I'll Be Home for Christmas

Here is my basket full of Christmas Joy!

Well, this is the last post you'll see from me till after Christmas. I'll be heading home soon, where I do not have internet, so I will not be back till Wednesday next week. I wish to everyone who reads my blog and who doesn't a Merry Christmas and God's Blessings on you and your family.

I will be hosting Christmas at my house this year. I have a bit of a different menu planned, so I hope it goes over well. The guest list consists of: Grams, Gramps, Mom & Dad, Aunt C & Uncle C and their kids R and A. Just enough for a cozy Christmas.

There is little under the tree, but more in our hearts than ever before. I prefer it that way, really. The greatest gift that we could ever receive has already been given. That's the reason we are celebrating. For all who are willing to accept him, Jesus is our saviour and Lord. Each year it amazes me more and more how he walked so humbly among his creation out of love and sacrifice in order to keep us with him. There truely is no greater gift than this. May the spirit of God bring healing to the hurting, peace to the troubled, and joy to the wounded hearts.

Quote for the day: For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6

We've got a long way to go, and a short time to get there!

Here is another of J's great Christmas photos. Just look at all those rolls!

So, the Christmas countdown approaches! Care to see my list of chores? Here goes:
Vacuum carpet
Vacuum ceiling
Finish decorating house
Clean kitchen
Clear off dining room table
Get out Christmas dishes and re-wash
Borrow folding table & chairs
Straighten up nursery
Clean out refrigerator and freezer
Wash guest room bedding
Finish gift shopping
Buy fresh produce for Christmas dinner
Wrap gifts
Prep for Christmas dinner
Pick up clutter around the house (this will likely consist of throwing everything on my bed Christmas morning and closing the door, then throwing it back on the chair in the living room before going to bed that night. LOL)

Not too bad, eh? Think I can get that all done? Should I make that my new poll question? LOL Well, lets see, I have to shop on Saturday and have a Christmas dinner with my siblings & families on Sunday, so that leaves me four evenings and one full day to get all that list done. I wonder what can afford to be skipped?

Heaven.....I'm in Heaven!

This is one of J's 7 month pictures. Look at the first finger of his left hand. That is his very first little bandage. Yes, he was injured in the trenches of babyhood. (His daddy awarded him a purple heart.) I cut his little finger while trying to cut his nails. It was a small cut but wouldn't stop bleeding. So I had to make up a baby bandage. So sad! (I know, he looks scarred for life, doesn't he?)

Have I mentioned on here lately how much I adore my husband? No? Well, I do. Let me tell you why. Last year for Christmas he bought me a gift certificate for a one hour full body massage. Well, last night I cashed it in. I don't even know where to begin to try to find the words to tell you how incredible and wonderful it was. I literally feel like a new woman. I had never had one before. It was something I always wanted, and R got it for me last year when I was pregnant and having so much back pain. But I never did use it because I was afraid of laying on my belly that long while pregnant, and then J arrived and it's been so crazy busy ever since. I've thought about it often but never felt like I could fit it in. Well, the certificate was about to expire, so I bit the bullet and made an appointment. It was such good timing too, because I was really beginning to hold in the stress, and had a tension headache for about three solid days this week. I've never felt better, let me tell you!

Gentlemen, if any gentlemen read my blog, buy your ladies a massage for Christmas!!! It's worth twice what you'll pay for it, I promise. Ladies, ask for one. As for me, next time I'm going for the facial, manicure and pedicure. Does that sound great or what?

Just another Manic Monday....

If you look closely in this picture, you can see J's two teeth. They are getting bigger and bigger every day.



Well, we survived another weekend. It was a very busy one again. Friday my dad and I headed home from work about an hour early because we were told that it was snowing hard back home. I’m so glad we did! As it was we had a tough time the last few miles. I can’t imagine what it would have been like if we’d waited another hour. My dad drives me to work each day. He drives a Mustang GT, which is totally fun and awesome….except on snow or ice. Then it is really scary! The snow was pouring down and it looked so pretty. R got out to bring me and J home from my mom’s house. We got home and stayed toasty warm inside all night. The snow kept up through the night. On Saturday morning we woke up to the loveliest blanket of sparkly white! We had about 8 inches overall. It continued off and on through the morning. J was totally mesmerized watching the snow fall outside the living room windows. Then he had lots of fun watching his Daddy shovel the walk and driveway. He was leaned way over staring out the window. Then BAM!! Daddy threw a snowball at the window right in front of his face. It was funny.

