steph and I kept talking about still would have tasted better.....

1st appointment

We went to our 1st OB appointment today! Some may think it didn't go so well, but I feel it was great. Below is our first look at baby Willford! Baby's head is bottom left side, and it's bottom is top right. The bright white object between head and body is a hand that kept waving at us. We have a little jumping bean!


We are measuring right on for our dates, and baby's heartbeat is a strong 175, which is awesome. Everything is looking good. The doctor likes to try and look for gender, because it's fun, and we did get a good view at the rear end. But 10 wks is far too early to tell any difference at this point, baby is just too small and they both look the same at the moment anyway.

The part that some people may say didn't go well is that my 1 hour glucose test was a little high at 147, the cutoff for having to do the test is about 140. But since I have been monitering my fasting glucose and it is already higher than they want they won't make me do the 3 hour, and want me to assume that I am already diabetic. Which means finger pricks and all that. That's fine! I count it as good because I don't have to do the test again!

I also will be seeing an off-base doctor up in Boise. She felt that with my diabetes history, and placenta problems, early deliveries, and NICU babies that I would be better off delivering at St. Lukes in Boise to be near the NICU and to cope with any emergencies that may come up. This hospital can't do insulin during labor, and since I may need to shoot up this time that would pose a problem. Again, some may not think this is good news, but I am thrilled. I just had a feeling that I needed to talk to them about delivery off-base, and the doctor beat me to it. She's putting in the referral and I am to come back in 2 weeks if I don't have an appointment with the new doctor by then. Just to check my sugars and the light bleeding. This referral will mean a lot of gas, because Boise is an hour away, but I will do whatever I have to do!

I am also supposed to take it easy because she could see the bleeding and that some of it is coming from up inside the uterus. She couldn't tell where, so we are erring on the side of caution. It's just a tiny amount and takes so long to get out that by the time it does it is brown, but she wants to be safe. No working out, and lots of time with my feet up. I guess I am packing 1 box every couple of days or something, and may just start saving money to have someone clean the kitchen and bathrooms like Amanda did. I think so long as I go slowly we should be fine.

So I will be nicely monitered this time around, which is just what I was hoping for. And I didn't even have to fight Tricare tooth and nail for it! Hurray! A great 1st appointment!

Hurray!

I am so proud of myself. I finally got the energy to get rid of the junk pile that has been scattered around the house 2-3 times. I sweep everything off the floor into a huge pile, then the kids and I pick through and put things away. Everything else gets thrown away.

It's fine to sweep it up, but if I just leave it there that tends to not be a good thing.

After spending nearly 3 hours trying to help Amanda scrub down the walls - military housing requirement thing - I went home to take a nap before heading to piano lessons. She called me to make sure I was awake and to let me know that she was burning out, and didn't feel right making me either watch her kids again or go spend several more hours helping her clean since I am still very mildly spotting here and there. We asked for help from the Relief Society for today, but I was the only one who showed up. Lovely. Anyway, she decided to call and hire a housecleaner to take care of the interior of the house. This lady cleans everything except the carpets, and garage, garauntees you'll pass inspection, and is about $200 starting. That's if the place isn't a pig stye. Totally worth the money, since she is sick and I am running low on time. Now I can breathe a little easier and she can get started putting the new house together a little bit.

After that, I packed up the boys and ran to my lessons. When I walked in the mom apologized for forgetting to call, but her littlest daughter has some sort of viral thingy that some people are very susceptible to and some aren't but there's no way to know. So we decided to cancel for this week, and I was very okay with this. Sores all down the mouth and throat don't sound fun, and I'm pretty sure I don't want to be exposed to anything nasty right now or my kids! The boys and I went to the grocery store instead and came home with some essentials, and waffle bowls for banana splits! We had our pizza night I have been promising the boys for 3 days, and they had a great time.

