Big Girl Bed

Claire now has a big girl bed! The actual bed is my old day-bed (it's almost an antique!), but the mattress and bedding are new. She seems to like it, but is still making the nightly trip to our room right now.

The kids decided to get in the picture. I tried to get them to pose to no avail :)

In other news, we have been trying to potty train Claire, but she is not very interested. She will sit on the potty if she has clothes on, but the minute you take off the diaper, she stiffens up and freaks out! I have tried buying her "pretty" panties to entice her but that didn't work either. She is ready in the sense that she is showing all the signs, but she just doesn't want to make that transition. Any suggestions?

Our lives are taking on that busy summer schedule that comes with being a youth minister. Scott is having service week this week, VBS is next week, then camp is two weeks after that. July is just as packed with activity, if not busier. However, we are enjoying the summer--playing in the pool, sprinkler, etc. We took the kids to see UP the other night and that was lots of fun. They both sat quietly through the whole thing. I was pretty amazed! I recommend the movie if you haven't seen it already. But bring tissue!

Commencement

Scott is the second person on the second row.

I think they are conferring the masters candidates' degrees upon them here.

Scott being hooded.

Receiving his "diploma" (an empty tube).

Afterward, at the reception, we met up with Scott's professor, Dr. Doug Foster.


The whole family

Will loved Scott's graduation cap and wanted to wear it all weekend. We let him wear it in Cracker Barrel and Target (without the tassel) and we got lots of comments on it :)

Congratulations, Scott. I am so very very proud of you. I love you!!

News and Such

Yea, the gas meter debacle is over! It only took a week for our neighbor to get his hot water back. It ended up being quite an ordeal with all the plumbing...I won't go into the details, but let me just say I am SOOO glad we have auto insurance.

Scott has been sick now for about a week. As long as he's taking Tylenol, he feels okay, but when he doesn't he's running about a 100 degree fever. We were suspicious of mono for a while, but he was tested on Friday and it came back negative. Hopefully he's just got an ultra-tough virus who will be moving on soon (hopefully not to me or my kids!).

In spite of sickness, we travelled to Lubbock on Friday night for a wedding in which Scott officiated. It was his first and he did great! The bride was in our youth group when we first moved to Big Spring for all of about four months (she was a senior that year), and the groom was a freshman at LCU when we were seniors. So, we actually knew some of the wedding party and guests as we went to school with them. We stayed with Scott's best friend, Jake, and his wife Cheri and two girls. I had not seen them in two years, though Scott had. It was fun catching up and seeing how their girls had grown. Unfortunately, because of the wedding schedule and children being children, we couldn't see any of our other Lubbock friends. But we thought of you and love you all!

Our kids are doing well...Will is just so cute. He says the most wonderful things like, "I love you so much, Mommy," and "I love Claire so much!" He also likes to ask us "How's it going?" He's at a fun age.

Claire is just growing and growing. She thinks she is so big and wants to sit up already. She tries, but she's just not quite capable yet! She also loves to smile and chatter and the other night, Daddy made her have her first belly laugh. It was great!

For those who have asked how to make your own playlist...just click on mine where it says "Create a playlist" and it should take you to that website (which is, I think, www.playlist.com?) and it will be pretty self-explanatory. When you're done making the list, it should give you an option to embed the html into your myspace, blog, etc. Copy the html and go to your layout page for blogger and choose where you want to embed the html. If you have any questions, you can always ask!

Happy fall...yea, a cold front is coming tomorrow and it's supposed to be in the 60's!!

Recent Happenings

Thank you to everyone who commented on my last post...whether in sympathy, encouragement or advice. It's so nice to know that so many people care! The next two nights of VBS went more smoothly; I just avoided the "opening ceremonies" in the auditorium altogether and brought Will in time for his class. That seemed to work much better. We survived and VBS is over--yea! VBS is always a stressful time for our family since Scott is one of the main people in charge, so we always feel really relieved when it's behind us.

On Thursday, Scott took a much needed day off and rested as much as possible. That night, he and I went on our last Midland trip before Claire comes. Will stayed with his surrogate grandparents while we went shopping for a few essential baby items.

