My Baby

Zeke has now spent his life 50/50... inside of me and outside of me... I'm glad he wasn't as big inside as he is now... he's my sturdy boy, he's wearing 18 month clothes and they fit well, not much room for growth though... Tobz is showing him how to get into all sorts of trouble... today he climbed up the stairs, it was bath time... and he was followed... we took a video, it's long and he was distracted by the camera but he got up the stairs all by himself. Next step is walking, and it's going to happen any day now... he goes on his walker toy like no tomorrow and might take a step here or there but then sits down when he realizes that he's not holding on... he's cautious...

It's Hot

For the first time this year we had to turn on the air conditioner... it was warm and humid which made it feel very hot and sticky.... I'm thankful that we at least got into June before windows weren't enough.... and Boy was it nice to have the air on and not feel all sticky last night... it's still really gross outside... it may be an inside day... it's supposed to get pretty warm =)Maybe I'll let Tobin watch his first movie ever I'm thinking Toy Story the original to get myself ready for Toy Story 3

Old CD's

I pulled out an old CD today by Delirious? Glo ... words to encourage and music that I love to listen to, can't get much better than that....
I really like the whole CD but specifically My Glorious and Jesus' Blood

the list

This is a list of the things we could think of that need to be done to the house... * is for things that only need to be done if we're moving. Alan's room - nothing (the floor could be refinished but it's not horrible. Our room - paint* it's purple =). Tobin's room - door need painted, ceiling painted (roof leak needs to be fixed), Broken window, water access panel (hole in the wall). Sun room - paint ceiling and fix crack in ceiling, fix broken window. Stairs nail down carpet (both sets) fix railing spindles loose broken or missing. Living room - fill wood gaps from house settling*, Oil wood trim, paint windows, replace broken quarter round on bottom step. Dining room - electrical wires replaced, repair termite eaten studs, fix the messed up joists, insulate wall, refinish floor, drywall, texture, paint, trim. Kitchen - replace ceiling tile we had to cut out, counter tops, floor, paint door, paint cabinets*. Laundry room - sub floor, Floor tile, paint, finish wall were we had to fix the leaky pipe. down stairs bathroom - Sub floor, floor, tile shower, paint, punch nails in paneling so they don't show. Basement - fix the ceiling where the shower leaked through (again), clean carpet, tape carpet, install carpet permanently, finish trim, fill in the hole we drilled in the concrete, finish the drainage tile, seal sump pit hole. Out side front - paint the whole house, replace wood along brick line, fill in sink hole (again, probably to no avail), fix grass south of driveway, work on the front porch, paint the columns, paint the area behind the glass next to the door, reseal those pieces of glass, finish driveway addition (dig dirt out, put gravel, sand, and brick down). Back yard - finish drainage from driveway, lay brick by garage, get dirt to slop yard by kennel, grass around sandbox, clean deck*, fix the rock boarders, finish fence, pull weeds, get rid of or use lava rocks for basement tile. And for the room we're working on Up stairs Bathroom - fix drywall, replace trim, paint, replace fixtures, hook up water to tub, fix the heating duct opening to match the duct, fix the vanity/ sink, fix leaky faucet. Today the tub got caulked, so I took that one off the list. As you can see there's allot to do to the house much less the normal things like wash windows and anything that we'd want to do (like finish my kitchen pantry) =/

House Work

Aaron and I wrote out a list tonight of all the things we need to do to the house to be able to sell it. It's a big stress in me in its current state, thus the list... If we averaged crossing off 1 thing a week every week it'd take over a year (62 items) to finish, which of course won't happen, something else is bound to break. I just hope we start making progress... I'm tired of everything falling apart.

Garage sales!

