Snip-Snip

OUCH!!!

As we speak, my precious little nephew is getting his little manhood snipped. Yes, you read that correctly. Poor little Judah is getting circumsized. Poor baby. :( Courtney waited until the 8th day with him, but I must say... OUCH!

Hopefully it all comes off okay :)

I have so much freakin' stuff to do tonight when I get off work to be ready for the trip tomorrow.

Hopefully I'll get it all done and still find time to sleep.

Also, our receptionist is out today, so I have to be up here all day and I can't work from up here... so this looks like it's going to be a looooonnnnnnggggg day. (sigh). I'm already bored to tears. They are suposed to get the IT guy to come up here and temporarily fix it so I can access my drives, but I haven't seen him yet.

Okay, that's that.

Passing of a Friend

I'm not sure if you've heard, but a dear friend of ours has passed away. I just wanted to write a few thoughts down and just allow myself to grieve in my own way.

Jerry Durham was a great man. He was a man of few words, and at first glance, you might think he was one of those guys who kept his emotions under wraps, but that wasn't true. He loved like few men ever do.

My first memories of him for some reason, are with guns. Not that he ever brought them out around us kids, but coming from a gun free home, for some reason I was aware every time I walked through their door that I was now in a gun inhabited zone. Silly how the mind of a child works. Jerry and Jodie lived next door to my family while I was growing up. There on that street on Timber Ridge in Euless, Texas. Your first sign that this big macho man was really a softie was when you walked in the door and saw him sitting in his chair, with tiny chiuahahas sitting on his lap. How can you be scared of a man who loves chiuahahas?

As we grew and began to have kids of our own, we saw the old softie go googly eyed at the introduction of his first surrogate granddaughter, Ashlyn. I've never seen a grown man, who wasn't related to a child by blood, love a child so much. He spoiled her and loved her and was more than thrilled at the arrival of his next surrogate grandbaby Madysen. He and Jodie kept Ashlyn while her mommy was in the hospital and brought her up there to meet her new sister, all decked out in a new outfit. :)

One thing about Jerry was that it wasn't just an obligation, it wasn't like he was just going with the Jodie flow, he reached out in love because it was his own genuine love. He would keep the girls by himself and unselfishly give his time for them, all because he loved them as his own. He was their "Pops" and boy did those girls love him.

He went through hard times, yet the Lord was always faithful to see him through and no matter what, in the end, Jerry always cried out to his Savior.

He was stubborn and sometimes would drive Jodie out of her mind when he wouldn't agree with her, but there was a love and respect between the two of them. He was her steady rock. Now he's gone to be with his Daddy Jesus. He has been in pain for the majority of his life and now is up there dancing away, jumping, worshiping, doing everything that his physical body wouldn't let him do down here.

I can just see the huge smile on his face as he runs up to his Jesus. I just see this picture of him, trying to explain things to God, emotions overwhelming him, regretting decisions and words like we all will do when we finally meet Him face to face. But I just see the Lord taking him in his arms and Jerry just weeping while the overflowing, pure love of the Father engulfs him. His body is made new, his mind comes to full understanding... and then he runs. He laughs, he plays tackle football, he goes nuts, just like a child.

I don't care if you think it's trite or cliche, that's how I view where he is now. A place with no tears, no pain, where his heart is filled to the brim with love and as he stands, with no pain in his back, for hours upon hours, worshipping and praising his Savior.

My last memory of Jerry was one that I was always treasure.

He came up to the hospital to see Courtney and Judah. He brought little gifts for everyone, even Judah's first baseball bat. He brought candies and stickers for the girls and a gift for Courtney... he was such a giving man. He was so happy and was excited about how he was getting healthy again. He was so excited about Judah and couldn't wait to spend more time with him. That day there was a twinkle in his eye and he was in such a great mood. Just celebrating life.

Jerry Durham leaves behind a wife Jodie, who he loved more than air. It's going to be hard for her to move on without him, but I know that he would want her to be the strong woman that he married and keep her chin up and take the world head on. He loved that about her. I remember being young, and we were out at a restaurant all together and Jodie started getting mad at a bad waitress we had who was being rude. He just smiled and laughed. He loved her fire and her spark so much. So Jodie, don't lose that. Lean on Jesus and let Him be your steady rock now.

A son John, that proves without a doubt that you do not have to blood related to him in order for him to love you like something fierce. He was such a great father to John. As John grew up, all he wanted to do was be just like his dad. Jerry was so proud of John. You should have heard him talk about him. Serving his country, the strong man he grew into. He was so proud.

A daughter Jennifer who was his little princess and the light of his life. He was so proud of her and loved her so much. She was his everything and Jennifer is now missing a part of herself with his passing. But Jennifer, just remember the amazing love and support that he gave you and be there for your mother and Storie now. Always tell Storie about her Pops and how much he loved her and thought she was the most beautiful, intelligent baby in the world.

A granddaughter Storie, who he thought hung the moon. He wrote her a beautiful poem that announced her arrival and showed what a miracle he thought she was.

A grandson that although he may have not spent a lot of time with him due to distance, he was so proud of that boy.

And also another grandson who he never got to meet. That little boy will be raised with stories of how his grandfather was a man of love and of quiet strength.

So Jerry, you are really missed and will continue to be missed. But your memory will live on in the love you instilled as the quiet and gentle Pops. My family will miss you so much, yet I know that you are in such a better place.

We love you.

Happy Snappy!

