A New Look

So I decided to get one of those new mom cuts that most tend to hate. I have always kept my hair somewhat short just because of how thin my hair is. I am always having to wash my hair daily because of the way it looks. It seems to get really oily and stringy. I hate it. Well, with two kids, it has been very hard for me to keep up with doing a lot to my hair every day. So I did it. I got a new look.

I decided about 5 mins before my appointment that I wanted to get a body perm. I was worried it wouldn't turn out well, and I would hate it. I'm always like this though with new things no matter what they are. During the whole process I was worried that something would go wrong, and my hair would look horrible after it was all said and done.

After they finished with the perm, they went in to cut it. I got the cut that I wanted even if I didn't get the perm. But when they were done cutting, my hair was totally flat! I asked what happened to the perm they had just put in. I was informed that because they combed it to cut it, it made it flat. I was told that when they wet it down again, it would curl right up. Sure enough it did.

It's been a week since I got my new look, and I have to say that I totally LOVE it. I don't have to wash it every day anymore, and it still looks great after three days.

Third Time's a Charm?

Today we embarked on our last trek to the hospital for Genevieve's third and final surgery. We overslept, but by shear luck, we made it to the hospital on time. It was an early morning starting at 4:15 am when I realized that I felt like I had been sleeping too long. Sure enough the alarm didn't go off, and we were already 15 mins behind where we wanted to be.

We made it to the hospital before Outpatient Surgery opened, and we were first in line to go. Genevieve was scheduled number 1 this morning, so we didn't have to get there a whole 2 hours ahead of time like you normally do. We only had to be there for an hour before. We got all the paperwork done, got back to holding, and went through the same conversation with about 5 different doctors. About 7:15 the surgery nurse came back and we all went down the hall.

We were lucky because that nurse was the same nurse who was there for the first surgery. Genevieve likes men, and that helped. It also helped that there was a Sponge Bob on his hat :p She did great heading to surgery and waved and said bye bye to us as she rounded the corner.

Surgery didn't last that long. She was only in for Deflux on one side this time. I think we were called back at about 7:40 to go visit with the doctor after surgery. He informed us that all had went well, and we would need to come back for an ultrasound in a month or so. We talked about our pending move, and he did tell me he had an office close to where we were headed. I told him it may take several weeks to get a new doctor for her and to get a referral going, but we'd get there. He then let me know to just call his nurse, and he'd do it without it and not charge us for it. I am so thankful to him for this, and I am blessed that he is willing to do that for us.

We were then called back to recovery. Her Lovey was laying beside her, sippy cup in her mouth, and she was hugging the glove turned balloon. She was pretty out of it, but was doing good. She was then admitted to Step Down about 30 mins later. By that time she was fully awake and doing great. The nurse there just filled out the discharge paperwork and sent us home. We were in the hospital for a total of 3 1/2 hours. Not too bad.

Anyway, we are all home and doing well. Mom and Dad are very tired, but we are all fine. Thank you to everyone who has followed this story and thought and prayed for us over the past 2 years. It really means a lot to us.

An Update on the Clutter

So I said I'd do it, and I have. I have gone through all my clothes, and I got rid of about 8 trash bags full of clothes. I still would like to get rid of about 2 or 3 more bags, but I think 8 is a good start. I was going to take a picture of the back of my van FULL of bags, but I didn't. My husband was running me out the door to get all the clothes gone.

I did have a "freak out" when I was going through my clothes. We have decided that we are not going to try for any more children in the near future. We are happy with our family the way it is, and we aren't ready to have another due to the shear numbers and money. Kids tend to get more expensive as they get older, and we want to make sure we can provide for the two we have before having another. So when going through the clothes, I thought it would be a good time to get rid of my maternity clothes. I started to freak thinking that as soon as they were gone, I'd find out I was pregnant. I called him back and made him tell me it was okay to get rid of them. FYI, they did go with the rest of the clothes to the thrift store.

Please Murphy's Law don't come knockin' on my door!

