Update...

Well, there wasn't really a whole lot going on here last week. The kids begged to make "shape cookies" (aka sugar cookies) so we did. Bless their hearts - they are their mothers children. For those of you who may not know to make shape cookies you roll out the dough, cut into shapes with cookie cutters, then take the remaining dough and smoosh it all back together and start over until the dough is gone. After the second round of making shapes they started asking if we were done and could they just eat the rest of the dough :-) That's my kids. I made them continue on, but in the end I did save them a pretty good size chunck of dough to eat (and of course some for myself too!).



CJ and Brian have been hard at work on the house all week (and weekend). The house may not look much different to you but they got the beams up for the box ceilings in the living room and master bedroom, and all the ceiling joist are up in the whole house. They also got the walls up on the garage. Tonight CJ and Brian will be working on getting the ceiling joist up on the garage and the beams that connect the garage to the house. That area between the house and garage will be filled in with dirt and that will be a covered patio area back there. The breezeway going across will be 20 feet wide and the two buildings are 10 feet apart. I'm so excited - it's going to be an awesome area! CJ is hiring a crew to come and put the rafters up. It's just too much for him to do. They should be here Wednesday or Thursday. Yippee! So next weeks pics should show the framing for the entire roof and you'll really be able to see the monster we are building. hehe. We also laid out the cabinets - woo hoo. I found 7 custom cabinet makers in Granbury and we are going to call 3 or 4 of them to come out and give us estimates hopefully this week.





Well, that's about all for now. Have a GREAT week!

Peach Pleasures

Brad Holt - The Community News
Grace Thompson enjoys one of the rides at thie Parker County Peach Festival, held Saturday, July 14 in Weatherford. A record crowd of about 45,000 people attended the event.


COOL HUH? Thanks Beth for forwarding this to me! Beth, Lily, the kids and I attended the Peach Festival in Weatherford last weekend and a guy from the paper took Grace's picture while she was on one of the rides. Afterwards he asked me her name and permission to print it but who knew he would?! COOL!

Hallelujah!

Praise the Lord! Thank you Mother Nature! Have I forgotten anyone? We have progress...




They poured the slab on last Monday. CJ has been out there every night this week working with the help of Brian. Our friend Carl also came over yesterday to help and they have all the walls up on the house. As you can see from the pictures there was threatening weather in the area. They worked through a rain shower or two but it never got really nasty. CJ will be working on putting the ceiling joist up and the walls for the garage this week. Hopefully the roof will be on next week. YIPPPEEEE!

Ode to Scrapbooking Supplies

How do I love thee, let me count the ways....
I just used my sanding block and a brad to finish a Bridal shower cake. hahaha.
I was happy with it, now I'm a mess. Is it smooth enough? Is it fancy enough? Is it what she wants? Is it the right colors? And to think that I was contemplating pursuing this more. I don't know if I can. To make a cake for me is fine, but to make one for someone else makes me a nervous wreck.
I need honest feedback. I don't want to think I'm good enough to go into business if I'm really not. "I would wait until you've had a little more practice" is preferred over "you suck." Thanks.

It is what it is.

It's been over a year and 100 posts since I started this crazy blog. Originally, I started it to be a way to keep long-distance family involved in our lives - only to find out that none of the family ever checked it. I think that has changed some now. Yeah!
Sometimes it's a place for me to express myself.
Sometimes it's a billboard for my girlfriends.
Whatever it may be, I'll continue to blog as long as you continue to read.

A Crazy Kind of Wonderful.

The second half of the week was spent at the Thompson's. A little busier, a little crazier, and a little louder but just as wonderful. Actually I think we set a record for calmness this trip - at least comparatively speaking. It only becomes this way because everyone is always there, and we LOVE it that way. It's wonderful that their family all lives close and loves to get together.
We got there tuesday evening in time for a great fireworks display. Morgan slept through the whole thing including the loud booming fireworks that about shook me out of my chair. I was surprised. Grace just kept saying "ooohhh, that one is beautiful" and Tanner's repeated comment was, "that one's the most humungous!"

The next day we had loads of fun the pool. Tanner took right to it. I thought he would because he did really well last summer but you never know. I was unsure about Grace because last summer she was still very clingy to me even with a lifejacket on. Not now. "I can do it myself!" It terrified Papa Dave to let go of her even with the life jacket on but she was insistent. By the end of the weekend she was toodling around everywhere and Papa Dave was breathing again too.

Lots of visiting with friends, grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, neighbors, you name it. All wonderful! We were so happy to see everyone and there were lots of people that were missed! Hugs to you!

Tanner learned to ride his bike without training wheels. CJ had taken them off and set down the wrench and before he could turn around Tanner was already half way down the driveway yelling "look dad, I can do it!" Go Tanner!

