The cutest dolls!

If you have a girl, you are going to want one of these. My fabulous friend Mellissa makes them and does an amazing job. They are selling like hot cakes here in MI! They are super cute and have so much personality! Check out her store here:

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6850173

And to make it even better, she does custom orders too!

"I welcome custom orders and live to see what wonderful ideas others brew up. Dolls can be customized by color scheme, hair style and color, shoes preferred, or dress material. If you would like a doll sewn using specific material, I will start sewing as soon as you ship it to me!

I want you to be happy, so if you ask for a custom item, I will email you detailed pictures of the completed product BEFORE you pay and we move forward with shipment. I will not move forward with shipment without your approval."

I'm custom ordering a blonde haired, blue eyed one for Stinker and I can hardly wait to see it!

Videos!

I finally got the spaghetti video up on Cookie Mons-ter blog. And I put up a few of the boys playing basketball.

Addictions

I don't know how much I've talked about addiction on this blog. I've probably alluded to it a time or two though. But I think I'm going to come out and talk about it now. I'm not really sure why. Partly, I was motivated by this article.

http://www.ldsmag.com/articles/090123addict.html

It is written from an LDS perspective, just to let you know. It is a long read, but it is also pretty eye opening. Here is a small part of it:


"Use of prescription drugs, gambling, excessive spending, excessive use of television and other electronic media such as computers, electronic games, and fantasy games are some of the most prevalent addictive behaviors today. In the LDS culture and beyond, unhealthy eating behaviors are becoming more than just bad habits for many who find that no number of diets, exercise programs or weight-loss drugs offer permanent relief. Just one more bite, one more brownie, one more meal-then we'll ”go on the wagon.”

Why do these behaviors qualify as addictions, even though they do not involve ingesting any mood-altering chemicals? Because they all can mask and postpone negative feelings by triggering rushes of internal mood altering chemicals such as adrenaline, serotonin and dopamine. In fact, we would be wise to examine even some of the most admirable activities-- such as working hard, serving others, exercising and keeping our homes nearly perfect-- in our lives to see if we have become dependent on them for our sense of self-worth. Thus, when we indulge even in these socially acceptable activities beyond a healthy balance, we need to prayerfully ask ourselves this question: Am I doing this because it brings me joy and peace, or because I am feeling compelled to do it? If, in all honesty, we we feel compelled to do these things, we would be wise to consider we may be developing an addiction."


Addictions come in many forms. It doesn't have to be a substance. It can be anger, food, the computer, or shopping. Sometimes I wonder about my blogging addiction. :) I have been in the 12 step Addiction Recovery Program, ARP, run by LDS Family Services for about a year now. I had been using food, as the above article mentions, to "mask and postpone negative feelings." Since joining ARP, I've lost 45 pounds, but I still have lots of work to do. Weight loss is great, but I really need to deal with the feelings and emotions that led to this addiction. This is obviously hard for me to share in such a public place, but I'm doing it for a reason. If you are out there, struggling with any kind of addiction, there are places to go to find comfort, support, strength, and healing. This program would be beneficial for anyone. If you need to learn how to work within your budget. If you need to help your temper with your kids. If you have a family member struggling. The principles taught in the class would benefit anyone trying to further their dependence on the Lord. There are many ARP classes in church buildings around the country. But if there isn't one in your area, you can do a self-study with the available manual.

http://www.providentliving.org/content/display/0,11666,6629-1-3414-1,00.html

Okay. I've said it. I hope the reason I felt prompted to put all this in such a public place is so I can help someone. We don't need to struggle alone when there is help out there.

Short slide

I have a short slide show up on the Cookie blog today. Just some random pictures all bunched together. I have a few videos I still want to get up, but Blogger still won't let me. Argh. Brad will be here in a week though, and he can fix it. He can fix anything!

Good parenting gone wrong

As Roo was getting ready to go to school today, he told me he had a tummy ache. I asked if he needed to go potty and he said no. Then he said he needed to stay home. I said that he could stay home if he was sick, but that during school hours, he needed to be laying quietly in his bed and not playing his Nintendo DS. He asked if he would lose it all day and I said it was just until Jamo got home. My logic was thus:

If he wasn't really that sick and just wanted to stay home with the Nintendo, taking it away during school hours would be a deterrent to exaggerating.

If he really was sick, I wasn't threatening him with the loss of it all day. I don't want him going to school if he shouldn't be.

He said he wanted to go to school, so I got him on the bus. An hour later I got a call from the school that he has diarrhea and could I bring him some more pants. I told them that I would be bringing him home as well. I'm one of those parents who thinks that organizations mean it when they say to not bring your kid if they have puked, had diarrhea, a rash, etc. less than 24 hours ago. I think it is respectful to the organization (church, daycare, school, etc) as well as the parents of the other children. So, tomorrow I will be missing my trip to the YMCA and Roo will be missing school.