Hi people! Just wanted to say hi!
Judah gets circumsized tomorrow... all I can say is OUCH! Poor kid.
He is growing like a weed and the more he grows, the less he looks like one of the girls. He's a cutie though! He was wearing this cute little long sleeved polo and some cute pants I had gotten him that are preemie size and he just looked like a little man!!! :)
Thanks to Shawna, Suzanna, Vanessa, the Baker girls, Michelle, Abby and Sarah for doing dinners this past week. It's been such a blessing to them!
My teeth are starting to hurt, which is bad. I keep putting off going back to the dentist since even with insurance, it's going to cost about a million dollars to fix everything... but I know the longer I wait, the worse it will get. I just have to get through the next few weeks and then we should have some excess moolah to spend.
Work has been pretty low key today. It's been way low stress, which is nice and relaxing today. Except it's making me really tired! My boss has been having a crazy week though, so I feel for her.
Okay, well that's it. I don't really have anything to say. I need to go upstairs and get some stuff ready for the students, so I best be getting to it.

Googly Goo

That's how I feel right now. I'm so tired and I'm cramping and I've had a heachache for 2 days, that I just feel almost to the point of delierium! ahahahaha
Good times, good times.
I've been really busy at work today, and I found out that I hadn't done a crucial step yesterday in my entering of all our new prospects from the job fair, so I created a bunch of extra work for one lady here. Oops! What do you do?
Then I was putting stuff up on our billboard in the kitchen and I can't make it look pretty, but I'm hurting, so I don't really care.
And then I'm cold, but when I put my space heater on, I get too hot, but if I turn it off I get cold again. And no, there is no lower setting, it's either hot or not.
And my lips are chapped.
Hmmm... what else can I complain about?? :)
I'm really not in a bad mood, just hormonal, which can be scarier than bad mood.
Lyric I think is teething. Which will be cute to see her with more teeth, but not cute on any level if she really is teething because she is miserable and hurting. Also, she is the queen of standing up by herself now. It's so cute. She looks too little to be doing it, but she is! I bet she'll start walking soon, but who knows. She could take forever to do that!
Don't you love my default pic? She was having so much fun in that box. She thought she was so cool! :)
It's my desktop picture, so I smile every time I manuever around the computer.
Okay, I'm going home soon.
I need to finish some stuff up.
Later!

Not Over Yet

Is this day not over yet?

I've been entering information from resumes into the database, then ran upstairs to get the lunch ready for the students, then came back down and kept entering resumes... yet I still have the rest of the afternoon to go... what's up with that!?!

I started making my list of everything that needs to get done and everything that I need to bring on this fabulous weekend trip I have coming up.

I need to find out what the colors of the wedding are. I think Lyric needs to dress acordingly! :)

We are going to have to bring so much crap. Her stroller, car seat and packnplay... That's a lot of stuff to lug around, but at least we'll only need one suitcase.

I need to reserve the car and ya. Just a lot of crap to get done. But, c'est la vie!

The busiest part of the last week is done and over with. So now I just got to get through the next 3 1/2 days and we're home free.

I'm excited about going away for the weekend. It will be a nice reprieve. Something new to mix things up! :)

Well I'm up at the front, and once again, can't do anything while I'm waiting, so I think I'm going to do some more planning for my dad's 50th birthday bash!

I'm out.

Abby's Baby Shower

We had a great time at Abby's shower! Thanks to all who came out and celebrated with us!

Click HERE for pics!

Where's Austin??

My brother Austin thinks he's too cool to hang out with me now.



Too cool for school, or maybe too cool because he's in school again. I even left him a witty little comment, and he hasn't even commented back, even though I know he's online b/c I see the little icon.



So we're going to make my charming wit a bit more public...



uh huuuum (clearing throat)



I once had a brother named Austin, he used to be kind of awesome. But he disappeared and it's kind of weird, I could swear someone has lost him.
Where's Austin???

Well I made it

Well today is over, thank the Lord.

It was a long day, but it was fun. Fun for having to work on a Saturday fun, which obviously, if I would have had a choice, I would have been home. I learned a lot though about the airline industry...

I'm soooo tired right now.

I am getting so excited about Abby's shower tomorrow! It's going to be fun and I can't wait to see all the cute little girl stuff she is going to get! She won't know what to do with herself with all that pink! :) She is getting all of Ashyln, Madysen, Kadyn and Lyric's clothes, so she will have more pink than she knows what to do with!!!
Please come on by, even if you didn't get a paper invite. The more the merrier. Message me if you need directions. It's from 3-5 at my parent's house.

:)

I missed my daughter. It's spending time with her on the weekends that gives me my sanity for the week, and so missing out on it this weekend has been really hard. I cried when I got home. However, I get to spend a long weekend with her, 24/7 next weekend, so hopefully that will make up for it, at least in my mind.

Anyways, just wanted to say that I made it through a really long day and am headed to bed...

When Dad's Dress Little Girls

Yes, doesn't she look so put together. Jon says she's warm and that's all that matters. He thinks she looks like she is going to go and workout.

He is always the one that gets her ready in the morning and then takes her over to Christina's house for the day. I'm constantly amazed at the clothes she is wearing... I means seriously. How hard is it to pick out a pair of jeans and a matching shirt?

He sent me this picture wanting me to think how cute she looked as he thinks she looks like she is about to go and workout.

I did laugh though! :)

Dad's should not be in charge of dressing little girls. It just doesn't work well!