But the best part is that my living areas got picked up! I told the boys we had to work up an appetite for our ice cream and so Oren was in charge of toys, Nathan the trash, and I grabbed any clothes and books. The house got swept and the living room vaccummed, and then we all enjoyed our well-deserved sundaes! This absolutely had to be done tonight because I have a sitter coming in the morning to watch the boys while Mark and I go to my appointment with the OB. I didn't want her to come in, turn around, and leave after seeing the mess! Now it looks presentable, and I don't think she'll be scared. Usually I just throw everything into the kitchen/dining room and close the doors, but she'll need to get the boys breakfast in the morning, so that all had to be clean too.....

Won't Mark be suprised! Now, if only I could find the energy to fold all the clean clothes all over my bed....

Spring break is here!

We've made it this far through the school year! What a week too, not much time for just chillin. Tomorrow I will be heading up the cleaning committee at Amanda's house, I am in charge of wiping down walls since that's not too challenging and doesn't involve chemicals. Mark didn't think I should help, but I pointed out that I won't be locking myself into the bathroom with lots of different chemicals and a closed window.

Then Wednesday our babysitter is coming bright and early, about 7:40 am, to crash on the couch for a while. Mark and I are going to my 1st doc appointment, 10 whole weeks! I wouldn't have made him come except they said they are doing an ultrasound to verify my due date. Mostly because I am very overweight and it will be difficult to feel my uterus or pick up a heartbeat for a while. I am planning on talking to them about possibly switching my care over to an OB in Boise that delivers at St. Lukes, because I am very nervous about repeating some of the problems I had with my other boys. Our chances of another NICU baby are high, and I would prefer to be at the same hospital as the baby this time! I'm excited for our 1st glimpse at this new little one. Even though we have had 3 babies, each new one fascinates me! All the ultrasounds I can get, I love seeing my little angels!

Friday is Nathan's doctor's appointment, to check how the infection healed and hopefully clear him for therapy. His therapist and I are crossing our fingers that he'll be good to go! I told the boys we'd try and go to the Discovery Center to hang out after my errands, so this promises to be a very long day.

Mark had to pull up our toilet, something was clogging it again. Big suprise, right? Every couple of months..... He had to go get a new wax ring seal for it and before he could get it put back together, William threw the nuts that hold the tank to the seat down the pipe! They're still there..... neither of us wants to dry digging them out....! So although it would flush beautifully, I still have to go all the way to the other side of the house 2-3 times a night! I love my boys!

I think that's about all I can think of for now. Off to bed!

Packing, but not my house.

We still haven't put in the application for a 4 bedroom, I am sort of waiting to see the heartbeat at our 10 week ultrasound next week to make sure everything is okay. But I did pack 5 boxes today! Just not in my house.

My friend Amanda signed the papers this afternoon for their new home. I came over and helped decide what would get moved over first and finished some boxes that needed done. Went through tons of paperwork and junk and got rid of most of it, because that is what I am good at. Still a lot to do tomorrow, but I am mainly going to be watching the kids so they aren't underfoot and getting into everything.

I don't think it has hit me that she's actually moving into town. Just 15-20 minutes away, but still... I think that after their final inspection and they are signed out of their base house, and I haven't seen her in 3 days or had her just come over for the fun of it..... then it will hit me. Like a ton of bricks.

She has been an amazing friend for the last 3 years! Loaned us furniture when we had nothing for 2 months. Watched the boys while we were in the hospital having William. Took Oren and Nathan overnight when William had his concussion. Cleans my house with me. She was there for my initial appointment when I was diagnosed with being bipolar, and watches me like a hawk to make sure I'm okay. I have been there for her through tough times with her husband being deployed 3 times since I've been here. I watched her daughter while she was giving birth to her youngest. I held her when she cried because she had thrown up for 8 months straight and was running on nearly no sleep most of her pregnancy. It's been like having my sister live right next door!