And for the record, the Nintendo is only removed for unsubstantiated claims of illness. He is playing on it right now. :)

Will you be my psychiatrist?

Apparently I fell harder than I thought because my right shoulder and elbow started hurting this morning.

Okay, here is the situation. It snowed again last night. Roads are pretty nasty still. I slid a lot but managed to stay parallel to the road most of the time. A car in front of me did not, and slid sideways for what felt like 30 seconds, but in reality was probably closer to 10 seconds. So, by the time I get to the Meijers parking lot, I'm already a bit on the emotionally fragile side. I'm not a fan of driving and driving in snow is below going to the dentist on my favorite things list.

I pulled into a parking space, but the guy in front of me had pulled so far forward, that I was still sticking out into the aisle quite a bit. It is understandable though since no one can see lines and the aisle are wide enough for 2 cars to comfortably pass. I see someone come up to my van, he glares straight at me and then proceeds to mumble and mutter on his way to the aforementioned car in front of me. I open my door and hearing him saying something about idiots. At this point, I had that little adrenaline rush and decided to have a chat with him. :)

"Excuse me, can I ask what exactly I did wrong?"
"Your way out in the lane."
"Well, I couldn't exactly pull forward with your car there."
"I didn't think anyone else would be parking here."

I see. No one else parks in parking lots, huh? At this point I said, "Have a nice day," and I moved my van to the opposite side of the aisle and down a little.

This is what I know: I didn't move my van because I hate thinking someone called me an idiot. Couldn't care less what he thinks.

This is what I don't know: Why did I move the van?

Option 1: Perhaps to avoid confrontation, which would be befitting my Hartman's "white" personality. But if I were trying to avoid confrontation, I would have moved without chatting with him first, right?

Option 2: I did it to make him feel guilty that a) he parked bad which caused me to park bad or b) he was a jerk about it.

Option 3: I'm pretty sure it isn't because I'm a nice person trying to restore his faith in humanity.

Option 4: Perhaps a clenched teeth attempt at humility and avoiding pride?

Any other guesses? I'm thinking option 2 or 4, with a slight lean towards 4... I don't really know why it matters to me why I did it. I think it bothers me that I don't understand my own actions or what was going on in my head as it spun a mile a minute.

Now is the part where you share your wisdom and insight, or click away from this page shaking your head and thinking, "Wow, she is more crazy than I thought!"

I'm not THAT clever

This morning I had yoga. It had just snowed, so it was a little slick out. I was carrying Calet because it was dang cold and I wanted to get inside fast. I slipped on the curb though. Between Calet in one arm and my heavy gym bag in the other, there was nothing I could do. I fell forward, but I managed to not let go of Calet, though her head did whack the concrete. Thankfully, she had the hoody on from her coat and had a little padding. Poor baby girl. I just sat there on the curb rocking her and trying to comfort her. A kind person came over and took her from me so I could get up, but she liked that even less. My accident was quite the talk in the welcome center. I love how kind everyone is in MI. I still went to yoga. I wasn't bleeding a significant amount. It looks like a raspberry, or is skin burn the technical name? I cried through the first 15 minutes. Why do I always cry at yoga? I could do most of the moves, but the ones on the knees I had to skip. And now that it has been a few hours, a nice purple bruise has made an appearance. I was leaving to go and passed Art in the welcome center. Calet wouldn't come and I said I was going to carry her if she didn't start to walk with me. She shrieked and ran away and I told Art that she didn't want me to carry her. He said, and I quote, "Can you blame her?" Thanks Art. I didn't have enough guilt to begin with without that comment.

We had mac n cheese for dinner. The boys were getting seconds, so Calet wanted more too. Her bowl still had some around the sides, with an empty space in the middle. I thought I'd be clever, so I put the pan between her and the bowl so she couldn't see what I was doing. Then I made sounds by scraping the edge of the pan and I rearranged the already present noodles together so it looked like more. I walked away feeling clever, but 2 seconds later I heard Calet shriek and point at her bowl again. Dang. I scooped 4 macaroni shells in and she was happy.

Why I should have gray hair

I have an amazing mother. As I was growing up, she would love each gray hair she got. She loved them so much, she would freak out if you dared to pull one of hers' out. She doesn't just grow old gracefully, she embraces and loves the wisdom and experience of each year and each day. Thankfully, I learned a thing or two from her. And while I haven't found a gray hair yet, I'm perfectly willing to accept them when they come along. After the day I had, that should be any time now...

I spent most of the day cleaning in preparation for my realtor's visit. Calet spent the day destroying everything I cleaned.