In other news, I was hoping that Lyric was just teething and that is why she has been so snotty, slobbery and was waking up at night. But after another fitful night of sleep, she woke up around 5am with a hacking cough.

She is coughing really funny though. It's just one cough at a time, and it sounds more like she is about to throw up or is gagging. It does sound funny though.

Well that's about it. I have a meeting in a few minutes, so back to work!

Meals for the Watkins (Updated)

Hey everyone!!!
I am trying to get a meal list together to bless my sister and her fantastic family!!
Here's what I have so far:

Friday- ME
Saturday- Shawna
Sunday- Vanessa
Monday- Suzanna
Tuesday- The Baker Girls
Wednesday- Michele Sidler
Thursday-
Friday (no meal needed)
Saturday- Sarah Hedlund
Sunday- Allan and Christina Aguirre

Any takers for Thursday????

They like basically anything, just remember she is nursing, so she can't eat anything spicy and also, the meal needs to be able to feed 6 (Court, Nate, my Mom, and the girls) Oh and Court HATES seafood!

Thanks so much and let me know what day you want to cover!!

-Des

New Pics of Judah

Click HERE to see pics taken by Brad Shull at the hospital!

Feeling the Pressure

Man am I feeling the pressure building on me! It's like a marathon that I have no desire to run! ick.

So after getting just 2.5 hours sleep the night before, Lyric decided she wanted to be the reason why we stayed up last night, so she was up. All night. It started around 1am and didn't stop till about 6am. She just would wake up and cry and cry. It was terrible. Thankfully Jon got up with her, but that didn't mean I got any sleep. I have NO idea what her problem was. We went through all the steps to see why a baby was crying. The diaper, the cuddling, the soothing, sucking out a stuffy nose with the booger sucker and she just was not happy and did not want to sleep.

I've found that kids do this randomly, so all you moms who are waiting for the time your newborns will sleep through the night all the time, keep waiting. I think it's growth spurts or something, but randomly, they'll revert to waking up in the night and it is a beating, let me tell you.

Oh the pressure mounting is because I do not have a day off to chill for about 3 weeks straight. It is going to KICK my butt, with a capital K.

I can do it, I can do it, I can do it.

But Lyric being up last night really slaughtered my energy. And I keep thinking about having to work from 8a-8p on Saturday, and that slaughters the rest of whatever energy I had left from the previous slaughtering.

Ok, happiness.

I wasn't able to go back up to the hospital till closer to 9 b/c I kept the girls last night and they have been sick (hence a fun epidsode with Maddy we won't talk about). I don't know if you've ever been around my nieces, but they are really funny. Maddy did something bad, and Ashlyn (in all seriousness), was explaining to me how I needed to spank her and where. Kadyn has the funniest personality and Madysen I think genuinely believes she is a princess.

We have discovered one thing about the newest member of the family that is going to have to get adjusted ASAP. He doesn't like loud noises, not even loud talking voices. Well with 3 sisters ages 5,4 and 20 months, he really is going to have to get over that soon. When Lyric met him, she just touched his head, not hard mind you, and he immediately started crying. He has NO idea what he is about to endure, the poor kid. But he'll get tough really soon! :) But one lovely thing last night was that my dad brought us food from On the Border and so I got to eat queso. mmmm.... queso. That makes me hungry right now!

Well, ya. I think that's all I have to talk about. I mean, I'm sure I could keep rambling and talk about exciting things that might be happening in the future, but until things are more solid, I won't.

Despite my tiredness, when I think about the future, I get a spark. Which is new and fun and I feel hopeful.

Okay, back to work.

We Have Ourselves a Baby!!

Dear Lord did that happen quick!

Courtney woke up around 1:00-1:30 and was feeling a lot of contractions and pressure. They got closer and harder and she called my mom and then me and by 3:15am, we were headed to the hospital. By the time we got here, her contractions were on top of eachother. We found out later that she was in transition in the car.

We get to triage and the nurse starts griping at Court for waiting too long. (oh because at this time she is writhing in pain and being quite vocal.) Court asks if she can go to the bathroom and the nurse said no because she is afraid that Court would pop the baby out in the toilet. She checks Court and starts freaking out saying that Courtney is complete. Call the doctor, get the room ready, mass panic!
Nathan wasn't there yet because he was waiting on Kacy to get to the house to stay with the girls. I call him (thankfully right when Kacy had gotten there) and told him to book it or he was going to miss the birth of his son. By this time Courtney was wanting an epidural and the nurses are like, ya right. Too late. She is literally screaming, it was quite intense. She wanted to push, but the doctor wasn't there, the on call doctor wasn't there, and Nathan wasn't there. So the nurses were trying to make her wait and she was wanting to push. Super intense people!
Nathan finally shows up and they make me leave. I was so sad because I wanted to be in the room, but it was mass panic. There wasn't a doctor there yet and Courtney was really bearing down hard.
Anyways, the nurse actually delivered the baby and Dr. Moseley came in in time to deliver the after fun.
He was born at 3:50am. From the time we got to the hospital and she pushed him out, we had been there 15 minutes.
It was fast people!

So now.... INTRODUCING!!!

Judah Reign Watkins

He was 6lbs 13 oz, (3.1 kilos) and 20 inches long (51 cm)

The craziest thing is Courtney's water didn't break the entire time, and when the baby came out, so did the water sac, intact! He had meconium, so they had to suction him out for about 20 minutes before Courtney got to hold him.

