A Day in the Life

15 months

2012-02-10T09:53:00.001-08:00

Actually, Bridget is 16 months (and 3 days) now, but her 15 month appt was yesterday. Carter had been running a fever for about 24 hours the day prior, so I called and added an appt for him at the same time. Big mistake. The appt was at 10, and 2.5 hours, 2 VERY tired and hungry kids, and one slightly frazzled mother later, we finally walked out. Carter was ok, by the way...no ear infection and no spots in his throat. Just a virus I guess.

Anyway, Bridget tipped the scales at a whopping 24 pounds 4oz, and 31.75 inches long. No idea what percentile she's in. If the Dr told me, I probably couldn't hear her over the sound of a screaming baby.

So...at 16 months, what does Bridget do?

-LOVES her baby. She rocks it, sings to it, bounces it (hilarious to watch, by the way), changes it's diaper, and wraps it in the blanket.

-asks to watch a "moonie" (aka: movie) several times a day. Those Praise Baby dvd's are getting a work out! (this is what she's doing in the pic above)

-won't eat a single vegetable. No matter how hard you try to hide some in her food, she'll find it and spit it out. Loves her some grapes, peaches, mandarin oranges and strawberries though.

-says pretty everything. Her favorite words are more, up, baby, and puppy/doggie

-speaking of dogs, she's totally obsessed with them. And not just in theory. She has no fear of dogs, big or small. Any time we step foot outdoors (which sadly isn't very often) she heads right over to the neighbors to try and peak under their privacy fence for just the smallest glimpse of their dog.

-Still doesn't regularly sleep through the night. Yes, I was the mom that pre-child was all about baby wise and said my child was going to sleep through the night at 8 weeks. However, aprox 64 weeks later, she still wakes up more often than not.

Exciting Day!

2012-02-05T12:11:00.000-08:00

It was an exciting day for this little guy! At nearly 4 months of age, he got to go to the grocery store for the first time!

Yeah, we don't get out much. :)

Eeek...3 whole months??

2012-02-03T10:51:00.001-08:00

Sooo....it has been 3 months since I last updated...time flies. I will try and do better and not let my blog die. Seriously though, our life isn't too interesting. We don't go too many places, or do much. Mostly just stay home and be entertained by our kids. :)

Here are some "catch-up" pictures!

Carter's first bath...he's grown a little since then. :) He loves his bath, and just kicks and smiles the whole time.

Bridget loves to help Luke make "pop pop" (popcorn) and she loves to eat it too...just like her dad!

at first Bridget always wanted to "hold" Carter. Thankfully she's moved on from that...

our darling little bumble bee on Halloween

Potluck...everyone was supposed to pick out a Goodwill outfit for their spouse. We didn't exactly get around to doing that so we came dressed as ourselves to the extreme. Luke was a nerd with his pants hiked up real high, lots of gadgets on his belt, and his hair parted to the side. I was a mom...in my pj's and robe, messed up, a breast pump hanging from my neck. And to top it off, I had the screaming baby. :)

Bridget is very helpful and wants to be involved in everything we do. She even helps empty the dishwasher!

Christmas morning...Bridget was a sad case, and Carter was his very happy smiley self.

Bridget's chair from my mom and dad. She loves little chairs so she got her own and loves to sit in it and read books.

Bed head....but nobody could look cuter with it!

Our sweet, smiley, happy boy.

Bridget's first time out in the snow. By the time I got her all dressed and FINALLY got the boots on her feet, she was pretty much done.

Finally getting some rolls!!

Bridget loves her baby and hauls it everywhere...I don't think it's going to be much longer before the head falls off.

And there you have it...that's pretty much the happenings of late. Wendi came over today and brought Culver's for lunch. :) She said she was proud of me for finally updating.

Changes...

2011-10-24T14:18:00.000-07:00

First of all, our little dolly turned one. Oh my...are we really parents to a one year old??

We had a small party for her on her birthday...just grandparents, my siblings, and Paul and Elise. She pretty much glowed getting to be in the spotlight for the evening. :)

She was pretty thrilled with her cupcake. At first she looked at us like "really, this is for me?" Then she dug in, and as she finished the last bite, rubbed her hands through her hair. And then it was off to the bathtub. She loved her gifts, esp a doll from Grandpa and Grandma Knapp. She hauls it around and pats it's back. :) So cute!

(thanks to Wendi for the pics...I took mostly video)

And then...

Bridget became a big sister!

Carter Lucas arrived on Oct 17 at 10:18pm. I had gotten up about 7 that morning, and noticed some blood...just like when I was in labor with Bridget, but this time I had no contractions. So we went ahead with our plans for the day: going to Rader Farms with our Bible study girls. (super fun place by the way..highly recommend it!) Bridget and I spent the morning there, and while eating lunch, I started having hard contractions, just a couple minutes apart. I hurried Bridget through her hot dog and took off for home. Only by the time I got on the interstate, the contractions had stopped. We went home, took naps, and proceeded through the rest of the afternoon and early evening with maybe 2 or 3 contractions.

Earlier that afternoon Elise had called and wondered if we wanted to come for supper that night. Since nothing was happening, I agreed, and we got to their house about 5:30, just as contractions started up again, only they were about every 10 min or so. By the time we got around to eating at a little after 6, I was having them every 2 min or less, and at one point, as I gripped the kitchen table breathing through a contraction, Paul asked if I was going to deliver the baby in their kitchen. :) At that point we decided we'd better head home and call Luke's mom, who was going to stay with Bridget. We got home and got our stuff ready to go, all the while stopping every 2 min or less to breath through a contraction. I had Luke call his mom wanting to know how soon she was going get to our house...I was starting to get nervous.

His mom showed up about 7:30....and contractions slowed WAY down. So we sat around and chilled for about an hour. Finally at 8:30, my contractions were slowed down, but when I had one it was very painful, so we headed for the hospital.

We got there, got put in a triage room, I changed into my gown and went to the bathroom. 2 steps out of the bathroom and my water broke all over the floor. I was dilated to a 5, so they put me in a labor room, started an IV, drew blood and got everything going. My mom and Wendi showed up soon after, and I was already feeling nauseous and asked for some iv pain medication. The nurse checked me, and I think I was at like 7 or something. She said she was going to call the Dr. Since I was pretty much having one 45 min long contraction I didn't say anything but in my head I was thinking "why are you calling the Dr already? Bridget wasn't born for hours after I was dilated to a 7."

The nurse came back with the pain medication, and was just getting it ready to go in when the Dr got there. She checked me and told me she thought I could push if I wanted to. One push dilated me all the way, a 2nd got his head out, and he was born on the 3rd. :)

It was so great to be able to hold him right away and see him be pink and crying. Since Bridget had meconium stained fluid, she was taken to the nursery right away for oxygen. And, there was also an emergency c-section going on at the same time he was born, so there were no med students or residents in the room. Just my nurse, a nurse for Carter, a tech and my Dr. A nice change from the almost 10 "medical people" in the room when Bridget was born!

So...things have been going wonderfully since we came home...Carter is a great baby...pretty much sleeps and eats. I'll post some more recent pictures later, but he is def Luke's look-a -like!

House pics...before

2011-09-30T09:08:00.000-07:00

Someday I'll get around to taking "after" pictures, but for right now the before ones will have to do. :)

This is the upstairs bathroom....very small.

Pretty much the same picture :)

Upstairs bedroom #1. There aren't any pictures on them, but off to the left of this picture, the right of the next, and in the upstairs hallway are HUGE closets. 2 in each room and one in the hall. I joked that if we have more kids than we plan, we can always make the hall closet into an extra bedroom. :)

Bridget's room...with lovely mauve trim and LOTS of wallpaper.

Stairs. :) Can't tell by the pictures, but they're pretty dinged up from animal claws.

Our bedroom

Carter's room

Main floor bathroom.

Living room

Kitchen

One thing the pictures just don't show is the massive amount of dirt, grime, and pet hair found on EVERY surface...yep, even in the freezer that came with the house. Seriously....we should have taken close ups, but it just didn't cross my mind to take pictures of it. :)

We're getting there...

2011-09-14T07:13:00.000-07:00

There are still boxes everywhere, and I feel like I still need to re-scrub every inch of the house, but we're getting there. No pics yet, but I thought you'd all enjoy knowing about Bridget's new tricks/words. :)

So far she says daddy, hi (her favorite word), ackk, eyeye (how do you spell that?), and best of all: Heidi. Yes, she calls me by my first name.

She also knows how the dog and cow go, where your nose is, and where her feet are.

We think she's pretty talented. :)

Our new house!

2011-08-18T07:31:00.001-07:00

We closed on Tuesday afternoon, and now we're homeowners! Or bank slaves, whichever term you prefer.

If you enjoy ripping up carpet, stripping wallpaper, or painting, feel free to give us a call! We'd love to have you join us! :)

Oh, and some stats, for those interested: 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, kitchen, living room, full unfinished basement, and TONS of storage space.

I'll post more pics of the inside as we start working.

Busy Busy

2011-08-12T12:34:00.001-07:00

Our daily activities lately include: giving kisses (LOVE this one!)

Watching Praise Baby; keeps me occupied for at least 20 min while mom tries to accomplish something

Going swimming. I love the water and dad taught me how to jump (ie: fall) into someone's arms

cleaning out all the toys and books

Eating solid foods at all meals (that's pancake on her face, in case you were wondering)

Un-rolling (or at least attempting to get into the bathroom in order to un-roll) the toilet paper,

Cleaning out the Tupperware cabinet

And now packing is a daily activity too, cause we're moving! Details to follow...

Did you know?

2011-07-15T05:59:00.000-07:00

If you leave a bowl of rice chex sitting in milk all morning, that they will literally disintegrate and you can just dump the whole thing down the drain?

Just a nice random fact for your Friday morning. :)

Summer lovin'

2011-07-06T09:40:00.000-07:00

Our first time to the pool was last week. The water was FREEZING and Bridget didn't appreciate having her feet stuck in it, much less her whole body. She was thrilled, however, to sit on her towel, eat snacks, and have my full attention.

When we celebrated my dad and Luke's birthdays (they're 3 days apart) Bridget got to try her first sweet corn. She thought it was pretty great, and did a surprisingly good job of cleaning it off!

For Luke's 30th birthday, his sister gave him a bag of 30 things...16 of them were little bags of Cheeto's. They may have gotten slightly crunched when Bridget got ahold of the bag and sat on it. :s

Bridget now know's what ice cream is, and will shamelessly beg...actually, she shamelessly begs for your food no matter what you may be eating. I promise we really do feed her.

Father's Day morning she was pretty excited to help Luke open his gift. :)

Happenings

2011-06-28T07:45:00.001-07:00

Since I put all the blogs I check on google reader, it's saved me lots of time, since I'm not jumping from one blog to the next. However, it means I rarely look at my own blog and therefore I don't notice that's it's been a while.

We have been busy though. There are walks to take, the garden to weed, friends to see, and water to play in! Bridget was less impressed with her little pool than I thought she'd be. Not that she didn't like it, she just acted like it was a bigger bathtub. She's just as thrilled with a bucket of water, and since it's much easier for me, well...the pool is just sitting in the garage.

In other news, although I'm sure pretty much all readers know this already, but we're having a little BOY! I'm super excited about it, but I just can't picture myself with a boy. It's a little weird. People have told me that girls clothes are so much more fun to buy than boy's. I totally disagree. I have just as hard of a time resisting buying all the little boy clothes as I did with girls.

The beginning of this month we celebrated my mom and dad's 25th anniversary by going to Biaggi's with all their siblings, and then to my aunt and uncles for dessert. We also celebrated my brother's 20th birthday (sorry, no pics), and between those two and Father's Day, Bridget has learned that grandpa will feed her ice cream. :)

Almost 8 months

2011-06-01T08:39:00.000-07:00

*Sigh*

Our little pumpkin will be 8 months on Tuesday. She's growing up too fast. Time, please stop for a while.

