New Years Eve

I am home with Cedric tonight, and Tim is at Pete's house (a late 30s, co-leader with Tim at the youth group) and his family, Aaron (youth pastor), and who knows who else to celebrate New Years. It didn't bother me at all staying home this year. Due to the circumstances, I'd rather sleep anyway, no matter how much fun it would have been to go. :)

Today I had my first brush with morning sickness. Of course it wasn't sickness in the morning. I felt queasy throughout the day, and tonight I was making sirloin steak for a special dinner, but it just did not sound good. Steak rarely sounded good when I was pregnant with Cedric either. Other times, though, I always love steak! So it begins. I have a much better attitude about it this time, and thank God I am not working full time in a cold working environment. For the record, being nauseous and cold at the same time for long periods of time is the worst.

Tim got me a treadmill for Christmas! I have been wanting one for a long time, and now I can stay in great shape for this pregnancy. Because I was working full time during the last pregnancy, I rarely felt up to working out when I got home. Since my current occupation is not as physically intense as working at Havillah Road or an espresso stand was, I plan to be in good shape throughout this pregnancy. I gained 70 pounds with Cedric, and I am determined not to do that again!

Well, I'm off to read a good book and be asleep by midnight. :) Now if those darned fireworks will not wake Cedric up everything will be just dandy.

Bear with me

I am enjoying being pregnant again. That is probably because I have not hit the morning-sickness stage yet. :) I had much more cramping during implantation than I did with Cedric. No spotting though. I will soon need to switch to maternity pants as I already need to unbutton my pants when I sit for long periods of time. I am enjoying noticing all the differences between this pregnancy and Cedric's. I just can't wait to know this little one personally. What fun it's uniqueness will be!

I am going to do what I can to have a homebirth, but that depends on insurances, Tim's comfort levels, an uncomplicated pregnancy, and if I can find a midwife I like in this sparsley-populated area.

If I must have another hospital birth, I have a list of things I would like to be different. For one, I will insist on using the commode in the delivery room when the contractions get stong rather than waddling 30 feet through the hall (hoping you won't have a knee-weakening contraction on the way) to get to a bathroom with a toilet that has rails on either side so close together that you must put your knees together to even get your bum on the toilet. Yes, sitting with your knees together is a great way to start a very painful contraction(s). 8-/ I will also refuse to go another 18 hours after delivery before taking a shower. What a lovely, quaint hospital that offers you no shower (not even a sponge bath) and expects you to sit waiting for 2 extra hours while people get off lunch to sign discharge papers. It may freak them out, but I am going to leave with or without their discharge papers when we've gotten a clean bill of health. I'll sign a waver if it'll make them feel better.

This may be TMI (too much info), but another reason that I do not trust this hospital and staff is because after Cedric was born, the doctor told me to have a nurse with me the first time I used the bathroom after giving birth, probably because I was light-headed. Well, when I called a nurse, she acted confused and not sure why she should be there. I had dripped several drops of blood on the bathroom floor and toilet seat in the process of getting on and off the toilet. The nurse saw and I assumed she would clean it up because that's her job and I was light-headed and weak. Well, the next time I went to use the bathroom, the floor and seat were still messy. What's really disgusting and scary is that we were sharing the bathroom with the lady next door! Thank goodness I don't think she had used it yet! 8-o This hospital has been known for a large share of staph infections, and I'm not surprised with those kinds of health hazards going on. I'm thinking that this hospital is not an ideal place for a newborn.

I am much more inclined to trust a licensed midwife to deal with emergencies during delivery than my doctor because my doctor is a Family Practioner (there is only 1 OB/GYN this side of Wenatchee). She deals with everything from ulcers, asthma, eczema, ear infections, arthritis, parasites, and newborns to the oldest aged. There is no way, unless perhaps she is a genious (though I didn't get that feeling about her), that she could do all that and also know all she needs to know about delivering babies. I think this is perhaps why the Okanogan County has one of the highest c-section rates in the PNW. The doctors don't know what to do with complicated deliveries so they quickly opt for c-sections. There is so much you can do to help a complicated delivery along, but these overworked doctors don't have the time or mental space to learn these techniques. Perhaps if I need to have another hospital birth, I will at least find an experienced doula. They know a lot of these techniques and could mediate between us and the nurses.

It's rather annoying also how you spend 9 months developing a relationship with your doctor but you only see her for delivery. Throughout all those other hours, you are checked up on by a strange nurse who you've never met before, who doesn't know your philosophy, doesn't know what you know, doesn't know you from the neurotic kook she had to deal with last week. Another reason why I like the midwife idea.

Oh, man, there are just so many reasons I want to be at home to give birth. Home = Comfort, intimacy, rest, trust, a beautiful beginning. Hospital = Stress, defensiveness, bright and stiff, sleeplessness, dirty, inconvenient, still a beautiful beginning but one that could be so much sweeter!

Ok, enough ranting. Thanks for listening, I feel better now. :)

Chrismas Gift

Guess what we got for Christmas this year? Here's a hint:

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We're pregnant!!!!!

Our due date is August 28, 2008. Just 2 weeks after Baby Nelson! :D How awesome is that?

New baby niece or nephew :)

I am so excited about Holly being pregnant! I don't know if it has really hit me yet that my little sister is going to have a baby. I can't wait until Tim and Holly are here and I can hug them and pat her belly and watch it grow. :) I can't wait to hold this little baby in my arms... *sigh* A Nelson baby. It's just unspeakably wonderful. :)

Newsy stuff

Two days ago it snowed all day and we got about 6 inches of wet snow. The best kind for snowmen and snowball fights. Today it is 37 degrees though so it is quickly melting. It's still got a ways to go though. Hopefully it'll be around for Christmas.

