Ouch.

So, we are now supposedly not so fertile for the next five years.

WHAT?! you ask...

Well, I had the Mirena placed today. It's a five year IUD with low dose hormone. It's supposed to virtually eliminate monthly periods. YAHOO!

Um...yah...it is not so comfy to get put in. Like worst cramps I've ever had. ... but only for like 20 minutes. I'm not enjoying sitting so much right now. Feels like I have a stick stuck where the sun doesn't shine... which I kinda do. TEE-HEE. But, anywho. It's not so bad.

So, if we see any posts from me about being pregnant... that won't be me.

Ah, yes. The sweet "pick-me-up-NOW, Momma" cry is heard across the house. TA-TA for now.

Mommy Attire

So, yah. I am currently sporting the newest look in "new" Mommy attire. This look includes:

• semi-clean, messed up, put-up-out-of-mommy's-face hair
• no makeup
• no shoes
• whatever pants are clean-ish
• top that covers enough so that if I have to answer the door, I won't embarrass anyone. Said top is coated in various baby spit-up spots, on shoulders, breast areas, and dead center of collar area. At least it's not too stinky, to me.

Just thought you should be fashion forward, like me.

Diaper Genie Woes

Color me retarded. I haven't used the darn diaper genie in over 3 years. It seemed too much of a hassle. So, in my cleaning frenzy today, I thought I'd give it another go. I can't figure out how to get the darn contraption to work. Maybe I am missing a piece. Maybe I am that broken, melted crayon. I just can't get it to work. So, I am tempted to throw the darn thing at a garage sale person... or maybe to a second hand store.

EEK!

Owen Cooing

Owen Cooing

Owen is 8 weeks today. So, I am officially off of maternity leave. He's smiling and cooing more and more each day. He breaks hearts and is loved on by all who meet him. Here's a short video of my little man. Not a whole bunch of cooing...but lots of moving around. ENJOY!!!

EDIT --- the video will not load from blogger, so I had to post it separately.

Prayer Request

I have a friend. She is an artist (the one that made my cowboy diaper bag), and a poet. She's a beautiful mother of three. She is happily married to a caring, sensitive man. She's a Christian and a Jesus freak. I've been her friend and she's been mine since fourth grade. She was in my wedding.

I just read an email from her. See, we have myspaces. That's how we keep up. I noticed she wasn't on there ... or hadn't been for a while. She added me to a new page. So, I told her I missed her and asked if everything was okay.

Long story short. She tried to commit suicide on July 11th. She suffers from depression. This wasn't the first attempt. She had tried to get help. She immediately tried to reverse her attempt...unsuccessfully. Thank God her husband was home. She's just now back home from the ICU and a psych hospital. I had no idea.

Please. Please pray for my friend, (we call her Chan). She needs love more now than ever before.

Legends

I am getting a ring made/redesigned there. I already had one with Amethyst - Caleb's birthstone. I wanted to add something for Owen. His actual birthstone is something called Alexandrite - aka VERY EXPENSIVE. The other option is a pearl. Since we're in West Texas, I thought I'd get a Concho Pearl. Grant, at Legends, is working on a couple of ideas for us. The one he had for us on Saturday was an imperfect pearl. It looked like the beginnings of Siamese pearls. Or, as Brant put it, a baby's butt. Whatever. It looked great in the middle of the Amethyst ring. It would replace the largest Amethyst. And, he managed to find a not pink one. It was a bronze-purple. Very me. Anywho. He's working up a couple more ideas. I'll get you a photo when it's all done up.

WALL-E

It was cute.

We were not charged for Owen. Owen did awesome. I fed him and changed him IN the theater. He cooed and "watched" the movie and slept.

Caleb did very good during the movie. He was more than tuckered when we left. So, luckily for us, he slept in the car on the way to Legends (see next post).

Such a good time with all of my boys. Brant liked it too.

Is it rent worthy? Yes. But, I am a BIG Disney-Pixar fan. So, there you go.

Rewarding good behavior

Owen has been good (well - not really by mommy standards. He decided from 2-5 this morning was wake-up time. Mommy was NOT amused).

Caleb has been good.

Brant has been good.

Mommy has been VERY good.

So, we're going to (wait for it) the movies! We're going to see WALL-E. Should be interesting. Think they'll charge us for Owen? What if I put him in a snugglie? I'll let you know.

