A little better

Last night was a little better than the night before. Lyric did wake up again, but thankfully it was still while we were all up. It took her forever to go back to sleep, but did eventually before midnight.
I swear, Jonathan really is the best dad ever. He is so patient with her and understanding, yet still very strict. When I go in there, since she is a momma's girl, it just wakes her up more and it's even harder for her to go back to sleep because all she thinks about is wanting me to hold her.
So that means it falls to Jon to do a lot of the after hours parenting. Which he does and rarely complains about it.
I'm SO blessed!

We've had a fun time with Jon's mom so far. Jon took the day off yesterday and only had a few appointments this morning and so now he is back with her again. On his way to work he dropped her off at Abby's house. Abby did her hair and then they went to Sam Moons to go shopping. Abby and Brad visited Belgium with us last fall so they love my Vandeput family (as well as my Benjamin family which they are adopted into).
I just talked to Abby and she is trying to convince my mother-in-law to get her ears or nose pierced :) I think she should get her nose pierced! That would be so cool! :)

I never posted the before and after's of the office/guest room. It looks really nice now!
Before:


After:

What you can't really see on the walls is that Jon put up 2 shelves and also a bunch of photos in black frames that he's taken all over the world. It looks pretty nifty!

And then Wednesday, Courtney and I decided to do add the black curtains underneath Lyric's curtains in her room. Then we tied the red sash to make it all go in. It's pretty cool how everything in her room is intertwined. (That's thanks to Kristina H. not me!)


Well I wish I was at Sam Moons with Abby and my MIL. Jon is meeting up with them there too with Lyric. I'm so jealous! :(
Oh well. One of these days I won't have to work full time and will have a flexible schedule and be a full time writer! (Hey I can dream right?!)

Also, we've decided for sure on a girls name and it's super cute-super unusual-and super long (3 names again). I'm not revealing it until we know for sure it's a girl :) If we're having a boy, he will probably never have a name. Jon and I have never been able to agree on a boy's name as he thinks all of my boy names are too crazy. We'll just say, "He blank, get over here." and strangers will think we are self censoring ourselves for their sake and go back and gossip saying that we must call our son horrible names when no one is around....

Here are the boy names I like the most:
Shiloh
Blaze
Indigo

He basically hates them all, especially Indigo which is my favorite! Oh well! :)

However, looking for baby names is like one of my favorite things to do! I'll find one we both like, don't you worry! :) I have PLENTY of time to find the perfect name if it's a boy, but we all know it's a girl! :)

Well back to the grind.

My daughter lost her mind

Lyric is a good sleeper always has been.

Every now and then we have issues trying to get her to GO to sleep, but once she's down she's down. Obviously when she's sick, we have some issues, but never as bad as last night...

It started around 1am. Yes I was still up. I was on the last chapters of my book and really into it. The house was completely silent, and all of a sudden I hear a sharp cry that almost scared the pee out of me. I wait a minute and she keeps fussing, so I go in there and give her back her passy, which she couldn't find and at that moment, she rolls over on her back and we made eye contact and I thought to myself... she doesn't look very sleepy.

She lays there a minute more, but then starts crying again.

Here starts the fun for the next 4 hours.

We got her up, we rocked her to sleep, she got in trouble for refusing to sleep, we gave her tylenol thinking maybe she's teething, we did everything possible short of knocking her upside the head to get her to pass out. Nothing worked.

I feel for Jon because he stayed up with her the most, letting me go to sleep (sweet guy), but he finally crawled back in bed around 5am. But at 8am, who do you think wakes up again? Yes, the princess!

She got in bed with daddy and fell back asleep though, so that was nice.

So ya. I have NO idea what was up with her last night.

In other news, my Mother-in-Law got in safe and sound last night. It is so good to see her, although I forget how much French commences when someone of Jon's family comes to visit. Oh well, I'll just hopefully practice more!

I'm tired and can't wake up, but peanut butter crackers are yummy.

Magic Trick

Ok, Ashlyn out of no where surprised us with her amazing magic trick of making Maddy disappear. We laughed so hard, I made her do it for the whole family a few days later.
Enjoy:

Mother-in-law's visit

The day has arrived, and arrive she will, tonight!
I'm so excited to see her and show her how much her grand daughter has grown. She hasn't seen Lyric since she was 5 months old. Obviously being almost 14 months old now, a LOT has changed. For those of you who don't know, my husband is Belgian and most of his family lives in Belgium still. We visited in August/September and had a blast, but this is how little Lyric was the last time we saw her:

And now she is SO much bigger and doesn't like anyone but mommy and daddy and occasionally her aunts (CoCo-Abby-Tiff). I really hope Lyric is nice to her!

My MIL hasn't been here since Jon and I got married (8/2005), so she hasn't seen our house or anything like that. I'm so excited to show her how we live.

I also didn't get everything on my list done that needed to get done, but when does it ever? I was just hoping that her visit would push us into the next phase of bathroom re-design, however, it doesn't appear to have.

My bathrooms are original 1958 tile (master is canary yellow and guest is coral/pink). The floors are SO old and I just wanted to get it done and looking awesome... my brother is a contractor and showed us a super cheap do-it-yourself way to get the guest bathroom looking super modern for less than a few hundred dollars... but oh well. Didn't happen. The master bathroom is going to take a LOT of work, so I'm not stressing about getting that one fixed up soon.
These are from when we first moved in, while the house was still vacant, but you can see how old looking the bathrooms are:



I also wanted to get the front yard fixed up. Pull all the weeds and trim the bushes and plant flowers in the flower bed... once again, DIDN'T happen. But maybe we can still get it done while my MIL is here, she does have quite the green thumb.

