You Don't See That Every Day

I got to hear the baby's heartbeat today! It gave me a sense of peace in my mind that the little one is still chugging along, even though I don't always feel so good. And I haven't gained much weight. One pound. 14 weeks. The doctor isn't concerned, so I need not, right? I knew I shouldn't have posted anything yesterday about no hives. I went all day without a Zyrtec and then, boom, right before bedtime they come out of hiding. Bummer. I think it might have something to do with either the cold I am getting or the flu shot I had earlier in the week. Last time I got sick I had them. My weird body. This weekend we will hopefully be working on the deck. It is a mud pit now. Maybe we can get in a small game of mud football before the cement is poured. The boy would love that! Oh, and there is that small thing about costumes and candy ... I think that is tomorrow... the kids will let me know.

For some of you who care, I am going to write about my medical condition. This pregnancy has been a lesson in flexibility. At the beginning my hives were going crazy. I never knew what I would wake up with. But now! I wake up without hives! Wow! No crazy itching first thing in the morning! No puffy lips or eyelids! What a wonderful change these hormones have wrought on my body. Of course, the fear is still there, ever present when I go eat somewhere outside of the house. Lurking in the back of my mind - Is this going to affect me? So far, it has been about a year since something I ate at a restaurant had an immediate reaction. But the fear lurks. My evening sickness has finally faded. The first trimester was pretty bad. After every supper I had to lay on the couch and hold my stomach. If G. was home I could groan and whimper for support; But now! Now I can go for a walk, go to the store, go grade homework, after eating the meal. My energy is slowly coming back, one nap a day seems to ...

This weekend was the annual pumpkin carving at my brother's house. He and his wife have been putting on this shindig for years now. And it seems to grow each year. Everyone brings a snack, so there is plenty to eat. People start arriving around noon (so I've heard - we never make it there that early). The plethora of pumpkins was gathered the day before from the farm, and ready for choosing out of the trailer. Two of the girls had no problem finding one, neither did their brother. But M.E. could not find one she liked for awhile. It had to be big, and the right shape. Kind of hard to understand when she has a lollipop in her mouth .. but we finally got one. They figured out their designs and got to work. When I told the Princess to pull the guts out, she looked at me in horror! But the others got right in there. We helped with the carving, and M.E. even got dad to carve two sides on her pumpkin. But the big event of the day was not the carving, nor the food - although that was ...

Subtitle: Life in a house full of kids . or Adventures of the young and restless. The strange weather patterns may be contributing to the loss of common sense in my children. Earlier in the week my 9-yr old daughter wanted to "be alone". Understandable. I feel that way many times during the day. So she decides to ... climb up on the roof. (???) I might have to try that next time, instead of hiding in the bathroom. Needless to say, her dad and I let her know just how unhappy we were with that choice. The same afternoon - it was quite a day - my son and his friends decide to play in the garage. I'm still not sure why, since the sun was shining and the ground was dry. I open the door to hear a whirring sound ... and my son grins at me as I ask, "What are you doing?!" Obviously something he shouldn't. His dad's power drill was just too tempting I suppose. Move ahead to the next day. The sun is still shining. The children are outside playing. A friend drops ...

Back in the day, when I was in kindergarten, I remember my wonderful teacher taking us to the local station to look around. I've been in awe of that place ever since. Today some other moms and I took our kids to a local fire station for a tour and visit. The kids were duly impressed by the weight of the turnouts and the size of the fire trucks. And the firemen and women were great dealing with the age range of kids, the questions, the comments. The kids got to climb in the trucks and ambulance; operate a hose and feel the power. At the end they all received a little fire hat and safety booklet. While we were finishing up, a call came in and the personnel ran to save the day. The kids were in awe of the lights and sirens. On the way home my little Chef said, "If I don't have a restaurant when I grow up, I am going to be a fire-fighter."

We're getting ready for a wedding. No, not my own girls! (yikes!) This weekend my cousin is getting married and he and his fiancee have asked two of the girls to be in the wedding. Talk about excited little girls! They have been counting down the days. We were able to find matching dresses for the girls in the right colors, at ... Costco! Yay for Costco! Inexpensive, practical and re-usable dresses. I couldn't find fancy "holiday" dresses at ANY other store right now ... except for Costco. No, they did not pay me to say this, but boy howdy, I love that store sometimes! We have the tights, the shoes, the ideas for hairstyles. Now we are just praying that this cough and sniffles in our house will be gone by Saturday!

Little thoughts running through my head... I started the fire in the wood stove today. All by myself. And it actually caught and is burning and warming the front rooms. The stove in my parents' house while I was growing up was a nice feature, if you were in the front rooms. Back in the bedrooms down that long hallway, the floors were ice cold and you were glad there were plenty of blankets on the beds in the winter! Sometimes I want my kids to experience the feeling of frozen toes as they step out of their warm beds. But we have carpeting throughout the house here. One of the girls is coughing and sneezing up a storm and a half today. I think it is just a cold. But this H1N1 virus going around has me really on edge! I have been almost-obsessive with the thermometer anytime they cough or sneeze. And then I hear that this flu doesn't always have a fever. What?! How would I know then?! And it is suppose to be worse on pregnant women. And I can't take anything like Tylenol if I...

All I could think of today was "destruction" ... but in a good way. We went out to the farm to start taking down the garden area, getting it ready for winter, picking the last of the veggies. A bunch of the family was there, which makes for a nicer day, more fun to take things down with others around. I love the air at this time of year. Crisp, fresh (well except for near the hole where the bean poles were. Ugh I almost got sick!) the sunlight is just perfect for photos too. Well, I don't know how well my little point and shoot camera does, but I enjoy imagining the photos to come out well. The boy also got a lesson in driving the pickup today. Except for the bucket I accidentally left behind a tire, all went well, and his grin was big. When we finally headed home, it was time to start on the deck. Destroying the rotting deck was something everyone wanted to get in on. I stayed inside working on vegetables while the others went out to saw through, rip through, and decimat...

A weekend jaunt to Montana. Never thought I would do that in a weekend, but we packed up the 4 kids, dropped off the dogs, and headed east. Eastern Washington - possibly our home-to-be - is brown. We passed a sign that said "Welcome to the Evergreen State" and I laughed. The next day we made it to and across Idaho. It took one hour to cross. Now I know the lower half takes longer, but the state I come from ... hours and hours to cross either way. And finally into Montana. The leaves were changing colors. We were up in elevation, so there was rain, but the colors were beautiful! The highways there now have speed limit signs posted - but 75 miles downhill on a mountain, s-curve was enough to put finger dents in my door handle. So on Friday we got to visit wit h G's 103 year old grandmother. She is still mentally very sharp, although can't see or hear qui te as well as she used to! She is an amazing lady! The kids really enjoyed meeting her - and we decided to take her o...