Cowgar Family Adventures

Henna's Birth Story

2012-01-11T19:08:00.001-08:00

I said I'd get to writing this out, and I need to, before the memory starts to fade away.

I had a doctor's appointment on December 1, 2011 @ 10:15AM. (I was even awake early, at 8AM, anticipating that I may be in the hospital later that evening, I was cleaning things) At that point in time, I was 40 weeks, 1 day. I had gone naturally with Lexi at 38 weeks, arriving at the hospital already 6cm and not even knowing it. Total labor (that I know of), 16 hours. With Lilly, I had my membranes stripped at 39 weeks and went into labor that evening. Total labor, 12 hours. With Avery on the other hand, we waited and waited, and at 41 weeks, we got an induction. Her induction started by breaking my water and starting pitocin at the same time. Total labor, 4 hours. Avery was only a half ounce shy of being 9 pounds,and my placenta had shown signs of being overdue, so my doctor agreed with an induction at 40 weeks with Henna. She had an induction scheduled already at Dunlap (we had delivered the other 3 in Wooster), so we decided we would meet at Dunlap at 5PM and just break my water and see what happened.

So about a 5:45PM on December 1st, my water was broken, and I awaited labor. Start problem #1... Henna was not dropped down in the uterus very well, even after breaking the water, so I wasn't allowed to move from that hospital bed. They feared she may drop on her umbilical cord if I got up and moved, so I even had to use a bedpan. Labor never did come, despite having some contractions off and on throughout the night. We didn't get a wink of sleep. I was so uncomfortable not being able to move out of that bed. I had wanted to try their water birth tubs, but that wasn't gonna happen (and I found out that you can't even get in them when you have pitocin running, which I didn't know at the beginning). We watched some horrible Sci-Fi stuff and then National Treasure 2 throughout the night.

At about 4:30AM on December 2nd, pitocin was started, and I was actually told I could move around slightly. Start problem #2...Henna's heart rate dropped VERY low with every contraction. This went on for a few hours, despite adjusting the pitocin all over the place and even stopping it, and the talk of a C-Section became a very real option. After being up for 24 hours, facing a C-Section, and in some lovely pitocin induced pain for over 4 hours, somewhere around 8:30AM-9AM, I received my very first epidural. My doctor even said that I was one that did not complain, (I had 3 kids already...) and she couldn't believe how this was all turning out.

Start problem #3...the epidural partially failed. It seemed to work OK on my left side, but not my right side, so now I'm thinking they are gonna have to knock me out for a C-Section, because how in the world is a spinal going to work if the epidural didn't? While the epidural doc screwed around with settings and gave me the option of redoing it (one needle to the back is enough, thankyouverymuch!), my doctor decided to do that amniofusion thing where they circulate water back through the uterus, hoping it would even out her heart rate.

Amazingly enough, this worked! She evened out. Eventually I got to the point where the music had changed, and we knew we must be close to the pushing phase. So in about 2 minutes with 3 or 4 pushes, Henna Orion Cowgar was born on December 2nd, 2011 @ 12:21PM. She was 7lbs, 15oz and 19 1/2 inches long. She was perfectly healthy. She didn't really have a cone head since she hadn't been sucked down very long, she had tons of fuzzy hair everywhere, and very long fingers! My placenta on the other hand, wasn't so graceful. I believe the doctor actually sent it to the lab for tests. That thing was old! I'm glad we didn't wait as long as we did with Avery. That could have posed a greater threat to Henna if we had. And believe it or not, she was smaller than not only Avery, but Lilly also!!

This was certainly the farthest thing from the birth experience I was hoping for, and I get a little sad when I think of how this went since she is our last, but we both made it, which is a lot to say! My only regret is that stupid epidural. I should of just had them pull the thing out when it didn't work right, because my left leg was swollen up for days after, and my back twinged for about a week after she was born, right where they had put that needle in. That darn thing was useless. I made it through 4 hours of intense pitocin contractions with Avery, and what I felt with that epidural was just as bad as those were, so I could have just saved the insurance some money and not gotten the thing if the big C-Section word hadn't been thrown around so much. My doctor even said, if I had been in Wooster, I probably would have ended up with one, because she would have been going between Wooster and Orrville with her other induction as well.

I will also note, that the horrible sci-fi movies had ended long ago, and Mr. Mike Rowe and the Dirty Jobs crew got to be a part of my birthing experience this time:)

In the end, we ended up with our fourth little princess, and the other 3 absolutely adore her:)

Oh My...

2011-12-19T14:25:00.000-08:00

Have I really not written anything here since July!?!?!?!?

Well, the most important thing since then has been that baby Henna Orion arrived on December 2nd!!! I will write out a birth story with pictures a little later.

I guess my New Year's Resolution will be to keep up on the blog more. We are thinking of updating our phone service to the data package and getting smart phones. I imagine if that's the case, I will be posting a ton more photos.

In the meantime, know that I haven't forgotten about the blog, but that life just got in the way of letting me share our adventures...

I'm a slacker...

2011-07-27T18:43:00.000-07:00

I have no idea how to post pictures myself, therefore I depend upon Luke, and he has been crazy busy with weddings this summer, that it just hasn't happened. Maybe this weekend I will actually let him teach me, that way I can put up vacation pictures from our trip to Florida for his cousin's wedding.

The girls have been doing great in karate, and have their yellow belt already! Lexi has learned a few versions of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" on the piano, and we need to go buy her a couple note reading books so she can start learning to read music.

Avery is getting bigger by the minute and starting to finally talk a little bit. The biggest word she says...."Spongebob" :)

I'm doing pretty well. Just turned 27, and I'm about 21-22 weeks along with baby girl number 4! I don't have to go back to work until next week, and we just bought an air conditioner for the living room, so I am hoping to work on organizing all the stuff that came out of the bedrooms. I'm sure I have a lot of yardsale stuff, so I should probably have another yardsale soon. We've gotta come up with some money to pay some things off so we can afford to take on a car payment, since we will need to upgrade when the new baby comes...

Extracurricular Activities

2011-04-08T10:28:00.001-07:00

We've gotten to the age group that Lexi and Lilly are big enough to start doing some things... Since Lexi just turned 5, we started piano lessons with a lady through the Wayne Center for the Arts. We go on Wednesday afternoons to her home for a half hour lesson. We have had one so far, and Lexi did really well. We went to Larry's and got her a book and CD and she has been practicing at home and doing pretty good. Lilly may even pick a little bit up before she turns 5 and can start.

We also started karate and Tracy's Studio here in town. The owner is awesome, and the girls enjoy it a lot. Ages start at 4, and since Lilly will be 4 next month, they let her start so it's something they can do together. We go Tuesday evenings for the group lesson, which is them and 4 boys, and then we go on Wednesday mornings for their private lesson. They do really well, and we have a list of stuff they get to do for their first belt, a yellow belt. They should have their uniforms in a few weeks. So exciting!!

Cat Bites!!

2011-04-08T10:19:00.000-07:00

So, we've spent some time at Dad's lately, due to a neighbour unexpectedly falling ill and passing away. He has a grumpy old black cat named Sisko (after the captain on Star Trek Deep Space Nine, not that Thong Song guy that Chelsea always thinks of!!) Anyway, we think he was in the bathtub drinking water and Lilly tried to pet him, and of course he bit her. She has one little hole in her arm right above her left wrist. This happened Tuesday, and we've been treating it with peroxide and neosporin, but yesterday we called the pediatrician because it turned red and puffy. They saw her yesterday and did an antibiotic by injection. She had to get one in each leg, and he said that it would hurt really bad, causing burning and tingling and that she wouldn't be able to walk hardly. Poor Lilly had never been so scared. Just last month she saw Lexi get a shot, and even though Lexi did awesome, Lilly has been talking about shots and that she doesn't want one, so yesterday was tough. I ended up being an hour and a half late to work since the appointment was so late in the day and we had to wait around to make sure she didn't have a reaction to the shots.

She goes back today at 2:45. The redness has gone down, so she probably won't need another round of shots, just an oral antibiotic from here!

Just an FYI, the pediatrician said as far as animal bites go. If it's a cat, always bring them in, because their teeth are so long that the bite goes deep enough that oxygen can't get to the wound to heal it. A dog bite on the other hand, unless it requires stitches, would be just fine to treat at home, and the risk of infection is low...

A birthday and more kitchen destruction

2011-04-08T10:15:00.000-07:00

We had a friend turn 4 last week, and they had his party at a McDonald's with a play place. I have to say, it gives me a little bit of anxiety to let them play there. We don't do McDonald's except when we meet Nana and Papaw, and that one doesn't have toys. It's just a sticky, icky place. The girls had a blast though!!

The kitchen is still in progress. I am hoping to send Luke to Lowe's today to pick up two cabinets, and then we can get those up, and the rest of the tile board that goes behind the countertop, and then hopefully we can get mud on the walls so we can paint the rest of it sometime this month!!

Kitchen Re-Modeling

2011-03-19T07:57:00.000-07:00

We had finally put up drywall in the pantry before Lexi's party, and now it's time to finish it up. I always thought the kitchen would be last on the list of house re-models, but I believe it is the reason we eat out more than we should, and eat unhealthier meals. We need a good space to prepare food, and the old kitchen didn't offer that to us. Since we are cash flowing the project, we won't have everything we need to finish it this weekend(like two cabinets and the OTR Microwave), but we will have the soffet done, paint on the walls, shelving in the pantry, and the tile board up. It will be enough that the groceries will fit on the shelves, and we can easily take inventory of what we have. The floor will also stay unfinished, but really, I don't care about that floor anyway. We will get there one day!

Pediatrician Appointments...

2011-03-10T10:19:00.001-08:00

Lexi had her 5 year checkup this week, and Avery had her 15 month checkup. Lexi did great with her vision and hearing tests and she was 37.5 pounds and 43 inches tall. Avery was a half ounce shy of 24 pounds and 30 3/4 inches tall. They are both doing great, but we did get a referral to see a podiatrist for Avery. It took her longer to start walking because she was really wobbly. The pediatrician was ready to give us a big speech on how kids normally are just establishing a gate at 15 months, and that we should give it some time, until he watched her walk. He said we are in the 1% that should go and see a specialist at this age. He labeled her as severely flat footed, so on the 25th, we go and see the podiatrist at The Cleveland Clinic to see if we need to move forward with some kind of corrective shoe or cast.

I figured, having 3 kids, that one of the would have foot problems, since I did, and it looks like Avery is the winner. He said Lexi is a bit flat footed as well, but he said a lot of kids are until they are older and the arch develops, although I have no doubt that all three of them will stay flat footed to some degree for the rest of their lives.

So, now we play the waiting game until the 25th...

Alexis turns 5!!!

2011-03-10T10:11:00.000-08:00

I really can't believe she is 5 now! She had a blast with her party. A Disney Princess castle cake, balloons, clothes, money, workbooks, toys, science kits...she made out! We have pictures up on Facebook, but I'll have to pick some to put up on the blog.

Now I have to seriously sit down with Luke and try to figure out some homeschooling material. We technically don't have to let the school district know until she is 6, but since she is old enough for kindergarten now, we need to make up some kind of curriculum for her, and Lilly will probably just do it right along side her.

I also contacted a karate studio here in town that takes kids starting at 4, and since Lilly is so close to four, her and Lexi can do it together. It's twice a week, one small group lesson, and one private lesson, for $88/month. I am hoping to get my schedule for next week this evening and set up a time that we can all go and check out the dojo and see what the girls think. I also contacted the Wayne Center For The Arts for piano lessons, since we can start those at age 5, but I haven't heard back from anyone :(

Financial Update

2011-02-25T13:34:00.001-08:00

So, as far as finances are concerned, we have had a lot of change recently. I started a part-time job back in October, to help bring in a little extra and snowball our credit card debt. I started a spreadsheet in May of 2010 to help track our debt progress (complete debt, as well as broken down into credit card, mortgages, etc...)

Here were the numbers in May of 2010.

Credit Card Debt: $22,489.99
Mortgage Debt (House and Land): $96,204.06
Misc. Debt (Car, Medical, In-laws, etc..): $14,117.30

Total Debt Accumulation: $132,901.35

And now, 9 months later...

Credit Card Debt: $16,064.73
Mortgage Debt (House and Land): $94,190.88 (sad, isn't it?)
Misc. Debt (Car, Medical, In-laws, etc..): $9,873.94

Total Debt Accumulation: $120,149.35

We've paid off almost $13K in 9 months!! WOOHOO!!! Now, we have about $2K in debt for the business that I have not included, but hopefully the photography business will take care of most of it. On top of that, we started sinking funds in January for saving money for different things.
Our Sinking Fund categories are: Car Repair, Medical Expenses, Home Improvement, Luke's Blow Money, Clothing, Holidays/Gifts, and our $1K Emergency Fund.

We have contributed to them as planned so far this year, and we even bought new to us tires for the car in cash. Right now, we are planning a vacation to Florida because Luke's cousin is getting married, and he will be doing the photography. So for now, my paychecks are going straight into a vacation savings so we can pay for the vacation in cash.

We are planning on doing yardsales again this year, and selling some bigger items on craigslist or ebay to hopefully bring in some extra cash for our debt snowball (Dave Ramsey style). I am putting any babysitting money into our Emergency Fund to get it to $1K as quickly as possible as well. (For Dave Ramsey people, we are doing baby step 1 and 2 at the same time). I am also saving up cash to get a few trees cut down this spring, and we are contemplating on how to go about putting up a fence and what the costs would be. We now realize that realistically we will be stuck in this house for a few years yet, and a fence is a must have with the "kind of neighbourhood" that we have :(

We just got our tax refund today, and I paid off a credit card, leaving only 2 left (3 if you count the business expense), so we celebrated by getting chinese food at Asian Wok for lunch. Hopefully, we can continue to be a bit frugal (we've cut cable tv quite awhile ago), and I need to get better at meal planning.

Oh, and a bonus to me working part-time, although I hate to leave the kids. It is close enough to walk to, and since Avery stopped nursing in December, I've lost between 10-15 pounds :) (For everyone that says breastfeeding makes you drop weight, you are all liars to me!!)

Holidays!

2011-02-16T11:26:00.000-08:00

Christmas...everything Christmas! Really there is not much to say, pictures will show everything. I think we celebrated 3 or 4 times. We went to Luke's grandpa's house Christmas Eve, had Christmas at our house Christmas Day, plus went to Dad's on Christmas, and up to Aunt Lisa's, and then the Sunday after we celebrated with Luke's side of the family. Not to mention, grandma had left tons of presents for the girls when she and grandpa came up for Avery's birthday, so they had those to open, and we stopped by my Uncle Rob's house, and they had presents there too!!! I'm pretty sure the kids will never need another thing again!

The girls opening presents from Nana and Papaw on Christmas Eve

Apollo, looking through the baby gate

Lillian with her name puzzle

Mimi, Avery's new baby

Avery getting in on the action

The girls waiting on Christmas morning

Lilly has been obsessed with tornadoes since we had one hit in September

Lexi with her new Indy hat and whip

and some new astronauts and space ships

The baby dolls got new strollers for Christmas

Lilly with her new hat and whip

Avery opening her tea set

Next stop on Christmas was Grandpa Perkins house

Avery and I

The girls got trains and colouring books

The Perkins clan at Aunt Lisa's

Boxing Day at the Cowgar's

Lilly is keeping a watch on the presents

Anne and Daleen waiting

He always gets chocolate covered cherries :)

A doctor set from Aunt Angie and Uncle Chuck

Aviation is in the blood!

Lexi and Lilly opening presents from the stockings

Blu-Ray!!

Build a Bear, Spa style

More gifts...

Papa Cowgar got the big gift this year! A new toolbox.

A New Addition To The Family

2011-02-16T11:18:00.001-08:00

So, after seeing Luke's parents dog get better at barking and piddling when Luke's sister's dogs moved in, we got the bright idea that maybe we should get another dog to help Athena work those same issues out. We figured we would get the same breed (after all, what's the chance of getting 2 dogs from one of the smartest breeds known, and have them both be dumb!?) So we drove about 2 1/2 hours south and bought a ten week old male American Eskimo Dog, and named him Apollo. (Oddly enough, we bought him off of a Mennonite family, and we got Athena from a Mennonite family as well, so they must love this breed) Well, Athena hates him. She loves to growl out him, and she often acts scared of him. He is just a little fluffball of energy, and Athena likes to be lazy. We are working on house-training him, but seriously, I think he is just as dumb as Athena is. He is cute though, and Athena has piddled so much less since we have gotten him, so something is working in her brain.

(Pictures to come...)

Avery's First Birthday

2011-02-16T11:15:00.000-08:00

My little baby girl turned one on December 6th :( She ended up sleeping through a good portion of the party, woke up a little grumpy, and didn't care too much for unwrapping presents, but other than that, it was a successful party. She got lots of stuff, and Lexi and Lilly enjoyed helping!

Waiting to blow out the candle

Lexi and Lilly picked out a Thomas cake for Avery

Avery wasn't happy I woke her up

Everyone helping with the gift unwrapping

Avery has a new cell phone!

Nana and Papaw made Avery a quilt :)

Preparing To Catch Up

2011-02-16T11:13:00.000-08:00

So, we are heading to West Virginia tomorrow for an extended weekend with Nana and Papaw. The weather is supposed to be decent, so we are hoping to get some walking in, and when we are inside, Luke will be editing on the laptop, doing website updates, and going through pictures to update the blog!!!! In preparation, I will be posting a few times, and then the pictures will come this weekend. Once we are caught up, I will hold him to updating as soon as things happen!

Don't know if I'll ever catch up....

2011-01-21T09:51:00.001-08:00

I still have the holidays to post, and Avery's first birthday, but things have been so hectic. Luke had some inflammation in his eye, so he was on all kinds of eye drops and pills that left him out of commission as far as editing is concerned for about 3 weeks. That's all cleared up now, and he has had a baby session and a senior session that are finished and on Facebook, and he has two weddings to finish up, and on top of that, he gets to fly to Atlanta next week for work.

Hopefully once he gets back and we can schedule our time better so he can not only finish up his editing, but get the blog up to date and the website galleries up to date.

In other news, we must have a few inches of snow outside and it is COLD!!! We may have to bring in some snow to play with, it's just to cold out there to be outside for any period of time. I've lost about 10 pounds since I started working 3 months ago. Hopefully that trend continues... And we paid of a credit card this month and hopefully with tax time we will be able to knock out another one. My paychecks are going to be diverted into savings so hopefully we can pay cash for our vacation to Florida in July. We are photographing a wedding for a cousin, and decided to make a vacation out of it. I'm sure the girls will love to sit on the beach and play in the sand for a week!! :)

October Road Trips

2010-12-10T16:12:00.001-08:00

October was filled with road trips. We left our dining room in shambles to spend a weekend in West Virginia with my grandparents (the girls' Nana and Papaw). We also drove out to Chicago for Luke's best friend's wedding. He joined the Navy and went out to Chicago in July, so that is the first we had seen him since then. The girls do very well in the car, and although they were both short trips, we had loads of fun. The girls actually stayed in West Virginia a week before we went down to visit, so we only had Avery while we worked on the house. It just happened to coincide with my grandma's side of the family getting together at the family cabin in WV, so there was a lot of family members that I hadn't seen for a long while that were there. I hope we get to do that more often!