We'll still hang out, I am going down every Wednesday for her daughter's piano lessons. But it won't be the same. She won't be right there. William will miss her little girl, they play all the time are get so excited to see each other. Her middle girl has played with Nathan for 3 years, and never once made fun of Nathan's speech. Her oldest and Oren like to do their homework together. I will be picking up her oldest everyday after school and watching her until her dad gets off work and takes her home, so they don't have to pay for afterschool childcare, so that's better than nothing.

Definitely getting hormonal! I'm sitting here tearing up.... sad. Okay, I think it's hitting me a tad now. Plus I am seriously tired and probably need to get off and go to bed. Going to be a busy and long day tomorrow!

I cooked!

I sooooo almost skipped out on fajitas, because today was Educator's night at McDonalds and Oren's teacher was working the fryer over there. Sort of a fun thing the district does. But, I had told Mark about the fajita's I was planning and I would have felt terrible if he had come home for dinner, just for those, and we were gone eating burgers just because I was tired. So I made myself cook.

Totally worth it! I quit using packets a long time ago. I had a recipe that I used to use, but I kind just throw the stuff in now because I have made it with that recipe for years and know what goes in it. The meat marinades in a bag with the spices, a little oil and some lime juice for a while and then fry it up. Easy, cheap, and delicious! I cracked open a can of black beans and simmered them with some Sazon Goya con cilantro y achiote - great stuff, pick it up in the mexican aisle, a little box. Microwaved some minute rice and voila! Dinner!

And what do you know. Mark came home for dinner, and said it was the best thing I have cooked for a long time!

I'ts one of the only things I have cooked in a long time, from scratch...... :-)

Not much going on....

Other than napping, and a strange corn dog fetish. Mark has been catching up on laundry for me, because for some odd reason he likes me. The boys have some brand new knex and have been going to town with them the last couple days, so the house has been fairly quiet.

William was running a fever yesterday and I had to cancel my piano lessons. Nathan did the same thing last Friday night, but woke up fine on Saturday. William was just hunky dory this morning, so it must have been a 24 hour fever or something. Of course, I have been watching for rashes, but nothing on Nathan so I think it was just a short fever.

I have been battling queasy for a couple days. On and off during the day, nothing major. Mark has been great about my lack of real cooking, and frequent use of pb&j sandwiches. I think I am going to do fajitas today, they sound yummy. I'll have to pick up a bell pepper when I get the kids from school.

We have just been enjoying kicking back and taking it easy. Practicing for Spring Break I guess. :-) Next week!!!!

Saturday Fun!

Man, oh man! Did I wish I had a camera yesterday! I made William this adorable T-shirt with iron-on paper I have that you run through the printer. A big star, so the words would show up....

"I may be small, but I'm bigger than our new baby!"

Janelle pointed out the shirt to Rheanna and Samuel, who took a bit to figure it out. They thought we had already had a baby and wanted to know where it was. Oops! But they were excited when we corrected them and I got a big hug from Rheanna!

Marie was at a church thing, so we had to wait until she got home. She gave William a big hug while we were all standing there, and noticed the big star on his shirt. She stared at it a bit, then looked up with this incredulous/confused/big-eyed/open-mouthed look on her face. For about 10 seconds! "You're not pregnant, are you?" We told her yes, we were, and then she got all huge and smiley! But that look, that was totally worth the trip down with wired kids! Love it!

I think we'll have William wear that shirt down to my sister-in-law's wedding and see what they do!


The grape juice ended up not being as much work as I though. We dumped a bunch of grapes in the steamer juicer thing and they cooked down to juice all by themselves. Then, while I was napping, Mom put the juice into the jars and started the next batch. That was easy! We ended up with 4 jars of juice to take home, and the second batch we drank for dinner. It doesn't taste like regular grape juice, and will take some getting used to, but wasn't bad. It would make good grape jelly too, if I feel up to it!

