Stress, Chaos, and Finally a Break!

Woooooohoooooo!  Summer is FINALLY here!

As much as I deeply desired to blog and keep everyone updated on things around here, once the month of April arrived I was running 90-to-nothing and haven't really had a chance to stop yet!  Between Andrew playing T-ball, the state testing (CRCT) and trying to maintain control in a classroom of hormonal, sassy, spring-feverish 6th graders, I have barely had time to take a breath!

School ended last week (Thursday was Field Day and the last day of school!), and we had a teacher work day on Friday.  Today is Memorial Day, but tomorrow we have one last work day and then I'm FREE until late July. :)  I am so excited.  We have no plans to travel anywhere other than a few day trips here and there maybe.  I am hoping to get the house in some kind of order over the next couple of months.

Since Chris began his home business of selling online (Amazon and half.com, mostly), our dining room has been completely taken over by his "stock".  I would love to eventually begin eating in the dining room, so my major goal for the summer is to get him some kind of home office set up somewhere (anywhere) other than in my dining room.  I'd like it to be upstairs, so that when I get home from school and he needs to retreat to do his thing, he can go somewhere quiet, where the kids can't get to him to drive him crazy.

Who knows if he'll even be a stay-at-home dad in the Fall...Andrew will be in kindergarten in the fall, and Hannah will be enrolled in preschool half days M-F, and we have someone who would like to take care of her in the afternoons for us. Chris is getting the itch to get back into ministry, so he might begin looking for a position soon.  Of course, with the housing market the way it is, we can't really afford to move, so it would need to be local.  Not sure how that will work out.  Anyway.

Andrew continues to fail his hearing tests...so he is now on antibiotics to clear up a little bit of fluid in his ear.  After another 10 days or so, we will take him back to the hearing specialist.  If he *still* fails the hearing test, we will get a referral to an ENT to see about tubes in his ears.  He has an eye appt on June 6, and a dental appt in later June (but we are, of course, on the list for a call if something opens up earlier).  Since he failed the eye, ear AND dental checkups required for kindergarten enrollment, all three of these things must be taken care of before he can begin school.  Its gonna be a wild summer.  Pray for us!

Pomp & Circumstance

I can't believe it!  My baby boy is all grown up and officially done with preschool.  He'll be starting Kindergarten in the fall!  What in the world happened?  Wasn't he just born last week?  Didn't we just bring him home?  Where did the last five years go?


I am so proud of my little dude.  He is so smart, so tenderhearted, and so unique.  I hope he never loses the wonderful things that set him apart and make him so special.


This has certainly been an emotional week, what with me getting the Essure done (therefore shutting down the baby factory for good) and Andrew graduating from pre-K...I just can't wait to see what God has in store for the next chapter of our lives!  I guess I'd better buckle my seat belt, 'cause I'm sure that, no matter where He takes us, it'll be one amazing ride. 

Pain meds are fun!

*Disclaimer: I am writing this under the influence of 2 valium, 1 loritab (pain pill), and a muscle relaxer.  Please forgive me if I ramble or stop mid-sentence.  I probably won't even remember writing this, so it should be fun when I eventually come back and re-read this. Ha!

So anyway, today I had my Essure procedure done!  After scheduling it I went through a bunch of mixed emotions.  Its definitely the right thing to do, considering how much my body HATES being pregnant.  I am certainly not one of those girls who walks around glowing 24/7, raving about how amazing and wonderful it is to be nurturing a new life...No, for me, its nonstop vomiting until @25-30 weeks, then another 10 weeks or so of pain and insomnia.  And that's just Chris!  (Just kidding.)  Labor is HARD and I always have complications.  I've been pregnant four times and have two living children.  Pregnancy is NOT my friend.

A lot of people ask why Chris didn't just go get a vasectomy.  Considering I have five friends who ended up pregnant after their husbands got the big V, I simply do not trust the procedure.  This fact, combined with my body's hatred of pregnancy and the fact that I am getting older and more TIRED, I am just done.  I looked into all the options and the Essure procedure was the best option for us.

So anyway, I went in at 11 am this morning.  About an hour beforehand, I had followed doctor's orders and taken my valium, loritab and ibuprofen.  I was so goofy on the way to the doctor's office.  Chris was calling all our family and friends to let them make fun of how loopy I was.  When we got there and got settled in the "
procedure room" they gave me a shot (muscle relaxer) and when the doc came in a few minutes later, the party really got started. 

She gave me a shot of lidocaine in the cervix, which didn't numb me but took the edge off.  I am not gonna lie...There was pain, cramping, and it was not fun. Compared to labor, though, it was nothing.  I squeezed Chris' hand through it all, though, and he was such a comfort. The doc injected sterile water into my uterus so she could find the fallopian tubes.  It didn't take long to find the first tube and insert the spring, but the second was harder to find.  They had to eventually inject more water, which helped them find the second and be done.  All that water has made me so bloated, but it won't last long.  I took another pain pill after they finished and now there is no pain, but I am super sleepy.  I am gonna try to get some sleep so (hopefully) I can feel better enough to be able to go to Andrew's t-ball game tonight.

I truly appreciate everyone's prayers through all this.  I am so very blessed.

Animal House

 Yep, our house has officially become an animal house.  Not in that "toga! toga!" kind of way, but literally...an animal house.  We now have TEN - count 'em - TEN pets.  Nine of them live indoors.  My house may never be clean again.


We already had one dog (Rosie), three cats (Kitty B, Buddy, and Maggie), and five new kittens (Maggie's babies, now three weeks old).  Last weekend, however, we brought home a sweet, gentle, 2-yr old Doberman named Ruby.  She is still a bit shy, but she's getting used to us.  She has all her AKC papers so she's an "official" purebred.  We're playing around with the idea of breeding her and possibly selling the puppies for a little extra income.  Other breeders have told us Doberman puppies can sell for as much as $1000 apiece!  Chris and his friend actually went in together just before adopting/purchasing Ruby and bought two younger Doberman puppies and two days later sold them for three times what they'd paid for them.

So, anyway, we're thinking about it and trying to decide if it might be something we'd like to try.  We'll obviously love and pamper her and treat her like one of the family...she'd be well taken care of, for sure.


For now, though, the kids sure do love her!  She's so gentle with them, and so protective.  I have to say...I'm getting rather fond of her.

Back on the Wagon

Yep, folks, I am officially back on the Jillian wagon.  I fell off right around my birthday (March 30) and spent all of April in a tizzy what with the CRCT and allergies and the kittens being born...I know, I know, there's no excuse.  But anyway, after a month-long hiatus, I am back at it.  I woke up @ 5 am this morning to the news of Usama bin Laden's death and after being shocked/relieved, I decided to go ahead and drag my butt out of bed.  I'm glad I did.  Mean as she is, I've actually kinda missed her.  I feel so much better after a good workout.  All the stress of the past month could probably have been avoided if I'd worked out at least 3 times a week, but oh well.  Nothing I can do about that now...I just need to re-focus and get back in gear. 

Of course, I started at level 1 again (will I ever make it to level 3??) and I can already tell my body is gonna be so sore.  No pain, no gain, right?