Town Festival

This past weekend was our town’s local festival. We always look forward to this because it’s such a great time to ride rides, see local entertainment, eat fair food, and catch up with people. Hubby’s business always has a booth so he and his guys were taking “mug shots” of all the kids that came by…it was so cute!

The only problem this year was that we are having a record month of rain, and this weekend was no exception. Friday we were able to hang out for a while and ride some rides after the rain came through, but it was really muddy.

Saturday my daughter had a t-ball game and then hubby ran off to the festival. We ended up heading over right when it started for the day and were able to ride a bunch of rides and eat some great food before the crowds came in. There was a huge storm coming in around 3:30, so the kids and I booked it out of there and headed home for some naps.

The festival always ends with fireworks, which, luckily we can see from our house. So the kids and I headed over to the neighbors and watched the very long fireworks show (seriously, it was about ½ hour long!).

Sunday we had a very relaxing day of playing outside and watching TV and playing inside. It kept raining off and on, so when it wasn’t raining we’d head outside for a little bit until the next set came through.

Here's a video of the kids in one of those jumping things. Their description of where they're at is very typical of most of our conversations at home these days :).

Powell Fest from Debbie on Vimeo.

My Son's 3rd Birthday

Saturday was a special birthday day for my son. With how much our families have going on in May and June, we felt it was unfair to plan another party for everyone to attend (and I was beat from having so many events/parties). I felt guilty about it because I felt like we were cheating my son out of a good birthday…his sister got a party, so why doesn’t he get one?

But as I keep learning everyday, my son is very laid back, and hardly anything bothers him. And as it turns out, his special birthday day was far better than any party I’ve ever thrown the kids (except maybe their first birthday parties).

It started Saturday morning. My daughter had a t-ball game and my in-laws came to watch her. My father-in-law spent a ton of time with my son…walking him around and just hanging out with him. My son absolutely loved this! We then all headed to breakfast at Bob Evans.

When we got home, hubby and I gave him is birthday present from us – a new set of REAL golf clubs! He loves golf (is there a sport he doesn’t like?) and he has broken his plastic set because he likes to hit real balls and he likes to hit them hard!

So after he got his clubs, hubby and his dad took him to the driving range where he hit over 100 balls and got a blister on his hand! He fell asleep on the way home…he was beat already!

After naps it was time for the special surprise of the day (he had no idea what was coming!). My dad had arranged for him to have a private lesson at a boxing place (I have no idea what they’re really called). My mother-in-law had even made him a special shirt with Oscar De La Hoya on the front because that's his favorite boxer!

I had the camera going when he walked in and the expression was just priceless! He was standing right next to a real boxing ring! When we tried to get him to go in he started crying at first, and we were all very worried. He said he didn’t want to put on his gloves because of his blister. Well thankfully the guys there were fantastic and took him over to the punching bags so he could warm up. Within 5 minutes he wanted his gloves on and he was ready to go!

He punched the bags, and then he went in to the ring and fought the guy. He got a “knock out” and counted and had the bell rung. He put on the head gear. He took off the head gear. He had an absolute blast!

The people at this gym (Sullivan Brothers Gym) were fantastic. I think we might end up getting a membership there so my little guy can box more often. The nice thing is it’s right by my daughter’s gymnastics gym!

After boxing we headed to the park where the rest of the family was waiting. We had snacks and played and had cake. We started opening presents and this huge storm came through! We loaded everything up and headed back to our house and finished opening presents.

After presents hubby’s family left and my family and us headed out for dinner. My son wanted to go to “spaghetti and meatball place with grapes” (Olive Garden), so that’s where we went! Dinner was very nice and relaxed!
We were supposed to go bowling as well, but by now it was after 8:00 and the kids were worn out! We decided to save bowling for another day!

So as you can see, I think my son actually had a much better birthday than if he had just had a regular party. And it was easier and cheaper on us! A win-win for everyone!

Quick Recap

What a busy past couple of days! I don’t have much time, so I’ll give a quick update in bullet points:

-My son’s birthday was yesterday, and we had his special day on Saturday. Hopefully I’ll be able to write about it tomorrow with all the pictures. Let’s just say it was a very busy day and he was extremely worn out by the end of it!

-I was in New York Sunday through last night for a work conference. I really don’t like doing things by myself, but I made myself go out and walk the streets each night and had a good time. I really only had time for Rockefeller Center and Times Square, but those two places alone were enough to wear me out! I was able to go to the American Girl store for the first time ever and had a blast! I can’t wait to take my daughter there! I got her a little doll and the first book about Kit, since there’s a movie coming out about her in July. I’m hoping my daughter loves the stories as much as I did!