After he got home from school, I asked Jaden to get the mail so I wouldn't have to put on shoes and bundle up. He was already out there anyway, right? Well, he poked around outside so long that Daven's bus arrived. Daven saw Jaden getting the mail and wanted to get it too. They fought. Rolling in snow ensued. You can't see their faces from the angle, so here is a picture of them. It was either take a picture or pull out my hair, and I already said I'd like to keep my hair. I'm working on ignoring their 'junk behavior.' I don't normally take pictures of fighting, for the record...

But, lest you (or I) feel like today was nothing but a big headache, I got a free t-shirt that I ordered from Signing Time. They make WONDERFUL movies that teach sign language to children and babies. But they are great for adults too and Brad has learned a lot!

Now, bring on the gray hairs!

Who me?! Oh. Brad.

My friend Micah told me in college that I have entertainment value. Probably not because I'm humorous of myself, but the craziest things happen to me. Just look at the last month or so! Car in my yard, broken garage door, mystery beeping, flooding basement, etc. A dear friend's hubby once said that he likes to read my blog so he can shake his head and say that he can't believe that actually happens to people. That's what I'm here for! Unfortunately, my writing skills are greatly lacking, but that is probably because I've never liked studying English and my hands can't type as fast as my head thinks.

Today I was tickled to receive the Kreativ Blogger award, from a long lost friend, Leann. We got to experience being married to med students way back when. I'm grateful that Facebook brought them back into our lives. I am unsure of the award origins or the reason for the spelling, but I was happy all the same! I got a bloggy award! Wahoo! Then I thought about it some more, and really, Brad got the award. Sigh. I've been blogging for years and my hubby's first post (seen here) gets the award. ;) But, since he's not going to be quitting his day job, my blogging job remains safe. Therefore, I will accept the award on his behalf. Yeah, Brad!

And if I'm going to be accepting bloggy awards on behalf of my husband, rules must be obeyed. This is super hard for me as there are so many blogs that I love. I'm not really sure what the parameters are for passing along this award other than picking 3 people to give it to. So, I'm going to cheat a little and pick 3 that had me laughing my guts out this week.

1) Becky W.

2) Natalie C.

3) Mellissa F.

Congrats, ladies! Thanks for the laughs!

Do NOT sleep with my hubby!

Brad called me this morning when I was at the boys' basketball game. This story is beyond bizarre. I'll let him tell it in his own words.

***Update*** This story is just so crazy that people are wanting to share it. LOVE IT! But it won't make much sense if you don't know what is happening in our family right now. In July '07 we bought a house in Michigan for a general surgery residency. In October '08, Brad was offered an Ear Nose and Throat position in Philadelphia. It was his first love, so we went with our hearts (and lots of prayers) on that one. He moved to Philly in mid-Oct. and is staying with his med school friend, Spencer, who not only told him about the position, but was a great advocate for Brad in getting the offer. We are waiting for our house to sell in a very difficult market so that our family can be together again. Residents don't get paid enough to cover 2 housing payments, or we'd be out there already. Spencer is a saint, but I don't think he wants 5 extra house guests, though apparently he has an open door policy. KIDDING, SPENCER!! Okay, you're caught up. Enough of the boring, start reading the funny!***

"This is a true but VERY bizarre story!

I worked until midnight last night (I had six consults to do after finishing surgery at 6:30). I got to Spencer's place (my friend that so graciously allows me to live with him while my family is in Michigan) around 1am, brushed my teeth, read my scriptures, said my prayers, and fell to sleep (I was the only one in my bed at that time). About 5:30 this morning, I was awakened by a vibrating cell phone. It was not my phone. And then I noticed it.... I noticed her. Some girl sleeping the opposite direction of me, fully clothed, and sleeping on top of the covers.

I assumed it was one of Spencer's friends and expected to see others on the couches. But nobody was laying on the couch. I told her to scoot over (so she could have the whole bed), gave her a pillow, and put the blankets on her. I grabbed a blanket from the closet and went to sleep on the couch. Her phone kept vibrating and she turned it off a few times before I actually fell asleep.

I awoke around 7:30 when Spencer went to do laundry, but fell back to sleep, fully awakening at 10:30 to the wonderful smell of coffee (no, I do not drink coffee. I just like smell of it. Spencer later told me he woke up around 3:30 and saw her in the bed, assuming it was Melisa visiting for the weekend, and thought it weird to see me sleeping on the couch later). The girl was still in the bed asleep.

"Spencer, who is that?" I asked.

"You are kidding. That is Melisa," he responded.

"No, it's not Melisa. Is the one of your friends? Samira? Heather? Anu?"

"Stop joking. That is Melisa, isn't it?"

"No, I have no idea who it is."

