Back to the Future, er, Past

So this week is vacation week. The girls are out of school. Jim is off work. I'm not off of anything, though Jim has been handling a lot of J4's mealtimes lately. Christmas is done so I can relax more.

Thanks to Facebook, I got a notice Wednesday morning from Starlight Skatium. They were going to be open that afternoon from 1-4pm. This is a big deal because they have very limited hours. Our first experience with this roller skating rink came two weeks ago at a birthday party. The girls went and loved it! So when I saw the quick ad, and the relatively low admission fee ($5/person), I told Jim we were going skating that afternoon.

Alpha was totally into it! She's the most athletic one of the 4(5) of us. She can go around the rink at a moderate pace without holding onto the wall and without falling down. She was even dancing to the music! Jim and I couldn't help but smile. :)


Beta is a tad more timid. She clung to the wall several times, but did manage to make it around the rink. Jim actually got her to hold hands with him and get into the mainstream. She loved it! But only if he was there to hold her hand.


J4 had fun sitting with daddy and then mommy. We brought some toys and he seemed to enjoy himself.
So, you might be wondering.....did I skate?

Well, yes. YES I DID! It took a few times around to get my roller-legs back on, but I did make it around plenty of times. I spent a lot of time trying to coax Beta off the wall. It didn't work. I also went around worried that some small child would fall or cut in front of me and I wouldn't be able to stop. Thankfully that never happened. I don't think I was going fast enough for that anyway.

The outing was surreal. Here we are at a ROLLER RINK. Many girls there are wearing SKINNY JEANS with GLITTERY ACCESSORIES. It wasn't just a flashback. I truly felt like I was back in the 80's! Except I was the parent this time, not the kid. FREAKY! It was like something out of "Inception".....

But there was a totem, of sorts. Something to remind us what time we were really in. This sign was posted on the wall:

Blogging is so 5 minutes ago

Does anyone blog any more? Has everyone left and gone to Facebook or Twitter? From the looks of my blog, it would seem so.

I could write a million things about what I've been doing the last 2 months, but I'm tired. So I'll just post some pics.

Back in October, we went to the Ozark Corn Maze. Everyone had a blast!


Then, of course, that was followed by Halloween!





In November, it turned cold. J4 refuses to wear his coat when he's fastened in his car seat. So I've had to take his coat and cover him up with it instead of putting it on him. Here he is at Walmart in one of his baby hats.
Isn't he cute???????? (sorry...I'm a bit biased.)

Now it's Christmas! We attended the opening night of Lights of the Ozarks.

And finally, I got my new ornament for 2010.

Testing, Testing, 1,2,3

It's been a busy month! With school back in session, as well as church on Wednesday nights and us teaching Sunday School (oh, and taking care of a baby), I haven't had much time to sit down and think, much less blog.

Plus, I've been ill. I've had stomach pain off and on since about June. It got worse around the first part of September so I went to my doctor. He recommended a gallbladder ultrasound. Apparently, the gall bladder has been known to go haywire in women who have recently had children.

It came back normal.

So he sends me to a GI doc. (oh Joy!) Who recommends me for an EGD. (don't ask me to write it out...it's a long word) Otherwise known as an upper GI scope. I had it done today.

It also came back normal.

But that's not what I'm here to talk about today. Nope, I'm here to talk about doors. Specifically, stuck doors. In hospital rooms.

So I'm sitting on this bed, in my lovely hospital gown. The first nurse's assistant came in and asked me some questions and took my blood pressure. After she was done, she left. As she left, she closed the door behind her. HARD! It was difficult for her to shut it, but she got it shut.

Fast forward about 5 minutes. Nurse #2 comes to the door and knocks. I nervously say "come in." She tries the door. It doesn't move. So I say louder, "come in!" She tries again. The door won't open. I ask if it's locked. Jim gets up to go open it for her.

The door is STUCK! I'm talking, it won't budge. Not moving an inch. Zip. Zilch. Nada.

First of all, DON'T PANIC!

Jim and the nurse keep trying, but the door holds its ground. It is NOT budging. So the nurse gets other nurses to help her. Jim tries some cards from his wallet. The nurses try. Jim tries. The nurses leave to go get help.

