Just not enough good doctors in the world

Today I took Punky and Chicken for their checkups.  Punky's for her two year check up and Chicken for his 1 year.  I love my doctor.  She's so down to earth and obviously loves kids.  When I get freaked out about anything, she always calms me down and if I don't calm down, she does whatever she thinks will calm me down.  I'll never forget when Chicken was only 3 months old and had a horrible stomach virus.  He would scream every time you picked him up.  what's my first thoughts?  Meningitis of course.  He wasn't throwing up (he had previously, just nothing major), no fever, just screaming when his head or spine moved.  I kept telling my doc that it just seemed like it was all in his spine.  I was convinced of it and nothing she said would calm me down (the first and only time).  She tested him because he wasn't eating and found he was dehydrated and admitted him to the hospital until he got better.  She even asked me during all of this, "Mama's are usually right.  What do you FEEL is wrong with him?"  Of course, being the self proclaimed doctor I am (yeah right), I just told her I really felt like it was in his spine.  So then, she told me that with meningitis, kids run abnormally high fevers and he was barely hitting the 100 mark.  But she further explained to me his blood work showed it was probably just a bug but IF they had to do a spinal tap, here's how it would happen...I'll never forget that moment.  I had a few issues with some of her nurses and had been thinking about going elsewhere, but in that moment, I knew I would stick with her because whatever issues I had with the nurse was worth it to have a doc who listened to me, cared about my babies and wanted them to be healthy.  I haven't been sorry and the nurse I didn't like is no longer there, so it paid off.  ;oD

Turns out, btw, it was just a stomach bug that circled back around our family and got all of us who didn't have it when Chicken had it.  We all threw up with it, but the back pain was the worst part.  So in a way, Dr. Me was right that it was all in his spine.  ;oD

Today, she once again reminded me how great she was with my kids although there wasn't anything overly special about the visit.  She talked to Punky who was nervous to be touched by her since her hospitalization a few months ago.  She calmed her fears and Punky was just fine and even talked to her a little bit.  I was amazed.  Chicken couldn't care less and just wanted the bunny on her stethoscope.  That bunny has saved us many times from a meltdown.

Chicken got two shots and they checked him for anemia, for which he was fine.  My babies are "perfect" as my doc would say.

In other news, I'm starting to get nervous about finding out what this baby is.  Everyone, start chanting "It's a girl, it's a girl" and maybe just maybe we'll get one.  In fact, I was talking to a nurse at the doc's office today who had two brothers and said she always wanted a sister because she didn't have the bond with her two brothers that they had with each other, even though they were close.  In all honesty, I think it'll bother me that it's not a girl, although I certainly won't be upset we're having this baby.  I've just had my hopes set on another girl so Punky can have the sister girls always crave.

Tired, random thoughts today.

So for Valentine's Day my Hubby got me some SCRUMPTIOUS Five Roses South African Tea.  I can't begin to tell you how wonderful this stuff is.  While enjoying my cup this morning, I was amazing all over again at how incredible this stuff tastes.  It's very smooth and if I do it just right with a little whole milk and sugar, I can easily envision myself bathing in it.  :oD

The friend of our families who passed away recently was born in England and raised in South Africa.  The few times I had tea at her house reminded me that I would love to have some, so Hubby found it online and got it for me for V-day.  It was probably one of the best gifts he's ever gotten me and it even had roses on the box, how appropriate!

This just happened to be on my mind this morning since I can't drink a lot of it right now.  I've discovered I'm highly sensitive to caffeine this pregnancy and drinking this tea in the morning gives me pretty consistent and hard braxton hicks.  At least I'll know what to do when i'm full term.  I've got about 190 out of the 200 packs left so surely 190 packs of tea will put me in labor, right?