A Nice Surprise

I was out of town last week. I went up to visit home to get my hair cut and dogs groomed. My sister is getting married in a couple of weeks, and I wanted to make sure that new cut look that doesn't look good on me was out of the way. I was gone over Valentine's Day, but it wasn't a big deal. We don't usually do much of anything. My husband use to say something like he doesn't like to take part in holidays where you are made to feel bad if you don't buy something for the other. The first few years we were together, it disappointed me, but over the years I have learned that it isn't so bad. With him doing nothing, it means I'm off the hook too. There have been years that I have done something small but thoughtful, but most years we just say, "Oh yeah. Happy Valentines Day."

On Feb 14, I called my husband to let him know the information for Genevieve's "school." They have web cams in the rooms. You can log on and watch them while they are in the rooms and on the playground. It was really neat to watch her interact with others while I was not around. She really does good with others despite my fears.

Anyway, I called to give him the info. After we talked for a few mins, he said, "Oh, it's Valentines Day. I thought that is why you were calling." I had totally forgot about it being the day of love. I really only saw it as a day that I had a few things to get done before heading home the next day.

I headed home on Friday and walked in o a nice surprise. On the table was the flowers pictured above. There was a very thoughtful note attached to it as well. I guess sometimes your husband can surprise you after almost 8 years.

Internet Sites to Check Out

I don't usually write too many reviews on places I have been on the net and things I have purchased. However, there are two sites that I just have to tell you about. The first site belongs to a friend of mine. She is starting a new work at home business called A Family Affair. She does everything herself (and her husband helps out too). She is such a great young woman, and I have really enjoyed getting to know her over the years. I have seen her work in person, and it is totally adorable.

The next site I am going to tell you about is called Leslie's Boutique. I found this site through a friend online. She was having specials on her Fuzzi Bunz (cloth diapers) to make way for the new style that was coming out. I was instructed to email her about the diapers, and she let me know she had already sold out. She did make me a very good deal on some new diapers. I talked with her through email about my son, his size, and what I liked about certain diapers. She then let me order right there. Her customer service is wonderful. She has all kinds of products (not just diapers), and she did wonderful at getting me my items in a very timely manner. If you are wanting diapers, she is very good about putting package deals together just for you. You just have to email her, and she will let you know what she can do.

There is my advertisement for the day :) I just had to share for those that might want to check them out.

Seven Weird Things (meme post)

So my cousin Mandi tagged me for a "meme." In this one, you have to tell seven weird things about yourself. I’m going to give it a shot. I wonder if I can find seven. Maybe the question to myself should be can I only write about seven?

1) I have a degree in Technical Theatre. My emphasis is in Hair and Make-up Design. I won a few awards from designs I did, and I really love doing it. I have taken classes, done internships, and I was even in a Playbill during my time in Chicago. I have spent hours on just one wig. I can take a wig that should be thrown away, and I can transform it into a wig that is styled and beautiful. I have done so many make-up designs and applied it to others, that I could probably do age lines and tattoo cover-up in my sleep. I have done anything from very natural in today’s time to fantasy looks that were airbrushed on.

Why is this so weird? Well if you saw me, you’d know why. I have done it so much that I don’t like to do it on myself. If I put on make-up, I have to do it full blown. This doesn’t mean I do my make-up to look like Mimi Bobeck on Drew Carry, but I want to put it all on. I notice small things that no one would. I can tell if my eyeliner is not even, smudged, or not in the right place. I can tell when my lipstick starts to fade in one area but not another. So I choose not to wear it half the time. It’s not that I can’t do it, it’s that I don’t. It drives my husband crazy, and I totally get it.

2) I have no desire to have a “career.” I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up, and the idea of having a regular 9 to 5 job makes me crazy. I have had jobs in the past that I have really enjoyed, and I would do them again. However, these jobs are not something that I have a desire to do every day for the rest of my life. I am perfectly happy finding odd jobs to do as we move. I have done things like working in a nursing home (several actually), working wait staff at a dinner theatre, typing up wills and probates, and being a teacher’s aid. Some of these have been very rewarding. Would I want to do them forever? No.

