Almost Hockey Time!!

Ayden is signed up for hockey and we have all his equipment! He starts on the 10th. Unfortunately that's on a Saturday and I also have a class that day, so I won't be able to see him play. :( I'm trying to switch around my classes though, but it's not working so well.

Christmas Day

The kids were spoiled rotten! They got tons of toys, but the biggest hit was a DVD player. We set up our old T.V. in the living room and that's where they can watch their movies. Mickey Mouse also called that day to let the kids know we are going to Disney in March. We are eagarly anticipating our vacation! I already started packing some stuff up. Jesse got some XBox goodies and I got scrapbook supplies and a Coach purse. I don't feel guilty about this one though. lol

Christmas Eve 2008

It hit 50 some degrees and our roof started to leak. The contractor was out today and it appears we'll be getting new paint in the kitchen, carpet in the family room and paint in the living room and all the way up stairs. Not to mention dry wall where needed.

I'm...dreaming of a white...Christmas

And it looks like I'm going to get it! We have a massive snow storm coming tonight and we're expecting up to 10". I highly doubt the kids will have school. If they do, they'll probably be leaving early. That means I have to make the phone calls for the fan out. Til, tomorrow!

Happy Birthday to me and Ayden!!

Today Ayden turns 7 and I turn 29! I can't believe my baby boy is 7. The years have flown by so fast. He is so smart and funny, I remember his birth like it was yesterday.

My grades are in!! A in humanities and B+ in english!!!! YAHOOOOOOO!!

Very productive today

I got almost everything done except go through Dylan's toys and haircuts!

Grades will be posted tomorrow by noon - wish me luck!

Last Night

My presentation went well and I got a B on my final - not sure how I pulled that one off! lol I should have my grades on Thursday. My next round of classes start the second week in January.

Ayden and I went to Red Lobster tonight for our birthday dinner. My Grandma sent me some money for my birthday and Ayden and I love Red Lobster!

With Christmas next week, I find myself cramming to get my shopping done. I have very little for Ayden. Everyone else is done. Ayden has been really hard to shop for this year. I also have so much wrapping to do and I'm dreading it.

The kids all have their Christmas parties at school on Thursday so Jesse took the day off. I have to make cupcakes tomorrow night for Ayden's birthday and make our cake as well. I can't believe Ayden is going to be 7, it's unreal.

Goals for the week:

• Clean the house top to bottom! And I mean EVERYTHING!
• Get to wrapping
• Make cake(s)
• Get the last of the Christmas cards out. I have a few strays.
• Get Ayden and Ashlyn's hair cut.
• Go through all of Dylan's toys.
• Get the toy room put together.
  

I really don't think the kids are going to have school tomorrow, it's 11pm and we already have 3" of snow. We're suppose to get 1-4" but I think they may have been wrong. The roads are pretty bad.

Okay, I think I'm done with my ramblings. I hope everyone is doing well!

YAHOO!!

Tonight is my last class for the semester. I have a 5 minute presentation. Lets hope I have enough info and I talk slow! lol I can't wait for it to be over.

My life took a twist last night!

First off, my humanities final is done and seemed somewhat easy. I got back my paper last night and I have some things I need to fix so I can get a grade. Last night I learned I have a half bother name Joseph. He's 22 and has a 17 month old son named Jeremy and his wife is Rebecca. Our Dad didn't tell me about him because he was worried Jolene and I would get mad and never talk to him again. Silly, I'm not sure I understand that. I'm very excited about this. Jolene still doesn't know. I need to tell Dad to tell her.

My English Class is done!

I took my final last night and next weeks class is optional! I don't know if I'm really going to go yet though. Sunday is my field trip to the DIA with my humanities class then Monday is my final for that. I need to start studying tonight. He actual gave us a study sheet for this test. I guess he's trying to help us pass since there are only 9 of us left in the class. It started out full and every week the class gets smaller.

Christmas shopping is almost done. Just need to figure out what to get Ayden for his Birthday and Christmas. I'm not sure I'm going to keep what I got Kailey for Christmas. I got her the Room by Room doll house but I think I'm going to exchange it for the Caring Corners doll house.

I've paid for the Eng. Comp II and Government classes, but I'm going to talking to Jesse about taking my algebra class too.

Re-occuring Dreams

Two years or so ago I started having nightmares that I was in the World Trade Center. I blew it off the first time but it seems so real. The sounds, the smell, the panick, I can even hear the rumble of the first tower falling. I've had this dream twice since then and they are only becoming more instense. Why would I be having these dreams? I'd never been to New York until 2003. It's so real and I can't stop thinking about it. I'm not even sure if it's really me in the dream. What I remember about my dreams:

• We (whoever "we" are - I'm not sure) try to use the elevator because we don't really know what's going on.
• The elevator cable snaps once we're all in and we dangle between floors and manage to get out.
• A lady (in business clothing, short short blonde hair) is so scared, she won't get out. The cable breaks and it falls with her in it.
• We try to make our way to the top floor, rather than go down. Not sure why we do this, but in the dream for some reason it makes sense.
• We get to the top floors but the heat and fire are intense, the floors are cracking apart. We manage to find a clear corner and hear the intense rumble and shake of the other tower falling.
• The goal now I to get to the higher floor/roof, if the tower does come down, maybe being higher up will help us survive. We wait until desks and the rumbling starts again.

That's where I usually wake up.

My Christmas Present!!!

It's not a Dell Inspiron Mini 9, but it's close! And it's pink, which is so girly of me. lol

School

I will be taking Government and Eng. Comp II for the winter semester. Once those are finished I have to take PE and Math. Then I'll just have Biology credits to do and I'll be able to apply for the Nursing Program. BUT, I need to check the requirements for transfer to UofM or Oakland University so if they have more Pre-reqs I will take them at OCC.

Why??

Why is everything due right before Christmas?

• Car Insurance - $527.00
• Tuition -$397.00
• Dance Ricital Fees - $140.00
• Dance Tuition - $91.00

Not to mention all the other normal bills.

Alrighty Then

I took the boys in on Wednesday because Dylan's ear was clicking and Ayden's ear hurt. Ayden had an ear infection, Dylan didn't. I notice today that Dylan has a molar! He has 2 bottom teeth and 2 top teeth and a molar! Where's the rest of the teeth?

My cousin is pregnant.

Of course I'm so happy and excited for them, but made me sad about possibly not having any more kids myself. She just found out she's pregnant and due in August. I really have this urge for another baby girl - yes, I know, I'm pyscho! lol I don't know why, I can't explain it.

Ayden's Ear

I have to take him to the Walk In tonight, he's been complaining about it hurting since yesterday morning.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving

The kids are home from school today. God, I forgot what it was like having them all home during the day. They've been driving me nuts! I'm trying to get stuff cleaned up because Erica, Alden, and Liam are coming on Friday. I can't wait to see them and meet Liam!

My thesis is done and handed in. I only have finals left for Eng. Comp and them a optional day the week after that. I may go because I want to know my grade.

My Twilight Weekend!

I went to the 12:01am showing on Friday morning and OMG! The movie was fanstastic!!! I went back to see it on Saturday and I want to see it again!!!!!!!!! It's all I'm thinking about again! lol New Moon starts filming in March! :D :D :D I'm so excited! I need more!!

See my Twilight Ticker?

I'm going to the 12:01am showing today!!!!!!!! I'm so excited!!

Theatre of Pompeii

Yes, I'm typing up my Thesis today because I want to enjoy Twilight guilt-free on Saturday! lol I still need to hit a couple more libraries to go into a little more detail. Did you know the theatre could seat 4000 people and was of Hellenistic design?? See, ya learn something new every day! lol

Check out my Twilight Ticker!!!

Just a couple days to go!! My LM girls and I are having a Twilight Movie Premier party on Saturday. It's going to be so much fun!!

Disney

March 22 through March 29th!!!

Twilight Movie is almost here!!

My Tattoo

I got it done on Friday and it took 15 minutes. The heart is for Jesse, the moon for me, and the kids zodiac signs. I think it turned out fabulous! I'm already thinking of #3. I'll come back later and update about my awesome weekend!

Awesome!

That's how I feel today. I'm awake, no neck pain, no headache, and full of energy - well, not enough to finish cleaning my house though! I'm so excited for my weekend of scrapbooking, massages, tattoo, class project and relaxing with my bestfriends! I need to finish getting my clothes packed, need to hit Meijer for the Twilight soundtrack and shaving cream. I can't wait until 6pm!!!

A side note to Melissa- I'm still waiting for my MIL and SIL to finish the books then I could drop them off to you so you can fall in love with Edward! ;)

2 More Classes

I just registered for Government and English Comp II. I also think I'm just going to go to OU rather than UofM. OU is just up the road and cheaper.

What a Wednesday

1. We have a New, Black, Young, Democratic President Elect!! I didn't like either candidate, but voted for Obama. Regardless of how you voted, we were apart of history yesterday!
2. It's suppose to be 70 again today - in NOVEMBER!
3. Tomorrow night Jen and I run off for the weekend for the LM Crop.
4. Friday at 3pm I should be getting inked!!
5. Jesse is feeling better.

I haven't been sleeping well lately due to neck pain and headaches, so I'm not sure what's going on. I've been to the chiro twice since it started on Friday and I'm not feeling much better.