The bridge to West Virginia on 77 in Marietta

Athena sniffing out the back window. She had a comfy ride down since we didn't have Lexi or Lilly in the car.

Avery ready for a walk. It was her first trip to Nana and Papaw's.

We started fishing in the creek to catch minnows and crawdads

Nana brought out the nets

Papaw had a nap on the porch

Avery decided to nap as well:)

We could take pictures all day of butterflies on their flowers

We visited Hunter's house to play on the trampoline

Avery eating a pea

Lilly and Lexi helping in the kitchen

Papaw showing the girls how to mix a drink up at the cabin..LOL

Avery and Mo

Papaw in his natural state

Papaw doing what he does best

Great Aunt Shirley with the girls and I

Lexi and Lilly munching at the cabin

The old Lawson house up on Spruce

A short walk and Avery was out!

So Lexi walked Mo instead

Party at the cabin

The Schartiger Clan

On our way to Chicago!!!

The girls being silly in the backseat

Avery sleeping in her carseat

The odd and awesome things we see on the highway

Pit Stop

The scary hand dryer

Half-way through Indiana, right outside Notre Dame

I seem to always take pictures of water towers

The highway going by Chicago O'Hare is a great opportunity to see an airplane!

Traffic going the other direction was INSANE!! I don't know how city people commute like that.

The girls in front of Lake Michigan where we took Sean and Rachel for wedding pictures

Sean's brother taking a picture.

A tunnel

My powershot battery died on the way home, and Luke's camera was in the trunk, so I took Chicago shots from the highway on my cell phone...

Chicago from the car

More sights to see

and of course, a choo choo!!

Welcome to September....

2010-12-10T16:00:00.000-08:00

We had lots going in September. An EF2 tornado blew through the OARDC on our 5 year anniversary on September 16th. We had a family reunion on Luke's mother's side of the family, and we also had a pipe that went to Chris' shower upstairs blow out, causing us to rip out half the dining room ceiling and replace all the supply copper to his bathroom and kitchen. Oh what fun...

The road was blocked the day after, we couldn't get near the OARDC.

Damage in front of the OARDC with cleanup crews.

They had several greenhouses get completely totaled!

Tree damage along a road.

Trees seen from the highway that were part of the OARDC's arboretum.

Avery and I at the Caldwell/Oswald family reunion

Aunt Angie singing with the band.

The entire clan that gathered for the day!

Luke getting into the ceiling demo.

Cutting away at some old pipes...

A Quick Update

2010-12-09T10:08:00.001-08:00

We've had lots going on. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Avery's birthday party, and some weddings. I still need to get pictures up from our Chicago trip. Things have just been hectic. On top of that, I started back to work part-time at the end of October, so that leaves even less time for Luke and I to sit down and get pictures bloggged, and he has 2 weddings to edit as well. To see the sneak peeks of the weddings, they are on Willow's Pond Photography's Facebook page here: WPP Facebook

Hopefully we can catch up soon, just letting everyone know we are still here :)

A Baby, Some Play Time, and a Boat Ride

2010-10-21T14:06:00.000-07:00

We had some exciting times in August. Our good friends Keith and Angel had their second boy, baby Braylen, we caught up with some old friends at Jake's, and played at the park, and we went boating twice with Luke's parents. The second time we ate at Famous Dave's at Cedar Point. The girls LOVED seeing the roller coasters. I can't wait until they are tall enough to ride them. Luke and I have been together for a little over 8 years, and we haven't made it there to ride the rides at all. One day we'll get there.

Baby Braylen

Avery playing in a container at the hospital

Big brother Kaden giving Braylen a kiss with me and their grandma

Playing at the park with friends

Avery's first big swing ride

The girls with Papa Cowgar on the boat, with Bernie in the way!

Cedar Point

Do you see the look of fear on their faces? ;)

Pirate ships

The local wildlife on Lake Erie

Avery in her life jacket. Her first boat ride

Luke with Lexi and Lilly. It was Lilly's first boat ride too.

Papa Cowgar with Avery

Summer Fun

2010-10-21T13:00:00.000-07:00

Here's a few miscellaneous shots over the summer. We had Chris's birthday and mine as well in July. Lots of days of playing outside. The girls spent a weekend in West Virginia, and we enjoyed Wooster's Italian Festival downtown on the square...

Chris turned 30 in July, hence the over the hill candle :)

Anne, Lexi, and Lilly riding a donkey with Aunt Crystal supervising

Avery at Ryan's in her Superman bib

Papaw and Avery at Applebee's in Marietta for my birthday

Lexi and Lilly playing on the slide of their new swingset

Lilly with a blue tongue after eating blue ice cream from Wooster's Italian Fest

And here is Lexi's tongue

Avery missed out on the ice cream, she was too tired.

Slow Updates...Finally... 4th of July!

2010-10-21T11:44:00.000-07:00

We went to Orrville's fair on a separate day instead of the same day as the fireworks. A lot less crowd, and we didn't go into town for fireworks this year since we had Avery. The girls had loads of on the rides. We parked outside of town between Orrville and Burton City on Forrer Road to watch the fireworks from a distance. It was nice not dealing with traffic!

Lexi and Lilly having fun on the cars

Avery not happy with the noise

Luke high in the air with Lexi and Lilly

Look at us being daredevils :)

Hanging out at Grandpa Perkins' house before the fireworks

Boom!

Another boom!

Lazy Updates...

2010-08-31T11:46:00.000-07:00

So a whole bunch of stuff has been going on the past month, but laziness has the reigns on us, so we haven't updated hardly anything...even facebook has been neglected.

Luke spends his days and nights working for work, and editing pictures of the wedding last month, along with a maternity and newborn session for friends of ours, plus designing save the date and birth announcement cards, and designing guestbook pages.

He will have the wedding finished this weekend, just in time to second shoot another wedding with Melanie Wright Photography, and go to the Cleveland Airshow who are featuring the Blue Angels this year! It will be Avery's first airshow :)

Last week we put our land up for sale. It's 4.656 acres close to the Ashland County border. It has a gas well that we get $100 a year for the lease, and it also has a spring on the property, along with lots of trees. We bought it 6 years ago with the intention of building, but buying a house, having kids, and a sinking economy put that dream on the backburner, along with the fact that it's another 20 minutes away from our friends and family that we barely see as it is, I think it's best to sell it and maybe buy some land closer to everyone else, and definitely over 5 acres. So, if anyone knows anyone that wants land, look ours up on Amy Marinello Realty!!

We had dinner at Jake's with friends and played at Cohan Park Saturday, and on Sunday, we went boating with Luke's parents to Famous Dave's at Cedar Point. The girls were in awe of the roller coasters, and were sad when they learned they weren't tall enough to be on them. We have lots of pictures, but they haven't even made it off the camera yet. Maybe one day...

Blame Luke...

2010-07-31T09:54:00.000-07:00

He has a wedding and an engagement session he is editing, plus moving his computer back upstairs, reinstalling it, and other miscellaneous shoots to edit as well. The girls went to West Virginia for a few days, we've had a few cars hauled this way, the weather has been hot, and we just haven't updated anything! Bare with us, and maybe one day you will know in real time when things happen as opposed to 2-3 months late :)

Dancing with the kids!

2010-06-24T09:58:00.000-07:00

Luke got out some of the lights he had from when he was a rock star and we turned our dining room into a club. It's amazing how fast Lexi picks up on lyrics, she's singing along with Blink! I guess we should start watching what we put on the speakers....

A Little Vacation for Lexi and Lilly

2010-06-23T16:18:00.000-07:00

On June 9th we met Nana and Papaw and Grandma Perkins in Marietta Ohio at McDonald's. We had a late lunch there and Lexi and Lilly went with Nana and Papaw back to West Virginia for a few days, while we brought Grandma Perkins back up to Ohio. The girls had a blast walking the hills and wading the creek catching crawdad's and minnows, and even played in the rain a bit.

Chelsea's car needed brake work, so Luke spent awhile working on her car, and we also had cousin Liz's senior shoot in Burton City while they were gone.

It slowly gets easier to let them go down for a few days, and it was nice because both of them talked with us on the phone every evening. When they went down in February we couldn't get them to talk to us much at all. I think we may do this again the end of July, we will have to see.

Nana with Lexi and Avery

Papaw with Lilly and Grandma Perkins

Luke eating a nasty double cheeseburger

Lexi and Lilly all strapped in for the rest of the trip to WV

Luke and his new toy, a 2TB hard drive

Holly and Avery watching Luke work on a car

Getting dirty

Avery being cute

Lexi and Lilly coming back home from WV

Memorial Day

2010-06-23T16:03:00.000-07:00

Better late than never! We spent the day at Mama and Papa Cowgar's house.

Cousin Samantha in the pool

Cousin Daleen getting ready to snorkel

Cousin Anne having fun

Papa Cowgar is oblivious that Mama Cowgar is getting eaten by the pool shark

Cousin Claire and Aunt Crystal

Bernie

Papa Cowgar being ornery, depth charging Mama Cowgar

Papa Cowgar and Bernie

Aunt Crystal and Uncle Jeremy fighting over a ball. Aunt Crystal won!

Holly and Avery

Uncle Jeremy pushing Alexis

Lilly being thoughtful

Bernie!

Mama Cowgar and cousin Daleen playing Marco Polo

Jesse's High School Graduation

2010-06-07T19:33:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, May 30th, 2010, my brother graduated high school from the Orrville City School District! It makes me feel old just typing that out. He's been waiting for this day for years. I have no idea what he is going to do with life now that school is finished, but here is his day. I was only in the direct sun for an hour and half with some sunscreen, and got some nice splotchy sunburn on my shoulders! Grr.

Jesse walking down the track towards the seating area

My English teacher (in the white) who was also Dad's teacher, was retiring after 36 years!

Senior Choir members

Jesse receiving his diploma (it's blurry, I know!)

Jesse walking away, freedom in hand

Turning the tassel

Standing on the football field singing "OHS Forever"

The hat toss

Jesse and his diploma

Dad, Mom, Jesse, Grandma (Nana), and Grandpa (Papaw)

Holly and Jesse

Cousins Emily and Ed Jr. with Jesse

Papaw back at Dad's with Lexi and Lilly

Papaw on the ground with Avery

Avery got upset

Grandpa Perkins helping Lexi and Lilly fill the kiddie pool

Suki, Luke's dog at Dad's place.

Nick with Rock, Dad's dog

Jesse's quilt that Nana and Papaw made him from his old t-shirts

Jayden being adorable

Jayden wanted to try on Dad's sunglasses

He was one cool baby!

The family at Jesse's party

Jayden and Nick

Jayden tipping back a cold one! LOL

Nick, Papaw, and Lilly

Jesse's cake

Cousin Elizabeth's cake. She graduated from her online homeschooling program this year also.

Lexi and Lilly enjoying some cake

Jesse and his cash he made out with. He bought himself a new computer

Aunt Taresa and Lilly

Cousin Taz had a long day

So did her brother LaDarius

Papaw and Avery

Shooting Day 2010

2010-06-07T18:07:00.000-07:00

Our Saturday on Memorial Day weekend was spent at my Aunt and Uncle's place. Since my brother was graduating high school, they stayed up here instead of going to grandma's in West Virginia, since grandma and grandpa (Nana and Papaw) were coming up for the graduation. We all had a blast just hanging out with family and friends for the day!

Marlin, the baby racoon found in the barn.

The shooting range

The guns Chris and Luke brought

Grandpa, Cody, and Angela taking some shots

Luke, with Josh and Chris in the background

Lexi trying out a BB Gun for the first time

Lilly trying out a BB Gun for the first time as well

Nikki taking a shot

Uncle Rob grilling some deer quarters and pork loin

Start of the entire gun collection. I think we counted 37 in all.

More guns.

and more...

and some more...

almost there...

Finally the end of the gun tables.

Grandma Perkins and Avery

Jayden climbed into the raccoon cage and got stuck!

Nana and Avery

Grandpa Perkins and Avery. He came for the food, he was busy setting up for Jesse's Graduation Party the next day!

Florida Shuttle Vacation Part 3

2010-06-07T17:28:00.000-07:00

Sunday we packed up and hit the road by 10:15AM. We made a couple potty/gas stops along the way, and by 6:30PM we were in Charlotte North Caroline, our midway point. We stopped at a Quality Inn, a much nicer hotel than what we had in Daytona Beach, (and the internet worked!) and called in a nice dinner from Chili’s, and ate and watched Nick Jr. on TV. It was stormy out, so we got to bed early.

Monday morning we had a continental breakfast and started our journey once more. It was fairly uneventful. We had some fog up in the Virginia mountains, and some rain here and there, but we were home by 6PM. The girls did really well on the drive. Sadly though, we returned to the weather we had left in Ohio. Cloudy, poopy weather!

The girls, strapped in and ready to go home

Leaving Daytona Beach

Georgia has a Peach complex. It's true!

And they have El Cheapo gas!!!!

South Carolina and it's potted palm trees

Luke and the girls at a rest stop, just minutes before we got dumped on by rain

North Carolina in action!

Our Quality Inn hotel in Charlotte. Much nicer than the other place.

We've never felt so welcome in Virginia.

Going through a tunnel. The girls thought it was cool to go under a mountain.

West Virginia, a familiar state

The West Virginia Capitol building with it's gold dome

Avery taking a turn behind the wheel

Welcome to Ohio. Sorry you can't read the sign through the rain... Welcome home, eh?

Almost home!

Our genius dog. So excited to see us that she fell off the stairs running toward us.

Florida Shuttle Vacation Part 2

2010-06-07T16:56:00.000-07:00

Friday was launch day. Our vehicle placard had 12PM as our time to arrive by, but we wanted to be there as soon as possible. We probably sat in traffic for an hour and half before reaching the KSC Complex at 11ish. We walked around, enjoying some of the sights. All of the good spots to see the launch were already being occupied, so we decided to stick to shady areas for resting and taking our time looking at things to keep the girls entertained. We hit the gift shop and could have gone broke right there. We didn’t even make it to the second story of the gift shop. It was so packed from all the visitors, that I waited in line for at least a half hour before checking out. The girls played in the water fountain in the rocket garden, and we camped out under the shuttle displays to stay in a shady area until about a half hour before launch, then we packed up and moved as close as we could towards that corner of the complex. We couldn’t even see the jumbotrons they had outside because of all the people. We knew it was close because of the time on our watch, and then we heard the people in front of us that could see the TV start counting down from 10. It was at least 20 seconds before we could see the shuttle over the trees and the people in front of us. Luke had his a700 with the big lens we rented, and the a300 with a wider angle lens, so he was clicking away with both cameras. I had our camcorder and was trying to track the shuttle through the view screen while making sure that Lexi and Lilly stayed close (I forgot their info ID tags in the car). The video wasn’t that great, since I couldn’t see what I was pointing at, it kept going in and out of focus because of the tree beside us, and I was shaking for the adrenaline (and my eyes were stinging because I was crying….I’m a dork I know). It was so completely awesome though! We are actually formulating a way we can get back down there to see the other launches. It took us over 2 hours to make the 40 minute drive back to Daytona Beach. I felt so bad for Lexi though, her and Lilly walked the entire day, and Luke had to carry her back to the car because she was limping because her feet were so tired.

When we got back we hit Daytona Beach again, and this time we got out the buckets and shovels and stayed a while longer, so the girls could really enjoy it. We also got attacked by some salespersons about buying some timeshare down there. Ugh… we are on vacation people…not interested!!

Saturday we decided to hit Kennedy Space Center again, since our tickets are good for 2 admission days. We hit a Babies R Us and bought an umbrella double stroller for Lexi and Lilly. We took their tour since Luke wanted to see the Saturn V building. We had to wait almost an hour before we could even board the bus, and we had to leave our strollers behind. Luckily, they had strollers at each of the stops. The first stop was an observation gantry to see the launch pads. We would love to go when a shuttle is out on the pad. We also drove real close to one of the crawlers they use to transport the shuttle to the pad. The driver said 98% of people that take the tour will never get that close to them. So that was pretty cool. The second stop was the Saturn V, which had a few short movies taking you through NASA’s space race with the Russians, and ended with the successful lift off of the first manned Saturn V. Then we got to go into the building that housed a real Saturn V, and walk underneath it. Luke was a kid in a candy store. There were so many people there since it was the day after launch, that they extended the IMAX movie showing and park times, but we had been on the tour so late that they had shut down the third stop, which was the International Space Station modules that still needed to be sent to space. Oh well, we saw a lot of things, and touched a moon rock, and by the end of the trip, the girls were excited about being astronauts.

We hit Alan Shepard Park which is in Cocoa Beach and played at the beach one last time before returning home. Avery fell asleep in Luke’s arms, Lilly filled buckets with sand, and Lexi and I picked up pieces of shells on the beach. We had a lot of fun.

Please pardon the out of order picture overload, I'm too lazy (this is Luke speaking for once) to reorder them...

Even here, it's difficult to grasp how big that thing really is!

The crowd awaiting the launch. This is as close to the jumbotron as we could get. Can you see it? Yeah, neither could we...

Holly and Avery at Daytona Beach

Lexi at Daytona Beach

Lilly at Daytona Beach

Lilly at Daytona Beach

You wouldn't catch Luke on that thing!

Ferris wheel at Daytona Beach

Holly and the girls below a mockup of a Soyuz capsule

A Mercury capsule

The cockpit of a Gemini capsule

Lexi and Lilly playing in the fountain in the Rocket Garden. Pay special attention to the kid in the background...

More playing at the fountain.

STS-132: Atlantis' final mission, heading to space!

STS-132

STS-132 around 30 miles up. This is where the boosters separate from the external fuel tank.

Here you can actually see the boosters separating!

Lexi and Lilly playing in a "Mercury" capsule.

That's us!

Waiting in traffic to get to the launch

Alpha Niner Foxtrot Charley, er something...

The girls in front of a mockup of one of the new crew capsules

Lexi and Lilly playing with the giant marble constellation ball

Luke's igloo on the beach. Because everybody needs an igloo on the beach in Florida...

Mmmm... Astronaut ice cream!

Lexi and Lilly looking at launch pad 39-A from the observation gantry

Luke touching a moon rock!!!

Lexi and Lilly finding their way to the moon

Lexi and Lilly playing at the beach at Alan Shepard Park

Holly and Avery at the beach at Alan Shepard Park

Luke and Avery at the beach at Alan Shepard Park

Avery fell asleep

Florida Shuttle Vacation Part 1

2010-06-02T11:28:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, May 11th, Luke picked up our rental van from Enterprise. A silver Dodge Caravan. I had Kendra and Kaden all day as well as packing everything we would need for Florida. Luke took a nap for about an hour and half that evening, and at 10PM we were all loaded into the car and starting the drive to Florida which is roughly 16 hours!! The girls did fabulous sleeping in the car. We stopped about 3ish in Virginia for gas and they woke up for a bit before falling back asleep.