3) I work much better when I’m talking on the phone. Example: I hate dishes, laundry, and just overall cleaning. As you can tell from one of my other posts, I am trying to get rid of clutter in my home and life. I dread having to do chores every day. I have tried many things to make it “fun,” but none of those have helped. If it weren’t for my husband, I probably would not be as neat as I am (which isn’t that great right now). I think that de-cluttering will totally help me on this though.

Anyway, I hate all these things, but I find they are much better, and they go much quicker if I just talk to someone on the phone. My friend Hope is my dishes buddy. Sometimes I do them when I am chatting with Lacy too. It all depends on the day and who calls or who I call. Why does it help? No idea, but hey, whatever works right!?

4) I can’t believe I’m going to admit this, but it is asking for WEIRD things. I actually like the smell of skunks. I see one dead on the side of the road, and it doesn’t make me cringe like most people. I have been this way with a lot of smells even since I was little. I remember a book I had that had scratch and sniff stickers in it. There was one of a pickle that I’m sure many wouldn’t care for. It was my favorite over the bubble gum, strawberry, and others they had.

5) Some may say this is weird and others not. My husband can’t say anything about this one because he is the same way. I have issues with living anywhere for a long time. When we first got married, we seemed to move every year. After the 3rd year, we didn’t move. We started to feel really antsy and couldn’t understand why. We realized it had been a year and a half since we moved. It was at that time we started to look for a home to buy. That in itself is weird since we didn’t like to stay in one place too long. We have lived in our current home for almost 3 years now. You can imagine how antsy we are. It actually hasn’t been too bad staying put, but I am defiantly ready to move on.

6) I talk to myself. This in itself isn’t that weird, but I will have entire conversations with myself. Sometimes when I am mad at my husband, I will argue with myself and pretend like I’m arguing with him. It usually makes life much better for both of us. I usually work things out with “my husband” before I even see him again.

7) I watch House Hunters, and I actually think about where my stuff would go. I think about what colors I would paint the walls, and what upgrades I’d like to make.

I’m not going to tag anyone because I don’t really have anyone else to tag. However, if you would like to just take this meme and use it, feel free.

Time For a Change

So, It was time for a change. With the whole start to the new, non-cluttered me, I wanted to change the 'ol blog. Not that the last one looked cluttered or that I didn't like it, I just thought why not. So, what have I done you ask to start on my task of becoming more organized? Well, not a lot :p

I have started going through my clothes. I have TONS of clothes. I just can't seem to get rid of any. Most of them I remember what I bought them for, I think I will fit into them again, or just can't part with them. It's a very bad cycle. I am going through things as they come out of the laundry, but I'm guessing that isn't the best place to start (seeing how I wore them recently so I still use them). There isn't a lot that I toss from the laundry. My goal for clothing...To just take with me things I can pack in my suitcase. I want to get rid of about 80% to 90% of the things I currently have. For those of you that know me personally, you will know how hard this might be for me.

I honestly think that life will be much easier on me if I can do this. I won't have the extra around, I won't need the space to store the clothes, and most importantly, I won't have to wash them :) I hate laundry! Wouldn't it be nice to not have so many clothes to wash? So, since I'm suppose to be accountable to you guys here, I will make my first goal. I hope to have my clothes gone through and packed up ready to leave the house within the next week. You say this is a really long time, but I am leaving town for 4 or 5 days, so it really isn't that much time. Keep your fingers crossed for me :)

My Kid's New "Tricks"

So, My kids have been doing some new things. Samuel has decided that he can roll over now. We were at the doctor's office, and they were testing his "skills." They checked his leg strength by standing him up and holding on to him. Then they put him on his stomach to see his head strength. The doctor then asked if he had started to roll over. I chuckled and said no. He's only 6 weeks old. As we were talking, what did Samuel do? He rolled over! He's already making a liar out of me :) Here is a video of him rolling over that night. Rolling Over

