Blessed yet Irritated

Ok, I'm going to be kind of negative right now, but I promise to end it on a happy note.

I'm just frustrated. I try really hard to keep our family finances in order. Everything paid on time. Money in the bank and in savings. I do a pretty good job in general. But then yesterday I mis-judged something. I thought a deposit was going to post that day and so I went ahead and transferred some money to another account on our bank, and unfortunately the transfer went through, but the deposit is still pending. It looks like because of it we will have 3 over draft charges which is a $100 of unnecessary money that we pay the bank. That is so frustrating to me! It really beats me down and I need to get over it because it was an honest miscalculation... but still so frustrating... sigh. Thankfully Jon had a great week at his job and so there is extra money and so it's not going to "effect" us in a major way, but it is still money that could have been spent on other things, like my birthday! :)

So I'm so irritated right now. Grrr!

Ok, now to be positive!

Which should be really easy to do when I got an awesome gift yesterday. I received a bonus that is equivalent to one full paycheck, how awesome is that! We really needed it to finish paying off our tickets to Belgium, and we were so encouraged! It has taken a lot of pressure off Jonathan who has been working over time to get extra money. So praise the Lord! Something like that which is entirely unexpected just always reinforces to me that the Lord really is leading us and will always provide for our needs. SO yeah!

On to blonder subjects, last night Abby did my hair, so now I don't have nasty roots anymore. It's amazing what lovely hair can do to your overall love of life. I don't feel so blah when my hair is done! I need to post a new belly shot, so you can see my new hair then.

Also, I got my camera back, so here are a few pictures from Labor Day:

Maddy and Lyric coloring


Maddy and Lyric at Target


The flip contests at the pool:


Nate = OUCH


Austin:


Brotherly Love


The girl corner:


AND also I got a birthday present from my Mother-in-Law! She gave me a 100 euros for our trip next month! Woohoo! The best part was I got in on September 1st, which of course marked the first day of my birthday month. It was fun to open a present that day :)


Well today is my Friday as I don't work tomorrow. Actually I'm pretty sure tomorrow we are going to this Jump Zone place with the kiddos. It should be a blast! I'm excited.
Ok, Shiloh keeps kicking me in the bladder and I'm about to pee, so I'm out.

Later!

I know, I know!

I've been sucking at the whole blogging thing lately. I think part of it is I haven't had my camera all weekend and I like to have blogs with pictures.
The other part of it is I just haven't really felt like I had anything to say. You know how that is? Oh yes, I could talk about my weekend... but it was pretty relaxed.
I can talk about how I cleaned the ENTIRE house (go me), but that's boring.

We TRIED to take pictures of the kids. Try is the word as the kids were beyond uncooperative. Don't believe me, here are the best shots.

Um, wait, we did get Lyric some cute new Vans on Saturday:


we went to the mall with the Shulls, plus Ash and Maddy on Saturday. That was good times had by all... and I got to eat at one of my fave places, Cozymel. They have the best queso! I want it again for dinner tonight! Jon wasn't impressed and thought it was over priced so I doubt that's going to happen. But a pregnant lady can dream!

Nathan preached on Sunday morning for the first time and he did an AMAZING job! He did the cardboard testimony and it was so powerful. I sat there and balled like a baby as I kept thinking about what I would say on my cardboard...

It was just so impacting for so many people. And Nate really brought the word.
You can hear it on the podcast. Just go to www.shadygrove.org and follow the instructions to download the podcast.

Then it was... Cowboys.

Now don't get me wrong. I have nothing against the Cowboys. Coming from an avid football fan family, I actually am happy when they win as everyone is jovial and pleasant for the rest of the day.
But then seriously? Do we all need to wear our Cowboys shirts and hats with such commitment that we think the wearing of said garments will somehow influence the outcome of the game? Do we all need to huddle into the living room, screaming to the point no child can sleep peacefully in the entire house? Do we really need to completely detach ourselves from reality so as to when your wife is calling your name 600 times you just "didn't hear her"?? Hmm..
but alas, nothing can be done and football season has indeed begun. So I will do what I do every year. I will sit in the other room and read. Or play with the kids. Or maybe even take a nap. And around the end of the season I will actually care a little more and genuinely hope we can actually win a playoff game.
But until then... sigh.