She's made great strides in the past month.

-crawling. Anywhere and everywhere

-pulling herself up on everything. Nothing under 2 feet is safe anymore.

-trying to stand up in the middle of the room. Def hasn't gotten anywhere near standing, but she attempts it anyway.

-is a CHUNK. Seriously. I'm guessing she weighs close to 20 pounds.

-has shown a recent fascination with babies. Hopefully this liking them continues.

-LOVES to be outside and instantly heads towards any open door

-trying all sorts of new foods: cookies, cereal, popcorn, and lots of other stuff she finds on the floor (no wonder she loves to be under the kitchen table)

-went jeeping for the first time. Fell sound asleep after about 5 min. How she stayed asleep I have no idea.

-Discovered her voice...for real. And now we hear her chattering loudly at all time of the day (or night). Makes for interesting times in church.

-Got her 2 top teeth and a bottom tooth in the same week. Thankfully it only took a couple days or I might have given away for a while. :)

4 years ago...

2011-05-27T12:59:00.000-07:00

Happy Anniversary babe! I'm so thankful for the past 4 years!

Love you!

she's just so entertaining!

2011-05-18T12:13:00.000-07:00

I've watched this so many times, and I still think it's hilarious!

A post from Bridget

2011-05-06T09:58:00.000-07:00

Hi guys! Sorry for the lack of posts. Mom has been very tired so she lays around a lot, and I've been busy getting into things. I'm mobile now, and I can get around pretty fast with my crawl/scoot/worm like moves!

Mom and dad forget I can move real fast now and leave lots of stuff on the floor. I've had lots of fun getting into wrapping paper, plastic bags, folded laundry, food, magazines, and all sorts of no-no's.

I love it when mom takes me shopping in my stroller. I sit and happily scream and anyone who looks my way. :)

I started piano lessons from Aunt Wendi, and they're lots of fun!

I think Uncle Luke is hilarious, and love it when he gives me attention. Somehow whatever he does is WAY more funny that when other people do the same thing...

I like to snuggle with daddy the best. Sometimes I'll let mom rock me, but mostly I like to snuggle dad.

Mom and dad drug me all the way to Princeville one night to see Mark and Kate. I had to go to bed in my car seat while they all had fun decorating Easter eggs.

There's a new baby calf in our back yard and I love to go outside and see them. Dad repeats over and over. "Cow, moo, cow, moo"

Sometimes I hang out with my friends. Judah is lots bigger than me, but I like to watch everything he does so I can learn :)

Daddy teaches me words when he gets home from work. We've been working on: mommy, daddy, Bridget, baby, grandma, grandpa, and my numbers.

I can almost sit up by myself. But who would want to sit still when there's so many things and places to explore?!

In other news, mommy and I had been growing lots. I'm 7 months now, and already wearing the clothes mom bought me for this fall. I guess we'll have to go shopping some more! Yay! My little sibling is growing too, and the Dr says it is measuring 3 weeks bigger than it should be. I'm not too worried though. I eat LOTS of food so I'll be a huge chunk before it's born!

It starts early

2011-04-22T07:49:00.000-07:00

Nesting, that is. With Bridget I was hoping nesting would kick in early. It did, somewhat, eventually. I cleaned out every closet, cupboard and drawer in my house. And I was happy.

Now I'm only 13 weeks (or somewhere close to that) and I have this overwhelming urge to clean out.

Case in point: the other night, (after informing Luke I wanted to buy a bookcase for the living room) I was worrying to Luke about what to do with cribs/beds/pack n plays once that baby is born. Do we buy another crib, put the baby in a pack n play, put Bridget in our queen sized bed and the baby in the crib, buy a toddler bed for Bridget...?

It was quickly decided (by me) that Bridget will stay in her crib and the baby will go elsewhere. I really can't put my little girl in a queen bed by herself when there's a good chance she won't even be able to walk by the time she needs to go in it. Same story with the toddler bed.

Then comes the (ie: my) problem with guest room that we'll move Bridget's crib into. There's already a queen bed and a dresser in there. We have to get rid of something to fit the crib in. We're also going to need another dresser. All my clothes are in the guest room and Luke's are in our room. Bridget's clothes are in her closet, but I won't be able to fit her clothes and the baby's clothes in there. So we discussed what to do with the guest room bed and dresser. There was no good option.

After a few moments of silence I commented that we have too much furniture and we need to get rid of some of it. Luke asked what I wanted to get rid of.

I couldn't think of anything. Except for the fact that while I was desperate to get rid of furniture, I was also needing to buy 2 more pieces of furniture!

And now, if you'll excuse me, I have the need to go clean out the kitchen cupboards.

I lied

2011-04-09T08:48:00.000-07:00

Just for the record, when I wrote the post about the van and said I wasn't pregnant, I was, but didn't know it.

Just so you all don't think I lied on purpose. :)

It's a tooth...or two

2011-03-16T18:32:00.000-07:00

Look real close.

Really really close, and maybe you'll see them.

Ok, you might have to click on the picture to enlarge it.

I tried all morning to get a good picture of her 2 adorable bottom teeth, and it just didn't work out so well.

And the rest of the pics are random ones from my camera that I wanted to share because they're so cute. :)

Pardon the absence...

2011-03-11T11:01:00.000-08:00

But we've been getting ready for

Summer!!

It arrived!

2011-02-16T07:01:00.001-08:00

This morning I checked, and sure enough, it'd finally come!

Bridget's first tooth!!

No picture yet, since you can hardly see it, but soon, we'll get one of a toothy grin. :)

We're a van fam!

2011-02-10T10:08:00.000-08:00

And just in case you were wondering, no, we're NOT pregnant again.

4 months!

2011-02-08T12:15:00.000-08:00

Here's just a peek at some of Bridget's 4 months pictures. The little pink dress that she's wearing was my mom's, and I got my picture taken in it when I was 4 months.

At the Dr today, Bridget was 14lb, 2oz, and 25 1/2 inches.

50th percentile for weight and 90th for height.

New accomplishments this month are:

-lots more drooling

-rolling from her tummy to her back

-becoming more vocal (and increasing in volume as well!)

-eating rice cereal (she loves it!)

-ALMOST rolling from her back to her tummy

-out growing all her clothes quickly (I tried a sleeper on her last night for the first time, and it was almost too small, even though 1 1/2 weeks ago it was way too big!)

-loves to sing and dance :) We do "Itsy Bitsy Spider, "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" (her favorite), "Hokey Pokie" "Patty Cake" and "If you're Happy and You Know It"

-First ear infection and antibiotic

-starting to recognize people...she smiles readily for those she knows, and simply stares at the people she doesn't

Backwards

2011-01-29T09:45:00.001-08:00

Sunday night was a blissful night. That was the night Bridget slept all night.

Ahh...we've finally made it, I thought to myself.

And then Monday night came.

Bridget went to bed at 10.

And we saw 10:30, midnight, 1:15, 2, 3:30, 4, 5:20, and 7am.

What in the world??!!

Tuesday was an awful day. Bridget was super cranky, wouldn't eat, and was so off schedule and out of sorts.

So I called the Dr and took her in.

Double ear infection, and getting her two bottom teeth.

Poor child. (and poor mom and dad)

So all week we've been up about every 1 1/2 to 2 hours, and since she won't eat her normal amount, she's been eating smaller amounts more often, including in the middle of the night.

And when she's feeling better, we're going to have to start our training all over again.

Sigh. Such is life.

Sleeping Through the Night Training-Nights 3, 4, 5, & 6

2011-01-24T08:15:00.000-08:00

Night 3: About the same as night 2. Seriously hoping we turn a corner here soon.

Night 4: I was so tired by this night, I couldn't even tell you how many times I got up, and what times they were. She did get up at 6:30, and went back to bed until 9:30, which allowed us to sleep in. First time in AGES. It was simply wonderful.

Night 5: Luke took this night. I think he got up 4 times or so before she got up at 5:30 to eat. This night was rough because she took a 3 1/2 nap until 8:30pm. Not going to let that happen again anytime soon!

Night 6: Ahhhh....blissful sleep! Went to sleep at 9:30, put her paci in at 1:30 and again at 2, then didn't hear another peep until 6:30. Wonderfullness. Serious wonderfullness.

Sleeping Through the Night Training-Night 2

2011-01-20T14:35:00.001-08:00

Isn't she just so sweet when she's sleeping? Ok, she sweet all the time. Sometimes a stinker, but always sweet. :)

Last night was SO much better! I fed her at 9pm, she woke up 2:15, I put in her paci and she went back to sleep till 3:15. Then she kinda fussed around (no screaming this time, thankgoodnes!) and I kept getting up every 10 min or so and putting her paci in, and she fell back asleep sometime between 3:45 and 4.

Then she slept until 6:45, which was great except for the fact that then she was ready to start the day.

I was not. :)

Thankfully Luke was up getting ready for work, so he watched her and put her back to sleep before he left.

Downside of her doing well...the past 2 days she's been a grump! Totally off schedule, fussy, won't sleep for more than 45 minutes for each nap...I'm sure I'll feel better by sleeping all night, I just hope she does too!

Sleeping Through the Night Training-Night 1

2011-01-19T08:13:00.000-08:00

I knew it needed to happen, but I was dreading doing it...teaching my child to sleep through the night. She usually only gets up once anyway, and only takes about 3oz from her bottle before falling back to sleep.

So it started last night. I fed her at 8:30, put her to bed about 9:30. At 12:30 she was awake and crying. Now she usually goes 5-6 hours at night, so I got up and put her paci in, because she usually falls back asleep when I do that. But last night was different...she wouldn't go back to sleep. So I decided it was as good a time as any to start her training. :)

I switched the noise maker into our room, turned it on really loud, and then retreated to the guest room with my cell phone and pile of pillows.

And there I laid, listening to my daughter scream for an hour and a half.

I did go in every 10-15 minutes to put in her paci and move her back to the correct position in her bed.

At first I said I was going to make her go 7 hours (which she's done on her own on several occasions), which would put us at 3:30am. But by 1:45, my resolve was weakening, and I was just hoping to make it 2:30.

She FINALLY fell asleep about 2, slept till 5:15, I fed her, put her back to bed, she grunted around and fussed in her bed till 6:15, slept until 8:15, grunted and fussed until 9:15, at which time we got up.

Now she's asleep for her nap, and I think I'm going to join her.

I sure hope she's a fast learner!

3 months!

2011-01-17T13:10:00.001-08:00

My little girl isn't so little anymore! It makes me kinda sad that she's growing so fast. And at the same time, I remember soon after she was born thinking we'd never get to this point! But here we are! Her new accomplishments are:

-Talking. Just in the past week she's really started jabbering a lot. She gets very serious when talking to us, and has the most hilarious facial expressions.

-Turning in circles. When I lay her on the floor, she wiggles her body around that she turns in a circle.

-Helping mom with all sorts of things. As the 5th picture shows, she helps me with all sorts of household tasks, like laundry and dishes. I plop her in her bouncy seat or bumbo and we chat together.

-And speaking of her bumbo, she's getting much better at sitting up in it.

-Chewing and drooling. Chewing on her hands, her toys, my shoulder, my hair, her burp rag...whatever happens to be in a close vicinity to her mouth. Along with that comes the drool and a constantly wet chin. I keep checking, but no teeth yet!

-Naps? They're for babies. She still takes about 4 naps during the day, but instead of all of them being about an hour and half, she now sleeps about 30-45 minutes for all but one nap.