At this point, the reality of the situation starts to sink in. Jim and I look around the room. There is no other way out. There is one window to the outside, that doesn't open. (We're on the 3rd floor....) There are two windows into the hall, which don't open either. (You know the kind. It's a typical hospital room! Can't have people escaping or jumping or anything.)

The nurses say they have called someone. I'm picturing maintenance taking an hour to get to us....thankfully, they showed up about 5 minutes later. The bolt was totally broken. They ended up taking off the handle and pretty much breaking the door down. I think the guy used his shoulder and just threw his weight against it to finally bust it open.

All in all, I think we were only stuck about 10-15 minutes. But it was a harrowing few minutes! One nurse said she'd worked there 10 years and that had NEVER happened before. The girl who shut the door said she'd worked there for 2 years and had never seen that happen either. I have to say, it was a first for me and Jim as well.

A picture of the door with the bolt removed.

We had to plug the hole with the sheets so I could get dressed to leave! LOL!

Happy Birthday(s)!

Happy Birthday to the two special men in my life, Jim and J4!

J4 is 6 months old today. I can't believe how fast it is going!

Jim will be mumble mumble years old tomorrow! I'm sure his mother thinks the time is going fast as well. :)

In honor of these two, here is a video we shot about a month ago. It's nothing special. Just what happens at our house after bath time and before bedtime. It involves me, Jim, J4, Beta, and a cow. Things can get kinda crazy 'round here!

(Alpha was in the girls' bathroom drying her hair. She is "practically on her own" you know...) LOL!

We're Famous!

That's what the girls said tonight when they learned that Jim had been interviewed on 4029 TV at a gun show this afternoon. He got to shoot a machine gun. He was VERY excited!

1st Day of School!

Well, now that we're 3 days in, I figure I finally have a moment to post some pictures of the first day of school. This year, the girls are in 4th and 1st grade. So the drama of the first day of kindergarten is a year behind us. Still, though, it's hard to see them both getting to be so big!

Here is Beta, always momma's girl!

And here is Alpha! She is looking way too old for my comfort level....

And now......back to the 80's Retro Pop Reunion!
Yes. Both girls are wearing essentially the same outfit. Beta had the foresight to see that leggings on a 98 degree day might not be a good idea. (When I picked them up, Alpha had taken hers off and put them in her bag. )

How about those leggings and sparkly skirts? Alpha also purchased her first pair of high tops. All of the styles are making me think of the 80's and some of the stuff I wore. I can't wait to see their reactions in 20 years when I pull this picture out again.....

Lies! Deceit! Grrrrrrr.......

EVERYONE SHOULD CHECK THEIR BANK STATEMENTS!!!!!

We found fraud charges on our checking account this weekend. They were small, but fraud nonetheless.

One was for $4.92 from Fericulgames.com.
Another was for $14 from T Trepanier LLC, a construction company in Oregon.
A third was for $6.99 to www.newpetsmark.com.

One was Jim's debit card number. The other two were mine.

So, even if you are not "nerdy" like me and religiously check your account balance and bank statement, you should still look. Don't trust the bank to look out for you. They have no way of knowing which charges you made and which you didn't.

Don't be stupid and trusting! :)

The Hundredaire

We had a celebration in our house tonight.

Alpha has saved up $100!!! With a combination of birthday money and hard work, she managed to save up $100 to buy various and sundry things. She has forbidden herself to spend even $1 until she hit that magical round number.

In honor of this wonderful occasion, Beta threw her a party!

Here she is! She was the one who coined the term "hundredaire".

They made her a crown out of silver ribbon and sparkly foam stickers.

J4, Jim, and I were invited. Here is J4 playing "Pin the dollar bill on the, um, dollar bill." (It was 1/2 of a crayon-printed $100 bill and you had to match the other half with your eyes closed.)


And one last picture of J4 in his cute little onesie. (Yes, it says "ipood".)

Solids!

