Better, but still not great!

YAY! Made it to Friday! It has been a CrAzY week, where I have felt marginally better, but have not been great. The highlights are 4th of July (day off work, and blowing things up), registering for baby items (and the barrage of Transformers movies and shows my son is now obsessed with), getting all of my chicks back in my nest (the girls were gone for 2 whole weeks!), going to court (where we got to kibitz about lawyer fashion) and for Britt, finding out that the Peach Shake is back at Chick-fil-a! I have been looking forward to this day (Friday) as it is OFFICIALLY the start of my second trimester. I just got an email that said THIS:

Welcome to the second trimester! This week's big developments: Your baby can now squint, frown, grimace, pee, and possibly suck his thumb. Thanks to brain impulses, his facial muscles are getting a workout as his tiny features form one expression after another. His kidneys are producing urine, which he releases into the amniotic fluid around him -- a process he'll keep up until birth. He can grasp, too, and if you're having an ultrasound now, you may even catch him sucking his thumb. In other news: Your baby's stretching out. From head to bottom, he measures 3 1/2 inches -- about the size of a lemon -- and he weighs 1 1/2 ounces.

Monday was the 4th of July, and no one had to work, so we loaded up the van, and took to the City. My folks went with us – Babies R Us is quite a draw when you haven’t bought baby items in almost 5 years! We started off there, and made a short registry of the basics – Britt was hoping that would help me get more excited about the pregnancy. It helped! I came home with a tiny diaper – it’s SO CUTE! – and some ideas, so that’s fun. After BRU, we went to lunch at Jason’s Deli – a family favorite with lots of healthy choices. And of course, free ice cream at the end for the kids! And Dads! Britt and my Dad were both loading up on the ice cream! ;) After that, we headed to Bricktown for a quick stop at Pinkitzel – we can’t be that close and not stop in! Got some treats to bring home for later! Then, it was off to our FAVORITE shopping destination – TARGET! We started a baby registry there, too. Added a few of the same things that were on our BRU list, but got some others as well. This is where Jake decided he wanted the transformers movie, but he is a bit disappointed with it, and likes watching Transformers: PRIME on the Hub channel much better. My DVR will never be the same… *sigh*

Got the girls back on Tuesday night, and Jake was in HOG HEAVEN! I thought I had never heard him talk so much as when they were gone, but he ramped it up into OVERDRIVE when he had them back – he had to tell them EVERYTHING from the past 14 days since he had seen them! It is so nice to have them back in the house – even if it is louder and messier! Wednesday night we hung out with our “LTC” LifeGroup friends at the Perkins splash pad, which was fun and refreshing even if it was like 102 outside and the splash pad water turned off an hour before it was supposed to! We all needed to get home to bed, anyway, right?
But, the most EXCITING part of Wednesday was THIS:

 

That’s right! It was late afternoon, and I was at my desk at work, and I stretched my arms up over my head and leaned back in my chair, and I felt my whole uterus do a flip flop! WOW! I know it was the baby, and it made my WEEK! I was so excited to tell Britt, and the kids thought it was pretty cool, too! (My mom was torqued because she found out on facebook – I forgot to text or call her… OOPS!) I guess it also led to my first craving, as this was my tweet soon after we got the kids all to bed:

We also had the distinct pleasure of sitting in a court room for 3 hours yesterday afternoon. We finally got the settlement entered from when Lara got hit by a car in the crosswalk in front of her school in February of 2009. I am so glad that is OVER! We still have a few small steps to take care of, but they all fall on me (the victim, of course – why do other people’s negligence always cause the victim work and stress?), and I have some time to carry them out, but it will be COMPLETELY over soon!

So, this weekend I hope to get some rest in between sorority meetings, church, and kids’ commitments. Will probably have to visit Chick-fil-a for that a fore mentioned shake for Britt, and I need to clean my house a bit, too, since this energy drain in my belly is not really allowing that to happen these days! Here’s to the dog days of summer - and the SECOND TRIMESTER!

Raindrops and Tears

So, I didn’t make it very long in Women of Joy world. Everything was irritating me. LOL! The music was too slow, the crowd too old, the hotel room too small, the location too far away. The things I liked were hearing Sarah Palin talk about Guns, God and our Constitution; Anita Renfroe singing about husbands being sexy when they bring you a babysitter; and the company. I was doing OK last night through dinner, the singing, Sarah (who was introduced my our Governor, Mary Fallin), and the hotel stay. Even resisted the urge to head home with Britt texted me this picture of my crying son who was missing me at bedtime: This morning was tough; I was tired and missing home. We got there super early to get better seats than what we had last night, and I was not doing a good job of being a happy camper. So, when there was a break after Anita Renfroe, I made a break for it! Stillwater was calling!

Blessings: Friends who invite me to spend an entire weekend with them; Christian women’s conferences designed to lift you up; a van to take me where I want to go; a supportive family. 