-Holding her bottle. She certainly can't hold it herself yet, but she has to have her hands on the bottle the whole time she eats.

Family pictures

2011-01-11T08:05:00.000-08:00

The other day I realized that we hadn't taken any pictures of the 3 of us since Bridget had been born! So since we were headed to Paul and Elise's for dinner that night anyway, I asked her if she could snap a few!

Things she'll never know

2011-01-06T07:33:00.000-08:00

Sorry about the lack of pictures. I promise my next post will contain some.

I read this article today, and found it very interesting. I suppose it applies to babies born in 2010, as well as in 2011.

Things Babies Born in 2011 Will Never Know

Huffington Post recently put up a story called You're Out: 20 Things That Became Obsolete This Decade. It's a great retrospective on the technology leaps we've made since the new century began, and it got me thinking about the difference today's technology will make in the lives of tomorrow's kids.

I've used some of their ideas and added some of my own to make the list below: Do you think kids born in 2011 will recognize any of the following?

Video tape: Starting this year, the news stories we produce here at Money Talks have all been shot, edited, and distributed to TV stations without ever being on any kind of tape. Not only that, the tape-less broadcast camera we use today offers much higher quality than anything that could have been imagined 10 years ago -- and cost less than the lens on the camera we were using previously.

Travel agents: While not dead today, this profession is one of many that's been decimated by the Internet. When it's time for their honeymoon, will those born in 2011 be able to find one?

The separation of work and home: When you're carrying an email-equipped computer in your pocket, it's not just your friends who can find you -- so can your boss. For kids born this year, the wall between office and home will be blurry indeed.

Books, magazines, and newspapers: Like video tape, words written on dead trees are on their way out. Sure, there may be books -- but for those born today, stores that exist solely to sell them will be as numerous as record stores are now.

Movie rental stores: You actually got in your car and drove someplace just to rent a movie?

Watches: Maybe as quaint jewelry, but the correct time is on your smartphone, which is pretty much always in your hand.

Paper maps: At one time these were available free at every gas station. They're practically obsolete today, and the next generation will probably have to visit a museum to find one.

Wired phones: Why would you pay $35 every month to have a phone that plugs into a wall? For those born today, this will be a silly concept.

Long distance: Thanks to the Internet, the days of paying more to talk to somebody in the next city, state, or even country are limited.

Newspaper classifieds: The days are gone when you have to buy a bunch of newsprint just to see what's for sale.

Dial-up Internet: While not everyone is on broadband, it won't be long before dial-up Internet goes the way of the plug-in phone.

Encyclopedias: Imagine a time when you had to buy expensive books that were outdated before the ink was dry. This will be a nonsense term for babies born today.

Forgotten friends: Remember when an old friend would bring up someone you went to high school with, and you'd say, "Oh yeah, I forgot about them!" The next generation will automatically be in touch with everyone they've ever known even slightly via Facebook.

Forgotten anything else: Kids born this year will never know what it was like to stand in a bar and incessantly argue the unknowable. Today the world's collective knowledge is on the computer in your pocket or purse. And since you have it with you at all times, why bother remembering anything?

The evening news: The news is on 24/7. And if you're not home to watch it, that's OK -- it's on the smartphone in your pocket.

CDs: First records, then 8-track, then cassette, then CDs -- replacing your music collection used to be an expensive pastime. Now it's cheap(er) and as close as the nearest Internet connection.

Film cameras: For the purist, perhaps, but for kids born today, the word "film" will mean nothing. In fact, even digital cameras -- both video and still -- are in danger of extinction as our pocket computers take over that function too.

Yellow and White Pages: Why in the world would you need a 10-pound book just to find someone?

Catalogs: There's no need to send me a book in the mail when I can see everything you have for sale anywhere, anytime. If you want to remind me to look at it, send me an email.

Fax machines: Can you say "scan," ".pdf" and "email?"

One picture to a frame: Such a waste of wall/counter/desk space to have a separate frame around each picture. Eight gigabytes of pictures and/or video in a digital frame encompassing every person you've ever met and everything you've ever done -- now, that's efficient. Especially compared to what we used to do: put our friends and relatives together in a room and force them to watch what we called a "slide show" or "home movies."

Wires: Wires connecting phones to walls? Wires connecting computers, TVs, stereos, and other electronics to each other? Wires connecting computers to the Internet? To kids born in 2011, that will make as much sense as an electric car trailing an extension cord.

Hand-written letters: For that matter, hand-written anything. When was the last time you wrote cursive? In fact, do you even know what the word "cursive" means? Kids born in 2011 won't -- but they'll put you to shame on a tiny keyboard.

Talking to one person at a time: Remember when it was rude to be with one person while talking to another on the phone? Kids born today will just assume that you're supposed to use texting to maintain contact with five or six other people while pretending to pay attention to the person you happen to be physically next to.

Retirement plans: Yes, Johnny, there was a time when all you had to do was work at the same place for 20 years and they'd send you a check every month for as long as you lived. In fact, some companies would even pay your medical bills, too!

Mail: What's left when you take the mail you receive today, then subtract the bills you could be paying online, the checks you could be having direct-deposited, and the junk mail you could be receiving as junk email? Answer: A bloated bureaucracy that loses billions of taxpayer dollars annually.

Commercials on TV: They're terrifically expensive, easily avoided with DVRs, and inefficiently target mass audiences. Unless somebody comes up with a way to force you to watch them -- as with video on the Internet -- who's going to pay for them?

Commercial music radio: Smartphones with music-streaming programs like Pandora are a better solution that doesn't include ads screaming between every song.

Hiding: Not long ago, if you didn't answer your home phone, that was that -- nobody knew if you were alive or dead, much less where you might be. Now your phone is not only in your pocket, it can potentially tell everyone -- including advertisers -- exactly where you are.

Eating habits

2011-01-04T10:13:00.000-08:00

I have terrible eating habits. I'll admit it. I'm SO not a healthy eater. Therefore when I seeing my fertility Dr, and she put me on a strict diet, I had a very hard time. I have polycystic ovarian syndrome, which causes insulin resistance. I won't go into all the details, but basically, I eat sugar, my body makes insulin, my body resists the insulin, the sugar is stored as fat which causes me to feel tired and hungry, and so I eat sugar, and the process starts all over again.

Prior to getting pregnant, I followed her prescribed diet very closely, and I felt a lot better. Then I got pregnant, and while I tried to eat healthy, I certainly didn't follow her diet. Now that Bridget is here, and my body is trying to get back to "normal" (I'm not sure if it ever will be), I've decided that I really need to go back on this PCOS diet. And so the other night I was reviewing the packet of info my Dr had given me, and reading the list of things I am to strictly avoid. And it left me wondering what in the world I used to eat!

I'm to stay away from:bagels, non-whole grain bread, cake, candy, cereal, chips, soda, fruit juice, cookies, corn, crackers, dried fruits, fast foods, flax products, fried foods, grapes, high fructose corn syrup, honey, hot chocolate, chocolate in general, ice cream, pancakes, pasta, peas, pineapple, popcorn, potatoes, pretzels, processed foods, red meat, white rice, salad dressings, soy products, table sugar, waffles, and watermelon.

On top of that, I'm to eat protein, healthy fat, and a complex carbohydrate at each meal, along with 2 snacks containing a healthy fat and a complex carb.

Soo...any tips on what to eat besides chicken, string cheese, apples and peanuts? Pretty sure that's what I lived on before!

Merry Christmas from the Knapp's!

2010-12-28T14:44:00.000-08:00

2 months!

2010-12-07T11:27:00.001-08:00

It's hard to believe our little pumpkin is already 2 months old! Currently she:
-weighs 8lb 5oz and is 22 inches long. 5th percentile for weight, and 50th for height.
-loves to lay and kick, usually getting her socks off in the process
-wakes up once at night to eat
-HATES being burped...the way she hollers you'd think she was getting pinched or something
-loves to smile and be social, especially with the shelf above her changing table and the bug hanging from her play mat
-fits into her first article of 0-3 month clothing! I'm so ready to stop wearing the same 6 newborn outfits over and over!

Just cause she's so cute :)

2010-12-06T15:15:00.000-08:00

After a rough several weeks, we discovered that Bridget was losing weight. So now she nurses and then gets a bottle after every feeding, and she's like a totally different baby. We get lots of fun smiles and cute expressions.

For some reason, I can't get these pictures turned...oh well.

Now that she's getting her belly full, she is not only happy, but she sleeps good too, only getting up once at night to eat!

We're teaching her to do her civic duty early. :)

Oops

2010-11-03T13:39:00.001-07:00

With Bridget sleeping (in her bed, nonetheless!!), I thought I 'd take a few moments to catch up on some blogs before diving into those dreaded thank you notes.

And one of those blogs happened to be Nancy's post about their trip to Iowa.

And as I'm reading along, I'm thinking "aww...look at those sweet pictures!"

Until I got to the last picture.

Much to my dismay, it reminded me that when we went to Chicago for the day several weeks ago, that we didn't have the change for a toll, so we went through it with the intention of paying the 50 cents online later.

But we never did.

Sigh.

I guess we'll be getting a ticket in the mail soon.

Our first few days

2010-10-27T17:49:00.000-07:00

We were worn out from our trip home from the hospital!
(and you can see my lovely broken blood vessels from pushing her out.)

So tiny in her crib! I had a hard time leaving her alone in her crib the first night, but we didn't have anywhere else to put her, so we didn't have a choice.

The second day home from the hospital, I woke up from a nap to find my daughter watching football. :)

Aunt Wendi comes over every few days just to snuggle.

My mom came over to help give Bridget her first bath. Despite how she looks in the picture, she really does like her bath. She just lays there and looks around. She also pees in the bath every time I stick her in there.

Chatting with daddy

Whenever we do tummy time, she gets her thumb in her mouth. And it's about the only time she gets it in there.

Her favorite place in sleep is on your chest. She'll sleep forever there, but HATES her crib.

Bridget's arrival

2010-10-18T10:26:00.000-07:00

For some reason, blogger won't let me type at the top of this post, so I'll just start here. :)
Wednesday night I commented to a friend about how I'd actually gotten all my laundry done (washed, dried, ironed, and put away) in one day! Her comment back was "awesome! Now you can go into labor tonight!" To which I replied "no I really need to clean my house tomorrow, so labor needs to wait until tomorrow night."
Well, labor didn't wait until Thursday night. Thursday morning about 3 I woke up to a semi-painful contraction, which I would randomly have 1 or 2 of at a time. I got up to go the bathroom, and went back to bed. Just about a minute later, I had another contraction, and then another one, and my underwear was feeling a little damp, so I went back to the bathroom to investigate. Sure enough, there was some blood and other stuff, and I thought well, I guess this is labor.
After finally locating my watch with a second hand, I started timing my contractions. Right from the get-go they were 2-3 minutes apart, lasting 30-60 seconds. This kinda confused me...my Dr had told me that when contractions were 5-7 minutes apart to go to the hospital. Mine were a lot close than that, but not all that painful. I also couldn't tell if my water had broke or not. I'd feel something run out every once in a while, but couldn't tell if it was watery, or just some of the "other stuff" that comes out when you're in labor.
So I bounced on my exercise ball, took a shower, finished packing our bag, did some dishes, and wandered around the house.
Luke's alarm was set to go off at 6, so a few minutes before I went in and woke him up with "good morning! Want to have a baby today?" After staring at me for a minute and responding with a "oh my word!" he got up and got in the shower.
I wanted to wait until 8:30 when my Dr's office opened, and go there to have them check me. I really didn't want to go to the hospital only to have them send me home. So Luke got us some breakfast, and my contractions got painful enough that I couldn't talk through them. By 7 we were pretty sure I was in "real" labor, so we called my mom, and headed to the hospital.
When we got there, they did an exam to see if my water had broke, but the resident told me she didn't think it had but she tested the fluid anyway. And I was only dilated to a 2cm (I had been 1-2 cm on Monday). It was kind of sad to have been in labor for 5 hours at this point and only have made it 1/2 cm!
About 20 min later the nurse came in to say that it was my water that had broke. So they started an IV and moved me to a labor room. And I continued my contractions every 2-3minutes, lasting 30-60 sec.