Heat Rash

That's the verdict from Dr. P.

So. Yeah. Just keep doing what we're doing.

OH...and he's 10 pounds, 6 ounces and 22 inches long. What a porker. :)

And a cutie.

Going to Dr. P today

I'm taking Owen in to Dr. P today. I am concerned about this rash/hive type thing he's got going on on his upper torso, neck, and nugget. It's been a week since we did the dye thing for the kidneys and on Saturday this rash appeared. It freaked me out and it's still here. You can FEEL the bumps of the rash. Yesterday, he had this rash thing on his ears and around his mouth. I am PRAYING that it's not anything more serious than a long lasting allergic reaction, or - even better - a reaction to the heat. Like, heat rash.

I'll let you know.

Now it's back

If you complain enough in blogger world, it must fix the broken blogger stuff.

That's my theory. Yeah.

What the ...?

Why is who I read empty?

Jenny had weird stuff with her running blog...and who I read is not there. I mean it's there, just no one is listed.

Who is this mysterious person messing with blog spot?

STOP IT!

Goings On

So, not much is going on here in casa de mine.

But here is what is going on:

• We DID have to purchase a new monitor. So, everything I read on blogs is now HUGE. Nice.
• Owen has started smiling at me. He loves to hear my voice and seems to recognize my face, too. He also does this for my dad's deep bass voice. I LOVE it!


• I had an inservice yesterday. Owen went to the in-home daycare we took Caleb to... it was fine, but MAN did I have baby withdrawals by the time we got out of inservice at 1:30.
• Brant is about to be off of work for 5 days in a row. Nice.
• My bestest friend came in to town for a couple of days earlier this week. It was so great to see her...and her mommy...and her beautiful baby. Here are some pictures of them.


• Owen had a BAD reaction to the dye they used on him on Friday. It's nearly cleared up, now. Here's a shot of that.


• Ummm, I am going to go up to school today to try to work on my classroom...with Owen in tow.
• We're going to a Colt's game tonight. It'll be our first one of those.

Yah. That's about it. Boring. But, it's my life. Ta-Ta!

Breaf-tiss

That's the first meal of the day...according to Caleb. FYI.

Computer Woes

This should be called "Monitor Woes."

Early this morning we had a nano-second long power surge. I didn't think anything of it. But, now that I have time to check blogs I see that I can't get my good computer monitor to turn on. I checked the power source (read: plug thingee) and it appears to be okay. I am currently using the older computer and it's corresponding monitor. I hope we don't have to replace the monitor. ... But, I just remembered that I have a gift certificate to computer bytes. So... yeah.

2nd San Antonio appointment

We're back from our second San Antonio appointment for Owen's kidneys. Another icky IV and several hours waiting and here is what we know: His right ureter (the tube from the kidney to the bladder) is dilated. It has peristalsis (the action of squeezing stuff down - like in your esophagus). We'll just keep an eye on things and go back in December for a check-up on things. Meanwhile, he's to remain on antibiotics, starting a different one at 3 months.

By the way...we weighed him today. 10 pounds, 1 ounce. Holy cow. I know he can't compare to Casen or Mason...but, that's more than 3 pounds of weight gain in 6 weeks (since birth).

He makes me smile. He's started (just yesterday) occasionally smiling and cooing at me - or my Dad. Not so much Brant...but he needs more time with his working-all-the-time daddy. (did you see that? It was my face lighting up, thinking about Owen smiling and cooing. ahhhh.)

A loss - of sorts

Our principal (who we LOVE dearly) has accepted a high school principal position. Bummer.

Jiggity-Jig

Home again, home again, Jiggity jig!

Yup, we're back! It was so nice to sleep in our own comfy bed last night.

Here's how the travelling rolled out: We left at 6 am (that's ET guys! so, 5 am here) on Saturday morning. We got to Somewhere, Kentucky around 2:30. That is when the fit hit the shan, so to speak. The 1963 model camper we inherited (and were pulling back to Texas from Ohio) from Brant's late grandfather did not want to go any more. Brant had replaced the lights, tires, and bearings. One side of the axle melted (okay - I should stop right here and say I know NOTHING about cars/trailers/mechanical anything - so bear with me). That's bad, right?! Yes. Bad. Very bad. Camper no go, no more.