Wednesday morning we stopped at a Waffle House in Orangeburg South Carolina. It was one of the ickiest restaurants we have ever been in! Lexi loved her waffle, but Luke's omelet on top of little sleep left him feeling a little sick, so I drove for a little while so he could catch a nap and just rest.

We arrived in Daytona Beach where out hotel was about 3PM on Wednesday. For a $50 a night extended stay hotel, it was just what we were expecting...maybe a bit less actually. It served its purpose, but we won't be staying there again! The wireless internet wouldn’t even work in our room, we had to drive the van to another part of the parking lot to connect to it!! We decided to hit the beach really quick that evening, since me and the girls had never been to the ocean. We actually drove the van out onto the beach for parking, and got stuck a little bit in the sand. The girls were in awe though, it really was an awesome sight. We went back to the hotel, exhausted and covered in sand.

Thursday we ventured down to the Brevard Zoo in Melbourne. It was a nice little zoo, but our zoos up here were a lot better. We had only brought our little umbrella stroller for Avery, so we rented a zoo double stroller for Lexi and Lilly so they didn't get so tired. They had a little train that we took a ride on, and one of their macaws had apparently not had his wings clipped as much as needed and got himself over onto the walkway hand rail and was trying to make an escape as we walked by. A zoo volunteer was trying to block him, but I joked with Luke that the bird was going to eat us all :) The girls enjoyed seeing the animals though, they always love going to a zoo.

Later that day, we checked out Space View Park to see what the launchpad looked like from there. Unfortunately, you can't see the shuttle, but it was cool anyway.

Here is a ton of pictures from those two days...

Lilly and Lexi ready to leave.

Avery was ready too.

A couple hours into the drive. They finally fell asleep!

The nasty Waffle House!

Lexi and Lilly sampling the orange juice at the Florida Welcome Center.

Avery on the beach after we dropped our stuff off at the hotel.

Lexi on the beach

Here we all are!

Avery on the beach

Lilly playing in the sand

Welcome to the Brevard Zoo!

Daddy and the girls.

Lilly facing off with an Emu.

Mommy bird and baby snuggling.

A Turkey Vulture.

This little deer loved to lick your hands.

Bald Eagle

Grey Fox

Lexi

Lilly just being herself.

Red Tailed Hawk

Avery being so good in her stroller.

Every zoo has a camel!

A bunny. It never fails that a rabbit will get into an enclosure at the zoo, and everyone goes "Oh, look at the bunny!!" That darn thing got more attention than the animals there!

The macaw that tried to eat us.

See that beak! We were goners!! :)

A cute baby duck that I missed since Avery was sleeping and strollers weren't allowed in there.

Another macaw.

Lilly facing off with a stingray.

Another stingray. They liked to wave at us.

The launchpad from Space View Park.

A close-up crop of the last picture. Notice you can't see a darn thing!

The VAB from Space View Park.

Vacation Sneak Peek

2010-05-17T19:39:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick look at our Florida shuttle launch vacation. More details and pictures will come later!

Us on the beach!

STS-132: Atlantis Blasts Off!!!

Booster Separation at about 30 miles up (about 160,000 feet!)
Pay no mind to the tree that got in my way...

Here's a really tight crop where you can actually see the boosters separating

And here's a very short clip taken with our camcorder. It's really difficult to track a space shuttle and 3 kids at the same time!

Feeling Anxious

2010-05-10T17:29:00.000-07:00

The weekend was fabulous! We went shopping Saturday afternoon up in Wadsworth. We said our final good-bye to K-Mart, there doors closed for customers on Sunday, but Chris still has a couple weeks of tearing down the store before he is out of a job. It is sad, but he is off to greener pastures...anything has got to be better than K-Mart/Wal-Mart retail! That evening was cousin Nick's 16th birthday party! He made out with some cash, some band t-shirts, and a new bass and bass case, so he was very happy. He hung out in his van before the party and started it up for everyone that pulled in. I believe he started his driver's ed courses today!

Sunday was Mother's Day, so we headed up to Luke's parents and the girls made salad and spaghetti and chocolate mayonnaise cake. I don't really think the mother's got much of a break though, since the guys were busy talking aviation as usual. Luke tried to help, but didn't know what to do, and his dad did cook a few mushrooms.

We started Avery on "solid" foods today. She had a few bites of sweet peas for lunch and dinner. I can't believe he is ready for real food already. I don't think we started Lexi or Lilly until 6-7 months, but I just can't eat anywhere near Avery without her staring and reaching and opening her mouth. She did pretty well with it. I also picked up some carrots and bananas to try with her, and I have applesauce. The farmer's market will start in June, the perfect time to start buying things and making my own babyfood.

So here I sit, tomorrow this time I will be getting the girls out of their bath and ready for bed while Luke is trying to nap before we leave for Florida. I have us half packed, and will finish tomorrow once the laundry is done. I have an entire dufflebag of just snacks. We are hoping to pack our lunch and only eat out breakfast on Wednesday morning (our first stop) and maybe go out to dinner as a family one evening in Florida sometime. Every other time we will be packing food. We have lots of snacks, and we are bringing bread and PB & J, and our hotel will have a fridge and a cooktop and microwave, so we should be set for being able to eat in and not spend money eating out! I better continue... it's about time for the girls to get to bed. Then maybe relax with a movie for a bit to take my mind of off being nervous about this trip.

T-A Little Less Than 8 Days!

2010-05-06T12:25:00.000-07:00

Today the FedEx man arrived at the door with our tickets and vehicle placard that will allow us into Kennedy Space Complex on the day of our launch! Pure Awesomeness!!! I must admit though, when they say vehicle placard, I think of some plastic/metal thing, but it's just a hot pink posterboard type paper with our arrival information and maps to the entrance gates. I would have thought NASA would have put more money into that. Oh well, I don't care, as long as it gets us in. So our basic itinerary is this:

Tuesday May 11th: Pick up minivan and pack...leave at midnight.

Wednesday May 12th: Drive, drive, drive, with multiple stops, making it to Daytona Beach by nightfall.

Thursday May 13th: I think we may hit the Brevard Zoo this day. We were going to try to get into the museum for a tour, but I don't think I want to risk something happening to our tickets if we use them before the launch date. We will hit Titusville in the evening for shots of the shuttle on the launchpad.

Friday May 14th: Launch Day and spending the day at the museum.

Saturday May 15th: Now our free day, we were going to do the zoo this day if we did the museum on Thursday, so right now I'm not sure what we are doing, but I know we will have some beach time here and there while we are there.

Sunday May 16th: Pack up and head towards home, we will drive as far as we can and get a hotel overnight, continuing our journey on Monday and hopefully be home in time to drop the rental off before they close at 6!

Now, we just need to make final preperations, and hopefully the dates don't change!

It's Been Awhile...

2010-05-03T11:43:00.000-07:00

Lots of things going on. Luke photographed a wedding on April 24th. Lori, a friend from when I worked at Lowe's, was his second shooter, and his mom also took some pictures. Overall it went really well, and he has lots of editing to do.

His brother's wife's family had pictures taken last Friday, so he also has those to work on, so he is keeping plenty busy. To top it off, we had a wedding consultation for his sister's husband's sister on Saturday. She is getting married at a gorgeous restaurant in December, and that wedding should be a blast!

We had Lilly's party yesterday on her birthday. She is now a big 3!! She goes for her checkup on Wednesday, so we shall see how big she really is. She received lots of clothing and toys, and we had a lot of fun with family. Hopefully no one is stopped up today. We went through 4 pounds of cheese cubes!! Apparently both families love cheese.

We have a full weekend coming up with Nick's 16th birthday and Mother's Day, then it's time to start packing!!

Why you may be asking????

Because as long as the weather holds out, we will be witnessing Atlantis blasting off from Kennedy Space Center on May 14th!!! We bought tickets for viewing it from the Kennedy Space Complex, which is about 8 miles from the pad (with no clear view of the pad). The causeway was sold out by the time we were picked in the lottery to purchase tickets. Now the tickets are going for hundreds of dollars on eBay!! Anyways, we plan on renting a minivan Tuesday evening, and leaving about midnight. Hopefully the girls sleep decently and we can get in 8-9 hours of driving time before they wake up for breakfast. We will stop for breakfast and stretch, then continue for another 4-5 hours, since we know the girls can pull that off from our trips to West Virginia. We will then stop again for a bit, and hopefully be able to pull off another 4-5 hours and make it to Daytona Beach by Wednesday night. As long as the Kennedy Space Center is having its tours on Thursday (day before launch), we will use our ticket to get in and check out the museum and tour (the ticket is good for 2 days, and the tour takes you close to the launchpad). Then we will probably check out Titusville and Space View Park, and get some pictures of the shuttle on the pad from 12 miles out. Friday is launch day, so we will be at the museum again and hopefully the launch goes off without a problem. We also hope to hit the beach, since I have never been to the ocean before, and if all of that goes well, then Saturday will be a free day, and we may hit the Brevard Zoo or find something else to do, then we will start heading home Sunday morning. We'll drive as far as we can, and find a hotel to stop at overnight, and get home Monday evening to return the car and get back to life. That's the plan anyways...we will see how well we can stick to it. It all depends on the shuttle and the weather.

Check Ups

2010-04-16T08:20:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday we had Avery's 4 month checkup and Lexi's 4 year checkup! Talk about a busy day at the doctor's office. On top of that, Luke needed a blood draw while we were there to for his doctor.

Avery is doing just fine. She is a big kid! She is 17lbs 9 oz, and 25 3/4 inches tall. She got her first shot since being born, since we delay and selectively vaccinate. She took it extremely well. She cried for just a bit and fell asleep in the car and wasn't fussy or overtired or cranky or running a fever or anything!

Alexis is 35lbs and 40 3/4 inches tall. She did really well with her vision and hearing tests, and we even got her to pee in a cup before we left the visit.

The doctor's office had a survey going on for parents with kids between 2-8 years old, so I filled it out and the girls got a whale and a shark stuffed animal.

Lilly was upset that she wasn't getting checked out, and was concerned for Lexi when she went off for the hearing and vision tests. She will have her checkup on May 5th.

Luke called The Arthritis Clinic this morning about his left knee. His right knee is doing great since they drained it, and he wanted to see if they could do the left knee as well, especially since he has a shoot this weekend and a wedding next weekend. They got him in today, so right now he is getting that done!

All and all we are doing alright. I am hoping to have a yard sale next weekend while Luke is shooting a wedding. Right now I need to get the house organized, since we are supposed to have a shoot this weekend!

I Can't Wait Until Yardsale Season!

2010-04-09T11:53:00.000-07:00

Technically, I guess it already is. There are around 10 posts in the newspaper, but the weather is so cold and pooey today, that I can't imagine having one this weekend, although the weather is supposed to be nicer. Not sure if I will have one next weekend either, because Luke has his first complete stranger session. The guy found the website and called us up. The weekend after that will be Luke's first wedding of the season. I may not get a yardsale in until May, but I'm hoping to pull something off this month, as long as the weather stays decent.

We bought the girls a swing set. We are hoping we can get it built this weekend. In the meantime, we sold one of their outside plastic toys (A Fisher Price play set with a slide) and a small Little Tikes slide and teeter totter. We have to make room for the swing set, even though it is a smaller one. I know the girls will love it when we finally get it up.

I am still de-cluttering as best as I can around here. I have run out of room to put things. All of the yardsale boxes in the foyer moved to the front porch under a tarp, so I could move stuff into the foyer from the sunroom. We then opened up the sunroom and moved the girls' toys in there so they aren't cluttering up the living room so much. The place looks a lot better after that.

We are hoping for a productive weekend. Let's hope the weather cooperates!

Busy Days Are Ahead

2010-03-26T15:36:00.000-07:00

First of all, Luke is doing great. His knees feel fine, they look almost normal now. He will still be on blood thinners until May, but hopefully his problems are behind us now. He is taking pictures of his sister's band tonight.

Tomorrow we have my cousin's birthday party, then Sunday we have an early Easter dinner with the Cowgar side.

We still need to take Avery's 3 month pictures, and take Lilly's 3 year pictures so we can order invitations for her birthday in May.

We sent away for a vendor's license, so the photography business is almost completely legal to operate. Luke has a wedding in April, and we need to figure out some advertising ideas for the business, especially since next years seniors will be looking for photographers soon.

I have a foyer full of boxes waiting for yardsale season. We have lots of other miscellaneous things around the house that need listed on eBay or craigslist. We are hoping to get rid of a few of the girls outdoor toys to make room for a swingset we will buy in April. It will be a big joint birthday present for the girls. Nothing too fancy, just a basic metal swingset with 3 swings and a slide.

We actually had snow on the ground this morning. A few inches it looked like. It's all gone now, but it's amazing to see after having 60 degree days last week. Hopefully that was Winter's one last stab and from now on Spring will move forward.

We got our Netflix disk in today for streaming on the Wii. It's pretty awesome, and Lexi has already figured out how to use it. It's great, because we won't have to pull the laptop out here for them anymore, we can access it right on the TV.

We had our first order for senior graduation party announcements. They turned out really nice. I think Luke's main focus may be seniors. We had 8 sessions in a matter of months last year just by word of mouth. We redesigned the website some and his portfolio prices are still good until July 31st, so we'll see how it goes.

Luke's Knee!

2010-03-17T17:37:00.000-07:00

So, Luke's leg started swelling a little bit over the weekend, so he gave the arthritis clinic a call on Monday to let them know. They asked if he was available Tuesday morning, and they would just go ahead and drain his knee.

On Tuesday he goes in at 10:45AM, while leaving me with our 3 girls, plus I had Kendra and Kaden all day. He was gone for over an hour, but called and said everything went great. They drained his right knee and pulled out over 60ml of water, and they gave him a cortisone shot.

Today, his knees feel like a million bucks! Hopefully this continues, but they said if he has any problems with his left knee, they would drain it too, they just didn't want to do both in case he had a bad reaction, then he wouldn't be able to walk.

Hopefully his medical troubles are behind us now. We've certainly hit our medical deductible for the year already! I'd like to focus on getting things cleaned up from winter.

Tomorrow is supposed to be nice, so we may head outside for a bit in the evening. We need to survey the damage on our gutters from the snow and ice over the winter. It looks like they have some bent and broken spots. We also have lots of small twigs all over the yard I need to gather up and hopefully burn, in our small firepit that I'm sure is breaking 20 city ordinance laws here in town :)

Some Good News!!

2010-03-11T07:55:00.001-08:00

Yesterday Luke received a phone call from The Arthritis Clinic. They had a cancellation and wondered if he could go in now instead of his appointment on Friday. He took off real quick, seeing as they called him only 18 minutes before the appointment was supposed to start, and we were eating lunch. The verdict...

NO Lupus and NO Rheumotoid Arthritis! Apparently he has some general arthritis in his hands and knees and shoulder, and the X-rays showed some mild arthritis in his lower back. His neck X-rays look great, but he almost always has a stiff neck and not much range of motion there, so he was diagnosed with Spondylarthropathy, which is inflammation of the spine. He was put on Plaquenil to help with the arthritis stuff, but she said it probably won't do much for his neck. She wanted to prescribe Methyltrexate, but she said if there is any chance we may have another kid, he shouldn't take it, as it can have some serious birth defects. The side effects of that drug sound scary enough as it is.

So, he goes back to see her in May to see how he is doing, and if his knees still have some fluid, we will talk about getting them drained then. He should be off blood thinners by then, and the Plaquenil will have had time to take effect.

Overall some good news, now if we can keep it that way!

Lexi's Birthday Weekend

2010-03-09T08:23:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, Alexis turned 4 years old. On Sunday, we had her party, and I actually got Luke to do pictures for the blog! Now if I can only tie him down so we can put up a bunch of randoms over the past few months.

Lexi had a blast, she got lots of Disney Princess and Spongebob, a Melissa and Doug dollhouse, lots of Auto B Good DVD's, crayons, art sets, play-doh, and of course clothes. Thank you to everyone that could join us! She made out with $45, so that combined with whatever Lilly gets, will buy them a swingset as a joint present, and we will make up the difference, and I think Nana and Papaw want to help out with it too. Hopefully we can get it next month as long as the weather stays on the path to warming up.

She wanted a Spongebob cake this year.

An Ariel Barbie Doll

Spongebob DVD

A Bambi Book

Her Melissa and Doug Portable Dollhouse

Lexi and Lilly goofing off.

I was trying to get them to hug each other. Silly girls!

The Meaning of Life

2010-03-04T08:38:00.000-08:00

On Monday, Luke had a visit with the rheumotologist to try and diagnose his knee problems. She ordered a ton of blood work, and he is to see her again on March 12th. His ANA test came back positive, which she said "Your Lupus test came back positive." The other blood work ordered corresponds with trying to identify an auto-immune disorder. It's hard not to worry about it until next Friday, but with the research we've done so far, it does sound like he has quite a few symptoms of Lupus, though Lupus does act like a lot of other auto-immune disorders, so it could be something else disguised as Lupus. We won't know until his next appointment. It's hard to imagine for both of us that he may have some kind of a "disease". I guess growing up, you never really plan on being with someone who has problems, or imagine yourself as the one with problems, so it's a little hard to swallow on both of our ends. The important thing is trying to figure out what we can do to keep his symptoms low-key, so he can have the most normal life we can provide, whatever the diagnosis may be.

Life tends to look a little different after something like this happens. We think back, that if he hadn't finally called a doctor, that clot could have killed him. With that in my mind now, I don't feel nearly as stressed about housework, or getting ready for Lexi's birthday party this weekend. There are things I want to get done, no question, but I won't be nearly as upset if they don't get done, because in the end, who wants to remember nothing but house projects and stress. We will both want to remember fun times with the girls, and the laughter and joy we can all bring into this house. So the work will get done when it gets done.

I've had problems lately enjoying being home with the girls. Not many people have this opportunity, and I feel horrible that I don't enjoy it all the time like I think I should. Looking at life with these new set of glasses is slowly teaching me that I will love it more, when I don't stress about the small things.

So excuse the dirty dishes, the pajamas worn all day, and the tangles in the hair. Please excuse the clutter messes, unswept carpet, and toy covered living room. We are a family that is home together all day, every day. We live here, it is our home, and it is full of life and excitement.

Back in the Swing of Things

2010-02-23T12:43:00.000-08:00

Sunday we met with Nana and Papaw in Marietta and picked up Lexi and Lilly! They were very excited to see us, and they love their room. We have Dora wall clings, and glow in the dark planets, moons, and stars. They also have pink curtains now, and a pink see-through curtain on their closet, so now they like to hide in the closet.

We got the living room painted and have some pictures hung up. We still need to finish organizing the dining room and hang more pictures, but most importantly we need to paint a bunch of frames so we don't have a bunch of mis-matched wood like we do right now. My goal is to start getting the house into a nice enough look that we could put it on the market on a moments notice. I would love to move out and go build on the land, but the economy is just too crappy right now. I want to be ready, so when the market starts to turn, we can make a move!

Luke's knees are doing much better. He is down to half a tablet on the prednisone, and his knees aren't nearly as swollen and puffy as they were when we started this adventure.

So now we are back to normal. The house is full of noise and chaos. I've had Kendra this week to babysit, and looks like I may get Kaden on Friday. The house just feels empty and weird when it's so quiet. My nerves may be fried everyday, but I wouldn't want it any other way right now!