Nothing says Monday like Humanities Homework!

Today I'm going to be scanning in the pages from all these books I have about Pompeii so I could return the millions of books I have sitting here. Then today, I have my class. Oh joy!

My baby Ayden

Ayden, Kailey, and I ran some errands on Saturday. We got Ayden's hair cut, Kailey's glasses fixed and hit Babies R Us. There were so many tiny babies there and I asked Ayden and Kailey if we should have another baby. They both said yes and I told them they needed to talk to Daddy because he doesn't think we should have any more babies. So Ayden looks at me and says "Mommy, you are in control of yourself, so you can have another baby." lol I told him I kind of needed Daddy's help with this one. Luckily he didn't ask why. lol

Blah

I didn't go to my english class on Wednesday, around 3 I started feeling sick and had a fever. Friday night Jesse got it and the girls are coughing. So now I'll be going to a makeup class on Wednesday to catch up. Since I didn't get as sick as Jesse, I'm hoping I don't get sick just in time for the crop.

Tonight

I'm going to Pronto! with my brother and some of his coworkers. Paul's working tonight too, so I'll get to see him and he says it's Karaoke night, should be fun! I don't do karaoke, but I do find it amusing! I can't wait to get some Hummus and that yummy green drink!

Tattoos

Yes, I'm addicted and I just scheduled an appointment for another one on Monday November 10 at 8:30pm, but Jesse's being a butt about me leaving class an hour early. He wants me to reschedule for a different day.

Drum Roll Please...

I got a C on my humanities mid term AND got my outline done on time and handed in! Now I need to write my paper for my english class.

I need a breastpump!

So my goal was to wean Dylan before the crop, well, we're not ready to wean or it would have happened already! So I need a pump for that weekend and I really want to get a double electric pump so I can pump quickly and effectively. I don't want to spend over $50.00 though. I wonder how much it would cost to rent on from the hospital. I don't want to buy it because I don't need to pump on a regular basis.

My weekend . . . at the library!

Friday wasn't so bad, Mikey got 2 tickets to the Wings game from work and gave them to me. So Jesse and I went downtown to the game. We left after the 2nd period. I couldn't follow the puck because of a headache. The Wings were up by a few goals. We decided to go to Chili's for dinner and a drink and we watched the rest of the game from there.

Saturday we went to the chiro and all got adjusted then off to the library I went! I was there all day researching for my paper. After I left I went Salvation Army hopping and found Ashlyn and wicker baby changing table for 7.99 - 30% off. I also found a cute little jewelry box and I'm not sure which one of the girls I will give it to. Then I found an Elmo phone new in the box from another S.A. for Dylan and a couple of cute outfits.

Then I hit our brand new Target!! I thought it was 2 stories, but it has parking on the lower level. It is so cool although it's just like the new Targets. Much better than the crap hole by the Scummit Place "Mall". I'm so glad I won't have to shop their anymore. There selection was horrible and don't have a lot of the stuff the new ones have. I got Ayden the GeoTrax GeoAir Airport that Ayden is asking for. I've only bought 2 Christmas presents retail. I'm trying so hard to be cheap this Christmas! lol

Yesterday morning I headed to Cranbrook for my humanities field trip for extra credit. It was very interesting and beautiful! Then I headed to the library and spent the rest of the day there. Got home after 5pm and continued working on my paper. I got my outline done although I think I'm going to change it up some. I need to type it up still. I got my thesis paragraph written and just need to do my works sited page and bibliography. Tonight I hand it in and see what I got on my midterm and quiz.

My comment to Dr. Phil

He's looking for mother's who regret their homebirths.

I had a homebirth with my last child, my only regret is having my first three at the hospital! I should have had them all at home! Since when is having a baby at a hospital " tradition"? For millions of years woman gave birth to their children at home because there were no hospitals or the hospitals were and still are for SICK people! Sure some woman that are high risk should give birth in a hospital. But healthy woman who choose to have home births should be able to do so without being looked down upon! Many say home birthing is dangerous and mother and/or child could die. That is true for any birth in a hospital or at home. Chances of getting an infection leading to death is more common in the "sterile" environment of a hospital. Home birthers typically don't just jump on the home birth band wagon until they are educated enough to understand all the possibilities and many of them accept that things could go wrong and that a transfer could be necessary. The home birthers that regret their home birth are usually those that jumped into the decision or had high expectations and didn't take into consideration the possibility of transfer. Plain and simple, births can go wrong no matter where you are having it. Unfortunately the focus is on the home birthers while the hospitals, American hospitals, have the highest infant/mother mortality rate in the world. So instead of "picking" on home birth, lets try to fix that problem!

Complete Shock!

I got my Englist mid term back tonight and to my complete and utter amazement, I got a B!!!!!! No idea how I pulled it off, but I did. Now I have to concentrate on my thesis and my paper for English.

Kailey's New Do!

I just cut about 4" off of Kailey hair. Doesn't look too bad. Her hair is just like mine, one side goes under and the other side flips up!

Exhausted!

I don't know if Dylan's teething, having a growth spurt, or just doesn't want to sleep. He's waking up multiple times a night again and I'm wiped out. He did this Sunday night as well so last night I was hoping he would sleep. Nope, Ashlyn, Kailey, and Ayden were up at midnight. Once they finally fell asleep an hour later Dylan woke up. Maybe I'll run him to the chiropractor after Jesse gets home.

I am BLEEPED!

So I have my humanities mid term tonight. Jesse helped me study like crazy last night with flash cards and all that fun happy crap. If I don't fail this mid term I'll stick out the course, if I do, I'll drop it. Which brings me to my outline for my THESIS that is due next week. A thesis for a freshman course. I'm so freakin' scared about this as I haven't written a research paper since 1997 and that didn't involve all the thesis steps! I have the MLA Handbook and you'd think that would help, but it doesn't. AND I have another research paper rough draft due on Thursday for my English Composition class. Luckily she only wants 2-4 pages with cited work. The humanities class - 9 pages, a 10 minute oral presentation with powerpoint show. I'm screwed!

Guilt and other stuff

I'm going to sell my new Coach purse because I feel guilty for buying it. I'm going to keep the small clutch purse I bought with it and just sell the Carly.

Tonight I should be sleeping in Georgia but since gas prices were outrageous, we cancelled our Disney trip - now gas prices are a whole dollar less! Needless to say, I'm very bummed out.

I went to Jackie's Pampered Chef party today and got some kitchen goodies and bought Jesse's mom a car opener for Christmas. She came with me and I told her I was going to get her something for Christmas and that's what she picked out! We're also going to get her a digital camera.

Oh boy!

Dylan took his first step tonight!! I'm a little excited about him walking but I know it's going to make everything trickier!

Not sure what to do...

Jesse gave me the option of dropping my humanities class last night. It's an elective that he talked me into taking and now he's feeling horrible because I'm not doing so well in it. I'm having a hard time retaining the information since there is so much. But if I drop than I see it as being a failure, but dropping is better than getting anything other than a C. My Eng. Comp. class is a requirement, so I have to do well in that class, but after last nights mid term - YUCK! I've never taken a test like that before. And the things she told us to know wasn't even on the test, so on some of the questions, I didn't have answers for. And all the answers were in eassy form. I'm feeling like a big fatt failure today.

Mid Terms!!

Tonight I have my English Comp mid term and I have to re-read all the short stories that I've had to read to date. The test will contain essays and I think some multiple choice. I also need to go over all my notes. I hate tests! Then on Monday I have my mid term in my humanities class and I need to get atleast a B on it. I bombed 2 tests so far because all the content is just not sinking in! There is so much stuff and I have issues craming. So I'll be at the library all weekend studying. Other than the 2 field trips, I think I'm going to have to ask how I can get my grade up. OH crap! AND I have an outline due next week. I forgot about that.

Having a "Woe Is Me" Day.

I'm feel very frumpy, plain, and in need of some pampering. I have 30lbs to loose that won't come off for the life of me. I feel like I'm going through puberty all over again. I'm very sick of my hair and thinking about matching my eye brows which are dark. I'm sick of wearing glass, but contacts bother my eyes - although they weren't too bad Saturday night. I would like to go on a clothing shopping spree, but clothes are only cute when they are a size M or an 8. I'm very ready for my "baby bump" to go away since there's no baby in there to explain the bump!

I treated myself last night

My brother and I took the girls to Bronners and got our Christmas ornaments and afterwards I hit the Coach Outlet! I got a Carly, I've been wanting one for months now! It's not exactly the one I wanted, but I couldn't beat the price.

Sippy Cup!

Dylan took a half sippy cup of rice milk a little while ago!!

Weaning

I'm pretty sure I'm going to, but I feel so sad about it. I picked up some Aquaban to help me dry up, but as I'm looking at the box, I'm so sad! I love nursing him and even though he still wakes at night, I still love it. I don't mind him waking. I also have a weekend crop coming up in a few weeks and I would love to be there and enjoy it rather than needing to pump and worry about how Dylan is being with Jesse. I bought him some Rice Milk the other night and he did drink some, but not enough. I don't know.

Last Night!