J4 is now 4 months old. So the doctor gave us the go-ahead to start solids! Yay! (You know, it's funny....with this third baby, I've been trying to slow down and enjoy the infant stage more than I have in the past because I know how quickly it will pass. When he went to 3-6 month clothes, I was actually kind of sad instead of happy. So you'd think I'd be that way about starting solids. But no. I'm very excited! It's always fun to see what kinds of foods they like. Plus, this puts us on the road to being able to eat normal stuff when we're in the car. No more stopping to nurse! LOL!)

Here he is in his new high chair!

He was actually kind of tired when I first fed him, so he kept putting his thumb in this mouth. I hope that helped the cereal to go down.

All messy!

And in the tried-and-true tradition of babies everywhere, he cried when I tried to wipe his face.

Here is a picture Beta took of us the other day. I like this one.

This next one is my favorite snapshot of him to date!

My Morning - Stream of Consciousness Style

6:45 am
Jim: Good morning, honey! I thought you were going to get up at 6:15 and shower after I got up at 6:00.....
Me: Mmmm, sorry.
Beta enters with pouty face.....
My tooth is still in the tooth pillow....
(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) CRAP! crap! crap! crap!
Jim: Well, there was a huge storm last night. The tooth fairy couldn't fly through all the rain. I'm sure she'll come tonight.
Bad mom. Bad mom. What kind of mom totally FORGETS the tooth fairy????
Alpha: What do we have for breakfast?
Pancakes, cereal, do you want me to make a smoothie for you again?
Yes.
I think I'll have some of this cake for breakfast. My mom used to do that all the time. :)
Take a shower.
Baby cry.
Change diaper.
Darn! Forgot to make the smoothie.
Make smoothie.
Feed oldest child.
Feed youngest child.
As soon as I'm done feeding him, we're heading to Walmart to buy groceries!
Beta: I'm going to use my money at the crane machine!
$1.50 later _______
Waaahhhhhh!!!!! pout pout pout
I'd like to return this alarm clock. It blinks and seems to be always lit up.
Ask for money returned in $1's. Think vaguely of tooth fairy.
Head to dental aisle. Refuse to pay $5 for special floss.
Start buying groceries.
No, we can't buy a coconut. No, we don't need eggplant.
Waaaahhhhhh!!!
Shh..shhh....
No.
No.
No.
Waaaahhhhhh
Dang, 10:30, naptime.
Ahhh, he's finally asleep.
We'd better go so he can take a nap at home.
Gotta figure out meals for Sunday lunch.
Handle dispute over lettuce.
AAackk! We forgot to get another alarm clock!
Head to alarm clock aisle. The cheap $5 Back to School (college) ones are gone!
Look all over store.
Ask clerks.
They don't know.
Mom, can I have this alarm clock for my birthday? It has an mp3 spot!
We'll wait until it's your birthday.
I want this one.
No, it's $19. You can have these $5 ones.
But they aren't pink!
Why don't we wait until they get more in? Our food is defrosting!
Waaahhhhhhh!!!!!
Head to checkout lanes.
Get in one lane.
Man, this one is not moving AT ALL.
Get in other lane.
Get in third lane.
Ah, next in line.
11:45??? How did I spend 2 hours in Walmart?
Person ahead of me to clerk: um, I had a coupon for $2.50 off a box of cereal, but it ADDED $2.50 to my total.
Customer Service Mgr to me: Did you buy some cereal?
Yes.
Cereal got rang up on my bill AND on hers!
Thankfully, not my problem to fix.
Maybe next week, I'll go on Thursday night and leave kids at home with Jim.
Will be much faster and cheaper.
Baby wakes up.
Waaaahhhhhhh!!!!!!
Girls, would you go get a 2nd basket to put our groceries in?
Scuffle over who's going to get it and push it.
(in blazingly hot parking lot) Who remembers where we parked?
I want to push it! No, me!!! No, I GET to!!!!
Darn, I knew it wasn't this aisle.
Can y'all push the basket between the cars without hitting them? I mean, not even hitting ONE of them!
Whew. It's a miracle they didn't hit anything.
It's hot in here!!!!
I know, give me a minute to get the groceries in and I'll start the car.
I hope we don't have a wreck on the way home. That would be fitting to how this morning has gone.
Enter garage at approximately noon.
Unload kids.
Unload groceries.
Feed children.
Put one down for nap.
Plop down on bed.