-I passed my glucose test!!! My doctor left me a message for me to call her while I was in the conference. I had convinced myself that since the message didn’t say I was fine, that I wasn’t. So I was very surprised when she told me that everything was normal. Phew! What a relief!

-I’m starting to get busy at work…tons of stuff going on, especially since this is my last filing before I have the baby!!! Whoopeee! So I have to document some things and pay attention to how long it takes me to do things so that next quarter people will be able to help out and I’ll realistically know how much time I’ll be working at home.

I think that’s it for now…time to get to work!

That Long, Horrible Test...

It turns out at my doctor's appointment last week I failed my gestational diabetes screening. My level was 143 and they want it to be 139 or less. So today I'm off to have the three hour test. I have to sit in a lab for three hours while they prick me, give me "juice" and then prick me some more. I guess it will be a change in atmosphere as I'll be working while I'm there (probably getting more done since no one will be giving me more work to do!).

So please say a little prayer for me that I'll pass this test and not have gestational diabetes. While I know I would be fine and able to handle it, I also know I would be pretty miserable as well...I LOVE sugar!!!

Maybe that's my problem???

:)

Very Frustrated With Bad Parents

This is a public service message to all the parents out there that obviously don’t know what they’re doing.

If your child is in gymnastics (or any sport) and they are misbehaving, and they are 3 feet away from you, DON’T LAUGH AT THEM. Instead, stop them from misbehaving. In other words, use some discipline.

Sincerely,
A very frustrated mom of a child that misses out on teaching because the teacher is too busy trying to get your kid to do what they’re supposed to be doing.


Seriously, I’m sick of dumb parents. If my child ever started misbehaving in class and not listening, you had better believe I would pull him/her out and tell him/her that if the act doesn’t change we’re leaving. Although I have to admit, I could never in my wildest dreams imagine either of my children acting like these kids.

This is our third gymnastics class that has one of these kids in it. Last night was the start of the new session, and once again there’s a little boy in there (and it’s not always boys…the first class was a girl) that just flops himself around and doesn’t do what the teacher says. And the parents sat next to me and just laughed the whole time.

It’s getting very frustrating and discouraging taking my daughter to gymnastics each week because of these kids and their parents. I see why we have so many brats running around. Why aren’t kids today held to the same standards we were held to? I know that my parents were more strict than I will be with my kids and I am/will do a lot of things differently from them, but that doesn’t mean that I’m not raising kids that respect adults and do what they’re told (OK, still working on that, but when they are in class settings they are very good about listening to teachers…it’s just mom and dad they don’t listen to all the time :) ).

I don’t want to sound like one of those angry people that sounds like they’re still in the dark ages. My kids don’t work all day so they can learn the value of a dollar and I do spoil them quite often. I just don’t want my kids to be an inconvenience to someone else, or to make someone else not enjoy themselves.

I think my rant is done. Thankfully I have another whole week before I have to sit through that again.

My Kids Owe My Dad!

Seriously, they owe him big time. My dad watched the kids Monday and Tuesday this week while our nanny was on vacation. Monday went great – no problems there. But yesterday was a completely different story.

My daughter tried to come into our room wide awake at 6:00 AM. Now for our family, that’s unheard of…the kids always sleep in. I grumpily tell her to go back to bed (I only got to sleep for 20 more minutes before I had to be up). I can then hear both the kids in with my dad. See, they like to sleep with Pappaw, and he likes them to sleep in with him too. The problem is that he also likes to sleep with the TV on, and there’s a lot of light in that room, so as soon as the sun comes up it’s pretty bright in there.

I get home from work yesterday and my dad tells me it was the day from hell. Why? Because they actually had gotten him up at 4:10 and he couldn’t get back to sleep (that was my son’s fault…apparently he woke up and wanted hubby and me and then proceeded to wake up my dad and daughter). So then he went down for a nap from 9:30 – 12:30. My daughter decided to take a nap from 1:30 – 3:45. My dad didn’t get a nap.

I told him he should have put my daughter in bed with him while my son was sleeping and had her watch TV while he took a nap, but he said he wasn’t comfortable doing that (being asleep while she was awake).

Of course he still had a fun day…just a really tired, fun day. I felt so bad for him.

He did finally admit to me that he will no longer fight me when I tell the kids they can’t sleep with Pappaw – they have to sleep in their own beds from now on!

