Thursday, January 31, 2008

Potty Training Hiatus

So, we've avoided the potty since the "incident." I'll say, "Do you want to go pee pee on your potty?" She immediately answers "NO!" I figure that that is okay. In the big scheme of things, it would be a whole lot easier if she were still in diapers on our cruise, you know? :) I know that sounds lazy, but it would be!

Nothing too exciting is going on here, so I don't have much to blog really. Cassie is watching Strawberry Shortcake. If we don't get her another SS DVD soon, I think I'll SCREAM! We watch the same one over and over, but she LOVES it. SO, I usually find things to do while she's watching it so that I don't have those songs stuck in my head quite as badly.

I don't think that I've mentioned on here (or maybe I have) that I'm going to South Dakota next week on Thursday. That's where my mom is from and where all of her family still lives. We'll go to Souix Falls on Thursday and then on to Pierre (prounounced like 'pier') on Friday. Our cousin, Becky, is getting married on Saturday. I haven't been up to Pierre since my cousin, B's, wedding, which was, if I remember correctly, 4-1/2 years ago. I only wish that it was summer so that I could have my Zesto. :) :) :)

We are having a SuperBowl party here. If you live in the area and want to come, you're more than welcome. We're doing finger foods. If you think you'll come, call me and we'll talk about it. It was a very last minute thing (happened at like 6 p.m. last night), but it should be fun. We can shut the boys in the basement where they won't bug us and we girls (that don't care that much about the game) can be upstairs and can play games or something.

Well, I don't have anything else. Sorry, I'm boring. Hope you all are staying warm. It SURE IS cold out there! Take care and we'll catch 'ya later.

Monday, January 28, 2008

I don't even have the energy to come up with a title. The last one about pottying was so optimistic. What is below is a copy and paste from the e-mail I just sent my mom, cousins, aunt, and grandmother about our evening. I know 3 posts in 1 day is impressive, but I needed to get it all down for the memory of it AND to vent out my frustrations. Have a good one...


As I sit here writing this, I'm feeling very dejected and frustrated. Even though Cassie is the one that initiated the pottying on Saturday, she is NOT ready and I'm not sure if we should keep trying (she's still interested...) or just put it away for the time being. Within about an hour and a half today, we had 3 accidents. Just now, I finished cleaning up poop from ALL over the bathroom. You think I'm kidding. She knew that she needed to poo-poo, but was scared of it. I said, "Why don't we just go put a diaper on?" Well, she didn't want a diaper, so I thought we'd give it a shot. BAD IDEA! She freaked out when she pooped, so she stood up, which made it go on the floor. Then, she shrieked, dropped another poopie, shrieked and jumped, stepped in it, screamed, slipped, fell into the poop (both of them--one with her bottom--one with her foot...you guessed it...the OTHER foot), ran towards me, and was shaking and sobbing uncontrollably. I scooped her up, sat her in the tub and washed her off with the hose sprayer and soap. Realized that our towels were in the dryer, so I wrapped her in my bath robe knowing that she still had poo in her crack, but knowing she was too freaked to do anything about it at the moment. I took her to her room and cleaned up her bottom with a wipe and got a diaper on her. She was still shaking like a leaf and wouldn't let me put her down to go clean up. Finally, Mark got out of the shower and got clothes on. He took her downstairs while I started scouring the bathroom. DISGUSTING and DISASTER!

So, for pee-pee in the potty today, we have ZERO and for poo-poo in the potty we have ZERO. For pee-pee on the carpet, we have 2. For pee-pee down her legs and soaking her socks, we have 1. For poo-poo ON the potty, floor, bathroom rug, bathtub, etc. we have 1.

Needless to say, I'm exhausted and my back hurts from all of the clean up today. *sigh* Here's to hoping tomorrow's a better day!!!

Oh, yeah...one more thing...

I kept forgetting over and over and over (since I was 17 weeks...now 20) that my doctor is counting my due date as June 15th NOT June 17th. SO, I'm 20 weeks as of yesterday. I kept forgetting that myself AND to tell people, so that means that I AM halfway done! HALLELUJAH!!!!!!! So, that's why my ticker at the top changed if you'd been keeping up with it.