Ok, well I have stuff to do people. I'm out.

Windy

Ok, we are definitely feeling Gustav's visit to the coast up here in Dallas. Yesterday and today it has been SO windy. Like walk outside and your skirt flies up and your hair comes out of its pony tail kind of windy.
However, something pleasant did happen today. The feeling of fall arrived. I'm sure it's going to leave just as quickly as it came, but for the time being I am relishing it (at least the view of it from my office window).
I walked outside and had the distinct chilly feeling add that to the fall cloud cover... it was just fantastic!
Talk to me in a few months when that's ALL I feel and I will probably be dreaming of Summer. The grass is always greener on the other side.
Speaking of green grass, only 49 more days till we are in Belgium! Yeah!
Something happened in my heart this last time my dad got back from Belgium. Both Jon and I are now ready to move the family and start a new life over there. It's funny hearing it from Jonathan because as long as I've known him, he has never really shown any interest in going back to Belgium. He always wanted to move back to Europe, but he was thinking more France or maybe Israel.
But something is changing in both of us. I know that there is a plan and a purpose and things that we need to help facilitate over there. It's kind of exciting! You never know, we just might be moving sooner rather than later!

So, what about all this drama with Rep. VP Sarah Palin?? Over the weekend there was all these rumors that her youngest son was actually her daughter Bristol's son and she was pretending that he was hers... It was nuts! Then Monday they announce that no, indeed Trig is Sarah's son, but Bristol her 17 year old daughter is pregnant. Blah, blah.
Now all the uproar is that she is not being a good mother by campaigning when she should be spending time with her family during this difficult time. My thoughts?
Yes, it's a big story. Yes this woman is running for the VP and her daughter is pregnant and she has a very young special needs child... however, if you were in her shoes, would you turn the job down? She is already a very active governor, it's not like if she wasn't running for the VP she would be at home with the kiddos. Her husband is the primary caretaker. What's wrong with that? Nothing. It's their choice. A parent is still caring for the children. If this was a male VP and his wife had just given birth to a special needs child and his daughter was pregnant, no one would be telling him he had his priorities out of whack and needs to be home taking care of the family.
It really just leads me to my real irk. Is anyone else sick and tired of hearing all the time how awful Republicans are and how saintly Obama is? Even on Fox News, which I watch mainly for the conservative spin, every time I walk by the TV (my office is next to the break room and the TV is always on Fox News), Obama is on! I'm so sick of him. I'm so sick of people thinking he is going to be this amazing God send... the man is liberal to the extreme.
Watch this video- although it is ridiculously slighted against him and is quite melodramatic at the end, the facts are true:


I just don't like the guy. I have a bad feeling about him. I don't think he's the anti-christ or anything silly like that. I just don't like him. Like many of you just don't like George Bush. Obama just rubs me the wrong way.

Ok, enough ranting. You obviously see how I will vote :)

On to something pleasant... mmm... the nice weather... OH!

Last night Jon and I went out to dinner with Abby and Brad (with kiddos in tow of course). We had such a fun night and after dinner we went over to Lincoln square, getting ice cream at the Marble Slab and walking around. It was such a nice night and it wasn't too hot. We ended up at Half Price Books and let Korbin and Lyric go crazy in the kid section. Throwing books everywhere, just having a jolly ol' time. (yes we cleaned up, I just can't guarantee everything was in its proper place).
Here are two pics of Abby and I to show how cool we are:

Good times :)

Finally, Lyric has conjunctivitis, or pink eye or whatever you want to call it. She is acting fine, she just has gook coming out of her eyes. I'm not stressing as all I care about is that she is sleeping fine and she is in a good mood. I can deal with gooky eye.
We didn't take her to the doctor, just got her over the counter drops, and they are really doing the trick. I went home at lunch and they were SO much better (she has it in both eyes).
Jonathan (who pulled his groin muscle *don't ask* and is acting like a baby) stayed home with her for most of the day and then took her to Courtney's house since Judah and Kadyn have it too. I am wondering if they got it at Church... as they both started showing symptoms the same day. Who knows! If she is gook free tomorrow we'll take her back to Christina's house.
Speaking of Christina, Aaron got a new job and I am so excited for them! More money, better benefits which hopefully means she'll be popping out a baby in the not too distant future! :)He starts next month, so yeah for the Smiths!

