Post 300!

WOW! We've come a long, long way together, babe! :)

Sorry I've been out of touch. It's been...well, shall we say hectic? We've been scrambling to look at houses in the midst of the holidays, company, teething, etc. I'm so far past sleep deprived that I'm beginning to fall asleep sitting up. Conrey got 1 of his top teeth in yesterday (top left). We've got 1 more to go for the middle four. We've had family here...12 people living in 1 house for a week. I'll tell you what that equates to: chaos. We had a wonderful time throughout Christmas and a great time at Dopps Camp this past weekend. It just seems like the day is over before I even realize that it ever began.

We are making an offer on a house today. We're rather excited. We really like it and hope that it fits us well in the coming years. Once we find out if it all goes through, I'll post a picture of it.

Well, that's our life for now. I'll keep you updated as things progress! Hope you all had a Merry Christmas and that you have a very Happy New Year!

SOLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Need I say more?

Closing date: 1/23/2009

And Then...

So, if you haven't heard the word...we got an offer! We're in the negotiating process. It's not so fun. I have a question for you all. It is something that is really, really bothering me. We just asked our realtor to take a cut on her commission in order to meet the last $1000 between the buyer and us. I actually lucked out and got to do it via email because her phone went dead. I'm such a chicken. BUT, it makes Mark and I both feel disrespectful in a way and it was a very hard thing to do...even through email. Is it okay to do? Is it right, wrong, or indifferent? Is it good business or bad business? These are the questions plaguing us right now as we await her response. We have already lowered our asking price a staggering $20,000 from HER original list price. So, we feel that we absolutely cannot budge the remainder. We even suggested that perhaps she and the other realtor could split the difference to make this sale happen. Our contract expires 12/31. It is seeming like this might be her last opportunity and to me, taking a small hit is better than losing the whole thing. What do you all think?

Any comments out there?!?

Let's try this again...

OK, OK...I get your point. It was dumb. SHEESH!

Somewhat the same message only polictal. NOT cheesy, but rather clever, I thought. Not sure who wrote this, but I got it from my friend, Ray, on Facebook.

To All My Democrat Friends:Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday festival season, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2009, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere .Also, this wish is made without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishes.

To My Republican Friends:Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

A Video for CHRISTmas

Watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAckfn8yiAQ&NR=1

It is really cheesy and the editing is pretty horindus (yes, I know how to spell that...it was in reference to the video. You'll see what I mean...lots of grammar and spelling errors...not to mention poor color choice and such). :)

Anyway, it is a good message, though the cheese factor is high. Let's all remember the reason for Christmas...Christ...and not leave Him out of it. The entire reason Christmas even exists is because of Jesus. No, we don't know when He was born. However, it is nice to have a day set aside to specifically think about that and praise God for giving Jesus to the world. We should think about it daily, but we all fall short of this, I'm sure, so it's nice to have a day centered around such a great sacrifice of Jesus coming down from glory to live on the earth...to be tempted...to feel pain.

Hope you enjoy the message of the video.

Merry Christmas!

For those of you out there that celebrate different holidays, I hope you enjoy those times with family and friends, as well. Next to celebrating Jesus, time with family and friends is the most important thing about the holiday season.

Oh, and by the way...I don't get offended by "happy holidays" and I sometimes say it in light of the entire holiday season encompassing Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's.


If anyone has any questions or comments in support of OR contrary to what I've written, I would love to hear them. Seriously, if you don't agree, let me know instead of just reading this and thinking that I'm an idiot...

Kid Update

Conrey had his 6-month visit today. Hard to believe, neh? He weighed in at 20.8 lbs (though the nurse tried to tell us 28 lbs the 1st time around) and was 26 inches long. He is doing great and has been given the okay to go on to meats, mixed baby foods, etc. Big boy! He had to have 3 shots and the nurse (who was in training) took about 3 minutes to administer all 3. We had a VERY mad baby when it was all said and done. Poor guy! Just wanted to record it!

Video Attempt: Take 2

[EDIT] As you can see...it didn't work. Any suggestions?

SO, nobody commented on my last post. I guess everyone has given up on me. Either that, or nobody knows how to do videos, which I know is a LIE! :) :) :)

So, here's try #2 on my own.

VIDEO GOES HERE:

This is the fuzzy caterpiller song. At first, she is frustrated because she wants to watch herself singing it on the camera. It's our digital camera. I explain that she can't watch it until after she does it. The words will be below with the words SHE says in parentheses.