Potty Time Fun

Well, we're on day 3 of pottying and we're doing well today. We've been in panties since we got up from nap about 2 hours ago and have stayed dry. We got new panties today. She picked out some 'george pannies' (in her words--that means Curious George) and then some Elmo panties. She was pretty proud of her new panties when we first put them on. I think the fact that they have George on them will be an incentive to keep them dry. I told her that if she pee-peed on George, they'd have to go bye-bye until I could wash them. She doesn't want that to happen! We also got some Dora stickers for her potty chart and some Pull-Ups for nap time. I wasn't very prepared since I hadn't really been pushing the potty training. BUT, I guess when they decide that they're ready...they're ready and you've gotta GET ready! :) We'll see how it all goes, but for now, we're on the road to being diaper free!!! At least until June.......

Sunday, January 27, 2008

BIG GIRL!!! and Social Suppers

Well, we've done it...twice. We've pee-peed in the big girl potty. Cassie...not me. Both times, she screamed; more the first time than the second. She wasn't so impressed. What can I say, the child is afraid of her bodily functions (except for tooties, which Daddy has taught her is quite funny...grrr). However, after I got all excited, made a big deal of it, let her wipe and wash her hands, AND gave her a special treat, she liked it more and proudly told people on the phone, "PEE PEE POTTY!" One time was yesterday, one time was today. Then, she had an accident merely an hour later. I guess I need to ask her more frequently. At least it wasn't poo...yet.

She has 2 new phrases that she says a ton. If you tell her to do something she says, with a very strong southern accent, "Otaaay." However, today, all day long she's been saying, "I wiiill..." in the same accent. Hmmmm...


So, we all LOVED Social Suppers yesterday. It was soooooo much fun!!! I actually ended up spending about $80, but that got me five 1/2 meals, which will either feed us all twice or will do 1 dinner and then a lunch for me and then 1 full meal, which is 8 servings. Also, some sides. I thought that that was pretty good considering that it was pretty much the full meals. I made several chicken dishes (St. Tropaz Ckn, Chablis Ckn, Citrus Tarragon Ckn), Honey Garlic Porkchops, Spicy Shredded Beef Wraps (for Mark--that's the one that serves 8), and Pesto Baked Ziti. There was rice for one of the ckn meals and potatoes for another. The wraps came with tortillas and a sour cream sauce that I made there. There was 1 other side thing that I don't remember and then I got "The World's Best Mashed Potatoes." I'll tell you if it's true or not.

The process was fun, but a bit intimidating to me at first. You pick a station to go to and just start following the instructions on the sheet. You make most everything in baggies and then attach an instruction label. Then, when you get home, you freeze it. Pull it out the morning that you want it to thaw and prepare it in the evening--VOILA! You've got yourself a meal! Once I got started and quit feeling dumb (a bad habit of mine), I really enjoyed it and had so much fun making everything and just being with the girls! Here's a picture of our group, though I think a few had left before this. Oh, and yes...I know that I look odd AND look like a cow in this one...I'm supposed to be getting big! :)




Oh, good! It came out small where you can't really tell that I have a goofy look on my face. You CAN tell that I'm cowish, though. :)


Well, that's all I have for today. I have to get dinner made before we go to LIFE group, so I'd better get on it AND pick out what I'm going to thaw for dinner tomorrow night....... Hmmmmmm.............

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Baby's Room

WELL.....after much debating and such, we've decided to go with the "Uptown" baby bedding. Mark wanted something "more masculine" than the splash bedding, which I thought was pretty funny. I guess he doesn't want any chance of having a pansy of a baby! HA! There were 2 other deciding factors. Number 1, he can really grow with this bedding a lot more than the fishie one. Number 2, this one is about $100 less. :) SO, we're going to do the walls a solid color (either a lighter blue or a lighter brown/tan) and then do circles of all of the other colors in the bedding on the walls in random groupings. I'm excited! Now, we just have to get it ordered and pick out the paint!