I really think I have nothing else of consequence to say... so I'm going to go ahead and leave you with a quote which rings true for me:

"Writing well mean never having to say, 'I guess you had to be there.'"

The Birth Dance

All I know is when I go into labor with this little one, Preston better do another interpretive dance in my hospital room... I swear laughing at that dance made me dialate 3 cm :)




and on a sentimental note, here is the first prayer that was prayed over Lyric and you can hear her first tiny cries... SO cute!

Post-Wedding

Well after the wedding we sent Lyric with Gigi and Poppy.

*ps, Lyric was a trooper. She functioned the entire 6 hour wedding in addition to the whole crazy day like a trooper. She ended up falling asleep on my mom around 9 and slept for about an hour while I shook my booty on the dance floor. She did really good though and I was so proud of her!*

We weren't the only ones who got a hotel room that night at the Magnolia in downtown Dallas.

Courtney and Nathan, Landon and Holly, Abby and Brad and us all stayed. We got back to the hotel and decided we were hungry. So we changed clothes and headed out walking to find some place. It was after 1am, but we found some pizza place and partook :)

Then we all went back to our rooms and met for breakfast the next morning.

Here is before bed


And the next morning


I slept till almost 10, but then I didn't go to bed till late, so I guess I didn't sleep that long.
We ended up going to get Lyric around noon ish and by 1, the entire house was asleep and we slept till 4. Isn't that lovely!

I'm so exhausted after this weekend, and if I wasn't on the team tomorrow with Parra, I would be skipping church FOR SURE. But oh well. I hopefully will get into bed tonight at a decent hour.

Oh, look how pretty my bridesmaid bouquet is


I must give a special birthday love to Abby and Holly! I'll try to write a better birthday blog when my brain can think a little better :) But regardless, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

The Wedding Day

The wedding day began a little hectic. I went to get a mani/pedi and I got a trainee and it took them 2 hours to get it done... omg I was so frustrated. So then I get back and we still had a million things to do. Thankfully I have the best sister in the world and she fixed Lyric's dress and I found Kadyn's size 4 white dress shoes, it all got done. I put the baby down for a nap and I got ready.
Jon and I had decided to rent a hotel room that night and send Lyric home with my parents. It was actually the first night I have ever been away from Lyric... how crazy is that! I wasn't nervous about it, it just so happens that we take Lyric with us everywhere and we live so close to family that when we are out late, it's easy just to go get her. So ya, good times. But of course I had to get her overnight bag, my overnight bag, all the stuff we needed for the wedding, take a shower, go buy my shoes for the wedding and get us both fed and be in Dallas by 3. Oh ya, when I put Lyric down for a nap it was 1pm :)

I was getting pretty stressed, especially since Lyric woke up crying from her nap and was in the WORST mood! I was thinking, please no, please no, please no! But of course, the show must go on, so at this point it was 2:30, I drove quickly to go pick up my shoes, get my lunch and started driving to Dallas. I was feeding lyric pieces of grilled cheese in the car on the way... well we get there and as she eats, she starts getting in a better mood. I get my hair done, Lyric won't walk in her dress because it was too poofy and then I realized I didn't have any socks for her. So I run with her next door to Neiman Marcus, but they don't have any. Oh well, no socks today! I was getting really stressed at this point... everyone had already left for the ceremony site...