Just a half hour ago our neighbor, Gene (a nurse at the hospital), came over with 2 plates of hot Christmas cookies. They are delicious, and I found the gesture so sweet since he's a middle-aged bachelor. Not really the baking type you'd think. :)

It was so funny the other day.... I've given Hemi a bath while I was taking a shower before, it seems the easiest way and I don't end up needing a shower when I'm done. :) Well, I was taking a shower and Cedric and Hemi were hanging out in the bathroom with me, and Hemi jumps in the shower and works his way to the middle of the downpour and stays there, licking his lips and obviously enjoying himself. He eventually jumped out again, but only after he was completely soaked. It was so silly! I've never known a dog who likes the shower so much that he actually chooses to get in on his own accord.

I found the most delicious and natural/non-candle way to make the whole house smell like Christmas!

2 juicy oranges
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. cloves

Quarter the oranges and place all ingredients in a saucepan and covered with water. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. When the water runs out, just add more. They say this mixture can last about 2 days. Enjoy!

1:15am

Cedric has been up for the past hour and a half. He woke up pretty upset asking for Daddy and Hemi. He is in his crib right now playing. He just won't go back to sleep! I've tried all our tricks. Of course, I am very tired. I just hope that he sleeps in to make up for it. But then, that won't be good either because an early day and nap would work better for tomorrow's schedule since we're going shopping around lunch time. And we have so much shopping to do! Ah well. I just hope he can get through it alright without that nap. Well, he is staying surprisingly quiet in there. I wonder if he has put himself back to sleep. I think I'll wait a while longer though before I check on him. *sigh* My warm bed sounds so good right now.

Poem he likes

Well, this is Lindy again. That was Tim with the last blog. I rarely get in that goofy of a mood. :)

Here is a poem that Cedric really seems to like. He usually sticks with a poem for only about 4 lines and then is ready to turn the page, but he'll sit through this one every time and will often ask to have it read "'gain" and "'gain." :)

Windy Nights
by Robert Louis Stevenson

Whenever the moon and stars are set,
Whenever the wind is high,
All night long in the dark and wet,
A man goes riding by.
Late in the night when the fires are out,
Why does he gallop and gallop about?

Whenever the trees are crying aloud,
And ships are tossed at sea,
By, on the highway, low and loud,
By at the gallop goes he.
By at the gallop he goes, and then
By he comes back at the gallop again.

Alone with Cedric

Well it was a good day today. Cedric and I had a lot of fun. We did a bunch of manly things, like mining for green ore, defied the law of gravity, assaulted the Ozone with methain, and even explored the deep lakes in the bathroom. We also trudged through the waste lands of the kitchen trash can. :) After that we travle to far off fields of Chocolate, in the city Chi, of the land Tea. Then we dropped off a movie we rented last night.

No one was hurt. :) At least that I am aware of. I would have pictures, but I don't do pictures. I love Cedric, and today I had him all to myself. :) Don't get use to me righting though. I just can't take the time to time the amount of time it would take to time the amount of time to time myself timing to write enough times to make my time worth time.

Stuff

I am at work right now. It’s been slow for the past half hour, though this morning was pretty busy. Nothing I couldn’t handle on my own though.

Well our snow is still gone for the most part. It has been very cold and windy these last few days. It’s too cold to play outside for longer than 10 minutes at a time.

We have been keeping Cedric’s car seat turned around facing backward even though he’s over 1 year old. We were thinking of waiting until he was the 30 pounds allowed by the car seat, but since we’ve discovered that even Kadin is only 9 pounds beyond that, we’ll turn Cedric around in January. By then he’ll be 18 months. Goodness, he could be 3 years old before he’s 30 pounds! : P It’ll be nice to have him turned around. He’ll seem such a big boy then. : )

Tim and I are just not really Christmas people, at least the last several years. I used to be when I was a kid, but since then the Christmas spirit hasn’t been coming naturally. I will make myself decorate though, for the sake of tradition which nurtures a sense of family. I feel it’s part of my job description as home-maker. A home needs Christmas, needs celebration, especially of Christ and love and family. I bet I’ll get more into Christmas when Cedric is old enough to get excited over it. Tim feels that way too. We were discussing the other night how we want to celebrate Christmas in our new family. It’s so meaningful and awe-inspiring to plan and build traditions that will so affect our children and grandchildren. The Christmas pebbles we drop in the pond will send ripples throughout their lives.

Where'd it go?

Our 3+ inches of snow are pretty much gone already! That sure came and went fast for this area. It's supposed to snow again tomorrow, so I think I'll make the trip to Wal-Mart for shopping today while the roads are just wet. Boy, I'm so tired though. I've been getting over a bit of a flu. I've been nauseated for 3 days now and just extremely tired. Blah.

Short cute video

Dad was getting a quick haircut on Sunday morning, and Tim wanted to help out. :) This was just too funny, I had to post it.

It's been a while!

We had a great Thanksgiving with Mom, Dad, Amber, Josh, Kadin, and Easton! The dinner was delicious and we had such a good time. It was so special to have a bunch of little ones to slow us down and make it hard to carry a conversation. : ) Forget about annoyance, it lasts for such a short amount of time, and their presence is absolutely something to thank God for. Last Thanksgiving, Cedric was only 4 months old, so this was really the first that he could participate in.