We caught lightening bugs, frogs, crawdads, and even a couple of fish. The kids were in heaven. If you know my kids you know they love bugs and small animals.

Did I mention how much fun we had this trip? We miss you all very much!

Down on the farm.

Every kid should have a set of Grandparents that live on a farm. We started the week at my mom and dad's farm. We relaxed, watched movies, played cards. My dad built a "train" - which consisted of 55 gallon drums tipped on their side with a hole cut in the top, a seat put in and a pretend steering wheel - to pull the kids behind the tractor. They went on a ride at least once every day. Dad took them around the pasture and down the gravel road they live on to the neighbors and back. It made me smile and brought back fond memories of me getting to spend time with my Grampy when I was a kid.
CJ built mom a landing and stairs out the back door to her clothes lines. Yes, mom still likes to hang the clothes out to dry. I never have because they were always "crunchy", but mom gave me the secret - don't tell - liquid fabric softener in your wash and a good breeze = no crunchy clothes. Amazing! It made me want to hang my clothes out but somehow I'm guessing our HOA would have some kind of rules against having your unmentionables out for everyone to see. *wink*
While there are no traditional farm animals we did get to enjoy some great wildlife. Every evening at dusk the deer and foxes would come out to play. Right there in the back pasture. We only saw two deer, dad says there are usually more. But we enjoyed 2-4 foxes each night. Running and playing. Chasing each other around hay bales and trotting across the field. I tried to take pictures, but must have had my camera on the wrong setting because they didn't turn out. I'm really sad.
We also did the normal stuff - went to the park, played in the pool, ran around outside, etc. By the way, the pic of us on the teeter totter, I thought it was going to break the whole time. It was REALLY old and there was a big crack right in the middle of it. I was just waiting to land square on my butt at any given minute. It lasted the duration of our ride though. Whew!
Life at Duck-N-Shrub Farm (a play on our last name, Quackenbush, by my dad) is a simple one and we couldn't love it more!

Shall we start with the bumpy beginning?

We left Texas a little later than what we wanted - no big deal. We had to stop and feed Morgan about every 4 hours (Tanner and Grace both just slept the whole trip when they were his age)- no big deal. We were getting close and somehow made a wrong turn. Do you know how many times we've made this trip? NEVER made a wrong turn. It was about 6:30 in the morning and we had just stopped to feed Morgan and have breakfast. We were just on the east side of St.Louis. We get back on the road, CJ calls his mom and I'm just relaxing because I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Shortly after he gets off the phone he says, "that exit doesn't look familiar." Granted everything looks the same. Exits look the same, cornfields look the same, even drove over a little lake that CJ loves and it looked kinda the same. That was what set it off though. It just didn't look right. We stopped at the next rest area and asked a tour bus driver where we were. Springfield, IL. WHAT?!?!?! Yeah, we had just driven an hour NORTH instead of east. Somehow we had taken the 55 North split instead of the 70 East split. Can I tell you that I was on the verge of tears. We were so close to the end of our trip only to find out that now we had 3 hours left instead of 1 hour. We added about 90 miles to our trip and another stop to feed Morgan. CJ just laughed and I almost died. We made it though. 18 hours.
The day was pretty good. Tired from driving through the night but the kids were good except.....
Morgan wouldn't sleep. No joking. He was so tired he would fall asleep nursing, but as soon as his head hit the bed he would wake up screaming. We tried everything. We had him in the pack and play first, then we switched and put my nephew in the pack and play and gave Morgan the crib, we let him cry, we rocked, everything. Nothing. The other two never had issues so I never dreamed Morgan would. But, the different smells, sounds, creaking floors and doors (my parents live in an old farm house which I LOVE), another baby crying intermittently was more than he could handle I guess. He was at least fairly happy when he was up but he was having nothing to do with that bed. At bed time I had to let him cry for over an hour. It was torture. I went out on the porch swing to get away from it and cried. CJ came out and I threatened to put everyone back in the truck and head back to Texas. Nothing was worth this. Morgan finally went to sleep and he slept all night. Thank you God. I was on the verge of an emotional melt down from the stress and lack of sleep. All's well with a good nights sleep. The fun stuff starts tomorrow! Stay tuned......

A bumpy beginning and a bumpy ending

but a wonderful visit in between and we're all back in Texas safely. I have so much to share I'll have to do it one day at a time. I'm working on getting pictures uploaded and taking care of household things but keep watching there will be lots coming. This was probably our best visit to Indy EVER! Lots of love to those back home! xoxoxo

Overalls.