So then I get in the car to drive to the ceremony site and I couldn't remember exactly how to get there. So I call Jon and my phone runs out of batteries... so I'm driving around for 30 minute, with only a vague idea of where it is... I stop a few times, ask for directions, borrow some random guys cell phone... it was awful. Finally I get there, and I was about to lose it. I was so tired of my fussy daughter, I was late, sweating bullets, Lyric wasn't dressed, I didn't know if I had missed the pictures... I was just about to start balling!
However, I quickly calmed down and took a few deep breaths... my mom helped me dress Lyric and everything was ok.

So that was my hectic wedding day :)

I walked into the reception area and it was GORGEOUS! It looked like a fairy land. The room was filled with flowers and plants. It looked like a magical rain forest.


Tiffani looked absolutely beautiful!
Here is one of the center pieces
Amanda and Tabitha
All the bridesmaids and groomsmen walked in together so it looked really cool. Jon and I both held Lyric's hands and walked in together. She of course stole the show :)

Here you can see Tiff walking in with her dad in the distance

During the ceremony

>Us during the ceremony
Now Mr. and Mrs. Frederick!
Ok, here are some lovely pics of my daughter :)




Courtney and Nate
Another one of Lyric for good measure
The happy couple
Court, me and Abby
The bride's cake
The groom's cake
Dancing
The speech right before the fireworks.
The fireworks were to the Misty Edwards song, Relentless. It was pretty cool and synchronized. I didn't think to record it till the very end, but here is a short clip:

LyLy wasn't too sure about it. She just hid the whole time:

Then of course it was time to boogy. Pregnant or not, I shake it. Note that this is how Abby and I groove:

They had a lounge area with Go-Go dancers
Ry and Tiff getting down

As they ran out to the car, they ran through this:

Ok, here are some of the cool parts of the wedding:

They had a free photobooth that was set up in the back. We had so much fun taking a bunch of group shots :) This was an actual photobooth that you had to squeeze into, it was a blast! Also, the guest book was right next to it, and people print a picture and put it in the book and sign it.

During the ceremony, there was a woman with a big loom and at one point Ry and Tiff both gave her spools of thread and she wove into this blanket during the ceremony their thread to make a unity blanket.

There was a lady who during the reception was painting a portrait.

Fun times people, fun times!

I am so happy for Ryan and Tiff. The wedding was the most amazingly cool wedding I've ever been to. It was over the top, but in a good way. The food was great, man I wish I was able to take of that top shelf open bar and strawberry mojito's, but oh well! :) I would rather not have a baby with brain damage :)

They are going on an incredible honeymoon to South Africa and Ireland. They will be shark diving, going on a safari, going to all the cool breweries and just having an amazing 3 week vacation! 

I talked with them a minute this morning and my parent's went to the airport and brought Ryan his iPod that he forgot... they look SO happy and I can't wait to hear all the stories from their awesome trip.

First of Many

I know, I know. I have been a horrible blogger as of late.
I can't help it! Would you like to take a look at my weekly calendar? it's nuts. I'm doing something like every night of every week.
Though I can't complain all that much because this weekend, I had my first of many long weekends. Yes that's right. My work schedule changed to 30 hours a week and now I don't work Fridays.
How amazing is that! It was so nice to fall asleep on Thursday and know that Friday morning your alarm wouldn't go off (though your 1 year old alarm and your baby dancing on your bladder would). Jon woke up when he heard the baby, I guess out of routine and got her up and fed her breakfast and I didn't wake up till after 9.
I then proceeded to do a boat load of laundry, which has hence found itself on the floor of the guest bedroom.
I also didn't get our house cleaned... and to many of you that doesn't seem that big of a deal, but we are now into the 3rd week without the floors/bathrooms being cleaned... it was not ok. But once again, we were busy all weekend.
Friday the Frederick's flew in from Cyprus to help prepare for Ryan and Tiff's wedding. We also celebrated Norm's birthday that night too.
Here are a few pics:


Praying over the birthday boy :)


Ashlyn Rose


Dad singing with the birthday pudding


Norm orchestrating his praise (please note he is not 55, but 51, however my mom could only find 2 fives)


Judah is now 6 months old, he is getting SO big!