Here's a funny Cassie story. I'm pretty sure that I didn't blog this yet. It has to do with baby's room kinda, though. Mark's dad (Grandad to Cassie) came over to help us remove the AWFUL wallpaper in the nursery. It was the last room that we hadn't touched since moving in to this house 2-1/2 years ago. Well, after getting the stupid stuff down, there was lots that needed spackling/sanding/etc. So, they did all of that while I played with Cassie and Levi (I was keeping baby Levi that day). When he left, I went to get Cassie a bath and looked in my bathroom to find spackle stuff EVERYWHERE...on the counter, on the faucet, and ALLLLLL over the mirror up to like 4 feet up (from the bottom of the mirror). I said, "Oh, my goodness, Mark! Your dad made a MESS!" He laughed and that was about that. This was like 2:30 or 3:00. That night when we went to brush Cassie's teeth (so like 5 hours later), she looked up at the mirror and said, "TSK! GRANDAD! OHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh............" in a very exasperated voice while shaking her head. I thought that it was soooo funny! It was totally like a woman complaining about how messy men are with her sighed "oh..." and head shake. I guess she's learned from the best! :)

Well, that's all I got for this morning. I am on my way to Social Suppers at 2:30ish, so I'm pretty excited about that! You all have a great day and we'll catch ya on the flip side...

Thursday, January 24, 2008

OK Joe's and THE ZESTO

So, there is a BBQ place here called Oklahoma Joe's. It is pretty stinkin' scrumptious. I've been craving it for quite some time, but my hubby had been mean and wouldn't go because he has to "be in the mood for BBQ." Well, finally, after being frustrated about it, I told him a week or so ago that he was not getting any Mexican (restaurant, home-cooked, fast food) until I got OK Joe's. Apparently, that lit a fire under his behind, because today, he went and picked it up for me for lunch. The sweetheart! :) They have a sandwich there that I get every time called the "Z-Man." It is sliced brisket, 2 onion rings, provolone cheese, and of course, BBQ sauce. It is FABULOUS! All of their meals also come with pickles on the side and then Mark and I share a side of fries, because they are seriously like 2 large fries from any other restaurant put together. YUM-O! Can you tell that I loved it?!?

On another food-related chain of thought...There is a place in Pierre, SD (where my mom is from) called Zesto. It is a walk-up ice cream place. I don't know how long it's been there, but forever. Now, there are Zestos all over the country. HOWEVER, this one is unique for the very reason that I am OB-SESSED with it. They have soft-serve sherbet and you can have alone or swirled with vanilla (some flavors I prefer alone some are good with vanilla, too). They have everything from lime to grape to root beer to tutti frutti. There are a ton of flavors. Every M and Tu they have the same flavor, W and Th the same, and then F, S, and S the same flavor (which is always a red/pink flavor, by the way). So, there is only 1 option of sherbet a day and it changes on that schedule. All I know is, if I lived up there, I would be a COW! There are many other scrumptious things there, but the sherbet is my fav. Because it's a walk-up joint, it is only open in the warm months. For some reason, I thought that it was open Memorial Day through Labor Day. I'm going at the end of Sept for my cousin's wedding, so I was already scheming ways for different people to stock me up some for while I'm there. HOWEVER, I was estatic to find out that they ARE GOING TO BE OPEN WHEN I'M THERE!!! Now, chances are, I'll only be there Fri-Sun, so it will be the same flav the whole time, but I DON'T CARE!!!!!!!!!!! I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!! OH MYLANTA!!!!!!!!

So...anyone think that I might have a significant weight gain by my next appt? All I can think of is food right now! AHHHHHHHHHHHH! It's really frightening to think that I might be exceeding the 147 that I hit in my last pregnancy. Which, by the way, I always, always thought that I gained 47 lbs last time...not true! YES! I really only went from 113 to 147, which is a weight gain of 34 lbs! WOO-HOO! So, if I can just stay below 40 this time, I'll be good.

I'm sure babbling. I'm gonna go find me some dessert! :) HEE HEE

Social Suppers, here I come! :)

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Social Suppers

So, I'm going to Social Suppers on Saturday with some girls from church while the hubbies watch the kids. I'm really excited. PLUS, if we like it, I think that I'll go do a session before baby boy comes so that we can have it in the freezer for once he's here. YAY! I'll let you all know how it goes. For 4 half meals (which serve 4) and 1 full meal (which serves 8), plus 1 additional side, it is about $70. I thought that that was decent, because we can eat 10-12 times on that if it's just Mark and me. He has really cut down his dinner eating to where he eats the same as me or less every night. It has really helped him lose weight. Anyway, we'll see if we like it, but I'm excited about the girls time!

That's all I've got tonight. Everyone have a good one. Peace.