Okay, funny story. My dad took an Ambien before he went to bed last night because he didn't get much sleep the night before. He was totally stoned and could barely wake up and kept falling asleep. It was hilarious!

Please pray for Courtney though. She is bleeding abnormally and they are getting worried about it. Her uterus needs to start contracting more. It was just so fast that her body needs to catch up. They gave her some medicine to help her hemorrage naturally, but she needs some spiritually intervention!

Jon is still at home since Judah got here so quick. He is going to come up here when Lyric wakes up.

ANYWAYS!!!!

I have an amazingly beautiful baby nephew!! He is doing great and is in the nursery right now. I'm just so excited!

I want a baby now! :)

Click HERE for pictures and comments!

Quick Update on Judah/Courtney

Hey, I just wanted to write a short update about Judah and Courtney.

First off, Courtney is doing great now and the doctor/nurses are no longer concerned. They gave her some sort of medicine that stopped her up good :) We were pretty concerned for a bit, but we trusted that God would heal her and of course He is always faithful!

Judah is doing great. He is nursing like a champ... it's so strange that babies just know what to do!

He seems so calm and peaceful and he has one dimple! He has great skin and he's so soft and has that yummy baby smell! :)

I am back at work :(

But will be back up there soon! I left my camera so I'll upload new pictures today!

I am going to be doing meals for them starting on Friday night for a week.

Let me know if you want to help out and bring them a meal!

A very excited aunt,

Dee

Hopeful

I feel really hopeful right now. Jon and I had a long talk this morning at about 6am and I feel like there is a light at the end of the tunnel for where I am. I know it may not make sense right now, but I feel like I am hopeful again.

That said, I'm busy at work, but once again am up here at the front and I can't access my network drive, so I'm killing time.

Jon came up and took me out to lunch and when we were walking out the door, the owner of my company asked where we were going and said if we would bring him back something, that he would pay for our lunch. Uh, ya! So that is the 2nd time in a row where Jon took me out for lunch where we didn't have to pay! :) Maybe he should take me out every day and we would really save money! :)

Okay, well I'm kind of hyper right now and need to waste time, so off to flittering about the internet! :)

Somebody Pinch Me!

Is is really Monday?

IS IT REALLY MONDAY!

I'm not ready for it to be Monday! :(

This is going to be a really long week as on top of all my normal hours, I also have to work a job fair this SATURDAY from 8am-8pm. Then Sunday is Abby's shower. Not saying I'm not excited about it, but it's another thing that has to get done. Then, next Friday I leave for Kish's wedding and although it will be fun, weekend trips are always really tiring and we get back just in time for Landon/Holly's shower, the Superbowl party, and then off to work again the next morning.

Then a week or so later, Jon leaves for Belgium for 10 days.

I think I'm really going to need a vacation soon. I just want to crawl into a ball thinking about the next month!

BUT, I'm just being a baby. I'll survive of course.

I woke up this morning and was thinking, no, please, I want to go back to bed...

Happy thoughts, happy thoughts!

I do have one ray of sunshine! Hopefully my nephew will make his appearance this week??? I'm hoping so!

Well, that's about it.

I best be getting back to work. No more complaining.... ya right! :)

RSVP to Abby's Shower

HERE

Changes

So we've mixed up next weekend a bit.

We decided it would do no good for Jon to go a day early to see his sister because she has to work on Friday. So he is now going to go with me on Friday, but then I moved my ticket earlier so we would have no issue getting to the rehearsal/rehearsal dinner on time.

THEN, we decided to make sure that we wouldn't get stuck in the snow in Baltimore, to spend Friday night at a hotel in Harrisburg and then stay Saturday night with his sister. I will leave on Sunday at 5 and then Jon will stay a day later to spend time with his sis (she doesn't work Monday).

So then it's all good.

And, for some reason the fare was cheaper this way, and we actually saved $12. I love Southwest Airlines for the fact that you can make changes to your ticket and there is no charge, except if there is a fare change. Go SWA! :)

So I've been really busy all morning, I had two lunches to plan and execute. But now I'm covering the phones while the receptionist is at lunch and I can't access my network drive from up here, so I'm left to my own devices. So I'm thinking too much about everything that needs to get done, about $$ and bills, and personal crap... too much to think about.

BUT on a good note I had a good productive weekend:

Friday night we went out with Ryan and Tiff. We ate at this yummy italian restaurant at Highland Park Village and then went and saw 27 dresses at the little 4 screen movie theater in the square. They had a Paccugo's in the lobby, so I had some yummy Italian icecream to wash down my yummy chicken marsala. 27 dresses was ok. I thought it was cute, but definately not something to rave about.

Saturday was the freakout organization day. My house has been quite dirty, so it received a face lift. I also did 7 loads of laundry. Lyric is growing out of her 3-6 month clothes (finally since she is 9 1/2 months old), so I went to Courtney's house and got the 6-9 month clothes and then pulled out stuff that Christina gave me as well as people in Belgium and just had myself an organized clothes party. I put away all of her 3-6 month clothes, even the ones she could still fit into. Then I washed all the 6-9 month clothes and then put them up in the dresser and the closet. I also put up all the toys she is too big for and organized her changing table again. I washed and cleaned all the toys that Abby has let me borrow and got them all ready to go (along with baby girl clothes for her baby girl).

Then I went and ran errands with Courtney. Got groceries and formula and baby food and a few shirts and sweaters for Lyric.

Then came home and was too tired to cook, so we just ordered pizza.

