And now we breathe.

Whew, we made it! It's a new week!

We had such a blast with Mark's friend and family. The boys all took to each other instantly, and spent loads of time outside hanging out. They enjoyed our pool and slip'n'slide Thursday, and we loaded everyone up to go to the library Thursday afternoon for story time and crafts. They were so tired out by bedtime that I don't think there was a peep out of either room full of boys after we turned off the lights!

We grownups enjoyed some nice chatting time too. I had only met his wife once before, at the men's high school reunion a couple years ago. It's so nice that he married such a sweetie, we kind of clicked the first time we met, and this time was great too! Lots of catching up, that's for sure.

Friday was quite a bit different, she woke up sick and ended up the whole day resting/sleeping on the couch while he kept the baby occupied and all the boys played outside or quietly inside. I had to load up all my boys and take them to Boise with me for a doctor's appointment in the afternoon. Nathan had a follow-up with the ENT, who is ecstatic at how well he is speaking now! so unless he stops progressing or starts going backwards, we don't have to come back and see her.

Mark was able to get off work early Friday night, and came back to get his buddy. The guys went down to the hanger and they got to sit in the cockpit of one of the jets in for maintenance! His friend is a good 6ft 3in, and sort of had to fold himself in there, but they had a lot of fun.

She felt much better Saturday, and we let the boys all run off some steam while they gathered up their stuff and loaded it all up. Mark was working Saturday, but they let him come home on telephone standby so he could hang out for a bit longer. They headed back over to Rigby early afternoon, and I took a good 3 hour nap! A really fun, chaotic, noisy couple of days..... and I am soooo glad they were able to come over and stay with us! Maybe one of these days we'll make it over to Maryland and stay with them for a bit. :-)

I subbed in for the Primary chorister Sunday, not my favorite thing to do. I always feel like I'm singing solo..... They haven't had much success lately with getting a full time pianist in there. Since they released me actually! I wasn't even sure who was going to be playing for me, we had 3 different guys come in to help so there was somebody there but it's not the ideal situation. I told them if the Relief Society ladies would let me go, I would not mind coming back as the pianist for the Primary. There's plenty of ladies that can pick songs and wave their arms around, but a shortage of pianists available.

I did get a laugh when the Primary president asked what about when I had the baby..... and I replied that I nursed and played at the same time when I had William, and I could do it again with no problem. So long as they have the program in November, we're good to go! So maybe in a couple weeks I'll have a different calling. (I tend to get bored in Sunday School and Relief Society anyway.) We'll see.

And now to get the living room acceptable for visiting teachers this morning!

Busy yet again

Man, I am soooo bad at posting lately. I get on and read blogs but seldom have time to post comments or write on my own. Sad.

We ran down to the L. family reunion on Saturday to hang out with family for the last day. I am ashamed to admit that I hadn't been to see my grandparents at their home for a good 2 years almost, since Thanksgiving of 2007. But even so, I got huge hugs from both when we got there! Mom and company were there, and we arrived just in time for family photos. It was nice to sit and visit with everybody, including aunts and uncles that I hadn't seen since we lived in Oklahoma! Over 10 years ago! Cousins whom I was sure wouldn't know me recoginized me and everything, I was amazed. I was a bit fuzzy on who was who, but one aunt has 12 and one aunt has 11 kids, so I figured the blond ones belonged with one and the brunettes with the other one. It was great to sit and visit with everyone.

We spent the night at Mom's since Owen was speaking on Sunday and that would have been crazy to drive back home only to come over the next day. The egg foam on the hideabed was so nice that I got some for our hideabed at home today! Food was good, and the company even better. Like Steph said, the best part of visiting is the sitting around and catching up. This was the first time in 2 years that all the kids and grandkids have been home, all together, in 2 years. The family just keeps getting bigger and bigger, by Christmas there will be 7 grandkids! Hard to believe that 4 of them will be my boys. The kids all had a blast playing together and I enjoyed hanging out with my brothers and sisters.

And of course we hit the ground running this week. Mark's best friend, they grew up together, is going to be in town! He, his wife, and their 3 adorable boys are coming tomorrow and staying for a day or 2. 6 boys, ages 7 and under all in the same house - talk about an adventure! Although the house wasn't in too bad of shape, I still spent the day catching up on laundry, making sure all the bedding is nice and clean, the boys bathroom is cleaned, the litterbox got changed. Both boys bedrooms are now spic and span, and Oren's carpet even got steamed! It was smelling like little boy's room, so......