The very first thing I wanted to do when I got to town was to go to the funeral home to see the room where Brian’s visitors are going. I knew the casket was in there, and I knew my mom and Britt went to decorate and personalize the space last night. And I knew the video I made was playing in the room. And I knew I had helped pick out some of the items in the room. I just needed to BE THERE. I called my husband from about 15 miles out of town and told him I was going straight to the funeral home then I would be home. He totally nixed that idea, and asked me to come straight home to our house so he could accompany me. I did, and we decided we wouldn’t be gone that long, and the 2 8-year olds could watch the 4 year old. Besides, they were supposed to be picking up sticks in the back yard and taking the Christmas lights of the deck railing (*blush* - I know, right?). We hadn’t been there 5 minutes when my phone rang, and it was Emma. The kids had managed to lock themselves out of the house. Yup. That’s right. But, it is a beautiful day, they had outside chores, and we would be back soon. We got home, and they were all still in the (fenced) back yard, so I guess it wasn’t so bad.

Blessings: A precious husband who is always there for me (and for my mom!); sweet memories of my incredible brother; cell phones; fences.

We went to lunch then needed to run a few quick errands. Unfortunately, a pity party by YOURS TRULY prevented any of that from getting done. You see, when I am tired and/or stressed, I tend to think my kids are the most annoying humans on the planet, and I lash out. Not only did the occupants of Derek (our Chevy Uplander) get the brunt of my meltdown, so did my mom who was on the phone with me at the time. OOPS! Not a pretty sight, and glad we are all past it now.

Blessings: Chick-fil-a; my adorable children who are not ALWAYS the most annoying people on the planet; meltdowns to vent emotion; forgiveness.

Britt took Jake and Emma to the OSU Spring Football Game. Lara is napping. I am pretending I don’t hear the buzzer on the washer and dryer, or the lawn mower. I just want there to be peace – which is one reason my dear husband separated our kids. Any 2 at any time or place are fine. You all the 3^rd one, and all hell breaks loose! I never liked odd numbers…

Blessings: Distractions, BEAUTIFUL Spring weather; washers, dryers and lawn mowers; even numbers

Today it is my goal to find the blessings in what is going on around me. I am sad, worn out, drained, beat down, torn up and just plain hurt. But, I am so blessed to have my family, my friends, Brian’s friends, my church, my readers, and countless others praying for and supporting me. THANK YOU ALL – you are SUCH a blessing to me in this time!

End of Day 6

I will be going to bed soon, so I say Day 6 is over, and again a success!  I did have one *tiny* lapse, but I’ll describe that later…

We have presented ourselves with a few challenges the past few days.  Thursday night, the kids wanted to eat at one of their favorite places, Chick-fil-a.  My husband figured we could handle it, so off we went.  And we DID it!  They had their nuggets and strips, played in the playground, and a couple of them even traded the toy inside the kid’s meal for ice cream!  He and I shared a large fruit bowl, and drank our water!  Friday was relatively uneventful (except the power went out in my building for the 2^nd time this week and I again went home early).  It was the 5th anniversary of our wedding, so my husband and I wanted to go out and be a couple.  In our culture in this day and time, that usually means going out for dinner.  Well, that was out of the question!  We had babysitters lined up, and pre-purchased movie tickets, so we popped our own popcorn, grabbed some water bottles, stuffed it all in my over-sized purse, and enjoyed a few hours of each other’s company.  It was an early movie, so we wanted to go do something afterwards, but couldn’t come up with something to do… Typically we would go get a drink or dessert somewhere…  This left us both feeling a bit empty – and there was a very short discussion about throwing in the towel.  But, we just picked up the kids, came home, went to bed early, and knew that today was another day!

Today was FULL of challenges!  We had a full day planned – 50 miles from home!  At 9:30, we loaded up the car with the kids, the coats, a movie for the road, bananas, cutie oranges, nuts, and bottled water.  And it worked!  We went to a pre-inauguration event hosted by Mary Fallin for Oklahoma families at the Science Museum of Oklahoma.  They served us all lunch there, courtesy of McDonalds.  The kids all got nuggets and apple slices, apple juice or water.  The adults were offered a salad (or nuggets).  We decided we could do the salads; we would just have to pick off the tortilla strips and cheese.  Plus, only one of our kids likes apples slices, so we got those as well.  Picking the stuff off the salad was tedious, so we didn’t eat too much of that – besides, there was a WHOLE museum to explore!

After a few more stops, we decided we needed an early dinner, and headed to Souper Salad.  My husband thought this would be a good choice for us, but it was harder than we expected!  Lots of salad and fruit choices, but also pasta salads, breads, pizza, and more!  We both did well!  My favorite thing I found to eat was a baked potato, then there was a vegan soup on the line today, so I poured the soup over my potato!  YUM!  Our next stop was church, and I had eaten red onions on my salad.  And they were STRONG.  I needed SOMETHING to get rid of my dragon breath.  I fretted about it all the way to church, every time someone spoke to me and when we dropped the kids off at their classes, and I didn’t want to SING with that taste/feeling.  Worship is my favorite part of a service, so I HAD to do something.  I prayed about it, and found some Extra gum in my purse.  So, I chewed it for about 10 minutes, felt SO MUCH better, and threw it away.  Definitely not on the Daniel fast, but it got me through church without any more stress!

We headed home – security! – after attending church, and we both feel revived and ready for another week!  I am excited that at this time tomorrow, we will have been on this journey an entire week.  I am stronger than I thought I was, and God provides.  2 truths I should know, but that are being sharpened by this experience!