So yes! She should get here later tonight and Jon is taking most of the day tomorrow off and all day Friday off. She's here for 10 days, and we are excited.

On other parent news, my parents are FINALLY getting home from their month long trip around Israel/Cyprus/Greek Island cruise on Friday! Man we have missed them so much and I am so tired of them being gone. Our family feels disjointed without them here! Only 2 more days!!

And also on Friday- Moi, Courtney, Mabrie, Abby, Christina (and more) are going to be going to see the new SATC movie! Yippee! We've already gotten our tickets and I'm SO pumped! Too bad Tiff is going to be in CA, whatever Tiff! It's going to be a great night, and once we get done with the movie, we are going to rush back and go pick up my parents (they get in late at 10:30pm) Yipee! Have I expressed how excited I am that my parents are coming home??!!

So this is a full week for us. I have a few more things that I need to do in my newly appointed guest room that I will get done and then we should be good to go... oh crap. I forgot something else. Maybe I can get it done... DANG IT!

I might throw up

First off


My post Pregnant and Uninsured made it to the Good Mom/Bad Mom posts to read (aka Sunday BS)

Yeah!

Also, I have been SO nauseous. Like not as bad as I was with Lyric since I'm not puking my guts up every hour. But just enough to keep me in a slightly miserable state. I read back through my pregnancy book with Lyric, and I was puking by 6 weeks, so hopefully, I can just keep this nausea at bay and it won't get awful. Please God... those were some of the worst weeks of my life. I don't want to experience it again. But of course I will for this little one... however, the good thing is, every time I feel nauseous, I can eat something and then feel better. The only scary thing about that, is I could end up getting really fat, really quick. But I'm just eating little snacks, that aren't that bad for me... so hopefully it won't get awful... and when I say awful I mean fat and when I mean fat I mean this.

My house is spotless. Like completely spotless. Thanks to Jenae- not to me. However, I did do all the organizing and getting crap put away, so I still get credit. But it is so nice to have a spotless house.
Yesterday Jonathan and I went and ran some errands, which actually resulted in getting nothing done that needed to get done. But we did do a lot of window shopping and Lyric played at the Disney Store:


Yesterday afternoon we went over to my parents and swam in the murky waters of what could have once been called a swimming pool, but since my parents departure a month ago, has turned into a lake. Then we ate barbecue and just had a fun time watching The Bachelorette.

I got home late, but both Lyric and I needed a bath, so we just took one together and then we both passed out from exhaustion.
This 1st trimester tiredness is KICKING my butt!

But oh the joys I still have in store!

A Journey with Song

My life can be marked by Alanis Morissette albums.

That's a true statement.

Everyone has those events that are brought back to memory by songs. Whether it be a bad break-up, or a silly night with the girls, or an awesome make-out session with your highschool boyfriend. There are songs that immediately bring you back to that moment of breaking.

Jagged Little Pill was one of my adolescence, right at the cusp of learning what it meant to be a teenager. It was a graduation ceremony out of middleschool in a CD case.
I remember sitting in Mabrie's mom's old Altima rewinding "Ironic" over and over again as we wrote down the lyrics so we could memorize them. Abby and I dubbed "Not the Doctor" as our love song to eachother... oh the joy of 14 year olds.

With Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie, I was learning about love and heartache and trying to figure out who I was.
I remember driving down the highway right after Mabrie got her first car, with the windows rolled down screaming the words to "So Pure". (that was of course right before she wrecked it)
Then crying with my first heartbreak and contemplating what was next for me with "That I Would be Good."

When Under Rug Swept came out it marked the ending of an era for me. I was done with highschool, done with my boyfriend, on to bigger and better things, or so I was determined. My best friend Abby and I made amends at her concert and have since always laughed when we hear, "Hands Clean" for completely inappropriate reasons.
I can hear the song "That Particular Time" and literally almost start crying as I can remember so strongly the emotions of breaking up with a boyfriend I had for almost 4 years.

When she came out of with her Jagged Little Pill acoustic, it was crazy how much time had passed and how much life had changed. Me and my besties all went to the concert and had great seats and screamed out her name in inopportune times. She even laughed, said thanks and pointed at us. :) The re-listening of those songs brought all new, distinct meaning. I had gone away and lived in another country, grown up, found God, found my husband and now was happily married to the man of my dreams. But the songs still were so great. I think I smiled the ENTIRE concert.

Her new album Flavors of Entanglement is coming out (and has actually already leaked on You Tube). I've listened to some of the songs and it appears that it once again is going to be one of "those" albums that I love and remember forever as it tells the story of my life at that particular moment. Specifically "Incomplete" which is pretty right on with things that I'm feeling right now. Here's the song:


I know that for me it's Alanis Morissette and Sarah McLachlan. I'm sure for you it might be a different artist, or maybe it's a book (which I have those too), or maybe something totally crazy. Feel free to share as I would love to know what "always brings you back".

I know that one day, when Alanis does a farewell tour in 20 years, my kids are going to think I'm so lame, but I'm going to go, and all my besties are going to meet up and we will sing all the lyrics to the songs and laugh and cry about how old and fat we've gotten, and all the memories we've shared over the years.

So here's to the songs that trigger memories... and here's to making more!

Day of Rest??

Ya, no.

However it was pretty very productive!