My reunion started out pretty plain. In true form Andy and I headed straight to the bar to sit and let our classmates come up to us! LOL I saw some of my awesome high school friends, some which I didn't think would be there. It wasn't too bad then I felt a hug from behind. Low and behold it was Paul, and then Jason walked up and about killed me with his hug. I thought he was still in Cali. Then Kristina and Amanda came up and our group was almost complete from our 6th grade circle of friends. Only 2 or 3 people were missing. Kristina and I have known each other since preschool and she just lives up 59 from me! Paul is living up the street from his dad's business and Jason lives in Redford now. Paul talked me in to coming with them to Pronto! which is a gay bar - I had so much fun!! The food was awesome as well, definitely loved my green drink and hummus! Paul works there as well as his boyfriend, so we went up there for Pauls birthday and to bring his man some donuts and cider. So much fun, I hope to get together with all of them soon.

To wean or not to wean, that is the question

I feel like I've posted this before! lol I'm starting to feel that it's time to wean, but not sure how or if I'm really ready. I wouldn't even know how to go about doing it especially since Dylan doesn't drink cows milk, he won't touch it and he doesn't really like sippy's, just the straw cups. I don't know. I would really love 10 hours of straight sleep though!

Our Shed!!

They are installing it tomorrow! I'm so excited to get all the kids toys and bikes out of the back yard! Friday night I have to get the paint we want. We picked it out Tuesday night and it's the color that we will paint the house next summer.

Twilight

Shopping

I went shopping last night, got a pair of boots, and an outfit for my reunion. I'm just going to wear jeans, cami, and a sweater jacket over that. I also picked up a TWILIGHT calander with shots from the movie on it. Speaking of the movie, the trailers premiere tonight!!!! So excited!

10 Year Reunion

So I'm trying to figure out what I should wear. I went shopping on Friday and found a cool pair of knee high boots. Jesse liked them a little too much! lol But I don't know what to wear with them. I was tell my best friend Andy about my boots - I called him to complain about not knowing what to wear since I'm going with him - I told him about the boots and got the same reaction from him as I did from Jesse! lol Not good! lol So I'm going to wear pants with my awesome boots so I don't get 2 of the 4 favorite men in my life all hot and bothered! ROFL So I still don't know what to wear.

My Creative Scraps

I started a scrapbook blog for myself. :) I'm going to post my new layouts, scraproom, new scraproom progess and everything else scrap related.

The Goal

Is to drywall and finish the laundry room, get cabinets, and turn it into a real scraproom by the end of the year!!!

My Christmas List

LOL - yes, Mommies get to have one too! ;)

1. Inspiron Mini 9
2. Scraproom
3. Uggs

It's not a long list. I really want the laptop!!

Not sure about camping

I have homework and an outline due in a couple weeks about the culture during Cleopatra's lifetime and also need to read a chapter and do my vacab terms. So it really looks like I'll be camping out at the library this weekend. I also have a final copy due for my English class. Speaking of that class, I got an A on my paper I turned in last week!! My midterm is in a couple weeks to and need to study for that as well.

Mom and Dad ordered our shed last night. Lowes will be calling us today to set up an installation date!

ANTS!

We seem to have ants this year...I don't understand why, there is nothing on the floor - it must be because the weather changed so fast! Now tonight I need to get some ant traps before my class tonight. Such a PITA! And I think I may crawl under the house to get the Little People's out and list a couple things on Craigslist. I really want to change the living room around to. So much to do, no time at all!

Doh! I forgot...

November 8th, Andy and I are going to Alan Jackson with Jesse's mom and step dad!! I can't wait! I've never seen Alan Jackson before. I told Terry (my step father in law) that I would love to seem him in concert, well when Terry heard he was coming to the Palace, he remembered me!! So Dianna called me and asked if Jesse and I would like to go. I laughed so hard when she said that, I think she thought I was nuts. I told her that I go to country concerts with Andy and to get me 2 tickets! Don't worry, she knows Andy - he's my best guy friend and has been since 6th grade! Heck Dylan's middle name is Andrew after Andy. So when Jesse got home from work I asked him if he wanted to go and he laughed at me and told me to call Andy. I'm so excited!! :D

A New Shed!!

My Mom and Dad just practically bought us a 10x10x10 shed! We only paid 700.00 and they picked up the remaining 2/3rds of the cost and it will be installed!! We're so excited!! I can't wait to get Jesse's tools out of the laundry room!

Sunday while they were here for Dylan's party they kept saying we needed a shed. So that started the ball rolling for Dad. I'm completely shocked. They've never done anything like this before. I'm completely blown away.

My 1 year old Dylan

Sorry, I didn't upload them into flickr to edit them yet.

Camping this weekend!!!

YAHOOO!!! We've haven't been camping in a couple months and can't wait to go! We'll definitely need to fill up the LP tanks for heat! And we'll be taking our little heater to keep in the EZ room.

1 car family!

We got rid of Jesse's car last night and we'll be only using my truck for awhile. For some reason I'm a little happy about that! It will more than likely save us on gas. The only problem is the girls have dance on Tuesday nights at 4:30, so I'll have to take Jesse to work that day.

Dylan's 1 year well baby visit.

He's doing very well! He weighs 18lbs 5.5oz and is 29 1/4" long! He was wearing 3-6 month summer clothes, but he's in 12 month winter clothes because he needs the length! Other than the length, he's swimming in his outfits! lol No vaccines today since I decided not to do one today. So he's only had 2 so far. I'm trying to get some more mom's interested in the seperate MMR vaccine so the office will order a batch for us. So far it's just me and another mom. He'll go back at 15 months!

Craigslist Christmas Find!!

I just got a pink vanity from Craigslist for Ashlyn for Christmas - $8.00!!!! I pick it up tomorrow while she's at school.

Today is my baby's 1st Birthday!!

It's gone by so fast! I wish I could rewind life and play his birth all over again. There is nothing I would change as his birth was perfect, but I want to go back and enjoy is all over again. In the beginning, I didn't even think I would carry to term.

I went to my ob at 5 weeks with cramps. Dr. Bart did an ultrasound and the sac was in the correct spot, but my progesterone was low although my hCG numbers were raising, they were pretty high. 2 Weeks later I had another ultrasound and baby was growing, I was a little relieved. Then we had another ultrasound to check growth and we learned why my progesterone was low and why I had been cramping. The ultrasound discovered another sac which was empty, I miscarried Dylan's twin. I had a feeling I was carrying twins, there were twins everywhere and I just knew! So when we found the empty sac, I was devistated. I thought for sure I was going to lose Dylan too. At my 19 week ultrasound we found out that we were having a boy and that I had a low lying placenta. At 25 weeks, I decided to have a homebirth and hired a midwife, Kate Mazzara. She was awesome, I completely felt comfortable with her, she's awesome! I hope to be able to use her again! ;)

Here's is Dylan's Birth Story and The Photo's of his Birth

Dylan's Party

It was a complete success!! It was simple and just perfect! The cake was great and Dylan had no issue eating it in a great big hurry! I have lots of photos to download, so I'll try to post them tomorrow.

Just some updates

Thursday I got my paper back from Eng Comp and I got a B+. I forgot to use hyphens, missed 2 comma's and freakin' spelled "aisle" "isle". LOL Stupid errors that I'm so mad about! She seemed to love my paper though. This week I need to write a narration paper, should be interesting!

This morning I woke up early to get Jen, the girls, and then her mom to hit some Mom 2 Mom swaps. Overall we didn't find much of anything. The first one we went to was WAY over priced! But I did manage to find Dylan some cute outfits. Then I headed to Salvation Army and found Ashlyn a jogger stroller for her baby doll (Chirstmas) and Ayden a geography board game (also Christmas), and a couple more outfits for Dylan. My bigges Salvation Army finds were a lilac Moby D wrap with the orginal sales tag of $59.99 and I got it for $19.99. I'm not sure if I'm going to resell it or keep it. I also found a lilac Bumbo for $4.99, I gave it to Jen to resell because they are really hurting right now. This wonderful ecomony hasn't been so wonderful for them.

Tomorrow is Dylan's 1st Birthday party! I'm so excited! I ordered his cake from Meijer and it's Pooh, got his balloons inflated, and I just need to hand some decorations. In the morning Jesse will be setting up the bounce house. We're keeping it simples, pizza and salad. I can't believe my baby is going to be 1 on Monday.

Today's date was my due date last year. :-( It's all gone by so fast!

Ipod Shuffle!!!

I got one today, I'm so excited! I went to the library a week ago and believe it or not, it was loud in there! The lady at the desk talked so loud and I swear never shut up. So I talked Jesse into just letting me get a Shuffle rather than a Zune. And it's purple!!

Still not getting better

So now I'm coughing and not as congested. I don't know what the heck is going on. I starting to wonder if I should just cancel Dylan's party. :( Overall I feel okay, but I'm hacking my brains out.

Sinus Infection

I couldn't take it yesterday and went to Urgent Care once Jesse got back from Grand Rapids. I have a sinus infection and I'm on meds! I can't wait to start feeling better. I tried to get Jesse to stay home today so I could rest...since Dylan's birthday party is Sunday, I want to be 100%. No such luck, I woke up to him yelling at the kids because he was late and they were getting ready for school fast enough. I'm totally pissed about that. I have quite a bit of stuff to do today. Tons of laundry that needs to put away. Dylan start ripping down his wall paper yesterday, so now I have to search ebay for a roll so I can fix it. I really want to finish painting our room...I started it 2 years ago! LOL

Ah Crap!