Hard to believe I'm only 19 weeks today and I'm already ready for this kid to come out.  I told myself I really wanted to enjoy it and savor it since it better be my last one.  I am, in a way, but I'm just feeling like I've been pregnant for 3 years now (which I pretty much have).  It'll be bittersweet to end this chapter of baby-having in my life, but in another way, I can be a little selfish and start counting down the days where I have just a tad more freedom.  Once they get to the age where they can get their own snacks, poop and pee in the toilet (look out Punky, your diaper-pooping days are limited once we get in our new house!!!), and are a little more self-sufficient I'd like to freeze them and keep them little.  Don't get me wrong, I love the baby stages.  I'm just worn out from them.  I look at Chicken lately and realize he's not much of a baby anymore, how fast it's gone and how much faster it's going to be with #3 and I get sad.  Babyhood is so sweet and innocent but there comes a time I believe in every mother's life that you're just ready to put it behind you.  Of course, then I'll miss it like crazy and beg Hubby to get his impending vasectomy reversed, much like my mother-in-law did to her Hubby.  Since I know Hubby would NEVER go for that, I'll be sad and angry for about a week, then realize it's ok.  My family is complete and I want to be able to give my children the gift of one-on-one time. Three children is pushing it to be able to give them what they need.  But that's all in the future.  I'll deal with it then, because it's bound to happen.  Right now, however, it's the farthest thing from what I want or need.  

Anyway, just a bunch of ramblings from me, today.  The kids have been engrossed in baby einsteins all morning and I got much more packing done yesterday than I would have thought imaginable.  It's the attic I'm worried about....I might get an arm bit off up there when I start going through things and throwing out stuff.  There's probably something furry and mean up there just waiting for me.

Hard Times in moving land

So I'm packing a few things up today to get a head start now that the contracts are signed and everything is just a waiting game.   I discovered what I believe to be mad kiddos at me for messing with everything!  They're both just beside themselves and Punky was mad that I took the curtains down in the living room and she said while sobbing, "Are you happy now?!"  I about died laughing!  I know she probably didn't mean it the way it sounded, but the timing was just perfect!

In other news, we find out Monday if we're having another Punky or a Chicken.  I'm praying it's another Punky.  I want so badly to give her a sister.  Chicken will have Hubby as his friend in scouts and guys don't really seem to need the "friendship" with siblings like girls do.  Maybe I'm wrong, but when I was a teenager, I used to day dream about what it would be like to have a sister to share all my woes with, someone who might understand me, someone who would like me for me.  Maybe I'm projecting my "dreams" onto Punky because I believe that, but I know whatever it is, I will love just as much as I love these two.  But I seriously can't imagine having two boys conspiring against me or running around getting into mischief and blowing stuff up.  Just the thought makes me cringe.  Hubby just recently told his parents about some of the things he did as a kid that they never knew about (like almost burning the house down for real with some of his experiments).  But with any luck, if this is a boy, it'll be a little angel and be a tattle tell on his brother and sister!  ;oD

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Happy Birthday to Chicken!

Needless to say, Chicken thoroughly enjoyed his birthday cake.  It was a big difference from Punky bursting into tears last year when I rammed her hand in the cake (she was such a girlie girl!).  I didn't even have to help Chicken out.  He dove right in before we could even light the candle!  

It's hard to believe he's one.  I thought it was such a milestone for Punky.  Chicken still seems so babyish and little to me, Punky seemed grown the moment she turned 6 months old.  But when I really take a good look at him, he's growing up.  He's still little, but he's big for his age and starting to do so much.  

Chicken is walking quite well now, letting go of everything and walking 7-8 steps without help.  He can say mama, dada, all done (allduh), uh oh (uh eeeeeee--still not sure where he got that one from), stop (tah!-wonder why he knows that one?!), no (nawww-again, wonder why he knows that one?) and down (dowww).  At one point he said his Aunt "Lissa's" name (Issa), and his sister's name.  He can put his hands together to pray now most of the time, is eating a lot of table food and almost completely rejecting his baby food.  He wants table food.  All this for a kid with no teeth!