Monday, January 21, 2008

My FABULOUS sister

Here is the link to my sister's senior pictures. Beware, though...there are 347 of them. Ridiculous...I know. You might just want to browse page by page or look at a few and skip around. Anyway, she is a doll and I love her and am soooooo proud of her! I just CANNOT believe that she's a senior! YIKES! http://www.cary-studios.com/dani/index.html

In other news: Cassie is now afraid of being in the bath. If you even SAY the word poo-poo while she's in the bath...she freaks OUT and tries to climb out. Oh, brother...

My back is the absolute worse right now that it has been this whole pregnancy. I can't numb the pain with ice (I just can't find the spot), baths help, but it's hard to get in and out, walking is almost impossible. My poor husband and daughter are not enjoying this one bit. I have basically 5 months left (4-1/2 if I get my way) and don't know if I can handle this for that many more weeks. Prayers would be appreciated!

As of late March/early April, I will no longer have daycare kids. Emberley was just not happy in my care, so we decided that it would be better for them to find another situation for her. I think that it would be great for her if they could find someone to watch her at their home. As for the other 2 kiddos, once their baby sister is born, they are going to stay home with Mommy and then go to preschool. All of this has happened within 1 week. It is a stress and a blessing all at once. Obviously, the income thing is an issue. The blessing, though, is that it has been hard on me with the awfulness of my pregnancy and taking care of extra kids...it's hard enough with Cassie. So, we shall see how life progresses once we're back to just Mark's up and down income. God always provides, though: Jehovahjira (God will provide--the name used when Abraham had Isaac on the altar and the ram was in the brambles).

I guess that's it for this exciting addition of ordinary momma. Tune in next time for tales of how great my back is doing and how fabulous I feel! :)

Saturday, January 19, 2008

FEAR!

You often here about kids that are afraid of their own shadow...my kid is NOT afraid of her shadow (in fact, she thinks it's funny), but we did discover a fear of her's today.

My darling daughter is afraid of...wait for it...............

...her own poop. That's right, I said poop. We had one of those horrifying times in mommyhood (if you're pregnant with a terrible gag reflex, that is) where she poo-pooed in the bathtub. Upon emmission of the floater, she immediately started shrieking at the top of her lungs and trying to get as much distance between herself and the offending long as she could. As grossed out as I was (call me a wuss, but it IS gross), it was absolutely hilarious and she tried to scramble to the other end of the tub and then tried to claw her way out of the bath. I quickly got her out, sat her on her potty in case of more poops, wrapped her in her towel, and drained the water. Remember the pregnant and gag thing? Well, before it was all cleaned up and she was back in the bath, I threw up...three times. Oh, brother! She was really afraid to get back IN the bath after I cleaned it all up, but had to, as we hadn't bathed at all...just played. I finally got her back in, but she kept turning suddenly around to make sure that there was no poo-poos about to attack her. You know when you feel uneasy and just KNOW that there is a killer following you, so you check every few seconds? That's exactly what she was doing. At one point, her starfish toy hit her in the back and she jumped a mile high and demanded to get back out. I quickly finished washing her and got her out to panicky little noises and screeches. TOO FUNNY!

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Complain much?

I know you all must think that I'm a big-time whiner. Those of you who know me best, may agree. Either way, I have more complaining to do, but I feel like it is liget (how do you spell that?) to complain while I'm in true agony in this pregnancy. So, you all know that I've been having hip problems on the left side. It has been constant since about 6 weeks of pregnancy. Last night, it started in on the right side. The previous issue had been disabling enough without adding the second issue. Enter BOTH sides having knife-like pains and my right shin throbbing, and you've got misery. Bad enough. You know what makes it worse??? Falling down the stairs. That's right...I fell on the stairs today. I am sore from midback all the way down to my knees (and then there's that right shin). I can only make 2 guesses as to why this pregnancy is really, really trying my patience, nerves, strength, etc.: 1) Satan is really after me right now or 2) God is trying to change my heart to only wanting 2 children instead of more. Either one, I'm not real fond of. I guess we'll have to see what the future holds for us. One thing I know for SURE is that it has definitely convinced Mark that we should be through and at this point, I'm not okay with that...