Why was it our last trip you ask? Well, because on Friday morning, I became really dizzy and swollen very quickly. I called my OB/GYN office to see what I needed to do. The nurse told me she would feel most comfortable if I went up to L&D and let them check me out. So, we went back up there, me thinking that this probably wasn't necessary...maybe I just got too hot or something. Well, evidently I was wrong. When we got there around noon, I was dilated to 2 cm. I already knew this because my doctor had told me so at my regular appointment on Monday. They of course hooked me up to the fetal monitor and discovered I was having contractions--again, something I already knew because I'd been having sporadic Braxton-Hicks contractions for a couple of weeks. Problem being, I was having a lot of them, and they started to become a little more regular/closer together than they wanted. So they flushed me with fluids for a while trying to see if maybe I just wasn't well hydrated. That did not stop the contractions. So they then gave me terbutaline (a contraction-stopping drug) at two separate times. At about 4:45, the contractions had pretty much stopped and they were ready to let me go home. But, of course, they had to check my dilation again. It had progressed to 3 cm with all that contracting. They still let me go home, but I have to take oral terbutaline every six hours for this next week. And I have to "rest." So, therefore, no more working, shopping, etc! It was a good thing we got that last Midland trip in before this happened :)

I'm feeling alright, but of course I'm paranoid that I'm having contractions and not knowing it. Also, the terbutaline makes me very shaky and kind of crazy feeling. I guess it also makes my heart race, so I feel more tired than normal too. I will be 37 weeks (full term) on Tuesday, so maybe if we can just get past then, everything will be good :)

This has made us really get down to business on getting ready for Claire's arrival, though...we finally hung up the shelves in her room and washed the infant carrier seat pads today. Our bags are packed and ready to go, too. Please pray for a safe and uncomplicated delivery...I have no idea if I'll be able to post again between now and then :) It seems my babies don't like to cook as long as they're supposed to!

A Sad Day

It is always quite a shock when you get a call and find out that one of your family members has passed away. Today, I got one of those calls. Scott's second oldest brother, Bryan, has passed away. He was 39. Bryan had had diabetes Type I since he was two years old, so we believe that it was complications due to the disease, although we do not know for sure. Since the death was unattended, an autopsy will be performed. We do not yet know when or where services will be held. I am asking that you please keep Scott and his family, especially his mother, LaDon, and Bryan's daughter, Rebecca, in your prayers during this time. A lot of questions are unanswered, and I know many people are going to feel guilty about the circumstances surrounding this death, even though no one is to blame. The picture of Bryan above was taken this past October. He is with one of his loves--motorcycles. We will miss him.

Books and Such

Well, I did it. I got up and got to work semi-on-time this morning. A great feat for me. I am so sleepy now, but at least I woke up and got ready! I am really going to have to train myself to go to bed earlier. But, the good thing about working in the morning is that I can do my Internet stuff in the afternoon instead of after Will goes to bed at night. That should really help.

Also, I finally finished my mammoth of a book last night, A Breath of Snow and Ashes, by Diana Gabaldon. I think I've talked about this series before, but really...if you love a great story-teller, nail-biting adventures, love, mystery, and really thick books...this series is for you. This book is the most recent in the series (6 total)--the Outlander series. If you love to read, you should really check these out. The genre is hard to place, even the author doesn't really even know what it is. I found one of the books in the science-fiction section of the library, but I wouldn't call it that. Some say it's fantasy, others say it's romance. But the author just likes the simple "fiction" genre. You may find it in any one of these sections of your bookstore :) So, there's my little sales pitch--ha!

As for other news, Scott and I are going on a retreat this weekend to Ruidoso. It was supposed to be a youth retreat (we are joining forces with a few other churches), but our one kid who signed up has backed out. But Scott is a cell-group leader, etc, so he still has to go. So, we're going with him as moral support, I guess :) It may be a nice little getaway--although it will be quite cold there, I imagine!

Well, I suppose that's I all I have for today. Y'all have a great Thursday and weekend if I don't get around to it tomorrow!