I also enjoyed having Amber, Kadin, and Easton up this week. I spent the afternoons up on the hill with them on Wednesday and Thursday, and then they came and spent the afternoon with me on Friday. Amber and I have been able to get a lot of visiting in, and I’ve had lots of fun playing and bonding with the boys.

Cedric did the most disgusting thing the other day. I was holding him on my hip while talking with Mom, and he picked his nose and reached over to put it in MY MOUTH! It totally took me by surprise! Where the heck did he get that idea?! That was my first truly shocking and disgusting "mother moment." : )

We now have our quarter beef safely in our chest freezer. It is so weird, I never expected it would effect me this way, but somehow it makes me feel like I truly have my own, complete household now. It’s a sense of permanence and provision. I am now a grown-up woman; I have a chest freezer full of home-grown beef. : )

When Cedric is full and done eating, he has taken to putting his food down the front of his shirt. This usually happens at dinner when he sits longer in the high chair than usual while Tim and I talk and eat. It’s so funny and cute, but I know we must get serious about putting our foots down about it. Oh, but I will remember and savor the cuteness of such acts because I know that it won’t be cute for long!

Here are some pictures of the boys playing in the snow at our house. : )

Healthy stuff ideas

I've been immersing myself in all things "healthy" beginning in earnest when Cedric was born. I get so excited over it and find a lot of satisfaction in making those life changes one by one. Of course, that means I like to talk about it, too. :) I know it can be a boring, if not annoying, subject to some, but since this is my blog, it's probably one of the best places to talk all I want about it. :)

I wanted to share an easy recipe for a breakfast drink that Aunt Margaret gave me. I've begun making it daily for myself over the past few weeks. Fruit is mostly digested in the intestines, so it's best to eat fruit first thing in the morning when your stomach is empty so that there's nothing to impede it's journey straight through to where it can do the most good. Here's the recipe:

10 almonds
1 TB flax seeds
3 to 5 kinds of fruit
A bit of water

I guess soaking the almonds in water overnight in the frig is beneficial, also. I've also begun adding 2 TB of wheat germ. I'll soon be getting my order of brewer's yeast from Azure Standard, so will most likely begin adding some of that as well. I'll have to use another posting to list all of the benefits of wheat germ and brewer's yeast. Or you can look them up yourself. They're amazing! :)

I don't so much like eating fruit, so I find this is a great way to get all my fruit servings for the day taken care of first thing, which also just happens to be the healthiest time to eat fruit anyway. Very convenient and so easy!

I've recently learned and been impressed with the healing power of another "superfood": cod liver oil. Check out some of the benefits:

• Improves brain function, memory, learning disorders.
• Healthy nervous system.
• Prevention and improvement of depression and other mood disorders, including bipolar syndrome and manic-depression.
• Protective against childhood leukemia.
• Improves stress response.
• Improves immune response.
• Allergies.
• Asthma.
• Healthy joints, strong bones and teeth.
• Arthritis.
• Preventing and reversing rickets in children.
• Improvement of muscle pain and muscle strength.
• Healthy skin, minimize wrinkles.
• Improves heart function. Treats heart disease even in advanced stages.
• Healthy lining for your digestive tract.
• Stroke prevention.
• Prevents infections.
• Lowers childhood risk of juvenile type 1 diabetes and onset of adult diabetes.
• Protective against cancer.

Cod liver oil and fish oil have very quality omega-3 fats and are high in vitamin A & D. It's recommended to take cod liver oil throughout the winter and begin taking regular fish oil in the summer if you get a lot of sun. This is because regular fish oil is lower in vitamin D than cod liver oil, and since the sun is another natural source of vitamin D, switching to fish oil in the high-sun exposure months will keep you from getting too much vitamin D. Be aware that wearing sunscreen blocks your absorption of vitamin D from the sun. If you always have to wear sunscreen, you should probably stick with cod liver oil all year.

I found a liquid orange-flavored cod liver oil at Wal-Mart that I give to Cedric. He get's a teaspoon a day and he loves it! Nevertheless, Tim and I stick with the caplets. :)

Ok, enough. It's getting late. Off to a shower and bed.

Various things

I'm on the tail end of a cold. Luckily, Cedric has not caught it yet. Tim has it bad though. Colds usually hit me worse than him, but this time he's still in the thick of it while I'm coming out. Poor guy.

Tim has shaved his head again. He had let it grow out a bit because it was getting cold, but he decided that he just didn't like the look so he went back to skin. No more simple baseball caps though. He now wears only beanies to prevent brain freeze. :)

The other night Cedric was using his fork to eat broccoli. Every time he'd get a piece in his mouth, he'd set the fork down with a big smile and clap. He did it the whole dinner! Of course, we couldn't resist clapping along with him. :)

Oh, here's one more cute thing that Cedric did a while back: I was gathering stuff to go somewhere and mentioning that we were going to go bye-bye. Once Cedric had his jacket on, he found his set of keys (which are some of our old keys) and said "car". As we headed out to the parking lot, he chose 1 key on the ring and tried to unlock the car. I hadn't realized he knew that much!