Dad and Mark got some male bonding stuff in too. Our car was about 10 months overdue for an oil change, and I asked Dad if he could help Mark do that while we were there. Dad has an oil pan and we don't. Our oil was solid black! I'm suprised we haven't done something to the engine driving with that floating around in there! They even cleaned out my A/C filter, and were very proud of themselves. Thank you guys for taking care of my car!

Janelle and I discussed dessert after my nap, and decided on a jello poke cake with cool whip and cherry pie filling. We had everything but the cool whip, so Mom, Janelle, Mark, and myself headed to the store for some supplies. We got our stuff and headed back for home. We didn't even browse around! Sad! None of us could think of anything we wanted to look at! But the cake was easy to throw together. Bake a cake, pour some jello over it, let it sit, smear cool whip on, eat! Seriously easy, and with the pie filling all over the cool whip, it looked really fancy. Of course, no camera....

Mom had taken out a bunch of pork chops for dinner, and trusted me to figure out how to cook them without drying them out. They were the really thick ones, which do really well with braising in butter and their own juices. So I lemon-peppered them up and popped them in the pan. They turned out really juicy, Mom was excited, and out of 12 chops, there were 2 left after dinner!

A really fun day, got lots done, and ate great food! You couldn't ask for a better Saturday with family!

Steph, we missed you the whole time. You would have been smart and brought a camera! :-)

Yawn.....

This little bean is wreaking all sorts of havoc! For instance..... I had 3 naps today, one of which was nearly 2 hours long. William fell asleep on the way home from the store this afternoon, I was tired, and Nathan had some tylenol with codeine. We all slept a while, and Nathan is still asleep! Good thing Mark grabbed a pizza at Walmart that I baked for dinner. And I stocked up on disposable dishes today, which has handy this evening.

3 naps. It's insane! Mark is an absolute sweetheart though, and tries to keep the kids fairly quiet for me. "Mommy and the baby are sleepy. Let's be quiet and let her rest." How sweet is that? I wasn't this tired with William, or Nathan. So it's been fun. What's also fun is when I spend the day making chili, and then can't eat it hardly by dinner time. I know it tasted good, I snuck tastes while adjusting the seasonings. But by evening it didn't want to go down. Drat! But I have a wonderful family who has been very understanding, especially Oren when I am late picking him up- like today- because I was quite queasy this afternoon.

We are going over to Mom's tomorrow to make grape juice. Remember those 15 gallon bags I got from my friend's vine last fall? And all those jams and jellies? I still have 5 full bags that have been in my freezer for a while, and I would like the space for frozen made-ahead meals that I like to stash for needy evenings. So Mom borrowed Grandma Danes' juicer and we are making juice tomorrow! Then we'll spend the day canning it all for later drinking, so I hope it tastes good.... :-) I am very excited! Mom has a very comfortable couch in a quiet living room that works great for naps! Of course, we are telling the younger kids about our little suprise, so that will be fun too.

Things just got a little easier

I called Nathan's therapist yesterday to let her know we still aren't cleared for speech therapy. We got talking and I asked if we could change his therapy days, because having all three in a row was just too much. Turns out she couldn't switch the days around, but she was more than happy to cut one day off and switch another to the afternoon! Most kids get 30 minutes per session. Nathan gets 45-60 per session, so having just 2 days won't hurt him at all. We had only increased it to 3 to work those new muscle flaps in hopes that he wouldn't need that 2nd surgery... and he needed it anyway. So we'll go easier on him now that the surgery has already improved his speech.

Now we just have Wednesday afternoons, with my friend's little girl's piano lesson afterwards since I'll be in town already. And Thursday mornings. Most of my energy is in the mornings, so I like to have that time at home to get things done, and now I can! He doesn't go back for a couple more weeks at least, but I know that my schedule will be a lot easier to handle when he does.