Bridget was "sunny side up", meaning her face was facing my belly button. Made for LOTS of back labor. I walked the halls for a while, and spent a lot of time on my hands and knees, and in every imaginable position trying to get her to turn over.
I felt like I progressed slowly, although it was really wasn't that slow. :)
I had such a great team. :) Luke was my back rub-er (and I'd snap at him if he stopped during a contraction:)), my mom let me squeeze her hand and held the puke basin for my when I got nauseous, and Wendi (my sister) fed me water and ice chips and fanned me with the food menu. :)
The pain was bad, but the worst part was once I was dilated to a 7, I started feeling like I had to push, but they wouldn't let me until I was a 10. And then I hung out between 9-10 cm for what felt like FOREVER. The nurse kept telling me not to push, and I just told her too bad, I couldn't help it. And then I finally got to push! And about 40 minutes later, out she came!

Getting everything set up

Our first glimpse..the first thing I did was make sure she really did come out a girl. :)

She had meconium stained fluid (meaning she had a bowel movement while still inside) so she got taken right over to the warmer and suctioned out. Then I got to hold her for about 30 seconds before they took her to the nursery to get oxygen.

Daddy gets to hold her for the first time! She got to come out to our room to nurse when she was about 2 hours old. Then she went back for some more monitoring, and then came out for good about an hour and a half later.

First family picture!

She made it!

2010-10-13T09:47:00.001-07:00

Bridget Ann arrived Thursday, Oct 7, at 4:10pm,
weighing 6lbs 10oz, and was 19 inches long.

I'll update with more pictures and details later. :)

39 weeks

2010-10-04T14:30:00.000-07:00

It's so hard to believe that it's almost time for our little girl to be born! And at the same time, I feel like I've been pregnant forever!

I've been doing things to help things along, like walking and bouncing on an exercise ball, but so far none of it seems to really be helping.

Actually, I'm bouncing on my ball as I type. And I bounce while I read, and watch movies, and talk on the phone. I take my ball to other people's house so I can bounce while we hang out.

And the sweet thing still hasn't dropped into my pelvis.

I may as well get prepared...at my sonogram last week that I had for decreased movement, the Dr commented that "that is one stubborn baby!" They tried everything to wake her up and get her to move, but she apparently didn't want to. And when she did wake up, she'd just blink and yawn (so cute, by the way), but wouldn't move her arms or legs.

We have lots of contractions. Nothing painful, nothing regular, just tight with pressure. And even those don't appear to be doing anything.

So we're semi-patiently waiting. Or maybe it's just a tiny bit patiently waiting.

Storing it up!

2010-09-21T09:22:00.000-07:00

We had our last sonogram yesterday, and our little peanut certainly is...little.
She's about 5lb 5oz, which puts her in the 3rd percentile.
However, I think her cheeks may be in like the 50th percentile.
She must be storing her fat there.
I think they're adorable, and I can't wait to squeeze them. :)

In other news, we went to the Morton Pumpkin festival last week.
We went a lot.
I got a wonderful, HUGE funnel cake, which was good for about the first 10 bites.
And then the grease really starts to get to you.

I had to give it away to someone else because I couldn't finish eating it.
That and I was slightly self-conscious about being quite pregnant and carrying a huge funnel cake around.

My Independence

2010-09-09T11:24:00.000-07:00

First off, I'd like to say that this post is not aimed at any of my friends/acquaintances that read this blog, it's simply my observations of my attitude in the past few weeks.

Now that I've scared everyone.... :)

I love my friends kids. I really do. I love to babysit them, and play with them when we're together. However, in the past few weeks I've noticed that I become more annoyed with them than I have in the past.

They come over, and they make a mess with toys, they touch my mirror (why this annoys me, I have no idea), they get in the way, they fuss and cry.

Just last night we were babysitting and just as I had dished up supper, "J" (he shall remain nameless) was getting into all the cupboards, had a dirty diaper, and was getting increasingly fussy. And I had to leave my plate of fresh hot food and change his diaper, give him some tylenol (I did have permission from his mother do so. I promise I don't just give out tylenol to fussy children), and distract him with some toys.

And when I finished, my plate of food was no longer hot.

And I was annoyed.

And while I normally would love holding my friends children, lately I've just let them take care of their own kids.

Cause having to deal with kids is annoying.

As I contemplated this new "attitude" last night (while lying in bed awake for what seemed like the ump-teenth hour) it occurred to me (again) that soon, I'll be one of those people that has to deal with a kid.

And I'll have to deal with a kid when I'm tired and don't feel good, and when I want a break from her, and when I just want to eat a fresh plate of food, and when I want to watch a movie in silence with interruptions.

And it occurred to me that maybe one reason why I've been getting annoyed by other people's kids is because I want to keep my independence for as long as I possibly can.

I think the unselfishness of having a child is going to be harder for me than I ever thought.

And while having to be unselfish isn't exactly fun, it'll certainly be VERY good for me!

Oh, and as a disclaimer, this does NOT mean you shouldn't call me to babysit or hang out with us anymore. :) I promise I do still love your children!

Our little girl

2010-08-30T13:20:00.000-07:00

Only 42 more days (and hopefully less) till we get to meet her!
Two weeks from tomorrow and she can come out any time.
The consensus is that she looks like Luke, but I can't tell from a sonogram.
I do think she's cute though. And check out those cheeks!

I suppose it's time

2010-08-24T08:33:00.000-07:00

It's been quite a while since I posted anything. Not much is new.

We're still growing. Not as rapidly as before though, thankfully. I had a sonogram last week and when I actually remember to send my pics with Luke to scan them, I'll post them. They're pretty cute. She's got a little pug nose and chubby cheeks. And she has HAIR!! (Coming from someone who was bald for the first few years of her life, and hasn't been able to grow much hair since, hair on my baby is kind of a novelty.) As of last Friday, she weighed 3lb 13oz.

Only 49 days left!

I've been sewing a lot. The crib bedding is finally finished, the ties for the curtains sewn, and now I'm about 1/2 through recovering the glider chair. I'll be very excited when that is done.

I also sleep/rest a lot. Energy and motivation are seriously lacking. When I sit down, typically my only motivation to get up is because my back starts hurting. Going up (or down) the stairs makes me short of breath. In short, I feel pregnant. :)

Nesting

2010-08-03T10:12:00.000-07:00

I think it's begun.

On the way home from Michigan last weekend, I started to panic a little bit.
"Honey, we only have 11 weeks till Bridget is born! I had all these things I wanted to get done!"

And 5 minutes later:
"Honey, we don't even have any baby things! No crib mattress or bedding, a diaper bag, clothes, toys, diapers, a bouncy seat or a swing!"

So I made a list right then and there of all those things I wanted/need to get done. And that list includes cleaning out nearly every closet, drawer, and cabinet in the whole house.

Yes, this is me...the person who has no problem with shoving everything into a closet as long as I can shut the door and the house looks clean.

It's a little weird to have this overwhelming urge to clean out and organize, but I'll be making the most of it!

A battle cry call to fasting and prayer

2010-07-18T12:20:00.000-07:00

This is copied from Jordan and Katelyn Schroeder's blog. Please be in prayer for them!

http://jkschroeder.blogspot.com/

Attention! All Christian Soldiers and Prayer Warriors of Jesus Christ

The time has come the time is now!

Jordan & Katelyn have considered their medical treatment options with no hope of improvement or a cure against this enemy and agent of death, this ever growing cancer; and they have decided to move Jordan home and cry out to God, the only source of Miraculous Hope.

As you read on their last post, they have laid all their hopes and dreams on God’s altar. They also know that the only one who can stay the knife has already died so they can live forever in Him.
He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how will he not also along with him also freely give us all things. Romans 8:32

They are begging all God’s people to fast and pray to God for them beginning Monday July 19, 2010. Please pray that God would be merciful to Jordan and Katelyn as he was merciful to nearly dead Epaphroditus and Paul in Phillipians 2:27.

In preparation, please consider what God did in the Bible and his amazing responses to fasting and prayer when his people were facing enemy, danger or death like Jehoshaphat in 2Chronicles
20:1-30, Hezekiah (2 Kings 20:1-11), Ezra (ch. 8:21-23), & Esther (ch.4:14-17); and even his response to some wicked men who fasted and prayed like the King of Ninevah (Jonah:3:5-10), & Ahab (1 Kings 21:20-29). See Isaiah 58 & Matthew 6:6-18 for further instructions.

Lastly remember the importance of fasting and prayer in healing the boy in Matthew 17:14-21 and don’t forget the words of Jesus,
This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting Mark 9:29

David therefore besought God for the child; and David fasted, and went in, and lay all night upon the earth. . . And he said, . . . I fasted and wept: for I said, Who can tell whether GOD will be gracious to me, that the child may live? 2 Samuel 12:16,22

Thanking you in advance for your prayers!
Jor dan and Katelyn’s Family & Friends

a post with pictures!

2010-07-08T10:46:00.000-07:00

These are in backwards order...oh well.

Bridget and I at 26 weeks. Only 98 days left!!

Friday night we put up the crib and changing table. We're using the crib that I used when I was a baby. It all went together quite well, considering we had no directions!

Oh, and I just had a picture of Luke working hard to put things together, but I accidentally back-spaced too far and erased it. Blogger really needs to have an undo button.

Paul and Elise came over one night last week so Paul could help Luke move the office furniture into our basement. Judah though the basket was clean sheets was lots of fun. :)

Thanks to my amazing husband, we have carpet in our basement. It's not exactly the color I would have chosen, but hey, when you get free carpet, you can't complain about it too much. Anyway, Luke got it all done, and it looks fabulous!

Currently...

2010-07-01T12:08:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to decide if getting winded from carrying 4 chairs into the living room means

a: I'm so out of shape-totally pathetic!
b: our chairs are really that heavy and we should probably get new ones
c: I really am getting that hugely pregnant

The Perfect French Fry

2010-06-10T05:41:00.000-07:00

I know it's unhealthy, but in my opinion, it doesn't get much better than fresh, hot McDonald's fries. (and a small fry is only $1, just to let you know)

Well, Kenji Lopez-Alt has created the perfect french fry that can be made at home! (or so he claims.) Granted, it looks like it'd take a little work, but sometime I'm going to give these a try!

He also has written an article about the science behind the recipe, which I found to be an interesting read.

just a little Tues morning humor

2010-06-08T09:21:00.000-07:00

some extra things to pray for

2010-05-28T06:23:00.000-07:00

Nic Rassi is scheduled to have his kidney transplant today, with his brother donating one of his kidneys.

I know the family would appreciate your prayers!

To find out more, head to their blog: http://normalrassis.blogspot.com/

Also, please take a moment to pray for Jordan and Katelyn Schroeder, Jaycee and Arawen. It appears his cancer has returned in two places near his spine, and they plan to fly down to Mexico this Monday.

You can check out his Caring Bridge site at: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/jordanschroeder

3 years ago today...

2010-05-27T09:29:00.000-07:00

Happy Anniversary to my wonderful husband!
I am so thankful to have you in my life!
I love your Godly attributes and your passion for growing in Christ;
I love (most of the time) how you like to accomplish things and don't like to be lazy;
I'm so thankful that you're willing to help around the house when I ask, and that you eat pretty much whatever I put in front of you. :)
I love that you remain calm when I get all worked up;
I love that you fully support my many endeavors and ideas, and continue encouraging me in them when I want to give them up.