By Request.....

I ran into a former coworker of mine today in Walmart. She said she had a bone to pick with me. I hadn't posted any pics of J4 on my blog!!! Well, since J4 is one of my most favorite subjects, I must remedy this! Without further adieu.......

Newborn, approximately 3 days old

1 month old

2 months old

3 months old

All 3 kids!

That's all I have time for right now. I'll try to post some here more often. I've been posting a lot to facebook, but I should post some here as well. Hope everyone is having a great summer!

The Locals

We had a very local kind of day today!

Since I'm home now with the kids, I was looking for stuff for us to do. (Besides watch that friggin' TV!) The Fayetteville Farmers Market is downtown on the square every Tuesday and Thursday. (and maybe Saturdays) Alpha had gone there last year with the summer camp she attended. She loved it! She would always come home with the neatest stuff to either eat or display. So I thought we'd take a trip there and see what we could find.

We bought peaches, blackberries, and a whole quart of blueberries. Beta used these, along with some strawberries and an apple (purchased locally at Harps....lol!) to make a wonderful fruit salad for dessert tonight.

We also bought some cherry tomatoes, lettuce, and carrots for a dinner salad to accompany our hot dogs. :) It was very good as well!

Lastly, we bought a bouquet of flowers. They are VERY pretty. They remind me of my wedding flowers because of their various bright colors.

Here is a picture of the fruit salad Beta made:


Here is a picture of our lovely bouquet:

While the girls were playing in the fountain on the square, I had a funny experience that needs sharing. I overheard two people talking about rainbows and how one was just up there in the sky even though it wasn't raining. Curious, I looked up and sure enough! It was a fire rainbow! We saw one back in April 2007 on our way out of town one weekend.

It looks like this:

Anyway, I turned around and said to these people, "wow, that is a cool rainbow!" I tried to say it was a fire rainbow caused by water droplets high up in the sky, but they began telling me that it was "because of all that stuff they spray" and that a rainbow like this appeared above Haiti right before the big earthquake occurred....So anyway, I just, um, moved along.

Since we were done shopping, and to get away from the crazy people, we stopped in at a little store off the square called Bliss Cupcake Cafe. Oh my goodness! The word "bliss" is in the name for a reason. These cupcakes were heavenly! They were tender and truly did melt in your mouth. They will only be an occasional treat, however. They were $2.75 each! Plus 11.25% tax! Yikes! I ate mine slowly..... You should click on my link and see their menu. It's like gourmet cupcakes! We'll have to go there the next time any of you come to visit.

Gina's Homemade Lemonade

Y'all have GOT to try this. I made Gina's Homemade Lemonade this afternoon. It is absolutely delicious! Gina is the wife-half of the Neely's on Food Network.

I ended up only making 2 quarts instead of an entire gallon. It calls for 2 cups of lemon juice. I used an entire bag of lemons (total of 9) and I only got 1 cup of juice. Now I know why Simply Lemonade is so expensive.

I probably won't make this on a regular basis. Squeezing the lemons was very labor-intensive. Not to mention painful! (I found every paper cut on both of my hands.) But the fresh lemon juice made it WAY better than any other lemonade I've ever tasted.

That's Why I Married Him

With the girls camping with their grandparents, and J4 at a babysitter's, we decided we could finally go out and celebrate me getting my CPA license. So Monday night Jim & I loaded up the mini-van (oooh sexy!) and headed out on the town. Specifically, we went to "a very expensive place." LOL! It was a nice restaurant on Dickson street that people rave about. Jim had told me once that when I got my CPA license, he'd take me there.

We were dressed up and ready to feel like adults rather than just parents. The place was decorated with very modern and trendy decor. We had to wait a few minutes for our table, but were soon seated in a very dimly lit room at a small table with nice linens.

Jim said we should go all out, since it was a celebration, so we began with an appetizer. I guess the menu listed it correctly, but I was still surprised when our crab cakes consisted of ONE crab cake. Yes, the menu had listed it as "crab cake", but you know, I figured there'd be at least two. Anyway, the two of us split this crab cake (singular) that was about the size of a hockey puck. It was VERY good. But small.