I am STILL sick! I feel like my head is going to exploded and my nose is going to run right off my face. On top of all that fun stuff, watch out for the sneezing fits! My eyes hurt, my nose hurts, my throat hurts and I feel like my head is in the sand!

The sadness...

I finished Breaking Dawn last night and I have nothing to read! I'm don't want it to be over yet!! So I started reading Midnight Sun that was leaked onto the internet, since it was leaked Stephenie Meyer decided to post it on her website and stop writing the book. I wish she would continue with it!

So Much To Do

I have a little less than a week to get everything ready for Dylan's party. We still need to get the comics over to my mom's house. The dishwasher still hasn't been installed under the counter yet - my Dad's been in the hospital with kidney stones or something. He's in there so often, it's hard to keep track.

I have 2 chapters and definitions to do for my humanities class and need to study for a test on Monday. I have English tonight, I missed last week, so I'll be playing catch up with notes. Tonight I will be turning in my rough draft (that was due last week) and my final copy tonight. I'm happy with the way it turned out.

I want to finish Eclipse, but was too sick yesterday to read any of it. Maybe between my cleaning today, I can get some reading in.

Jesse mentioned last night that he's ready to move. Move to a new, bigger house on more property and more than likely out of state. He's talking about North Carolina, but I'm not sure. I don't want to leave my bff Jen and the girls I scrap with. I could handle not being around my family since I don't see much of them anyway. It would suck being away from Jesse's mom, step dad and Caitlyn. I don't know. It sounds nice and all, but I don't know. I told him it was probably because we haven't been able to remodel yet. The kitchen sucks, the bathroom needs to be done so bad! He said that it's cramped in here, and it is. We've added 2 kids since we've moved here.

Ashlyn started preschool on Tuesday and LOVES it! Every morning she asks if it's her turn to go to school. If it's not school, she wants to go to dance. lol

The Twilight Series

I start Twilight on Friday, Sunday I finished it. Sunday night I started New Moon, I finished it last night, and now I'm onto the 3rd book, Eclipse. These are very well written, and a very easy read, I can read a hundred pages and not even realize it. These books are about 600 pages and I'm plowing through them. Jesse just keeps saying he's never seen me read like this before. I'm just loving the story line!

3 Weeks of school = First colds!

Ashlyn, Dylan, and I have colds. Ashlyn's nose is running, Dylan's is stuffed, and my throat and head in general hurt. Not good since I have a paper due tomorrow and the house is a wreck right now because I've been running around like a taxi. Dylan didn't sleep very well last night because of his nose, and I was so sound asleep (definitely sick) that I didn't hear him.

YAY!!

Dylan slept through the night last night!!!! It must have been because he little back was out! We'll see how tonight goes.

Family Chiropractic Wellness

Today I took Dylan and Ashlyn for adjustments! Jesse didn't want them to have them, but I told him that he won the vaccines and circumcision debates (unfortunately!) and that I WILL win this one! I've been pushing for this for years and finally we're able to do it! So Dylan's little body was all out of whack and she thinks that's why he hasn't been sleeping well. If he doesn't sleep well tonight, she wants to see him back tomorrow. Since it's $52.00 for a family visit and 40 something for a single visit, she said she'd adjust him for free. I love my chiropractor! Ashlyn's adjustment went much better, she wasn't as out as Dylan was. Then Jesse and I went back after he got home from work to get adjustments, we feel so much better. Ayden and Kailey go for their first adjustments on Friday.

Not much sleep these past few days.

Dylan has been walking up every 2 hours at night to nurse. I don't know what's going on! I don't see any teeth so it's either a growth spurt or my supply has dropped. Either way, this isn't working for Jesse and I. We're both waking up grumpy with headaches. After checking kellymom.com my IUD could be effecting my supply. The same thing happened with the mini pill when I tried that with Kailey. At this very moment, weaning is sounding appealing. :(

A New Class Tonight

Tonight is my first Origins of Western Traditions class. I hope it doesn't suck and goes fast.

Men are stupid!

Okay, not stupid, but definitely lazy! I'm trying to clean out the laundry room and throw stuff out, give to Salvation Army, and take to Once Upon A Child. I do this every spring and every fall (yikes, it's FALL!) so I can make it through the winter cooped up in the house and in anticipation for all the stuff the kids will get for Chirstmas.

I will be renting a bedroom in my parents basement for the comics, cradle and summer clothes. $20.00 a month, MUCH cheaper than a climate controlled storage facility. We'll be taking them over next weekend, today would be ideal in my mind, but Jesse's watching football and playing Pokemon on the Xbox during half time. Yes, I am a Football Widow.

On top of cleaning, I'm trying to make the laundry room more functional for my scrapbook supplies and scrapping altogether. On top of all my scrap stuff, Jesse's has his tool box, table saw, drills and all that stuff down here. The man NEEDS a shed! He'd be getting one this month, but since he started a new job, he can't roll over the old 401k loan. So that needs to be paid off on the 27th.

I called him in here to ask him how I should arrange everything. "I don't know", and then went back to playing Pokemon! And the kids aren't listening today, so he's in a great mood...

Oh...lurkers!!!

Come on out of the woodwork and say hi! :)

Selling CRAP!

I just put a bunch of stuff on Craigslist and already sold some things. I wish I could just go through my entire house and get rid of everything that we don't use or need. We just have so much junk! And I wish Jesse would get rid of these damn comics! They just sit here taking up space.

Dylan - 11 months

Where is the time going? He's going to be 1 soon! I sent out Dylan's birthday invites yesterday. He tried to take his 1st step on Wednesday night. It's happening so fast! He's also starting to talk more. He's says mama and nana for nursing. He's also starting look more like a toddler. :(

So much for hockey!

Ayden spit in Ashlyn's hair yesterday and lost hockey for this month. If all goes well (I REALLY hope!), he'll be signed up next month.

I am dragging butt today.

I am so tired, I really need to start going to bed earlier. Tonight I have class, so I won't be home until 9:30 or so. Luckily the campus is 5 minutes away. The kids will be getting out of school in 10 minutes and walking home by themselves for the 1st time. Ayden is so excited. Don't worry, we're 4 houses from the school and I can see them the whole way from my front yard! ;)

Hockey, here we come!

In the morning I'm signing Ayden up for "Learn to Skate". It's 8 weeks long and once that is finished, he will be ready for "Hockey Basics". He got his skates, helmet, stick, elbow pads, and gloves tonight. He is so excited! He'll start Saturday morning. I just need to go back to get his skates sharpened Friday night.

School started today!!!

YAHOOOOOOOO!!!! I walked them to school today at 8:10, got Kailey in line then took Ayden to his class. I got some photo's of him there, then he went to line up. I went back to take more photo's of Kailey and then walked with the Kindergarteners to class. Kailey sat with Asher and I took some more photos and then left. I practically danced my way home!! LOL So it's just Ashlyn, Dylan, and me and the house is almost completely cleaned!

English Comp

My prof is really nice, I like her. She's very student oriented and obviously loves her profession. I have 2 assignments that I need to do, hopefully I can get them done before this weekend. Saturday is American Government.

Oh and Caitlyn is coming to watch the kids tomorrow night so Jesse and I can go to Bavarian Inn!!!!!!!

Ayden's Class

So pretty much he's in 2nd grade, but will be in the 1st grade classes for science and math, unless he's able to do the work with the 2nd graders. If that's the case, he'll just stay in his class with the 2nd graders.

We learned tonight that our favorite preschool teacher will not be teaching preschool anymore. Ayden and Kailey had her for 3s and 4s and Ashlyn was looking forward to having her. The school just found out yesterday, so we have no idea who will be teaching preschool.

Books

Since I'm going to have some time on my hands with the kids in school, I've decided I need to read more. I do enjoy reading, I just have a hard time finding books that keep my interest. I've started Skinny Bitch but had to stop because it gave me a meat aversion. Which is probably what it's meant to do, unfortunately I got over it! lol So I'm going to start reading again tonight after the M&G.

I've also heard so much about the Twilight series, that Jesse ordered 3 of the books last night for me. Amazon deal, buy 3 get them cheaper...ya know! The man can't refuse a good deal! lol

Meet and Greet

Today is the meet and greet at school. We'll be seeing/meeting the kids teachers and going to make sense of this 1st/2nd grade split class. I have the teachers goodie bags ready to go. I just wish I had a sitter for Ashlyn...maybe Jen can take her? Not sure though because M&G ends at 6 and Jen doesn't get off work until 5:30. Wonder if my Mom could come over, doubt it though.

I also need to get the laundry done and clean up the house. I also have to finish up washing school clothes and then go through the kids dressers and pull out the summer clothes since I'm running out of drawer space.

I get my IUD inserted tomorrow and then I have class tomorrow night. Hopefully I don't cramp as much as I did last time. Class could be a complete nightmare if I'm in pain! Maybe I'll get lucky and she'll hand out the syllabus and let us go home. Wouldn't that be awesome?! I should check with Tina (she had this prof before) and see if she remembers.