Add to the list of stuff that got cleaned a trip to the library for craft time, and to the store for soap and things. What do you have? A very busy day! And since it's only 8:30 I'm guessing I'll have time to scrub the table and load the dishwasher before I fall asleep. :-)

Is it bedtime yet?

Not so much for the kids, but for me! I had an appointment this morning in Boise with my ob, so we had an early start to the day. Amanda couldn't sit today.... well, she could but her hubby got home from a couple weeks away for work at 10pm, and they didn't get home from the airport until after 1am. So I didn't want to impose. Mark wanted to come to an appointment, meet the doctor, be a sweetie- so we dragged all the kids to the doctor again. They behaved better when it was just me! Hilarious!

The doctor is very happy with how well the baby is doing. He's measuring about the 52% range for his size, at about 1lb 3oz right now. Everything looked perfect, and he's happy with how my numbers have been doing. I put on a lb from the 4 that I had lost since my 20 week appointment. The boys were busy pushing the alarm lights by the door, keeping Mark occupied during the ultrasound, which is sad. But I have plenty more ultrasounds coming and we'll just get a sitter for any appointments he wants to go to.

So I was to Boise and back this morning all before 11:30! It's a 1 hour drive each way. After a quick lunch Mark headed to an appointment of his own, and we won't see him back home until dinner, hopefully here soon. If the chicken cooks quick enough. By 2:00 I was starving for a snack. Same thing at 3:30. William crashed on the couch for a nap sometime between 4:00 and 5:00, I was reading and not sure of exactly when. He'll be up late tonight, and all I want to do right now is curl up for a nap myself. Not sure how I'll make it to bedtime!

Yay me!

Every night, Mark has been trying to make it home around 6pm for dinner. Some days I am not so on the ball, and he ends up eating cereal or something. That's what happens when you are tired and have to watch everything that goes in your mouth because you may have a 10-12 pound baby.

But hurray for me, every night except for Tuesday which was piano recital day, I cooked a delicious meal, ready by 6:00 or shortly after. Tuesday we reheated yummy leftovers, but we did eat them at 6. The recital was at 7 and I had to go set up the refreshments. To be fair, I did bake over 6 dozen cookies and left 2 dozen at home for Mark and the boys that afternoon.

We're not just talking tuna noodle casserole. How about dry barbequed spareribs with Alabama barbeque sauce made from scratch. Or tonight's spinach-stuffed flank steak which I actually took pictures of and posted on my blog.

I'm not sure what has gotten into me, but the doctor will be happy that I have gained back a couple of those pounds that I lost. And Mark is happy that he takes the long walk to the car, and comes home to eat, and then has to walk from the parking lot back to the hanger and it's not just for a bowl of cereal! Now, if only I could get my kitchen cleaned up and make it stay that way I'd be even happier with myself. But I consider the return of my gourmet food interest to be fantastic no matter how cluttered the kitchen is. And Mark says his stomach totally agrees.

Happy Birthday Oren

Somehow, my little baby Oren turned 7 on Friday! Where on earth did the time go? It feels like just yesterday I was bringing him home from the hospital. Taking him on his first plane ride at 4 weeks old to meet his Daddy for the first time. Taking him on his second plane ride to join his Daddy in England at just 4 months. Watching him wiggle out of his carseat, watching him run from the sprinkler, watching him figure out what to do with spaghetti.

Seems like only a short time ago he was learning how to talk, and learning how to walk. Learning about his colors, and where his toys go. Learning how to share and how to help his brother stop crying.

Only this morning it seems like he fit on my lap so much better. I thought that shirt William is wearing was his a moment ago. Where did this thin and tall young gentleman come from?

Now he's excited about scouts, and science. Outer space, and outside scooter time. Soccer balls, and legos. Now he can read almost everything he sees, and asks questions that I don't know the answers to. Somehow my little baby is growing up!

We were all very cheap on wrapping paper this year, so he got to open the double knotted plastic bags. Teeth it is!

Honey's Home!

I have slept so well that last couple of nights. Mark got home on Thursday! Sleep was a little elusive while he was gone, the cats make noise in the night and our bed was big and cold. I am so glad he is home!