He's growing up and seems to be catching up verbally with where his sister was at this age.  I think she could say about 15 words.  Since boys are slower from what I hear, I'll say he's where he should be for a member of my family.  As soon as we move i'm going to start working a lot with them on letter recognition and other "baby" things so we can get a head start on preschool.  Good luck on that one, right?  ;oD

Hope everyone had a great weekend.  Ours was definitely interesting!

Warning: Gross Content

Ok, so I hear Hubby, after going in to get Chicken this morning, yell out "EWWWWW!!!"  Then he come running into the study where his camera is.  He has "content" for my blog today.  He just KNOWS I'll come up with something witty and funny for this picture.  All I can say is I think our ideas of witty and funny are totally different, but for his sake I'll go ahead, just because he was excited about it.

As Punky would say, "Chicken got boogie."

My scolding

Back on Monday, I had a horrible headache.  It made me very sluggish.  And while Punky was eating lunch at the kitchen table and Chicken was eating his Goldfish, I laid my head on the table, face down on my arms and tried to rest.

Punky says, "Mommy!  Get up!"

I ignore her. She pats my arms.  "Get up, Mommy!  Time eat!" (time to eat)

I continue to ignore her just to see what she would do.

"Time eat, Mommy!  Time eat!"  She pats me again, this time a little harder.  "Time eat!" she says a little louder.

She gets quiet a second.  "Want spankin?" she asks with a low, warning tone in her voice.  I couldn't help it.  I died laughing and she laughed, holding her tummy.

"Punky so funny!" she says with a giggle.

At least now I know she understand consequences!

Half Naked Chicken

What a morning it's been...or should I say week?  Yesterday, when I should be basking in the enjoyment of finding a new house, getting ready for Chicken's first bday party this weekend, and just enjoying life, I get thrown for a loop with an intense headache and can barely function.  God must have been looking out for me because Hubby came home just as the kids and I woke up from a longer-than-usual afternoon nap.  He told me to go lay down and rest but by then my headache had eased up but I was left with that I'm-going-to-puke-if-someone-farts-crossways feeling that left me very unlike myself.  Hubby even said I wasn't acting like myself.  I guess it's just a pregnant thing.  And wouldn't you know that yesterday would be the very day that the kiddos decide to be the most demonic creatures ever to exist.

So this morning, I wake up with another headache, but it's lessened so far.  I still feel kinda hung over from yesterday but the kiddos are being better today.  But when I went in to get Chicken this is how I found him:

Anyone else thinking it's going to be another long day?  How he managed this, I'll never know. So far this morning he's pulled the wipe warmer on his head, Punky closed his fingers in the toy box, and he's learning how to walk so he has numerous other bumps and bruises that hurt.  And have I mentioned no teeth and he's almost a year old?  I never though I'd have a toothless baby!!!  Here's to just a normal day instead of another yesterday!

We found it!

Well, we found our dream house!  We got a killer deal on it (Like 20K less than listing price), it's brand new (as in new construction...still has plastic on the carpet!).  It's 2400 square feet, has a study, a dining room, 4 bedrooms with an isolated master (that sold me!), a double sided fireplace and a bar area.  It's soooo cute!  The best part about this is we don't have to do anything ourselves!  That was the bad thing about the house we found earlier that we wanted to renovate.  We would have spent all extra money into renovations.  with this one, we spent more on the total price, but we won't have to do a thing except add a couple of ceiling fans and buy a little more furniture (a little at a time).  The best part is there is farm land just behind the property line so we'll get to wake up to a beautiful view!  Thanks for all the prayers and crossed fingers (oh mommy, you crack me up).  Hope everyone has a great President's Day and a wonderful week!

To build or not to build...that is the question.

So tomorrow will mark another day of house searching.  I can tell our realtor is getting frustrated with us.  He has been the perfect realtor, but I can just tell.  He's an old friend of Hubby's from high school that Hubby hasn't seen in awhile. It's weird, but I just don't see the two of them as close as he said they used to be.  Our realtor is very laid back and calm where Hubby is the type to break out in song and dance at any given moment.  But I secretly love that about him.  It's one of the reason's I married him.  He's quite unpredictable when he's in a good mood.