I love you so much! It's been an awesome three years!

Sugar & Spice & Everything Nice

2010-05-25T07:44:00.000-07:00

Bridget Ann is healthy, active, and in the 59th percentile for her weight at 20 weeks.
So we're looking at about an 8 pound baby, a little big for my taste, but as long as she's healthy.
She weighs 12 oz, almost 3/4 of a pound, and apparently LOVES her thumb, since it's in her mouth 3 out of the 6 pictures.
We're so thankful to God for blessing us with this healthy baby girl!

My favorite

2010-05-19T07:23:00.000-07:00

I'd like to dedicate this post to one of my favorite websites ever.

Now from the most likely sad amount of time I spend on it, you may think it would Facebook, but you'd be wrong

Tasteofhome.com

Seriously, I find it SO incredibly helpful when looking for recipes.

Got some random ingredients in your freezer you want to use up? Type them into the search box and hundreds of recipes containing that ingredient will pop up.

About 2 years ago we got half of a cow from our nephew. Most of that meat is gone, except for a few remaining pieces that I have no idea what to do with. Take round steak, for example. I had 2 packages in the freezer, so I entered "beef round steak" into search, and got hundreds of recipes for everything from grilling, to Swiss steak, beef stronganoff, round steak with dumplings, and crock pot recipes. Tonight we going to try BBQ round steak.

You get an additional plus from the website if you get any of their magazines (Quick Cooking, Taste of Home, Country Women, etc). You can enter a code on the back of one of your magazines and instantly have access to all the recipes from ALL of the magazines for like the past 10 years. Totally worth the subscription cost of the magazine, in my mind.

lazy rainy days

2010-05-15T06:39:00.000-07:00

While all the plants outside are growing, Baby Knapp has been making itself known by growing as well. For your comparing pleasure, I'm 16 weeks above, and 18 weeks below.
Right at about 18 weeks (and the day before Mother's Day) I had the wonderful pleasure of feeling baby move for the first time. It's still kind of sporadic, and I have to be paying some attention, but I've been feeling it move every day since.
Only 10 more days till Baby Knapp gets assigned a gender!! Yay!!

I babysat one of my favorite little boys, and during his whole 2 hour nap, he was holding onto the side of the car seat. I thought it was just so cute.

Luke (my brother) turned 13 this past Monday. So weird...he just still seems like the little Lukey we were always hauling around and doting on just a few years ago.

And last but certainly not least, I'd like to show off the desserts I make for Knapp Mother's Day. They turned out pretty good if I do say so myself. From left to right are: chocolate fudge trifle, strawberry lemon trifle, and raspberry cheesecake trifle.

the dance

2010-04-27T10:15:00.000-07:00

So maybe some of you out there have heard of pregnant people becoming less than graceful when they get pregnant.

Something about a change in their center of gravity...or something like that.

It's the #1 reason why bike riding during pregnancy is discouraged.

(insert sarcastic voice here) Now I've always been proud of my graceful movements. I'm an amazing dancer, and I never fall up the stairs (yes, up is the correct term). And last night, at Bible study, my dear husband affirmed my gracefulness.

As I sat on the couch with a plate full of food balancing on my lap, my glass of tea in one hand, and my napkin and chocolate chip cookie in the other, I noticed him eying me carefully.

"Careful with all that," he commented. To which I sort of annoyedly responded "I will."

"Well, you haven't been the most graceful lately.

Ok, so maybe I drop things on a regular basis, and maybe I spend a good portion of the day picking up things that I knocked over. And maybe I can hardly get out of the shower without killing myself.

But the other day, when the shade fell down, I did not try to re-roll it 4 times because I kept dropping it and finally gave up.

I think I'd better stay off of bikes.

The story (and a picture)

2010-04-21T16:57:00.000-07:00

Just to make this a little easier (for myself) I'll just copy the note I wrote on facebook when announced we were pregnant.

As some of you know, I've been treated for infertility for the past year. We've received several diagnoses, gone to 3 different doctors, and tried lots of medications, supplements, and diet changes-all with no success. Right after Christmas, my doctor did lots and lots of tests, and basically told us that we would never conceive naturally. Her recommendation was to move forward with doing In-vitro fertilization, and we decided that we would go ahead with it. (I won't go into a lot of details about ivf- if you want to know more, google it). We put down our deposit to begin the process the end of March, and I was instructed to call when I started my period the next month so I could start on the MANY medications I'd have take. During the next couple weeks, I prayed off and on that if it was God's will, I'd sure love it if we didn't have to go through with IVF, although I admit I didn't expect that God would answer my prayer. I was pretty sure He wanted us to go through with IVF. Why else would He have brought us to this point? 6 weeks later, I still hadn't started. While this isn't always abnormal for me, it's getting to be longer than usual. So while at Walmart, I picked up a cheap brand of pregnancy test, not the kind I usually buy, and I only got one, instead of the package with 5 of them. :) 6 weeks to the day, I took the pregnancy test, and then went out to the kitchen and started making myself some breakfast. About 5 min later I realized I should go check on it. When I saw a positive sign on that test, I seriously about fell over. Luke wasn't home, so I scrambled for my cell phone to call him, and during that time, I pretty much emotionally lost it. When he answered the phone my first (heavily sobbed) words were "it's positive!" To which he responded "no way!" I sobbed for a while longer, called my mom and sobbed some more, called the doctor's office (and barely made it through talking to the nurse), and continued this throughout the day. :)

We are just praising God for His sovereignty! The month after we were told we'd never conceive naturally, it happens! It really just goes to show how it's all in God's timing and His control!

As a side note, we found out we were pregnant exactly one week after I got fired. Talk about even more amazing timing by God!

Oh, and the picture above is from last week, at 14 weeks.

So it's been a while...

2010-04-10T12:46:00.001-07:00

So as I'm sure you've (all like 2 of my reader's) have already heard the news, but we're going to have a baby! It's seriously just been amazing to see God at work in our lives over the past few months. I'll post the story sometime, but it's kind of a long story, so I'll wait for another time.

Anyway, this picture is from our 12 week appointment. Can you tell what part(s) you're looking at? No? Well, you wouldn't be the only one. :) The baby is looking right at you. Check out the right side of it...see the two "empty spots?" Those are the eyes. And yes, it does look a lot like an alien, but we love it anyway.

We are now almost to the 14 week mark, entering the 2nd trimester, feeling much better, starting to gain weight (praying for no stretch marks), and growing quickly.

You know you have a lot of dishes when...

2010-02-16T14:09:00.001-08:00

You have to do them in shifts throughout the day!

Ugg! I thought about taking a picture to post,
but the thought of it depressed me too much.
Just take my word for it, there's a lot of them!

Consider it all Joy!

2010-02-11T16:05:00.000-08:00

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,
knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance, and let
endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect
and complete, lacking in nothing.
James 1:2-4

Our church is going through small group Bible studies on the book of James. I was very excited about going through the book, and being in the small groups. We finished the first 3 Bible studies, covering the whole first chapter. I felt like I had some great opportunities to count it all joy, and rejoice in the fact that God was working to bring me closer to him through those "hard" times.

Then God decided to really give me a test in thanking Him for my trials.

It's a long story, but I got terminated from my job. While specifics aren't necessary, I will say that I did make a mistake, but that it was also a fairly common and easily corrected mistake. And for some reason, God allowed me the one who got reported, and the one who got fired.

This post isn't to try to make you feel bad for me, or tell me how hard it must be for me, but rather to inform you all about how great my God is!

I had wanted to learn about James, and God gave a me great opportunity to really understand better the first chapter.

James 1:12 says that "...a man who perseveres under trail...he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him."

God desires me to be close to Him, but as the human I am, I'm usually not seeking Him if things are going really well. Sometimes it takes things like getting fired to make me fall on my face and ask for His wonderful grace.

James 1:17 says that "Every good gift is from above coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow."

Something I had pray that God would help me remember is that every good gift comes from Him - and those gifts are necessarily things that I consider good, but they are good for God's glory. And God does everything for His glory.

I am still working on being thankful for being fired, but am so thankful that God is working to bring me closer to Him through it!

Love it

2010-01-14T10:14:00.000-08:00

I just love this song. It's such a great reminder to rely on God, trusting him through everything.

One year ago today...

2010-01-13T09:03:00.000-08:00

I posted that this little guy had been born.

And today, Max Jeffery turns one!

Happy Birthday Max!

Last Years Resulution

2010-01-06T07:09:00.000-08:00

You may remember this post from last January.
The where I announced that my New Years Resolution was not throw so much stuff away.
To recycle
To wash ziploc bags.
To use cloth shopping bags
To find some use for all the leftovers.

And how did I do, you may ask.

I failed really miserably.

I have washed more plastic bags than before, but over 50% of the time, I throw them out.
I did buy cloth shopping bags, and I even used them several times.
But most of the time, I just forgot to use them, even if I stuff them in my purse.
I did recycle, mostly because that costs money.
And as far as leftovers...well...
the whole cooking thing as kind of gone down hill since I started working nights.

Anyway, that's my report.
As far as a resolution for 2010, maybe I should just keep working on the one from 2009!

it's been a while

2009-12-28T14:08:00.000-08:00

About 5 weeks or so, I guess. There really hasn't been much to blog about. I work, sleep, clean, do laundry, make dinner, go Christmas shopping, hang out with friends, and that about sums it up.

I must confess that I love Christmas shopping, and am very sad that it's over for a whole year. I love the music that plays, the amazing smell of those roasted nuts that they sell at the mall, the snow (although this year we were blessed with rain...gross), the people, and finding that perfect gift. Oh, and maybe I love the things I find for myself along the way too. :)

Someday I'll post pictures of our Christmas, but it may take awhile before I can figure out how to get them on our new laptop. In the mean time, you'll have to be satisfied with my ramblings.

Oh, so I just have to share this exciting story with you all, and then you can stop reading. :)

I was going through the freezer this morning, trying to find something to make for dinner when I noticed that I had a whole bunch of packages of "beef rib steak." Having no idea what the package contained, I hadn't used any of them the last 2 times we got beef (yes, we get like 1/2 a cow at a time...such country folks are we). Anyway, after a call to my mom and an opening of the package, it was discovered that we have lots of rib-eyes in our freezer. This was a very exciting discovery since those are our most favorite!

It's another boy!

2009-11-13T06:03:00.000-08:00

Seriously, if you happen to be friends with me, and you get pregnant, chances are that you will have a boy, because everyone else is. Anyway, I just got off work and am so ready for bed, but I just couldn't wait any longer to post pictures of this darling little peanut!

Ridge William Snyder was born at 10:09am on Tuesday Nov 11. He weighed in at a whopping 5 pounds 10 oz, and was 18.5 inches long.

Tony was pretty amazed that he was holding a 6 hour old baby. :)

Such a little peanut!

Ridge and his daddy.
(ahhh!! Kenton and Heidi are parents! So weird..)

So sweet.

Of course we all had to take turns holding him.

Oh boy...

2009-11-11T09:11:00.000-08:00

Has it really been over a month since I posted?! I suppose so. I guess I haven't been feeling much motivation to update. Anyway, here are some happenings of late.

For Wendi's 17th birthday (which was in August) we gave her a trip to Chicago for her and up to 3 friends. We finally got around to going about 2 weeks ago. Jenna and Jamie came along, and we had marvelous time together. Our hotel had just been re-done on the inside, and it looked so cool! We got lost, shopped, got lost, ate, got lost, went back to the hotel, swam, watched tv and headed to bed. The next day we shopped. And I do mean shop. I think I know now the meaning behind the saying "shop till you drop." I've never been so ready to leave a mall! But we had an awesome time!