Random thoughts and happenings

Man, belly dancing is hard! Now, I’m good at patting my head and rubbing my tummy at the same time but try shaking your shoulders at a rate of about 2 beats per second while making your hips go in a big circle at a rate of about 1 every 2 seconds! Oh my goodness, I cannot describe how rediculous I look! I dare you to try it sometime. :P

I’ve finally gotten Tim hooked on going to espresso stands! He’s moved beyond flavored steamers and now loves chocolate Chai tea. Yay! : ) He is now much more likely to splurge when we’re running errands or just surprise me with a drink on his way home from work. It’s great.

Cedric realized yesterday that he had trucks on his shirt. Out of no where he was looking down at his shirt and saying “kuck, kuck”, which of course means “truck”. Here’s a couple pics of his discovery:

Oh! And on Tuesday he went potty in the toilet for the first time!!! Over the last five days or so he’ll grab his diaper and say something, and I’d ask him if he needed to go potty. That would send him off running to get his stool and he’d set it in front of the toilet. I’d take down his pants and just let him stand there for a couple minutes. Nothing ever happened until Tim was helping him on Tuesday night and he went! We were so proud. : ) I’m sure he’s a long way off from being potty trained but it’s a great start.

Tim must have a magic touch with Cedric because he was the one to teach Cedric to crawl, to walk, and now to go in the toilet. : ) I love it. Absolutely love it.

Here is Cedric playing in his first pile of leaves today:

I've been waiting for this day. Cedric can now sing! On our closet doors we have a poster of the Dukes of Hazzard's General Lee and also a poster of a guitar. Every morning Cedric must be picked up to see the posters, saying "caaarrr" (with a growly voice) and "daddy", pointing to both posters. Tim often plays his guitar at least a couple times a week for Cedric, and I commented this morning when Cedric was admiring the guitar poster about singing and dancing when Daddy plays. Well he started belting out "Doooh, dooooh, DOOOOHHH, whoa, wow, wooow, wob, dooohh, doooooooohhh!" He sang like that for a minute and has been doing the same off and on all day whenever we bring up singing. This is one of the sweetest landmarks to me. Yes, better than going potty in the toilet. It's the most precious thing.

Tuesday night

Here is a picture of the bump Cedric got the day before yesterday. He did well posing somberly to show it off. :) It's healing well and doesn't ever seem to bother him. He had had a scratch on his hand earlier in the week that is nearly healed now, and he still seems more concerned about that. He keeps asking for a band aide for it. Why do little kids always seem to be addicted to band aides?

As you can see, he is really doing just fine. :)

He's been teething this past week or two as well but that seems to bother him more at night.

I'm sorry if you get tired of hearing about Cedric, but he is what fills my day. He's the most entertaining part of the day really, he even rivals Tim in that department, and I figured you would be more interested in Cedric's antics than Tim's anyway. So you'll just have to bear with me. :)

It was so cute, I wish I had gotten a picture of it, but this late afternoon when I was changing Cedric's diaper, he brought a book with him up onto the changing table and looked through it while I changed his diaper. It was a big book (8.5 x 11) and paperback, so he had it resting on his tummy while he flipped through the pages calling all the cows (it was a book about flying cows) "horses". It was just such a cute thing.

I forgot to mention that when Tim came home from his weekend away, he brought me a bag of Starbucks decaf Sumatra coffee! That is my all time favorite kind of coffee and he found it in decaf for me. What a sweetie! Gave me those warm and fuzzy feelings. :)

Cedric is a good little helper when it comes to cleaning up after Hemi. Hemi does not like to stay out in the cold long enough to go #2, so he tends to go inside on the hardwood floor in Cedric's room. Luckily, somehow, Cedric knew from the beginning that those cute little logs were gross. Any time he finds a pile, he comes and tells me that he's found some, saying "bock", meaning "bocki", our word for poo/gross. If I'm distracted, he is insistent until I follow him and take a look and clean it up. I rather appreciate his help.

Blog with a video

Do you remember that monster of a black widow that I had found on the outside of our front-door jam a while back? Well, yesterday I found what has been the 4th black widow outside our door. All of them have been huge. It is just so weird that those huge spiders who are supposed to like dark, quiet places choose to setup by a busy door that is always bright because of the porch light. It's just freaky. And nasty.

Yesterday, Cedric bonked his himself right above his right eye on Mom and Dad's coffee table. He hit hard enough that is split a little. Luckily, it didn't really bleed much, but it is swollen and a little blue today. I hope it doesn't turn into a black eye.

Tim had a really good time going to the Warm Beach Convention Center for a Christian highschool retreat. He and Aaron, our youth pastor, brought 5 boys. I guess it was a great 'guy' time. :) Tim really likes Aaron's approach to teaching. He is more about serious discipleship and not so much about numbers. As expected, since they've been here, the youth group has shrunk a bit but has brought out the seriously dedicated kids. They're able to go deeper and are passionate. Tim said that he likes the smaller youth group because he can get to know each kid individually. I think the leaders have to do a lot of crowd control in a really big youth group and are not able to really forge influential relationships. There is a place for those youth groups that strive to at least get the kids off the street and into a safe, positive environment, but I think the higher expectation-approach is the right thing for our church at this time.