"Neither do I."

Spencer looked at her face to confirm it was not Melisa, nor one of his friends. So he gently woke her up. "Excuse me, what is your name?" She woke up and told us her name. "Do you know where you are?"

"No," she answered calmly.

"Do you know what building you are in?"

"I have no idea."

"You are in building L. What building do you live at?"

Come to find out she lives in the same building, just upstairs from us. She asked how she got in and Spencer explained that the door must have remained unlocked (sorry, that was my fault). He asked her if she had gone out drinking, which she said yes, at the clubhouse but did not remember going home. He told her that she could stay as long as she wanted and asked if she wanted some breakfast. She politely declined, got up, and asked if we had seen her purse, jacket, or shoes. "Nope," we said simultaneously. She then said, "This will be quite a story to tell the grandkids." To which we both assured her that NOTHING happened while she was here.

As she opened the door to go upstairs, she posed a strange question. "Is one of you a doctor?" I explained that we both were residents in ENT. She then mentioned that she had applied to medical school once, but did not get in, "Probably because of doing stuff like this," she chuckled.

She must not have been too embarrassed because she came back down about 15 minutes later saying that her purse and shoes were next to her door upstairs but not her coat. We looked around the apartment but could not find it. She said she would check the clubhouse and then left again.

I am grateful that Spencer is a witness to this event. I guess I will need to be sure to lock the door in the future."

It is a crazy world. Ladies, please don't get into bed with my husband. I will have to hurt you. You have been warned. And Brad, I love you. LOCK YOUR DOOR!!!!!

New methods of torture

As if going to kettlebell weren't enough torture. I somehow managed to go to my cardio class today. Though the motivation to move quickly was gone and I got there super late. At least I forced myself to go.

And because sometimes physical torture isn't enough, I had added mental torture. Starting yesterday, I kept hearing a beep in the basement. I couldn't figure out where in the world it was coming from. It was like a cricket! You stand in one place, wait to hear it, move to where you think it came from, wait to hear it again, only to find it came from where you used to be standing. ARGH!!! It was torture! My biggest concern was a sump pump problem as our basement tends to have lots of water around it. I can't handle a sump pump problem again. I just can't. Then I stood by the water heater, A/C, washer and dryer, heater, etc. Nothing. I looked in all of the rafters, per Amber's suggestion, and there was nothing that looked like an abandoned smoke alarm. But I still couldn't find the source. At this point I was near tears. I need a husband. I can't find the stupid beeping, and even if I did find it, how in the world was I supposed to fix it???

I started standing by boxes. First the toy boxes, per Jessica's suggestion. No go. So, I'd go to each box and wait for the stupid beep to come back. Finally, FINALLY, I found it in one of Natalie's boxes. There was a smoke alarm in the kitchen box, and apparently it wasn't happy to be ignored. Yes, Natalie, I still love you.

Cheating!

Okay, so I'm behind on blogging. I haven't done much blog reading this week and I'm trying to catch up. So, please excuse the copy of part of my post on the weight loss blog...

"Owie! I went to the Y to workout today and started talking to another lady in the locker room. I wasn't feeling very motivated to hit the elliptical machine as I forgot my mp3 player and exercising without music is akin to torture in my book. She said she was going to a kettlebell class and that I should check it out. I was skeptical, but as I had nothing better to do, I thought I'd try it. W.o.w.z.a. I was lucky my legs still had the strength to walk out afterwards. To make things worse, there are only 4 people in the class, and it is taught by Anita. Anita is TOUGH! You may recall me whining about a cardio class she taught this summer. She kills me! And there were so few people, I couldn't even slack off or do things half-way. So, it is probably good she is there to whip my butt into shape, but OWIE! Kettlebell really worked me over and I can tell it is going to help get me in shape, so I went ahead and signed up for the class. I may regret this later. I don't know why I'm paying to torture myself...."

HAD TO!

Sorry. Had to share this.

http://www.starz.com/promotions/bunnies/Pages/Bunnies.aspx

Kids!

I got this from my friend Kate. It was too hilarious to not share with the people I love! ENJOY!
It is from the Washington Post, btw...

By Carolyn HaxWednesday, May 23, 2007; Page C10

Carolyn:
Best friend has child. Her: exhausted, busy, no time for self, no time for me, etc. Me (no kids): Wow. Sorry. What'd you do today? Her: Park, play group . . .

Okay. I've done Internet searches, I've talked to parents. I don't get it. What do stay-at-home moms do all day? Please no lists of library, grocery store, dry cleaners . . . I do all those things, too, and I don't do them EVERY DAY. I guess what I'm asking is: What is a typical day and why don't moms have time for a call or e-mail? I work and am away from home nine hours a day (plus a few late work events) and I manage to get it all done. I'm feeling like the kid is an excuse to relax and enjoy -- not a bad thing at all -- but if so, why won't my friend tell me the truth? Is this a peeing contest ("My life is so much harder than yours")? What's the deal? I've got friends with and without kids and all us child-free folks get the same story and have the same questions.