A Quiet House...

2010-02-17T17:30:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we made the trek to Marietta to meet Nana and Papaw at Applebee's. We had a nice lunch and then Lexi and Lilly went with them to West Virginia. They will stay down there until Sunday, when we will meet half-way and pick them up. So far they are having a blast, playing in the snow. Lilly tells me Hi on the phone, but Lexi just listens to me and doesn't really talk. I miss them. At least I still have Avery to cuddle and make me feel like a Mom still.

Socks went to West Virginia as well, so she can be an outside cat with Callie. She will have to adjust a bit since there is still so much snow, but I know once she is familiar with her surroundings, she will love being on the prowl outside. Inside a house in the city just doesn't seem to fit her needs, so I'm sure she will be happier down there.

We've been working on the house a bit since they are gone. We are touching up the girls' room, and we have some Dora and star wall clings to decorate with. We are also going to re-paint the living room and paint a bunch of frames and redecorate the walls a bit. Hopefully we can get everything done, since Luke is still light duty with his leg.

Avery's 2 month checkup was today. She is 25 inches long and 14lbs 13oz. She is growing beautifully, and we all agree that she may be starting to teethe already. She is slobbing a bunch and chewing on her hand, even when she's not hungry. That should be a fun time! I don't think I want to go overdue with a pregnancy anymore. It seems like she is just growing so fast since she cooked a bit longer than Lexi and Lilly did.

Luke is doing well with his leg. He is on prednisone for inflammation, and he seems to be able to move his shoulder better than he has in years, and his knees are doing pretty good. The blood thinners have him a bit weak still, but I'm sure he will adjust soon. He has an appointment on March 1st with a rhuemotologist to diagnose his arthritis, and see how we can manage that for him.

He gets his finger pricked tomorrow to check his coumadin levels in his blood. Other than that, not much else is planned except to keep moving forward with the house.

When it rains...it pours!

2010-02-12T07:55:00.000-08:00

We have had a long list of things that have gone wrong already this year, but this week has been extremely stressful...

Luke's leg started swelling at the end of last week. Just a little puffy in his lower right leg. He finally decided to call a doctor about it on Tuesday. (He hasn't seen a doctor since 7th grade). He told them what was going on, and they scheduled an appointment for that day at 4:20pm. They then called about 2ish and said they had some cancellations, and to see if he could come in earlier. We rushed outside to clear the twenty feet of snow off of the car and off he went while I stayed home with the girls.

He calls me awhile later and says they are sending him to the big Cleveland Clinic building in town for an ultrasound of his leg, because the doctor thinks there may be a clot. Sure enough, he calls me afterward and says they found a small one above his calf muscle, so he needs to be on blood thinners. The office was calling the prescription in at Rite-Aid, then he has to go back to the office because they have to show him how to use them...because they are NEEDLES!!! I believe at this point in time, he was running on auto-pilot, and nothing was really sinking in. He is scared to death of needles. He gets to the pharmacy and the total bill $628 for 10 shots! The pharmacist asked him if he would like to call the doctor and see if there are other options, and the only other option is to be admitted to the ER and they could do the shots, and since it would be at a hospital, we could get on a payment plan.

He calls me and tells me this, and there is no way I can have him stay at the ER for a few nights, that is just crazy! I tell him we can charge it on a card, and we will worry about it later. Well Rite-Aid didn't have enough to fill the prescription, so they gave him 4 shots, and said the rest will be in tomorrow, so we can pay for it then. He takes it to the office, and they want him to do it himself so they know that he knows how to administer it. He told me he has no idea how he got through that, but he ended up lying down on the doctor's office floor for awhile because he about passed out.

Apparently, he has arthritis in his knees, which is causing fluid to build up in his knees. Well the fluid constricts blood flow to his legs, which caused his leg to swell and the clot to form. So now he has been doing shots twice a day until Sunday morning. I've been giving them to him, because he just can't handle it himself, and I'm not so sure I'm handling it either, but we are managing. He is also on pills that he will be on for 3 months, and he has to go to the lab today to get his levels checked to make sure his blood isn't too thin. He can't take other medications as of right now, so he is stiff and sore beyond belief. The medication makes him tired, and gives him the chills, and now his belly looks like he is a junky with all the poke holes in it. We are getting ready to make a list of questions he can ask the doctor when he goes for his lab work today, so we'll see what the game plan is to get him better, because right now, he is a zombie. Now I know what single mothers feel like with 4 kids!

Quick Updates in the Household...

2010-01-26T11:21:00.000-08:00

We have a bit of snow on the ground today, just a light coating really. It really warmed up over the weekend, and Luke had another senior session booked on Saturday. She was referred from a few other seniors that Luke had done. Apparently there are still a lot of kids in her class that haven't gotten senior pictures done. They either don't care, will let the school picture get submitted, or went to a quick studio to get a headshot for the book. I figured we were done with senior sessions for the year, but we may not be.

The girls are doing well. They had a bit of a cough and runny/stuffy noses, but are doing much better. Hopefully we are done being sick for the year:)

With that senior shoot came a few last minute home improvements. We got some drywall mud on the dining room ceiling, and put primer on the trim. We also nailed down some shoe molding, and bought new curtains and hardware. Makes the room look nice, but it will look even better when it's finished.

We are planning on Lexi and Lilly visiting Nana and Papaw next month, and I am hoping that we can get some more home improvement items taken care of. We will definitely be painting the girls' closet and ceiling since they will be gone, and maybe touch up some wall paint. I would like to focus on the dining room and living room, that way they look nicer when the birthday parties start rolling around. Lexi's is in March, and Lilly in May. The kitchen seems to be a lost cause...I sometimes wish that part of the house would just fall off so we can claim it on the insurance and get a really nice one!

Right now we are trying to sort out all this photography business jargin, so we know we are as legit as a small business can be. Fun fun!

Charitable Donations in 2010

2010-01-18T08:34:00.000-08:00

Along with this de-cluttering the house, I’ve decided we need to be more charitable as a family. Obviously, even though we couldn’t control our amount of debt for a while, we are doing well enough financially to accumulate stuff. I’ve decided to start locally for the most part. I think that will help the girls grasp the concept of giving easier when we can visit these places to drop off donations.

Other Mother’s
1821 Beall Avenue
Wooster, OH 44691-2343
(330) 264-7176
othermothers.com

Other Mother’s is a store for baby/toddler/maternity items. They buy back your gently used clothing and other merchandise, and then resell it. This isn’t really charity…since they pay you for the items they decide to keep and resell, but if gives others who are on a budget a chance to get name brand clothes and really good prices. Plus, it helps us make a little money for debt payoff, and get rid of some clutter. I have a 31 gallon plastic tote waiting to be dropped off for them to go through. I’m not sure what they will take and what they won’t, so I’ve put in a variety of clothing and we’ll see what they are looking for.

Wayne County Humane Society
1161 Mechanicsburg Road
Wooster, OH 44691
Phone: (330) 262-0152
www.wchs.org

Obviously, the humane society helps out local stray animals that need homes. Their website has a wishlist of items they happily accept as donations. Anything from food and toys, to office supplies for the staff; they can use it all. I plan on setting up a small container, and as we find deals in the store on some of those items, we will pick them up here and there and when we fill the container, we can drop it off. The girls love animals, and I think they would understand that those animals don’t have homes and need someone to buy these items for them. I also think I may set up a small bank, and the girls can donate some of their money they earn from picking up toys and doing other chores. The humane society has a second chance fund that helps injured animals get the vet care they need to be well so they can get adopted.

Every Woman's House
Gault Liberty Center
104 Spink Street
Wooster, Ohio 44691
(330) 263-6021
www.everywomanshouse.org

This is our local domestic violence shelter. I don’t think the girls will understand that abuse takes place, but the idea that there are people out there that are less fortunate, and need items that we can provide is a more simple concept. They accept adult clothing, kids clothing, toys, small appliances and furniture, money, and anything else to help people get back on their feet and out in the world after going through this violence. We have plenty of kids clothing, and I’m sure Luke and I can thin our closets some, so I plan on doing the same thing we are doing with the humane society. A small container that we can add to and then drop off.

Pantene Beautiful Lengths
511 Wisconsin Drive
New Richmond, WI 54017-2613
www.beautifullengths.com

So this isn’t so much a family thing, as it is a me thing. I had my haircut shortly after Lilly was born in 2007, with every intention of donating it. I wasn’t sure where, but I knew I had enough length to do it. I had my ponytail chopped and put it in a bag and it’s been sitting ever since. Most places for donating hair are related to making wigs for children, and we are doing so much charitable work for children, that I picked Pantene because they focus on women who survive cancer. They also have less restrictions on what has been done to the hair, and the length can be shorter than the foundations for children’s hair. I plan on sending out the ponytail that I have sitting around, and I believe my hair is long enough to do it again, so in the next few months, I need to budget in a haircut so I can donate again. With 3 daughters, I would love to be able to encourage them to do the same when they are old enough to make that decision. Lexi’s hair is long enough right now, but I know she wouldn’t quite understand, and right now they both love their long “princess” hair. I would probably look into Locks for Love, or another children’s donation place for them, since they are kids afterall. I’m thinking maybe when Lexi is 5 or 6 she would understand better, but I will see what their reaction is when I do it.

Soldier’s Angels
www.soldiersangels.org

This isn’t local, but this organization has the option of adopting a soldier, and/or sending care packages, and other kinds of packages. Luke and I aren’t very social, so adopting a soldier and writing to them every week doesn’t sound like the best option for us, so for now, we are going to concentrate on just putting general care packages together and sending them to our nearest warehouse, so they can be sent overseas where they are much needed and appreciated. Personal care items, magazines and crossword puzzles, hard candies, food, clothing, and all kinds of other stuff is listed on the website as acceptable donations. I can’t image Luke or I being gone for an entire year, so sending a little part of home to these guys and gals probably makes a world of difference for their moral. I think the girls are a bit young to understand the war, but supporting our military can be such a simple act of compassion, and I know the girls will enjoy picking out things and packing up the boxes.

I hope to get some boxes/containers together and get everything organized so we can officially start buying items next month. I need to find some simple ways to explain the organizations to the girls, and get them pumped about helping. Getting them excited and involved will help hold us accountable.

I’m on the lookout for other things we can donate to. I know after yardsale season is over, we will box up the leftovers for a goodwill donation, and I hope to find an angel tree or something similar for next Christmas.

I know this may seem counter-productive, since we are trying to tighten our budget and work our way out of debt, but good Karma floats around, and giving it out will surely bring some back, and I just feel it’s time we start contributing more in life. If all I have to complain about in life is debt and clutter, than obviously I have it better than others do, so I should have the means to help them. Maybe when the kids get older, we can actually donate time, but for now, stuff seems to be a better choice.

I'm Selling The Farm...

2010-01-18T07:23:00.001-08:00

OK, not really, since I don't even have a farm. Another 2010 goal of mine is to PURGE this house. De-clutter as much as possible. At the same time, I am taking all of these purged items, and either boxing them up for a yardsale, or if I think I may be able to get rid of them quicker on craigslist, then list the items on there right now. I am swamped with baby clothes, toddler clothes, toys, home decor, and many other miscellaneous items. I've actually thought about making a list of things for people not to buy the girls for birthdays and Christmas, because we have too much of some things, like 3T shirts, or baby dolls. When we moved into this house 5 years ago, we had only our bedrooms to move into the entire downstairs, along with some misc. containers from the basement from our childhood years. Now we have expanded to an office upstairs, and we are bursting at the seams. I feel that my house is very UN-inviting to people, and therefore we don't get many visitors. (It doesn't help that the house is a construction zone as well)

So, right now I have a list going of things, and as they sell, I will write them on a spreadsheet with the price they went for. The spreadsheet is hanging on our bedroom door next to a big chart listing out our credit card debt totals, and I hope that this will motivate us to sell more and put that money towards the debt. We need to learn to live with less, because many other people do each day. We just don't need all of this stuff!! I have a pile in the dining room of stuff listed on craigslist, and boxes sitting around filled with yardsale items. I will do another toy and clothing purge after the girls' birthdays, so that will be around May, and that is prime season for yardsales to start. I'm hoping to do at least one yardsale a month from May-August, and then take some leftovers to goodwill like we did last year.

Health Check

2010-01-18T07:21:00.000-08:00

Avery’s one month checkup went great. She gained 4 pounds (she is now 12lbs 15.5oz) and gained 2 ¾ inches (up to 23 3/4in). We don’t have to take her back until she is 2 months old.

We are all a bit sickly here. No fevers or anything, but our noses are runny/stuffy, and my head has been hurting. Nothing we can’t handle, just trying to take it easy as much as possible.

In other news, I hate eBay. Luke sold a lens and a camera kit. He agreed to ship out of the country, so the lens was paid for and shipped to China, and now it looks like the guy is trying to take us for a ride saying it wasn’t as described. The part that stinks is that it is cheaper to just give him a partial refund, then to have him ship it back. We know that the problem he is saying doesn’t exist, and we have high resolution pictures of the lens showing the areas he is talking about, and there is nothing there. Luke will probably just give him a partial refund, so his eBay record doesn’t get tarnished, but I hope Karma bites this guy for taking away money from someone else. The camera kit, on the other hand, hasn’t even been paid for yet, and the guy only has 1 day left to do it. Not how I wanted to start paying off debt in the new year. We have a couple more things that would probably sell faster on eBay, so we will continue to use them for now, but their fees, along with paypal’s fees are so ridiculous!

Moving Along...

2010-01-13T18:50:00.000-08:00

We decided to put a bed rail on Lexi's bed. She sleeps in a the bottom bunk, and Lilly's bed is a trundle on the floor, and 2 of the 4 times Lilly has had a night terror, we have found Lexi in her bed. It worked for 2 nights, but then last night we think Lilly had another one, although Luke had her calmed down in less than 5 minutes. Hopefully this really is helping...

Avery has her one month appointment tomorrow afternoon, so I will update with all of the details later tomorrow.

Luke sold a camera and lens, so pretty soon our first credit card on our snowball will be paid off!!! We are awaiting our tax forms which should be coming between now and the beginning of February, so we can start that process. I'm not sure what our numbers will be since that Obama tax went into effect, giving more back in each paycheck, and we had Avery, so our tax return is a mystery number for us right now.

I'm trying to put us on the envelope system for groceries, dining out, home improvement, and thrift/gift savings. Hopefully having the cash on hand and seeing it disappear will help keep us on our budget a bit better.

I pulled both of our credit reports from annualcreditreport.com. I pulled our Experian reports, and we can pull from the other two throughout the year. All for free since we aren't getting our score with them. I am going to start working on our "Everything Important" binder again. I haven't touched it in over a year, and it has important information in the event that Luke and I both died, people would know where to find our login information, credit details, work information, insurance information, and a listing of valuables and whatnot.

That's about it besides the normal housekeeping...

Night Terrors

2010-01-09T07:30:00.001-08:00

Ever heard of them? Thanks to a board I frequently lurk on, I have heard of them, but never paid much attention to the details...until now. Here is some basic info from askdrsears.com

NIGHT TERRORS

"I think my child is having night terrors."

It's the middle of the night and you are awakened by your child screaming from his bedroom. You rush in to see what's wrong and you find him sitting up in bed with a blank stare but very agitated. You try to wake him, asking him what is wrong but he doesn't respond, he just keeps screaming. You are scared and don't know what to do. After a few minutes, your child goes back to sleep and in the morning he doesn't remember the episode.

Characteristics of night terrors:

* Your child seems frightened, but cannot be awakened or consoled.
* Your child may sit up in bed, or walk around the room, screaming or talking senselessly.
* Your child doesn't acknowledge you, his eyes may be open but he seems to stare right through you.
* Objects or persons in the room might be mistaken for dangers.
* Episodes usually last between 10 and 30 minutes.
* Usually occur in children 1 to 8 years old.
* Your child cannot remember the episode in the morning.
* Usually happens within 2 hours of falling asleep.
* Night terrors are harmless and each episode will end on its own.

Why does a child get night terrors?

Night terrors are an inherited problem and occur in about 2% of children. It is as if the child is having a bad dream during deep sleep and cannot wake up. Night terrors are not caused by psychological stress, but they seem to be associated with being overtired.

What should I do when my child is having a night terror?

1. Help child go back to sleep.
Do not try to awaken your child. Turn on the lights so that your child won't be confused by shadows. Remain calm, talk in a soothing tone, "you are okay, you are at home, you are in your own bed, you can go back to sleep". Again, speak calmly, and keep repeating these soothing comments. You can try holding his hand or snuggling him, but if he pulls away don't persist. Don't try to wake him with shaking or shouting, this will only agitate him more and prolong the attack.

2. Protect him from getting hurt.
Keep you child away from stairs, windows or sharp objects. Try to gently direct him back to bed.

3. Educate your caregivers.
Be sure to warn babysitters, family members, or others who might be caring for him at night. Explain to them what to do in case of an attack, so that they don't overreact.

Can night terrors be prevented?
The following exercise has been shown to stop night terrors in 90% of children. For several nights, keep track of the time between falling asleep and the onset of the night terror. Then, wake him up 15 minutes prior to the expected time of the episode, get him out of bed and fully awake for 5 minutes. Do this for seven consecutive nights. If the night terrors recur, repeat the seven nights of awakenings.

Lilly has woken up last night, the night before, and a night in December, completely hysterical. She displays almost all the characteristics listed above. It's heartbreaking to watch her. She just stares, screams, covers her ears, and talks. I have no idea what she says, except for when she yells for mommy and daddy. Last night we spent about a half hour just sitting in her bed with her, holding her and rocking her, until she settled down and went back to sleep. The one in December, Luke was taking out trash when she started, and not knowing anything about a night terror, I tried to wake her up and call her name. It didn't make one bit of difference. She also stiffens up and shakes, almost like a constipation episode or something. It really is quite bizarre to watch.

I'm not sure if we are going to try Dr. Sears method listed above. We haven't talked about it yet.

Yesterday was just quite the day that we are running in zombie mode right now. Between Avery being crankier at night before we can get her to go down, Lilly's night terror, and stressing with Lexi because her new thing two nights in a row is being afraid the tub in draining while she is in it, which ruins bathtime. We got 15 minutes into the movie National Treasure and that was the end. Maybe tonight we can retry.

We have Jayden's birthday party to go to today. Tomorrow will be my brother's party and our nieces, Daleen and Claire...plus Luke's dad's birthday was this past week as well. January is full of birthdays!!

A Synthetic Battle...with Clothing

2010-01-06T08:45:00.000-08:00

It's winter, it's cold, so we all want to stay warm, so we dress warm. Thermal underwear (long johns) are a must have Ohio accessory in the winter. Nana bought a pair for both Lexi and Lilly (Joe Boxer brand) for Christmas. They are tight fitting, since they are meant as a layer under your clothing. The girls used them for PJ's a few nights ago, and stayed in them all day running around the house. They took a bath that evening, and upon getting out, were covered in a red spotted rash. Lilly more than Lexi, but Lexi had taken off her pants part of the day, and Lilly's pair fit a lot tighter since she is bigger (and she is more active). They hadn't eaten anything out of the ordinary, so I took a look at the tag on the long johns. 40% Polyester... So I google polyester allergy. According to that research, it looks like both girls had a slight reaction to it. Then it clicked. Luke has red bumps on his legs that get irritated in the winter and after getting out of a warm bath. We figured it was the drier air. He lives in his long johns during the winter, and of course his are 23% polyester, and 54% acrylic!! He is having a reaction too, and we never realized it.