Ry and Lyly


Maddy showing her braid


Landon, Austin and Hannah


Lynn and my mom


Court (looking oh so busty), Christina and moi!


Then on Saturday I finally cashed in on my Mother's Day present, and I got a "I survived the 1st trimester" pregnancy massage. OMG, it was glorious. I did not want it to end. I still have enough left on my gift card to get another massage, so I'm thinking I will wait till November then have a "I survived my 2nd trimester" massage. I get relaxed just thinking about it. sigh.
After that, we quickly had to leave for Ryan and Tiff's house in Dallas where they were moving in. When we got into Dallas, we discovered that 75 was shut down. So it took us forever to get to their house. Lyric was getting bored, so we stayed entertained by making silly faces.




She is getting so big!


I was of no help, but I did play house nanny (my sister and all her kids were there). We played hide and go seek and let me tell you. Lyric is the worst hider ever. She follows me and stands right in front of me smiling saying "mama" and pointing. I would be like, "go away" and she would just laugh. She totally kept giving my awesome hiding places away.
They also have a cute swing in the back that Lyric had fun on:



Sunday I actually got out in the sun for a bit. But I realized why I'm so white this summer. it's because I hate to be hot! And you can't go outside without getting hot.
We did find a way to ensure that my daughter does not drown in the pool. We put a floatie swim bathing suit on, with floaties. She resembles that kid from "A Christmas Story", you know the little brother Randy that has to wear that snow get up and he can't move or put his arms down? Ya, that's Lyric, but she has the summer version. But she doesn't go under and she can float around the pool without me holding her (or being in a floatie) which is what she wants because she thinks she's 6 and can swim by herself.

Anyways, this weekend was so nice. I can't wait to have a repeat this weekend! Working 30 hours is rockin' my world! :)

I'm going to be Aunt, AGAIN!

No, Courtney is not pregnant! :)

So yes, my brother Landon just got married in April, but they just found out this weekend that Holly is pregnant! :)
She is due at the end of March and we are all SO excited for them. This baby wasn't exactly planned, but I mean, it's a BABY! How awesome is that! Landon and Holly are so excited and I just can't wait to see what a Landon/Holly baby looks like!
Holly and I are right about 10 weeks apart, and it's going to be fun to have someone in my family to be pregnant with! :)
Anyways, I just wanted to share the news with all of you, but I am so excited for them!

Landon and Holly Benjamin

Happy Birthday Austin

It's my little brother Austin's 23rd birthday today!
For the next 2 months, Austin and I are only 1 year apart. Although I am and always will be WAY cooler than him :)

Austin is a great brother, son and Uncle. Although we have yet to get him to change a diaper, be that poopy or pee filled... one of these days it's going to happen though. Maybe even on his birthday shabbat... hmmm....
But seriously though. Austin is a great guy and is one of the funniest people on earth. He can always make me smile when I'm feeling grumpy.
:)

Happy Birthday Austin!
I love you!

Here are some old school pictures for your viewing pleasure:

Austin is the cool guy with the tucked in jersey


We are so cool


Princess and her frog


And here are recent pics of Austin-
He's GQ


He's a hunter


He's off the market (him and his girlfriend Hannah)


Happy Birthday Aus!

4th of July

First off, I have to apologize. There are barely any pictures. Actually only 3.
I know, absolutely awful of me. I am having this picture issue, where I normally am a picture taking fool, I have been the opposite! I haven't even taken a recent belly shot and my stomach is even pooching now. Yes, I know, quite unbearable.