Most days when Tim comes home from work I show Cedric how to take his daddy's shoes off, and then Cedric picks up the shoes and puts them in the closet. We didn't even have to coax him into doing it, he just watched me do it a couple times and then hopped right to it himself. It's so precious and a tradition I think we'll keep going until he outgrows it. :)

Heater problems

Our heater has been having trouble since last winter. We had to manually control the temperature by turning off the heater when it got too hot and turning it on when it was too cold. The thermostat never kept an even room temperature. This did a number on our power bill, as you can imagine (no pun intended :). Well, our landlord finally came out to look at it and replaced it while he was here and it seemed to click on and off at the correct place so we hoped it was fixed. Well, a half hour after he left we realized that the heater was not on even though the thermostat had clicked on. Tim fiddled around with it to no avail. So we don't have a heater in the living room anymore and that's our main heater! :( We have another message into the landlord so hopefully they are able to come out again right away. We aren't freezing though because we've got heaters in the bedrooms and a small spaceheater to use out here. It's just frustrating, especially when it's messing with our power bill.

Silly

Today Cedric came up to me with a concerned look, making his "I'm stuck" sound, and holding a carboard book. He was holding it closed with his left hand and had his right thumb stuck between the pages. It's precious how much he doesn't know about this world. :)

Pics and their stories

Last night Cedric wanted to try on our headphones, not for the first time, but he got a kick out of it, and I like the pictures. :)

Cedric found a new, hidden (though I can see it from the kitchen sink window) place to play in our front yard. It's behind this pine tree that is planted up close to a corner in the fence. It's a neat place for him to crawl around. He likes to play with the needles. He'll stay back there for a good long time.

Earlier this weak Cedric and I were playing around and we put these rings on his ears. He had fun showing his daddy when he got home. :P

Tim and I are listening to the audio book of "Eragon". The movie got us interested, though I must say that the book is waayyy better than the movie. I can't stand the voice they chose for the dragon, Saphira. It's way too wimpy for a dragon, unless, say, it's name is Puff the Magic Dragon. We are really enjoying the book! I would definitely recommend it to all you Lord of the Rings and fantasy fans. "Eragon" is book 1 in the Inheritence Trilogy. "Eldest" is the 2nd, and book 3 is soon to come out. Did you know that it's written by a 24-year-old in Alaska? http://www.alagaesia.com/

Lately, whenever Cedric bumps his head on something he'll announce it by patting his head and saying "bonk" over and over until you comment on it. And sometimes he goes and bumps his head against whatever he had originally ran into to show us what happened. It's so adorable. :)

Boring day

Today was an especially long and boring day for some reason. We took a walk today but since it's been down in the 30's all week, we had to pile on the layers. No snow yet, though. I'm glad for that.

I baked the pumpkin seeds today after soaking them in salt water for a couple days. I split the batch in half and seasoned one batch with Tapatio (hot sauce) and the other with Worchestershire sauce. They both turned out well I think. Tim likes the spicy ones, of course. :)

Don't laugh, but I got myself a belly dancing workout DVD. :) Of course, I'm not going to watch it when Tim is home, but it's really fun! Man, it's hard though. So beautiful and so feminine.... I love anything Middle Eastern anyway, so this is perfect.

There are these whole wheat crackers that Cedric enjoys snacking on, and I found him with the whole box today. :) Notice Hemi in the lower left waiting for crumbs:

We usually have to keep the books up because Cedric can be tough on them, but often times when they are down, I'll find him sitting and looking through them, just like this:

He really enjoys being read to. When he says "book", it sounds like "buck". Very cute. :)

Happy cross-quarter day!

Explanation: "Halloween's origin is ancient and astronomical. Since the fifth century BC, Halloween has been celebrated as a cross-quarter day, a day halfway between an equinox (equal day / equal night) and a solstice (minimum day / maximum night in the northern hemisphere). With our modern calendar, however, the real cross-quarter day will occur next week. Another cross-quarter day is Groundhog's Day."

I got that little bit of trivia from a site that gives a different astronomical picture and explanation every day (Astronomy Picture of the Day). It's awesome! You should really check it out. http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html I check it every day along with all the blogs. :)

Well, we have only had 1 trick-or-treater tonight and it was Cory Hailey and his step-daughter, Jadin. :) It was good to see them. I am disappointed though that the pumpkins didn't advertise sufficiently that we were open for trick-or-treating business! Oh well, next year we'll have to try decorating the other side of the house. Maybe that'll work.

I took some cute pictures of Cedric yesterday chasing Hemi. It was his after-dinner-right-before-bed hyperness. :) He was getting ready to take a shower with Daddy is why he's nakey.

We got Cedric his first pair of slippers the other day. Daddy picked out Spiderman. :) Here is Hemi and Cedric checking out his new look:

Today Cedric learned to say "horse". :) I've been letting him play with one of my old Bryer horses who's leg broke off. Here is a video of him saying "horse"; he was saying it all afternoon and pointing out my several other horse statues around the house. It really sounds more like "oot" but he definitely means "horse". :)

It's been so strange.... We have a music box that plays "King of the Road" and beginning yesterday it makes Cedric cry. I mean, like his heart is breaking, with big crocodile tears and everything. He's been asking us to play it, but it usually takes about 2 minutes before he'll break down crying, pointing at the music box. We have to go put it in the other room until it's done playing and then Cedric needs a few minutes of cuddling before he's okay to play again. And later in the day he might just ask us to play it again. Grammy was commenting that it must be the German blood in him because music has always really moved the men on the Hollenbeck side of the family, but I guess that's on the Likkel side as well. :) There is one song that has always made me cry and still can and it's "You Are My Sunshine". It's just so sad! I used to ask Mom to sing it to me even though it made me cry. Isn't music an amazing thing? Have you thought about the fact that music originated in heaven? It's one of those things that God has shared with us straight from heaven.