Here we are, ready to go!

Trent and Jenae hosted potluck, and Jake and Meika were able to come down from Michigan to partake in the fun! Charlie and Judah were able to meet for the first time. Neither one of them were very impressed with the other. But us girls had a great time oohing and ahhing over them anyway.

The guys playing some sports trivia game that seems to make it's appearance at multiple potlucks.

Just hanging out.

We've also had the privilage of hanging out with this little munchkin and her parents several times. Let me tell you, this little girl is endless entertainment.

We've also spent a fair amount of time with my new boyfriend and his parents too. :)

(don't worry Luke, I still love you the best!)

He has a talent for making really cool faces, and looking totally annoyed with people.

Yes, the monkey outfit does look familiar. I got this outfit for Judah for holloween, but since he wasn't born yet when I bought it, I had to try it out on Adalai. I chose to post this picture, where Judah looks all content and happy in his darling outfit, and not the one where he is screaming. I'm sure he would have loved the outfit if he would have gotten the chance to look in a mirror.

(and if you think the monkey outfit is humiliating, wait till you see what I want to buy him for Christmas!)

He's finally here!

2009-10-08T08:16:00.001-07:00

Judah Michael Grimm FINALLY arrived Monday night at 5:01pm,

weighing in at 8lb 1oz, and measuring 20.25 inches.

The happy family

The grandparents getting in some loving.

Nights like this

2009-09-04T02:09:00.000-07:00

They are mostly wonderful. There are no sick or preemie babies right now, and no new babies being born anytime soon.

So it's 4am, and I'm sitting here at the computer, wrapped up in a warm blanket, with half eaten Jimmy John's next to me, and snuggling the cutest little boy. He's been alseep for the past hour, but he's just so sweet I can't go put him back in his crib.

I like nights like this when I can be in the nursery, with very little responsibility, and just snuggle those precious newborns whose exhausted mommies are getting some sleep.

I love my job.

Need a pick-me-up?

2009-08-28T12:01:00.000-07:00

So I realize that this is not my child, and maybe posting videos of other people's children is a little fanatical, but this video is seriously hilarious! It makes me laugh every time I watch it, so I just thought I'd share. Enjoy!

Writer's block

2009-08-27T23:42:00.000-07:00

There's really not much to write. We've been busy. Last weekend we went to Iowa with all the Knapp's. Pictures will come soon. In the mean time, here are some pictures of late to tie you over.

A beautiful sunrise. Luke took this picture. I'm either not up at that time, or I'm still at work.

We went out for lunch at Sol Azteca for Wendi's birthday.

I love this pictures of John...totally classic.

Laura Lou

Katie and Adalai...blurry picture, but they're such cute girls, I had to post it.

Happy Birthday!

2009-08-19T09:16:00.000-07:00

Wendi Jo is turning 17 today, so I want to wish her a very happy birthday!

You're the greatest sister ever! :)

Happenings and Thoughts

2009-08-10T23:38:00.001-07:00

It seems like it's been a very long time since I last posted something, but in reality, it was less than 2 weeks ago. A lot has happened in that period of time, including some things that have made me think and pray like I haven't in a long time. So here are the latest happenings (in no particular order) along with my thoughts about them.

~My grandma passed away late last Thursday afternoon. The news was very sad to here, but it also brought joy to my heart to hear that grandma was finally able to go be with Jesus. It will be hard not to have her around at Christmas time and have her drop by to clean out the refrigerator or wash windows, or tell us how hot it is inside the house, and have the girls over for tea parties. Grandma was always one that would tell you her opinion, whether you wanted to hear it or not.

~I may have slightly overcome my fear of needles, simply because of the fact that I had to give myself a shot, and Luke refused to do it. After some initial nausea and hyperventilation, I was able to do it. :)

~We found out that one of our good friends, Jordon Schroeder, has cancer. And not only has cancer, but an in-curable type, and he was given 2 years to live. Please pray for Jordon, his wife Katelyn, and their 2 little girls, Jaycee (2 years) and Arawen (7 months). Having a close friend go through something like this has seriously rocked my world. It has made me realize how quickly life can end, how this world is NOT our home, and how I really need to be thankful for each day I have. Seeing a friend who I grew up with faced with the very real possibility of being a widow with two little girls breaks my heart.

~We drove up to Morris, MN for my cousins wedding. It was a VERY long drive...10 whole hours. I am not a good traveler. It rained most of the way there, and most of the way home. My car REALLY needs new tires, and we hydroplaned a few times...very scary. The good news is that Luke realized just how badly I do need new tires, and I will be getting them soon.

~I am back at work, after having 5 days off. I really didn't want to come in. And I really haven't done much....it's been a boring night.

~There are a few pictures from the past week and a half that I will post someday when I post at home. Most of the time I forget my camera, or if I remember it, I forget to take any pictures. It's sad.

Confessions of a house lover

2009-07-30T11:54:00.000-07:00

I wouldn't say I'm a person with many hobbies, but on of the happens to be houses. Looking at houses, dreaming about houses, painting houses, fixing them up, all that good stuff. Out of all the houses out there, I have developed a love for old farm houses, or just old houses in general. They have so much character, and original hardwood is just beautiful. I regularly look at realtor websites, drooling over houses and updating my husband on the ones I like. :) And then the other day, I found it....my dream house. Take a look at these pictures!

All finished, original hard wood, 4 bedroom, 2 1/2 bathrooms, gorgeous dining room, radiators in the rooms (they add lots of charater), located on almost 2 acres with mature trees, beautiful yard, 2 outbuildings one of which is heated, and very importantly, it's located in Morton school district. Granted, it needs some major decoration updating, but I love to do that.

Anyway, I really want this house. Luke keeps reminding me that this is NOT a good time for us to buy a house, especially one this big (aka...it's a little out of budget). I begged him to at least take me to look at the house. He said we could, but we're not buying it. (We're good for each other that way. He keeps me from running out and buying houses, and I keep him from buying trucks and motorcycles.)

I'll keep you updated on the house...if it's for sale for a while, I could go without eating for a couple days a week to save money. :)

Welcome to the World!

2009-07-21T13:57:00.000-07:00

Congrats to Kevin and Jolynn, whose "little" guy,

Drew Kendall

arrived this morning at 6:11am, weighing in 10lbs 3oz and measuring 21inches long!

We are so excited for you guys, and can't wait to meet this big boy! I'm sure he'll be a great addition to our Bible study group!

Just because it's been a while

2009-07-18T00:56:00.001-07:00

Well, that and because I thought you'd enjoy this random collection of slightly amusing pictures.

Not Me Tuesday

2009-07-06T22:44:00.000-07:00

Although technically it's supposed to be "Not me Monday," it is now in the wee hours of Tuesday, so I've changed the name.

There are a lot of things that did not happen this week that I thought I'd share with you all.

-I did not do dishes tonight for the first time since Thursday. That pile of dishes of did not include 12 cups, most of which did not have dried chocolate milk in the bottom. I have not been slightly obsessed with chocolate milk in the past week.

-I did not mention to my co-worker, Gwen, that I've never had anyone hemorrhage while I was working. My patient did not come very close to doing so just 3 minutes later. I did not run out of room and yell for Gwen. Not me, because I knew exactly what to do. Gwen was not slightly annoyed with my having made such a comment.

-I did not go to Family Video, walk through the ENTIRE new release section, and declare that I've seen everything that's not rated R and is not a horror movie. Not me, because when I stay up all night in between nights at work, I clean and do laundry and organize closets.

-Being the new, inexperienced nurse that I am, I did not rate myself as "very confident" when asked how confident I felt with drawing blood. I did not proceed to miss the next 11 blood draws I attempted. I did not mention to Gwen that I need to keep my mouth shut.

-My camera batteries did not die on the only thing in the past week I've remembered to bring the camera too.

-I did not make it from my house to my floor in the hospital in 18 minutes. Not me, because I always follow the speed limits.

-Once again at work: I did not get peed on by some fat little newborn. I did not leave his diaper totally off and walk off to get something. He did not pee on me as soon as stepped near his crib. Nope, this did not happen to me, because I know that little boys have incredible range, and I would never leave a diaper less baby in his crib.

-Being the decisive person that I am, I did not go to Walmart, pick up and pay for a prescription, bring it home, let it sit on the counter for 2 days, and then decide I wasn't going to take it. Not me, because I would never pay for something that I won't use.

these lazy summer days

2009-07-01T00:02:00.000-07:00

This weekend out potluck group (-2 couples and + 1 couple) headed out to Taylor to Kent and Jan Heimer's cabin. We had marvelous time, just relaxing and hanging out.

We got there late Friday afternoon, and it was just Kenton and Heidi and us till about midnight. We did some grilling, once we finally got the grill started.

One of the lakes

On Saturday, the guys did a lot of fishing, while us girls floated around on the lake from about 9:30am to 5pm. It was so hot and humid, and the lake felt amazing!

One of Luke's bigger fish that he caught.

Another lake

Jake didn't have high hopes as far as fishing went, because he had never caught a fish in his life. Well, Saturday night before supper he finally pulled one out!

The guys, overseeing the fish fry and chicken grilling

The girls

The cabin

All of us on Sunday morning before church

(except for Joe and Lindsey, who opted to drive the 30 minutes home in order to sleep in their own bed)

Thanks so much for Kenton and Heidi who organized everything and got it all together! We had great weekend!

Happy Birthday....

2009-06-22T01:51:00.000-07:00

To the love of my life! He's turning __ today! I love you so much, and hope your day will be a fantastic one!

One the other hand, it's 3:53am, I'm at work, and I'm going to die of boredom and exhaustion. Unless Anita freezes me to death first. Pretty sure it's 62 degrees right now. I've got on my scrubs, a jacket I stole from labor, am wrapped in 2 warm blankets, and am sipping hot chocolate that's sadly almost gone.

My left leg is feeling warm and tingly. Maybe I have a blood clot from sitting here all night.

I've only slept 12 out of the past 69 hours. I am SOOO excited to crawl into bed in about 4 1/2 hours.

There's a labor patient at the desk in the middle of a contraction and she's yelling. Poor lady's got a long way to go.

Anyway, that's all I have to say. Someday when I post at home I'll post pictures of our trip to Chicago and Father's day. Until then, ya'll have good sleeps. I'm so jealous.

So I may have to re-think the whole wanting kids thing

2009-06-10T05:59:00.000-07:00

Because I was so glad to leave those babies behind this morning.

Not that the night was terrible, but it was crazy. Way too many babies born and the ones who were already born screamed....all night...not joking. Anyone notice that it was a full moon last night?

And the preemie baby I was taking care of kept having apnea episodes and turning blue. 17 times in 8 hours. He must have thought I needed something else to do. Scared me to death every time.

And I suctioned all 4 c-section babies born yesterday. Just lined them all up, stuck tubes down their throats, and sucked up all the mucus, amniotic fluid, old blood, and other nasty stuff out of their bellies and airway. It was great.

Oh, and I spent 1 hour and 10 minutes on the phone with "Brian" from pharmacy trying to convince him that I did too have a Dr's order for nasal spray, and yes, I faxed the order AND put it in the computer, and then tried to help him figure where in the world the order was disappearing to (black space somewhere, I suppose). I then proceded to spend 20 minutes on the phone with Dr. N who couldn't exactly understand why he needed to re-order the nasal spray. Poor guy. It's rough being woken up 3:15am.

Worst of all, I had brought a really good book to work so I could read it. I never even got to sit down, much less read my book.

At work...again

2009-06-07T23:27:00.000-07:00

They've tried to call me off two nights in a row for low census, but if I'm going to be up all night anyway, I figure I might as well get paid while I awake.