Apparently I wear them everyday. I'm a mad woman trying to get ready to go to Indiana and I just got everyone out of the shower. Tanner showered on his own (isn't that great) and Grace bathed with me. Tanner came in while we were drying off and he said, "are you going to put your overalls on?" My overalls? What do you mean? "You know, those things that hold your nipples." hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha Oh, you mean my bra. Yes honey, I don't go anywhere without it.

We'll be leaving around 5pm today. Everyone have a safe and happy 4th, and thank a soldier for fighting for us so we can continue to enjoy the Indepedence we earned 231 years ago.

Not for the faint of heart.

With regard to my previous post - I was so intrigued that I had to research further. I typed in "female circumcision" in my browser and boy did I get more info. Maybe too much info. Made me squeeze my legs together, want to throw up, and pass out.
I cannot believe that this kind of thing goes on in the world. Thank you God for letting me be born in the USA.
**Warning** Rated R for its violent nature. Do not pursue this if you're weak in the stomach.

Really????

CAIRO (AFP) - Egypt on Thursday finally banned all female circumcision, the widely-practised removal of the clitoris which just days ago cost the life of a 12-year-old girl.
Officially the practice, which affects both Muslim and Christian women in Egypt and goes back to the time of the pharoahs, was banned in 1997 but doctors were allowed to operate "in exceptional cases".
On Thursday, Health Minister Hatem al-Gabali decided to ban every doctor and member of the medical profession, in public or private establishments, from carrying out a clitoridectomy, a ministry press official told AFP.
Any circumcision "will be viewed as a violation of the law and all contraventions will be punished," said the official, adding that it was a "permanent ban".
A survey in 2000 said the practice was carried out on 97 percent of the country's women.
In the latest fatality, 12-year-old Bedur Ahmed Shaker was taken by her mother to a private clinic in Minya, a town on the Nile south of Cairo, for the operation. She died before she could be transferred to hospital.
Her mother accused the woman doctor of negligence, charging that her daughter's death was linked to the anaesthetic and not the removal of the clitoris, for which she had paid 50 pounds (nearly nine dollars). Police have arrested both women.

Do they do this so women may never enjoy sex? I must research further.

A river runs through it.

White caps and all. This was our back yard last night. To say that we are "wet" is such an understatement. We are soaked, saturated, runny, soggy, drippin', and drownin'. It's seems like it's been raining forever and it's still in the forecast everyday for the next 5 days. I'm not sure how much more we can take. I hate to wish it would stop raining - we've been so dry for so long, but enoughs enough!

And I do have to vent a little bit. We've had excessive rain for several weeks now. We've seen HOURS of news coverage of high water rescues - people in trees, on roof tops, swept away in creeks, people in vehicles, etc. Nearly a dozen people have died. It's the people in vehicles that really gets me. It's not like this is the first rain storm we've had in awhile, and people have somehow mysteriously forgotten what happens. It's been going on for weeks! You've watched people getting rescued from their vehicles for weeks! What makes you think that your vehicle is any different from theirs?! If you can't see the road - don't drive through it!! How can you be SO STUPID? People are dumb, dumb, dumb. Frankly, I'm tired of seeing all the coverage of "amazing rescues" because all I can think is "you are so dumb!" OK, I'm done. Have a good day and for goodness sakes don't drive through any high water I'd hate to call you dumb too!

What a waste of a day.

At least that's what CJ said at 6:30 this morning. And for him it is. When it rains nobody in his line of work comes to work. Makes his job very difficult and makes getting our house poured virtually impossible. As I look at the forecast for rain every day this week I just want to cry. Will I ever get out of this rent house? I'm sure I will but I don't feel like it.

If it weren't for that I'd enjoy these days. I personally love a rainy day. The only thing that would make it better is if I could sit on a porch swing with a blanket, a cup of cocoa, and a good book (well, a magazine - hehe). Instead I must try to get things ready to trek to Indiana on friday and try to keep the kids from torturing each other because they are cooped up inside. Some people can't get their kids to go outside - I can't get mine to come in! These days are especially hard for my kids so sometimes I just let them go play in the rain. Not so bad except for the nice red dirt we have down here. Makes for a BIG mess.

Well, have a relaxing day 'all!

Milestones.

Kids. They grow up so fast. Last saturday we were at the store to get Tanner a new pair of tennis shoes. He picked out a pair that had laces. I told him that I would help him but if he was going to get that pair he had to learn to tie his own shoes.


A mere 3 days later he's a master. Yes, despite all the dirt you see these were new just 72 hours before. Amazing.

And, Morgan had his 4 month old check up yesterday.
25 3/4 inches
14 lbs 15 oz

That is 3/4 of an inch and 7 oz BIGGER than Tanner was at 6 ms. Hahahaha. Still makes me laugh.
My Chunka Munka Man. xoxo

Happy Birthday to me!