I just got back from driving by the next SIX houses we're looking at.  All but two looked to be in really good areas and one was just a little run down.  I don't know, we'll see.  I just hope for our sake, us picky house-lookers will find something that strikes us as what we need.  I think Hubby is leaning more toward building right now which is the last thing I want to do, but it's looking like we're not going to have much of an option.  If tomorrow is a bust, we're going to have to go that route.  Which means two kids cramped into a small apartment and they probably wouldn't be done building until AFTER #3 is born.  Which means THREE kids cramped into a small apartment.  Two light sleepers is NOT a good thing in an apartment complex with others slamming doors, playing music too loud and all the other fun stuff that comes along with that.  I'm probably just being paranoid, but the thought just makes me want to puke.  There are some really nice affordable apartments here in town and thankfully, the kiddos wouldn't have to share a room even after the new baby because it will naturally stay in the room with us.  But again...I stress light sleepers.  Any one have any suggestions or noise machines they'd like to donate?  :o)

So anyway, say a prayer for us that we can find something.  Building would help us save a lot of money during the interim, but the emotional stress wouldn't be worth it necessarily.  Maybe we'd get lucky and have great neighbors but anyone who knows me knows that Murphy and I have a very intimate relationship.  

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

I've been tagged...

In the land of bloggery, I'm not sure I know exactly what "Being tagged" means, only that I'm supposed to do what the person told me to do.  So this is Jennifer's fault.  ;o)  Here are the rules:

1. Link back to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Share six unimportant things about yourself.
4. Tag six random people at the end of your blog entry.
5. Let the tagged people know by leaving a comment on their blogs.

SIX UNIMPORTANT THINGS ABOUT MYSELF:


1) I have a phobia of throwing up. (Literally)

2) I must be organized at all times, but that doesn't mean neat.  Even in chaos, I can tell you exactly where everything is...well usually.

3) When said organization gets moved around by someone other than me (namely the Hubby), and it's not where I know it should be, I give up looking for it and start asking the perp.  It doesn't matter that now that I have kids my memory isn't what it used to be... :oD

4) My first five cars were a Chevy cavalier, a kia rio (which Hubby still drives), a Honda civic, a mustang gt convertible (*tears coming to my eyes*), and now a stinkin' Honda Odyssey mini-van (that's secretly growing on me). 

5) I'm addicted to email.  My kiddos don't like me leaving them to play by themselves so it serves me well that the computer is in their playroom.

6)  I wish I were more of a dare devil.  My mother instilled in me that everything would "hurt me" so I take very few chances.  It annoys Hubby.  But if I could get rid of #1, I might like amusement parks and feeling like my stomach is going to come out of my mouth.  :oD

I tag:  Angela, OhMommy, and Stephanie M  Cut me some slack, people.  I don't KNOW 6 people who have blogs.  :oD  This is, of course, completely optional!

And blessings will come down!

So we found a house this weekend!  YAAAAY!  We looked at about 7 or 8 houses (I lost track to be honest) and this house was the very last one we saw.  It needs a lot of upgrading and a more "homey" appearance, but it's all cosmetic.  It's going to be fun making it our own.