This is how it works. Polyester, acrylic, nylon...all of those synthetic fibers, are plastic. They are used a lot in winter clothing since it acts as a barrier to keep heat in. Well it also keeps moisture in (aka sweat), and that helps irritate the skin. I also came across a little research that suggests that these plastic fibers emit small doses of estrogen through some chemical process, which can lead to increased chances of developing certain cancers...etc.

Since I am a semi-crunchy hippie as it is, I've decided to pay a lot more attention to the clothing we wear. Most of what we have is 100% cotton, but I've come across some things, like sweatpants and sweatshirts, and basically more winter type clothing (including coats) that contain most of the synthetics.

I am going to start with the girls' shirts, and get rid of everything that has more than 10% synthetic in it. (This will help with my de-clutter project as well) I may keep a few nicer sweaters for special occasions, and they can wear an undershirt made of cotton, and they won't be in it long. They have so many shirts, and I won't need that many when Avery is that big, since there will be just one of her in that size, instead of 2 like I have now. They have sweatpants and winter PJ's that contain polyester, but they fit a lot more loosely than those long johns did, so they are OK for now.

In the future though, when I buy clothing for the family, I will be checking out tags. I am also going to let family and friends know, that if they would like to purchase clothing for the girls for birthdays or Christmas, to please check the tags, because I just don't want to take the chance that they may not be able to wear it. Besides...staying away from synthetic is better health wise, and for the environment.

Thankfully, it was a very small/mild reaction, and it seems to be clearing up just fine. No swelling, no complaining of itching, no seeping sores...just a red bumpy rash, mainly around the thighs and waist, where the clothing would be tightest on them.

Financial Goals for 2010

2010-01-05T09:52:00.000-08:00

We know we have accumulated way too much debt over the past couple years (a few kids, a miscarriage, buying a car, and having a money pit for a house doesn't help). I am tired of the stress it causes me (I stress about everything), and it's getting to the point in life where we need to get our stuff together because Lexi and Lilly are getting to an age where they will remember things that happen, and I don't want them to remember a bunch of negatives in life. We are going to loosely follow Dave Ramsey with our debt snowball. We also need to make our credit look as good as possible, because our land loan will require a balloon payoff next in April 2011 (It was supposed to be a loan that wraps into a construction loan to avoid that balloon). We will have to find a way to get a loan to take over that loan so we can keep our land (where we will build one day), so we can't mess up our finances this year! Here is our credit card debt list in the order we would like to pay them off. (I am doing a combination of small balances first and higher interest rates first)

Debt as of December 31, 2009
$602.52 FirstMerit 11ish%
$808.74 Circuit City/Best Buy Chase 0% until Nov 2010
$4,323.59 Luke's Bank of America 16ish%
$4,192.29 Holly's Bank of America .99% until June 2010, then 10ish%?
$3,912.64 Luke's Discover
$7,415.67 Luke's Chase
$21,255.45 Total Credit Card Debt End 2009

The First Merit card will be paid off with e-Bay proceeds from camera gear Luke is going to sell. He is putting them on auction starting the 7th, so hopefully by the end of the month that balance will be gone, but that card will be kept live since that is our overdraft protection card from the bank.

The Circuit City turned Best Buy card is the remaining balance on Luke's a700 camera. It is 0% until November, but since it's such a small balance compared to the other cards, it is next to go. I hope that a bit of extra from the e-Bay sales, combined with craigslist selling, babysitting money, and some odd job money will get that card taken care off by the end of March. That card will then be canceled, because we don't need a Best Buy card.

We aren't sure what our total federal tax refund will be this year. I had Luke up his allowances to they took out less, then that Obama tax thing took out even less than what we were claiming, but we had a baby as well, and I'm pretty sure we are considered dirt poor now by the government, so we will get at least what was put in, even after claiming Chris' rental income. Dave Ramsey suggests a $1000 starter emergency fund, but we never made our shuttle vacation last year, and this year NASA is planning on retiring the current shuttles, so here is my plan.

Put $500 into savings for the emergency fund. Give up hope on getting tickets to the NASA Causeway to be as close as possible to the shuttle for launch, since the tickets are in such high demand this year, we will be lucky to even get them. We also won't be tied to a specific launch that may get delayed again and again, since tickets are good for the launch mission, and not the date. Plan trip as cheapily as possible for a possible Florida shuttle launch vacation, seeing the launch from Titusville or Cocoa Beach, and renting a BIG A** lens for Luke's camera. Hopefully we get enough back in taxes to cover the trip in full, but this is one thing we have both agreed that we can charge, because we are space buffs and this is our last chance for this to happen. I haven't come up with an as cheap as possible scenario yet, but I am going to start working on it.

Anything that may be left over in taxes will hit his Bank of America card next. It's not the next lowest balance, but it's the highest interest rate card we have, and I want it gone. I am planning on pulling both of our credit reports soon, and I am going to pick some credit cards that we can close and cancel as we pay off. Not sure if this one will stay open or not, but I will detail that after looking over the credit reports.

Any extra money coming in from the photography will hopefully get split between Uncle Sam, the business, and debt. Any extra money from babysitting, odd jobs, and selling our stuff will mostly go to debt. If it's an odd job Luke did, he will get a portion of that money to put towards camera stuff for the business. It will help keep him motivated to sell things.

All of this while trying to find money to put towards the house will be a nice challenge (the budget allows $50/month for house fixing). I'll have to post a finalized budget, but I think I may hold off until the beginning of February, after these e-Bay auctions and whatnot.

Good Luck to us!

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T09:15:00.000-08:00

Alexis and Lillian slept through it. Nothing special to them...I don't think they even realize it's a new year.

Luke and I played Lego Batman for the Wii. Since we canceled cable TV, it's not like we could watch the ball drop.

Avery rung in the new year taking a dump! That's right, we were doing a diaper change when midnight struck.

Our goals for 2010 are to stick to our budget, payoff some debt, declutter the house, and finish up house projects enough that we wouldn't be embarrassed to list the house with a realtor...because right now, it looks like a construction zone in some areas. I will reflect on these goals later in more detail, to help commit ourselves to them better.

Christmas...again, and again, and again!

2009-12-30T07:57:00.000-08:00

Where to start. This holiday has come over and over again it seems. The weekend before Christmas, Nana and Papaw came up to visit and see Avery for the first time. That brought lots of presents. Then we went to my Aunt and Uncle's, since that is where Nana and Papaw stayed. Bring out even more presents.

Christmas Eve my family does a gift exchange, but they decided to do it at 8PM since people were working. We were not staying out that late, so we dropped our gifts off at my dad's so he could take them. Chelsea stopped out though, on her way to family over here in Wooster. That's a few more presents, since we exchange gifts, seeing as I watch Kendra and all.

Christmas Day...obviously presents. The girls got bikes from us, so Moon Sand, art stuff, car stuff, and a TV microscope that they are probably a bit small for still. We packed up and went to dad's, since mom was showing up. So we get PJ's and ponies and play-doh and then gift exchange gifts. We eat the family lunch and head home for the day.

Boxing Day we spend on Luke's side since it fell on a Saturday, everyone could show up and Christmas was less hectic for everyone. Even more presents. Arts and crafts stuff, baby dolls, clothes, and much more. Luke's mom found left handed scissors and can opener, since Luke told her I complain about the right handed stuff in this house. I tried that can opener the other day, and it feels quite odd to use it after using a right handed one for my whole life.

The Sunday after we stuck at home and tried to clean up the piles of cardboard and gift paper (recycling them of course), but Keith and Angel stopped by with Kaden, so we could gift exchange. Yup...one more round of presents. They announced that they are expecting again...should be early this fall sometime!

I think if we wouldn't have just had a baby, the gifts may have been a little less, because Avery got a compilation of Christmas and just being born gifts.

I have pictures galore to go through before I can tell Luke which ones need resized and put up for the blog, so bear with me. Just wanted to update and hope everyone had a good holiday. We certainly did.

Minor setbacks...

2009-12-17T19:55:00.000-08:00

Luke and I have decided to lay down the law and keep me on my butt for a few days. I woke up today feeling like I had been hit by a truck! Dull cramps, increased bleeding, kind of dizzy, and just feeling blah. I guess the lack of sleep is catching up with me, and I have been pushing myself with my normal housewife duties.

On a good note though, Luke finished editing his senior sessions. Now we need to focus on doing some more newborn photos of Avery, and getting announcements ordered. I think we decided to skip Christmas cards and send out wallet photos with the announcements.

We started supplementing Avery with formula at night, hoping that it sticks with her longer so she will sleep a little longer. We have a few sample cans that we received in the mail that we have available to us, and I am pumping at night, so we have a nice little stockpile of breastmilk to fall back on after the cans run out. It's nice to have someone else feed her occasionally. We supplemented with Lexi since I went back to work after 6 weeks, but Lilly was exclusively breastfed and would refuse a bottle of any kind, so I never had a break with her.

I've been sitting on my butt most of the evening, and my sweet hubby is making peanut butter cookies with hershey kisses right now :)

Nana and Papaw are coming up tomorrow, so the big girls will have a bunch of fun tomorrow evening and on Saturday. I've felt bad since they haven't had nearly as much attention since Avery came home, but they seem to be doing just fine.

We Are Surviving...

2009-12-15T18:44:00.000-08:00

I guess it's probably a few things all put together... Lexi and Lilly are older and need entertainment, it's been at least a year and a half since we have had to be up numerous times at night, and probably the fact that we are a couple years older, and a couple years more out of shape, but adjusting from a family of four to a family of five seems like a bit more of a struggle than going from 3 to 4.

I think Avery is mixing up her days and nights. The literature that the hospital sends home suggests feeding every 2 hours during the day, that way you are interrupting sleep all throughout the day, so I tried that out today. I will wake her up one more time here in a few minutes to nurse her and get her changed and swaddled for bed, and hopefully she isn't wide awake half of the night. It wouldn't be too big a deal, but Luke has a lot on his plate right now with the photography business, on top of his day job, so he has been staying up later to do editing, and by the time he comes to bed, Avery is up and needs bounced around for another hour, so he is running on little sleep.

Nursing is going OK, although it seems that she has a problem latching on the left. I get a nice pain every time, so I tried doing the football hold instead of the cradle hold, and it works out a lot better. She must not like lying on her right side to eat. The football hold is a bit more difficult to master in chairs, so I end up in bed or sideways on the couch now, but at least I don't hurt so much. I remember everyone saying to give breastfeeding 6 weeks, and with Lexi, it was exactly 6 weeks before everything fell into place. With Lilly it didn't matter, since I had only stopped breastfeeding for about 2 months before she was born.

We are surviving though, and that is the important thing! Our goal is to get through the end of the month, and then starting in the new year, we will re-do the budget and home improvement plans, and see if we can get ahead next year!

TGIF

2009-12-11T07:38:00.000-08:00

We've lasted the week! Although today has only begun... Avery went to the pediatrician on Wednesday, and checked out just fine, weighing in at 8lbs 10oz, so she gained 2 oz from her discharge weight. She has figured out the latching on thing, but we've still been supplementing with a little formula and pumped breastmilk. I don't want a baby that won't take a bottle when I need a break, and we ran into that with Lilly, so I don't want to repeat that again. She's been doing fairly well at night, she has a 5-6 hour stretch, and then 3 hour stretches after the big one.

We tried out some quick newborn shots yesterday, so we can get birth announcements done. We may try to do Christmas pictures this weekend, so we can get everything ordered all at once.

It is my goal to sit on my butt most of the day today, because I have been much too active the past 2 days with household stuff, and it is physically showing, so I need to take it easy.

Luke has tons of work to do, not only for AMPS (the company he works for), but also editing our newborn and future Christmas pictures, plus 2 senior sessions, plus fixing a friend's computer, plus numerous other things. I really don't want to depend on him too much, because he is already getting little sleep from staying up late to edit, and then he helps with the baby at night.

It's proving to be tough right now with two toddlers and a newborn, but I think once Luke's workload lessens and the holidays are over with, along with some healing time for me, that things will work out a lot better.

Welcome Home

2009-12-08T07:16:00.000-08:00

We were discharged from the hospital about 4PM yesterday (Monday), and made our way home. The girls were super excited to meet "The New Baby", and we caught their reactions on video, which Luke will have to upload a bit later. Lexi read her stories and shared Mo with her, and they both would "pet" her very gently and wanted to give her toys to play with. We just hung out for a bit before getting the big girls in the tub, and then they helped give Avery a bath. We had Avery in her little papasan chair in their bedroom during storytime, and as Luke picked up the chair to bring her out so we could shut their light off, Lilly lost it, screaming "No, my baby!" Apparently, she thought Avery was going to sleep in that chair on her floor all night, so we had to explain to her yet again that Avery sleeps in our room for now. They did just fine though.

Avery, on the other hand, doesn't seem to want to do things my way. She still isn't latching hardly at all, no matter what we try, so she has been eating formula, and any milk that I have been able to pump. She has also been doing some cluster feedings, so right now I am just working on a game plan to keep my milk stimulated, while still keeping Avery content.

Avery's discharge weight was 8lbs 8 ozs, and we go to see the pediatrician on Wednesday afternoon. I am good to go and have my checkup on the 21st of January.

Thank you to everyone for you congrats and well wishes!

So Much for a Play by Play...

2009-12-06T08:26:00.000-08:00

Darn wireless internet, we couldn't figure out how to get it to work until now. Now for the birth story...

We arrived right on time at 8PM, and got put on an IV drip and the monitors, just to see what baby was up to. At 9PM pitocin was started on the lowest dose, and Dr. Laing came in to break my water. I was measuring at 3cm and about 70%. We got hooked up to the wireless gadgets so we could walk around, and made it a total of 3-4 laps before I needed to be in the room. Emotionally I was not ready whatsoever to go on with the induction. I decided I should do a nubain shot at 11PM, and I was check and at a 5 and about 80% effaced. I sat in bed because I felt loopy in between contractions, but it didn't do very much for the pain. By this time, I was seriously contemplating an epidural, and had asked the nurse tons of questions about it. I could have up to 4 nubain shots before they would suggest an epidural for pain, and would you believe it takes that guy a half hour to get here after you call for one? That's crazy! I decided I should try one more nubain shot, because a needle to the back terrifies me, so at midnight I had my second shot, and I was at a 7-8 and 90%. About 10 minutes til 1AM I started feeling like I needed to push with each contraction. I was an 8-9 and fully effaced, and the crash carts were set up and the bed was moved around. I had been shaking uncontrollably for awhile, and by the time the doctor sat on the bed, I was pushing out a baby while the other nurse was calling for an assistant nurse. I had 2 big sets of pushes and out came Avery at 1:11AM. She weighed a whopping 8lbs 15 1/2 ounces, and is 21 inches long. She had a little bit of a purple face, from bruising, and I needed 2 stitches (which I received without a pain medication shot) and so far we are doing well.

I had a little more bleeding than they would like, and so far she is not nursing at all, but eating well from the little bottles of similac they have here. Right now we are just hanging out, waiting for visitors and taking naps. Here are a few pics that Luke also has up on facebook...

For Your Enjoyment...

2009-12-05T08:45:00.000-08:00

The title of the last post made me think of Europe, so Luke and I set out on a search and came across this.

Europe Video

Please take a few minutes and enjoy the hair, pink lipstick, jacket change, on stage slow motion, cheesy guitar solo, and flames. And make note of the date on the top of the building...1986. I was 2 :) Gotta love the 80's!

It's the Final Countdown! T-9 and ticking...

2009-12-05T07:51:00.000-08:00

Well, tonight is the night. I didn't sleep worth a darn last night. Fell asleep about midnight, was up at 4:30, and didn't fall back asleep until about 8:30, just in time to wake up at 9:15 this morning. I had some contractions for a little while about 10 minutes apart, but obviously it was nothing.

I have the bed sheets in the wash along with other miscellaneous laundry. All of the floors have been swept except the kitchen. The dining room is ready to be set up into a studio for this double senior session that goes from 2PM-6PM (although the first part will be outside).

On my to-do list...

1) Make bed
2) Clean out car
3) Finish off kitchen trash and dishes after lunch
4) Finish packing hospital gear
5) Try to relax

My mother-in-law (Trish) is coming about 1:30 or so to help with the girls during the photo shoot, and she will stay tonight with them. My dad will be over sometime tomorrow and he will stay Sunday night with them since he is off work Monday.

The hospital doesn't have WiFi in the rooms, but they do in the reception area, so I will periodically type something out for Luke to post here on the blog, to keep everyone up-to-date with the situation.

The plan is to be at the hospital at 8PM tonight, and we will see how we start from there.

An Afternoon at the Hospital

2009-12-04T13:52:00.000-08:00

No baby yet. I had contractions for 3 hours that were 5-7 minutes apart last night, that even lasted through a bath, but they weren't strong enough to keep me from falling asleep, although each time I got up to use the bathroom, I could feel them.

We had our ultrasound at 2PM for the AFI (fluid check) and it was like 13.6, which is great the tech said. Baby is head down (which we knew) and we saw a hand, which was blocking the goods shot, so even this late in the game, baby is still modest and won't give a clear shot. With the family statistics though, and the 4 techs thinking girl at the 20 week ultrasound, I can't imagine anything else in there but another little girl.

We went down to labor and delivery for the NST (Non-Stress Test), so I got to lay in bed for 30 minutes while they monitored the baby's heart rate and any contractions, and I got to push a little button whenever I felt the baby move. They had the stats they needed within the first 10 minutes, but had to keep us on for a half hour to make sure. After that half hour, apparently the baby had a heart deceleration, so they called Dr. Laing, and I got to stay on the machine and drink some water. All in all, I was hooked up for an hour and a half. Everything is fine though, and I even had some contractions show up on the monitor. Being in that bed for that long though, I have no idea how I am supposed to stay hooked up to all that equipment while going through pitocin contractions. I am going to need to move around, or this induction just isn't going to happen.

On another note, as we walked through the door, they had a sign posted that said no one under 18 will be allowed to visit patients, which means the girls won't be able to visit. Luckily Chris was off work early today, so we left the girls with him. This makes me very upset, because this whole H1N1 is getting blown way out of proportion, and now it's affecting a very important moment in my family's lives. I told Luke we are going to pressure everyone around us to get us discharged as early as possible. I don't want to stay the 48 hours I did with the girls...hopefully we can get out at 24. I don't want to rely on family for so long when in this economy, people shouldn't take off work unless absolutely necessary.

I'm hoping something happens this evening or tonight, or even tomorrow morning, even though it would ruin Luke's photo shoot. I just want to keep away from a pitocin induction if at all possible, but this baby is not helping this situation!

Finally!!! Some Baby Progress to Report...