Next came our entrees. I got seafood linguini and Jim got a steak. I forget which kind of cut. As expected, the food was absolutely DELICIOUS! But the portions were small. Now, this was not necessarily a bad thing. Too many restaurants pile on the food nowadays to where it's way more than any one person should be eating. But for the price each of these entrees cost, I wished it had been just a bit more food.

Finally, we saw a dessert menu. The only dessert that really appealed to us was gelato. We LOVE gelato! However, it was listed as $6. At this point, despite the food being fabulous, my price-to-value radar was going off. I figured we'd pay $6 for one SCOOP of dessert that we'd have to split.

So split we did. Right after paying the bill, of course. As we were leaving, Jim asked how I liked it. I told him the food was delicious, but the price was just way too high for what you got. He immediately blurted out, "Next time we go to Doe's!" as if he had been waiting to say it all evening. My thoughts exactly! I breathed a sigh of relief as well.

The next day, he was telling a coworker about our experience. When he told him about my agreement on Doe's, he said, "That's why I married her!" For that reason, folks, is why I married him!

Like the new look?

Blogger had some new templates to play around with.

Hesitation pays off!

My bargain guardian angel is back! This time with a vengeance!

I was shopping at Dillard's a few weeks back for J4's baptism outfit. I found some cute newborn boy outfits, but not exactly what I was looking for. One of the outfits had pants and a little sweater vest. It was $25. I decided to think about it.

Fast forward to last weekend. The girls, my mom, and I headed to the mall. I had decided to get that outfit since I didn't find any other outfit I liked. When we got there, it was gone! AACCCKK! I was worried. Thankfully, I turned around and saw the clearance rack. It was on there and priced at $15!!!! My hesitation saved me $10. (Well, ok, mom bought it....but I saved her $10!)

Also a few weeks ago, I got J4 a bathing suit at Baby Gap. (Click to see it!) I didn't buy the matching shirt because I wasn't sure we needed it. Thinking about babies and sunscreen, though, made me think we did need it. I went back this morning. Amazingly, they not only had the shirt to match his suit, but it was in his size and was only $7.99 instead of $14.50!!! Another $6.51 saved!

A similar thing happened at Children's Place. I had bought the girls some clothes one week. Two weeks later, they were on sale! Now with that one, I was partly annoyed. We had paid full price. But that didn't stop us from buying more of our favorites for less the second time around.

Now, we are hopefully done with summer clothes shopping!

Food Rant

I'm sick of this!!!!!

I was just listening to an episode of the Manic Mommies podcast. On it, Kristin mentioned that she was going to eat at McDonald's, and one of her friends had said "ewww! Do you know what's IN that?" She had told the person that no, she didn't know, and she didn't WANT to know.

I think I'm the same way. I'm sick of hearing about which foods are "healthy" and which are not. I feed my kids Lunchables. There. I said it. I feed them Lunchables and feel good about it. Why? Because when I was growing up, we had meat, cheese, and crackers as meals all the time! What's so wrong with that? Oh, yea. The meat is processed. Processed = bad.

Then there are the naysayers about school lunches. People say the federal government is feeding our kids junk and that we could pack much healthier meals on our own. To that I say, codswallop!!! My girls have been eating school meals for years now. They get a vegetable every day. They'll even get SALAD! If I'm packing a lunch, it's not gonna be salad, that's for sure. (See paragraph above re: Lunchables.)

Then there's the health nuts. First, salt was bad. Bad bad bad! So everything became "salt free" or "low salt", etc. Wait, wait, no. The REAL culprit is cholesterol. Cholesterol-free is the only way to go!!! What's that? It's really FAT? FAT is the real bad guy here? Oh, ok. Well, um, actually, it's just trans-fat. Wait, no. Story on the nightly news. It's salt again. Or maybe high fructose corn syrup. Bad! Evil!

So maybe we should buy and eat organic. Won't THAT be healthier? Maybe, but have you seen the price of that stuff???? Geez. It's enough to make me want to just buy a package of ramen noodles and call it a day. (oh wait....salt....)