Amanda was an angel..... again..... and helped me with the house today. She came by, I forget why, and I was straightening the living room. So she pitched in! Granted, I offered to feed them all dinner- dessert included, but still it was so appreciated! I did this for her a whole lot when she was pregnant last time, we kind of do this back and forth. She's trying to get over mastitis, and not feeling well right now, so it meant a lot that she helped me today. Lots of dishes got done, my table scrubbed, house swept, and clothes gathered in baskets to be washed. When I started feeling swollen again I would sit down for a while, but the spotting has stopped for now so I felt okay getting stuff done.

I was so proud of myself today! I had energy at 3, so decided to put our hashbrown casserole together and stick it in the fridge until time to cook it. Very smart, because by 5 I was pretty beat and all I had to do was heat up our casserole. I threw together a quick dessert that sat in the fridge, and Amanda brought over some broccoli. A yummy dinner, ready at a decent time, with a dessert and good friends. A great evening! (Especially since I had a clean table to enjoy it on and disposable plates I didn't have to wash afterwards!)

Apparently I am crazy!

For having a 4th child. I had a small orientation with a couple other ladies and a nurse to go over some paperwork, get baseline vitals, and any other info they wanted to give/get from me. The other moms' eyes got all big when I said how many kids we already had! Too funny!

I chatted with the nurse about my sugar levels, she ordered the 1 hour and the 3 hour (just in case) glucose tests for me. I took the 1 hour today, but I am concerned it may not be accurate because I had eaten a piece of toast about 8 am, and didn't drink the glucose stuff until 10. I think my numbers may have been a little low to start with... we'll see. That's 10 times I have had to drink that stuff now. Blech!

I have also been instructed to take it easy, and spend plenty of time off my feet, due to some spotting and pain- not cramping, just swollen feeling....uh..... there.....,which has been fun. Mark has been great, but there are so many things that I want to do and that need done. And when I get up to try to do them, I start feeling swollen again. Walking around the store starts the slight spotting back up, which is brown and not red, but they'd rather me be safe than sorry. How am I supposed to be packing, and cleaning, if I have to sit half the day? Luckily, Nathan has the next three weeks at least with no therapy, and that cuts my running around. I'll figure it out, and we should be good.

We're just waiting to hear back on the results of the glucose test, hopefully tomorrow. Sorry pregnancy stuff has been the main meat of my last posts, but it's pretty much the most interesting thing we are doing lately.

Oren is bringing home books he has to read for a reading program at school. He reads a book and then tests on how much he understands. He is halfway through 1st grade, but is bringing home books at the 3 1/2 grade level! Wow! He has just blossomed this year, somehow so much less the little boy. As we got out of the van on Sunday, he turned to me and asked, "Mommy, what can I carry for you?" With no prompting! Not just if he could carry something, but wanting a specific thing I needed his help with. And then he held the door open for me too! He is becoming such a gentleman, I am very impressed by his attitude. He throws far less tantrums, and doesn't whine nearly as much, as long as we explain our decisions to him. So there is hope you guys! Kids really do act better as they get older and understand why certain things are! I love it!

I cut all their hair today, about 2 - 2 1/2 inches off all their heads. It was very long, getting in Nathan's eyes all the time, so I finally sat them down and cut it down to 1 inch on top, and tapered the rest. Except Oren, he's more of 3/8 inch, since he had cut the front himself a couple weeks ago. I let it sit that long so it would grow out a little and I wouldn't have to take it down to bare blades. Somehow, during the haircut, I lost baby William! Not looking much like a toddler anymore, he very much resembles Oren at this age. William may be short, but he is becoming a little boy. *sniff* I guess it's a good thing I am having another one, because my baby is getting all growed up on me!

Crossing our fingers...