The one thing I hate about this area that I just can't get used to is, while almost every house I see is beautiful in its own way, they're all cookie cutter.  I love our house now, but I also would appreciate something with a little more character.  This house is cookie cutter on the outside, but VERY unique on the inside.  In fact, I've seen very few houses that appeal to me like this one.  It's very open in the dining room/kitchen/breakfast area/living room, only columns and half walls separating them.  The bedrooms do feel a little cramped,  but they weave around a curved hallway which is different.  The master bath is nice, too because it comes with all the things we're used to, like a jacuzzi, separate shower and double vanities.  Our realtor was making fun of us (it's an old high school friend of Hubby's) because we didn't like certain things about certain houses because it wasn't "new".  It's hard going from a house you built 4 years ago and everything still looks new to going to a house that is 11-15 years old and everything needs renovating.  Don't get me wrong, this house was the only one we were really interested in fixing up that had all the good stuff we were used to.  And we're so excited about it.  It's five miles from hubby's work, closer to our church and closer to Wally World, which are the three places any of us really go on a regular basis.  So not only are we going to COMPLETELY debt free (besides the house of course), we're going to be saving even more with gas prices and such.  Such a blessing from God!

And to update you on the kiddos, Chicken has decided he's ready to walk.  He loves to push around our cheap little office chair that has wheels.  He had it in the foyer when I went to get it from him and he didn't sit down when I took it away from him.  He watched me with a highly offended look on his face and decided to come after me!  He took two full steps before he realized what he was doing and sat down.  Then he looked at me as I jumped up and down squealing and searching desperately for the phone to call Hubby with a look that said, "I didn't mean for you to see that!"  He hasn't done it again yet, but I give him another month before he's taking off with out the slightest stumble.  It's so cute to watch them grow and I've been blessed in so many different ways with them, every single day.  

It irritates me when people are discouraging, especially since I'm a pessimist anyway, but even more so when they don't realize what they have.  As an outsider I see these people, mainly church people telling me that it's good that I'm having all my kids at once because that way I can just be miserable for the first few years instead of a little at a time.  (That was when I was pregnant with Chicken.)  This go around, the most hated expression is, "You do know what causes that, right?"  My response is to usually laugh it off, but more often that not, I'm sitting there thinking, "Do you think you're the first one that's asked me that?"  It's, quite frankly, embarrassing to have them so close, just because I feel like it makes us look irresponsible, but I can assure you, I've realized that God has bigger plans for us.  And I'm ok with that.  I might not be ok with 12 or 15 kids, but I can manage 3.  I might be outnumbered, but I'm bigger than them, right?

Every day, even on the bad days, I look at them and thank God.  Most days tears even come to my eyes because I realize how close I came to giving up and adopting.  I know I would love an adopted child just the same, but to experience pregnancy and birth and see my own eyes looking back at me, I can't do anything but realize the miracle in it all.  How anyone can be discouraging about it is even beyond me, The Pessimist.

And seeing my little boy take his first steps was a sweet little "miracle."  That they can go from such a helpless little being to walking in 11 months is amazing.  He's growing up too fast!

Sold!!!

Sucka!  I'm keeping my curtains, the table, and the lawn mower.  And she accepted full price, us paying half closing.  WOOHOO!  Closing date 3/21!  

Too good not to post

Ok, so we got a second offer on the house this morning.  It's too good (and funny) to not post right away.

Remember, the first offer, which is still in limbo due to stupid VA financing, was full price of 159,900 and for us to pay all of closing.  We also are volunteering to leave blinds, washer and dryer, and our refrigerator, which is listed in mls.  We countered to these people and they verbally agreed to everything else, as long as they get the financing going.  As soon as that happens, it appears we will more than likely have a contract with them...if this second offer doesn't work out (and I'm thinking it probably won't.)

Keep in mind this is a single woman buying her first home.  I'll give her that much that she doesn't know how this game is played.  Her realtor should have clued her in a little, however.  I'll just post it exactly as it was emailed me this morning:

• Purchase Price: 155,000 (if my math is correct that's almost 5 g's below our price)
• Closing Cost paid by seller (yet another $4200 we have to let go putting us at almost and extra $10,000)
• Closing date 3/21 (well, that's something I guess)
• 1 year home warranty (pretty common so that'll do)
• Other contingencies:
  

1. Refrigerator to remain (got it)
2. washer/dryer to remain (yup)
3. ceiling fans and lights to remain (it gets better)
4. window blinds and TREATMENTS to remain (she wants my freakin curtains?)
5. Shelving in garage to remain (well, yeah, it's kinda stuck to the wall so it's gonna stay)
6. breakfast room table and chairs to remain (What the?  Does she not realize she has to buy something for this new house of hers?)
7. Riding lawn to remain (now, since this is a piece of junk, I'm ok with leaving it, she'd probably never get it to work anyway.  Hubby is always working on the thing, and he's managed to keep it alive for this long, but it would be satisfying to leave it for her, if nothing else just for grins because she did, after all, ask for it.)
   