So, I called my darling daddy and he got us the number to the Uhaul place 12 miles away. The podunk place we broke down in did not have anything that we could find to do a quick fix to limp the camper the other hundred zillion miles or so, home. So, we get the Uhaul ($375 later - nice free camper, right?!) and take it back to Somewhere, Kentucky. With two ratchet straps, and 90 degrees, and then torrential downpour, Brant and I managed to get the camper HALF WAY up the ramp onto the Uhaul trailer. Dad is calling to check on us about every HOUR or so. Around 5:30, Dad informs me that he was able to get a hold of a wrecker guy in Somewhere, Kentucky. He spends the next 3 hours with us (and two more rain sessions) getting the camper up on the trailer. After a quick $50 in cash to the very kind Ronnie the tow truck guy, we made our way to the Days Inn in Somewhere, Kentucky.

Road trip home, day 2:
We set out at 6:30 (read: still way too early!) on Sunday morning. The Jeep did great hauling the trailer. We rolled into just east of Dallas at about 5pm. We rolled into CENTRAL Dallas at 7:45. After two totally blocked interstates, with wrecks, the accordion effect, and a big detour, we finally left Fort Worth around 9. My loving, wonderful, darling, brave, strong husband drove us all the way home. We walked into our front door around 12:45 this morning.

My dad was so wonderful! He checked the mail every day, cleaned out the fridge (which was no easy task, read:gas mask needed), stocked us with basics (read:milk, sandwich stuff, breakfast stuff, a quick dinner meal if needed), and vacuumed the half dozen or so dead water roaches from our hardwood floor. It was such a blessing to come home to that.

So, now we are waiting on our plumber friend. Our fill valve (I don't know a thing about plumbing either) on our master bathroom toilet is nearly a stead stream onto our floor. Brant is dropping off the trailer with camper at my dad's shop. I am working on ... no wait, I am blogging. I am supposed to be working on unpacking. Caleb is at daycare. He was ready to see his friends. Owen is passed out on our bed.

So, we're home. Not too rested, but thankful for the vacation. I LOVE being with my mother-in-law. It's nice having a mommy-type around for a while. So, I am almost ready to get out and show off my growing baby and see my buddies. Like, tomorrow will be good for me! I guess I should go through the unpacking process before Brant gets back home. or, I could check email. :) Guess which one I will choose?

Not supposed to...

I should not have cravings anymore, right?!

Then, why am I craving avocados or guacamole?! Maybe because "Owen wants them." Right. Uh-huh. Sure...whatever. Or maybe it's because the cost of avocados in Ohio was so much that we haven't had any in two weeks! I'm ready for some when we get home.

There are certain things I do miss at home. Like my daddy, my buddies, my bed, air conditioning at night, our routine, and food. My goodness. All I think about lately (other than how relaxed I've been, and how I don't want it to be less than 6 weeks to school starting back up) is food. What to feed everyone, what will make so-and-so happy to eat, what we've eaten a zillion times this trip (sandwiched out, okay!), and what I want to eat, too.

July Photos, again

Sad picture

No one wants to see their tiny baby like this:

This was from his tests done on June 27th. We go back for more on July 18th. I hope we don't have to see him hooked up like this, again!

bdominoes

Apparently those little rectangles that have dots on them, you know - the black ones with white dots, or the white ones with black dots - are called bdominoes. That's how you pronounce them. Just ask Caleb. Try telling him differently.

Just thought you needed a little schooling on that matter.

Fun in Ohio

We've been so busy - relaxed, but busy - here in Ohio.

Caleb has had a blast running with lightning bugs, swimming in Lake Eerie, learning at the Cleveland Metropark Zoo, and hanging out with family in the comfy weather of Ohio.

Owen has grown so much! He's lifting his head without much difficulty. He's starting cooing and is awake more and more during the day. He's still an easy baby (knocking on wood, here) - sleeping most of the day and getting up once at night to eat. His eyes *might* be trying to focus...and they are a pretty grey-blue.

I've taken 70-odd pictures and am just waiting on a faster Internet connection and computer to upload them. I miss my San Angelo buddies, but am not missing the H O T weather down south. That is all for now. We'll get more to you, later!!!