2009-12-03T14:28:00.000-08:00

Had my doctor's appointment late this afternoon (3:30). I went from nothing last week, to 3cm and 40% effaced, although the cervix still feels a bit thick she said. She went ahead and stripped the membranes which brought us to 4cm when it was all said and done. When I was 2cm and 50% with Lilly, we had the membranes stripped, and I went into labor 9 hours later, so hopefully this does something tonight or tomorrow, because I really don't want induced.

In the event that nothing has happened, we go to the hospital tomorrow at 2PM for a Non-Stress Test and an ultrasound to check fluid levels since I will be 41 weeks, and officially a week overdue. Luke has a senior shoot scheduled on Saturday, and our induction is scheduled for Saturday evening at 8PM, so at the latest, we will have a baby by Sunday!!

Since I am dilated and effaced, we will not have to start off with any gel, just pitocin (which I really don't want), and then we can break the water a little while after that. I hope it doesn't come to that, because I don't want to be stuck in bed hooked up to a bunch of monitors, especially when I won't have an epidural (I refuse to take a needle to my back), so I guess I need to think of some pain management techniques if I end up stuck in bed not being able to move.

Hopefully the next time I post I will be in labor or holding a baby!

"In Goddard We Trust!!"

2009-11-30T12:47:00.001-08:00

Or how about "Trust in Goddard!" Anyone in Northeast Ohio should know what I'm talking about! The one, the only, Fox 8 weatherman Dick Goddard!!!! He was literally 2 blocks from the house on Saturday at our local Discount Drug Mart, signing autographs and raising money for his animal causes. Drug Mart carries his calendar every year. Luke got the car tags and stopped by the store and saw that he was there and called me, so I hurried up and dressed the girls and when he got home we packed the car and went to go stand in line. We got calendars and stickers and Luke took a picture of me and the girls with him. That darn store had windows in the wrong place, and being almost 1PM, the sun was shining right on us, so our faces are all blown out from the sun, but it didn't matter, because I met Dick Goddard! I've only watched him my entire life, and my mom has watched him for like, her entire life, so it was pretty cool. To give you an idea, he is AMS Seal #45. He is an original weatherman. Just Wiki him....he is awesome :)

Happy Late Turkey Day, and a Birthday for Luke!

2009-11-27T14:26:00.001-08:00

Wednesday was our weekly doctor's appointment. We went to Orrville for this one, so Luke got his Ming Hing for lunch ;) Still no change going on in there, but she didn't want to poke too much, since she left Thursday for vacation and won't be back til Sunday evening. She doesn't want to miss the birth. We have an appointment on Thursday, and if there is still no change, we will be discussing induction options, which I really don't want to do. I think that she is thinking that weekend...which Luke has a double senior shoot scheduled that Saturday. Needless to say, I am very anxious and nervous about this induction thing, but I'm just taking it a day at a time, and hopefully there will be some change come Thursday.

Yesterday was the big Turkey Day, and we didn't do anything! We skipped my family's get together, for the sake of our health, and Luke's side was up in Cleveland, and we didn't want to travel that far from home in the event that the baby decided to come. Luke's parents brought a feast back to us in the evening though, so after the kids were asleep, we had a nice Thanksgiving Day dinner while watching "Major Payne"

Today is Luke's birthday, and we haven't done much at all. His mom had brought some old slides down, so we've been looking at those and starting to scan them in. We need to get a new tag for the car, and of course the BMV place is closed today. Not even a government holiday! Hopefully they will be open tomorrow. That's what we get for waiting last minute when his birthday is always so close to a holiday :)

Home Improvement/Organizing Weekend

2009-11-23T07:27:00.000-08:00

We decided that having a working shower would probably be a good thing after the baby comes, so we started finishing the windows in the bathroom (both windows touch the shower surround). Luke primed them a couple coats, then caulked around everything on Saturday. On Sunday, he started painting, only to realize that the caulk we had bought is non-paintable!! Even after attempting to put primer overtop, we are just left with caulk, the paint will bead overtop of it. I told him, screw it,it's a shower, there is supposed to be caulk everywhere anyways, so he went ahead and did a couple coats of paint on the windows.

Fast-forward to the christening last night...

#1 The fabric shower curtain makes the shower a bit dark.
#2 Even though the curtain said you didn't need a liner, we will buy one anyway.
#3 Apparently semi-gloss paint hates being in the shower, and it started to bubble up on the window from getting wet.

The new plan...

#1 Look for paintable caulk and rerun a small bead overtop of the non-paintable, so it's less noticeable.
#2 Buy all weather indoor/outdoor white paint for the bathroom trim, so we know it can stand up to the constant water exposure.

The shower was nice though! Easier to wash hair in a shower than a bathtub when you're this pregnant.

I went through a small cleaning spell on Sunday, and got the crib cleared out, bedroom more organized, baby clothes more organized. All the floors were swept, 2 loads of laundry washed, dried, folded, and put away. Dishwasher is almost ready to run again, garbage was switched out, and best of all, we bought one of those 9-bin toy organizers for the girls, and went through all of the toys. They now have special places for blocks, animals, cars, track, food, and many other things. Clean up in the living room is now easier, because they don't tear everything out looking for a specific toy. It also helps Lilly tremendously, because when all of the toys are on the floor and we ask them to clean up, we believe she gets very overwhelmed and her brain just doesn't process taking directions. She gets so lost, and we have to give her specific tasks like "clean up the cars and put them in this tote" while physically showing her, and helping her out. She seems to be able to handle this organizer more on her own, so I'm sure she will adjust even further as they learn where all of their toys go.

Still no baby. I've had plenty of miscellaneous contractions, but nothing consistent...

NOTHING!!

2009-11-19T09:03:00.000-08:00

Just got back from the doctor's appointment. NOTHING has happened! Cervix is still high and tilted back, and no dilation or effacement. So needless to say, so membrane stripping, since nothing is favorable. I will go back next Wednesday morning in the Orrville office and she will check progress and we will go from there.

It's a bit odd, since I dilated early with the other girls, but we were also going by estimated due dates. I know exactly when I ovulated for this pregnancy, so I know my due date is correct. I guess baby just needs more time to bake. Mom says Thanksgiving Day. The doctor said she normally wouldn't care, but since she is going out of town, she doesn't want to miss it, so maybe baby will wait for her and we will have a very late November/early December baby. Anything could happen though, we may not make it to Wednesday, since things can change rapidly. Dr. Laing says we won't worry about induction until after she would get back from vacation. I would be overdue by then. She said I have such easy labor and deliveries, there is no sense in forcing an induction when nothing is going on up there, so we won't go that route unless we are too far overdue and nothing has happened.

So that is where we stand so far. I guess I need to start scrubbing floors on my hands and knees and going for long walks ;)

Feeling Pooey!

2009-11-18T08:59:00.000-08:00

I woke up this morning feeling like poo! I ate some cereal, which I in turn threw up, and took a bath, which didn't seem to help my overall state :( I feel crampy and tired and shaky, which is how I felt for 2 days before I decided to go to labor and delivery with Alexis, only to find out that we were 6cm and I was being admitted. If something noticeable doesn't happen by tomorrow morning, my doctor's appointment is at 11:15AM, and as long as things are soft and ready to go down there, the doctor will strip the membranes to see if anything starts.

In the meantime, I'm trying to take it easy, even though I have a 5 mile long list of things that need done between now and tomorrow, and we are trying to keep the girls from getting sick. Lexi's nose started bugging her yesterday evening.

In other news, Luke had his first print order and we delivered it yesterday, and he also got a phone call for another print order. Just waiting on the check from that one and we will have it on the way.

Today's Doctor Visit

2009-11-12T10:16:00.000-08:00

So as you may have noticed, Thursdays are our weekly visits, since that is the only day the doctor is in Wooster and not Orrville. Just more convenient to drive 5 minutes up the road as opposed to 20 minutes to the next town. Everything went well. Weight is more than I'd like ::cough:: 204lbs ::cough:: but that is actually down a pound from last week. Blood pressure was 100/62, which is normal for me, and the baby's heartbeat was 148bpm, which is within normal range. She noticed that I'm swelling in the legs just a touch, but my ankles have been pitting for a few weeks now. No concern though.

If we don't have a baby by next Thursday, she will check me to see if I'm dilated and how the cervix is doing. If things seem favorable in there, we will go ahead and strip the membranes at that appointment. I had that done with Lilly, and I went into labor that evening. She is going on vacation for Thanksgiving, so she gave us the option to induce Tuesday the 24th if nothing happens by then, but I won't get induced unless my health or the baby's starts to deteriorate, or I go overdue too long. We just may not have her delivering the baby if we pop around Thanksgiving.

All and all, I'm hoping to not make it to next weeks appointment. Dr. Laing told me to do some jumping jacks, and I think we may hit some bumpy roads this evening. I guess we will see what happens :)

No Baby Today :(

2009-11-10T19:03:00.000-08:00

Well, it's 10PM, so unless labor comes super fast and ends quickly, I don't think I will have a baby today. We didn't do too much today, and you can certainly tell by looking around. Lots of toys laying around, floors need swept, and dishes need exchanged in the dishwasher. Thankfully it's trash night, so a little bit of the mess will go thanks to Luke (as long as he remembers to take it out).

We went to some craft stores today, scoping out items for a few new crafts I've discovered online, although it looks like I may need to buy most of the supplies online, as it seems a lot of people have trouble finding some of the items locally, including myself...

So, I gotta call from the doctor's office. They left a message saying they had called in a prescription for iron at the local Rite Aid, because my bloodwork came back and I am now slightly anemic. I guess it explains the dizzy, tired, irritable spells that I go through, but the most interesting thing I found on the Internet, is that some anemic people crave ice. I've been eating ice by the tray for about a month now! Weird eh? Some people seem to think it has to do with needing oxygen since the red cell count would be low.

Back to the baby though, the next available day for labor would actually be Friday the 13th, since tomorrow is Veteran's Day, and Thursday has a few birthdays already. Hopefully I will get well rested tonight, and get some house maintenance done tomorrow. My next appointment is Thursday, and we'll see how things go.

Jeremy's flight and My Pick!

2009-11-10T07:29:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we had Kendra for a couple hours, and packed all the kids in the car and took off for Wayne County Airport. Jeremy (Luke's brother), got his pilot's license over the weekend, and his first passenger was his 3 year old Anne. They flew out of Skypark and met us at Wayne County for some Klondike bars, and Jeremy wanted some pictures...which of course Luke can resize for facebook, but not for my blog...

The girls had a blast though, and Lilly cried when we left. She absolutely loves airplanes. Nana found an airshow shirt that has some planes and helicopters on it, and that is all she ever wants to wear anymore besides her Halloween shirt with the ghosts on it (thanks to Aunt Angie).

As for today, well it was my pick for having this baby. The date is 11/10/09...and I believe that there are no birthdays in the immediate family on this day. Unless things get moving soon though, I don't think it will happen. Lexi was around 16 hours of labor, and Lilly was 12, so I am expecting at least 8 hours this time around. I just want labor to start after I get up in the morning, and not be in active labor overnight like with the other two. Tomorrow is Chelsea's pick, but it's Veteran's Day, and I really don' want to pop on a holiday.

I have Kendra for a few hours over lunch today, and I guess I should try to keep up with general house maintenance, so the house doesn't look completely trashed when someone comes to stay with the girls.

A long night...

2009-11-09T07:21:00.000-08:00

Starting off with yesterday...it was absolutely gorgeous outside. I had no idea it was gonna hit 75 degrees in November!! And today the NOAA is calling for 72. I raked some leaves that Luke put on a tarp and took down to the curb for the next leaf pickup.

Last night I tried watching some Indy, but I felt so blah, so we must have been in bed by 10:30, only for me to wake up about 1:30 feeling tired but alert with a nice dull back ache. I decided to take a bath and by the time I got myself situated back in bed it was 2:30AM and I felt a contraction. by 3:30 Luke was up in bed downloading a contraction timer program so we could keep better track of them, although for the past hour they were about 5 minutes apart. They continued every 3-5 minutes for another 45 minutes - 1 hour before they just fizzled out, so we laid back down and got a little sleep before the girls woke up and Luke had to start his workday. I'm surprisingly up and about this morning for having so little sleep. The dishwasher is going, laundry is in the wash, and the kids have been fed, so I'm not doing too bad.

I'm kind of bummed they fizzled out, but my guess was the 10th anyways...not the 9th, so maybe it will happen again tonight, but stay constant. Either way...I guess this means we need to finish packing the hospital bag and getting a list of phone numbers together :)

Our Saturday...

2009-11-07T10:36:00.000-08:00

First of all...still no baby. I am going through every labor is coming soon symptom in the book, so hopefully something will happen soon.

Luke had a photo session this morning, finishing up his last senior. Hopefully he can get these shots edited down this week and have her gallery up, and we will be done with photo sessions besides our own until after baby gets here.

Girls are watching Chitty Chitty Bang Bang...thanks Nana! Now they love that movie.

Luke just got back with some lunch from the little dariette place downtown. Mmmm, broccoli and cheese soup and grilled cheese. Yummy!

Now to enjoy a mostly clean house for a little bit, go through some senior pictures, and figure out how to start labor ;)

Dear City of Wooster...

2009-11-03T08:37:00.000-08:00

I thank you for taking a little pride in the city and scheduling the annual leaf pick up so the neighbourhood yards look a little better this time of year. It is also very nice for the environment, as I know the trucks take all of the leaves to be composted, so next year I can pay $5.00 a bag for mulch that came from my own backyard. However, why do you insist on picking it up at 7:30AM!!!! I understand that the majority of people are up with full-time dayshift jobs, but not in this house...or neighbourhood for that matter. I am ready to pop this kid out, and I have two toddlers sleeping that were woken up asking "What's that?", as they heard the huge vacuum truck pass by. I am fortunate enough that Luke works from home, and can help out with them in my time of need, and as for the neighbours, most are on some kind of assistance, so they have nowhere to be that early. 9AM would have been fine, just not 7:30! Ugh...it's gonna be a long day.

On another note, Halloween went well. We trick-or-treated in Burton City at Grandpa Perkins house, ate a bunch of candy, and continued eating candy on Sunday. The girls loved the princess dresses and pumpkin baskets. Still no baby, although I'm not considered full-term until Friday. My next appointment is Thursday morning. I had some throwing up and contractions on Sunday, but unless some fluid spills from my body, I feel tons of pressure, or an insane amount of pain, I plan to just hang out at the house as long as possible. Easier for the girls and myself.

A Week With Nana...and other updates...

2009-10-26T12:33:00.000-07:00

On Friday the 16th, Luke had asked if I had heard from my grandma on whether or not she was coming up that weekend from West Virginia. I had emailed her the day before, so he suggested I call down there and see what the plans are. Low and behold, grandpa tells me she is already in Ohio, and will probably be over that day!!!!! Surprise to us. We got the dishwasher loaded and started wiping the microwave and in pulls mom and grandma. Luckily, the house wasn't too out of shape, but I wasn't expecting her until Sunday afternoon, not Friday.

She stayed the week and the girls had a ton of fun. They walked up to the Gault Family Learning Center and played on their "playground". We walked around the block and picked up some leaves that we put in clear contact paper to preserve. We raked some leaves outside to jump into. They did lots of puzzles and colouring.

Luke and I worked on the bathroom a little bit, cleaned the basement just a touch, and got my Geo Metro hauled off for scrap :( I got $180 out of it from the guys that took it away, but I cried as they hacked away at it on the trailer before they even left our house! I told Luke, I had that car longer than I've been with him. I will miss it, but the frame was beyond fixing.

Wednesday was Nana's birthday, but we waited until Saturday to celebrate, since Grandpa came up Friday and they stayed over at Uncle Rob and Aunt Taresa's house. We had lots of ice cream cake and cheese :)

My doctor's appointment was Thursday, and we didn't bring the girls since Nana was up, so the doctor decided to do some swab test and check things out in there. She said the cervix was high and closed, which is good, since I still have 2 weeks before I'm considered full term, and my belly is measuring at 38, although I really believe that I look smaller than I did with both girls. I'm hoping for the second week of November (the 10th to be exact), but we will see how things pan out.

Luke had a senior shoot on Sunday at Silvercreek. We dropped the girls off at Rob and Taresa's (for more ice cream cake) and I went and held the reflectors and flashes for him. They will be coming over later this week for the studio session. He actually left about an hour ago to do another senior shoot at Lake Anna, and then we will have to schedule a studio session for them as well, so needless to say I will be busy cleaning all week!!

Hopefully I can muster up the energy. There are so many little things I want to get done, especially before the baby, and how he will have two seniors to edit, and I just hope he can get the editing done before I pop. I actually think the baby dropped a bit, must have been the walking at Silvercreek yesterday. Hopefully we can get some things finished up...if anyone wants to buy me some drywall and put it up for me, I will love you forever ;)

As always, pictures will show up sometime, we have lots of senior pictures to go through, so I'm sure the first pictures that will end up getting posted on this blog will end up being whenever the baby comes, and then we will catch up with everything else one day....

Hi...Welcome Back!

2009-10-11T16:47:00.000-07:00

To myself that is... My laptop had a charger lost for quite some time, and Luke hogs his other computers a bunch...so I never really found the time to get on here and update as usual.

September flew by. I'm really not sure if we did anything memorable either :( We had our 4 year anniversary, had the house to ourselves (with kids) for a week while Chris watched Luke's parents' house while they went on vacation. We did go to the Cleveland Airshow over Labor Day weekend.

The big news throughout August/September is that we got the photography business up and running...somewhat. The webpage (www.willowspondphotography.com) now works, with galleries and pricing. Luke had a couple senior sessions at the beginning of the month that he is almost done editing, and we will see how those go! Unfortunately, we launched at the wrong time. The nice weather is ending, and we are getting super close to Baby #3 being here ( 4 weeks until full-term!!!)

Speaking of baby, everything is going well, I go back on the 22nd, and then we think we may go down to seeing her every week until baby arrives. Heart sounds great, and I'm measuring a week ahead. I am hoping for the 10th, but we shall see I suppose.

We still have so much to do around the house. We have closed off the sunroom as a toy room for the year since it has been so cold, so now it is cluttered with items from our little foyer area just inside the front door. We had to clear it all out because we will be removing a door that goes into our bedroom and making a little coat closet in there, so we are gonna take out a door, slap some paint up on the walls, finish the wood floor and then clutter it back up with coats and yardsale boxes for next year. Then we will be able to work on our bedroom, although I don't think we will be anywhere near done with it by the time the baby comes. We are also steps closer in the bathroom. We need to finish some window trim (prime and paint) and run some caulking around the tile, and the shower will be usable, which will be nice since my Doctor doesn't really recommend a bath after delivering a baby.

I know I've said it the past few times, but one day I will get Luke to get some pictures ready to be put up here. There are tons of miscellaneous ones to go through.

As for a more recent update. Today we went up to Walsh Farms in Doylestown to pick out pumpkins. The kids have been really excited seeing pumpkins of front porches when we drive, but they didn't seem nearly that excited when we went to pick them out. I think they were cold and crabby, and I was too, so they went the the little straw maze a few times, then we picked out one big pumpkin to carve, and they each picked a smaller pumpkin, and then we got teeny tiny ones that we will probably let them paint.