Yesterday I was using the video function on our new digital camera again. I wanted to get some of Genevieve on video. I did, and got the video below. She has an issue with saying her name, and she seems to always call herself "Debbie." You will notice in the video she is getting better. She was saying, "Debbie-vieve." I hope you enjoy :) Cheese

What I'm "Giving Up" For Lent

So when watching Oprah today, I saw that Peter Walsh was on. I love watching him on TLC's Clean Sweep. Have you seen that show? If not this is kind of how it goes. The crew shows up and shows a home with TONS of clutter. They clean out two rooms totally and put the stuff on a mat in their yard. That is when the fun begins.

After they have the stuff out of the room they give them about 30 mins to divide the things into three groups (Keep, Get Rid Of, and Trash). Nine out of ten times they don't get rid of a lot, and the host always says something about having to deal with Peter.

They are right too. When he comes out, he pushes the couple to really look at why they want the stuff. Most of the time it is because they say it is important to them. One of the things that has stuck with me is his response to this. He says if it is that important then you need to treat it as such. It should be in a place of honor in your home. It should also not be covered in dust, dirt, in a box, etc. The main thing he has said that sticks with me is..."Is it the thing that is important or the memory it brings?" You don't have to have the thing to keep the memory, and you shouldn't feel bad for getting rid of it. If it is something that has been in the family for a long time, he says to ask if others want it. If they don't, find another home for it.

Anyway, I didn't catch all of Oprah today, but I do know the gist of it. He was working with a family that wanted to get healthy. Their house was cluttered. He went through and helped them to de-clutter, organize, and taught them how having a cluttered home made them unhealthy.

I wish I could have seen the whole thing. Heck I wish I could have the same thing done at my home. I have talked once (or maybe twice) about how I am horrible with organization, clutter, etc. They say children mimic their parents, and I don't want my kids to live in clutter and just stuff. Peter talked about today to just start in one room. Really go through it and purge. He says that you should start with the kitchen and the master bedroom. He says that the bedroom drives the people and the kitchen is the source of health. Maybe I will take his advice.

Now I know it is after the start of lent, but I think this year I am going to not "give up" something, yet give myself a gift. This gift will be hard for me. I am attached to stuff. I love my stuff. I see stuff and I don't know how I will live without it or get by without it (even if it is still in the box and has never been used). So, you can keep me accountable, but this year for lent, I'm going to purge my kitchen and bedroom. I am moving in a month, so now is a great time. Keep coming back to see if I can make it or not. :)

Maybe This Time

So, I have sat down three times in the last two days to write out a blog. Life has been crazy, and we have been running like mad. In fact, since Friday I have had to fill up my van 3 times now. I have been to OKC and back, Yukon and back three times, and to OKC and back again. It's made for a lot of time on the road, very few bathroom breaks, and a good chunk of money out of our account due to the gas prices.

One might ask why so many trips. There really is no simple answer. We have had to get my husband a suit for my sister's wedding, a urologist appointment, and visits to the kid's doctor are just a few of the things. I talked about our appointments on Friday in my last blog.

On Monday I woke up and noticed that Samuel was sounding worse. I called in, and the nurse there told me we could bring him in, but there was a long wait. She also informed me that there were a lot of people with the flu in that day. We decided it would be best not to expose either of them to the flu and wait until his scheduled Well Baby check up yesterday. That appointment determined that Genevieve would not have surgery due to still being congested, and that Samuel had RSV. We were given meds, a nebulizer, and sent home (he has a great O2 sat, and he has no fever).

I wonder how many of us think about how busy we are. Sometimes I wonder what I would do if I had nothing at all to even think about. The other night a really bad storm came through at about 3 am. I was woken up by the loud thunder. I also thought that I heard the tornado alarm, but after checking out the TV, I realized it was just a really bad storm.