Then Sunday I went to Church but left early to help my mom set up everything for the ANHOP meeting. Then we went to her house. Lyric took a super long nap while I chilled and started reading my new book Sight. Then we made a fire and my mom made cheesy potato soup and cornbread and my fam hung out by the fire and had fun together.

SO that was my fun weekend! It just went by soooooo fast!

Okay, that's it.

Cure for Baby Fever

Click HERE for the cure

Baby Fever??

I know it will pass quickly, but seriously!

A co-worker of mine just brought her 3 week old son up here and I held him and I was like, ahhh, I want another one!

He was so precious... I miss the baby stage. When they are so tiny, and soft, and they just sleep all the time... I even miss the tiny baby cry! awww!

Okay, don't worry, it will pass quickly, but I'm sure it will start back up again when my sister has CB.

I never really understood when people told me that it passes quickly. But it does. Lyric is so big now and is growing up so much! It makes me a little teary-eyed.

Okay, so I have some bad baby fever right now. Thank God I'm on birth control! :)

COLD!

Gosh it's cold outside!!!!

I almost got knocked over when I walked outside. I had left my coat in the car, so just that short walk almost did me in!

Then I needed to get gas really bad, but there was no way I was going to stop in the cold and get gas!

Today seems like it's going to be a better day.

BAD mood

Dear Lord have I been in a bad mood these last few days. Like a horrible, I want to scream at everyone bad mood.

I don't even really talk that much to my office-mate Brenda, that's how down and pissy I am.

I'm just frustrated about millions of things and the way nothing changes except for the worse and I'm sorry, but I'm so sick and tired of people telling me God is in control and to just get over it. I know that people, I'm just frustrated and tired of feeling these emotions I've felt for so long. I'm tired of the anger and the desire to be any place, but the place I am. I have no flexibility with my life and no hope of changing it. I guess that's my problem, no hope. No contentment.

I can hang on and hang on, praying that God will show himself, but after a year of no showing, I start to really waver.

(the rest as been edited and moved to a place a few of you know of)

I at least have a great support system around me. I don't know how people go through the things we've gone through without one. They've kept me grounded and not on a psychotic break.

Okay, who knows why I went there, but I did (sort of).

There was a prophetic conference at SG with Wayne Drain, Bill Leckie and Kerry Kirkwood. It was good. I was hoping for a few more directional words for those I loved, but oh well. Pile it on the pile of hoped for things gone to the wayside.

It's been really hard to leave in the mornings for work. I just want to lay in bed with Lyric all morning. This morning, Jon sent me an email that said, "Have a good day at work Mommy" and this picture. I cried.


Oh and on the school front. Well after calling and calling, I finally found out why my grant was just pending on my account and not applied. It was because I have to take at least 6 hours to qualify for my grant. Well my schedule is ridiculous and there is no way that I can take another full class. Also, the only other classes I need to take are math classes, which I definitely don't want to take while taking another class, b/c I need all my concentration just to pass it (since I haven't been in a math class since I was 16). So if I don't get my grant, then that means I'll have to pay for the class out of pocket. One class at UTA is close to a $1000 and I just don't want to put it on a credit card, when I know I can qualify for grants. I tried to get a loan, but there are minimum hour requirements for loans to.

Since i already took the last semester off, if I took this one off too, then it would mean I would be dis-enrolled from the University and have to reapply and all of that jazz. Well that would be a big problem b/c if I reapplied, there are new standards now that would tack on about 12 hours to my basics requirements that I was exempt from. So that puts me at 21 hours away from graduating instead of 9. Ya, not going to happen.

So the only thing I could do, was keep my yoga class, which is one credit hour and I'll just pay that. But at least it will keep me enrolled. I don't know how this will fix itself in the future. But it will have to. I'll try to get my grant transferred over to Northlake, where I can take my two math classes online. But obviously, it's too late in the game to do that this semester, so I'll have to do it this summer.

So that's another reason why I'm frustrated. I'm so close to being done. But due to the fact that I am married, have a growing baby girl and work 45 hours a week (though I only get paid for 40), it makes my desire to graduate a far off fantasy. Once again, add it to the pile.

See how horrible I'm being? I have the worst attitude.

I'm shutting up now.

Bye.


UPDATE:

It’s nice to have love

I was having such a bad day today that I considered taking the rest of it off as a personal day just because I kept tearing up while i was doing my work.

Well Jon said he would come and take me out for lunch.

I think that was just what I needed to get through the rest of the day. We ate at Bennigans and they have that 15 minute lunch thing. Well they were late, so we got our whole meal for free, which was super cool. Then I've been so freakin' cold at work and so we went by Walmart and I got a space heater for under my desk and well, it's just been better. I ate a yummy chicken salad and I'm not cold.

Jon and I talked a lot and I think we semi-planned an extended weekend for just the two of us in March. I really hope it works out, because I will really need it by March (especially since I'll be keeping the baby by myself from February 19-29).

So all that to say it is so nice to have someone to love and that loves you in return. It makes the world a better place. He really gets me and tries to make my life easy. I'm a lucky woman.

Presidential Candidates?

You may not have even started thinking about who you will vote for. Obviously, I have been thinking about it for awhile, but that's just me.

You most likely have been thinking about who you WON'T vote for. I definately have been thinking about that too.