The day started off like any other day. First off, when you work Fridays, and then you don't have to work a Friday, it feels like heaven, not on that Friday, but on that Saturday.
So Friday started out normal. I woke up early and FORCED Jonathan to get up and we all went to eat breakfast at Cracker Barrel. Then I decided that Lyric and my nieces/nephew needed 4th of July shirts to wear, so that started us on a hunt all over the mall, which turned up nothing, because by the 4th, all the 4th of July shirts are gone.
So then we went to Target and managed to find some, though they didn't look very festive.
Here are a pictures of Lyric and Kadyn's shirts:

And here are pic of Ash and Maddy's

and then a pic of all 4 of the girls. Note that my daughter never smiles as good as her cousins:

We went over to my parent's house for the day and just swam and laid out. I couldn't stay out too long, or my headache would start back up. So I am still pasty white, an issue that more than one people pointed out that day.
But it's not my fault, it just looks like that compared to the crispy baked tans of my nieces and sister. Hey, if I was a stay at home mom, I would have a tan, I can guarantee you that!

We grilled out and spent the day just having a good time with friends and family. We had a big group, which is always nice and lively.

Do you realize that this is the first 4th in 2 years that it hasn't rained during the day? I know this because we've had rained out barbecues for 2 years running, so it was nice to actually be able to spend time outside this year.

Then later we all decided to watch the fireworks over the racetrack. But this year, they had to move them back because of the new Air Hogs stadium, and they were so far from where we were that you couldn't even hear the booms/bangs/or whistles. I've decided that fireworks are not interesting to watch unless you can hear them explode.

So maybe next year we'll do something different, or at least get closer.

The only good thing is we didn't have any panicky kids who freak at the fireworks, so that was nice.

Well that was our 4th. Pretty uneventful, but oh so fun as usual.

Later people!

Happy 16th Little Bro

Saturday was my little brother Preston's 16th Birthday!

Can you believe it? I sure can't.

As the youngest child in the Benjamin Tribe, he has always been to all of us, a younger brother. That kiddo who never really gets older than about 6. However, the fact that he is almost 6 foot should probably remind us every day that he is no longer 6, but indeed 16... however, it's just hard for us.

Preston by far is the smartest kid in our family. He is ridiculously gifted. To prove it, here is a video of him about 6 months after he decided he would teach himself to play the piano. He has never taken a lesson, got a few pointers from my dad (who is also self taught) and just went to town:


That was about a year ago, so you can imagine now how much better he is. He has also picked up the guitar and the wooden flute. He is freaking awesome!

He is also a brain and can have the deepest discussions with you about almost any subject.

But what is the most wonderful is his desire to continually go after the Lord. I'm not saying he's perfect and that he doesn't act like a stupid teenager from time to time. But I don't judge a walk with God based on the triumphs or even the defeats, I base it on how many times you fall but then get right back up. That's the true sign of walking with your Maker, the standing.

So I'm proud of him. He makes me laugh like no other person can. He is such a fantastic Uncle and he just rocks.

For some reason, this birthday was kind of rushed over for him. I'm not sure exactly why, but I just wanted to give him a special shout out and tell him how proud I am of him and how I think he is growing into an incredible man.

I LOVE YOU PRES!

Here are a few pics for your viewing pleasure:

When he wanted to be just like his brother Landon, look at their hair!


The sillyness of Preston:

Back from Internet Silence

Wow. This is really unusual of me, but I haven't even so much as LOOKED at a computer since Friday. I'm so not joking, like I have no idea where my laptop even is (though it's somewhere in the house- I haven't actually looked for it yet).
But you know what I was all weekend?? SICK!
OMG, I'm never getting pregnant again! I know I said this with Lyric, but I just can't do it! I told Jon he needed to run off and get a vasectomy while I still remembered the AWFULNESS of morning sickness! All I want to do all day long is throw up! And this weekend, I puked each morning. Even this morning. I puked. I even puked at work, and that is AWFUL to puke in a public restroom. I swear someone had just done their business in that toilet that I had my head in. Which of course only made me puke more.
However, one semi-cute thing has come out of this. Now my daughter Lyric comes with me into the restroom and while I am up-chucking, she puts her hand over her mouth and makes gagging noises. It's quite adorable and I even manage a smile between heaves! Even after I'm done, she keeps up her performance. She wants to be just like mommy! :)
The one thing I need to keep reminding myself is that it's not NEAR as bad as it was with Lyric. My worst time this pregnancy is when I wake up and when I'm going to bed, but the day is semi-manageable. I've only thrown up in the morning so far.
Which brings me to my 2nd point. I've decided that I'm pregnant with twins. Why, you may ask? Well let me tell you. I don't think I can do this whole nausea thing again, so if I am pregnant with twins I am going to bet that we wouldn't have anymore, as long as at least one of those twins are a boy. SO yes. I am putting the thoughts out there that I am pregnant with twins so as to not have to go through this again. Hey, it could happen, My grandmother was a twin and I have twins on both sides of my family (though none on Jon's) I know, that's a HUGE stretch, but until my doctor tells me otherwise, I am going to keep on believing that I am having twins, thus this is the last time I will ever feel evil morning sickness again. Whatever gets me through the moment :)