Speaking of organic, do you know where your food comes from? Now it's not enough to just eat "healthy" and organic, but now I must eat food that's only been grown in my local town. That I got at a Farmer's Market or food co-op. Shipping food = bad.

That's why I'm sick of this. In deciding what to feed your family, you are damned if you do, and damned if you don't. (and yes, I meant to cuss. Sorry.)

When I was starting to write this, I showed it to Jim. His idea is that it doesn't really matter what we eat. We all should just eat less of it. Good idea! And start exercising, too. I'll get started on that, um, right away. :)

Facebook

I've found a new way to do Facebook. I turned off all the email notifications except those commenting on my own status or writing on my wall. Then, when I'm in Facebook, I click on the Notifications icon in the upper left-hand corner. It'll show who else commented on things that I commented on. If I want, I can then click on the statuses to see what other people said, but I don't have my inbox filling up with comments from people I don't know. This way makes me feel like I'm in control of Facebook instead of the other way around.

My bargain guardian angel returns! In reverse, this time.

While shopping, I have been known to stumble upon some really good deals every now and then. When this happens, I refer to it as my "bargain guardian angel." Well, she's back!

Since the weather is warming up, I've been pulling out the sandals. I still own a pair of crocs, but they are starting to look old. Plus, they look more like shoes you should garden in rather than go to the mall in. So last Sunday, I headed to JC Penney's shoe department with a $10 off coupon. I looked and looked and finally found some white sandals that fit. (the ones in the link aren't the exact ones but they are close) They look very nice for church or work. They were originally $40, on sale for $24.99. I had the $10 off coupon so that made them $14.99, and then Penney's was running a special where they would "pay your sales tax." So I got them for around $14 total.

BUT WAIT!!!! THERE'S MORE!!!!

That was a good deal, but that's not where my angel came into play. I wanted some sandals to just wear around town, and these look too fancy for that. I wanted to keep looking, but my shopping buddy was hungry. :) Fast forward to yesterday. My summer shoes are crowding out my winter shoes so I started putting the winter shoes away and getting the rest of the summer ones out. Lo and behold, there was a pair of brown sandals with a comfy sole. Perfect for wearing around town and not too dressy! I must have had the same thoughts last year and actually had the time to shop.

So this time, my bargain guardian angel SAVED me about $25! How cool is that?

Easter 2010

Our first outing to church on Easter was a success! I guess, anyway. We did manage to make it there by 10:45 for the 11:00 service. But we rode the shuttle to give other guests more space in the parking deck, and ended up entering the service at 10:59. But we made it!

J4 did just fine until about 11:45. He pooped in his pants during the prayer AND the sermon. And let me tell ya.....this boy does NOT like poopy pants. So I had to take him out about 11:45. Then I wasn't sure where to change him. I chose the parlor behind the sanctuary. Well, we won't ever do that again! Unbeknownst to me, you can hear things in the parlor if you are in the choir. So my choir friends who saw us after church were wondering whose baby it was that was screaming so bad during the sermon? Oops.....

Usually, after he wakes up and gets changed, he eats. I thought I might could hold him off, but I was afraid he'd start screaming again once we were back in the sanctuary. So I started looking for a place to nurse him. I ended up in the bride's room in the building next door. It has a nice, comfy couch. So we nursed in there. I missed the last hymn and the Hallelujah chorus. :( But oh well. It's not like I've never heard them before.

I thought I was safe in the bride's room, but at one point this lady came in to use the restroom located there! There is another restroom just down the hall but apparently that never registered with her......I also had not packed a blanket so I had to use the burp cloth to cover myself up. This whole incident resulted in several "notes to self" posted in my mind.

And I haven't even mentioned what it took to just get TO church. My girls don't understand the importance/good taste of wearing the correct hosiery with their dresses. One ended up in dress socks, which was ok, but she only did it after a fight. The other ended up wearing her navy tights because her mother DARED to suggest that she wear her regular panty hose. Sigh....

For posterity, I've got the pictures to prove it!

J4's first Easter basket! It was surrounded by a camo hat which will probably fit him when he's about 5.



Beta wanted to take a picture of me, Jim, and J4 so we let her. Didn't she do a good job?