About that time Samuel woke up too. I picked him up and came out to the living room to nurse him. As I was nursing him it hit me...I am someone's mom. Not only am I one someone's mom, but I am a mom to two. Now maybe it was the time of the night and that I was out of it, but I did a lot of thinking. I wondered how I had all of a sudden become a mom. Now I have been a mom for over 2 years now, so it didn't JUST happen. And before I get comments on how I became a mom, I do know where babies come from. In that moment it just felt like there had been a time jump in my life. You know, the kind of jumps that happen in movies. The movie is going on, and all of a sudden they take you to the here and now. You thought you were in that time to start off with, but you realize they were just thinking back. That was how I felt at that time. I felt like my life was going along, and all of a sudden there was a time jump like I was just thinking back.

Maybe I'm the only one who has had a mini freak out like that. I guess sometimes it is hard for me to believe that I'm actually grown, married, and have kids. I am going to blame how fast life has seemed to be going by recently. Funny how when we are kids it seems like it takes forever for our birthday and holidays, but as you get older, they come faster and faster every year. I wonder if it is just because we don't look forward to them as much as we did as kids, or if it is something else. This whole experience the other night made me realize that I need to slow down more (if that is even possible) and take things in.

All of this reminds me of a song on one of my favorite CDs. I love this CD because of when I first heard it in my life. The CD is THE CALL by Anointed. When my Mom had just finished cancer treatment, my cousin came and stayed with us. We stayed up late, made stupid movies, and all the fun things that kids in their teens do. This CD was her's, and I use to listen to it a lot. When I went to church camp, she let me take it with me. She took it home at the end of the summer, but the songs on that CD stayed with me enough that I had to get it myself. I pull it out often and listen to it. I don't know if it is because of what it reminds me of, or if it is the fact that every time I listen to it something speaks to me.

One of the songs called GOTTA LOVE IT talks about how we need to remember that life here is a gift. Everything in our way and our trials and troubles can make us long for heaven. What we have to remember is that we are living in God's gift, and we should take time to enjoy the time we have here. I guess when I heard the song I realized how busy I have been and how I should slow down a bit. I should take some time to enjoy my life here on Earth. If you have time to check out the CD, you totally should. Like I said, it probably just means a lot to me because of when I first heard it, but I have to say I keep that one in my CD player almost all the time. I'm going to challenge myself to take time, slow down, and enjoy life more. The laundry can wait a day (or forever :p ).

Saturday Morning Post

If you know me in person, or you know me well, you know I don't usually get up very early. I have worked to "train" my kids to sleep in as well. Samuel not so much yet, but I have done good with Genevieve. All this to say, YES, the time on the post is right. I am writing this at 9:21 am to be exact. To some this may not seem early, but I have already been up, taken care of a few morning things to do, and surfed the net for about 45 mins. So for me...a big feat.

Anyway, I did not post the last couple of days because life in our house has been crazy. First it started on Wednesday night. Our bulb in our TV broke. I had called the day before to get one sent to us, and I declined overnight shipping because it was 40 dollars. The standard shipping was free. So, here we sit with no TV (well we have a small one in our room). It isn't a huge deal to me, but in the instant it happened I was scared to call my husband. I was very surprised to hear him say, "No big deal." I had informed him that I had just called the company again to see if they could change my shipping, but they could not because it had already been processed. I was relieved until he called back about an hour later. He then informed me that the Super Bowl was this weekend, and how we wouldn't have the TV for it. Needless to say it has been several days, and we are still alive. I don't know if I will get out of the dog house for not having the glorious 52 inch DLP HDTV up and going for the Super Bowl, but he needs to get out and buy a suit anyway :p

Thursday brought us snow, horrible wind, and a doctor's appointment. I had my 6 week check up after having Samuel. Everything looked good, I got an IUD, and found out I only have 4 pounds to loose before I am back to my pre-pregnancy weight. That is good news for me because I had spent about 2 months before getting pregnant trying to loose weight. I lost quite a bit, but of course put it back on in the last 9 months. So, for me it is back on the exercise equipment that we have here at the house, and back to Weight Watchers in a couple of months. I should start now, but I am going to wait until we get settled from our move to take that on too.