We bundled up and went out into the snow about 1:00 in the afternoon. R and J and I went to town for some mega shopping and errands. It was so nice to have R take care of J for me in the store. It made the whole trip so much nicer and faster. We had to pick up our “Angel Food,” which is a ministry run through a church in town. It is a nation wide thing, and they buy a bunch of food in bulk and distribute it through churches to people at a discount price. We get a huge box of fresh and frozen foods and dry goods, including lots of meat for only $30 a month. Well, the pickup day was Saturday. Since I was going to town anyway, I picked up my mom’s, step-mom’s and grandma’s orders too. So we had to go to my step mom’s to pick up her ticket (can’t claim the food without it) and stop at grandma’s for her ticket, then get to the curch and pick up the food. After that we went to Wal Mart. R and J looked at the goldfish, and the lobsters, and the flashy singing toys in the toy department. Then J decided to be difficult. He didn’t want to sit. He didn’t want to lay down. He wanted Daddy to hold him while he leaned waaaayyy back and looked at the ceiling. (The same ceiling he was looking at while laying down, but that wasn’t nearly as fun.) When we were all done, R took all the groceries out to the car and drove up to the front door, so that all I had to do was carry J out the door. Have I mentioned lately how much I love my husband? After that was a quick run into Home Depot, and through the pharmacy drive through, a stop at grandma’s to drop off her food, and back home. We had to hurry to unpack the vehicle, put away the food, feed J, and get dressed for R’s company Christmas party.

The party was a lot of fun. J got lots of spoiling and attention. A made a wonderful dinner of chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, and dessert. There was a little girl there who was 20 months old and she and J totally fell in love! (She was blonde, of course. How am I going to teach this boy to love brunettes?) They just hugged and kissed each other over and over and over. It was totally sweet. We had fun with our gift exchange, and then J got tuckered and fell asleep on his Daddy’s shoulder so we headed home.

Sunday we cleaned up around the house a little. Not as much as I need to. Played with J and fed him his breakfast. Then he had a nap and when he woke up he and I picked up my mom and went to my aunt’s house for holiday candy making. My grandparents came over for lunch as well. J had a great time. He had his Mommy, Grandma, Great-Grandma (Grams, as we call her), Cousin A, and Great-Aunt C all at the same time. If he wasn’t just the prince of the province, let me tell you! Once he got under Aunt C’s Christmas tree before Grams could catch him. The little booger is fast! He got his nose scratched a little, kicked the tree and watched the little pieces flutter down, and pulled off an ornament. Not harm done besides the tiny scratch. When we went home J was so tired. I still needed to take my step-mom’s angel food to her and make a stop to see my cousin who had a reception for her college graduation that day. So the executive decision was made to leave J with Daddy while my mom and I did that. Poor R. Not long after we left J very suddenly started screaming and would not stop. Nothing would pacify him, not a bath, not a bottle, not a binky, not laying down, not sitting up, nothing. By the time I got home R was sooooo stressed and upset. I took J and he practically raced downstairs for a smoke. (R, that is, not J, LOL) J finally calmed down, but he would have not part of his bottle and went to bed about an hour and a half earlier than usual. That left him with only having had 18 ounces of milk all day. I was very worried.

Today J has eaten better, and is gnawing on things with the right side of his mouth like crazy, so I hope that was the issue and nothing serious. He normally eats about 30 ounces a day, and lately has had only 24 several days. But 18 is just not enough. I hope he is over the problem soon. Poor baby.

Well, now that I have written you a book, I will go about my business for the week. Christmas is just around the corner, I can hardly believe it. Hope everyone has a good week. I’ll see you soon.

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree.....

Here is little J enjoying his tree.
Forget my toys, man. This thing BLINKS!
The lovely finished product....finally!

So here are the promised pictures of the tree. As you can see, J really loves it. We had to get the "fence" to put around it because he got himself under it and scratched his face on the branches. The "fence" is actually a Superyard XT, and I really like it. It will come in handy as he gets older too.

Well, this weekend looks to be another busy one. We are finally out from under the ice, and they are predicting a thick blanket of snow starting tonight through tomorrow. I hope it doesn't hit us too hard, because I am badly in need of going to town for some shopping tomorrow.

Tomorrow night is R's company Christmas party. It will be fun to take J and see him soak up all the attention! That is, assuming his bosses have their electricity back! LOL

Sunday I plan to go to my Aunt C's house for our annual togetherness tradition of making Christmas candy together. This is one of my favorite holiday traditions.

Hope everyone has a safe and happy weekend. Get out there and finish your shopping so that all you have to do next weekend is cook and relax.

Ice, Ice Baby!

This is the awesome power of our God in nature!
See how each individual blade of grass is highlighted with it's own glassy sheath of ice.

And each needle of an evergreen tree or bush is the same way.

This is how thick the ice got on a tiny twig of a tree.