For lunch we had Petit Jean ham, deviled eggs (now that I know how to make them), macaroni & cheese, green beans, and rolls. We finished with a yummy cheesecake I made from a recipe in Southern Living. Then, we rested the remainder of the day!

Finally!

How It's Going

I'm sitting here pondering how my life has changed over the past 11 days. So I thought I'd write about it. Keeping everything in small, short snippets, of course.

1. I am loving third-time motherhood! Yes, you read that right. The first time around was such a shock to the system. I had endured 24 hours of labor to end up with an unwanted c-section. But also a beautiful baby girl. Who proceeded to scream and cry and have reflux for several months. I love Alpha to death, but my induction into motherhood with her was similar to baptism by fire. :) With Beta, things were definitely easier, but I had this hurried-ness that made me wish those early weeks away. With J4, I'm actually happy and enjoying this! Ok, I'm still sore and would love to sleep from 11-7 straight. But I'm ok with all of this because I know it doesn't last forever and things will eventually return to "normal", whatever that is.

2. We've had more jealousy from the dog than from either of the girls. The poor dog didn't know what on earth this screaming, smelly "dog" was. She hasn't bothered the baby, but she still looks at him funny. As a matter of course, I never leave the dog and baby alone in the same room. Never.

3. I am loving my Graco Travel Lite crib! We are using it as a bassinet in our room for now. When we finally make it down to Little Rock, that'll be his bed until he's older. This thing is small enough to actually fit through a doorway and be lightweight to carry. It has wheels so we can easily move it through the house. Very happy with my purchase!

4. I love being a stay-at-home mom. Really. I do. But yesterday was boring. I watched tv from 8-noon. I watched A Baby Story on TLC and SuperNanny on the Style Channel (or something like that). I have only ever watched one episode of SuperNanny, and strangely enough, that was the exact episode that was on yesterday! I work for over 2 years to come back home and watch.....the same thing? Anyway, when J4 is old enough to go places and the girls are out of school, it will be WONDERFUL! But yesterday was boring.

5. Do I put on make-up or not? I remember one key to staying at home. Get up, get dressed, do something. Don't just lie around in pajamas. It is good for your soul and mental health! But yesterday, as I applied my make-up, I thought, "you know, no one is going to see me. I'm not going anywhere. Should I waste an application of this?" But I finished applying it. For the record, I'm wearing make-up today, too.

6. Just this morning, I hit my pre-pregnancy weight! YES!!!! I'm very excited. But before anyone thinks I'm lying around all skinny and stuff, let me remind/inform you that I started this pregnancy 20 pounds higher than my last 2 pregnancies. So I still have a good 20-25 pounds that I need to lose. I'm hoping some of it just keeps coming off....The rest will probably leave me when I take baby in a stroller, dog on a leash, and 2 girls on bikes or scooters for a walk this summer.

7. So now that I've hit my pre-pregnancy weight, I should probably try wearing some pre-pregnancy clothes, right? Heh, heh...... Um, let's just say I'm kinda nervous to even try.

8. We are still planning to make it to Easter services this Sunday. J4 will be 2 weeks old....But I'm ready to get out of this house. Plus, I was smart enough to buy the girls' dresses and shoes before he was born. He's got an outfit as well. I'll post pictures. :)

9. J4 is, so far, an easy baby. He is still sleeping a lot. WAY more than either of the girls slept at 11 days old. I don't mind, really... He also only fusses when he's being changed or when he's hungry. We've had a few moments that seemed like colic. And don't think I'm naive enough to believe we're going to get to skip that part. He's only 11 days old. Give him time.

10. I'm doing ok with this whole boy-thing. Honestly, the only time I have to do anything different than I did with the girls is during diaper changes. Jim, my mom, and me, were all "baptized" last week at one point or another. The girls would do the same thing, but their showers would just go down and hit the floor. J4's hit the ceiling! Other than that, taking care of a baby is the same no matter the gender, at least for now.

I could probably go on, but, with perfect timing, he's starting to wake up now and it'll be time to eat. Hmmm....he just tooted as well.....Back to work!

He's Here!

Well, after nearly 13 years, we are finally able to welcome J4 into our home! I've posted some pics on facebook, but I thought I'd post some here, too.