Weekends have no appeal to me anymore, because I sleep right through them. And every evening is pretty much the same, no matter what day it is.

Anyway, I'm sitting here, getting ready to start watching youtube videos. Rikki is playing some game. Last night Lindsey and I watch youtube videos all night. I feel kinda bad, but what else am I supposed to do? Stare at Rikki the whole night? There is seriously nothing to do.

I seriously thought about putting a picture of a placenta up here, but you'd prbably all gross out.

These pictures WILL upload

2009-06-05T14:35:00.000-07:00

And when they do, it will be picture overload.

Anyway, these go back to memorial day weekend, when our whole potluck group was re-united at Jeff and Janel's. We were supposed to go canoeing, but we got rained out. So we just hung out, talked, played games, and watched Max, who will charm you in the next picture. :)

Next we move onto Adam's graduation open house. It makes me feel a little old that my little brother is out of high school.

Kendra, Wendi, and Jamie hanging out.

Lots of kids on the swing set

And in the sand box.

The spread of awesome food that my mom made!

Mom, Aunt Lily, and Lori

Eating on the deck.

The graduate himself. Trust me, he was thrilled to have this picture taken.

Wendi, me, and Kendra.

We all liked out our shirts looked so cool together.

The teacher and school president. :)

(also known as mom and dad)

The whole family. I had to include this one, because Wendi looks hilarious. I have no idea what she is doing.

A good family picture

All of us kids

a typical picture of Luke

And know we move on to my garden. These are in backwards order, and my garden actually looks very different now, because there are plants!! Anyway, this is my garden all planted.

Naptime for the garden tiller. He really did work very hard.

Starting to till up the ground!

The "before" picture.

Anyway, those are all the pictures I've got for know. Thanks to Katie who gave me a tip on how to get blogger to upload all these pictures!

Pictures coming soon

2009-06-01T03:22:00.000-07:00

As I sit at the nurses station, I can look through room 514, out the window, and see that it's starting to get light outside.

There is nothing more I want right now than to fall into bed. A warm bed.

I'm working with 3 menopausal women who are all having hot flashes at the same time. It's seriously -10 degrees in here. I love blanket warmers. Someday I'm going to put one in my house.

And I'm really bored. There's only 4 patients on the whole floor. Other than giving regular doses of pain meds to one of my patients (pretty sure she's snowed right now), I haven't done much all night.

Cold, really really tired, and bored. Only 2 more hours. I've planned two vacations I'm not going on, and looked at a whole bunch of houses I'll never buy.

Today was my brother Adam's graduation party. It makes me feel really old to think that my little brother has graduated high school.

I will post pictures of the party and my garden someday, whenever blogger decides to let me.

And now I'd like to share with the conversation I had with one of my patients tonight (or this morning...I get so confused).
Me: Hi, I'm Heidi and I'm going to be your nurse tonight. (writing my name and that I'm here until 7:30am on the board).
Patient: Is it time for my pain meds yet? I hurt so bad!
Me: Let me check and see...(logining in to computer, looking up meds)
Patient: Are you my new nurse?
Me: Yes, and my name is Heidi...ok, it looks like it's going to be about 45 minutes until you can have anymore pain meds (thinking that it should be a lot longer...you're kinda loopy).
Patient: Ok...can I have the same stuff I had last time? Janet Jackson said it's good stuff. I don't know what she's up to these days, but I know her feet sure are swollen! Those people downstairs sure are mean! They won't let anyone come up to give me gifts. (duh lady, it's 1am!) Are you the one I talk to about pain meds?

And so the night has gone. Once she got more meds, she actually slept for 2 1/2 straight hours. It was very exciting.

I have a garden!!

2009-05-29T14:00:00.000-07:00

It's being a little neglected due to my sleeping most of the day, but things are popping out of the ground!

I'd show you pictures, but blogger is being uncooperative.

Anyway, the transition to nights is going...it's not terrible, but it's not exactly great either.

I leave for work at 10:30pm, work from 11pm-8am, and then crash (and I do mean crash) into bed about 8:30am, sleep until about 3 (the latest I've been able to sleep), get up, do some stuff until about 5, sleep until about 7, and then get up, eat dinner, try to clean up the house, and then head back to work.

I'm pretty sure that's a run-on sentence.

One thing I'm hoping will change is the whole eating thing. My stomach doesn't really tolerate food at 3am. So by the time I get off work and it's been 12 hours since I last ate, I'm really hungry.

must...stay...awake...

2009-05-23T22:30:00.000-07:00

Well folks, it's my first night of staying up late.
It's 12:30 and I'm dying here.
Those first couple times of working all night are going to be rough.
Really rough.

I have until Tuesday night to totally switch up my days and nights.
The plan is to stay up increasingly later each night, until I've finally stayed up all night.

This will (hopefully) occur on Monday night, and then I can sleep all day Tuesday.

I'm pretty sure I've only stayed up all night once in my life.

And not only am I exhausted right now (I did get up at 5:30 to go to work) but I'm totally bored. I plan on finishing this post, watching a movie, and then collapsing into bed.

That should put me to bed about 2:30 am.
Tomorrow night's goal is 4:30 am.
Monday night's goal 7 am.

If anyone out there is a total night owl, I probably wouldn't turn down late night (or early morning) company.

a good laugh

2009-05-21T19:39:00.000-07:00

You know how some people have these hilarious stories, the ones that make you laugh so hard that you almost pee your pants?
Well, those are my favorite blog posts to read.
I blog-stalk a lot.
Pretty much everytime I'm bored or I'm procrastinating doing something.
I just jump from blog to blog, reading about people I have no clue who they are.
I'm kind of a nosey person, so I like doing things like that.

Anyway, once in a while, I come across some post that I just cry while reading.
Katelyn's post had me in tears.
I called to her tell her. (just a side note, I do know Katelyn.)

Michelle's post also made me laugh really hard.
And no, I have no idea who she is.

Sarah's blog has proven to be pretty entertaining on multiple occasions.
And I don't know her either.

Anyway, hope some of these posts can make you laugh as hard as I did.

Happenings of late

2009-05-16T06:04:00.001-07:00

So...I'm a little behing here. Bob and Jenny got married on April 26.

It was a beautiful wedding. I loved Jenny's dress.

And my dress too.

And now she is living in Tremont, I will never see her.

You all know how far away that is....way too long to drive. :)

They had awesome decorations at the reception, all inspired by Jenny herself.
In case you can't figure out what these are, they are test tube racks filled with flowers.

That Thursday we headed down to U of I with a group of people to hear James White debate Dan Barker on the existence of God. Traever was pretty pumped about the whole experience. As much as I was sceptical about the whole thing, it was very interesting. James totally dominated. And here is Traever with James White.

2 Saturdays ago, Elise and I had a garage sale at her house.
She made a killing.

I made like $15.25.

Oh well. We did have a fun day hanging out together, and even managed to get a little sunburnt in the process.

And since I've been typical me since then, there are no pictures of mother's day, or my brother's birthday. I wish I remembered my camera more often.

Please pardon the dust...

2009-05-13T19:03:00.001-07:00

I'm not as computer savy as I thought and I'm having a few issues. Hopefully we'll be back in shape soon!

2 down, 2 to go

2009-05-13T14:50:00.000-07:00

I'm refering to days I have to work. I feel like it's my 10th day. Supposedly storms make people go into labor. There were 8 babies born between 8am and noon. Crazy. Of course I got the baby who needed oxygen. Oh well.

Oooh...and yesterday, I drew blood 2 times, and I started my first IV on a newborn!! I also helped with a lumbar puncture, which was kinda scary. And sadly, it was all on the same baby. So to all you pregnant people out there, don't have a fever when you go into labor!! The nurses will thank you.

I transplanted a bunch of flowers I planted last year, and I'm pretty sure I killed them in the process. That makes me very sad. It's also been too wet to till a spot for my garden, so I might not be able to have one this year. That also makes me sad, because I had plans for a really big one!

Well, that's pretty much all the interesting (?) news I have for now.

Just for clarification:

2009-05-10T14:10:00.000-07:00

1. The story I posted about last time did NOT happen to me. It was just a random story that got emailed to me. (although as I set everyone straight on this topic, please note that while this didn't happen to me, it is something that very well could occur. I'm blessed like that.)

2. I didn't fall off the face of the earth. Yes, no post for almost 3 weeks may seem like ages, but we're still trying to figure out the whole work full time/make dinner/do laundry/keep the house clean thing...give us time (and by us, I mean me).

3. My house looks the way it does because of the working/dinner/laundry/cleaning thing. And no, it hasn't been cleaned in a while (a very long while).

4. I someday do want a perfectly healthy normal baby, not a sick pre-term one. I would just be thrilled if the perfectly healthy normal baby weighed about 4 pounds. (for some reason, I've fallen in love with the teeny tiny babies I take care of at work, and I would like one for myself, as long it has no IV's, feeding tubes, or cardiac monitors)

things

2009-04-22T13:39:00.000-07:00

I'm seriously lacking in anything interesting to say. Pretty much everything I've said in the past 3 weeks still stands true. I read this story the other day, and thought I'd share, as I just cracked up (you may not think this is funny at all...I tend to laugh really hard at things when I get home from work!)

Baked Beans - One day I met a sweet gentleman and fell in love. When it became apparent that we would marry, I made the supreme sacrifice and gave up beans. Some months later, on my birthday, my car broke down on the way homefrom work. Since I lived in the countryside I called my husband and told him that I would be late because I had to walk home. On my way, I passed by a small diner and the odor of baked beans was more than I could stand. With miles to walk, I figured that I would walk off any ill effects by the time I reached home, so I stopped at the diner and before I knew it, I had consumed three large orders of baked beans. All the way home, I made sure that I released ALL the gas. Upon my arrival, my husband seemed excited to see me and exclaimed delightedly,"'Darling I have a surprise for dinner tonight!" He then blindfolded me and led me to my chair at the dinner table. I took a seat and just as he was about to remove my blindfold, the telephone rang. He made me promise not to touch the blindfold until he returned and went to answer the call. The baked beans I had consumed were still affecting me and the pressure was becoming most unbearable, so while my husband was out of the room I seized the opportunity, shifted my weight to one leg and let one go. It was not only loud, but it smelled like a fertilizer truck running over a skunk in front of a pulpwood mill. I took my napkin from my lap and fanned the air around me vigorously. Then, shifting to the other cheek, I ripped off three more. The stink was worse than cooked cabbage!!! Keeping my ears carefully tuned to the conversation in the other room, I went on like this for another few minutes. The pleasure was indescribable. When eventually the telephone farewells signaled the end of my freedom, I quickly fanned the air a few more times with my napkin, placed it on my lap and folded my handsback on it feeling very relieved and pleased with myself. My face must have been the picture of innocence when my husband returned, apologizing for taking so long. He asked me if I had peeked through the blindfold, and I assured him I had not. At this point, he removed the blindfold, and twelve dinner guests seated around the table chorused, ''Happy Birthday!''

I'm thankful for...

2009-04-15T10:21:00.000-07:00

My husband.

He is so patient, loving, and kind. He continually encourages me to spend more with God, to not be lazy, and to go grow personally. He also has a great ability to bring situations back to God, remembering that He is soverign.

My families...both of them.

I've been so blessed to be born in a Christian family, with parents who love and care for me no matter how my life turns out. I'm so thankful for my siblings. Without them, life would have been so boring!

I'm also thankful for the welcoming I've recieved from the Knapp family. I couldn't ask for better in-laws!

The Bible.

It's such a wonderful time when I can sit down and read God's word. I so enjoy those quiet mornings at home when there is nothing else pressing to be done, I can just sit and bask in God's overpowering love for me.