Here's another thing that makes this all such a struggle for me. I always try really, really hard to not be one of "those" patients to my various doctors. Well, let's see...in this pregnancy, I've already been to the ER twice, had nurses calls 3 times (once was an insurance matter, though), and feel like if I contact them more, they'll think of me as one of "those." I hate that. After all, I am paying them, so I really shouldn't worry about it, but I do. I didn't really feel the need to call today after falling on the stairs, as I landed right on my butt and it wasn't a violent like bounce/fall thing...just a straight bam. So, I didn't call. Such pride issues....

I think that Cassie is really working on her 2-year molars. Bad time to start weaning from the paci where she can only have it to sleep. She's been really, really fussy and all she wanted for dinner tonight (at her request) was ice. FUN... I said, "Is your mouth ouchy?" She said in a very pitiful voice, "Yeeeeeeees." I prodded around and asked her where and she was actually able to tell me where it hurt (the right side). It gets soooo much easier when they can communicate their complaints! We did some Orajel, but then she was mad that she only got that tiny bit...she wanted more. Oh, brother.

Today is Cassie's 20-month birthday. Don't worry...at 2 years, I'll stop with the month stuff. I am just having a very hard time believing that in 4, short months, I'll have a 2-year-old and 1 month after that, I'll have a 2-year-old AND another baby! Shouldn't we all still be back in high school or maybe college? It just seems like I'm not OLD enough or ADULT enough to have these kids! Anyone else feel this way? It's weird!!!

My brother posted yesterday or the day before about bathroom issues. He was talking about how awful it is for guys to have to go with no privacy and such. You should read his post and the comments, as I thought that it was all rather amusing.

Can you tell that I'm just sitting here typing whatever comes to mind? This is what happens when your back hurts and you don't want to move. You just sit and ramble and other people later sit and read what you wrote...silly people!

OK...I'll cease for now. You all take care and stay warm! If you live here, be careful out there...I hear that the roads still aren't that fun.

I'm gonna play a mindless game now. Good night.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Grandpa

I just wanted to do a quick note about my grandpa, Bruce Eugene Dopps. Today is the 1-year anniversary of when one of the greatest men I will know in my lifetime went on home to be with God. The amazing thing for me? My daddy took after him in more ways that he knows and is pretty great himself. My family has always talked about the legacy that the Bible describes where the blessings of a father will be passed on from generation to generation. The way I see it, our family is incredibly, incredibly blessed and it is because of the faith of this great man that we were all fortunate to know, love, and live amongst. I feel positive that our families will be blessed for generations to come because of him and because of the ways that my father is like his father. So, on this day when we all feel a little sadness in our hearts, we also feel blessed to have been touched by such a great man. We feel blessed to have been a part of such a strong, Christian family. We feel blessed to be...DOPPS.

Grandpa, we know that you would be hot under the collar to think that we're feeling sad today over you. You'd say, "What are you wasting time on me for? I'm GREAT! Just make sure you come along after me..." We will, Grandpa...we will.

If my grandma were reading this, I would tell her that we all have cried silent tears along with her when she's home alone at night. I would tell her that we've all sent out a hug across the miles to comfort her. I would just simply say, "I love you."

So, while I do feel sad that he's no longer with us in the flesh, I do know that the time will come when we'll all be together for eternity. I just have to make sure to get me there along with all of my family. That makes me happy. That makes things worth living. As Christians, we look forward to God saying, "Well done, my good and faithful servant." I also look forward to my grandpa saying, "Well done, my darling granddaughter...well done..." at which point I fully expect him to nuzzle me with his whiskers just to make me yelp. :)

Sunday, January 13, 2008

One of those days?

So, I woke up this morning thinking that it was going to be "one of those days." When trying to get out of bed, I couldn't stand on my hip. After much deep tissue massage and some urging from myself, I finally regained the ability to bear weight on that leg and made it to the bathroom...only to throw up a bunch. MAN, I love being pregnant! UGH! However, the day improved from that point on and it is now 5:15...almost time to go to our LIFE group (Bible study group). I have felt better the rest of the day and have just had minor limping and soreness from the waist down to my toesies. 'This too, shall pass...'