This is a bush beside my house.

It looks like it's dipped in acrylic.

It amazes me how something can be both so beautiful and so destructive.

Life...On Ice

I am pleased to be here to report that all is well. The ice storm was not near as bad where I live and work as they predicted it would be. One weatherman said that if it had been just 1 ½ degree colder it would have been a complete disaster! As it is, I live just on the outskirt of where the heaviest damage is. We got a lot of ice, but there is only a small amount of damage in my town. Thus far we never lost power in town, though my dad who lives just south of town has none. I am so thankful! I have some good pictures that I hope to be able to post tomorrow.

My step dad lives in the hard-hit area. They have been without power since Monday night, and they are in a rural area, so I do not expect they will have it back very soon. Last I heard, the temperature inside the house was in the 50’s. Now, my step-dad lives with his aged parents and takes care of them. They are both in poor health, and without electricity his dad has been without his breathing treatment meds. I am hoping that he will bring them to town so they can stay with my mom till the power is back on. They do not need to be catching pneumonia from all of this. Prayers for their situation would be appreciated.

I stayed home from work yesterday with a nasty head cold. It is getting better today. I enjoyed playing with J in between nose-blowings. He did the coolest thing yesterday! We were reading a book together, one of those board books for babies. J turned his own pages! I was so surprised! The little booger is so smart.

Well tonight little J man and I are on our own. R has to be on the road. L I will miss him. I’m not sure what J and I will do. We may go to church Advent service, or we may just stay home and stay warm. I hope to get some laundry done and get some more Christmas decorating done. Usually my house is strewn with Christmas, and this year all I have up is the tree. I am planning on having Christmas dinner at my house, so it would be nice if it looked a bit more festive.

Well, I will be back again tomorrow with some pictures for you. Everyone have a nice night and stay safe and warm.

Quote for the day: Have courage for the great sorrows of life and patience for the small ones; and when you have laboriously accomplished your daily task, go to sleep in peace. God is awake.
Victor Hugo (1802 - 1885)

I have the best husband in the world!

Today’s picture is one of my favorites. It is J when he was just a few days old. He was in the hospital, stuck in an incubator on photo therapy. He'd been in there for several days at this point. That's why we titled this picture, "Dear God, please let me out!" You can see the IV in his little head. Poor guy!

Ok, can I please just say that my husband is THE BEST!! We had such a wonderful weekend together, and he is really wonderful to me. He and J are such buddies, and it is a joy for me to watch them together. It makes me fall in love with R all over again. It is so funny when R leaves the room, say to get a cup of coffee or something, J will strain himself practically out of my arms trying to look around the corner for his daddy.

Saturday we had some ice on the ground, so I decided it would not be a good idea to get J out to go shopping. Instead, I left him home with Daddy, and I just went to the bank, post office, and our little local grocery store, rather than all the way into town. We decided that it did not look like we’d be able to go to our Christmas party. So we lounged and relaxed for the morning. Then later it began to look better and we decided that we could go to town after all. So we began getting ready. We dropped J off at my mom’s house and we went to town early so we could do a little shopping together before the party. We found an awesome Christian bookstore. They were out of some of the things we wanted, but we did get a new study bible for R, which is something he’s been wanting for a while. We also got two bible studies for us to do at home together.

Then we were off to the party. Wow! All I can say is Wow! Have you ever been to one of those Japanese steakhouses where they do the hibatchi style cooking at your table? It is freaking awesome! We had so much fun, and the food was super delicious. It was totally worth it, and we will be going back! Hopefully my other son T comes home again soon, because we’d like to take him and his girlfriend there. They’d really love it. That was the first thing I thought of when we were there. I was a little bad too. I had a drink. J It was called a “Madame Butterfly.” It was delicious. We were headed home to pick up J by 7:00. Not exactly wild and crazy kids, but we had fun.

Sunday was super nice. When I woke up I could hear a very strange sound. It was sleet pouring down outside! Yuck. So we opted out of going to church. Instead, R helped me get the house cleaned up, and we started our bible study. It was wonderful! Getting in the Word with my husband is one of my favorite things to do! We are studying Ephesians, which is also one of my favorite books. We kept that up most of the day, in between J’s needs. LOL We also cleaned up the house together, and R did my dishes, finished the laundry, and cleaned the basement. Did I mention I love my husband?

I put on a pot of chili, and we had my dad, step-mom (Momma J) and brother over for supper. We played several games of pool. We had a blast. J just soaked up the love!