Obviously, the two Democratic front runners are the ones we all talk about. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

The one making the most waves is Barack
I personally believe he is muslim and I would never vote for him. I have always felt there was something fishy about him.
I'm not too worried, even if he gets the nomination. We are forgetting one very important thing here. According to a 2007 Gallup pole, Over 82% of Americans still consider themselves Christian. They are never going to vote for a perceived muslim and they are never going to vote for a perceived left wing lesbian (whether or not these are true, they are public perceptions).
It's not going to happen. That's my opinion, and believe it or not, I have been known to be wrong (though not very often! :) ) so take it at face value.
I don't think we should dismiss his background. People's backgrounds make them who they are. They don't determine it, but they do influence it. That's a scary background, and I don't want my President to have grown up in that environment. I also think it would make him very anti-Israel (even though he says he isn't). People are just making a big deal b/c he's black, which I think is wrong.

That said, there are some fantastic candidates you need to look at.

First, Ron Paul. But as much as we love him, he's not going to get the nomination. He's just too Libertarian.

Second is Mike Huckabee, who is my personal choice. You can read about his issues HERE

McCain is not my favorite, and I'm a little afraid that he would be a weaker candidate against Barack or Clinton, but we'll see.

Anyways, I encourage you guys to start paying attention. Most of the other candidates will start dropping out of the race in the next month as the front runners start coming out and we see who's actually going to get the nomination.

Just remember

VOTE HUCKABEE!

Maddy's Birthday

Click HERE fo pictures!

Today?

Well Courtney is still pregnant to even her doctor's amazement!

She and Nathan were prophesied over this morning at ANHOP and a women came up to her and said she felt Courtney was released now to have the baby. I am standing on that word! :) I want that little boy to come out now! Yes, I know we still have 2 weeks left, but come on!

On another note, I must give my condolences to the Cowboys for sucking it up yesterday afternoon and losing. Everyone at my parents watching the game was very depressed, but I know they will get over it. So better luck next year.

I'll let you know if Courtney pops!

SO tired!

Well Lyric is still sick and decided to be up from 1am-4am last night...

I'm so dead on my feet today it's not even funny.

Last night we went to Piranahs and due to 2 baby roaches that were by our table, had our entire $100+ meal comped. It was worth the baby roaches! :) Well sort of. They didn't touch our food, so that was good. And boy was the food OH so good! We had 8 rolls between 4 people and it was Tim's first time to ever eat sushi. He really liked it.

But now Tim is gone. He flew off on a jet plane this morning. Which leaves my house all to myself again. I will miss the hustle and bustle of it all and Jon will be missing his Timmy, but he sees him next month when he goes to Belgium, so it wasn't that sad of a parting.

Jon is currently at Lyric's pediatrician as she is sick and we want to just nip it in the bud now.

Courtney was back in the hospital today as her doctor called her this morning and ordered another stress test for the baby. The last one wasn't great, but this one is totally fine. She's just waiting to pop! She just got released and is back home.

I'm tired... have I mentioned that yet?

I've had to do a lot of work today and write some press releases. HPA's standard press releases are different then the ones I was trained to write. I kind of merged both our styles and have yet to hear how the boss feels about it.

We aren't having Shabbat tonight as there is some sort of volunteer banquet or something like that. All I know is I wasn't invited so I'm not going. I plan on spending the evening in my pj's and doing NOTHING!

Okay, well I'm super sleepy and need to get back to work. And I need to pee.

I'm out.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Breaks my Heart

Lyric has a little cough and a stuffy nose.

It breaks my heart to have to leave her...

She woke up this morning and I laid in bed with her as long as I could before I had to jump in the shower and run off to work. She just cuddled with me and kept giving me her passy, which she thinks is so funny.

But then when I finally got up, got ready and headed out the door, she started crying so hard. She just wants her mommy and it breaks my heart to have to leave her.

I hope she gets better soon. Because Maddy and Korbin both have had RSV when they were little, I'm like super paranoid about it. I hate when she has a cough. It sounds so awful. But she isn't wheezing and has no fever, so that's good. Just a paranoid momma, that's me.

Today?

Will Court have her baby today? Who knows. I keep thinking that Thursday would be a great day to have a baby, well actually no. She needs to go into labor in the middle of the night tonight and then I dont' have to go to work tomorrow! :)

She went to the doc today and is 3cm. Woohoo!

She just needs to go on and have the kid! It's time! :) She keeps progressing right along. I can't wait to hold my little Copernicus Bob!

He's going to be a beaut.

Israel Reunion

Last night we had an Israel reunion (minus Jenae and Bekah) that Jon went on this summer.

It was a lot of fun and was good to catch up with everyone. Although I didn't actually go on the trip, I still sort of feel like I did for some reason! :)

HERE are the pictures.

New Years Eve Fun!

Click HERE to see pics and videos from New Years Eve 2008.

My how those nights change after children :)

Happy Birthday Madysen!

just wanted to send a big fat HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my beautiful niece Madysen Paige on her fourth birthday today!

I have never seen a kid so excited about her birthday!

Maddy is a beautiful little girl who loves to play with her baby dolls and put on makeup, basically anything that is girly, she loves it!

She has such a black and white way of looking at things, which I think is so funny and hates when she is left out.

She LOVES when all the attention is on her! :)

She was born the day before I left for Cyprus. My sister got induced because she wanted me to be there at the birth. It was the saddest thing I have ever done, was to say goodbye to my niece who was only just a few hours old and know that the next time I would see her would be 6 months later. I missed out on a lot those first few months, but I like to think that I definately made it up these last 3 1/2 years.

I love my maddy girl so much and am so happy she was born!

Click HERE for pictures!