Yep, my birthday was last weekend and I had a blast. Always do. You see every year right around my birthday GASC comes to town. This year I took two classes which were GREAT. (the pics are the class projects) No pictures on the class projects yet, but they're coming. I shopped and, of course, I cropped. Becky and Katina went this year. A little smaller crowd than normal, but everyone seemed to have other things going on. Never fear, still a great time was had. Sunday, on my actual birthday, was just a lazy day - perfect! Drink coffee, read the newspaper, watch NASCAR, hang out with the kids (cj was working on the house). Overall a wonderful weekend.

I've read and read and read

and here is the truth. Whether you want to accept it or believe it, it is. I challenge you to put your feelings aside and look at the facts. It's been hard for me but I'll forever be fan no matter what team he drives for...

In a rare interview, Teresa Earnhardt didn't just call out Dale Earnhardt Jr. as his team owner, but delivered the maternal tsk, tsk of a stepmother.

"Right now the ball is in his court to decide whether he wants to be a NASCAR driver or a public personality," Teresa told the Wall Street Journal last December.

Wednesday, in no uncertain terms, Dale Earnhardt Jr. responded.

He isn't just walking away from Dale Earnhardt Inc, his dad's old company now run by Teresa, for superficial reasons or personal fissures. He isn't going to a new place to advance his "public personality."

Dale Jr. is signing with Hendrick Motorsports, the best and most talent-rich team in NASCAR for a single reason – to win.

He isn't going there to have control, because he won't. He isn't going to a team where he is the most accomplished driver, because he isn't. He isn't going to a company that is desperate for his star power and revenue streams, because it's fine without him. He isn't going to somewhere he will be the undisputed center of attention, because he won't be.

He's going to a team that has won 10 of 14 races this year and six championships since 1995.

He's going to a place where the No. 1 driver, Jeff Gordon, has four Cup titles to his none, not to mention a fan base and fame level that almost can challenge his own. Teammate and defending Nextel Cup champ Jimmie Johnson has four victories this season alone, double Junior's humble two since 2005.

If he wanted to be a public personality or a team owner or a prima donna, he'd have signed elsewhere. If he feared head-to-head competition or the possibility of being proven a lesser driver than Gordon – they'll have essentially the same cars now – he'd have chosen another course.

If this was about fame or fortune or all the things Teresa Earnhardt was talking about, Junior wouldn't be going to Hendrick.

Of course, the idea that Earnhardt Jr. – with his famous name, thick accent and hard-charging style the epitome of old-school NASCAR – would wind up teaming with Gordon – the poster child of the new growth of the sport – is a bit jarring.

For so long to cheer for Junior was to boo Gordon. And now?

Junior has spoken. It isn't about perceived rifts or stereotypes. It isn't about who will up his star wattage or pump his ego. This is about driving, about winning, about taking the championships that the 32-year-old believes he has in him. This is about no more year-plus droughts.

Teresa Earnhardt wondered about her stepson's priorities, publicly questioned her cash machine employee, dared him to respond.

Now he has. Now he walks. Now the answer is oh-so clear.

It's True.

Teammates. Sigh. If it means Jr will be more competitive, win races, and most importantly be in contention to win championships I guess I can live with it. Oh, the agony though.

Hmmmm.

I know I still have some weight to lose but it's very disconcerting when someone asks you when you are due AFTER you've had your baby.
Yes, it happened to me last night when I went to go get a manicure and pedicure (my anniversary gift - yeah me!). Which I thoroughly enjoyed after that moment. Love to get pedicures but I am so stinkin' ticklish it kills me to have them scrub my feet. Speaking of my feet, I have wrinkly toes. Never noticed it before, but when I took the pic I didn't want to publish it because it made me feel funny. I'm 30-something and have 80 year old toes. Oh well, feel the fear and do it anyway...

Then, when the tech started my manicure she asked me what color I wanted on my fingers. The same, I guess. Then she said "you have great nails you should get french tips." I've never had french tips before so lets do it. I'm in the mood to try something different.

I realize some of you are laughing at me right now because this is very ordinary for you, but I feel like a beauty queen. I can't stop looking at them. :-)

Last but not least, we're officially under construction.

CJ is going out tonight to start setting forms for the foundation. We've talked to the company that will be drilling our well and they should be out next week along with the concrete company. Here we go! 4 months and 23 days to the end of our lease. Let the countdown begin.

4am 3 nights in a row.

What happened to my wonderful finally sleeping through the night child? Apparently he's growing and his diapers are too small. He has woken up at 4am the last 3 nights soaked through to his clothes and ravenous. I knew he was going through a growth spurt because no matter how much I nurse him or how much I pump for extra stimulation my supply has not been keeping up with his demand. I've been supplementing milk that I've pumped in the evenings. What is the law of supply and demand? How long does it take for supply to catch up to demand? Hopefully not much longer.