We were off to bed at a decent time last night. I slept like a rock till J woke me up at 3:30AM. That’s right, 3:30. He was babbling happily away, and I could NOT sleep through it. So I went into his room, and there he lay in his crib, on his back with his legs sticking up in the air, just playing with his feet and talking. I gave him his binky and put his blanket back on him. I went back to bed and about 20 minutes later, he did it AGAIN! Same exact thing. So I gave him the binky a second time. I didn’t hear another peep till the normal waking up time. Thank goodness.

This morning R had to drop of J for me. He needed to have the Durango since the bug has no defrost. Imagine that, he thinks he needs to see where he’s going! So I got him bundled up and sent him off with Daddy. He looks so funny all bundled up in his snow suit. We are expecting a big ice storm tonight into tomorrow. They are already talking about this being the kind of storm that can knock down trees and power lines. Then one that came through three years ago was super nasty, and they say this could be worse. I am really praying that we do not loose our electricity. I can’t imagine trying to take care of J with no heat, not lights, no fridge for his milk, no microwave for his frozen homemade baby food. I’m sure we’d manage, but it wouldn’t be fun. I am also praying for R to make it home before the ice starts. I do not like the thought of him in that big ole truck on the ice. So if by chance you don’t hear from us for a while, don’t worry. We just don’t have electricity! LOL Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.

All I want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth!

Today’s picture is one of J's Christmas pictures. Thank you Big Bird! You're the best photographer ever!

Hooray! It’s finally Friday! I have made it through another week. December is just flying by this year. Tomorrow we are supposed to have my company Christmas party, then next Saturday is R’s, then the weekend after that is Christmas weekend! I can’t believe it. When am I going to have time to shop? Well, good thing I don’t plan on buying much this year. As always, I will buy for my nieces and parents, and for the gift exchanges we participate in. R and I aren’t buying for each other this year. We aren’t even sure if we’re buying anything for J. After all, he will be more than adequately spoiled by his many aunts, uncles, and grandparents. And he is young enough that he won’t know the difference. But on the other hand, it just doesn’t feel right. We’ll see.

Well, the big news for today is that J now has two teeth! His second one came through yesterday. Now he has his two bottom front teeth. Yay! Now hopefully he’s done being a booger head for a while! Also, I finally got that stupid tree finished last night. It looks very lovely and I am happy with it. I didn’t put nearly as much on it as I usually do, but it’s nice. I’ll have to get a picture this weekend to post for you.

Last night was pretty nice. R didn’t work yesterday due to the ice on the roads. So he was home when I got home. We looked at some catalogs together, then I went to pick up J. He was doing very well yesterday, other than not really wanting to eat. We came home and he was happy to play on the floor and play with Daddy while I straightened up the kitchen. I put some hamburgers on the foreman for supper. Easy pleasy. We ate while watching “Are you smarter than a fifth grader.” Then I gave J his supper and then J and I had a bath. Daddy took care of his bedtime routine so I could get myself cleaned up after J was clean. So J ended up going to bed by 9:00. R went downstairs to play a computer game and I finished my tree. (Whew) Then we cuddled on the couch for a little more TV, and it was off to bed. I slept so soundly. It was great. J slept all the way through for the first time in a long time. (he doesn’t get up in the night, but often cries a little, or scoots himself up to the top of the crib, making his angel monitor alarm go off.)

This morning was great. Everyone woke up in time, things were going smoothly, J was happy. We were just about to walk out the door to take him to his grandma, when…..
BLECH!!! Right down the front of my shirt! Yep, that’s right, baby verp smack in the middle of my chest. I was wearing a V-neck shirt, so it was largely on my skin. I had made the mistake of sitting down to feed J without a burp rag, so there was nothing I could do but sit up and let in run down my cleavage and into my fresh clean bra I had just put on this morning. EEEEWWWWW!!! So we ran a little late this morning. LOL He’s a smart boy, though. He didn’t get a drop of it on himself.

The weather is greatly improved today over yesterday’s icy morning. I sounds like we will have plenty of ice tomorrow, though. So I don’t know what that will do to our company Christmas party. Hopefully it’s fine to go out by the evening.

Well, everyone have a good weekend, and I will see you again on Monday. Merry Chrismas!!!

Quote for today: “The art of mothering is to teach the art of living to children.”
Elain Heffner, O Magazine, May 2003

Day 11 and the tree's still not done...

Today’s picture is J and his Daddy. He fell asleep in Daddy’s arms while being burped. These two men are such buddies, it’s unreal. What joy they both add to my life!