Well as you can imagine, I didn't really do a lot this weekend. We had a great family shabbat on Friday though. It was SO good to get the family all back together. We had a really awesome time of prayer over eachother which was really encouraging.
My camera was running out of batteries, so here's all I got, and some of these are from the iPhone.

Two of the most adorable girls on the planet


We continued the head shaving trend with my little brother Preston






We kept Preston's hair like this to freak out Abby


Little Lyric


Family Shabbat- it doesn't get better than this:


Lyric and I


Family fun








Preston shaving off his Jewish curls/Mohawk


At one point in the evening the two year olds (Kadyn, Korbin and Saeler) decided to all sit on the piano bench together and play. It was SO cute as they were dancing and laughing. Of course, I didn't get the cutest part on camera... it always works like that doesn't it. By the time you get the camera, the cute-ness is all but gone. But I did get a video:


The two year olds playing the piano:



Then on Saturday we went bridesmaid dress shopping with Tiff and Sunday I did NOTHING all day. Like seriously nothing. Only getting off the couch to pee. I laid there like a dead fish as I felt HORRIBLE all day. But Jon and I ended the night by watching Dexter Season 1. which was fun.

Well anyways, I've been working on FAA compliance stuff all day, and need to get back to it.

Later people.

Eating Alone

So it's taken me almost 25 years to finally get comfortable eating alone at a restaurant.
I never liked it, I felt like everyone was staring at me wondering why I didn't have friends who would go to lunch with me.
But then when I started working, and dealing with the demands of a fast paced job, I found that sometimes your only sanity lies in taking a break from everyone, for just one measley hour.
And that's how I discovered that at least once a week, it is good for me to go to a restaurant, by myself and eat.
I normally bring a book, or some papers I need to go over. It's nice to just relax and not to talk to anyone. Just chill and eat at my own leisure.
It's realy nice and I've actually come to enjoy it and even somewhat prefer it during lunch breaks. (Although nothing can take the place of Jon and I's last minute lunches to Bennigans).

So Lyric is still sick. Her fever has gone down and is intermitten, but she is still not up to par. Jon said she walked around the house all morning calling, "mama". Awww! She loves me!!! She slept ok last night. After a few times of waking up, she went down for the night around 1am. I just feel so sorry for her when she is like this... she's just so helpless and she needs her mommy.

Speaking of mommy, my mother-in-law's visit has been great! I wish I was able to spend more than just the evenings with her, but alas, it's not going to happen. However, I'm doing it so I can spend a lot of time with her in October... gotta save up that vacation time!

Jon on the other hand has been able to work his minimum hours which has left him a lot of time with his mom. He normally just has to be gone a few hours a day, which is SO nice! My MIL leaves on Saturday and she's been a lot of help. She's the laundry queen and I've only done one load of dishes in a week!
SUCH a big help! Especially since I've been so nauesaus and all I want to do is lay down and pray that the sick feeling in my stomach will pass!
I'm afraid she thinks I'm lazy and that I make Jon do everything... if only that was true and I could actually get away with it!
It will be sad to see her go, but I've really enjoyed having her here!

Well back to the grind. I'm waiting to be relieved up at the front so I can go back to work on an FAA project!
Fun, fun!

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.

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!

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! :)

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! :)