I know, I know...all I do is brag on my kid. Sorry, but this is my best venue to brag on her. She did 4 things this weekend that I found hilarious and/or amazing for her to do at this age. Here they are:
1. Bath: She was in the bath Friday and had a bowl and cup. She was pouring water from the cup to the bowl. Just to see what she would say, I asked her what she was making. I wasn't looking for an answer besides maybe 'water.' She said, "Tookies!" I said, "Cookies?" She said, "YEAH! Chooooo-colate tookies!!!" HA! I didn't think that she would even know what I meant by the question and she comes up with chocolate cookies! That girl!

2. Baby: Today, she had her cup and was drinking water. All the sudden, she came up to me, lifted my shirt to reveal baby brother and put the cup up to my belly button. She decided that brother was thirsty and hungry. She wanted to go get food to feed him and was really mad that mommy wouldn't let her! She's gonna be a great big sister (as long as she doesn't feed her newborn brother)!!!

3. Grilled Cheese: We were eating at McAllister's. She had a grilled cheese, chips, and Teddy Grahams AKA cookies. She really wanted those cookies, but mean 'ol mommy took them away and told her she had to eat this, this, this, and this (pointing to the 4 sections of her sandwich). As QUICK as her little hands and mouth could accomplish it, she picked up each piece, took a bite, put it down, picked up the next, etc. and then said with a full, full mouth, "Tookies?" I could not help but laugh at her ingenuity. Of course, I gave her 2 little Teddy Grahams and then told her she must eat MORE of the sandwiches besides just 1 bite. We alternated sandwich with 'tookies' for the rest of lunch.

4. Precious: Finally, she woke up grumpy, grumpy, grumpy in the car and was just a mess. She was hollering for her cup, so Mommy (who was driving) managed to find it and get it to her. She gulped and gulped and gulped, took a huge, deep breath, and in a very breathy/airy voice said, "PRECIOUS.............." and then sighed. WHAT IN THE WORLD?!?!? :) :) :)

She is definitely one of those kids who is going to keep me on my toes! Daddy and I are pretty sure that she is going to be the ring leader in all kinds of trouble with baby brother (Keaton?) and any to follow. Oh, my...

Well, that's all I've got for today. Hope you all are doing well, keeping warm, and have a great day or evening or whatever...depending on when you read this.

D. Vick...OUT!

Thursday, January 10, 2008

SHOUT OUT

This is a birthday shout out to my brother, Dustin, my cousin, Cami (who sometimes posts on here), and my Grandma...the big 8-5! Just wanted to wish them all a happy birthday since my bro and cuz both read this blog!



HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!







As a side note (sorry guys, but you know I can't post just about you...), Keaton was doing acrobatics in my belly this morning. I LOVE IT!

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

More time today...

If you didn't read the post below, make sure you do!

I seem to have extra time on my hands today between bathroom excursions since I don't have the kids. That doesn't happen often. I still feel pretty crummy, but oh well. I guess that's life, neh?

I just needed to write about 2 things. Here's my list so I don't forget. *grin* Cassie and Fish

Cassie first. Where to begin with that girl. We've been trying out the name Keaton and encouraging her to say it. Why? Well, let's just say that she has a book with 2 kitties. On the word 'kitties' she pronounces the 'k' as a 't.' She gets really excited about it and shouts "TWO TITTIES!" YIKES! Sorry for the vulgarity, but it's the truth of the matter. She does say, "Teaton, but she's trying to get the 'k' sound on it, so we're good with that. You know that as the bragging blogger that I am, I brag on her lots. Well, she's just plain amazing at what she understands, remembers, puts together on her own, etc. Today, she ran up to me randomly and said, "YAY KEATON!" I said, "What?" She said, "YAY KEATON!" and pointed at my belly. HILARIOUS! She just never, ever ceases to amaze me and I believe that I'll be saying that her whole life!

As for the fish...an era has ended for a while in the Vickers' household. We have no fish. They've all gone bye-bye. Mark just took them from both tanks, the rocks and sand from the big tank, and the big tank itself up to the fish store to sell. We have a terrible algae problem and the only way to solve it is to purge and regrow/recycle/rebuild. So, we'll have our tank in the wall and put lots and lots of snails/crabs/cleaner shrimps/starfish/etc. in it to get it all purified. Then, we'll start fresh from there. Someday in the future, we'll have another big tank, but probably not in this house, which we plan to be in for quite some time. Sad, but necessary for the good of the fish and the rock (which is live) and the other things (starfish and such). It's gonna be sad to see the wall with no fish tank, but it will greatly increase our space in that room, so it's a bittersweet thing.