Well, I’m determined to have the tree done before it’s time to take it down! But it’s been “up” for 11 days now, and all it has is lights and about 6 ornaments. It looks pretty sad. Last night I didn’t even touch it yet again. R was gone overnight on the road, so I stayed at my mom’s house when I went to pick up J, helping her learn about internet and email and getting things set up for her on her computer. Well, you know how easily time gets away from you on these blasted things! So it was after 11:00 by the time I got home. I wasn’t about to work on a Christmas tree that late. As it was it was after midnight by the time I got to bed. But we had fun spending time together, so it was worth it. But here it is 1/3 of the way into the season, and I still don’t have my stuff together, so to speak. So here is my resolution: I WILL finish my tree before it’s time to take it down. Preferably by Saturday afternoon.

J was all confused last night. He had he supper and his last bottle of the day and fell fast asleep at grandma’s house. I put him in his crib. Later I was agonizing over whether or not to try to wake him up to go home, but he took care of it for me. He woke up after sleeping about an hour. I guess he figured grandma’s house is only for naps. LOL We went on home and I put him to bed. He jabbered for a little while, and then he fell asleep. He slept the rest of the night and woke up about 6:30 this morning. What a perfect little boy!

Today his great grandma is over to visit him. They always have the best time together. It is unclear who wears who out the most. Usually my mom tries to send supper home with grams so that she doesn’t have to cook for gramps, because she’s always exhausted after a day of baby play. Imagine how she’ll feel when he’s two!

Yesterday I really wanted to make a special post in honor of J’s 7 month birthday. Yep. That’s right. The little man is 7 months old already. I was incredibly busy, though and didn’t get it done. So happy birthday baby J! Mommy loves you more than her heart can hold. (that’s why it spills out her eyes sometimes.)

Welcome Home Brother J!

It’s official. My big brother is back home. He had been away for 2 ½ years. He looks almost the same as I remember, just gained a bit more scalp! LOL He traveled over 1700 miles straight through, with nothing but a few rest area power naps along the way. I am so thankful to God that all our prayers were answered. He made it here with no bad weather, no car trouble, no problems of any kind. God is good, I keep on saying it!

The photos are: top left, Brother J, me and baby J, sister. top right, baby J with cousins A, W, and A. bottom left, Cousin W helping J go back to sleep. bottom right, Cousin S hypnotizing baby J. (read more below)

Sunday was a very fun day. J and I spent over 7 hours at my dad’s house with our extended family. Grandpa M (my step-mom’s dad) had just gotten out of the hospital a few days before, and we were afraid he wouldn’t be able to come at all. But come he did, and looked great! We were all surprised that he stayed so long. That day was the longest he’d been away from home in about two years. In all we had 16 people there. Brother J gave us all new pictures of his daughter L in Connecticut. She is 10 years old now, and looks so grown up!

Cousin S discovered she had an incredible hypnotic power over J. He was sitting in his walker and she began stroking his head softly, and down over his forhead and nose. The kid looked like he was in a trance everytime she touched him! We were all rolling in laughter. It was one of the funniest things I ever saw. His eyelids would droop and his head would sag. As soon as she lifted her hand off him, it was like he startled awake. I got a few pictures of it; I posted one for you. We told her she was like Crocodile Dundee when he made that water buffalo go to sleep. LOL

The only other news from the weekend was that J tried bananas on Saturday. He wasn’t all that impressed. I think he liked the taste, but they were a little lumpy and it confused him. We’ll keep trying. I still did not get my tree finished. I bought ornament hooks on Saturday, does that count as progress? I found the spray snow R wanted. He used some cool stensils my sister gave me last year to put a pretty nativity scene on the window with it. He told me his mom always used that stuff on the windows when he was a kid. I never knew that before. 8 years of marriage and we’re still learning about each other. I always thought that stuff was cool, but my parents never used it. I guess J will have his Daddy’s tradition.

Preparing for Christmas

Todays picture is one of J's Christmas poses. In honor of the season! Merry Christmas everyone. This is my favorite time of year!

Last night was very nice. I got my living room somewhat straightened, got the last string of lights on my tree, and a couple of the ornaments. I vacuumed the little bits of tree off the floor so J won’t end up eating them. My kitchen is still a wreck, but if you just hang out in the living room the house looks nice. LOL

Tonight my intention was to go into town as soon as I pick up J and do a little shopping so that I don’t have to go back out tomorrow. But then my dad asked me if we could go shopping after work to get a present for my step-mom. (Today is their 11th anniversary. Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!) So I guess it depends on how long that takes. I have to get some prescriptions filled, so if I can’t get to town before the pharmacy closes, then there’s no point in going. I’ll have to go the next day anyway. We’ll see what happens.

Today I realized that there is something going on every weekend through New Years’. I feel tired already just thinking about it. I have already told my family that they are welcome to come if they like, but I am going nowhere for Christmas. I am staying at home with my little family. I hope they all come to my house because I’d love to get together with them. Today I started planning for my Christmas dinner. Am I crazy to be thinking about that already? Maybe. But if I buy part of what I need each week, then it’s not such a huge bill all at once. So I am planning a whole new menu different from what I’ve traditionally had before. I hope everyone likes it.