I woke up late, due to the fact that my daughter got freaked out during her afternoon nap when she saw a FREAKING ROACH on her baby monitor! Don't judge me because we NEVER have roaches in our house... but sure enough, there was one and it traumatized my daughter. So any time I tried to put her in her bed last night she screamed bloody murder, like the kind where you could tell she was really scared. All that to say she stayed up really late till she basically passed out and so ended up sleeping till after 10.

Then Tiff offered to take her off my hands and take her to church with her so I could get some work done around the house without a 1 year old to look after and of course I took her up on it!

I cleaned out Jon and I's closet and got rid of clothes and shoes galore. Then I cleaned out Lyric's room and put up all her toys that she's grown out of. I found a huge Christmas tree disposal bag that we never used and put a bunch of the big items in there so we can put them in the garage without them getting dusty and nasty... since now I'll be needing them again before I know it! :)

Then we went to eat at Mariano's with everyone and then Tiff and I went back to mom's house and swam with Lyric, Maddy and Ash.

My daredevil daughter of course did not want to be held in the water, she wanted to swim by herself. I was holding her and at one point she lept out of my arms and I only had her bottom half and the top half was under the water. That kid! It kind of freaked her out, but she of course got over it. I have one of those floatie things and she sat in it very content and just floated around and splashed.

Then back to my house to put my exhausted daughter down for her first nap of the day (at 4pm). I started more laundry and then read a little as I was tired.

Then back to cleaning and organizing. I cleaned out the pantry and over the washer/dryer. Jon cleaned out the guest bedroom. I finished the 10th load of laundry and together Jon and I folded and put away the laundry. Now you may read that and not stop and gasp in disbelief because you may not realize that my husband never helps with the laundry. But I guess he saw the GIANT mound and felt sorry for me. It was a HUGE help. He just picked through everything and folded and hung up his stuff and then I just dealt with the rest, But that was a huge help! Thanks honey!

Now I just have to finish up with my bedroom and Jon is cleaning up from dinner (he also cooked tonight- he's on a roll) and then I can go to bed.

But you see the most AMAZING thing is that I don't have to work tomorrow! Yippee!!!
Jenae is coming to clean first thing in the morning and we are all vacating and running errands to get out of her way. So after tomorrow, my house will be officially ready for my mother-in-law's visit! I'm quite excited!

Ok, well I still need to get some work done. I hope everyone has a FANTASTIC day tomorrow! I know we will!

Much love!

Ashlyn's dance recital!

My niece Ashlyn had her dance recital on Friday and Saturday night and she did absolutely FANTASTIC!

I was such a proud, proud aunt!

She did 5 dances, but I'm just putting one of them on here for your viewing pleasure. It was her tap dance routine to the Shirley Temple, 'Baby Take a Bow'. She's on the end with the curly hair.



Here are Lyric, Kadyn and Madysen and some of the Watkins cousins. There are 20 grandkids total in the Watkins family, so there are a bunch of them!


Ashlyn dancing to "Going to the Chapel"


Madysen and her cousins Kate and Elizabeth (Jim and Maebeth's kids)


Ashlyn the STAR!


She got a lot of roses, because she said her middle name is Rose so she needs roses.


Afterwards we went to Braums for icecream. All of the girl cousins squeezed into one booth to eat their ice cream


Jodie and Judah-Buddah


Brian, Aaron and Nathan


So anyways, as you can see I am very proud of my niece. She got a medal for some reason or another and is wearing it everywhere. But she says most of all she's glad ballet is over and she gets a break! :)
Maddy starts up this fall, so it will be double fun next year! :)

My Hot Date

So Jon took me out on a hot date last night :)

I've been dying to eat some Chicken Mediera from Cheesecake Factory and also have been really excited about seeing the new Indiana Jones movie, so Jon called my sister and she agreed to keep Lyric for us and we went out!

Jon and I decided to Twitter/BU2 our date last night which was funny. Here are the pictures from his BU2.

Me at dinner:

Jon with our ceasar salad


Me with our YUMMY main course!


I really enjoyed the movie. It has a twist that is SO Speilberg/Lucas'esq that most people are not going to like it. But I really like that genre so it was fun for me to watch. I really enjoyed the movie. I'm glad that it was kind of cheesy because it HAD to be. I mean Indy is like 90 years old! But I thought Shai LeBeof was awesome. He has to be my favorite young actor right now. He did a great job!

But the saddest part of the night was... we didn't have cheesecake. I know! I know! It was because we planned on getting cheesecake AFTER the movie, but then when the movie got out I was SO tired and we just went home.

So the night was awesome! I had such a good time hanging out with my husband and I think we really need to start going out by ourselves more. It's just fun!

The only bad thing is when we go out on a weekday, after I've been at work all day... I REALLY miss Lyric and feel kind of guilty for leaving her. But you know what, my marriage has to be a priority too.

Tonight is my niece Ashlyn's ballet recital! It should be soooo cute and I'll take videos and pics (just for you Mom!).

Pregnancy Forget-Me-Nots Part 2

Constipation which you can do basically nothing about except pray to God that your bowels get a jump start. Why? Why does just the slight presence of a baby immediately put the stopper in? I really have no idea, but it is SO not fun. You can't take laxatives. You are able to take stool softeners, but they don't start working till they are in your body for about a week, and by the time you need stool softeners, a week is WAY too long. So I'll just try to fix this the old fashion way. Lots of hot sauce and water. But you know what's not cool about this whole thing, is your swollen belly.
Stranger: "Oh are you pregnant mam?"
Me: "why yes I am actually."
Stranger: "How far along are you?" (places hand on belly.)
Me: "Oh I'm only 5 weeks, that's not a baby your rubbing, that's compacted poop."