What a weekend!

Friday night me and my fellow scrappaholic Becky went out to Cat's Creations to crop. Cat had a sale going on for BOGO flowers and we had a flower frenzy! I may never have to buy flowers again (yeah right!).

Saturday was pretty mellow. CJ and Tanner went fishin for awhile but that was pretty much it.

Sunday was Little League Day at the Ballpark in Arlington so we got tickets. Rangers vs Red Socks. They were supposed to do a parade around the field for all the Little League teams in attendance so we got there two hours before the game only to find out that they had cancelled the parade because the field was so wet. So we had two hours with nothing to do and Morgan's clock was ticking. I was afraid that me and Morgan would not even get to see the opening pitch (yes CJ and I drove seperately so I could leave with Morgan). Speaking of driving - parking was $12! Per car! OMG! We decided on cheap seats because we had to buy 4 tickets and also so that other families on the team that would have to purchase multiple tickets would be able to participate. this is zoomed in qite a bit...

Then I turned around to see if Tanner was having fun and this is what I saw...

"Tanner what are you doing?"
"Looking through my spotting scope so I can see the guys better."
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
Morgan made it until about 3:30 which I thought was pretty good. 3 1/2 hours without a melt down is definately progress!

Q&A after the game:
"Tanner did you have a good time today?"
"Yes"
"Grace did you have a good time today?"
"Yes, I got to watch the guys play baseball, I sat with the boys, and I clapped my hands!" That's my girl!

Then Monday.....

GRACE TURNED 3!




The Hallock's, The Seilhant's, The Wharton's and The Blann's came to help us celebrate. All in all 8 adults and 10 kids. Whew! But we had a good time. Grace had a blast. She loved all her presents and afterwards she said, "Mommy, I had sun playing with my sends" (interpretation - Mommy, I had Fun playing with my Friends). I made her a castle cake and it turned out pretty good.

Happy Birthday Grace! I can't believe my baby girl is 3!

Have a good week everyone! We're signing off on our plans tomorrow and should be under constuction soon.

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Yup! Nine years - wow! Doesn't seem like that long. Time flies when you're having fun and we're definately having fun. Getting ready to build our second house, raising 3 kids, trying to pursue our hobbies, and still making a few minutes for each other. Can't wait for the next nine years!

I know I haven't blogged in a week. I think of it almost every day but I just haven't had anything to report lately. Just life. Get up, feed all three kids at least 3 times a day, do a little cleaning, check everybody else's blog, watch a little TV, go to bed, get up and do it all again. Life will be more interesting soon. Grace's birthday is monday and we're getting ready to start on the house so I'll have progress pictures too.

Have a great week.

So Much to Share.

Where do I start?

Baseball is over. Sad and happy. Baseball season was pretty miserable for me. Morgan was a total nightmare at the games. Screaming the whole time. I never even saw a whole inning until the very last game. I spent two whole games quarantined to the car because I didn't want to disturb the other parents - it was that bad. Bummer. It'll be better next year. I made a cake for the team party on saturday it turned out pretty good.

We have some TEMPORARY house guests. We have a massive infestation of toads. Small ones about the size of a nickle. Tanner decided to catch them. 15 in one day. He was keeping them in an empty water jug and CJ decided to go to Walmart and get a 10 gallon aquarium. We fixed it up and proceeded to catch some more. 23 in all. I told Tanner no more - the aquarium has a 23 toad maximum capacity. hahahaha. We've had two loose in the house so far. There is no way they can jump out so I know they have been released by one of the two kids. I can't catch them at it yet but when I do I get to kick the toads back to the great outdoors!

I had a wonderful Mother's Day. CJ's mom was here and Brian and Beth came down for a cookout. The kids each made me a card, I got some wonderful plants from Jan and Beth and CJ got me my favorite...

Have a great week!

WWJD

What will Junior do?

Visitor.

Snappy, the snappin' turtle came to visit us on Sunday. Just glad CJ happened to look outside and see him before the kids asked to go outside to play. You know they would have went right to it and tried to touch it. Then we would have made another trip to the emergency room for a severed finger. We had to quarantine the kids to the house (yes, we did supervise a visit so they could see him) until he was removed. The begging and pleading "mommy we promise not to touch him" was relentless but you know curiosity killed the cat - and I'm sure the kids too!

Happy Scrapbook Day!

Yep, it's National Scrapbook Day and I've been at home today scrappin' and thinking about my friends who are scrappin' at Cat's - only the coolest Scrapbook store in our neck of the woods. She carries a good selection of all the latest and greatest in the scrapbook world and I can't wait to start scrappin' there regularly. I finally got Morgan's birth announcements done.