Needless to say, we countered with the same counter we gave the other guys.  Full price offer, half of closing and all the appliances we're leaving.

This girl came by three times with her parents.  That tells me she REALLY wants this place.  If she does, she's going to have to pay up.  I'll wait until April if I have to if it means the other offer goes through ok.  

If she can't afford curtains for the place, doesn't that mean she should probably be looking for something a little less?  Well, I'll be generous and say it's just my immaculate decorating she likes.  But get your own freakin' curtains...AND table and chairs.  You can't have mine.

General update

Is there such a thing as peace and quiet?  I know I used to know but now I don't.  A friend of mine and I had started doing "baby swaps" where we take each other kids once a week.  This lasted for three weeks and then she found out she was pregnant with #2.  Congrats to her!  We were going to keep going strong until her #1 decided to come down with a bad case of separation anxiety.  Now he refuses to stay with me.  So I owe her two weeks of keeping him before I can resume my few hours of peace a week.  She was horribly sick with #1, so I pray she won't be with this one, either.  I'm so happy for her!  There is five of us pregnant at our church right now, all between 6 and 15 weeks.

As for this pregnancy, I'm finally feeling somewhat human again.  The nausea is only occasional now and I feel like my energy is working at about 60%.  Better than the 2% it was at a few weeks ago!  I'm feeling the baby move some already.  I'll be 16 weeks on Thursday and I'm already ready for it to be here.  But mostly, I'm ready to find out what it is.  I'm going to need a few months to adjust if we're having another boy!  But since i feel like this is a girl, I'm really hoping it is.  i'd really like the opportunity to give Punky a sister.  I feel like every little girl needs one!  I sure wish I had one!

On the down side, Punky has developed a fever and isn't feeling too good today.  I thought maybe it was her ears, so I took her to the doc today.  It's just a fever virus for now, thankfully no puking.  Although Chicken threw up a little earlier today.  It was more like spit up, but he hasn't done that in weeks, so I figure its just him getting sick, too.  I really hope I don't get it.  I'm tired of feeling bad!

Chicken is now standing on his own.  I caught him today standing up by himself and when I looked over at him, he just grinned like I had caught him red-handed in the cookie jar.  It was so cute.  I know it's only a matter of time before he takes those first steps.  He's certainly not as shy as Punky was.  She didn't walk until 13 months...average by any kid, but she could have done it by 11 if she hadn't been such a chicken.  Chicken still won't walk while you hold his hands very much, but I can tell he's got an adventurous side that's just waiting for the right moment to rear its head...most likely when I least expect it.  I'll probably look up and he'll be running around with Punky in just a few weeks.  Thank goodness though he will be walking before #3 is born!

Oh, and we're STILL WAITING about the house.  It's been a week now!  Thankfully, we're still getting lots of showing.  Six showings in 8 days!

Waiting still!

Can you believe we're STILL waiting?  Our realtor told us that they verbally agreed to our offer, but they have to make sure their VA loan can go through for the time frame we set for them.  So, if anyone gets their butt in gear and decides to give us an answer, we'll probably have an official contract.  But I'm telling you, I'm praying that we have another offer soon (we're still getting plenty of showings though) and we can forget this stupid dance we're doing.  I've discovered through all this that VA loans apparently aren't worth the hassle!!!

Still Waiting...

...to hear back from our counter offer.  I will post as soon as we know something.  Should be today or tomorrow.