I love this time of year, it's nice outside, i can do gardening, i love having the windows open... But I really like garage sales, and today there were some good ones! Toys, clothes, firniture... I'll look at pretty much everything, but i'm picky and cheap =)... Today I found some good stuff though, toys: 2 dump trucks for sand boxes one of them is the metal Tonka truck (retails $35 or $40) it's a little scratched and missing a sticker but for $5 you can't beat that, the other one is for mimi's house and makes noises (it may not make it to the sand box)and a lawn mower for Mimi's house. We also found a fasterner cube, with a zipper velcro a button... stuff like that, it needs new batteries so we'll see what it does, however it's already been played with so maybe we don't need batteries hummm... we found a popper that sings... the one that doesn't sing costs 12 and i found this for 2... and the last one we found was a fireman puzzle...they don;'t make ambulance puzzles for uncle 'nunun' so we get as close as we can. I found a table that i'm going to put some sides on for tobin to play cars or trains and 2 end tables...a fresh coat of paint and we'll be good to go (all for $12). I saw alot of great baby stuff... if only my brother lived closer...
I also found some great vinage sheets for amy (mimi) and 2 mini muffin tins and a cheese cutter that will actully work... i'm excited to try it out

Observations of life without a Dog

We had to let our dog go a little while ago, he was very possessive of the kids and I and we couldn't have people over and feel comfortable with him in the same room. Fortunately we were able to give him back to the people we got him from so we know he's doing well. However, things are different around the house without a dog. 1. There's no barking, which is good and bad... no one to wake up the babies when they're sleeping or just randomly back a person walking across the street, but also no one to let me know that someone has come home or someones at the door. 2. There's allot less hair and dust around the house. This is a big one when you have hard wood floors, I can kinda keep up with the house not looking so dusty now. 3. No one to clean up the messes on the floor. Either the food Tobz dropped on the floor from eating or the messes he made, like yesterday, (video to follow) or Zeke's spit up or something dropped while I'm cooking, it all now has to be swept or picked up by hand. 4. Tobz is missing a play mate... the cats just don't interact the way the puppy did. 5. I've got no running partner. 6. No dog poo to pick up... That's a really nice one... I can just send Tobz to the backyard and not have to worry about him. I've sure there's more but now by baby's awake and I must go. Despite the list I still miss our Jack.

zekers

poor baby spit up blood last night. we took him to the er and had some test done... we'll hopefully get more answers tomorrow... poor guy I want to help him to feel better =/

Peculiar People

So here in Iowa it's a beautiful day, so beautiful I have the windows open. We live on a busy street and so we often watch the traffic and people walking by while we eat dinner. Well today there are alot of cars parked on the street, one of the neighbors must be having a party. There is however a strange thing happening... Tobin and I sat down for dinner and there was a girl in a car sitting in front of my house, looked like she was talking on the phone... Time passes, she hasn't moved... then i guess she decided that she was going to be there a while and pulls out her books and starts studying... At this point I thought if she's waiting for Alan then she's going to be sitting there for a long time... Then right after that thought well at least she's studying, so at least she's making good use of her time. She sat there for over 30 minutes before leaving her car, I guess she was on time to whoever she was visiting. It was just weird though.

Sleepless nights

Oh how good a full nights sleep sounds right about now. I was probably in my 8th month (November) of pregnancy the last time I slept the whole night. Zeke has switched his days and nights and has no interest in going back to sleep when he wakes up at 3 to eat. Needless to say it makes for one really long night... because he's awake at midnight for an hour too.
It's getting light here earlier everyday which is nice, I like waking up when it's bright out. However, Tobin doesn't sleep as late so I get up earlier =/ which means even less sleep. It was 6:45 this morning when he started wailing. Oh I'm ready for him to have a toddler bed. So in all I got 20min + 2ish hrs + 2.5 hrs + 1 hr = almost 6. So not enough... maybe it would be if it were in one stretch but it's not and I'm tired. A nap would be nice but Zeke has this astonishing ability to wake up hungry 5 minutes after I fall asleep.

Volleyball

We got to play our first game of outdoor volleyball yesterday and it was great fun. I'm really rusty and Tobz want to play too so it was interesting at first. Tobin and Zeke turned out to be great spectators with the help of mommy or daddy so it turned out to be a lot better than I thought it was going to. It was a beautiful day and today looks like it's going to be even better. Started planting the seeds for my garden yesterday and hope to finish up today =) Can't wait to be eating those fresh veggies and have a fence around the whole yard! We have posts in yay!