By the way, if you're reading this, you're not getting one. Sorry but there's only so many hours in my day and I made 30 of them and that only covers people that I don't have e-mail addresses for. If you're internet savvy you get to view it online :-)

That's it for now - get scrappin!

Misc Things

First and most important: CHANGE MY E-MAIL!
I sent out a message to most of you a while back but make sure you have the new yahoo address in your address book.

We're settling in, and working out the kinks in a house that idiots built. It's funny to see the stupid things people do when they don't really have any idea how to build a house. Things like:
The kitchen. I've already complained about the cabinet space but it's more than that. The dishwasher is in the corner, so when the door is open (so you can unload it) you cannot access 3 of the 4 cabinets I have. The only bottom cabinet I have is then blocked by the dishwasher door and the two upper cabinets I have I can't reach because they are directly over the dishwasher. Therefore forcing you to unload the diswasher onto the counter top (which is difficult when the counter top is full of dirty dishes) then close the dishwasher door to put the items in the cabinets. It drives me mad and makes me not do the dishes because it's such a pain.

Light switches. The dual light switches in the bathrooms (one switch for the light, one for the exhaust fan) are backwards. The one closest to the door should be for the light and the other one for the fan. Not in our house.
The master bathroom vanity has double doors under the sink and 3 drawers to the right. Not bad, only when the bathroom door is open you cannot open the drawers. The other day I went to get something out of the drawers and of course after 4 inches it slams into the edge of the door so I close the door and now it's dark and so I turn to flip the light switch and of course it's the fan not the light! Aaaahhhh!
Very VERY small things I know, but enough to drive you bonkers!
Rent houses. Agh.

Tanner is still playing ball and having a blast but we'll be glad when it's over. The hour drive is killing me and CJ. Two more weeks.
Grace is her usual pink pretty self.
Morgan is doing good as well. Sleeping about 8-10 hours at night now for the last 4-5 days. Woo Hoo. AND (he seems awful small for this to me but...) no more rocking required. When it's time just put him in his bed turn the mobile on and in a few short minutes he's asleep. It sure does save me a lot of time during the day.

Well, gotta go get some stuff done while he's napping. Toodles.

I'm Back!

online that is. I got cable internet hooked up today. WOW fast!

Well we're moved into the rent house. It's pretty nice. Just as big as our old house and a pretty nice layout. Only pitfall - kitchen. Small, no cabinet space. Which as you know, the kitchen is one of the most important rooms to me (other than my office). I love to cook, I have LOADS of stuff, and now no where to put it. Oh, well. I can do anything for 6 months.

I took Tanner out of Pre-K because the drive is so long, but we're still commuting for baseball 2-3 times each week. 1 hour each way, but only 3 more weeks left.

I'm still unpacking so I better go. Have a GREAT weekend.

$71,398.79

That's how much money will be in my bank account before close of business tomorrow. WOOHOO! We just signed the papers to close on our house. It's officially a done deal. Unfortunately the money will be gone before I know it as we will begin construction of our new house in about 2-3 weeks.

My home is on complete disarray as we are packing and we're moving this weekend. We found a house to rent. Not a cheap one though. In my opinion we're paying out the wazoo for it but oh well. It's close to CJ's work and close to the property so it's the best in the long run.

Morgan has his 2 month old checkup today: 13 lbs, and 22 in. All is well.
Tata for now I've got to get the kids in bed and keep packing. Did I mention that my sister-in-law came over today and helped. She got loads done! THANKS BETH!! You're a lifesaver.

Growth Chart

Diapers:

Size, Newborn: 0-10 days

Size, 1: 11-32 days

Size, 2: 33 days - current. Yep, we've already graduated to size 2 diapers! OMG!



Clothes:

0-3 months for us only 0-6 weeks. Just switched to 3-6 ms clothes. He just doesn't seem that big to me until....I go to see a friend of mine's baby today - she was born 2 weeks after Morgan - and she looks so TINY. I know she's just normal, she's the same size Tanner and Grace were, and that's how I know Morgan is truly my big Chunka Munka.





This picture was taken at 4 weeks old. He's a chunky six weeks old now. Sigh.