Long Overdue Update....

2009-08-19T19:45:00.000-07:00

Where to start off? We've had a hectic month. My birthday was July 26th, so we celebrated by going to the Cleveland Zoo for the day.

We are starting to get a little deeper into the photography business. We had a shoot with my Aunt and Uncle, a senior shoot with my brother, a family shoot with an old friend of Luke's, and we have inquiries from both family and strangers for family and senior shoots. Luke had some editing to catch up on this week, and we've been making price lists and pamphlets, but it looks like there is no turning back now, Luke has officially picked up a part-time gig as a photographer.

Lilly is still doing really well with potty training. She still wears a diaper when we go out and at night, but as her communication about going potty gets better, we will switch to underwear more and more for her. Right now she is distracted easily when we are out and will not tell us until it's too late, and she sleeps like a brick so she doesn't wake up to go potty.

We had a family reunion last weekend for Luke's Mom's side of the family. It was a big success. Luke got some pictures, but his sister had her laptop and scanner set up so we could scan in pictures and information that family members brought, so that was the #1 goal for the day. The girls and I got a little sun, but they spent most of the day playing with an old well pump that still worked, so they were soaked most of the day, which worked out nicely, since it was over 90 degrees and sticky.

My monthly baby checkup went just fine. I think I've gained about 5 pounds, and everything looks and sounds great.

I'll have pictures to put up sometime, but I don't want to bug Luke about it right now since he has lots of photo editing to do. For now though, everyone is doing fine, and hopefully this blog gets updated a bit more now that we have the office moved back upstairs and Luke's server issues under control!

A Quiet Weekend

2009-07-20T07:52:00.000-07:00

Last Tuesday, my grandma drove up from West Virginia in preparation to take the girls down to her place in West Virginia over the weekend. She stayed Tuesday and Wednesday night, and took the girls to the park and cleaned things (she always has to clean something). On Wednesday my Aunt and Uncle came over with their boys, and we paid them to pull out the weeds in the front flower beds. They kept the girls entertained in the yard, and we ordered pizza and showed off a few pictures Luke had edited of the boys, (we did a photo shoot at their place on Sunday).

Thursday morning, grandma took of with the girls to pick up my brother and head down to her place. Lexi has stayed the night away from me once or twice with grandma, but it has been at my Uncle's place, 30 minutes away, not 4 hours into another state! To say I was scared/anxious/depressed would be an understatement. She called when they hit the border and stopped at the rest area, and at 2:26PM, I realized it was the first time I had ever been separated from my babies by a state border!

We had so much planned for when they were gone, but I physically and emotionally just felt ill by not having them. We caught the new Harry Potter movie, we hit some thrift shops and yardsales, and we finished adhering the shower tile (it still needs grout and sealant before the shower is usable again). We got our small fish tank set up on the fireplace, because we plan on transferring our fish out of the big tank. We are gonna sell the big tank, it just takes up too much space for Luke's "studio" in the dining room. I also set up my yardsale stuff and made about $20, not as good as last month when we made $50, but still...every little bit helps.

I truly believe that we actually get more accomplished when we have the kids. I function better when I know they are here and safe with me. It doesn't help that I am halfway through a pregnancy, so my emotions are wackey times 5,000!

Needless to say though, the kids are back safe. We picked them up Sunday in Marietta after hitting the local Kmart there and getting lots of toy deals :) We took them to a park before we came home, since Nana had said that we would, and Lexi never forgets! They had a blast in West Virginia, and missed us a bit, but wouldn't talk on the phone (a skill we need to work on) They played in a little pool, and sand, and the creek, and down the street at a neighbours.

I'm just happy to have them back. They may be exhausting at times, but they are my babies, and my responsibility, and it feels really weird to be without them!

Pictures to come soon...

My Best Friend!

2009-07-20T07:47:00.000-07:00

On July 9th, we met up with my bestest bud Diane, and her son Miles at our local Applebee's. Chelsea and Kendra also came, seeing as we all went to school together, and had kids the same age and all.

I hadn't seen her since Lexi was little, and I had never seen her son...only in pictures, so it was fun to go out to eat, then we hit Cohan Park here in town, which is just the right size for little kids like ours to play on.

She is in the Air Force, and stationed out West (I won't disclose her location ;) ) I miss her lots, and can't wait until she moves closer!

Pictures to come soon...

The Fourth of July

2009-07-07T11:57:00.000-07:00

Every year we spend the day of the fireworks hanging out with my dad at the fair in Orrville. This year, we headed up to my cousin Josh's house, which isn't too far from the high school where we normally sit each year. It was convenient, because being pregnant, I have to go potty every 1/2 hour or so, and a bathroom is better than walking half a mile to a port-a-potty.

We walked down to the park to take a look at the fair, and asked Lexi what she thought about the rides. Well she saw the helicopters and wanted to ride those. She is only 3! No one else can go on with her because it's for 56 inches and under. I of course, had a panic attack right there. Luke waited in line with her while Lilly, dad, and I stood by the gate. Luke strapped her in and I took pictures, and then when he left he took video. She did fine, but it took everything I had to not break down and cry that she was on a ride all by herself! She didn't seem thrilled with it, and she didn't pull her bar back to fly the helicopter, but she said she had fun. I took both of the girls on the carousel, and Lilly had a blast on it, and cried when we got off. We also played the Lucky Ducks game, and they each picked out a blow up SpongeBob as a prize. We also bought some incense sticks, cotton candy, fair fries, and a funnel cake...all of the usual fair needs.

We hung out at Josh's, playing with cars and sparklers, and when it was close to 10PM, Luke walked down to the high school so he was closer to the fireworks for pictures, and I sat back with dad and we each held one of the girls while the fireworks went off. The girls loved them, and they were just as great as every other year we've gone. Instead of throwing ourselves in traffic, we waited since Luke had to walk back up from the high school, and then we casually packed up and headed out of town. It only took us 20 minutes to get from Orrville to Burton City to pick up the dog, which is the shortest we've ever been stuck in traffic. I really think the girls were asleep before we left the parking lot as Josh's apartment!

A Birthday for Kendra

2009-07-07T11:51:00.000-07:00

Actually today (the 7th) is Kendra's birthday, but the party took place over the holiday weekend. On Saturday, we hooked up with Chelsea and Kendra, and another friend from high school (Angie) and her daughter Katy. We spent the afternoon at Chuck-E-Cheese in North Canton, and let the girls have some pizza and play some games. Lexi likes collecting tickets for prizes, and we had enough to get a lollipop and a spider for both Lexi and Lilly. We used a couple of the tokens to get some pictures of us together. I'm pretty sure they are probably the only family shots we have of all four of us together since Lilly was born!!

Kendra's party was on Sunday, and she had picked out SpongeBob invitations, so her party was themed for SpongeBob. It was basically just her family, and then us, so the girls had some fun swinging and blowing bubbles and eating cake. Kendra got lots of puzzles and colouring books, and we got her a shovel and some other sand/outside toys.

Ultrasound Update!

2009-07-05T19:29:00.000-07:00

Wednesday morning I was woken up by a call from the hospital asking if I could come in that day instead of Thursday for the ultrasound. Well yeah...I'll take a day early! I drank my 8,000 ounces of water before 1PM and did the potty dance while waiting to be called back. I had a student tech that did the ultrasound, so she had 2 other techs in the room with her, and a third that finished up at the end. They took all kinds of pictures of my insides...and of course the baby.

Gender wise...well, the baby wasn't nearly as stubborn as Lexi and Lilly. The glimpse we got suggests to all 4 techs in the room that we are having another girl!!! Oh boy! We are now accepting donations for weddings and shotguns.

I really cannot imagine 3 girls. Lexi and Lilly are so close in age that they can be in the same extracurricular activities. Same teams, same groups, etc... But throwing in another girl that is 2 1/2 years younger means I have a whole other set of activities to attend, and as of right now, she will be alone...which makes us contemplate one more baby. A girl would give us two groups of two, but if genetics failed in the Cowgar family and we ended up with a boy, then I would have 2 sets of girl activities, and then a set of boy activities, although they would be close enough in age that they could still be playing partners like Lexi and Lilly are now. I guess we will see how this pregnancy and delivery goes, and if we catch the baby fever shortly after like we did after Lexi was born!

Oh, by the way...the name we have for our new baby girl is Avery Sapphire!

Po-Po Smackdown!

2009-06-30T19:30:00.000-07:00

So, yesterday, we decided to go do a little shopping for potty prizes up in Medina. On the way back into Wooster, we notice a helicopter circling around, and at first thought life flight, but it was getting further away from the hospital. Upon reaching the house, the thing is hovering around OUR house! We stay outside and watch it...noticing now that it is a sheriff chopper. We look up our street, and of course there is a cop car there now, and tons of guys with bullet proof vest and US Marshall shirts. Wooster decided to do another drug raid. I guess they had units spread across town from all over the county.

They did this last fall when we had gotten back from the Cleveland Zoo, and we were just at the Akron Zoo over the weekend, so we are thinking if we keep going to the zoo, maybe the city will get cleaned up quicker! Last fall though, it was right outside the house, the duplex across the street was raided and there were people running everywhere!

Needless to say...we need to get rid of this house. That is twice in less than a year we've had a helicopter circling with cops running around guns drawn and all! So, everyone...feel free to volunteer to come over and help finish projects so we can put this place on the market. I have a LONG to do list!

Potty Training

2009-06-30T10:34:00.000-07:00

Lexi was fully potty trained day and night by the time she was 2 1/2, and it was pretty easy with her. She initiated herself, and just never looked back. I have a goal to get Lilly potty trained by November, so we only have one baby in diapers, so I have casually gotten ready for her. I have a potty chart in the bathroom to put stickers on, and a bin with a few potty prizes. She didn't really seem to have much of an interest with the potty in May, but I started asking her before bed and before bath and in the morning, and she would sit for a couple minutes and tell me she's done.

Well, the past few days there has been an explosion! She is running around naked right now and has only had one accident, and it was poop. She loves getting her stickers, and her Lightning McQueen cars as prizes. I can't stop her!! It will be interesting to see how she reacts when we are out, and she will still be in a diaper at night for now, although this morning she had pulled it off and went on the potty chair in the bedroom all by herself.

And I can't leave out Lexi. We have a little potty chair that goes into the bedroom at night, and stays in the living room during the day, which she has used faithfully since not wearing diapers. She has now graduated to going into the bathroom, putting her potty seat on the big potty, getting her stool over there, climbing on the potty, doing her business, wiping, and putting everything away and flushing. So I've got potty duty going on all over the place lately! Hopefully it stays this easy.

Weekend at the Akron Zoo

2009-06-30T10:26:00.000-07:00

We became members of the Cleveland Zoological Society, which means we can not only get into Cleveland Zoo for free, but also the Akron Zoo...along with a big list of other zoos around the country for free or discounted admission.

On Saturday we decided to finally make it to the zoo, and had an awesome time. The girls loved walking around, and it is small and very kid friendly. The big attraction was 3 jaguar cubs that were born back in March, and I saw them better in the pictures that Luke took than I did at the zoo. There were two or three guys with huge cameras completely hogging up the glass, that even the girls couldn't get through to the glass to see them. They are only on display in the morning, so it's a madhouse around there.

We saw lots of other animals though, penguins, jellyfish, flamingos, a snow leopard, lemurs, bats, and lots more. We ate lunch at the Komodo Cafe, and took some time in the garden's so the girls could play in the foutain.

We went back Sunday morning for a few hours since we pass it to get out to Newton Falls. Would you believe the same guys with cameras were still hogging the jaguar display!!! They must live there or something. I swear if they are there the next time we go, I am going to send Lexi towards the glass with her camera and chew them out for not letting a child get through to see the exhibit!

We have some video that will be coming soon...

Mama Cowgar's Birthday Bash

2009-06-30T10:21:00.001-07:00

Her birthday got trumped by Father's Day and Papa Cowgar's IFR test, so this past Sunday we celebrated her birthday at Great-Grandpa Caldwell's house in Newton Falls. We had hot dogs from the famous hot dog shop in Warren, and then had some cake. The candles were the kind that are "magic" and keep relighting themselves...if Luke and I would have been let in on the joke, I would have recorded it, but, we only have pictures. The girls had a fun time playing with their cousins, but we were pretty tired and didn't stay very long. We had been at the Akron Zoo that morning, and all day on Saturday, so I was beyond exhausted!

Father's Day

2009-06-30T10:12:00.000-07:00

For Father's Day we did little wooden craft projects for the boys in our life. We bought some pre-made choo choo and airplane wooden wall hangy things and had the girls paint them. We did airplanes for Papa Cowgar, Uncle Chuck, and Uncle Jeremy, and choo choo trains for Grandpa Perkins and Great-Grandpa Caldwell. We did a picture frame for Papaw in West Virginia (sorry, I haven't gotten an envelope to mail it yet!)

Luke's present was a spare battery and a 5 pack of 2G cards for his camera that we purchased before the Indy airshow.

We started the day at Grandpa Perkins' house with some Dairy Queen. We hung out on the porch for awhile and then went up to Mama and Papa Cowgar's to wait for Papa Cowgar and Jeremy to get home. Papa Cowgar has his private pilot's license and took is IFR rating. They took a lot longer than expected, so we ordered pizza, and when they got here we celebrated his test passing with some angel food cake and some chocolate covered cherries.

Meal Planning and House Cleaning...

2009-06-23T09:10:00.000-07:00

We had a pretty good weekend for Father's Day...but that will be a separate post with pictures and details.

For now though, I would like to say that we didn't do too bad with our meal planning last week. Tuesday through Friday we had lunch and dinner at our house, with food from our kitchen...and honestly that is probably the longest stretch we had ever gone without eating out...with the exception that we did go to Starbucks...but I had a gift card I got from a credit card rewards thing of mine...so that doesn't count;) Saturday we were out and about and had a graduation party to attend, so that day was shot...and with Sunday being Father's Day...well that day was shot as well. Monday we had lunch at home, and had dinner at Keith and Angel's house. We hadn't seen their house since they moved in. I wish we would have put that kind of work into our house before we moved in, then we wouldn't be living in a construction zone with kids right now. We didn't get a grocery list together for Luke to do shopping last night, but there isn't a whole lot we need, so I need to come up with another meal plan for the week.

Being a Tuesday, it will be trash night tonight, so I am focusing on some much needed cleaning today. I have the dishwasher going, the living room is picked up and swept, the laundry is going, and I'm tired. I will fold some laundry here in a bit with the girls' help. When Luke gets off work, he will mow our forest outside, and hopefully we have time to pressure wash the plastic toys outside, and we need to do the sides of the house and back porch sometime as well.

I want to come up with a weekly/biweekly cleaning schedule that I can stick to. I really think that would help out, because it seems that as soon as something gets caught up, it falls apart again. I think that's all for now...time to figure out a late lunch!

First Storm Chase of the Season!

2009-06-18T08:33:00.000-07:00

First off, we are huge weather buffs, and I'm pretty sure we have agreed that when the kids hit their teenage years, we are doing a bus tour through the Tornado Alley during peak season, in hopes of catching a few twisters out there.

Yesterday was a day filled with rain...on and off all day. Perfect conditions for weather to pop up out of nowhere. We worked on dinner a little early, in case we were gonna lose power or something (which it doesn't matter since the stove is gas..duh me!) We had "Krabby Patties" and "Kelp Fries". The girls did decent with dinner, although they didn't try the meat, and the fries were homemade, which was a first for us.

Anyways...the baby was craving some Starbucks, so we packed up in the car a little after 6PM and headed across town to hit the forbidden place, and Lexi wanted a Rice Krispie Treat from the gas station...so we stopped there as well. While this is happening, we are simultaneously watching some beautiful clouds in the southwest sky. Nice cotton, fluffy, white clouds that Luke wanted pictures of. The only way we were going to catch them was to head further east to get in front of them, because they were moving pretty quick. We headed out Back Orrville and turned south on Eby Rd. and swerved through some back roads to a nice open field. The cotton clouds from town had disappeared, but the sky was still pretty, so Luke pulled over and snapped a few shots.

Pretty eh? Then we turned around and looked to the North. Boy that sky was dark. The clouds were hanging really low and we found ourselves right in front of a wall cloud of the approaching storm. We kept our eye on the front point of the wall cloud, because it really looked like it could touch the ground at any time!

Luke snapped the pictures and then dove for the car before the rain hit. We drove through a lot of heavy rain, and I took a bunch of video on my little powershot camera. When we got home, we looked at the radar and realized that we were actually driving through a tornado warning!

The 10PM news on Fox had a couple pictures from Wooster and Sugarcreek that had funnel clouds, but there were no reports of a touchdown. To be honest, looking at the pictures, we don't think they were funnel clouds, but the tip of the wall cloud instead. I've seen a funnel cloud before, and it looked different from those pictures, and if those were funnel clouds, then apparently I've seen a ton more funnel clouds in my life than I thought, even in storms where there were no watches or warnings!

When we got home the girls threw some rocks in our driveway we have now nicknamed "Cowgar Marsh", because it's one big mud puddle with some grass mixed in.

Anyways, Luke put together a very short video of some of the clouds and rain we saw yesterday. It's the beginning part of a song from the "Twister" soundtrack. We both enjoy that movie, so as more weather rolls our way this season, we will probably reference that movie a whole bunch :)

Recapping the Weekend

2009-06-15T09:56:00.000-07:00

Friday we booked out to the Lodi outlet malls to look at dresses. I have this idea in my mind that when we go to Florida for the shuttle launch in August, that I want to get really pretty pictures of the girls on the beach, and also some maternity shots. I want the girls to have two dresses for pictures, I will have however many I feel the need to have for a beach shoot, and we will get Luke one or two nice beachy outfits so we can maybe get some family shots or something. We primarily went up there to hit Gap, and we found the perfect dresses, white and blue, and we also found a nice dress for me as well (black). We stopped into The Children's Place and found adorable hats that would go really well with the dresses, and they were clearance at .99 cents!!

Saturday we took pictures of the girls in there dresses, and they are over on the photo blog if you wanna take a look. We took a few pictures of me Friday night in my dress, but Luke didn't really like the lighting he was getting, but maybe I can get him to get a picture ready for this blog. We spent the majority of the day cleaning the living room and dining room, and we ran the steam vac in the living room Saturday night.

Sunday we spent the early afternoon at my dad's just hanging out on the porch and playing, and then we headed for Luke's parents so we could go swimming in the pool. Lexi has been looking forward to it all week. The girls loved it, and Lilly kept screaming "I swimming" while floating around, and Lexi was afraid to get in at first because she said she would sink! I guess we need to look into swimming lessons for her. I have no pictures, because Mr. Photog was swimming as well! We got home a bit late and once we got the girls to bed we ran the steam vac in the living room again. The floor looks awesome now, but we still need to do the rugs before the living room will be back together again.