Pumpkins

It has been YEARS since I've spent any amount of time carving a pumpkin, so last night Tim, Cedric, and I sat down and carved 3 pumpkins. They turned out great! I'm used to doing the basic jack-o-lantern face that is all you can really do with a standard kitchen knife. Tim, though, had gotten a pumpkin carving set a couple years ago that we have never used which made it 100% easier!

That's my pumpkin! I'm going to roast the pumpkin seeds this year.

Cedric and remnants of peas from dinner and pumkin slime that kept

him occupied for a good portion of the carving.

The finished products:

By me.

Tim's first creation.

Tim's second creation, my favorite!

We had so much fun. We need to do more creative stuff like that together. Cedric was so impressed with them in the dark. :) We're going to set them out on Hallowean and open our gate in hopes of attracting some trick-or-treaters. We didn't have any last year, but we figure it was because our doors are hard to get to and we weren't decorated at all. We'll be more welcoming this year. :)

I see a generation....

This is beautiful. It brings tear to my eyes. Vanessa wrote it and posted it on her MySpace blog. I wanted to share it with you in case you didn't see it.

~Lindy


I see a generation.
Of young people
Passionate about the things of God
Rising boldly for their King
Standing on a foundation of love
The Spirit flowing in and through them daily, in each moment
Allowing the principles of God to come forth,
Pave the way in business, in culture, in media
A message of purity and righteousness comes from their lips
A fire burns within them to bubble up
To come forth
To stand.
Apathy is no longer constraining them
No longer does despair rule their hearts
No longer does selfish ambition point them toward costly goals of enterprise
Their hearts break for the lost ones
The curious ones
The only death they know is the one before a re-birth
In which they find themselves once again,
In the arms, in the heart, in the purpose of their God
Truth is their craving,
And the very Word of God their substance.
To Him alone they bow
They submit.
They devote.
They lead the way for those seemingly left behind,
Encouraging them to keep moving
Keep going.
Follow the light they see gleaming
It truly holds all the answers to every question
All the hope to every deferred dream
All the love to every love lost
They passionately point out the Savior
They prove devotion by staying true,
Regardless of trial, temptation or circumstance.
They are world changers
I see a generation.

Dentist visit

My dentist appointment went really well yesterday. It was initially just going to be a new patient exam and we would do the cleaning next week, but someone canceled so they were able to do my cleaning right after the new patient exam.

I had no cavities and everything else looked really good. Even after 4+ years since a professional cleaning, I had very little buildup. I thank God for good teeth and saliva genes. :)

As it stands now, I don't think I'll get my wisdom teeth removed. My two concerns about them was the possibility of them someday fusing with my jaw and being nearly impossible to remove if bad cavities develop and also if they would speed and increase the forward migration of my teeth that happens with age and thus making them very crooked. The dentist didn't think it necessary to have them removed since I don't have a cavity-prone mouth and said that it's very rare for teeth to fuse with your jaw even if I were to develop cavities. He also explained that the wisdom teeth really don't have anything to do with the forward migration of the teeth. So I think I'll keep them. I'm relieved. :)

Did you know that cavities can basically be contagious? The hygienist was telling a story about a couple who came in. The woman took really good care of her teeth but the guy had nasty teeth. The hygienist warned the gal that by kissing a mouth full of bad bacteria, it was spreading to her mouth and could make it easier for her to develop cavities and gum problems. 8-0 Nobody ever talks about that. Tim takes really good care of his teeth, but he didn't really when I first met him, which is why I found this interesting in the first place. I think that should be good motivation for all those reluctant brushers and their partners; it's not just gross, it's dangerous. :)

So glad we avoided the flu....

Well, Tim and I both avoided the flu. *sigh of relief* Cedric is doing well too.

Not a whole lot has been going on here. Kind of boring actually. I have been listening to online audio books from our library. That's the only way I find I can actually read books. This way I can be playing with Cedric AND listening to a book at the same time. :) It's been great. I just finished one by Nicholas Sparks called "Dear John". It was good. I'd definitely recommend it.

So far we're not planning to do anything for Halloween this year. If we had a group of kids to go trick-or-treating with, we would probably go, but as it is, Cedric is too young to care whether we do it or not and walking around in the freezing cold isn't fun to do without a group of people.

Cloth diapering has been going well. I haven't started doing cloth at night yet. I may not ever. I was initially waiting until he got over his cold and was sleeping better at night. We'll see. When we go in public I've been using disposables still too. It's satisfying to me to be using cloth.

Exhausted on Monday

Goodness, it was another long night. Around midnight Cedric woke up obviously not feeling well. He was up off and on for a cumulative total of about 4 hours, often crying inconsolably. We thought perhaps it was his teeth because he has 4 coming in all at the same time or maybe he had a tummy ache because of how he was moving or maybe growing pains, but finally at around 5am he threw up everything in his stomach. He felt sooo much better! After we got him and I changed, he quickly fell asleep and slept contentedly until 8:30.

It was so nice to have Tim here for this episode of sickness. He helped so much, even getting in the bathtub with Cedric for a while. He was as big a support for me as he was a help with Cedric. :) Tim got up with Cedric this morning and let me sleep in. Cedric is doing great this morning, playing and dancing with Daddy. He is sleepy still but in much better spirits. I think he must have gotten this flu in church nursery yesterday.... that puts the incubation period for Tim and I sometime from now through the afternoon. 8-/ We'll see.

Tim and I are enjoy our comfy new mattress. It is longer than our old one too, so our toes aren't hanging over the edge so bad anymore.