Sad, Disappointed, Frustrated

Angry, upset and many other things. That is what I am this week. We've been watching a piece of property now for over a year. My dream place to build our next house. Almost two weeks ago now I drove by and saw a "sale pending" sign on it. Bummer. We started looking for other places. Then, last friday the real estate agent called me and said the contract it was under is no longer and we were first on the list if we wanted it. YIPPEE! He faxed me the restrictions and building requirements (1600 sq ft, 60% masonry, 2-car attached garage). Which made me laugh because he kept calling the lots "a subdivision" when it's really only 5 lots that face a county road. They are not on their own road, there is no HOA, the seller is apparently the "architectural committee" because there is only one other family living there. Whatever. We met all the requirements except maybe the "2-car attached garage" part. We will have a 2-car garage+ but we were going to make it a separate building and attach it via a breezeway, so we wanted to submit our plans and get them approved before we purchased the lot. Anyway, long story short the seller is a MORON! He's moody (according to the real estate agent), a pain in the rear and a complete idiot. He's all of a sudden changing his mind about the requirements because someone came in and built a house that was just over 1600 sq ft then he let a buddy of his buy two of the other lots and build houses on them and they aren't selling. His buddy built a 2,000 sq ft house and a 1900 sq ft house and now he thinks that if anyone builds anything less than that it will cause those houses to not sell and bring their value down. We are talking about the country here! Not a subdivision in the city where everything has to look alike to maintain value. Besides there is a whole road FULL of new houses right behind them and they are all 1600-1800 sq ft! They're all brick, they're all close to the same size, it's not like we're gong to pull in a double-wide trailer and park it next door. MORON! Besides he told CJ that they were only asking $190,000 for those houses and ours will easily be worth that or very close to it. I just want to whack him on the forehead, and kick and scream and pull a Bobby Knight and throw a chair and tell him he's an idiot, but if he wants to not sell those lots because somebody isn't going to build exactly what he thinks should be there then he can keep loosing his butt and flushing his money down the toilet. He's already had these lots on the market for a year how much longet does he want to lose money? AAAAAAHHHHHH!

Now where am I going to live?

Got Milk?

cause I do! You know I would never question the perfection of God's work especially when it comes to a woman's ability to feed her baby the most perfect food, but come on now....
...in the mornings, even though I have nursed him at least once in the night, I am so full that the slightest stimulation causes milk to come spewing out, no suction needed, which results in choking and spitting up and milk all over him and me.
...I get to enjoy that almost painful feeling of let down not only when he's nursing, but also whenever my body thinks I should be nursing him, or when any other baby in the store is crying.
...I am tethered to a bra 24/7 because if you let the girls loose and roll over in bed they think it's time to go and I have a fountain. I hate sleeping in a bra!
Please don't get me wrong, I love breast feeding and I wouldn't choose to do it any other way. I just wish the girls weren't quite so "on alert". haha

On other fronts:
We are making progress with our house. The inspector and the appraiser came out last week and everything seems to be moving along smoothly. I found some duplexes for rent in springtown about 5 minutes from where (hopefully) we're going to build. Yah! An interim place to stay - done. We'll be making an offer on a piece of property this week and we're starting to get things together to start building the new house. I've made arrangements for a storage unit and a PO Box and opened a seperate checking account for the money we will be using to build the house.
Packing is coming along nicely in the house. It's my office and the garage that are going to be the real problems. Thank goodness we have 4 weeks!

That's all for now. Love and hugs!

Moving right along.

Well, I'm trying to keep my head screwed on straight. There's a lot going on but it is going pretty well all things considered. Where to start....

The house. Good news - we have two extra weeks. The closing has been moved to April 30th (it was the 13th). The bad news - we still have no idea where we're going to move to. I went to my friend Shaunery's house today and much to my dismay my favorite piece of property is "sale pending". I've been watching it since last April. I really just wanted to cry. Really now. It's been almost a year and now somebody wants it. Just my luck. The adjacent lot I think is still available and CJ wants to go look at some property down on the north side of Weatherford. So, we'll see. In the mean time I've got to find some place to rent. It's not that rental properties are that hard to find, it's one's that are available for a month-to-month or short-term lease, have a fenced yard and allow pets that are hard to find. The price you pay for having a dog and a cat.

Tanner and Grace. They're doing great. Now that the grandparents are gone and it's just us they are starting to pay more attention to Morgan. They are really helpful. They like to hold him, get diapers for me when I'm changing him and just sit next to us. No problematic issues yet. I'm really blessed with wonderful kids.

Morgan is doing well. He's such a chunk! Makes me smile. Everytime CJ picks him up he says, "You're face is SOOOOO fat!" Makes me laugh. He's eating about every 4 hours and I'm still getting up once or twice in the night. My real test will be this week. Up til now I've had people taking Tanner back and forth to school and I've been able to go back to bed for an hour or two after his 5 or 6 am feeding. That's about to change! There'll be no more going back to bed for me. Say a little prayer.