The Sweetest Gift

The Sweetest Gift

The sweetest gift I never deserved came straight from Heaven above.
The purest expression of God’s creation and Mommy and Daddy’s love.

Your face so very beautiful, God’s own true work of art.
Each smile a drop of sunshine, to melt your Mommy’s heart.

I love you from your punkin head and little button nose,
Clear down to you chubby feet with such long skinny toes.

A crown of long dark baby hair upon your lovely head
Frames such an angelic face, as all who’ve seen you said.

The rest of the world seems to disappear when I hold you in my arms,
Cause I am so enraptured, a willing captive of your charms.

It’s an honor just to care for you and guide you as you grow.
And where this journey leads for us, only heaven knows.

The sweetest gift there ever was ‘tween earth and sky above
The Lord saw fit to give to me: my little baby’s love.

-heather nall 7-26-07

Just another day...

I've decided that I will add a photo to each post for a while. This one was taken with my cell phone when J was just twelve days old. We were in the hospital ER waiting room because we thought he had a very low body temp again (turns out it was a faulty thermometer....expensive way to figure that out!) and he was lethargic. That is, till we got all the way to town. Then, as you can see, he was quite chipper. LOL

Ok, so I didn't get nearly as much done last night as I wanted to. It was late before R got home. J was very well behaved, though. I did get some of the dishes and laundry done, but that is about all. I could have done more, but I wanted to go to bed early. I figured tonight would be a better night to stay up, since R will not be home tonight.

My Grandpa M went to the hospital again last night. They thought he was having a heart attack, but the hospital said he wasn't. They are not sure what the origin of his chest pain is, as they do not think it is heart or lung related. So they were going to give him pain meds for the night and resume testing today. I hope he feels better soon.

Not much else going on that I can think of. Little J man has been happy yesterday and today, so I guess he is feeling better. Tonight I plan to finish the Christmas tree, fold and put away laundry, and do the dishes. Hopefully I can get it all done. If I have time, I'd also like to get some more of my photos on a disc so that I can bring them to work and get them on here. We'll see how it goes.

Busy Days...

So, how has everyone been? Me? Oh, I guess you could just say...busy. R has been gone a lot recently with his job. He either comes home very late, or very tired, or not at all. So I am at home alone with J in the evenings. He has been a little fussy and demanding this week. I think his second tooth is working on coming through and this is what the trouble is. I had my house cleaned up last weekend. Honest I did. Not that you can tell it today. I go home everyday with such lofty goals and intentions. By 10:30 I have usually collapsed of exhaustion in the midst of the mess. Things will improve greatly if I can just get that stupid tree finished and get the boxes out of my living room! Boy, I am usually so enthusiastic about Christmas. And I still am, really. It's just the decorating that is getting to me. Many nights I end up feeling lonely. I miss my mom and R. Sure, I see my mom every day when I drop off and pick up J, but on the weekends she is taking her time to get stuff done, and spend time with my step-dad.

Here is the good news in my family: My brother J is coming home from Connecticut this weekend. He is moving back home to stay. Yeah!!! I love you and miss you J! We are having a late Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday with my Daddy, Momma J, Brother J, and Sister J (My, I never noticed before what a J family we are....curious...) and her family. Brother J has never seen baby J before, so it should be lots of fun. He really is a baby nut.

Last night J got to try green beans for the first time. He seemed eager to eat them, even if they did make him gag a little bit. I think it had more to do with the consistency than the taste. They just are not as smooth as the stuff he's accustomed to. I ended up having to mix them with his rice, but he ate them all. He has been blowing raspberries lately, and he got on a royal raspberry roll in the middle of his supper last night. He blew green beans everywhere! It was too funny.

The Monday after Thanksgiving

Whew! What a long weekend it's been! I had both Thursday and Friday off work, which was wonderful. A full four days with my two men! Yes, R had Friday off as well. We were so blessed! It was a wonderful holiday, even if it did fly by all too quickly. Here is the rundown:

Thursday
We woke up and I baked a pan of pumkin bars to take to grandma's house. We tried to get around early enough to go to my other family's for a morning visit, but with J it just wasn't in the cards. We got to my grandma's at about 10:45. We had lots of fun visiting with family and having a yummy dinner in grandma's new house. This was the first big family get-together she's had there, and it went quite well. J had pumpkin for the first time. He liked it when I mixed it up with oatmeal and cinnamon. Yummy!