I was going to work a 6-hour shift at Havillah Road today to brush up on various new things going on there, but that's been postponed until next Monday due to Cedric's flu. I think I might work several Mondays, in addition to the regular Saturdays, over this holiday season. They need the extra help and we could use the extra paycheck.

When Mom starts her new reduced-hours work schedule sometime this next month, she has agreed to come down 1 day a week to watch Cedric while I work on school. I am a ways behind still, and the 1-1/2 to 2 hour bits of time I get to work on it when Tim gets home from work is not enough. I should be able to catch up easily with an added 4 to 6 hour study time once a week.

I have a dentist appointment coming up this week. I hate to admit that it has been at least 3 years since I've been to the dentist. Luckily, none of my teeth are bothering me. And amazingly, I have all 4 wisdom teeth fully in with no pain. I think someday I would like to have them out anyway.... just so they don't end up making my teeth all crooked in the front, but that might have to wait for better dental insurance.

Cedric was fascinated by Mom's fake nails. I like how they look, if I had an extra $40 a month I would love to have my nails done all the time. :)

New mattress!

We have finally gotten a new mattress! We were given an ancient one when we got married and it has sufficed, but we have gotten mighty tired of the sagging middle and feeling various metal coils through an eggshell foam pad. :-/ Being pregnant on a bed like that was especially no fun.

Here is the old mattress now up at Mom's and Dad's. This picture really doesn't do the dilapidation justice.



And here is our new pillowtop mattress. :D



We are both really looking forward to going to bed tonight. :)

The fall colors are so beautiful around here. This is the view out our living room window.

Finally, another blog...

It has been so long since I've found time to blog. Mostly the cause has been this stubborn cold. Instead of blogging during Cedric's 1-hour nap, I find I must nap, too, or my already sketchy patience level becomes almost nonexistent. Tim and I have arranged for me to have an hour all to myself to do whatever I want with little to no interruptions on Thursday afternoons. So on this first afternoon, I have decided to finally blog again.

First off, I wanted to share a picture of our little Autumn elf, Cedric.





Here is Cedric and Daddy having some dangerous boy fun. Cedric seriously loves doing this.





Hemi and his boy having a blast in the front yard.





And I really love this one....



What a goof. :)

I so want to be over this cold! It has been nearly 2-1/2 weeks now. I really would like to be getting in better shape, but everything is on hold. I'm very frustrated.

I am going to be working at Havillah Road again this Saturday. So maybe you'll get another blog then. :)

I think the fever that started out Cedric's cold rewired his brain or something, because before his cold he was very afraid of the vacuum cleaner and needed to be held while I vacuumed. Now, however, he still needs to be held but only because I can't get any vacuuming done due to his trying to hug the silly machine! He seriously really likes the vacuum now! I have no idea how that happened. The fever is the only thing I can think of. :)

Garlic sounds really good right now. But Tim always can tell when I've even eaten only one clove earlier in the day and he doesn't really like the smell, so I choose to ration my garlic intake. Well, he'll be gone during the 2nd weekend of November with his youth group at a retreat at Warm Beach, so I'll get my chance enjoy some roasted garlic that first day or so he's gone. :)

Saturday musings

Well, here I am at work again. This morning we had our first frost down here in the valley. The leaves are starting to turn colors and my fingers are cold most of the time. Soon they will be "always" cold. :-/ Winter is not much fun. Oh, for about 2 months it's fun. But we get at least 4 months of the white stuff.

Aunt Margaret stopped by at our place on her way up to Mom and Dad's. She arrived around 2:30 and stayed, waiting for Mom to finish work, until 6:30. We had a good time visiting. We talked a lot about our shared interest in nutrition, natural personal care products, and alternative medicine. She shared a great recipe for a breakfast drink that I am going to give a try.

I am about over my cold and thanks, I think, to Cedric's 3-hour nap yesterday, he is over his. At least as far as I can tell. Tim has yet to catch it. I doubt he will. He seems to avoid most colds that go around.

My tattoo is on the tail-end of the "itchy" stage. Man, was that annoying! I'll tell ya, the length of the "sunburn" feel and itching during the healing process is almost as bad as the needle itself, which lasts a much shorter amount of time! I'll have to keep my eye out for tank tops that will show off my tattoo for next summer. I don't like the spaghetti-strap tanks but they have to be low in the back.... It'll take some searching I think.

Sleepless night & cloth diapers

Two nights ago we had our first truly "sleepless" night. We as in Cedric and I. Or maybe just I. Until 6am I wasn't able to snooze longer than 15-minute stretches. At 6am we got about 30 minutes straight. The reason: Cedric had a pretty good fever and refused to sleep unless he was in my arms and sitting up. Poor guy. He would wake every 15 to 20 minutes and then cry until I got him comfortable again and he would fall back asleep. I was alone (Tim was still absent on his trip) and extremely tired, the thermometer broke, and I wasn't sure Cedric should be crying and refusing to be comforted as much as he was, so I called Mom at 5:45 and, bless her, she volunteered to come help me. She arrived around 7am and took Cedric so I was able to get a few hours of sleep. Thank you, Momma!!!

Tim came home as soon as he could that next day and Cedric's fever broke late the next night. He had a much better night, only having one spell of an hour and a half of wakefulness. He had a normal night last night and is doing very well today, though he does have a case of diarrhea. His runny nose is clearing up and he's playing and eating much better. I, however, am coming down with the cold. Stuffy head and sore throat and headaches. Nothing too terrible, but I am soooo thankful that I didn't get this the same time Cedric did.