Going to the Pond

Last night after dinner we took a walk to our neighborhood pond. The kids love to play there (they had already been over there for 2 hours earlier with my dad since he was watching them yesterday and today). My son likes to see the alligators! They are not real...they are used to scare away the geese so that the pond area stays nice. However, they are very real-looking and the police did get several calls the first week about there being real alligators in the pond :)




Here are some pictures :)


Walking to the pond (or should I say "riding?")


They are trying to catch the alligator in order to flip him over (he was upside down and not doing any good!)

My daughter is "yelling" at the alligator to stay in the middle - the wind was so strong that every time she pushed it out he came right back to her.


My dad and my daughter trying to put it on the other side of the pond so it will stay in the middle :)


My princess :)


My adorable little boy!


This is a picture of them playing Mario Kart on Sunday...they're getting pretty good at it!

A Great Father's Day Weekend!

Wow, what a great weekend! It started off great by getting out of work early on Friday and getting a little nap while the kids napped :)

Friday night my daughter and I watched High School Musical 1 and 2 off and on while doing each other’s hair. Then for some reason hubby decided to sleep on the couch and watch TV, so I had two little friends spend the night with me :)

Saturday my daughter’s game was cancelled (but unfortunately I was already awake, so I couldn’t go back to sleep). We did some work around the house and then headed out to find hubby’s Father’s Day present. See, I had decided to get him Mario Kart for the Wii a long time ago…he’s been wanting it for a while now. Anyway, one Saturday a couple of weeks ago he said he wanted to go and get it, and my daughter flipped out, so he figured out that we were going to get it for him. Thankfully he did this, because on Friday I had searched and searched for the game and couldn’t find it at any store! So Saturday we went out and finally at the last store we found it! We went home and put the kids down for a nap and he and I played for a while. It was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. Once the kids woke up they played for a while. Saturday night we headed to a park here and had so much fun playing with the kids and walking up to the top of the dam and looking at the beautiful water.

Sunday we were up early and had a great big breakfast that I cooked for once (normally hubby cooks the Sunday breakfast, but since it was Father’s Day, he played Mario Kart with the kids while I cooked). Afterwards we headed outside to play. It was hot, and the kids didn’t want the sprinkler on, which surprised me. I asked them if they would play in a pool, and once they said yes, we headed to the store to get one. We brought it back and hubby blew it up for us (it’s HUGE!). Once it was blown up, the cutest and funniest thing happened:

My son came over and looked in the pool, and then ran over to the box. I saw him turn the box over and shake it a couple times. I asked him what he was doing, and he told me “I can’t find the water.” After I was done laughing, I explained to him that the water didn’t come with the pool…we had to get it out of the hose.

After swimming and playing for a while the kids took a nap and then we headed to church. After church we went to a party at a friend’s house and were there until 9:30! It was so much fun and the weather was absolutely gorgeous!

Now it’s back to the grind…hopefully this week will go fast!

Random Stuff...

It’s Friday!!! This week has been so long for me and I’ve been counting down the days. And as a bonus, I get to leave two hours early today, so it’s an even better Friday. I’m hoping that when I get home the kids will be down for a nap and I can just crawl into bed and get a little nap in myself!

Nothing much has been going on…my daughter had a t-ball game last night and did fantastic with the coach pitching. She has another game tomorrow morning (along with team pictures), but it’s supposed to rain, so we’ll see if she actually plays.

Have you ever noticed how awkward guys (who are not related to you) are about pregnancy? I think it’s quite funny. I got in the elevator with the head of our legal department and was talking to him and he moved the subject to asking me how I was feeling and when I was due…only when he said this he made hand motions of a big belly and looked like he was really uncomfortable. And this is a guy who has his own kids. I’ve experienced other instances like this and I just have to laugh…women talk about it all the time – you’re likely to hear the birth story of a woman who you’ve just met. But guys try to be polite and have such a hard time with it :)

Anyone have big Father’s Day plans? Hubby won’t tell me what he wants to do, so as of now we have nothing planned. I do have to go out and get his gift today though – at least that will be a hit!

I just really want to relax this weekend. I would like to take some naps (can you tell I’m super tired?). Hopefully I’ll get at least one in!

OK, off to work my shortened day :)

Tons of Anxiety...

It is so gorgeous here. The sun is shining beautifully and it’s the perfect temperature outside. So while my moods are up and down, at least I can just look out my window and see the gorgeous sunlight and feel instantly a little better.