Tacoma, Wash.


Relax and enjoy. You're funny.

Or you're lying about having friends with kids.

Or you're taking them at their word that they actually have kids, because you haven't personally been in the same room with them.

Internet searches?

I keep wavering between giving you a straight answer and giving my forehead some keyboard. To claim you want to understand, while in the same breath implying that the only logical conclusions are that your mom-friends are either lying or competing with you, is disingenuous indeed.

So, since it's validation you seem to want, the real answer is what you get. In list form. When you have young kids, your typical day is: constant attention, from getting them out of bed, fed, clean, dressed; to keeping them out of harm's way; to answering their coos, cries, questions; to having two arms and carrying one kid, one set of car keys, and supplies for even the quickest trips, including the latest-to-be-declared-essential piece of molded plastic gear; to keeping them from unshelving books at the library; to enforcing rest times; to staying one step ahead of them lest they get too hungry, tired or bored, any one of which produces the kind of checkout-line screaming that gets the checkout line shaking its head.

It's needing 45 minutes to do what takes others 15.

It's constant vigilance, constant touch, constant use of your voice, constant relegation of your needs to the second tier.

It's constant scrutiny and second-guessing from family and friends, well-meaning and otherwise.

It's resisting constant temptation to seek short-term relief at everyone's long-term expense.

It's doing all this while concurrently teaching virtually everything -- language, manners, safety,
resourcefulness, discipline, curiosity, creativity. Empathy. Everything.

It's also a choice, yes. And a joy. But if you spent all day, every day, with this brand of joy, and then, when you got your first 10 minutes to yourself, wanted to be alone with your thoughts instead of calling a good friend, a good friend wouldn't judge you, complain about you to mutual friends, or marvel how much more productively she uses her time. Either make a sincere effort to understand or keep your snit to yourself.

Game time!

I had such a great weekend with my friend Jill and her family here. We went through 5 loaves of home made bread because it is just that good! Jill and I got to play racquetball, at the Y, 2 of the 3 days they were here. Oh, how I love racquetball. I keep hoping to find someone here to play. Sigh...

We also played quite a few games of Settlers of Cattan, which I love. I even tried a new game called Ticket to Ride. It was fun, but I must confess that I preferred the online version. Why? I don't like adding up points. I play games for fun and don't really care much about points. The computer adds points for you so I don't have to think about it. I guess I'm just not competitive enough.

My kids really loved playing their Wii that the Pierce's brought with them. I didn't even get a chance to try it! Okay, maybe I didn't even try to take a turn. I'm sure the kids would have let me have a turn if I wanted to have one. I'm just afraid to get hooked and then be sad to not have one. They also had lots of fun with Anna and the newly adopted children Keith and Kristina. I was SOOOOO impressed with how great the kids all got along. Stinker loved their dog, perhaps a little too much. We were having so much fun we didn't even mind that it snowed almost the entire weekend.

Thanks for the fun weekend, Pierce family!

Baby, it's cold outside!

It is soooo cold outside. I guess it is -25 with windchills taking it to -30. My nose hairs froze in the time it took to take the trash to the end of the drive. It is so cold that they cancelled school today. Wow. So, I had to say good-bye to my plans to go to the gym and the store. They don't do child care for Jaden's age and the Y and there is no way I'm going to the store with 3 kids if it isn't a necessity.

Thankfully, my friend Jill and her family are trekking here for the weekend. They are bringing some games and their Wii, so it promises to be a fun weekend. And we can't forget the Bollywood, which will also be plentiful while they are here. WAHOO!

Station change

Today's post will be entirely on the the Cookie Monster blog. Sorry. A picture of Stinker's quiet-time antics says more than I ever could.

I have being trying, without success, to add a video since yesterday. I have now given up and hope that the problem will be resolved when I try again in a few days. It is either that or throw my laptop, so we'll go with giving up.

Duh

I might just be stating the obvious for some of you, but I'm not one for surprises. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE it when Brad comes home with flowers or something, but anticipating something isn't for me. I am, unfortunately, an instant gratification person. If something good is coming, tell me what it is so I can enjoy the anticipation. I'll enjoy it a lot more than way than if I'm left wondering. Having said all of that, you don't have to wait for your Valentine's letter to see our family pictures. They are in a slide over in the Cookie blog. And yes, there are a TON of pictures. I left in the bad ones so you can see what a pain Calet was being, and because I'm all about keeping it real. I have to say, I really really really like having a CD. I can print as many great quality pictures as I want, and I get all of the pictures, not just 1 pose. And I don't have to scan anything. LOL! So, go check out the pictures and get a sneak peek at the Valentine's cards I'm sending out, since I totally missed Christmas. And for those so curious, our 'theme' was that we all wore our favorite colors and the girls wore sweaters too. There. That is a theme, right?