Friday
I had intended not to go anywhere at all on Friday. It was going to be the day for Christmas decorating. I spent the whole morning and early afternoon just getting my house clean. BIG chore! But it looked nice when I was done. Just about the time I was ready to get out the decorations, our friend G called and asked us to go over to his house. His son, daughter in law, and new grandson were visiting from Tennessee. So we loaded up J (a feat in itself) and headed to town. We had a great time there, chatting, playing cards, and playing with the other baby J. It began to snow. We headed home around 8:00 so we could get J all ready for bed. It was a pleasant day all together.

Saturday
We woke up to a beautiful 4" blanket of snow! It was very pretty. I got J and myself ready as quickly as I could and we headed for Wichita to do some shopping. I was looking for a snowsuit for J, and some type of barrier to put around the tree, since he has become quite an avid little traveler now. We started out at Babies R Us. It is a good thing that store isn't closer to home, because I could shop myself into the poor house easily in there! I found the "tree fence," as I call it, and a few other things. Then we headed to Burlington for a snowsuit for J. I found a really nice one. It is a bit too big, but the next smaller size was really kind of small, and would not have lasted through the winter. My Aunt C met us there with her daughter A. We had a nice visit and went to Wendy's for lunch together. After that I had to go to Wal Mart. J is getting to be such a big guy now! He likes to sit up in the front of the shopping cart. Actually, he has to be propped up a bit by blankets, but he enjoys it.....for a while. LOL Then he gets tired. He will sleep in the bottom part of the basket just fine, but if you have many items in there, it's not an option. Anyway, as he began to get restless, I began to get goofy, trying to entertain him. As he threw his head back, mouth wide open in the sweetest baby belly laugh......Something glinted! "Wait a minute," I said. "Come back here!" I looked again, and stuck my finger in his mouth and.....sure enough. J has his first tooth!!! It is the bottom right front tooth. I was so excited I practically danced in the aisle. (there were two other women there laughing at me) Then I said "Holy crap, J, we get EVERYTHING at Wal Mart!"

R put up our Christmas tree for me while J and I were shopping. He is such a darling man. He also put out some outdoor decorations and the nativity scene. That night our friend G and his family came to our house to visit. We had a really nice time. My baby J got a little confused when we put the other baby J into his jumperoo to check it out. I put frozen pizzas in the oven for supper. What a hostess, eh? Well, I was too pooped to cook.

Sunday
We got up and went to church. Advent season at last! I just love to sing Christmas hymns. It was nice. We went home and I intended to decorate the tree. Sadly, J had other ideas. He became a royal fuss-budget! He was very cranky all the rest of the day. I managed to get 5 strands of lights on the tree. Only two more strands to go and I can start putting on ornaments. I hope I can get at least the lights finished tonight. I think he is just in pain because a second tooth is coming quickly behind the first. I hope it comes through soon, because he does not want to do anything but sit in my lap right now, and even that isn't good enough some times. I must confess, though, that a part of me is glad that he wants to cuddle up with me so much. That part is really nice. Sunday evening my Dad and step-Mom came over for dinner. We had a very yummy tender steak that you could cut with a fork. They visited for a little bit and then went home. J was once again beeing a big ole' booger-head. I got into the bathtub with him. That always calms him down, though usually Daddy is the one to give him his bath, but I offered to to it that time since Daddy had a good show on TV he wanted to see. We had a fun time, then J was in his ba-dreamies, tummy filled with milk, and off to sleepy land he went. And Daddy and I joined him soon after.

Monday
So here it is on Monday. I have to be back to work today. I love my job, but it is really hard to leave J again after four solid days together. He woke up in a very good mood this morning, so I hope he acts better for his grandma that he did yesterday. I got to my office and noticed all the salesmen wearing their coats. Curious.....then noticed that it felt distinctly chilly inside. As it turns out, our gas had been shut off over the weekend, so our building had no heat for four days! BRRRRR!!!! The guys said it was 44 degrees inside when they opened up. Well, it's warmer now that we have the heat going again. I still feel a bit chilly, though. I'll be very glad to go home tonight and cuddle up on the couch with R and J and watch my TV show. "Heroes" is only the very best show on television, and the only one I can't stand to miss! There are only two more episodes left to save the world from the Shanti Virus! Oh no, whatever will they do?

Photos from J's first six months

Just another one of those days....

Have you ever had one? You know, one of those days? Those days where things just go wrong? Well, today is one of those for me! Big time!

To begin, my darling son woke up early. That's not a big deal, I love the extra time with him. But he has been exceptionally cranky lately. We think he's getting ready to cut his first tooth, and he is in pain and hard to comfort. So I was getting very little done besides hold him. I called Mom and asked if I could come drop him off early. Of course, she said no problem. So off I went to Mom's house in my PJ's, LOL. (Did I mention that my Mom's a saint?)