Pee'ing during movies. Pee'ing is the first sign that I am pregnant, way before I'm supposed to know I'm pregnant. I start waking up in the middle of the night to pee. Yes, my child is the size of a sesame seed, but just the fact that there is that extra presence pressing down on your bladder really makes you pee. Well I remembered the pee'ing once a night thing, and was prepared for it. But what I had forgotten about till I was watching Indiana Jones last night was that when you have a few refills of drink at dinner and then you get a medium diet coke to bring into the theater with you, you will indeed have to pee right before the movie starts, pee twice during the movie (during exciting action sequences) and then rushing down the stairs to pee right after the movie ends. It's so not cool.

Crazy Dreams. they have already started. I dream a lot when I'm not pregnant, so you can imagine how crazy my dreams get when I am pregnant. However, there is a bad side to this that I didn't remember which is since my dreams are so active and realistic, when I wake up in the morning, I feel like I haven't slept a wink. I'm very unrested and Jon says that I start talking and toss and turning a lot more. SO didn't remember how unrestful it is to have crazy pregnant dreams. I find myself going to sleep praying that I don't dream so I can get a good night's sleep.

Ok, that's all for now.

American Idol Finale!

I wish you would all just trust me when I said that David Cook was the next American Idol. I said it, time and time again.

He was just plain better than the top 5... now was he better than Michael Johns and Carly Smithson? Well I'm not sure, as they were my original faves. But regardless, I loved David always!

However, if I am to be completely honest, I really thought old David Archuleta was going to pull it out. Not because he is better, but because I thought he would get the votes. But I think what happened is everyone thought that David A. had this in the bag, so they voted even more for David C. Even the ever swaying Simon didn't predict this one.

I know this is mean, but seriously, doesn't David Archuleta remind you of Beaky Buzzard. Especially when he is trying to brush off compliments:


(props to Brenda S. for pointing this out to me)

We had our annual Idol Watch party at Ann Hunter's house last night. It was so much fun as usual. Every year we have a quiz and of course everyone goes home with a prize, but this year (because Brad didn't come), I won! My prize was this really cute candle arrangement. Abby came in 2nd, Court in 3rd and Mimi Ribble was last. Mainly due to the fact that she couldn't remember any names and listed contestants like: Big fat black guy; little asian girl; good looking guy; guy who has a christmas album and is secretly gay; male stripper. You only get 1/2 points for descriptions :)

We were all rooting for David C. except my four year old niece Maddy who really wanted the "wittle duy to win". When my sister went and picked up my 5 year old niece who was at her ballet recital rehearsal, Maddy filled her in on what she missed on the way home. After explaining the evening she said, "But I was willy sad dat da wittle duy wost." How cute is that?!

So the bottom line is that even though I wasn't into American Idol as much this year as I've been in the past, I still am quite happy with the results.

David Cook, you're my American Idol :)

Pregnancy Forget-Me-Nots Part 1

So far I've had a few... "oh, ya, I forgot" moments in my extremely limited time of carrying my newest adventure.

1.) 1st Trimester Cramps. I found myself getting nervous when I would wake up in the morning having some mild cramps. Sometimes they would get so bad that I would even take a Tylenol. But thankfully I kept a pregnancy journal with Lyric and I flipped back to the first few weeks and sure enough, I've had this before. It is always disconsorting though when you feel those cramps. I know I personally am always running to the bathroom making sure there are no additional tell tale signs of something tragic happening. Thankfully I have never experienced misscarriage and I pray I never will, but that doesn't alleviate the doubt in your mind as you have cramps, because we've all been trained to know that pregnancy + cramps = not good. Thankfully, they were just bad last week and this week has been pretty mild. But what I do remember is that these mild cramps will get worse throughout the pregnancy on certain days as my uterus is stretched a million-bazillion times its normal size. Ligaments stretching, skin stretching, belly button flatening... oh the joys of pregnancy!

2.) Reading Sickness During my 1st trimester, when I read for an extended period of time, I get sick. Sort of like motion sickness... It's really strange, and REALLY annoying! Especially because I just started the 2nd book in my series. As long as I don't read for more than like an hour, I'm good.

3.) Remembering to take my vitamins ya, I'm horrible at it! I feel so guilty all the time and I try to take them every day, but I think about it and I'm never near them when I remember to take them. I've brought them up to work with me today, so I'm hoping that helps.

4.) Gas It's not all the time, just first thing in the morning. But still so embarassing when you are trying not to wake your spouse up. For me it gets worse the farther along I am. Jon says it's his favorite part as he will be sleeping peacefully and all of a sudden wake up to a big loud one and then hear me say, "sorry" in a meek quiet voice. But I seriously can't help it!!

So there are the first 4, of what I'm sure will be a very long list of Pregnancy Forget-Me-Nots.

Europe meets Texas

We decided to take my daughter on a trip between continents.
She is a first generation Belgexan and of course must know both cultures.

We needed to get some stuff for my impending Mother-in-Law (MIL) visit one week from today and where else should we get those items than good ol' IKEA.
As a Texan, Ikea is like awesomeness rolled into furnishings. Where else can we get all kinds of cute, modern knick-knacks for a cheap-o price? Target? Well ya, but it's not as huge and in Texas the bigger the better!
My husband, being the good Belgian he is, told us that we were going to be eating at said Ikea for dinner. I was not on board as I had it in my head that we would be dining at Cheesecake Factory for dinner, but after his insistence the entire 40 minute drive, I gave in.
Here I am with my swedish meatballs feeding Lyric her mac-n-cheese (note that I have no roots thanks to the FABULOUS Abigail)

Lyric had a great time eating her meatballs, mashed tators, mac-n-cheese and french fries (a well balanced meal).