We got a phone call from his mom Friday night, they were at the Walmart in Mountain Home and wanted to make sure we could sign them in at the gate to the base.

?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

We weren't expecting them until sometime Saturday, they called Thursday night and said they had the weekend off and would be coming over to visit for the weekend. A pleasant suprise to have them come the night before! Of course, Mark wasn't home when they called and I was freaking out a bit. How am I supposed to go get them at the gate with 3 sleeping children? At 11:00 at night? Luckily he walked in a few minutes later so I sent him to meet his mom and sister.

Of course it was a fun filled weekend, quite exhausting. And of course I took pictures. But the camera is all the way out in the car and after watching Amanda's kids all morning and cleaning up from lunch I am a tad exhausted and don't want to walk all the way out there, so I will go get it later and post all the pictures of the fun we had with Grandma and Aunt Mindy, and Oren's birthday non-party get together. (They only have parties every other year, so we didn't have a pinata and games, making it officially not a party...)

Also as of this week, we are on the downhill slide of this pregnancy. 21 weeks! We go in on the 16th for another ultrasound, to check how big he's growing in there. I am hoping to hear back from the doctor soon about the labs he had me do last time.... my A1C numbers. That's my average blood sugar over the last couple months, which is a good picture of how well I am keeping my numbers under control. Crossing my fingers it's good!

The 400th Post

So I should have something momentous and deep-thoughted or something. But I don't. Just a plain old busy day!

Which started at about 6:30 this morning when my alarm went off. Yes, I know it's summer, but appointments don't really care. With Mark gone I chose to take the kids to the OB with me rather than ask anybody else to get up that early for me. I had made muffins the night before and we had boiled eggs, so a quick easy breakfast for everyone. Then it was an hour drive to get there before 9 and be on time.

The boys did fantastic! They got to hide under the table during Mommy's exam, which they thought was super cool. I didn't know the doc was planning on a full, strip down to the gown, exam today. He didn't do my initial, the base did, so he wanted to make his own notes and stuff I guess. Fun though with 3 little kids in the room! Heartrate sounded good, and we did make a small adjustment to my meds. I am supposed to take my evening dose at dinner instead of right before I go to bed. Probably so that I have to eat more in the evening and may actually put on weight. I'd lost a couple pounds since my last visit....

Our morning also included a visit to the strangest lab I've ever been in. The place is right next door, and was labeled "Total Care". When we walked in I was sure it was the wrong place, it looked like a spa and cosmetic counter. Seriously! Apperantly besides lab services, they offer: Bone scans, botox, permanent makeup, specialty cosmetics, massages including pregnancy massages. And a couple other things I forget. Okay......

I was able to talk to Mark today, it looks like he should be coming home tomorrow. We haven't told the kids just in case he gets held up or something. It's been a long week without him here, and we can't wait for him to come home! I was talking with the lady who I teach piano for, and she brought her kids over Tuesday and cleaned Nathan's room and folded my mountain of laundry. Then today, she dragged even more of her children over and they scrubbed down all my walls with magic erasers and mopped my considerable amount of non-carpeted flooring! Wow! I don't know what I've done to be blessed with such amazing people, but I am thankful for the services people have done for me while Mark's been gone. I have a very clean house to welcome him home with now, and a lot of my stress is gone with the pencil and chalk and pen that are no longer staining the walls of my home. Tomorrow will be a nice relaxing day, maybe I'll get some of my hall closet cleaned out. But I don't have to go anywhere and just get to look forward to my sweetie coming back!

Of course, to return the service favor, I told my piano mom that since she was wanting to paint her walls or do some stenciling, I would love to come and help her do that and she could borrow the stencils she was admiring in my entryway. Now I feel much better, and hopefully we can get some of it done before we are both too pregnant. She's due 3 weeks before me!

quickie

It's only Monday, and already my week has been nothing but running here and there. Mark had to go out of town for a bit and we have no idea when he'll be back home, so it's been awful fun with the kids. I've been working on getting the house straightened up to keep myself busy, and today got the car all vacummed out. Took 2 hours! Yikes!

I'm hoping things slow down enough to sit down and write a proper post, but even writing this is on Amanda's computer since she is going to watch the boys here in a minute while I run to a meeting that I can't take them to. And this is the most free time I've had in 3 days. :-)