And here is some housekeeping. A lot of my family and friends would like access to my siblings blogs. I'm not really comfortable having them permanently linked on this public blog, but I will be putting their links up in the private Cookie blog. Resa and Brooke's blogs are public and you don't need permission to view them. But they reserve the right to change their minds in the future. :) I'm putting Aubrey's link up too, even though her blog is private. I can relay messages to ask to get on it, but I cannot put you on it myself. And, as of now, Tylerr and Becca, Jeremy, Gerrick and Heidi, and Byron don't have blogs I know about, so they won't have links.

And one last thing, does anyone know how in the world this icicle was formed?!!? It looks so bizarre to me! It narrows and widens. It has grooves and divets. It is so narrow near the top, I thought it would break for sure! I've never seen such a thing! Any ideas?! Ignore the purple diamond. It is there merely to have contrast.

And this is the snow drift, from our recently plowed road, that my snow blower munched through. Have I mentioned how much I LOVE my snow blower!??!? Best money I've spent in a long time!

For Stinker's birthday

Elaine did this as a first-born tag. I'm changing it a bit, so I can do it for each of my kids on their birthday. Since I already missed Stink's birthday, hers is a little late. I didn't want to wait until December to do it. I'm just not that patient. ;)

And this probably is not necessary to mention, since I don't think any guys read this, except for Lisa's friend who stopped in to say hi once and some family, but this has the story of her birth in it. Be warned. And skip #20 if you'd rather not know.

1. What's her birth order?
She is my third, first girl

2. What were your reactions when you found out you were pregnant?
We were so excited! It took us awhile to get her and it was pretty discouraging.

3. How old were you?
I was 3o when I had her.

4. How did you find out you were pregnant?
I could be off on this as my memory is awful, but my sister-in-law had just found out she was pregnant a week or two earlier. Our girls are 6 weeks apart. She knew we'd been trying so she brought over her left over tests.

5. Who did you tell first?
I think Brooke was there or came soon after...

6. Did you want to find out the sex?
I did, Brad didn't. I went and got an ultrasound while I was at my family reunion and Brad couldn't come. Unfortunately, someone announced it at a party, so I had to do some damage control and tell Brad before the word spread. But, I was really glad to find out I was having a girl, so I can't say I regret doing it. Plus, my mom, brother Travis, and SIL Resa were all there with me and that was great.

7. What was your due date?
Dec. 6th

8. Did you deliver early or late?
I had an awesome doctor who agreed to induce me on the 4th. They almost induced me a week early for high blood pressure, but it got better before they could start anything.

9. Did you have morning sickness?
I puked for all 9 months with all 3 of my kids. (((Shudder)))

10. What did you crave? I loved pickles. Oh, and jalapeno pepperjack burgers from Braum's. And ice cream. I love Braum's.

11. Who irritated you the most?
Um, no one really, so I'll go with the stupid anesthesiologist who couldn't do the epidural right.

12. What was your child's sex?
A girl

13. How many pounds did you gain throughout your pregnancy?
25 exactly

14. Did you have any complications during your pregnancy?
Not really a complication, but I got some serious depression. I was so tired of puking, I asked if they could just put me in a coma until December. They said no and put me on depression meds for some reason. ;) I think my biggest complication would have been that Brad was a 4th yr med student and had lots of out of state rotations and interviews. It wasn't easy being home alone with 2 boys and puking frequently. I guess it was good preparation for now though. Every time I want to complain about how hard this is having Brad in Philly, I remember how much worse it was while pregnant. hee hee

15. Where did you give birth?
Saint Francis, in Tulsa

16. How many hours were you in labor?
4

17. Who drove you to the hospital?
my mom

18. Who was in the delivery room?
Brad and my mom

19. natural or c-section?
Natural

20. Did you take medicine to ease the pain?
Oh, what a story that is! They broke my water at 8:30 or so that morning. I had an epidural at 10:30 or so, but it hurt like the dickens going in and it didn't even work. My doctor checked on me at 11:45, but I was still a 4 or 5, even though I was literally bawling from the pain. She said she was going to go have lunch and come back in an hour. 10 minutes later I told them the baby was coming now. They checked me and sure enough I was a 10 and she was coming. They called the doctor back up, I pushed all of once or twice and had her at 12:15. That was when the anesthesiologist came to fix the epidural. Very helpful indeed. Can I tell you how bad it hurts to go from a 4 to having a baby in half and hour? Ow. The epidural kicked in a few minutes before I started pushing, so I had all of the painful contractions, and none of the cool feel the baby thing. Not fair. But at least I didn't feel it when the placenta broke off inside me and she had to dig it out. :)