That's all my ramblings for now...I'm sure I'll be back later! lol

Shedd Aquarium

Since we're in Grand Rapids and ONLY 2 1/2 hours from Chicago, the kids and I went to the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. The kids were so excited because they have never been to Illinois. Well Kailey has been, so she was being the tour guide. They told me it was so much better than Marineland. The plan was to go to Holland and then up to Muskegon to go to the beach. Holland was boring, so Chicago was chosen! Tomorrow I think we're going to go to the zoo here.

Last night

I thought we were going to Bavarian Inn, nope! We went to Zehnders and the food sucked, the service sucked, and I'm left craving what I really wanted from Bavarain Inn. But it was nice to see the family!

Okay, so I was proven wrong last night!

Dylan woke up twice to nurse last night!! It was down to once a night, so today we're already nursed 3 times!! I'm okay with being proven wrong, especially this time! But since I was up more than usual last night (and I had a mocha espresso from Panara at dinner), I couldn't get to sleep. So I wish we weren't having a play date.

On an extreamly SAD note

I think Dylan is weaning! He's only nursed 4 times today. I could bawl my eyes out typing this. I don't know what to do, I didn't think it would happen this early. I really wanted to nursing as long as possible, but wasn't thinking he'd wean before 12 months.

School, Playdate, and other stuff.

Today we got the kids teacher's name. Kailey has Mrs. Van Dyke which is who Ayden had. Mrs. Van Dyke knew I had some concerns with Kailey's writing and such, so I'm sure she probably had some say in having Kailey with her. We are so thrilled to see her again this year!

Ayden has Ms. Wherritt. Here are some of our concerns. This class is going to be a 1st and 2nd grade class, know has a split class. This is happening with 1st/2nd grades and 4th/5th grades due to a teacher shortage! So I've been told by a teacher friend of mine that students are hand picked (lower grades) to go into this split class. They look for the most focused and "sponglike" kids because 2 curriculums are taught. For example, the 2nd graders would start in their journals while the 1st graders are taught. Once they are into their less and working, the teacher will then teach the 2nd graders while the 1st graders work. Our concerns are that 1) Ayden will not get the 1 on 1 he needs with the teacher; 2) Ayden could get distracted from his own curriculum and focus on the 2nd graders curriculum; 3) Ayden could become more interested in what the 2nd graders are learning. My kiddo loves a challenge and I could see him wanting to learn with the 2nd graders. While we're honored that our child was picked to be in this situation, we're not sure it's right for him or his schooling.

Tomorrow morning we have a playdate with Emmanuel and Kelly! Unfortunately E won't be in Ayden's class again this year. I haven't told Ayden yet, and I'm not sure if Kelly told E yet. A couple of kids (from preschool years) have different teachers. But I'm sure they'll be hanging out in lunch and recess!

Tomorrow night I'm going to Frankenmuth, Bavarian Inn for dinner for Grandma's 96th birthday! Her birthday was on the 15th. Quite a bit of my family is going to be there, I'm looking forward to it!

I think I need to scrap!

I'm feeling some mojo and my supplies are calling my name. PLUS, I got a new photo printer/copy/thingie so I can print 8x10. I can't wait to do an 8x10 photo layout!

IUD

I'm getting another Mirana IUD on the 28th at 12:45. I've been holding off because I didn't want AF to come yet, but since I think she's on her way anyway, I'm just going to get it.

Today...sucks!

Today is a list the way I feel day!

• Tire, even though I got 6 hours of straight sleep
• The kids have been fighting non stop and Ayden is now grounded
• Looks like Disney is a no go (I'm totally bummed!)
• Jesse will probably be going to Grand Rapids for 2 days
• I need an almost child free vacation
• I'm really missing my Grandpa
• I think Dylan is slowing weaning (wahhhh)
• September 2nd isn't coming fast enough
• I think I'm about to get my first AF since I got pregnant with Dylan - cramping like crazy
• I need a VACATION!

Fluffy Mail!!

I'm going to try to cloth diaper Dylan again. We had bought Bum Genius Organics, but Jesse hated them, and he didn't like the Goodmama's either. So I sold them all. I hate not cloth diapering him, I cloth diapered Ashlyn until she was 2 1/2. So I bought 2 new style Fuzzi Bunz and we're going to give it another go! They came today! :D

If it's not one thing, it's another!

Tomorrow I'm getting the carpets cleaned! I'm so excited to have clean carpets again. In order for the guy to clean the carpets, everything needs to be moved and vacuumed. So I moved the small couch that butts up to the wall of the crawl space. It was not good, I found black mold. We have some natural black mold remover, so I'm going to try that. If that doesn't work, Jesse will have to remove the drywall and redo it. So when he gets home I have to run up to Lowes and get a mold detecting device to see what the mold levels are in the house.

On a good note, my neighbors son paints houses, so he'll be giving us a quote soon! This excites me to no end! lol

7 Years

Jesse and I have been married for 7 years today. It's crazy how fast and furious those 7 have gone by! Seems like yesterday and forever ago that we took our vows. It been a crazy ride so far and I look forward to the next 7!

For your viewing pleasure...

Yay or Nay Disney, that is the question...

We are booked for Disney in October. Gas is 3.78 a gallon now, which means tons of gas money to haul the camper through the mountains, Disney park tickets just went up, that would be 1000.00 for all of us to go to the parks. Another 260.93 for our golf cart and another 264.40 due for our site. Not to mention Chef Mickey's, and Cinderella's Royal table (150.00 just for me and the girls), and then we still need groceries from Garden Grocer. So we're looking into Beaches Resort or something of that nature. I mentioned a Disney Cruise, but we really don't feel the kids are old enough for that yet. We want to know that when we're not with them, they're not going to accidentally jump overboard! lol The Florida Keys were mentioned since it's topical island-ish without the need for passports. Jesse wants to avoid getting a passport at all costs...something about a chip? I can't remember the name of it. If you have any other ideas, feel free to throw them my way!

Today's Happenings

Today started off loud, especially since I stayed up too late watching the Olympics, then I couldn't get to sleep. I ended up with my head at the foot of the bed because I couldn't get comfortable laying the right way. I immediately fell asleep - we REALLY need a new bed. The kids have been fighing almost non stop today and bickering back and forth. We all can't wait for school to start. Then I decided we'd going out for lunch and drive some of Woodward to see the classic cars. Tonight is the start of the Woodward Dream Cruise. I'm thinking we may going out there tonight, the weather is too beautiful to pass it up. Now I'm just sitting here drinking my Iced Cap from Tim Hortons getting ready to go outside to read a book. I picked up Skinny Bitch (thank Melissa - it sounded too interesting to pass up, lol), so I'm going to start that. I need to make a life change of some sort because I'm just not completely happy with me. Other than that, just trying to get Dylan's party invitations done and get them addressed, plan a menu, and get the house cleaned up! My carpet guy is coming on Tuesday to clean them. He did a wonderful job last year.

Chicago for our Anniversary

Our anniversary is August 18th, but since my mother in law is having surgery and a whole lot of stuff done in the next coming weeks, we're going to go at the end of September. We'll see if she can watch Ayden, Kailey, and Ashlyn and we'll take Dylan with us. I took Kailey to Chicago in 2006 and LOVED it! I wish we could move there, I love mass transit, and the city is beautiful! I'm really looking forward to it. Big bonus will be the Cheese Cake Factory!!

Niagara Falls Photos!

Please excuse the wet look, it rained the ENTIRE weekend!!

Ashlyn checking out the American falls.

The Canadian falls.

A better photo of the Canadian side and the Maid of the Mist

Jesse wearing Dylan

Almost a Family photo! lol

I almost forgot!

Dylan started standing by himself yesterday! That means walking is right around the corner!! AHHHHHH!!!

Back home...finally!

Our trip started out not so good. I tried installing Ayden Regent and it was kicking my butt! I've never had any issues installing a car seat before. But this was proving to unlike no other car seat. On top of that, this thing is a MONSTER! It's huge! I called up an installer to see if she could help me, but she was on her way up to BRU for breastfeeding month. Luckily she lives a couple streets over and if I do need her help today, I can just go over. I still haven't ventured out to try to get it installed. If I can't get it installed, I'm going to take it back and probably order a Frontier from Albeebaby or something. It's a bit smaller.

After the seat fiasco, we were getting the camper hooked up and couldn't find the adapter to plug the electric into the truck. I ran up to General RV to get another one. Good thing there is one right up the road. Looks like someone took ours right off the camper.

So once that's all done, we were ready to go. Everything was smooth sailing, Customs was a breeze thank god. Then it started to rain...and rain...and rain. We found this awesome pizza place in Niagara with the best chicken wings...yummy!! I was in heaven, I wish they could deliver to me. lol We took our food to the campground and had to eat inside because it was still raining.

Sunday morning, woke up and the sun was shining. Good thing too since we were heading to Marineland. The kids had so much fun seeing the whales and feeding the deer. Ashlyn went on a big kid ride with Daddy. She was the only one who would go on it. Once on it she was asking for me and that she was scared. When it was finished she was so proud she went on it and Daddy was high fiving her. When you asked her about it, she says "it was scary!!!". I have some cool pictures, but I'm not even sure where the camera is right now.