Heat and warmth.

As a chronically cold person, being warm rates pretty high. Warm clothes, a warm house, blankets, and space heaters are such wonderful things!

A clean kitchen floor.

One of my biggest petpeeves is a crumby floor. Therefore, having a non-crumby floor makes me thankful.

My job.

God has blessed me with a job that I absolutly love! All those years of school, and the stess of boards are over with, and I am now able to look back and see God's hand in all of it.

Peanut butter m&m's.

Every bite is pure deliciousness.

'Round our house...

2009-04-07T20:05:00.000-07:00

There's not much new. Expect that Luke is sick. He's really sick. Like sick enough that he didn't go into work till 11:30 this morning. Really, really, really sick. I keep taking is temperature, but my thermometer (that I just got at Walmart) keeps reading 97.2. I'm thinking the $3 ones probably don't work too well. He's on his 2nd dose of Nyquil since 5:30 tonight, and sleeping like a baby. Or like someone totally drugged. These nursing skills sure do come in handy. :) (and I'm just kidding!! I didn't drug or overdose my husband on Nyquil!!)

Other than that, nothing else is new. I'm still working, Luke's still working, the house is still a mess, the laundry still needs to be done, and dinner hasn't been cooked in a few days. Smore's cereal with chocolate milk was dinner last night for me, and Luke had Burger King. Yes, I know, we are such a healthy family.

Adalai Aever

2009-04-05T18:08:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's been a while since I posted. And during that time, my cousins Traever and Andrea had a baby! A little girl, Adalai Aever, as you can see from the title. She's pretty sweet. Thanks to proud Grandma Guingrich who emailed me pictures for the sole purpose of putting them on my blog. :)

Lacking in post material

2009-03-27T15:15:00.000-07:00

Work is going wonderfully. I love my job. And when I come home, my hands and my clothes smell like a newborn. I love it. :) And yes, I have been accused of being baby crazy.

Anyway, my title says it all. And since this is the case, I will share two stories with my readers that will probably make you think I'm a total idiot, or ditz, or something. But seriously, my family, husband and I would like to know how I get myself into these messes!!!

I think I was about 16 or so when the first mess occured. Plucking my eyebrows has never been something I particularly enjoy doing, and I won't spend the money to have someone else shape them nicely for me.

Actually, I prettty much never notice eyebrows (so if mine really need some work next time you see me, I probably just haven't paid much attention to them).

Anyway, I happened to be at Walmart one day and see these "do-it-yourself eyebrow waxing strips." Sounded easy enough to me, so I bought some.

Fast forward to the next time I noticed my eyebrows were turning into a uni-brow (spelling?). It was a Saturday night, and I thought I'd give them a try. I did.

They took all the hair off. They were worked wonderfully. Hurt like all get-out, but they worked.

Sunday morning I got woke up and headed to the bathroom, only to discover just how well those strips had worked. Not only had they taken my eyebrow hair off, they'd also taken off some of the skin, and I was graced with huge scabs and swollen eyes.

Beautiful.

My mom made me go to church too.

Said it was good for my pride, or something like that.

Sadly, that didn't stop me.

Fast forward a few more years and into my married life. I've been a nail bitter ever since I can remember, and it drives my husband nuts! I've tried almost every trick in the book to get myself to stop, but nothing really works.

Even the motivation of having nice nails for my wedding failed. I bit them way down during lecture just 3 days prior to the date.

So much for nice nails.

And then I had another brilliant (really stupid) idea!! I'd use fake nails for about a week or so, and then I'd have longer nails, and they'd look so nice that I wouldn't want to bite them anymore.

I went to Walmart (again...seriously, I need to just get what I need and get out of there) and picked out my stuff. I took it home, eager to try out my idea.

Putting them on went fine, but they looked really fake, and really bad, so I decided to take them off. I soon realized that the only finger nail polish remover I had was the non-acetone stuff. And the instructions said to soak the nail in acetone fingernail polish remover.

Oh dear.

The glue eventually loosened on my nail, but because my nails are so short, some of the glue had gotten on the skin above my nail.

And it was NOT coming off. Beautiful.

I called Luke wailing about what was I going to do! Surprisingly, he didn't have any ideas.

Not even one.

So I called my trusty friend Elise, who really didn't have any ideas either.

I decided not to call anyone else, because I felt the need to preserve just a little bit of pride.

The fake nail eventually did come off, only after being pried at with a toothpick, and taking some skin off with it.

*sigh* I keep thinking that someday I'll grow out of getting into these messes. But I'll probably be getting into them right along with my kids.

A few quick things

2009-03-24T18:51:00.000-07:00

Today was my first day on the floor with patients. I guess it went good...I didn't kill or permanently harm anyone! 2 big things to share-one really cool, and the other really weird, but also cool.

Today I was signing off on some Dr's order, and I got to sign my name: H Knapp RN. That made me smile.

I also got to give medications. After pulling them, I took them to my preceptor and asked her to check them. She gave me a really weird look and then said "honey, you're a nurse now, you don't get your meds checked!" During nursing school, it was a HUGE thing to get your meds checked by either your instructor or your preceptor. You pulled your meds really early, and then stood in line waiting for the teacher to look and make sure you had the right med, right dose, right time, right patient. Anyway, it was a little scary to give medications without anyone making sure I was doing it right. Scary, weird, and very cool. :)

Anyway, it's 9pm and since I have to get up at 5:15am, I'm going to head to bed.

caffeine, sleep, and too little movement

2009-03-19T19:30:00.000-07:00

I started work on Monday morning. And I now love caffeine. I've gotten way too little sleep. And I feel like I've sat in a chair for 4 days straight (oh wait, I have!).

Yesterday morning (just the 3rd morning of work) I commented to Luke that this working thing was for the birds. He seemed to think there was a problem.

But it'll get better. Once I'm not in orientation re-learning everything I learned in 4 years of college, and I can get out on the floor, I'll be ok. Minus the 7am-3pm hours. I think I might love night shift.

Darlingness

2009-03-11T15:37:00.000-07:00

This is my niece, Naomi. And this is her praying on the pot. I thought it was just darling, and had to share.

Plans

2009-03-10T09:20:00.000-07:00

I had lots of them for the day. I figured after about 3 months of being at home, I should probably get myself in gear and actually do something. Anyway, I was going to run errands, paint the kitchen trim (which has needed painting since August) and the hallway wall (a certain painter missed a couple spots...shall remain nameless, but she knows who she is!). I was going to fix a healthy dinner since we ate out all weekend, and make at least 3 meals to put in the freezer.

But none of it is getting done now. Luke woke me up this morning about 7am to tell me that there was water all over the basement and that he would be running the wet/dry vac. At this point, I rolled over and asked "do you need me to come help?" sincerely hoping he would be ok on his own. But I got a "yeah, that'd be nice" in response.

Of course all the water would be over by where we have everything stored. And it's coming up through the floor. Seriously, if you've never seen water ooze through a concrete floor, you should come over. It's pretty weird to see. Our sump pump and floor drains are working over time, and I'm SOO thankful that they're just working!

Anyway, I have to stick around the house to wait for the sewer guy to come so the sewer doesn't decide to back up into the house, and I can't run any water. That puts a damper on running errands, painting, and making food.

Although, the most pressing question right now is what to do when I have to pee. There's no flushing the toilet, and I'm afraid that if I keep adding to bowl, that it'll clog (but then again, I'm pretty good at taking care of that problem...seems to happen often).

Fines

2009-03-05T06:03:00.000-08:00

Library fines that is...my family is kind of known for them.

When we were little, we weren't the kind of family that went to the library and each kid got like 3 books. Oh no, each kid got like 20 books. And this is no exaggeration! We had a "library basket" that I'm pretty sure was a laundry basket. Not one of those huge ones, but those smaller square ones. We always had so many books that my mom would keep the list that the library prints out for you, and we'd check them off one by one, to make sure we had them all. There was that many of them.

Anyway, we'd pack up and head to library, were all of us would spend an hour or so picking out the multitude of books we wanted to take home. We'd get them home, and promptly devour as many possible in one sitting.

Now you'd think with being able to have library books for 3 weeks, that we could have gotten them all read in time. Most of the time we did, or came pretty close to it, but then there was the matter of getting them back on time. That seemed to be a problem for the family. Even if most of the books got returned on time, there was so many books at our house that it wasn't uncommon to lose one or two (or leave them out in the rain...Adam and Wendi).

I can recall checking out books for myself at the library only to find a nearly $30 fine on my card! Yeah, and those fines are only like 5 cents a day per book. I'm pretty sure my family single handedly supported the local libraries with our fines.

Anyway, the point of this whole story is that I seem to have my mother's tendency to forget to take library books back. You'd think it wouldn't be a problem. I mean, it's just me at home, and I've been sitting at home for weeks not really doing anything. Nonetheless, I returned my library books (all 10 of them) about 2 weeks late. With no other excuse than that I forgot about them.

I'm blaming it on my upbringing.

Out of Sorts

2009-02-26T09:41:00.000-08:00

It probably has something to do with the fact that I ate pretty the entire bag of kettle corn right before going to sleep last night.

And the fact that it's gloomy outside today, and I really don't want to leave my house.

And the fact that I went back to bed after Luke left and proceeded to sleep till 11am, throwing my entire day and all my plans off.

And the fact that I looked out the window this morning (after I finally really did get up) and noticed the trash barrels were missing. I went out in my pj's to search for them. Found them in two opposite fields, with the lid to one down way far. I never did find the other one, until I got back to the garage and realized it was safely there. If there's one thing I very much dislike doing it's anything to do with the trash. No idea why, I just don't like it.

On a brighter note, there are full length Jane Austin movies on youtube, and I've been taking advantage of that fact. You can watch both Emma and Mansfield Park in 9 minute segments. Why I don't just go rent them, I don't know. It's makes so much more sense that sitting in the front of the computer watching them on this 3x5 inch thing. Oh well.

I ate a cookie and 7 pringles for breakfast. My kids are just going to love me!

Bread Day

2009-02-24T08:22:00.000-08:00

There's nothing like homemade bread, cinnamon rolls, etc, right?

Well, last Wednesday when I was at Elise's (for no other reason than that we were both bored at home) we started looking through cookbooks and finding all these bread recipes that looked amazing, so we decided to makes Monday bread day.

We whipped up 2 loaves of bread, 4 1/2 dozen dinner rolls, and 4 dozen cinnamon rolls.

Wendi came over to show us how she makes her amazing cinnamon rolls. And we soon found out that while they were a lot of work, they are totally worth it!

Ready to start the cinnamon rolls!

Bread and dinner roll dough raising in the oven.

Ready to raise

Cutting with dental floss. Yes, it really does work!

Dinner rolls raising

The finished product!! YUM!

Making Laundry Soap

2009-02-20T12:43:00.000-08:00

Ingredients: 1 bar of shredded soap (the less scented, the better)

3/4 Cup Baking Soda (or washing soda, if you're able to find it)
3/4 cup Borax

2 Tablespoons Glycerin

Put shredded bar soap in a small pot and add enough water to cover. Melt the soap and then add to the baking soda/borax/glycerin in a big bucket. Add 2 1/2 gallons of hot water, and stir.

Put the soap in milk jugs with lids. Use 1/2 cup for a medium load of laundry.
(We only had 2 milk jugs, so we used yogurt containers too)

So this all started when Paul heard on the radio about a lady with a bunch of kids who made her own laundry soap and how cheap it was. So Elise and I decided to whip up a batch on Tuesday. It was really easy, and cost only $1.67 for 2 1/2 gallons of the stuff. I did all my laundry with it on Tuesday afternoon, and declared it a success! We put it in milk jugs, which I think works the best, because you have to shake it before using it.