We walked around and marveled out how uncomfortable all the cute couches were. We got a few items, but of course our big ticket item was sold out. I mean seriously! That always happens to us!! But I did find the bed we are going to get Lyric when we move her out of the crib. Yes, it's a toddler bed (I know my sister thinks they are impractical), but it is SOOOO cute!

So after leaving the store with a few purchases, we decide to hit up Walmart to get a few things... Oh Walmart... the gathering of cultures, classes and ethnicities... We were driving from Ikea off 161 and counted 3 Walmart SuperCenters in less than 5 miles... only in Texas (or at least the South).

So that was our experience last evening... Europe clashing with Texas.
And there in the middle is our little Belgexan who is heir to them both :)

PS. Please note that I know that Ikea is Swedish, not Belgian- but I was refering more to the point that it's a European company, not a Belgian company.

Kill the Rodent

Ok, let's just start this by saying that although I am a huge animal love, I have an extreme fear of
1. Armadillos
2. Possums

I don't know what it is about them, but they completely and totally freak me out. I scream and run from them like the stereotypical little girl, but I don't care. I just HATE them! I really want them all to die. I don't give a hoot what they do for the environment, what they help keep regulated... All I know is that they are creepy and sneak around at night and scare the crap out of me.

Case in point. My dog was in his bed in the kitchen by the back door, it's 1 in the morning and he starts freaking out. Well we have this big fat calico cat that gets into our backyard and gets on our porch and just stares at Jedi to irritate him. I normally have to get up and go scare the cat off so Jedi doesn't wake the house up. Well when he starts barking I figure it's the cat and I half asleep go over to the back door and normally I just open it and yell as turning on the light doesn't really do anything, but this time I hesitated for just one second and flipped on the light instead, and what was staring up at me facing the door? BUT A NASTY FREAKING POSSUM!



It's eyes pierced my soul! It scared me so bad... I really think that if I would have opened the door it would have ran in the house... omg I don't know what I would have done! I just sat there stunned and almost let out a piercing scream, but then thought better of it as my husband would have run out of the bedroom waving his handgun shooting into the dark.
Thankfully after a moment of hesitation, the freaky nasty ran off and I walked back in my room thinking that at any moment a possum was going to swing from it's tail and land on my head and bite me. I started having cramps because my heart was pumping so hard and I was like, great, this freakin' possum is going to make me miscarry, fabulous.
Then I tried to go back to sleep, but was freaked out because the possum was like the spawn of Satan, then when I finally fell back to sleep I had crazy animal dreams the rest of the night...

Moral of the Story, if you see a possum, kill it.

The "I CAN" Mom

House messy? I can get it all spick and span!

Floors dirty? I can clean them!

Bathroom need to be painted? I can get it done!

Guest Room/Office needs a complete overhaul? No problem!

I've realized that the only way that I can get everything done that needs to get done by the end of the month is by having an I CAN attitude.

Yes, it may seem trite, but seriously people, With Ms. Eorye here at your service, you have to understand that the only way I don't throw my hands up in frustration and call it quits is by tricking myself into thinking that getting my house ready for the first time my mother-in-law stays with us is a competition. Like a who has the cutest guest room competition!

I can do it! I am an "I CAN" mom! :)

My sister Courtney has a double ear infection right now. She has been complaining about her ears for some time, but she got to the point this morning where she couldn't take it anymore and went to the doc, and yup! She has a double ear infection, with fever to boot! Poor kiddo! I say it's from hearing "Mom, Mama, Mommy, Ma" all day long for an extended length of time. My daughter is just now getting into that "Mama" phase where she calls my name for everything and I already want to reduce my hearing capacity to 25% in each ear. So everyone say a quick prayer for my sister, that she will have a speedy recovery!

On another note, I am being forced to do something by my husband COMPLETELY and totally against my will. I've tried the whole, oh h*ll no I'm not going to do it. Then the whole, you can't make me... I am digging my heals in, but we all know he'll win in the end. I just have a huge problem with doing this and can not change my view on it. Will I do it? Yes, just to make my husband happy, not anyone else. But this is going to take a very large gulp of humility for me to swallow and I don't like to waste those large gulps...God knows whats up and I have to trust that in the end, he makes everything right. I can only hope that this can be of an example of what true integrity is and that other people can learn from it. You can thank my amazing husband who is true to his word for this example, not me.


New favorite thing about being pregnant!
Being fat for a purpose! My lovely love handles are going to be stretched out soon and I can start wearing more comfortable pants... oh the joy! :)

Buzzed Heads

Today was had an impromptu lunch at my house that turned into a shave your head party! :)

It started out when my nieces walked down the street to get something for my sister and decided to stay and hang out. We were all getting hungry, so I decided to go to the store and go get us some food, so then we called my sister and BIL and they came over, then my little brother Preston came too because he didn't have anything else to do, then Austin, Chad King, Hannah and Olivia came over and we just had ourselves a party.

Jedi was obsessed with my sister and just sat right in front of her staring at her. She wasn't eating so we had no idea why he was doing it, but it was freaking Court out! :)




We ate hamburgers and Chipotle and then Austin decided to give into what he has been wanting to do and shave his head. So Jonathan shaved his head for him.