We made it back to the Killer Whales just in time for the show and it starts raining...actually pretty close to a down pour and it continued until we left. We took some shelter in the dolphin area a few minutes before the show started. Kailey now wants to be a trainer for Marineland. lol

On our way back to the car it stopped raining and we went back to the campground for a nap and dry off. I ate more chicken wings. lol

Once we were dry and awake we headed to the falls, the kids were amazed by all the water, mist, and how loud it was. Jesse was wearing Dylan and getting chicked out by "hot French chicks". lol We got lots of pictures, Jesse was disappointed because the Maid of the Mist was closed. I was doing a happy dance because I hate to get wet...yuck! I hate walking around wet and avoid it at all costs.

To finish our night and vacation we had dinner at Rainforest Cafe, which was not impressive because we go to the one at Great Lakes Crossing quite a bit, but Jesse didn't want to go to Hard Rock Cafe...I didn't get my shirt either. Oh and it rained so more!

NEED. MOTIVATION.

We just got back from Chuck E. Cheese and boy am I exhausted! I really didn't do too much, but watching the kids going nuts and play, but it makes me tired! Not to mention the million potty trips. Now I need to finish packing us up and get my truck vacuumed out since there is a goldfish cracker mess and install Ayden's Regent.

A Busy Night

Ayden, Kailey, and I went to the mall to buy shoes for school. Then I HAD to go to the Disney Store outlet to see what they had on clearance. I got Kailey shoes, her and Ashlyn a hat 1.99, Ashlyn a toy phone .99, Ayden got a sword and shield for 4.99 a piece. Then we went to Target to get birthday cards and gifts for Kieran and Jesse's friends daughter. Her party is tomorrow at Chuck E Cheese. I'm ready for bed!

As World Breastfeeding Week comes to an end...

My signature from Pregnancy.org

On a better note

Jesse and I went to dinner last night ALONE to Carabba's and had our Anniversary dinner a little early. It was so nice. Then we went to the mall and got some infomation on sleep number beds. We've been waking up for 2 months now sore, achey, and crabby! So it's time for a bed!

Oh great.... {insert eye rolling guy here!}

I asked Jesse last night what he thought about me still nursing Dylan. He said it was "good because he isn't 1 yet. After his birthday we'll talk again". I asked him what he meant. He said "I don't know, I think it's weird..." huh?? "breastfeeding a toddler is weird to me..." What!?!?!?! How could this be?? I don't think it's weird! On Dylan's 1st birthday I'm not going to just stop nursing Dylan because his a "toddler"! I'm getting enough crap about me still nursing him, what the hell is going to happen once he's 1?

For YES for the Detroit Zoo!!

Today is vote for the proposal for everyone home owner in Oakland, Macomb, and Wayne counties to pay 10.00 a year to keep the zoo open. Jesse and I will be going to vote once he gets home from work. We ALWAYS take the kids with us to show them that voting is important and if they see us doing it, they will likely vote as adults.

Marineland

Jesse and I just decided to take the kids to Marineland on Saturday. We'll be camping there until Monday. We're going to keep it a secret, they will be so surprised! We're also going to do the falls which I always love. They are going to have so much fun, my parents took us there when we were kids.

With every day, I learn something new.

I have to take either my SAT's or ACT's. YIKES!!! Next fall is definitely out for UofM.

Going cross eyed!!

So while looking through the UofM website this morning, I found a list of requirements for transfer. I need to take UofM equvulant classes at OCC...MATH! I need a statistics class to transfer. So I need to retake my COMPASS placement test and see what other math classes I will need to take before I can take my ONE math class I NEED to take! So I found a COMPASS study sheet on the OCC website and Jesse and I have been going through it and he's been helping me a lot. I completely suck at math (less it's business math or accounting). So I'm not looking forward to this. I just hope I can learn this stuff before the entry test so I can just get into my math class.

I just registered for another class...

So I will be taking:

• Monday- Origins of Western Tradition
• Thursday- English Composition I
• Saturday- American Government

I know I said I wouldn't take American Government in an election year, but everything is either full or during times I can't take. It's going to be a busy semester!! I'm kind of looking forward to it though. Classes start on August 28. This take me to needing 11 credits after this semester. Looks like transfering next fall could be possible.

Only 20 credits to go!

Until I apply to the University of Michigan!! I want a BSN and can't get that at OCC and for just an RN would have to apply to get into the nursing program which usually has a 2 year waiting list. So Jesse and I were talking and since I have to transfer to a university anyway, and I would LOVE to go to UofM, we figured that's what I'll try to do! I need 32 credits before I can apply as a sophomore which is UofM requirement. Please don't pinch me just in case I'm dreaming... I just registered for 2 classes at OCC...so after the winter semester 14!!

School

So I went to register for Microbiology - FULL or during times I couldn't make it. Ok, so I thought I would look for other classes I need and the same - FULL! I was so pissed, I've never had issues getting classes I wanted. So I decided yesterday to transfer from OCC to Oakland University or University of Michigan. I would LOVE to go to UofM!!!!!! Jesse knows that's where I really want to go, but he's worried about the drive, it's 45 minutes or so. If I would get 2-3 classes in a day, I would only have to drive out there once a week. Then I could just hang out on campus in between classes. Jesse said we'll talk about it more tonight,

Happy Dance!!!

Dylan and I have been nursing for 10 months!!! Yahoo!!! It's funny though, some days I would like to be done, but know I really don't want to stop until he's ready. Other days I'm thankful that he hasn't weaned yet.

A pretty good start to the day!

Well, Kailey woke me up crying because Ashlyn's new "dresser" is prettier than her's. I bought Ashlyn a two drawer storage thing for her room. She needed something for her undies and pj's and to put her Tinker Bell light on. Oh well, she'll get over it. The house is for the most part already clean which is nice!! I'm going to run up to LM to get my order I placed last night.

Yesterday

I welcomed a new brother in law, neice, nephew, Dad, Aunt, Uncle, and Grandmother into my family. Talk about an emotion whirl wind yesterday. I came home last night emotionally drained and exhausted.

I met my Father for the first time since I was 6 months old. That was different. Then I met my Grandmother (who didn't know I never met my Dad) who has cancer and is extreamly weak, but I'm glad I could meet her. She just loved seeing photo's of her great grand children. My Aunt and Uncle were also there, my Dad's sister Donna. Just very strange for me and I really needed a drink to take the edge off, but was unable to find a Chili's or something on the way to the reception.

My Dad seems nice enough and would really like to see me again. We've been chatting online since 2002. Just very strange...

Cool Mail!

I just got an invitation to a picnic with my Midwife Kate on the 3rd! I'm so excited to see her!! I feel like my homebirth was so long ago and I'm trying so hard to hold on to it, but it's just slipping away. I really regret not having the other kids at home. I feel like a bad mom for my hospital births...I know, weird. It was just unnecessary for a healthy mom carrying healthy babies to give birth in a place for sick people.

The Usual

I'm trying to get the house clean and organized and that's not really happening. I feel like I just keep moving crap around. We got a table off of craiglist the other day that we're not too impressed with. It looked bigger in the photo, but only paid 100.00 for it. The good thing about it though, it makes our kitchen look bigger. Well back to moving crap around...

Just joined Weight Watchers!

I would really like to lose some weight before my 10 year reunion in October. So I'm trying Weight Watchers! Seems easy enough to follow, hopefully it will work. I tried on a summer dress yesterday at Old Navy and felt like a huge cow, so I have to do something!

Saturday - My sisters wedding

So Saturday my half sister is getting married to this great guy Toby. Our Dad, whom I've never met is walking her down the aisle. So now I'm feeling all this pressure. Not only is my step mom's family going to be there, but now my bio Dad, my bio Grandmother, and bio Aunt. My Dad is freaking out as well since I was 6 months old the last time he saw me. I wasn't going to take the kids, but now I think I should so they can meet their Papa. That's what I told him my kids are going to call him becuase they already have Grandpa's. He was ok with that. I wasn't too concerned with what I was going to wear until he confirmed he was coming. Atleast MY Uncle Ron and Aunt Linda will be at the wedding to protect me. LOL I'm just so nervous.

Had the baby #5 talk

After Jesse had a "few" beers and it wasn't nice. So he is completely against having another and I'm not. He was brutily honest (thanks to the beer) and I'm very hurt, upset, and sad.

What I did last week...

• Tuesday went to pick up Caitlyn to watch the kids on Wednesday. On the way home got a call from Jen, she had scored free VIP Cruefest tickets...which included BUCKCHERRY!!!
• Wednesday Jesse and I had an appointment to go to and then went to lunch childless. It was very stange! Got home, Caitlyn and I went to get our eyebrows waxed. Then dropped Ayden off with Jen so I could go get my tattoo!!!

The tattoo hurt like hell, but Chris did an awesome job taking what I created and included the new wings Jesse found in one of their books. It looks awesome!! Next tattoo is the one on my ankle for Grandpa, Bryan, and Grandma.