Yesterday was a long day. I felt like I worked 2 full time jobs. I was up by 7 (again as you know above, I'm not an early riser). I got ready, got Samuel ready, and then went on to coax Genevieve out of bed (again above with "training" her to sleep in). We finally got out the door at 9:15, and headed to the local Sonic for a drink before heading off to her appointment. We arrived at that appointment with about 20 mins to spare. I tried to leave extra early. They have valet parking and though that is suppose to make like easier, for me, it doesn't always...this being one of them.

For valet parking, I always feel like I should get out of my car, toss the keys to the guy parking it, and leave as quickly as possible. It seems like people are impatient to wait for you to get your child out of the car. I can feel them staring at me and thumping their fingers on their steering wheels watching the crazy mom get out of her van to load up kids. It wouldn't be so bad, but I have two kids in car seats, and they both need to get into the stroller, and then up on the curb and in the building. The area for the valet parking isn't that big either. I always feel in a rush, and I hate that feeling more than anything.

Anyway, I loaded both kids up in my new double stroller, and headed to the office. We had fun playing peek-a-boo with the fish and playing with the toys until the doctor called us back. Genevieve still has stage 2 to 3 reflux on one side. The other side is totally healed. The doctor informed me of the options. We could do Deflux (the surgery she has had twice) one more time, we could do open surgery (it involves cutting the bladder open and moving that tube further into the bladder), or just dismiss her. All include their risks. If we just let it go, she could have major issues if she were to get an infection and it hadn't work itself out. She would at that point have to have the open surgery. If this happened later in her life, it could cause serious issues to her kidneys and bladder. If she were pregnant (weird to think of your 2 year old being pregnant), it would cause even more issues and be harmful to her but also her unborn baby. If we choose the open surgery they will do as I described above.

My husband and I are oppose to the open surgery. There are a lot of side effects when recovering, and if we can avoid it at all costs, we will. They said from that surgery there will be bladder spasms for up to a year, painful recovery, and she would be in the hospital for at least 3 nights. So, that brought my choice down to the two. When you look at the risks of not doing anything, it just made sense to go ahead and schedule her for her 3rd round of Deflux. The doctor also informed me that you can only do 3 rounds, and in his hundreds of Deflux surgeries he has NEVER had to do Deflux 3 times. So, this will be her 3rd and final Deflux surgery. That means after this is done, they will do an ultrasound to check for obstruction, and they will release her. (Clinically there is a 100% success rate with the 3rd round). She is scheduled for next week.

After that appointment I took both kids to the doctor's office. Genevieve has been feeling icky. She has a runny nose, and started to cough recently. When I was getting ready yesterday morning, I noticed that Samuel was doing the same. With him being only 6 weeks, I really worried about it. Both went in, and both came out with meds to take. Genevieve has another ear infection and is congested. Samuel was coughing and the doctor wanted to put him on meds because of how much he is around Genevieve. So, that's what we did.

By 5:00 pm I finally had made it home. The two kids were now sleeping in the back of the van. I unloaded everything but them, and I went back to pick up their meds. In the time I was gone I had time to feed the kids, change their diapers, make sure they were entertained, and to keep them mostly happy. In that same time, I had time to eat 1/2 a burger, drink a coke, and run like crazy. I did not however find time to use the bathroom until I had put Genevieve in the tub at 6:45. I am glad I'm not pregnant still, or that would never fly. When talking with my friend, I told her I felt like I just got home from my full time job. She then said, "Em, you are a stay at home mom with TWO kids. That IS a full time job." I guess she is right, but at least on a normal day I get a bathroom break every now and then.

As busy as it sounds, and as much as I feel I might be complaining, it was nice to be out and about. Again since we have no TV in our living room, no cartoons. We don't spend a lot of time a day watching TV, but I'm glad that we have been busy so we don't think about it.

Wow, and now I look at the time (10:00) and I realize Genevieve is STILL in bed. I'm off to start the day with her, and I'm praying my babies feel better soon.