Here Austin is before:


Here Austin is praying that his head has a nice shape


And here we go


He needed someone to hold his hand, so Ashlyn volunteered


Then I shaved Jon's head, then Jon shaved Nathan's head


The three shaved heads


Last night we went to Bethany Lankenau's graduation dinner and Lyric was so tired when we were driving home, she started to fall asleep hugging my arm. It was SO precious!


I'm not sure what I'm going to do. Jon's trying to find a place that sells cheap lounge chairs, and if he can find a place, I will lay out on my patio, if not, I'm staying inside and will hopefully finish my book

Right now the Watkins are still over and we (as in my nieces) are watching Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium.

Ok, well I don't have anything interesting to say.

Have a good Sunday!

Kaydn's 2nd Birthday Party

We had Kadyn's 2nd birthday party today at the park and we had such a great time!















The birthday girl!


















Birthday video:







She had such a great time! I can't believe she is already 2... wow time flies!

Blah

I'm not having a very good day right now. I really needed today to be Saturday. I didn't eat breakfast and in my present condition, that is no longer ok. I am exhausted. I feel sick to my stomach and I keep getting teary eyed thinking that all I want to do right now is go home, but I still have 7 1/2 more hours.

I'm just feeling really blah.

Saying Goodbye To a Friend

How sad is this... I love Diet Coke! I really do!

It's my breakfast in the morning, the thing that keeps me from dragging throughout the day... and yet, I have to say goodbye for the next few months.

Oh Diet Coke, why do you not only have to contain aspartain, but also 45.6 mg of caffine??

It just doesn't seem fair does it?

Studies have shown that pregnant women should not drink more than 150mg of caffine a day, but I'm limiting mine to just 50mg (just one measley drink)...

How am I going to get through the day now?

I'll miss you DC... you're my boo.

Lyric fell :(

Lyric fell down the stairs to the basement at my sister's house tonight, thankfully she didn't fall all the way down, but managed to stop half way.

She really got bumped up and had a bloody lip, nose and bumps and bruises, but true to being typical Lyric, she cried for a minute and then got over it. She is one tough cookie!

Here are pictures of her, no she is not crying. This is the face she makes at the camera, it's her version of a smile :) You can see the bruise over her eye and her fat lip. She also has a bump on the top of her head and a few other places on her head.









The q-tips after cleaning out her nose


But don't worry, she is totally ok! We are keeping her up a little while longer to make sure she doesn't start exhibiting any signs of a concussion, but she seems to have just had some external injuries and is ok.

Just thought I would update as this was her first big owie and first busted lip and nose bleed. Of course I had to document it :)

I've decided to announce it

I can't keep it in anymore.. yes it's only been 5 days, but seriously people, when you can't blog about something that is a huge deal, it messes with you.

So, after thinking about it, I must announce that the Vandeputs are adding to their clan! :) Yes I'm pregnant!!!!
The reason I was waiting to say anything is because I am wanting to wait until I have my first doctor's appointment until I announce it to my boss. That way I will have a better idea of when the due date is and we can make sure everything is normal (which of course it will be).
I had started writing blogs when I found out on Saturday... once again, I found out super early so this is going to make this pregnancy OH so long! But oh well! So I decided to take those few posts out of draft status and publish them! :)

I'm only 4 weeks right now, but I tried to not blog about this and it was just too hard and the thought of not blogging about this for another 6 weeks was too much to deal with. I don't know if anyone from my office reads my blog, but if they do, I would hope that they would respect my desire to wait till I've seen my OB before I announce anything and start having to have some sort of plan of action regarding my future work schedule together. If not, oh well, it's a baby people! Something to totally celebrate!!

So read on for a few blogs that I've already posted!

And Baby Makes 4

If the pee stick and the 2 little pink lines in the picture don't give it away, yes it's true. I have gotten myself knocked up again.
Don't be surprised or shocked, it's just the honest to goodness facts of life working itself out and Jonathan and I couldn't be happier!
Was it a little of a shocker? Well absolutely. Especially since we don't exactly know when it occurred, but it occurred alright!
Jon votes Passover, I think it was the 19th of April, but who knows!
Even when they are planned out to a T, I think it's still a shocker. The fact that you can actually create a tiny human being is always a shock to the system.
Well what we do know for sure is that I am expecting our second little shnookums sometime at the end of January!!!
How exciting is this!
Jon and I want to have our kids pretty close together and they will be about 22 months apart and I think that is just fantastic... especially if this little one holds off on growing an outie and Lyric gets herself a sister! That would be fantastic!!!

So on to the story of how I found out.

Well for some reason I had this crazy feeling that I was pregnant. I didn't know why, just a feeling I had starting a few weeks ago. Well Saturday I woke up early (like 7am) and I knew I was still 6 days from starting, but I just thought, oh heck, why not! Refusing to waste my precious first pee, I got up quietly hoping to not wake Jon so I didn't have to tell him where I was going. You see my husband is a practical Belgian and he of course would not approve of wasting $7 on a test that would be most likely negative. Well I almost get out the bedroom door, but as I was tip-toe-ing out of the room, I hear, "Where are going, it's 7am". Not being too quick on my feet this early in the morning, the first thing that comes out of my mouth is the truth, "I know it will probably be negative, but I'm going to get a pregnancy test." I hold my breath not looking back at him, hoping my confidence will deter him from objecting. "Whatever." is his response. YES! I made it through that hurdle... now on to the next one, how not to pee my pants while driving in the car.