• Thursday I took Caitlyn back home and took the kids for a play date with Brenna and Keith.
• Saturday I went back to Taylor to get Caitlyn, hit Once Upon A Child, and Old Navy for more shirts. Then we met up with Chris, Jen, Chantel, and Jr for the Kid Rock concert!! We started the night at the Sharks Club for dinner, which was SO yummy!! Then headed to DTE for the concert. We got there as Uncle Cracker was finishing, then waited for what seemed like every for Kid Rock to come on. The concert was great and we had a blast. He always puts on a great show.
• Sunday Jesse was hung over and luckily his mom came up to get Caitlyn since I was smacked in the face with the cleaning bug. I went to Target got the kids some school supplies, a printer, scanner, combo. It's a Canon, and it prints awesome photos! I printed the photo I took of Dylan when he was born and finally hung it up.

It's been nuts around here. Things are getting clean, laundry is done and almost put away. Just need to get the cradle into Ayden's closet so I can have that space back in the living room.

Busy Week!

It's been nuts. I'll be back later to update.

The Joys of Teething

Dylan had just started sleeping through the night in a 6-7 hour stretch. Hey that's sleeping through night in this house! So Saturday Dylan start cutting a tooth and is up a lot! Sunday fevers all day and night 100.3 and higher. He cut his front tooth, but the one next to it is coming next. More fevers even higher - 101.9. Poor kiddo has been sleeping most of the day and nursing. I forgot how bad teething those top teeth were! On top of that, I think I may have an ear infection or two. I haven't been feel all that great, I told Jesse is felt like my equalibrium was off and now my ears hurt. Luckily I have some antibodics left from my foot surgery and lots of yogurt to ward off thrush.

Jesse and I have been talking...

...a little about the vow renewal. Thinking instead of Disney, doing something here with all of our family and friends and then going to Italy ( thanks Morgan! ;) ) or Hawaii for a honeymoon since I took Jesse to St. Louis for our honeymoon to see the St. Louis Cardinals and Mark McQwire. I'm not sure though, the whole Disney Fairy Tale Vow Renewal still sounds so awesome!

Vow Renewal on my Brain!

Jesse and I are planning on a Disney Fairy Tale Vow Renewal in 2011. I hope we can do it sooner though. So yesterday I was looking at dresses. A year ago or so I found the one I wanted, but it isn't be produced anymore. We had originally planned on doing it in 2008, but since we were trying to have another baby, we just decided 2011 was better and it would be our 10 year. I really don't want to wait that long though. Maybe I'll hit the lotto?

My Tattoo

I just finished drawing it, it's not perfect but it's mine and I know no one else will have it. I just need to call Chris, get an appt and possibily drop my sketch off touch it up and clean it up.

Fall Classes

It's time for me to take a class in the fall semester. Looks like either Microbiology or American Government. Since it's an election year, I think Microbiology sounds better! LOL

Our Holiday Weekend

We went up to Mackinaw City Thursday afternoon. Didn't take too long to get there, traffic wasn't bad at all! Looked like most people started their vacation on Wednesday. After the camper was set up we headed to the restaurant for dinner and their homemade pie!! They have the best pie so it's the highlight of the trip.

Dylan has the hardest time getting settled while we're camping. This weekend he was having the worst time with constipation and the hardest bm's he's ever hard. He was straining so bad and would let out the worst screams. Then he kept biting me, I almost gave up nursing on Saturday, I was so frustrated. He wouldn't do anything by himself and only wanted to be held. By Sunday morning he was finally adjusted.

We saw the fireworks from the campground. Mackinaw City, Mackinac Island, and St. Ignace had theirs going at the same time. But nothing compares to Disney fireworks, so the kids were bored. They just wanted to go back and have a camp fire.

During the weekend, I think I managed to talk Jesse into upgraded to a travel trailer. Only problem now, we need a bigger tow vehicle. It never ends. lol

We're back from up north!

And exhausted! The weather was beautiful, Ashlyn only had 1 potty accident and Dylan was crabby and was biting me. Other than that, not too shabby.

Ok, so 9 months later, my FULL birth story of Dylan

The Home Waterbirth of Dylan Andrew

It was 2 days after my "due date", I was awoken by contracts coming every 2-4 minutes. I woke my husband Jesse up and told him I thought he should call our midwife Kate and let her know to bring all her stuff with her for our 40 week appointment. While he called her I got into the bath tub to relax and gather my thoughts. Jesse had instructions to start filling the pool. Half way through he ran out of hot water.

Once I felt composed and ready for my labor day I got out and began to fold some laundry and vacuum. The contractions were getting more intense and I had to stop to breath through them now. I had Jesse call Kate to let her know things were getting more intense and she was packing up her car and would be there soon. Then Jesse called his mom to come watch the kids. I wanted our 3 other children there to see the birth of their brother.

Meanwhile I was posting on my forums and talking with friends over instant messages. I would stop during contractions and lean back and breath through them, then continue on with my conversations. Then the kids woke up and we told them I was having the baby that day and they were so excited!

Kate got here a half hour later and she immediately wanted to check me to see how fast I was going. To my surprise I was 7cm and 100% effaced! I was so excited because I didn't have to walk around for hours like with my previous hospital births, or have that dreaded pitocin. Kate then started setting up her stuff, Jesse finished filling the pool. I wasn't ready to get in yet though, I was still feeling pretty good.

I then called my best friend Jen to come over. She answered her phone and I told her today was the day and asked her if she could come over. Her reply, "well, I'm going to take the girls to the zoo real quick and then be over". I told her I was 7cm and 100% effaced... "OH, I'll be right over!" She was too funny. Jen and my Mother-In-Law, Dianna arrived at the same time. I told Jesse that Dianna had sit on the steps and stay out of the way until I called her and the kids over. Dianna did a great job with the kids and kept creeping up the stairs to see what was going on. She was like a little kid trying to sneak a piece of candy or something.

I decided it was time to get into the pool because I was starting to feel some pressure. The pool was so great! I got in and it was instant relief, just amazing! There I become one with my body. My water broke shortly after getting into the pool. It was my first spontaneous rupture and I was so proud of my body. My waters were stained with meconium and that's when Jen freaked out a little. So while contracting I told her it was normal for post term babies to have meconium. Kate then checked Dylan's heart rate and it was perfect, and doing great.

I started feeling the urge to push and I could feel Dylan's head come down a little. I said "I feel like I have to push" and Kate said "go ahead if you need to". I could feel that Dylan's head was too high and didn't want to waste my energy and said "I'm not ready to yet". I got a little chuckle from the crowd. So I let my body push a little while I hummed through the contraction.
I felt his head come down some more and then Kate checked me and I just had a small anterior lip and she asked me if I wanted to feel his head, so I did. Then my urge to push was overwhelming and couldn't control it anymore. I had Dianna bring the kids up to watch. Ashlyn, my 3 year old said "Mommy, quit your whining!"

12 minutes later at 11:48 AM on September 29th, 2007, Dylan Andrew was born gently into water. He was 8lbs 13oz and 22" long. The experience was truly amazing and my only regrets are that I didn't give birth to all my children at home in the water.

Stats!!

Dylan - 16lbs (off the chart), 28" long Dr. Cheryl wants him to gain some weight, but I think all is well, he's just a peanut. Other than that, he's doing great!

Ashlyn - 35lbs 3oz and 36 3/4" long She is so stubborn and would only talk to Dr. Cheryl about what she wanted to talk about and told Dr. Cheryl NO to all of her questions. It was too funny.

Kailey - 38lbs 5oz and 40 1/2" long She is doing wonderfully and again I was told not to worry about her writing and ready because "she's not Ayden". lol

Dylan goes back a 1yr, Kailey 6yrs, Ashlyn 4yrs, and Ayden 7 years.

Oy vey!

I feel like I'm talking to the walls today! The kids are so crazy today with excitement about this weekend that I can't get them to do anything! I think I'm going to have to pull out the big guns and threaten them with not going at all.

Today Kailey, Ashlyn, and Dylan have well baby visits and I'm worried about getting them out the door on time. They love going to see Dr. Cheryl though and she gets excited when she see our files.

Why does time fly by?

Dylan turned 9 months yesterday. It doesn't seem like he's 9 months already. I just can't believe it. He's mastered climbing the stairs, could probably climb onto the couch if he had something to pull on. It's just unreal.

Tomorrow is Kailey's 5th birthday. I just want to cry! lol She is such a kid now and acts like it. She wants to have tons of ear rings, asking for some makeup already (shocked) and always has to look pretty! I keep telling her she's always pretty, even covered in dirt! Jesse is going to take Ayden and Kailey to see Wall-E for her birthday. It will be Kailey's first movie and she's so excited!

Other than that, the camper is popped up and almost packed for our July 4th trip and I just need to figure out how I can rig the kids bikes so we can take those too.

If I don't write until after the holiday, I hope you all have a safe and fun weekend!!

Our Disney backup plan

Since gas prices suck and the cost per barrel goes up everyday, gas will eventually reach $4.50 if not higher by the time October rolls around. So I'll take the girls and Dylan to Disney. I'm definitely not flying, so I'd be driving. I want to let Dylan self wean, so he'll be coming with us. The thought of me and 3 kids in Disney scares me. I know I can do 2 since I've taking Ayden and Kailey before. We'll see...

Amber just had her baby!!!

Kiera Autumn (not exactly sure on spelling) was just born about 20 minutes ago weighing about 7lbs!!

Feeling pretty good!