21. How much did your child weigh?
7 lb 13 oz

22. What did you name him/her?
Stinkerbell Mons. LOL! Her name comes from Brad's great great great great grandma. Brad's mom's family is Cherokee and the summer I was pregnant with her, he found it while working on genealogy. Her name means sugar or sweet in Cherokee. She doesn't have a middle name, because on my side of the family, the girls don't get middle names so that they can keep their last name. So, my name is Melisa Jones Mons now. And since our last name is pretty unique, we thought it would be nice for her to be able to keep it.

23. How old is your child today?
just turned 2 a month ago!

Pictures up!

I have 3 new slides up on Cookie:

1) Stinker with a pony tail and looking like a peacock
2) The boys eating lentil soup with their Bakugan toys
3) Tons of snow pictures, including the skiers on my road.

I am working on a post for Stink's birthday, about a month late. :) I'm hoping to have it up tomorrow, but at the rate I'm going....

Calling for a brave soul!

Brad is taking his vacation in February and will be here for Valentine's Day. We were hoping to get away and spend the night at a hotel in town. Would anyone being willing to swap babysitting? Since he won't be working, we could go during the week, and you could pick Friday or Saturday or both nights if you didn't want to do an all nighter. We'd probably leave around 5 pm and return about 1 or 2 pm the next day. Or I could watch them a non-Valentine's night. Let me know if you are brave enough to tackle my Mons-ters for a night!

Rainbow stairs!

This morning, Roo spilled the container of Captain Crunch down the stairs that lead from the kitchen to the rental. I had a beautiful rainbow of yellow, blue, red, green and purple cascading down the stairs and flowing into the rental. But somehow, I didn't quite see the beauty of it until they were almost done cleaning it. Totally should have taken a picture. The fact that things are done on accident doesn't make them any easier to clean. Thankfully, the boys did most of the cleaning, even if it took them an hour and a half...

Hi neighbor!

Yes, I'm watching Mr. Roger's Neighborhood with Stinker, but this isn't about that. :)


And before I begin, may I just clarify something? I do appreciate all of the comments yesterday, but I most certainly don't expect people to comment on all of my posts. Most of my posts are just silly anyway. The main reason I did the de-lurking post is because I have a couple of people who regularly come to the site without ever saying hi. I'm not sure if they are coming because they like me and are my friends, or if they come because they like to see me suffer (as in flooding basements, broken garage doors, and a week of puking kids). If they are coming because they like me, well then I'd love for them to say hi, so I can make a new friend. And if they are coming because my life is such drama, well, can't argue that point, my life does get crazy. Such as last night....


*Warning, please skip this paragraph if you don't care about football. You were warned.* I thoroughly, and I do mean THOROUGHLY, enjoyed watching OU lose last night. As many of you know, I lived in OK for 7 years. I LOVE OK! But I think OU has a serious superiority complex. I'm not saying that OSU is better at sports, regretfully, they are not. All I'm saying is that I spent 7 years getting sick and tired of OU's arrogant and condescending behavior. Obviously I don't know everyone who went to OU, in fact I love many people who did go, and all I have to go off of are news paper articles and the ridiculous comments of one Barry Switzer, UGH!!! I just get so irritated when I read comments like a certain OU player, who shall remain nameless, saying that Tebow, who is quite a football stud, would only be 4th best in their conference. Uh, seriously? So arrogant. Tebow, of course, was totally classy and laughed it off, but this isn't the first comment from OU that has annoyed me. One of the announcers even picked up on it and said that the guy probably heard it all the time in his locker room and was just repeating it. I'm pretty sure that wasn't a reference to other players.


ANYWAY, to make a short story long, I was very happy after the game last night. So happy, in fact, that I watched the post-game, which I don't normally do. About 12:30, I decided to get to bed. I went to the boys room to cover them up, and I heard voices outside. I looked out the window and some people were standing around in my yard. My first thought was that they had hockey sticks, which I thought was odd. I'd see skiers going down my street, but ice skaters??? My next thought is that it was my 'for sale' sign stealers coming back. Naturally, I had to go out there. :) I went out the door and saw a car in my yard. I asked if they needed help and heard the familiar voices of some neighbors from down the street. We spent the next 30 minutes trying to get the car out. We shoveled to try and remove some snow surrounding the car. We used plywood under the tire that wasn't getting any traction and tried pushing. Then I suggested we start rocking it. We finally did get it out. The neighbors were very grateful and apologetic, but the daughter didn't say anything to me, probably out of embarrassment.