I drive to Walgreens because the tests at Albertsons are behind that stupid glass case and I would have to call over some employee who would look at my strangely while I was digging amongst the condoms and yeast infection creams until I found the perfect pregnancy test.

I arrive at Walgreens and go in doing the pee dance down the aisle where I manage to grab a test and pay for it and get out of there.

By this time, it's bad. I am seriously about to let loose right there in the driver's seat. Well Lyric needed more banana's anyways, so I quickly pulled into the Albertson's parking lot, threw the test in my purse and ran inside, directly to the bathroom stall, where I jumped up and down trying not to pee while opening the package, then I hover over the toilet and let it flow, not even really caring at this point if the pee gets on the stick at all. And let me tell you that is quite a feat, hovering over a toilet, while trying to aim your pee towards a little white stick, but I seriously had to hover because the Grand Prairie, Texas Albertson's Grocery Store bathroom is not a place where you actually put your behind to the toilet.

The emergency was over. I wipe up my splatter (because all us girls know that when you hover- there tends to be a splash zone), I look at the test, and immediately, a little pink lines starts to show up... I think, no way. I need my glasses, it must be the fluorescent lighting, but sure enough, it kept getting darker. I start thinking, holy goodness, wow! omg! This is crazy... I can't believe I found out in this nasty bathroom... then I started to panic because I had always wanted to surprise Jon with every pregnancy. But he knew I was getting the test, how do I surprise him when I know he'll ask me when I walk in the door! Frantically I walked around the store, trying to will a good idea to come to me so I could tell him in a cute way... but nothing came. I think it was the fact that it was 7am on a Saturday, mixed into the fact that I was SO sure the test was going to be negative... my creativity came to a standstill.

So I get the bananas and a few other things, walking around the store with a crazy smile on my face, thinking over and over again... I can't believe I'm pregnant.

I get in the car and drive home... the entire time thinking.. I can't believe I'm pregnant with that crazy smile still on my face.

When I get home I walk in the door, Jon in a tired stupor says from underneath a mound of pillows and blankets on the bed, "so?". I toss the test to him and it lands right by his head and jump on the bed and say, "well, I'm pregnant!".

Let's stop right here.

That is SO lame! I should be have been better prepared and thought this through... I just didn't think I really needed to. You know, you think you are pregnant, but you don't really THINK you are pregnant... I'm going to hate that story the rest of my life.

Ok, anyways, my husband in all his Belgian emotion, says, "really? that's cool. You better not quit your job now cuz we need the insurance."

Yes, that's it. The sensitive moment, the glory of discovery of a new life, my husband's first response is a practical warning... however if you know my husband at all, you know that really translated into a big Texas "WAHOOO! That's awesome babe! You're carrying my child! YEAH! I'm so excited."

We quickly called my parents who were in Israel at the time. They were sitting on the shore of the DeadSea when they found out.

Then I walked down to my sister's house and woke her up to tell her. Then I called all my besties. Then Jon called his family.

So yes... this starts the new adventures in babyland with me... I can't wait for this journey and to write about it for all of you!

Jon swears I just have babies so I have good blogging material.

Am I hungry because I'm pregnant...

Or am I pregnant because I'm hungry?

Ok, that doesn't make sense, but what does make sense is that at only 4 weeks and 2 days pregnant, I can't make it till 1p anymore to eat lunch. Granted, I don't eat breakfast very often, but seriously, people! I'm just barely pregnant! My body doesn't even really know that I'm pregnant! I was fine skipping breakfast and just drinking a diet coke and I could make it till 1p till I left for lunch. Now I'm chompin' at the bit at 11am, thinking I might die of starvation!

So I ask the question?

Am I really hungry? Or is it the knowledge that I have this life force sucking my energy all of a sudden making me feel more hungry?? Is it completely mental? Or is it ok for me to start feeling this hungry at 4 weeks?

The only good thing is I'm eating about half as much as I have before... which is another thing that I think may be mental. The moment I try to eat too much, I feel sick.

Ok, well anyways, just thought I should share on how freaking hungry I have been... oh the joys!

The Belly Book

When I was pregnant with Lyric, I had a pregnancy journal that I loved. The only thing I wished was that it was a little more creative. My old pregnancy journal asked the same 4 questions every week and I had to fill it out, based on how I was feeling at that particular time.
Well Saturday, when I found out I was pregnant, we decided to do some celebratory shopping.
Well I went to Barnes and Noble and scoured the pregnancy section and found a great new pregnancy journal called the Belly Book!
It's a really fun book that is completely modern and gives a funny twist on mundane questions. It still gives a place to record every doctor's visit and weekly notations, but in a fun way.
In this book you are supposed to take pictures of your belly every week, so I think I'll do that and hopefully print them out and keep it updated.


One of the best things about having kept a pregnancy journal with Lyric, is now with my second pregnancy, being able to look back and see what I was experiencing, what I was thinking, etc. Comparing the two is going to be a great experience, I'm really glad I'm all about detailing my life in every facet... I really hope my kids will get a kick out of this one day.

So here's to a new pregnancy book! Bring it on!

Already up for debate

It really didn't take long did it? Actually, one of the first post-baby-discovery conversations Jon and I had was what the sex of the new baby was.

I of course immediately said, it's a girl.

Jon of course immediately said, it's a boy.

I'm practical. First off, the kids will just be 22 months a part from eachother. My sister and I are 23 months a part and it is so much fun! When we were younger we were inseparable and yes of course we went through a rocky stage from puberty till the end of highschool, but after that, we are back to being inseparable! Lyric needs that!
Also, if it's a girl, I already have all the stuff that she needs and they will share a room and so we don't have to give up the office/guest room.