Last night was a hard night for me. While I was watching TV and hubby and I were “discussing” things (maybe arguing a little, maybe not), I got a huge wave of feeling very overwhelmed. Life is busy right now, and I hate it. I feel like I go nonstop from the minute I wake up in the morning (about 6:15) until the minute I get into bed (around 11:00). I don’t want that kind of life. I want to come home from work and play with the kids (outside preferably) and enjoy my wonderful neighborhood. I hate feeling like I’m doing so many things for so many people…my kids constantly need me, hubby depends on me for a lot, work obviously depends on me…even my neighbor and friend has asked me for my time this weekend to drive her to New York…I feel like I’m going to break down at times.

Now I know, I’ve done most of it to myself in a way. My daughter has gymnastics tonight and a t-ball game tomorrow night. I could have not signed her up for those activities, but I don’t think that’s right either. I could isolate myself and not have any friends that need things from me, but that would make me such a loser and I’d be miserable. I could be a not so great mommy and wife and tell my family that I’m closed for the day, but then why on earth did I get married and have kids if I wanted to do that?

I think it got super overwhelming last night when I realized that I feel like our life is hard right now, when in fact it’s pretty easy with the kids. But I’m going to have a newborn, and that will be very hard. What was I thinking?

What I was thinking is that I want four kids. Now with the first two I absolutely ADORED the baby phase. It was fun, exciting, and new. Now? If I could skip to when this baby is about 20 months I would feel a lot better. The thought of having the fourth baby? Terrifies me right now. I would love to jump ahead to when I have all my kids and they’re all over the age of two. It’s very strange…I used to be very attracted to babies. Anytime I would see one I would desperately want to hold it and play with it. But now? I’m fine not touching a baby, or barely even paying attention to it. But toddlers? I love them! Babies depend on the people around them for everything. I’m definitely not used to that…if my daughter wants a drink she can get it herself if I’m in the middle of something. If my son needs to go potty, he goes (most of the time :) ). I can take the kids to the park and sit on a bench and just soak them in – I don’t have to be on the playground with them anymore. That’s all going to change.

So what does this mean for me? I don’t think too much really…I don’t have any fears that I won’t love or bond with this baby (too late for that :) ). I know after a few months we’ll never remember what life was like before we had three fantastic children. But I do know that it will be a hard adjustment, with no breaks in between. I’m sure I will break down and cry. A lot. But it will get easier, I know that from past experience. I just don’t want to be a mess while I’m waiting for it to get easier. I want to be happy…I want to be a person that people want to be around…not the “crazy lady with too many kids.”

So I’m praying with all my heart that I get an easy and good baby. I know they exist…I’ve heard about them. It’s possible, right?

Feeling Sort of Blah....

I have so many thoughts going through my head today, but none of them are really coherent. However, I think I will feel better if I write them down…I just feel so heavy right now.

As I’ve said often here, I feel so blessed to have everything that I have. I don’t deserve any of it. I have a husband that is the best thing in the world, kids that make me smile more than cry :), a job where I’m needed, and a wonderful family that is always ready to help out when needed. I know that at any moment these things can be taken away from me…I pray they aren’t, but I know it’s a possibility.

Saturday I was getting my hair done and while I was processing, the other client was telling my sister-in-law that she was looking for a place to live with her boys because she was getting a divorce. The whole time she just looked so sad. How lucky am I to have a great husband and to not have to worry about whether we'll be together next year? Or in five years? Or ten? I wish everyone had what I have.

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Just a few minutes ago we laid off an employee. Now with us being a homebuilder, this is not an isolated occurrence. But it was the first lay-off in the accounting department. That’s hard. Accounting (along with HR, IS, etc.) is a very demanding field, and usually not affected by the performance of a company because these things still need to get done whether you’re making money or not. But with the selling of less homes, there is less accounting, and therefore his position needed to go. He was a nice guy and of course he was paid severance (our company really hates laying people off), but it still sucks.

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I absolutely love warm weather. These 90 degree days we’re having? I love them. I love being able to eat dinner outside at 8:00 and not being cold. So the thought of having a relaxing summer and enjoying this great weather warms my heart. Except that we’re so busy, and I hate that. So far we have something going on every weekend in June, and I hate that. I can’t even find time to schedule my son’s birthday “party” – how wrong is that? I really hope we’re able to keep the rest of the summer free and enjoy our weekends.

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Gas prices suck. It has really hit us lately how high the prices have gotten ($4 per gallon?!?!), and when you have two cars filling up every week, it really takes a toll on you. Thankfully we’re OK…my heart goes out to the people that can’t handle it. I see families on the news and I want to cry that they can’t afford very much food for their kids because of the gas prices and the increased prices on groceries.

I think that’s it for now. I do feel a little better. Thank you for letting me vent. I think lunchtime out in the 93 degree sunshine will perk me up even more :)

Graduation Season

Last night we went to my sister’s ex-boyfriend’s graduation from medical school. Hubby is very good friends with him, the kids call him “uncle,” and we’re pretty sure that my sister and him will end up together…eventually (she was there last night as well).