Today is payday, and since we seem to be failing at our budget, always going over, we are going to grocery shop every week instead of once every pay period. I am busy making a grocery list and meal planning for 7 days. I have volunteered Luke to go out to Wal-Mart on Monday nights after the girls are in bed to do the shopping. It will be easier than dragging the girls through the store, and he will have a detailed list that he won't stray from. The girls aren't allowed in Wal-Mart right now anyways, because last time we went in (before the airshow) we tried putting them in the cart and they both had a meltdown, so we marched them right back out of the store and I sat in the car with them while Luke grabbed what we needed.

Anyways, it shouldn't be so hard to meal plan and stick to it when we do it on a weekly basis. We have an entire cow and half of a pig in the freezer, we just need to use it. I have dry heaving that sets in as soon as I walk in the kitchen, so we need to deep clean that kitchen really soon so I can actually get in there and make meals without getting sick. I guess it would also help if I knew how to cook and organize the kitchen properly. I want to try and do things as healthy as possible, but the budget just isn't there to back it all right now. On top of things, the girls aren't big into meat, but hopefully if we start making the meat in the freezer on a regular basis, they will start to take to it. Otherwise I don't know what they will eat!

On another note, I had a yardsale going Wednesday-Sunday. I threw everything onto the porch and made a sign that said everything was .25 cents. I advertised on Craigslist and the local yardsale yahoo group. I had Luke make a wooden box that we screwed to the porch, and just had a note that asked people to leave the money there. For not manning a yardsale for 5 days, we made $50. I still need to pack up the porch now that it is over with, and I will probably do a repeat next month, and hopefully again in August. Every little bit helps right?

I'm hoping that we can turn our focus onto the bathroom this week, but I've been saying that for months, so we will see how far we actually get. I just keep trying to convince Luke that if anyone would come into this house to get pictures done in the "studio", they would probably never come back because this place is a construction zone of half finished projects.

Homeschooling Ramblings...

2009-06-12T10:56:00.000-07:00

I’ve been doing a bunch of thinking lately about starting “Preschool” for the girls this fall. Lexi will be 3 ½ and Lilly will be 2 ½. Lexi is old enough to send her to preschool this fall, but the only one around we would even entertain would be the Montessori school, and that’s a few thousand dollars a year! ::cough:: Not happening here. I’m not really sure how Lexi would take to being by herself with other children anyways. She is extremely shy, even towards family members she has been around for her entire life. It takes her quite awhile to warm up when we go to visit, I cannot imagine how long it would take her to get used to a school setting with a bunch of strangers. I had both of the girls in the YMCA’s Tiny Tumbler gymnastics last summer, and she never once interacted with the teacher, and really not even with the other children. Last fall I had her in an art class at Wayne Center for the Arts. She would never answer a question for the teacher, or interact with anyone. I think she is just a homebody right now, so I think it would be best to start her off at home, and supplement with story time at the library, or an art class or gymnastics to get her out with other kids her age.

Lilly on the other hand, is still too young for preschools around here. The problem with her is the lack of attention she will give you. I highly doubt she could stay seated and listen to a teacher at all right now. I know that she probably won’t pay much attention to the schooling I do at home with Lexi, and get bored easily with the work, but she will still somehow pick it up. She is just a hyperactive kid, but somehow still absorbs things.

Right now Lexi and recognize her name (mainly just the “A”), say her full name, and she can sing her ABC’s. She recognizes A, B, and sometimes C, but only in uppercase. She can also count to at least 12, knows some colours and shapes, and can sing other nursery rhyme songs. She knows the road we will on, and the city we live in, and can recognize our house when we drive by it.

Lilly knows her name is Lilly, and can count to 10 most of the time. She knows some shapes and colours, and sings her ABC’s, but really doesn’t say all of the ABC’s, its just mumbles. I know she recognizes A and B in uppercase. She will also sing “Row Your Boat”, and knows parts of many other nursery rhymes. She can also recognize the house when we drive by it.

This website: http://education.ohio.gov/GD/Templates/Pages/ODE/ODEDetail.aspx?page=3&TopicRelationID=1696&ContentID=14936&Content=66487

Has guidelines as to what your child would learn in each grade, and I’ve looked at the Preschool guidelines and have come up with the very basics I want to touch on this year. I just want to start something a little more formal, and see how the kids respond and make changes accordingly. I have until they are 5 or 6 before I really have to worry about Kindergarten, so I have at least 2 years to get the preschool stuff down for Lexi, and I’m sure it won’t take that long. She loves learning things, and I know she will love to learn to read, so she doesn’t have to keep asking me to read things for her!

I have some simple supplies I am going to start off with. I have a colouring book with the ABC’s that I can use more for Lilly, to keep her occupied with something. I am using the http://www.starfall.com block manuscript printouts for Lexi, along with their computer game they have for the ABC’s for both of them. I also have the Hooked on Phonics Learning to Read for Pre-K that I found on clearance at K-Mart last year for $12 (normally $46) that teaches the ABC’s, both uppercase and lowercase and a CD Rom disk. I also got another Hooked on Phonics deal through a bargain board forum I frequent, and got a Pre-K gigantic workbook, and the Spanish program with a CD Rom disk. I also have a few math workbooks that Lexi got for her birthday to help learn numbers. I also have 2 sets of science books from when I was little. One is a Discovery Kids series, and the other one is a Weekly Reader series. Both are very informative about seasons, weather, nature, and practically everything we would want to cover.

The Wilderness Center and some neighboring counties park systems have some preschool age workshops and story times that I would like to do with the girls. I’d much rather Luke go with me, and they all seem to be during work hours, so I don’t know how feasible it will be, but with a new baby coming this fall/winter, next year will not be nearly as hectic as this year, so maybe we can schedule something to attend a few of these. The library also has story time, and the YMCA will have gymnastics they can do, and the Art Center will have art classes they can take as well.

I much rather go with a year-round schedule, so we never have too much time off (I would probably never start back up), and it will keep things fresh in their minds. I found tons of different schedules for this upcoming school year, but really found one that fits our needs for this year. School will not start until August 24th, so our shuttle vacation will be over with. It gives a week off in October, lots of time for fall foliage and hiking, or a small fall vacation. It gives the week of Thanksgiving off (which is when baby is due) and gives 2 weeks off for Christmas, which is usually a standard for schooling. In March there is a 2-week spring break instead of 1 week, and school ends June 18th. That gives us a bunch of summer still. Other calendars I found start school back up in July, and that just won’t work for us this year with the shuttle launch being the beginning of August. Of course, between now and August, I will finalize what my school schedule will look like, how long will we focus on each letter, and we will continue to touch base with all of the things we plan on learning throughout the year.

I’ve got a couple plastic tubs of craft and school supplies; the girls have book bags I got on clearance from Oshkosh, and lunch bags I just got from Pottery Barn for a great sale price. I want to make it as fun as possible, so having the responsibility of the book bag, and packing a lunch will keep there attention just a little bit longer during the day.

At most, I think we will only be at everything for an hour or less. I’m not sure if it will be morning or afternoon, I guess it depends on if we do any outside activity, and when that would be scheduled. It’s a bit long-winded, but it helps me get my thoughts in order, and keeps me accountable to get things ready this fall! I'm hoping if we have a nice little routine going before the new baby gets here, it will help the transition go a lot smoother then just chaos with 3 kids 3 and under!

So here is my quick calendar rundown and basic concepts we will touch base throughout the year.

2009-2010 Year-Round Schooling for the Cowgar’s—Grade Pre-K

August 2009

24th-(Monday) First Day of School

September 2009

7th-(Monday) Labor Day—No School

October 2009

19th-23rd—(M-F) Fall Break—No School

November 2009

23rd-27th—(M-F) Thanksgiving Break—No School

December 2009

21st-1/1/10—(2 weeks) Christmas Break—No School

January 2010

4th—(Monday) School Resumes

18th—(Monday) Martin Luther King Jr. Day—No School

February 2010

School as usual. Will have school on President’s Day.

March 2010

8th-19th—(2 weeks) Spring Break—No School

April 2010

School as usual.

May 2010

24th—(Monday) Memorial Day—No School

June 2010

18th—(Friday) Last Day of School

July 2010

Summer Break as usual.

August 2010

23rd—(Monday) First Day of School for 2010-2011 school season

Special Craft Holidays:

Labor Day—9/7
Columbus Day—10/12
Halloween—10/31
Veteran’s Day—11/11
Thanksgiving—11/26
Hanukkah and Christmas—December
MLK Jr. Day—1/18
Valentine’s Day—2/14
President’s Day—2/15
Easter—4/4
Mother’s Day—5/9
Memorial Day—5/31
Father’s Day—6/20
Independence Day—7/4

Subject Focuses for the Year:

English:
ABC’s—Sight Recognition and Sound
Practice Handwriting of Letters and Numbers

Math:
Numbers 1-20—Sight Recognition
Counting Groups
Basic Shapes
Concept of Time

Science:
Seasons
Weather
Animals/Insects
Nature
Earth/Moon/Sun—Day/Night

Art:
Colours
Using scissors and glue
Drawing
Zippers/Snaps/Buttons/Velcro/Tying Shoes

History:
Holidays
Calendar—Days of Week

About Me:
Learn Name-Recognize and Write
Learn Home Address
Learn Mommy and Daddy’s Cell Phone Numbers
Learn Birthday and Age

Spanish:
1-10
Shapes
Colours
Simple, everyday words

Baby Checkup at 16 Weeks

2009-06-11T11:40:00.000-07:00

Today we had a normal OBGYN appointment for the new baby, one day shy of 16 weeks. Blood work is all fine, and the baby's heart rate was 152 (it was 154 last time), so that is excellent. I think I lost a couple pounds, but I attribute that to sweating to death at the airshow last weekend. Hopefully I won't gain as much weight as with the girls, since the majority of this pregnancy will be over summer, instead of winter holidays filled with cookies!

We go back in 4 weeks for another checkup, but the big news is....AN ULTRASOUND!!!! It is scheduled in 3 weeks (July 2nd), one day shy of being 19 weeks along. The girls were modest during their ultrasounds, but we can't help but be excited that we could potentially know what this little bean is.

The plan is that if we can't find out, well, then so be it. It will be just like the girls' pregnancies were. If it's for sure another girl, we will definitely let everyone know, so no one has that boy hope lingering for the rest of the pregnancy. If the tech is pretty sure it's a boy, I think I will ask for a second opinion...lol. We will then keep quiet letting everyone know that we didn't find out, and secretly schedule one of those 3D/4D ultrasounds to get a second opinion, and after that place tells us it's a boy, I'm sure we will still tell everyone it's a girl, because we just won't believe it at all!

After having 2 girls, and Luke's brother having 4 girls, I'm pretty sure this one will be another girl. They both must have been contaminated as children, and therefore cannot produce boy swimmers. I think Lilly will be as close as I get to having a boy...but I guess we shall wait and see.

UPDATE EDIT:

Here is the ultrasound of the baby at 7 weeks 3 days. Can't see much but a blob...

We Survived the Indianapolis Airshow

2009-06-09T07:44:00.000-07:00

and all I got was a lobster for a husband ;)

We finally got on the road about 6:30am on Friday (5th)and didn't stop until we got across the border (about 3 hours). We arrived at Mt. Comfort Airport a little after 10:30am. The girls did extremely well on the car ride and only napped a tiny bit towards the end. We spent all day until about 4:30 looking at the static displays (they were still parking some of them) and watching the practice fly overs. (Friday was Media Day, so not a real show) The girls and I were tired and went back to the car about 3pm to soak up some air conditioning, so we watched the Blue Angels from the car while Luke went back to the flight line for pictures. Luke ended up using the 5D most of the day, because it seemed like his Sony wouldn't focus on any of the far away airplanes.

Our hotel was in Greenfield, about 15 minutes away, so we drove and stopped at an AppleBees and ordered the Carside-to-go. The girls were crashed, but woke up when we got to the hotel. We ate and got into our swimming stuff and swam in the pool at the hotel for a bit. After that Luke headed out to Wal-Mart to buy some supplies he would need to try and fix his focus problem on the Sony. He had wanted to head back out to the airport at dusk because they were doing hot air balloon flights, but it just got so late so fast, and I was so tired, and with his camera problem and sunburn, it just didn't happen. We had lights out a little after 9pm and we were out!

On Saturday we were up pretty early, about 8 or so. Luke went down and got our continental breakfast and we slowly packed ourselves up to head out for a day at the airshow. Luke had fixed his focus problem with the Sony, so we packed up. Luke feared a sunburn on top of his sunburn (He was too manly for suntan lotion) so he wore pants and his hoodie to keep off the sun. Since we had already seen the static displays, we went straight for the flight line and picked a spot to sit in. Luke went off to buy a couple of the umbrellas that mount on the back of folding chairs so we could have a little shade. The girls kept busy with some toys and coloring books. By the time the Angels flew by (they came in from the Indy airport) Lexi was busy cleaning the wagon and had little interest in them, and Lilly wouldn't keep on her earmuffs, so she sat in my lap and I held her ears. Luke had had enough and was nearing heat exhaustion, so we packed up right before the Blue Angels ended and got to the car and fought traffic out of there and heading for home. We made it home about 10pm and put the girls and ourselves to bed, and that was that.

We had a good but exhausting time, and Luke is by far the worst of with burn on his arms and legs. He also has had a problem with one of his ankles swelling a little bit before, and now both ankles are pretty swollen, so they have been up and wrapped and iced, and I'm sure we need to find a doctor for him to go to.

We took over 1500 pictures, and have been going through them and lots of video, so I will post them here as they turn up.

The airshow does have a photo contest for unedited pictures in 4 categories, so we picked a few and he's been asking everyone for their top 2 favourites in each category so we can decide which ones to send in. The link for them is here: Photo Contest Page

Here is a video Luke put together about our trip.

Ugh...Buy My House!

2009-06-04T13:34:00.000-07:00

I still have a few posts to do to catch up to this upcoming weekend (we are going to Indianapolis for an airshow), but I just have to vent about today.

We've been running around trying to get things packed up, and the car needed a good cleaning, so Luke was outside picking out trash and sweeping. I meanwhile, started a load in the dishwasher, and a load in the washing machine, and came into the living room to help the girls pickup some toys. Luke comes inside and all I hear are curses. We knew we had a clog in our kitchen sink, because yesterday the water drained really slow...no big deal, we barely use the kitchen sink since we have the dishwasher, so it can wait. Well, the dishwasher and the washing machine drain into the same pipe that the kitchen sink drains into. Apparently the clog was a lot further down than we thought. The entire kitchen was flooded from the washer draining. Chris was in the basement at his reloading bench, and it started raining on him so he came up as well and ran upstairs to turn off the washing machine while I turned off the dishwasher. All of Luke's tools are on the kitchen floor because Jeremy borrowed some of them to make beehives and they never made it back to the basement.

Luke and I pailed out the overflowing sinks into the bathtub and grabbed every rag and towel we had clean to soak up the mess (I think I need some Zorbeez or ShamWow's or something). I think some of the water dripped onto the balsa wood in the basement for Luke's model airplanes, but I'm not sure if it was enough to damage anything or not.

Luke and Chris ran to Lowe's for parts and they are going to re-pipe the drain to a bigger drain that flow's right beside this one. It looks like the little bit of metal drain that was left probably collapsed on itself and clogged the drain, so right now they are downstairs working on replacing it, then it's back to car cleaning and packing! At least it happened while we were home...

An Overview of May

2009-06-02T13:57:00.000-07:00

May seemed to have flown by, and I didn't get any less lazy. We are planning on a busy summer, so I am working with Luke to try and get us up-to-date with this blog, and then I won't fall further behind. He still has some pictures to upload, and I still have a few posts to do for both April and May, but here are some miscellaneous pictures from the month.

We don't get too many pictures of daddy since he is the cameraman.

Lexi with a flower in the backyard.

An ant hill in the backyard.

Lexi getting ready to pollinate our backyard with dandelions.

Feeding the ducks and geese and the skating pond south of town.

Walking around the skating pond.

BEES!!!

2009-06-02T13:44:00.000-07:00

Luke's brother Jeremy and his wife Crystal decided that they would try their hands at beekeeping this year. They originally started with just two hives, but it just kind of grew and grew, and right now he actually has 7 hives, but only 5 are populated and functioning at the moment. It seems as though the other two hives up and left for someplace else.

It doesn't seem like too hard of a process, and Luke and I are considering it for out at the land. I love honey, but it's really expensive, so we don't ever buy it. We just need to get the land cleared out some before we could even dream of putting ANYTHING on it.

These pictures are early pictures of the first two hives inspections. Some of the other hives he has now are top bar hives that have windows in them, but we haven't been over recently to get any new pictures, so this is what we have for now.

Jeremy and the bees (a bit later when he braved it without the bee suit)

Close up of bees on the hive.

A bee on Jeremy's finger.

Jeremy in the bee suit checking a hive.

Disassembling the top of the hive to check the queen's status.

A bee on the camcorder I was operating!!

Smoking the bees.

The bee suit.

Easter 2009

2009-06-02T13:39:00.000-07:00

Better late than never!

For Easter we coloured eggs for the first time since being parents. The girls enjoyed it, although Lilly did crack a couple, but she is rough and tumble like that.

On Easter morning the girls woke up to find Easter baskets with some candy and plastic eggs. We spent the early afternoon at my dad's house, where they got another Easter basket, and we played outside blowing bubbles. We later headed up to Luke's parents and had a nice Easter dinner, and also an Easter egg hunt in the backyard. All of the girls found at least one egg, and overall seemed like they enjoyed finding them, so maybe it will end up being a yearly thing now.

Mother's Day

2009-06-01T10:18:00.000-07:00

I like to do something a little crafty for Mother's Day since I have kids and all, and they are too little to understand the holiday. For my mom, we hand made a card that the girls drew on. For Nana in West Virginia, they painted Dora pictures on the computer and we emailed them (they love colouring with Luke's pen tablet). For Great-Grandma Perkins, they water coloured some Dora pictures, and for me and Luke's side of the family, we pot little clay flower pots that they decorated with stickers and permanent marker, than we put some pretty flowers in them.

We spend the day with Luke's family, and our nieces made quite a few of the items on the dinner list (the oldest two are 9 and 7, so they can cook). We had a good meal and hung out for a bit and called it a day.

I got a handmade card from the nieces, a shirt and matching recycled plastic bag from Luke's mom, and Luke bought me a canning book that I had wanted.

New Baby Checkup

2009-06-01T10:09:00.000-07:00

So...I had a doctor's appointment the beginning of May. Since we were heading into the second trimester, Dr. Laing said the risk of miscarriage decreases a lot (which we already knew), but that meant I could be off pelvic rest and continue as a normal pregnancy. The ultrasound at 7 weeks showed a little bit of blood behind the placenta, so I asked if another ultrasound would be done soon so check up on. She didn't seem to concerned, and said we will just wait until the normal 18 week ultrasound to see if it is still there, and if it is, it may present a risk for preterm labor, but other than that, we look good.

I still need to get my bloodwork done, but my next appointment isn't until June 11th, when we will be 16 weeks, and then an ultrasound soon after! We are starting to get anxious to know what we are having. I need to know whether to start buying boy and packing up the girl, or unpacking all the girl stuff. With our track record though, we probably won't find out. Lexi never showed herself, and with Lilly, the tech thought girl, but wouldn't place a bet on it. I guess our kids are just shy!