We took Nathan for his 2 week post-op appointment on Friday. He is healing well, except for a small infected area at the back of his mouth. Bummer! We are attacking it with another 1o day round of Augmentin- a form of penicillin particularly effective at reducing bacteria in the mouth. We go back in 3 weeks to make sure the infection is gone and see if it created a hole. Sometimes they do that.... Luckily, if it does end up with a hole, it would be in one of the easier spots to fix. I think that would be a minor surgery, but I am crossing my fingers it heals fine, so he doesn't have to do any more surgeries- as cooperative as he has been, there's a limit to what he should be put through! He hasn't been cleared for therapy yet, due to the infection, and the fact that his palate is still very doughy and slightly swollen. This was a much more involved procedure, so it makes sense that it will take a lot longer to be sufficiently healed as to not cause problems with intense therapy. We are already seeing an improvement in some of his sounds, and are happy with that for now.

She did clear him for slightly harder foods, and he has enjoyed poptarts, pizza, and chicken nuggets with all the zest of a 4 year old!

I am doing fine, although still getting very tired. The nurse got a hold of me today about my high risk assesment paperwork. I had flagged some things and she wanted to talk to me about them. Most specifically the gestational diabetes- my numbers are already a bit high in the mornings- and the cleft lip/palate that runs in Mark's family. Especially since we have 1 child with palate deformities. So they tagged my file, I'm not officially high risk yet, more of a "watch this one" sort of thing. We're talking about doing the 3 hour glucose sometime in the next 2 weeks, to be safe. And probably some detailed ultrasounds sooner than 20 weeks to look at the palate..... I hope. She tried apologizing for tagging me, but I reassured her that I was more than happy to have to go through extra hoops, I am nervous about the possibility of repeating some of our previous problems and all the extra watching will make me feel better. Hopefully most of it won't be warranted, but even so, it's nice that they are paying attention and aren't just brushing things off.

I believe it is my naptime now..... :-)

To the Future!

Since Mark and I have been married, this is the longest we have ever lived in a house. It was 3 years in October, so nearly 3 1/2 now. And we are leaving it. The way this house is set up, it just won't do 4 kids very well, so we are applying for a 4 bedroom.

When we moved here, we had our luggage, and some toys from Mom Danes to tide us over. (Thank you Mom!) Our stuff wouldn't arrive until 2 months later- December, and we borrowed some furniture from the base loan office, set up for that purpose. A playpen, card table and chairs, some thin foam pads to sleep on, and some kitchen stuff. Our first Sunday in our new ward, we met some wonderful people who heard we had just the bare essentials and offered to loan us a couch, TV and movies, real mattresses, and bedding. I don't think I have ever appreciated a place to sit so much!

Now it's three years later. We have had many dinners with those same friends, William was born, we got our cats, our first broken bone with Oren, lots of broken glass cups, running around the backyard, family coming for birthdays, crowding 4 people in a kitchen built for no more than 2..... all those memories. I have made curtains, and painted walls. We have been happy!

I packed up the first box this morning. We haven't put the application in yet, but I will be slowly packing and cleaning as I go. Things like decorations, fabric and crafts, stuff from the garage.... I won't have time or energy for these things for a while. It may still be a couple months, the waiting list at Mark's rank for a 4 bedroom is 30-60 days right now. I just want to do it before I get too big, or too tired. I want to move while I can still haul boxes without people yelling at me, or my back hurts too bad.

Here's to the future!

Michelle Needs

It seems there are lots of people named Michelle, because there were a ton of other lists for this. I didn't cheat and use someone else's though.... it's more fun to find your own stuff!


1. Michelle needs..... to pee. (pretty accurate now that I'm pregnant....)
2. Michelle needs..... a new hairstylist.
3. Michelle needs..... a listamania on Amazon.com .
4. Michelle needs..... your help in giving her a new chance at life.
5. Michelle needs..... help translating. (yes I do, because the housing application for a 4 bedroom is in a different language, I think.)
6. Michelle needs..... a new baby daddy. (No thanks, I like the one I've got!)
7. Michelle needs..... help designing her new art classroom.
8. Michelle needs..... a makeover!
9. Michelle needs..... to eat. (had breakfast, but wouldn't object to a butterscotch oatmeal cookie!)
10. Michelle needs..... to stop thinking.