FUZZY CATERPILLER

Fuzzy caterpiller, he wiggled (crawled) up a tree. He wiggled long. He wiggled short. He wiggled right at me. I put him in a box. Don't go away (don't way ago) I said. But, when I opened up the box he was a butterfly instead.

I could never make one; even if I tried. Only God in heaven can make a butterfly (instead).

SO, if my video loads, you all will see it above. If not...well...too bad, I guess. It was cute! :)

Well, hello!

Why yes, I DO post on this blog. Hmmm...I almost forgot you all.


No! Not really. I couldn't forget you all.

Actually, I have thought time and again to post on here. I have planned several posts. All to no avail. Before I forget, I need help. I've tried to post some videos, but I can never get them to upload. Anyone wanna help me with that?

So, what have we been up to since we last spoke? Sickness, travelling, eating, randomness.

The week before Thanksgiving found Mark sick with a sinus infection. Thursday morning, Cassie woke up with dried puke in her hair. Thursday afternoon, I was nursing Conrey when she came up and said she needed to hold me. She then proceeded to puke all over Conrey and all over my lap. Over the weekend, Dani, my Aunt Cheryl, and my Uncle Jim all came to town. We bought Dani's wedding dress Saturday. Monday morning, Mark and Aunt Cheryl woke up sicker than sick. I have never seen the flu as bad as they had it. Dani, as it turns out, got sick Sunday night into Monday morning, as well. Mom got it Monday night into Tuesday. Everyone else escaped unscathed. Conrey is still teething through all of this, so I'm getting no sleep while nursing all of the sickies. Being their nurse...not nursing. Ew.

Wednesday night, we left for "home" to go back to Olathe. We spent a nice, laid-back Thanksgiving at Mark's parents' house complete with the Vickers Lighting Ceremony. Mark had wired up a switch for his parents' Christmas lights. His Dad was all excited saying it could be like the Plaza lighting. I was in the closet where the switch is and everyone else was outside. They did a count down and I flipped the switch waiting to hear the "AH's" over the phone. What they saw was the crescent moon window of the closet light up. I flipped the wrong switch. I quickly turned that off and turned the correct switch on, but the moment was spoiled. I'm never gonna live that one down!

We had a relaxing rest of the time there and came back Sunday. In the midst of all of the other stuff going on, I have continued to have sharp pains in my upper abdomen followed often by stomach sickness. Those of you who know me and/or know my story know that I have a weak stomach/intestines, so I've spent my share of time in the bathroom with all of this going on. I come home and it kind of peaks to the worst it's been. My dad now believes that I might have gallbladder issues going on. Fun. Then, yesterday, I wake up with tooth (which about 1/3 of it broke off over a year ago) hurting. Looks like a root canal is in my future! I've got those 2 issues going on currently. I'm TUI...typing under the influence, which should explain the lack of cohesive thought, grammar, and spelling. I'm taking some drugs for the tooth pain. Don't worry, they're okay for breastfeeding.

OK...now for some Cassie funnies. Last week, she picked up her baby and began to breastfeed her baby (she had a shirt on). She said, "Our babies are HUNGEE!" I chuckled and kind of passed it off. A few days later, as she is eating cereal, she all the sudden goes, *GASP* "LOOK MOMMY! I have milk now, too!" I am trying to hold back laughing. I look over at her and some of her cereal milk has dribbled down her chest. That girl! She was ready to go get her baby doll, I'll tell ya!

As for my fat buddy, Conrey...he's rolling over now...he's taking a paci now...he's laughing and talking and has become quite vocal. Yes, you read that correctly. He is suddenly a paci man. As many of you know, his tongue is tied pretty far forward underneath it. This has caused him to intake tons of air while nursing because he slips off. THAT, in turn, has caused monumental amounts of spitting up. Just in the last week or so, he has been nursing better and spitting up like 90% less than before. This is a HUGE relief to me. He was a mess with teething and being fussy one day last week. As a last resort, I went and got a paci. He fell in love instantly and has not been without it since! YAY!

He rolls over now, but is much better back to front. He HATES being on his tummy, so then he gets really mad and yells about it until he finally gets flipped back over or gets help. It's pretty funny to watch him roll. It's like he takes a running start or something and it happens super fast. Rollie Pollie.

No news on the house. No surprise there.

SO, I have had a video loading for like 20 minutes now and it's still not loaded. Is that normal? If so, that's obnoxious. I'm gonna save this post and try to come back to it. Good night.

I came back to it this morning and it never loaded up. BUMMER! HELP!

I am alive and kickin. Sorry for the lack of updates. I WILL update when I can.