CJ's doing well. Working, coaching baseball, and gearing up to build us a new house. He's going to be very busy over the next six months. It'll all be worth it in the end but we're going to be VERY busy trying to get everything done. Most waking hours will be spent working on the house so fishing, scrapbooking and just hanging out will get put on the back burner for the next 4-6 months. So remember me every once in a while - the one who fell of the face of the earth :-)

OH SHIT!

My worst nightmare has come true. I have a two week old baby and we're going to be moving in the next 5 weeks. Yep! We got an offer on the house yesterday and it was a good one. Holy crap! Now we have to find a place to move to and pack and we're closing on April 13th. Aaaaaahhhhhh!

On a different note, Morgan is doing great. We had his two week old check up yesterday and he is 10 lbs 3.5 oz now. I'm still nursing every 3-4 hours around the clock and so I'm a little sleep deprived but we're all doing well. Tanner and Grace are both great with him. They're a little less interested in him than I expected but I'm sure that will change when he starts doing a little more than just eatin and sleeping.

Tanner's baseball practice started today. Tanner actually put on his athletic support cup without fussing - yippee!

Have a great week!

Some of you know but...

It's a boy!!

Morgan Eugene Thompson. Born February 18th, at 5:11 am. (I guess he got tired of waiting too!) 9 lbs 7 oz. Whew!

We had a little drama but we're all doing great. I started contracting about 1am saturday night/sunday morning - whatever you want to call it. They were about 15 minutes apart so I decided to wait a little while to see if they were going to go away or not. By 2am I decided to call the doctor. They wanted me to come in and get checked. I woke CJ up and he showered and we went to the hospital. By the time we got to the hospital my contractions were about 5 minutes apart and I was pretty uncomfortable. They got me registered in I told them I was a repeat c-section. At 4:05am I had a couple of contractions while the nurse was in the room with me and she was like "OK, well let me check you. OH Honey! No wonder you're uncomfortable - you're COMPLETE!" WHAT?!?! Well, they were swamped that night with patients and the on-call doctor was actually in the OR with another c-section but that sent everyone into high gear.

They got an IV in for me, drew my blood, sent me upstairs, and the anesthesiologist was like "Hey, I usually wait for your lab work to come back but we don't have time, here are the risks, do you consent?" Of course! "sign here" Wait I'm having a contraction. "no honey, grit your teeth and sign, it doesn't have to be legible, we don't have a minute." Oh! OK. scribble scribble.

They pulled off 3 liters of fluid plus a 9 1/2 lb baby - needless to say I felt like I had lost half of myself.

We're all doing great now. Here are a couple of pics to tide you over.

Drama, Drama, Drama.

Mucus plug - gone.

Mom - frantically leaves Indy and is here early.

Still have WAY too much fluid.

Baby guestimated at 9 lbs 10 oz today.

Doctor is leaving town unexpectedly.

C-Section rescheduled for Tuesday at 6:00 pm.

Belly so big it looks fake.



4 days and counting....

Where to start.

Went to the doctor on friday. They guesstimated the baby at 8 lbs 7 oz and two weeks to go! The doctor did reiterate again that it's hard to tell because I have so much fluid - the baby may not be quite as big as they think. We'll see.

We met with a real estate lady last week and our house is officially "For Sale". We've signed all the papers, they've come out to take pictures, and the other agents in the office are coming out tomorrow morning to tour our place. WooHoo!

I'm painting the nursery on Wednesday. I wasn't going to (I do this every time), but I made some artwork in a zoo theme and it's just not going to jive with the yellow walls. So, I'm off.... I did make all the necessary purchases for the baby last week:

• new bathtub - check
• Dreft so I can wash the clothes - check
• nursing bras and nursing pads - check
• coming home outfit - check
• material for mom to make a diaper hanger while she's here - check

I'm painting the nursery on Wednesday with the help of some girlfriends, one of them is bringing me a bassinet so it will be up that day too. I'm going to have CJ get the newborn baby clothes down so I can wash them this week and I'm going to pack my hospital bag. So, I'm making progress. 14 days to go!

I went scrapbooking on saturday. Left the house at 9am and returned at 1:30am. Whew! My body cannot do that again until after I give birth! I had such a wonderful time but right now that is a little much for me. I took a recipe class and we did 8 recipes in 2 hours and it was AWESOME! It's an ongoing class that they do every first saturday of the month (which by the way is when we all go there to crop) and it's SO FUN. Even though I won't be there in March or April I'm still going to order the kits so I can make the pages. Saturday is also when I did the art projects for the baby's room, and I got several regular pages done as well.

CJ's coaching clinic on Sunday was GREAT! He said he really learned alot and he wanted to go back again. He said the guy instructing had some awesome ideas and was very knowledgable. He was definately glad he went.

Well, gotta go. The laundry is calling me. By the way....

WAY TO GO COLTS!