I sat there and thought about how many graduations my little girl has been through in her short five years, and how many different stages she been at through each one. There was my middle sister’s undergrad when my daughter was just a couple weeks old. Then there was my youngest sister’s undergrad graduation. Then we had my brother-in-law’s graduation from culinary school – outside and hot and I ended up walking around with my just one year-old trying to cool-off.

We got a little bit of a break until last year when we went to my sister’s graduation from medical school and my other sister’s graduation from grad school. The kids were good at the medical school graduation, but my other sister’s graduation was long and I ended up taking them out in the hallway after we saw my sister walk.

So that’s six graduations she’s been to in her life. Our next one should come in four years when my sister graduates from the residency program, so we get a nice little break. What was neat was thinking about how much has changed from one graduation to the next…the first one she had only been with us such a short time; the next two she was just beginning to learn to walk, the next two she was just adorable and actually listened to us when we told her to be quiet during the ceremony; and this last one she and I wrote notes and drew pictures back and forth to each other throughout the whole ceremony. She got so excited waiting to see what I would write to her and what my picture would be.

I definitely had the most fun with her at this last one by far!

Baby Update

I’m 23 weeks today. I’m surprised at both how quickly this pregnancy is going and yet also how slowly it seems to be going at times.

We have no names picked out. I take that back…I have thought of some names that we both liked until we looked at the initials (like PMS). So we’re back to square one.

We have not even started to think about the nursery yet. This is the bad thing about moving into a new house…we have to do a nursery again. The main problem is that my parents’ house is STILL NOT DONE, so they are still using our 4th bedroom when they come and stay with us. The room is definitely not big enough for a double bed and a crib.

We have started talking about maternity leave at work. Unfortunately we have this dumb policy that if you are collecting short term disability (that’s where having a baby falls – interesting, huh?) then you can’t get paid. The problem is that I have to work for about 4 weeks because we will have a filing due and there’s no one else that can do my part. I don’t mind working (I volunteered to do it) because I’m only going to get paid for 4 of the 12 weeks I’ll be out, and since I’m keeping the nanny the whole time, I will take any paycheck I can get! So now my boss and I have to figure out what little lie we’ll be using in order to get me paid for the work I’ll be doing.

The baby is moving around a ton! Not a whole lot that the kids can feel yet (at least not when I’m with the kids anyway…during the day is a different story). My daughter has felt it once and loved it!

So far I’m not too miserable yet. My “big” stomach is definitely annoying me…I keep bumping into things because I haven’t gotten used to it yet. And just the extra energy needed to move myself around due to the extra poundage is exhausting. But, I’m still able to play outside with the kids without too much trouble, which is really nice.

That’s about it in baby world…I do need to get on the ball with the preparations for this baby so that I’m not doing anything last minute. But playing outside with the kids is so much more fun :)

A Loud Night!

I have fantastic kids.

And it’s not for the reasons you would think – because they listen well or eat well or because they are so sweet (even though those are all true statements). No, they are fantastic because they sleep through thunderstorms. Very, very loud thunderstorms.

Last night we had some of the worst storms I’ve ever heard. They woke me up a few times and I’m a very sound sleeper. But the kids never made a peep. So I didn’t have to deal with scared kids sleeping in my bed. Thankfully they sleep through all storms – I don’t think I’ve ever had to get up with them because thunder woke them up.

Let’s hope this next one follows his/her siblings’ example.

A Wonderful Weekend

What a weekend! Friday hubby and I headed over to the Memorial Tournament and enjoyed a very relaxing afternoon watching the golfers, including the son of one of hubby’s clients who was playing.

Friday night we headed over to a mini-dinner party with some friends. All was going fantastic until around 10:00 when my daughter informed another little girl that she didn’t want to be her friend. I was so mad at my daughter…I couldn’t believe she had said that! I dealt with the situation (although I’m sure not for the last time) and we headed in for baths and bed.

Saturday my daughter had a t-ball game. The weather was gorgeous and afterwards we just played outside and then we all took naps! After naps my mom, sister, daughter and I went shopping.

Sunday was absolutely gorgeous! We played outside in the morning and then headed out to my niece’s first birthday party. We had fun hanging out with the family and finally ended up coming home around 5:00 with two kids sound asleep in the backseat :)

We just hung out the rest of the night enjoying the beautiful weather. I hate that it’s Monday already, but at least there is a lot of sunshine and it’s beautiful outside again!