Random

Click HERE for random videos and pictures from the last week or so.

Travel in February

Well, we have plane tickets bought for our upcoming trip.

Today I bought mine and Jon's plane tickets to go to Kish's wedding! Fun, fun! Even more fun is the part that I just now got my reimbursement check from Delta from my baggage fiasco in Brussels, so that paid for one plane ticket. Nice. We'll be visiting Jon's sister in the same trip. The not so fun part will be Jon's leaving a day earlier than I am. So I get to take the baby on the plane without anyone to help. It shouldn't be that bad, but an experience nonetheless. Now we just have to make sure little CB is born soon, so I get extra time with him before I have to be gone a whole weekend. If he is not born by February 1st (when I leave), I'm not going. But there is like no way Court will last another 3 weeks… hopefully not at least!

Then we bought Jon's plane ticket to Brussels this past weekend. I'm so sad I won't be going. I really hate when he travels without me! Oh and the fact that I have to get up in the morning extra early to get Lyric up and take her to Christina's extra early (oh ya, I need to talk to you about that Christina, but it's not till 2/19-29). I'm not used to doing that, so that will be an extra adjustment, on top of the fact that I will be missing my husband dreadfully! This will be the 2nd trip he's taken without Lyric and I and I definitely am not appreciating it! But what can you do? Nothing. I need to send out a support letter for both him and Nathan to help with some of the expenses for this trip. We were able to find great prices on the plane tickets, but neither of us have the extra $500 bucks plus travel expenses for this trip, so we are needing the Lord to provide. Also for my brother Landon because he is going also and will be going to France to minister at some churches in addition to leading worship for the conference… I'm really excited for them, but again, I am feeling left out. But I guess someone has to stay here and take care of Courtney and CB and all the baby girls!

I have been SO lightheaded today. Like I'm talking or typing and all of a sudden I feel so dizzy that I want to pass out. Strange. It passes really quickly though.

I'm still in a funk today.

Went by all too quickly.

I'm in this strange mood today.

I don't really know how to describe it without sounding negative.

So I'm not going to. At least not on here.

Okay, I'm almost done with work. I've been busy today so that has helped with the passage of time.

PS. Court is doing great. Still having contractions (though not as consistent), still feeling a lot of pressure. When CB comes, he's coming fast!

I Don't Know What to Do

Ok, I've been putting off taking Jedi to the vet, one because Jon freaks out when I spend money on animals and 2, I just didn't want to hear what they had to say about his leg.
We knew he had arthritis, but in the last 6 months it has gotten worse.

I took him in and He has a luxating patella on both of his hind legs. The doc looked at him and there is a scale on how bad the legs are.
One they stay in socket, but you can manually push it out easy.
Two, it stays in socket, but comes out on its own
Three, stays out of socket mostly, but will go back in sometimes
Four, stays out all the time

One of his back legs is a 4 and the other is a 3.

He said he is too far gone for surgery and realistically too far gone for even the glucose medicine. He said basically just make him comfortable. I asked if he suggested putting him down, but he said no.

Here's where my problem lies. My dog is in pain. And basically he was just telling me to give him some baby asprin if he seems to be having an unusually bad day...

I just don't know what kind of quality of life that is... don't get me wrong I DO NOT WANT TO PUT MY DOG TO SLEEP. But I also don't want him in pain all the time.

Right now he walks around on 3 legs, so what happens when his other back leg gets to a 4?

I don't know. I'm confused and a little emotional about it.

Advice from anyone??

You can read about his problem HERE

Court's in the Hospital!

ok seriously...


Well my sister is in the hospital right now. Before you freak out and look out the window for the stork, let me explain.

So like I said in my earlier post, my sister had this dream about the baby being born on the 3rd. What I didn't mention was that in the dream, she goes in to the doctor and finds out the heartbeat is low. The doctor then sends her over to the hospital to get monitored and they end up having an emergency c-section because the cord is wrapped around the baby's neck. So that was the dream. Obviously you can see why we ignored the end and just focused on the date of the 3rd.

Well today, I just felt like I should go to the doctor with her. No one else was going with her and I knew she was having some contractions, so I said I would take a long lunch and go with her. I've never gone to a doctor's appointment with her this entire pregnancy. So I go and the doctor gets out the heart monitor thing and keeps it on her for awhile. She then tells Court that the baby's heart rate is dipping and that she wants Court to go over to triage to get monitored.

UH YA! Crazy! We didn't want that part of the dream to come true!

So she goes in and gets monitored. After about 20 minutes the nurse said the heart rate isn't the best, but it isn't horrible and still is considered normal. But that the baby isn't being very reactive (whatever that means), so she is going to keep monitoring her till she (the nurse) feels comfortable. By this time, (it's about 3:30 now), my mom and Nathan are up there. So I have to leave to go back to work.

So that's where we are. Courtney is still being monitored, but I'm sure everything will be fine and they will release her.

She is having pretty consistent contractions and is now dilated to a 2, but overall, she is fine.

If they are still in the hospital when I get off work, I'll go back up there.

I'll keep everyone updated. But please pray for Copernicus Bob (that's what I call him) and Courtney. She still has 3 ½ weeks left till her due date, so it's still pretty early to have him.

Please pray that the entire dream doesn't come true, and that we have a healthy, wonderful little boy at the right time and not a minute earlier than God has for him.

Thanks!



Update

Court is getting a sonogram right now... I'll tell you what is up in a minute.


update 2

Well they don't see that the cord is wrapped around his neck so at least we know that!