Well, I am gonna go be productive before my gut calls again. :) Everyone stay warm and feel blessed!

Decision? We'll see...

First off, I'm not feeling well today. Michelle, I plan on calling you here in a bit. I got really sick after dinner last night...twice. The bathroom sort, if you get my drift. I chalked it up to dinner, though. I woke up sometime in the 3:00 hour to Cassie crying and when I set up, I almost ralphed. My stomach was soooo upset. So, after comforting her, it took me a looooong time to get back to sleep. I woke up this morning feeling equally sick. When my daycare mom came with her kids, she immediately put their coats back on and said that she was going to go to plan B so that they all didn't get sick in case I was sick with something. I completely understand. I wouldn't want to take the chance either. Anyway, I went back and laid down until Cassie got up and still feel rather crummy. No fun.

Well, with such few responses...how to choose. :) Just teasing. This is NOT 100%, but we think that we've made our decision. At this point, we're doing a trial run with: drum roll, please... KEATON GRAHAM VICKERS. We're going to try it out for a few days and see what we think of it. Cassie likes it and we think that "Cassie and Keaton" sound really cute together. We are going to look at alternate spellings to see if we like any others better if we decide to keep it. So, for the time being, we're calling our little buddy Keaton. I'll keep you posted...

As for the bedding, the splash one has always been the one I wanted since a few months before I was pregnant. Having already had a girl, we didn't need to look at girl bedding at all, obviously, so I had browsed the boy bedding. I actually came across this from another girl's blog and loved it. She had done her nursery with it. It IS about $100 more expensive than the other one, though, so we'll see what happens there. Whichever one we choose, we'll probably order it soon (from Walmart.com), so that we can pick paint colors to match and all of that. The good thing about the Splash set is that it comes with comforter, sheet, bumper, window valance, clothes hamper, and one more thing...oh, yeah...bed skirt. SO, you do get a lot for the money. We'll just see what happens.

So, here's something random that I thought I would mention. I bought new socks last night. If there was ever someone who needed new socks...*all fingers point at Devon*. My socks were horrid. Seriously...probably from high school. I hate socks, so it is only an issue when it is really, really cold. It has been lately (with the exception of this past weekend) and I needed socks. Here's what baffles me. I pick my socks and am confounded as to why they come in a resealable ziplock-type bag. Do your socks go bad??? I just don't understand. Do people keep their socks in the bag? I just throw them in the drawer. I just don't get it.

Well, Cassie appears to be done with her breakfast, as she's crying up there. I'd best go attend to her. Everyone have a great day and remember my favorite verse: "If God is for us, WHO can be against us?" Romans 8:31

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Not much time...as usual. :)

Just wanted to post a few things for the general public to vote on. The bedding and the name. Both very important. Here are the bedding options:


SPLASH or go to this site for a larger view: http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5700317


OR

UPTOWN BABY or this site for a larger view: http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5854563
Here are the name options that we are toying with for first names. I know they are different...you might even think weird. Tell me what you like/don't like and why. BE HONEST!!! :) Your opinions will be taken into consideration, but you probably won't be deciding the name of our kid! :) We just want public feedback.
Connery
Cutler (though I think that this is out because of all of the negative responses)
Emerson
Graham
Keaton
Palmer
I know that my sis-in-law, Laura, has put in 3 votes for Keaton from her 2 co-workers and herself. :) My mom and my sis-in-law, Michelle, are voting on Graham. Mark's mom said Keaton, though I'm not sure she likes any of the names. :)
Well, that's it. VOTE, VOTE, VOTE! This is not policital, so I expect you all to come out and vote! :) That includes you, Cami!!!

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Time for an update?!?

So...I haven't been even DOWN to my computer in...well...I don't know how long...70+ e-mails worth of time??? Crazy. I only have a moment now, as I'm hopped up on narcotics and am about to fall into a cozy, deep sleep. I spent the evening in the ER with issues of severe and I mean severe pain in my left, lower abdomen resulting in lovely time sitting around in lala land in the ER. What did we find out? Well, nothing...as in nothing is verifiably wrong...it just must be those random "pregnancy pains" that are just out of control...just like everything else with this pregnancy. We DID find out that all of my anatomy is great and all of baby's is great and right on track. OH, and we found out the gender.......