So, I took some pictures on my way back from the gym this morning. It was too dark last night. I am a really bad judge of height, distance, weight, etc, but I thought this snow bank was pretty big! She would have had to hit that corner pretty fast to plow through it. And, Brad, before you get too concerned, she did manage to miss the wall. PHEW!!!


And there is my crazy story for today!

Have a comment?

My sweet friend, Jill, is having a delurking day, and I thought it sounded fun. While I am no longer concerned about lurking, due to the fact that pictures and videos of my children are no longer on this blog, it would be nice to meet a few people who have stopped over and not said 'hi' yet!


And yes, there are a few of you I will mention by name who are totally off the hook for leaving comments since I know who you are and I know you don't leave comments. So, mom and dad, Grandma Jo, George and Olivia, we get to email, so comments aren't required. LOVE YOU!

***For the record, I don't mean leave comments for every post. But if you are new here, and I don't know you, it would be appreciated.***


Okay, the shameless plug is now over. :)

And Jacob will be played by....

http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/newmoon_movie.html#1

my nightmare

This would be one of them. Seriously. I hate being cold. Click on the picture to read the article. BRRRR!

Bus update

Well, it doesn't take much to get me crying, that is for sure, but I wanted to give a happily ever after to a story I just posted about.

Roo got off the bus today and told me the mean boy, hereafter referred to as Z, didn't talk to, look at, or trip him today. He said that Ms. B, his teacher, is keeping an eye on Z. And that Z sat in the front seat and he sat in row 8. He seemed very happy after getting off the bus today.

Then I got an email from Ms. B, that I won't put on here, seeing as this is a public blog, but I will sum up for you. She said she heard multiple kids talking about Z today, so she got on the bus and asked the bus driver to seat Z away from all pre-Kers and told him that if she heard one more report about him she was calling his mom. :D

Yes, I'm crying. Probably mostly hormonal, but I'm just so grateful to not have this weighing on my heart anymore. While my heart aches for Z and the rejection and embarrassment he must feel for being singled out by a teacher while only in 1st grade, I have to think of my son and his feelings first. I'll still keep an eye on this, but definitely not with the same dread as I had before. So yeah! Rejoice with me for awesome teachers who are on the ball!

End of the story

Just for you curious ones out there, I have some endings to stories:

The family I had renting the basement moved out last Thursday, in the midst of Stinker's second day of puking. I finally made it down there to clean today, which is good, since my new renter is coming tomorrow!

Roo's teacher talked to the bully and he told her Roo threatened him that Dogzilla (a wonderful book we have that he took to school for 'share a book' day) would eat him. Roo's side is that he said Dogzilla would eat him if he kept teasing him. Today the boy told Roo they were no longer friends (huge shock) but didn't touch him. I'm definitely keeping an eye on this situation. Today I stood out on the porch and tried to be an intimidating presence when the bus arrived.

And in Blogger news, my Google reader has agreed to work again. Alas, I now need to spend time putting blogs back into it. This could take awhile.

So, we are back to our routine, including getting my butt back to the Y. And it feels great, if not slightly painful. :)

I can't stand it!

I have spent the weekend trying to install a new hard drive on my laptop. I did it by myself with coaching from Brad. I had him on both webcam, cell phone and remote assist. Apparently it worked because my laptop is up to speed. Almost all of my software is reinstalled. What is the problem? BLOGGER! Yeesh! I can't get my Google Reader to work. So frustrating! I'm totally embarrassed to admit this, but because most everybody has a blog, I have about 80 some odd blogs on my Reader. I tried importing it to Bloggers reading tool, and all that did was mess up both tools. I'm telling you all this because in all of the changes, I've lost quite a few blogs. I don't know which ones they are. So, if I stop reading your blog, assume it is because everything in Blogger world has gone crazy over here, and I'll just need a little reminder. I've lived in 5 states and 2 countries now, so I don't get to see a lot of my friends. Blogs are such a great way for me to keep in touch with everyone. Thanks!

Oh, and one more little thing, cute pictures of Q-T and David over on Travis and Resa's blog. I have the link on the Cookie blog to help with their privacy. Hope ya don't mind!

Happy Day!

Today is the day! Quinton's birth dad couldn't get his act together to file the petition. Quinton is officially a Jones! Wahoo! We are so happy! Check out Cookie for a link to their blog.

Okay, I've been trying to upload dang cute video of Stinker for about 2 days and it just isn't working. I don't know if it is my broken laptop or Blogger or what. I'll let you know when I get it up though!

***It's up, but apparently it is a Grandma video because it is all sideways, so only a grandma can enjoy it.***