Still watching my cutie little nephew!


Update 3

Ok, the sonogram is ok.

The doctor said that the baby looks great. She is going to release her right now. However, she just checked her again and in the past 2 hours, she has progressed more. So the doctor thinks she may be back tonight or tomorrow. Courtney wants to go home though. So she is. Courtney is still contracting right along at a very consistent pace.

Maybe we still will have a baby tonight.

I'll keep you updated!



Update 4


I haven't talked to Court since last night. I went over and ate there, but she was just having a lot of contractions and a killer headache and was finally able to fall asleep.

The big thing last night was that the baby's head hasn't engaged yet, you know started going down in the birth canal, so that obviously is a big indication.

Like a nurse said last night, baby's make liars out of us all. It's hard to predict what your body is doing and will do, it's different with every pregnancy. Courtney has had 3 different births, so she knows what real contractions are and what are normal braxton hicks. The nurse also said that Courtney had the most consistent labor pattern than any of the women in labor and delivery and she wasn't the one in active labor :)

I guess every contraction gets you just a little bit closer. We are fine with it not happening right now as we all would be more comfortable with CB being a little closer to his due date.

Thanks for all your prayers! I'll post another update when I hear from Court a little later this morning!


Update 5


Well she's still having contractions. She went to the mall to walk around and just get out of the house. She continued to have them all day...

who knows.

I mean, she's had 3 babies already so she knows what contractions are... but each pregnancy is different. CB will probably stay in there for the next 3 weeks just to prove us wrong! :)

Anyways, all these contractions are making me antsy...

On another note!

I'M OFF WORK FOR THE WEEKEND (well in about 20 minutes).

Jon and Tim came up here and were able to fly the 737 simulator at my office. They had a lot of fun. They brought Lyric, so I got to play with my daughter in the middle of the day! Fun times! It actually made the day pass a lot quicker, so I was grateful for that.

Man I'm starting to get some nasty cramps. I need some tylenol.

So I hope everyone has a great weekend. I'm hoping to post some pictures to liven up my blog. I didn't have my camera yesterday or we would have had some candid shots at the hospital. Oh well! :)

Love to all!

I Got It!!!

So I've been wanting a Nintendo DS for awhile. They have been sold out everywhere b/c of the holidays... however, yesterday, the Best Buy in NRH got a shipment in and so I got one!!!



I playd for like 3 hours last night. Right now I only have the Star Wars Lego Original Trilogy game. But it is so much fun! I played so much that my hands went to sleep and my thumb got a cramp! I need to get the brain games because those are a blast too. Oh and let's not forget Super Mario Brothers!! It definately was not a "needed" purchase, but it will be a lot of fun. I didn't even have to talk Jon into it. He just agreed! Now I'm going to be obsessed with it.

I'm really excited!

I'm so bored at work today because the receptionist called in sick and I have to cover the phones and I can't really do any of my work up here. For one I don't have photoshop up on this computer and second, I can't concentrate because I'm constantly interrupted. I did finish an educational packet for our staff though ofr our new dispatch program, but I can't go get it from the printer upstairs till my lunch cuz there is no one to cover the phones.. so yes I'm doing some work. Just not all the work that needs to be done...

Chris and the boys left yesterday. It was good to have them in. But Tim is still here until the 11th, so if anyone wants to hang out (like the team that went to Israel this past summer), give me or Jon a call!

On New Years Eve we went over to Courtneys and made homeade fajitas with queso, homeade hot sauce, guac and all the fixin's. We had a great time! The kids needed to go to bed, but were really wanting to blow the horns and wear the hats and everything, so we did a countdown like at 10 :) It was cute! I have a video of it I'll post later. The boys plaed darts and poker and the girls just talked and dealt with kiddos. Then we counted down with New York and Jon and I left because we were so tired! I was in bed before the New Year was officially here. Oh to be young and single again... actually no. I enjoyed going to bed early! :) Those few rum and DC's made me have a great night sleep!

I'll post pics and videos later.

2008 Year In Review

Click HERE for my 2008 Year in Review

New Years Resolutions!

So we're here. It's 2008 now...

At the beginning of every year, I always feel the same thing. I am hoping that this year will bring amazing good change, financial security, an achievement of dreams.. but most of the time, it doesn't.

I'm still wishing for the same though. My 2007 sucked. I mean it had major good things obviously with the birth of Lyric, travel, etc. But boy was it crazy... you couldn't pay me a million dollars to endure again some of the stuff my family and I went through together, but I have to trust the Lord that it's for a purpose, though we still don't know what that purpose is. It's been a re-shifting to say the least. An exposure of true motivations. We've learned who friends are and I think that's a really important lesson to learn.

I've never been one to hold grudges. It's never been worth it. But for 2008, one of my resolutions is to let go of my anger. Not because it's justified, but because being a bitter woman isn't something I want to be.

I also want to lose that last 9 pounds and get my stomach flat again. I'm starting yoga twice a week on January 15th, so I'm hoping that takes care of that.

I want to work less hours a week. Right now I'm away from home 45-50 hours a week for work. I want to somehow change that, although I have NO freaking idea how...

I want to get on a budget in 2008 and stick with it so we can build back up our savings.

I want to finally graduate from College! I'm so stinkin' close!!!

I want to write a novel.

I want a new laptop to replace the one that was stolen in 2007.

Overall, I want change and direction. PLEASE GOD!

So those are my resolutions. What are yours??