Throw Up

So my first real experience with throw up this morning. Tobin was sitting on our bed this morning got a i don't feel so good look on his face and threw up all over the bed... I'll be washing sheets today =) Poor guy, he responded to the incident saying 'oh no'. to which Aaron and i responded it's ok buddy don't worry about it.
Then about 45 minutes later it happened again... I was holding him and saw 'the face' and leaned him away from me just in time. Poor guy doesn't feel well, so we're off to the store to get some pedialyte or whatever it's called and some Gatorade. I however was proud of myself for not throwing up right there next to him... I didn't even gag!

Rain and Baallll

It was raining and Tobin wanted to play ball... Maybe after a nap it will be sunny and he can play... Man that 20 month old loves to shoot hoops!

meanwhile zeke spit up all over me again... enough to warrant a change of shirt but he's smiling at me now so it's all good

Spring time

Things I look forward to this time of year
warm weather
chacos
shorts
grilling
being outside w/ the boys
going for walks to the store or the library or just about anywhere
the snow going away and green appearing
open windows
and planting my garden... mostly so i can enjoy the food to come =)

Swings, Pink eyes, and SPit UP

We finally got to go to the park for the first time this year, it was still a little cold but I bundled up the boys and off we went. I was grateful that Kim came over and walked to the park with me. Tobin seems to be scared of heights a bit but he sure does enjoy the swings. This of course was after we had a bout with pink eye earlier in the week. Poor guy both eyes, they would be all gunked up after he slept. Daddy went in to get him one morning and he pointed to the eye that he couldn't open and asked daddy "eye, eye?". We've been working on getting him to say the body parts so he can tell us when something hurts and he did for the first time that morning.
I think we finally figured out some meds for Zeke to take that will help him gain some weight. The true test will be Friday when we go get his weight checked. He's still spitting, but it doesn't seem to hurt so much, or at least not all the time. Of course I say that and he starts his something doesn't feel good cry. =/ I sure hope he grows out of this soon.

Whirlwind

The past week has been a whirlwind, and whirlwinds make huge messes. First I went down to Iowa City to get my rings cleaned and checked to keep the warranty on them current only to find out that Zales closed the store in the coralridge mall. Now the closest one is in Waterloo. Who goes to Waterloo, what is there to do there? The trip however wasn't a total lose, I was able to find some recordable storybooks that Aaron's parents wanted me to get for them to do while they're in the states the next time. I've been looking everywhere for them and hadn't had any success.
Second, Zeke started to worry me because there was even more spit up than normal. So Friday we went in to get his weight checked and he'd only gained 4 oz in two weeks... which then created...
Third, A visit to a pediatric gastrointestinal specialist at the University of Iowa Hospital. That place is a maze. We managed to not turn into the right entrance then when we finally found the correct one and then the correct parking garage, it was of course full. I only knew how to get to where i needed to be from that garage but, Amy, Amanda and I figured it out and got to the Dr's a little late. Good news though, stringer medicine that should take care of his spitting and fussiness.

Then yesterday, what I thought was going to be a nice uneventful day... had to wait for 30 minutes for a Rx that should have already been filled (which it was, they just couldn't find it). Then needed to refill ink cartridges so that Amanda could print out stuff she needed for her travel this week. Never before have I had so much trouble with the ink, (I personally think it's because it was an off brand cartridge)... Two colors of ink were spilled, One just pooled on the table, no big deal... The other made a huge mess, there was black ink on more places than there wasn't, oh well. I eventually got them filled and the printer is working again yay =)

But here's what happened to me...

So I was going to write something about why I was going to try this blog thing out and what was going to be on here, but I don't really know the answers to those questions. SO, I'm just going to start.

Today we were going to try to go downtown to watch the St. Patrick's Day Parade, but instead we're watching it right now online. Zeke's still not feeling the best, I'm waiting to hear from the Dr. Maybe we'll get a new medicine to try, but I'm tired of not being able to help the little guy.