Has anyone had the experience of Dimetapp keeping babies awake? The last two nights Cedric would be very tired right before bed until we gave him a dose of Dimetapp and he would become very wriggly and awake for another two hours.

It was so cute last night. It was a milestone for me. Tim and I started a movie (after the dose of Dimetapp. I think we're going to be extra stingy with it from now on.) while Cedric played and climbed up and down, up and down from our laps. He wouldn't sit still for very long but he liked to lay on the floor and roll around. Eventually, an hour and a half after bedtime, he finally fell asleep, on the floor at our feet. :) It was so adorable! That was the first time he fell asleep somewhere other than in our arms, carseat, or swing. He fell asleep all by himself. He's growing up so much. It reminds of the milestone when he first crawled out of sight of me and out of the room by himself. Such big changes. :)

Well, we have finally gotten cloth diapers for Cedric! I know it's really a funny thing to be excited over, but I really am! We figured out that it is cheaper to do cloth diapers if you end up using them for more than one child. We plan to use cloth diapers on any future children so we are going ahead and starting with Cedric. I am just finishing up washing them and then I'll start using them. It'll take me and Cedric some getting used to, but I'm looking forward to it.

Yuck!!!!!!!!!

This evening, after Mom had just left after stopping by after work, the corner of the screen we have hanging over our front door was loose, so I reached up to hook it back and I saw this huge black widow in the door jam!!!!! We had been walking under it for who knows how long!



I do not like the fact that it was so close to Cedric.... *major case of goosebumps*

Well, Hemi hasn't been out to see us for several hours, ever since Cedric wacked him real good with a stick. :( Don't worry, Hemi wasn't really injured, I think he's just a little scared to venture forth. :) Boy, was Cedric upset after making Hemi yelp like that.

This weekend

I had a really good time spending the evening, night, and day at Mom and Dad’s with Amber, Easton, Kadin, and Mom! We got in lots of visiting, and it was so fun watching the kids playing together. Kadin is so caring, gentle, and patient with Cedric, and he really seems to enjoy him. It’s so great to see. : ) Cedric has a definite interest in Easton as well. It sure won’t be long until they’re having a blast together, too. Here are a couple pictures of Cedric and Easton at the beginning of our trip back up the hill this morning after breaskfast at Fat Boys and at the end of the trip. : )



================================



Hemi has really come out of his shell since hanging out at Mom and Dad’s. Kadin spent a lot of time holding him, which Hemi seemed to really enjoy. Since we’ve been home, Hemi hasn’t been hiding in his kennel like he had been and has been running around playing with Cedric’s toys. Grammy, you were wondering how much Hemi weighs. He is 3 pounds. This is a pic of him snoozing on Mom's couch.



We have been missing Tim these last couple days that he has been gone while hiking/camping/caving with Dad and Josh. Two more nights to go.

At work

I am at work right now, down at Havillah Road Printing. It is usually pretty slow on Saturdays, so I have time to catch up on some internet time.

Things are going well with Hemi. He is catching onto paper training fairly quickly. I am going to start kennel training at nights probably tomorrow night. He has been sleeping on Tim's and my bed. :) I just didn't want his move to a new home to be so shocking. Leaving the only home he's known and a life with several other dogs always around is hard enough without suddenly sleeping all alone all night. A little at a time. :) Cedric is doing better every day with treating him gently.

Tim's mom, Diane, called the other day. I don't think we've talked on the phone since they were out in June. They seem to be doing well. I do wish that they were a little closer. It would be nice to spend enough time with them that it is no longer uncomfortable. For the first few years of Tim's and my relationship, it seemed that every contact we had with them was drama-filled. It's no longer that way and I can really enjoy being with them (they are so nice and so funny!), but it's hard rewriting that first-impression emotional response.

Our puppy!

We finally have a dog of our own. :) He's an 8-week-old Rat-Cha (chihuahua/rat terrier mix). He won't get any bigger than 10 pounds. We found an ad in the paper for him and his brother and it so happened they were in Wenatchee, so while we were down there we took a look and fell in love with this little guy. His name is "Hemi", as in the engine. :)


Just arrived home.


First nap of his first day home.

He is such a cuddly guy. He's pretty nervous right now and is usually only happy when I'm holding him, so I'm going to rig some sort of sling for him, I think. He's just so tiny! It'll be so fun to get Hemi, Kip, Bentley, and Kim Chi all together. :)

My tattoo

Here it is, folks!



Can you see the "T" and "L" in green?



I absolutely LOVE it! It's totally a Tim & I tattoo. Tim designed it (though the tattoo artist did get creative with the outline a bit), our initials are in the wings, and it has our wedding colors red and green. The brown could even correlate to the gold in our wedding. :) The placement is awesome because it's almost like they are my wings. See what I mean? More meaning behind that too.

When we first got there, the artist, Brett, laid out a couple ideas he had and helped us figure where to put the colors. He's been tattooing for 15 years. It took him an hour and a half to finish my tattoo. Yes, it did hurt. Similar to a bee sting, like Holly described it.

Tim took Cedric for a walk and later drove over to a park for a while until we were finished. I was relieved when it was done but it wasn't unbearable. You kind of tune it out after a while. You just got to remember to breath and keep your muscles relaxed. The artist said I "sat like a pro". :P Now it often feels like a bad sunburn.