Jon's logic of course comes in the form of, "I don't have any more girl sperm, they are all men in there."
Oh really Jon? I distinctly remember hearing you say time and time again in the early stages of pregnancy with your DAUGHTER, "I'm a Vandeput, we don't make girls."

Obviously I am going to be happy no matter what, but if God is up there and the sex of my baby is still up for discussion... can you please give me another girl?

Ry and Tiff are obviously having similar struggles as you can see by the gifts they gave me when the day I found out I was pregnant:

From Tiff


and from Ryan


Good times :)

Celebrate 60 years with Israel

Israel- Diamond in the Rough
by David Dolan

Posted: May 14, 2008
1:00 am Eastern
© 2008

JERUSALEM – A 60-year-old orthodox Jewish Jerusalem resident was violently assaulted while carrying an Israeli flag last week during the country's annual Memorial Day for fallen soldiers.
The attack took place as commemorative sirens were sounding throughout the biblical Promised Land, prompting most citizens to stand at attention in remembrance of the over 22,000 soldiers who have fallen during the past six decades, most of them in one of Israel's many wars (if we include the two violent Palestinian revolts, as we should, the number is now up to eight wars, not including Saddam's wonderful Scud attacks in early 1991).
So who assaulted the observant man that dared to hoist the blue and white Israeli flag during the memorial siren? No, not enraged Palestinian Hamas terrorists or some Arab Muslim woman hiding a knife underneath her chador. The attackers were ultra-orthodox
Jews who oppose the existence of the Jewish-run state of Israel on purely religious grounds. These extremely pious folks prefer to wait for the Messiah to come and set up a strictly orthodox state, considering any loyalty to the current largely secular country a desecration of God's holy name.
This is just one small example of the many peculiarities and contradictions that one cannot help but notice in the modern state of Israel.
Here are a couple additional oddities. Officials in the neighboring Arab country of Jordan banned several planned demonstrations this month that were designed to protest Israel's reappearance on the regional map 60 years ago this week. One of the events was a large rally in Amman sponsored by pro-Palestinian groups and opposition Jordanian political parties, including the Islamic Labor Front.
But inside democratic Israel, such anti-state Arab rallies are being openly staged this month in several locations, with police permission, especially in the Muslim-dominated lower
Galilee region. One anti-Israel demonstration last week brought together hundreds of Arab-Israeli citizens in the historic town of Jaffa, located within Tel Aviv's southern municipal boundaries.
In March, Jordan's Hashemite authorities barred relatives of the slain Palestinian terrorist who sadistically gunned down eight young Jewish seminary students in Jerusalem from holding a public mourning service for him. But here in Israel's capital city, where 26-year-old Ala Abu Dhaim lived and died, public activities were permitted, even if under strong protest from many Jewish residents of the holy city.
Of course, such seeming absurdities are precisely what makes Israel stand out so glaringly in one of the world's most turbulent and autocratic regions.
Israel is a thriving democracy in a sea of Islamic-ruled states. One of them,
Iran, is governed by radical Shiite Muslims who vow to wipe out the Jewish state. Others, such as Egypt, Syria and Saudi Arabia, are ruled by despotic and fairly corrupt Sunni Arab regimes. Or they are perennial basket case countries like Lebanon and Iraq, divided between always feuding sects. Or they are simply ruled by very exotic, if sometimes dangerous characters like Libya's Moammar Gadhafi.
If you draw a horizontal line from the Atlantic Ocean across North Africa directly through Israel and ending up in northern India, you will find only two other countries located along that line with stable regimes that allow a fair degree of political and religious freedoms to their citizens – Morocco and Jordan. Still, their relative freedoms and political moderation pales in comparison to Israel's, for all of the Jewish state's manifold problems and struggles to survive in a very hostile neighborhood.
Israel's participatory democracy is hardly perfect. One need not look any further than the current police probe of possibly illegal financial contributions received by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to discern that obvious fact.
The country's million-plus Arab citizens frequently complain of discrimination against them, and it is indeed a fact that their towns and villages receive less government aid per capita than do majority Jewish areas. But it's also true that many Arab citizens are not terribly loyal to their own state, as the demonstrations mentioned above illustrate. And it is frankly not easy for many Israelis to really trust them, given that more than a few Arab Israelis have carried out terror attacks over the years, or actively supported Palestinian death squads.
Israel's several thousand Messianic citizens can also testify to suffering some degree of discrimination. Actual violence is sometimes directed against them – as we tragically witnessed when a 16-year-old pastor's son was severely wounded by a package bomb at his home in Samaria last month. Threats and acts of violence seem to be often overlooked or downplayed by authorities. Many black Ethiopian Israelis complain that they are sometimes slighted in employment and educational opportunities, as most Sephardic Jews from North Africa and other non-European areas grumbled about in earlier decades.
Yet despite these shortcomings and manifold others like them, Israel remains one of the most remarkable countries in the world. The ancient Hebrew prophets warned that Jacob's offspring would be scattered from their covenant land to the remotest parts of the earth if they continued to sin against their Maker, and so it occurred. I am reminded of the literalness of these dire prophecies every time I speak to Jewish groups in Hawaii, New Zealand and Australia – the exact opposite side of the globe from the Middle East, with the two Anglophile countries situated in the southern hemisphere to boot.
But I have also witnessed firsthand th