Changes

Things are changing, once again. But not in a bad way. I am going to start working in the mornings at Dakota's instead of the afternoons. I think this will work out a lot better than our current schedule. Scott is even more of a non-morning person than I am, and he is just more productive in the afternoons. I think this will be better for all of us. I start this new schedule tomorrow.

Scott and Will both went back to school today (ACU and Children's Day Out, respectively) for the first time since before Christmas. CDO started back up two weeks ago, but Will had that bad poop/diaper rash thing going on and then last week we were iced/snowed in. So, here we are. Scott has been working for the last two weeks on his car (it has taken him so long because of the weather) and he was supposed to take it to ACU today, but when I just went outside to check the mail, I noticed the car out front and the church van was gone. So, I guess it wasn't fixed enough quite yet. Maybe he can get it right before next Wednesday.

I really don't have anything interesting to say. On the pregnancy front, I am in that awkward stage where my regular clothes do not really fit and yet, neither do my maternity clothes. Finding things to wear has proven quite interesting lately. My morning sickness stuff seems to completely left me now; yea! I am hungry almost constantly. I have been wanting fruit (especially apples and grapes), orange juice, cheetos, cheese, bagels, burritos, and Nestle Drumstick ice cream cones. It's amazing the things you want when you're pregnant. With Will, I couldn't get enough oranges and Nutter Butter cookies. I guess that's about all. Maybe I'll have something interesting later in the week :)

Until next time...

Back from the Dead

Literally! Our computer finally died a couple of weeks ago, so that is why I haven't been blogging (not like I did it constantly before, but, hey...I read other people's!). So, if any of my friends out there still stop by to see if I just might have posted something, I have returned. We purchased a new computer with our Christmas money and it arrived this afternoon! Yea!!!

On to other things! It is freakishly cold here. So cold and treacherous, even, that our church services were cancelled on Sunday. I didn't think any amount of precipitation could cause our church to close it's doors, but lo and behold. I think most of the churches in our area cancelled; and I think it was a wise decision. You know some people (I'm mainly thinking of the elderly) will get out in whatever conditions to get to church. I'm thankful that they decided to just cancel so those people and the ones that live miles and miles away would just stay in rather than risk it. Anyway, it's been very icy and tonight it snowed! We have had a fire in our fireplace (not nonstop) for the last four days. It's been great! I looked at Scott at one point on Sunday afternoon, while reading my novel in front of the fireplace, wrapped up in my fleece blanket, and told him, "This is great!" And it was.

Our family was ill last week. We got "the bug" that has been going around. I got it Tuesday night and missed work on Wednesday and part of Thursday. Scott got it on Wednesday night. Will was also sick, but his was a sinus infection and then his antibiotic gave him bad poops. He had a horrid diaper rash, too. But, we are all much much better now!

Although computers crashing, ice and snow, and sickness is all very interesting and newsworthy, believe it or not, I have bigger news. At the end of July, Will is going to be a big brother! That's right, I am pregnant! We are very excited. Last week (Tuesday as a matter of fact), we saw the baby's heart beat and it was moving all around. When Scott can scan the sonogram pictures at work, I will post them for all to see.

This pregnancy has been quite different from my first. I was quite a bit more nauseous this time and it lasted much longer. With Will, I was nauseous about two times. This time, it was more like every day, all day. But, I never did loose my breakfast, so that was nice. I am now about 12 or 13 weeks along, so hopefully all of that is about over with. In fact, I have been really hungry the last few days. I have been eating quite a lot. Also, my "bump" is starting to grow. I have to rubberband my jeans. I did put all of my maternity clothes in my closet, but it will probably still be a while before I can wear most of them. It was just a good weekend to clean and do things like that :) Scott is laughing at me because I start the whole "nesting" thing really early. I feel like I have to get organized! Now! It's kind of important, though, because we are going to try to get Will into a big bed soon. However, we kind of need to know the sex of the new baby before we start really getting his room together. If the new baby is a girl, she will go in the guest room because it is painted pink. But, if the new baby is a boy, he will take Will's room and Will will get the guest room (repainted, of course!). So, until the beginning of March, it's just a waiting game.

Well, I have probably rambled on much too long. I have missed all of you and hope to hear from you that you haven't given up on me :) Love to all~~