Yesterday I cleaned my entire kitchen and it looks good! I also attacked the laundry/scrap/computer room, the laundry is done and almost all pit away. The kids rooms are still clean and have been for almost a week now! So tomorrow if they are still clean, they will get 3.00 each. They have done an awesome job and helps me out so much! So that's my little update! Ayden's T-ball game got rained out yesterday and I have tons of photo's to put up here of last weeks game. Unfortunately I didn't go due to Dylan's recovery from his surgery that day.

Ready for my tattoo

But Jesse says I have to wait for him to get his first. I don't think that's fair because I'd go right now to get it and Jesse isn't in any hurry and doesn't seem very motivated to get his. I want to get a tattoo for my brother, grandma, and grandpa. It's cool looking although, I hope to make it "my own" rather than something I found online.

Dylan Update

Ok, well, we didn't realize, but Dylan had 2 procedures done on Wednesday. First he had a chordee surgery.

Chordee is a condition in which the head of the penis curves downward (that is, in a ventral direction)or upward, at the junction of the head and shaft of the penis. The curvature is usually most obvious during erection, but resistance to straightening is often apparent in the flaccid state as well.

I know all those moms of boys have noticed a baby "wood" as Jesse calls it by the time they are 6 months. This hasn't been the case with us. Ayden would get them all the time as a baby, but I haven't noticed one with Dylan. The other day I was wondering why he hadn't had one (that we've noticed) but this would explain it. So that has been corrected.

His circumcision appears to be healing well. I just feel so bad for him and keep telling Dylan that Daddy wanted it done and that I'm sorry I couldn't change his mind and that I didn't want it done.

Ashlyn is Potty Learned!!

She's been wearing underwear and going potty on the toilet for almost a week now!! She can make it through the night without accidents and wakes up dry. It's so nice to have 1 baby in diapers again rather than 2. She's doing a great job and is looking forward to dance class.

Well, it's done.

Dylan's circumcision went well. They gave him a mask to help him sleep and then started an IV so he didn't feel any pain to that point. His surgery took about an hour. He woke up from the meds grumpy so they gave him some morphine. He was so out of it yesterday, but by 11pm he was acting a bit better. He's still sleeping and I'm off to check on him.

Dylan's surgery is tomorrow...

And I am scared out of my mind and don't want him to go through it! I wish I had more power of this decision, but somehow I don't. Jesse just keeps saying it has to be done and can't explain why. This would more than likely would have been different if he was born in the hospital and had it done at a day old. But he's 8 1/2 months old now! He KNOWS pain and could remember. I just don't understand what the person who started circumcisions was thinking! How would anyone go about saying, 'oh that piece of skin needs to come off!', it's just beyond me! I guess there's not much I can do but comfort my baby boy when he comes out. I know I'm going to cry my eyes out! I want to right now and he just upstairs napping and knowing little pain.

A Layout I Love!

This photo is from the zoo on the 11th.

Ashlyn's Birthday Party

Saturday was Ashlyn's 3rd birthday party at Chuck E Cheese! She requested to go there and since Ayden and Kailey both had their 3rd birthday's there, it's like tradition now. She had so much fun and even though we didn't book a party, Chuck E Cheese came over to see her. The best part though, that morning she wouldn't put on a pull up so she was in underwear from Saturday morning through to Sunday evening with an accident! But then something didn't agree with her and started having yucky (you know where I'm going with this...) accidents. So she went into a diaper. She's a bit crabby today and doesn't want to get underwear on.

I have the best friends

So when our basement flooded I lost some things and it's going to take me a while to build up what I lost. So my friends that I crop with at LM got their items together that they want to purge and gave me first dibs. I got so many great items from Diane and her generousity just blew me away. She is a wonderful friend to have and I feel so blessed to have friends like her.

4 is enough?

When I was pregnant with Ashlyn, I thought she would be our last. I didn't like the idea, but I didn't think Jesse would go for another. Then the thought of having another boy entered his mind, then #4 was a sure deal. Once pregnant with Dylan, he started talking about getting snipped. That's when my panic started and would freak out at the thought of NEVER having anymore kids. So he said he wouldn't get it if I got another IUD. I immediately could breath again! I can't kick this feeling that someone is missing. I'm yearning for another child, it's the weirdest thing and I can't explain it. Jesse says he can't handle another which is completely odd to me since I'm the one home all day with them and I take them places all by myself. Then he told me he has "nightmares" about providing for their futures. Makes sense I guess, but our kids may not all go to college, they may not get married until their 30, and there are so many variables to just come to the conclusion that another one isn't an option. Oh well, I guess I'll just keep poking him and "how 'bout now" 'ing him. lol

Changes are IN effect!

Jesse just put in his notice a couple of hours ago at work. His company was recently bought out and the crap hit the fan and they lost benefits, days off, and all sorts of stuff. People were fired out of the blue and many of his coworkers have left - which he is coworkers with again. lol Seems like many people are jumping ship and heading to Sogeti. There were actually seeking him out, so he was able to get more days off and a higher pay raise which he is SO excited about since he doesn't have any college experience in his field. So that's the change I've been mentioning. And another benefit, they have offices all over the country, so if we wanted to move, he'd just transfer to a different office. Right now, he's looking to start around July 1st, but since he's going to a competitor, they may let him go sooner which is fine since he could just start the new job on Monday.

On a crappy news front - Dylan's circumcision is on Wednesday and the hospital has called a couple times to get his medical background, etc. They keep telling me he'll be fine, but I'm still freaked out and don't want my baby to go through surgery.

We FINALLY have power back!

Friday we left for camping. Drove through a storm on the way there and it cleared right up. Saturday was beautiful, the kids did the Summerfest activities then we all went swimming. Around campfire time we starting noticing lightning. We weren't sure if it was heat lightning or from a storm. Sure enough it was a storm! It was so loud in the camper between the thunder, wind, and rain. Ayden, Kailey, and Ashlyn slept right through it though. It finally let up and Jesse and I got some sleep and woke up to another storm that night. It wasn't a good sleeping night.

Sunday morning we packed up camp and headed home. Once home we had to pop up the camper to dry it out so it wouldn't mold. It was so hot and humid. A couple hours later we packed it back up and headed inside to start baths. Dylan and I were in the bath tub and the lights kept flickering. We thought it was because it was so hot out and everyone had their A/C on. Jesse got up and looked and it was raining and the wind was going crazy. Trees were whipping around and the power lines were flapping. The power went out and I was trying to call someone with power to see what was going on. Then the tornado sirens went off. I admit I was freaking out a little because June 21st is the 21 st anniversary of the Novi tornado.

Once it calmed down we got in the car to get dinner. Every street we went down to get out of our sub had a tree over the road. I drove over 2 power lines and trees were just ripped out of the ground. It was crazy! Finally out of our sub we realized power wasn't in our near future. There were lines down everywhere and tons of streets lights were out. We finally found a fast food joint open and sat in the drive through for 45 minutes for food. It was crazy!

Monday Jesse's mom brought up a small generator to run the fridge and sub pump. We were really worried about the basement since they were calling for more rain. So we avoided losing all of out food and flooding the basement.

Tuesday I went out and took photos of trees and lines that were down. Okay, I was really just playing with my camera, but what else was I suppose to do, right? lol The kids were watching movies in the car and were content. We got home and they played in the sprinkler.

Yesterday I unplugged the sub pump to plug in the fridge since it hadn't rained since Monday night/Tuesday morning. It was also Ashlyn's 3rd birthday so we went to the zoo. We got home I went into the laundry room and it was completely dry. The kids played in the pool and then Ayden had to get ready for T-ball. Laundry room was still dry. Jesse took Ayden, Ashlyn, and Dylan to T-ball and Kailey and I went to get our hair cut. Got back, feed and put the kids to bed and watched some T.V. and then noticed we had half our power back. So Jesse went in the laundry room to start some laundry and it was flooded. I was crying because a lot of my scrapbook stuff was on the floor because I've been scrapping like crazy. I lost all my cardstock, letter stickers, and some pattern paper.

Jesse was up late last night cleaning up the laundry room. Luckily we had everything up off the ground and nothing underneath the house is wet. Well, that I know of, I don't know if Jesse has gone under there yet. So we had to take up all the carpet and get rid of it and Saturday Jen and I are going to IKEA for a large throw rug and table so I no longer have to put anything on the floor. ;)

So that's where we're at. Today is Ayden first day back to school since Friday and last day of school! lol He is there a full day today. Ashlyn's Birthday Party is Saturday and Chuck E Cheese.

Well it's hot, muggy, and yucky outside!

So I decided against going down the to parade. With it being so hot, the kids would be miserable and the possibility of people getting pissy because they are so hot and crowded together didn't sounds so good in my head. So we'll be watching from the couch in our air conditioned house. We're leaving for camping when Jesse gets home, so we'll be miserable then! Good thing we're camping at a lake.

Oh yeah baby!

THE WINGS JUST WON THE CUP!!

We're heading downtown on Friday for the Wings Victory Parade!!!

Summer Scrapfest is ON!

It feels so good to have some MOJO back!! The best part is that I'm using my stash. And I bought a Quickutz Silhouette on Friday!! I've been wanting one since it came out, but couldn't justify the cost. I got this one from an LMer who can't use it because she's on a Mac. It hasn't even been used yet. I got such a good deal on it! I can't wait for it to get here!