By the time I got home I was running very late, trying to pack a lunch, get dressed, wash my hair, eat some breakfast, etc. I thought I had it all pulled together by the time my Dad arrived. (he's my ride to work) At 9:15 this morning, I realized how wrong I was. I did not pack the crucial pieces of my breastpump! So now I am wondering just what kind of a day I'm going to have not being able to get relief all day, and what it's going to do to my supply!

Top that off by the fact that my darling husband called me this morning to make sure that I got out of bed ok. (earlier this week our electricity flashed after I had hit the snooze button!) Did I mention how much I love R, and how well he takes care of me? Anyway, the poor guy got unexpectedly sent to Co overnight last night and had no coat or hat with him. He went into a truckstop this morning to get some coffee and guess what? They declined his debit card. That means that I've done soemthing wrong and we are overdrawn! I don't know what went wrong. My checkbook shows we still have like $20. My darling husband was not mad at me at all, though, which he would have had a right to be. I hope he gets home soon today so that he can eat! Poor guy. It's tough being married to me sometimes!

A long but productive weekend!

Well, all in all I think we had a great weekend. Friday night we went out for supper in Hutch with R's boss and family. We had a great time.

Saturday morning J and I got up and around and headed for Hutch. J had to have his 6 month shots. (boo hoo) He did great! He cried when they poked him, but as soon as I picked him up, he was fine. We continued shopping at Dillons and then Wal Mart. I used his "big boy" car seat for the first time. He was getting way too big for the carrier style. That meant that I had to put him sitting up in the shopping cart. He did great at that too, just tended to lean quite a bit. By the time we got part way through Wal Mart he was soooo sleepy. I cleared out the basket, laid his blanket down, and he slept in the shopping basket. It was so sweet! But guess what? You cannot fit much into the seat section of a shopping cart! Good for you, J, you kept mommy from over spending! After that, we grabbed some burgers to bring home for me and R, and home we went. That afternoon, R and I did some work on raking up and bagging the leaves off the yard. (ok, it was mostly R, but I worked on it as long as J slept!) R worked on the VW and got it running again. YAY!!!

Sunday I started off my morning trying my hand at making homemade baby food. It was pretty easy. I got a batch of green acorn squash, one of butternut squash, and one of green beans done. Sunday afternoon, J and I headed back to Hutch AGAIN for my Great Aunt T's 90th birthday party! It was fabulously fun, and J charmed everyone, as usual. By the time we got home we were both exhausted. R had been working at home too, doing laundry and all sorts of things. So as J slept, we put in a movie, and soon it ended up being a family nap. It was nice.

R was off to bed early Sunday night, and gone before I woke up this morning. He is running like crazy this week Mon.-Wed. (by running, of course, I mean driving his Semi!) so that he can have Thanksgiving, Friday, and the weekend off. Can you imagine us both having four days off at the same time? It will either be wonderful, or we will be throwing heavy objects at each other by Saturday. We'll have to wait and see.

My little future preacher!

So last night was "lite night" at church. This consists of a nice meal, and bible study after. My little man did great through the meal. I fed him his rice cereal and sweet potatoes, and he sat in the high chair and played while the rest of us ate. Ok, it was more like leaning to the side than actual sitting, but he did very well being a big boy in the high chair. He was a quiet little angel. Till the Vicar began his bible study....then nothing would quiet James. Not a bottle, not a pacy, not his blanky....nothing! But he wasn't crying. Oh, no! He was talking and laughing and making eyes at all the people in bible study. He talked so loud we could hardly hear the Vicar at times. Luckily most people seemed to think it was cute. So, who knows, maybe my little man is practicing to be a preacher some day?????

Oh, and I can't forget to mention this: Last night at home, James rolled over from his tummy to his back. This was the first time I've ever seen him do this. And I hope he gets this crawling stuff figured out soon, because he cannot stop practicing at night! He does the "inch-worm" all night long, and when he gets to the end of the bed and is pushing his head on the bars, he cries till I come move him to the other end. He must have woke me a dozen times last night. I don't know how he rests doing all that moving in his sleep. I know I don't!

Here are some photos of my little guy at 6 months old. Isn't he a doll? He thought the baby in the mirror was the funniest thing he ever saw!

Ok, fine! I give!

Ok. My friend E has been pestering me for weeks to start a blog and I have resisted with force. I still insist I don't have the time to maintain it! But she mentioned me on hers last week, so in honor of her I've decided to cave in and give it a shot. We'll see if I can maintain it or not. Wish me luck.

P.S. Love ya E! Couldn't make it through a workday without you!