The Christmas Stories

We have finished 3 of the 5 Christmas festivities that we have on the agenda this year and we feel like we have been through the ringer. It is so joyous to spend time with family and friends and eat lots of good food. But when my head hits my pillow at night I don't remember much after that. For someone who has little to no energy anyway it has flat worn me out! But I am still going! This is a photographic summary of the fun times we have had so far...

First, it was Christmas with my extended family and Triston liked to put all the bows on his face. Unfortunately, a tradition that my brother passed on to him.

Then, there was Christmas with Daniel's extended family. He got a cool new Webkinz animal, Crazy T. And we enjoyed playing the Wii and ping pong and just haning out until we dropped!

And, of course, I am sportin' the 30 week pregnant belly!!

This was Christmas morning before Tris had realized that Santa came...

and this was after he realized that Santa came!!!

And here we are after all the madness of Christmas morning! Can't wait until next year when it is double the madness. So, we still have more to go with my mom's tonight. Then we get a little bit of a break and we have Christmas with Daniel's mom and dad on New Year's Eve! Until then you will find me sleeping a lot!!!

Who is in Control?

Well, after all my huffing and puffing, I am happy to say that UPS/Gamestop have put me in my place. If you recall from a previous posting that UPS dropped off a package of Triston's Christmas presents and our dog chewed it all up. Well, as I lost my cool on the UPS customer service man as he informed me that we would not have these items replaced by Christmas I wondered if God had his own intentions for this happening. Well, indeed He did. I came home Tuesday from work and there was a box on the front porch. I thought someone had sent us something from Christmas. I was wrong though. It was Gamestop replacing our presents for Tris and two days before Christmas at that. I had to pick my jaw up off the floor. Why do I doubt that God is in control of things??
I must say though, the UPS delivery man did not learn from his mistake as the box was sitting right there on the front porch in reach of the same dog that chewed it up the first time; it was not between the screen door and front door or up high out of his reach. Come on people use your brain!!! Anyway, we got the presents back in time for Tris to have them for Christmas, praise the Lord!!!

My New Toy!!

I am so, super pumped!! Daniel and I got a couple of gift cards to get ourselves something for Christmas. We had quite a time trying to figure out what to buy. We thought maybe we should buy a new computer chair or a new mailbox or just some odds and ins. But then it dawned on us...we are using a digital camera that is from the 1980's. We need a new camera!! Our first attempt failed miserably as they were completely out of all of their stock. So, we traveled to yet another store and we were much luckier there! We found ourselves a nice digital camera. And this one is made in the new millennium! Lord knows we are going to be taking some pictures come about March so, I am just thrilled that we decided to do this. I can't wait to discover all the features of my new toy!! Thanks to those who enabled us to purchase this!!

My Two Worst Enemies

So, last night it was routine as usual, so I thought anyway. I got off work and drove to pick up Triston from after-school care. After I picked him, we headed home to make dinner from some friends who just had twins. Luckily, I had it cooking in the crock pot all day! So, I pulled in the driveway and what to my wondering eyes did I see...a bunch of crap chewed up in the yard. It was quite dark so it took me a minute to figure out what was scattered all over the yard. Once I realized I freaked!

We had done some ordering of Christmas presents online and were expecting them anyday. Well, today was the day. Apparently, the UPS delivery man laid both boxes on our front porch right by the dog and his bed. No big deal, right? Wrong! The dog decided he wanted to know what was in those boxes and proceeded to rip one of them open. Once he got in he had realized he hit the mother load and began chewing away. He chewed one electronic piece all the way down to the wire. He chewed a disc out of it case and had the disc laying in the yard.

Am I kidding? No, I'm not. I was livid. I could feel my blood pressure rise. I had to tell Triston to stay in the car or he was going to see what had happened and therefore, see his Christmas presents. That would have led to him figuring out another, quite large, Christmas present. I was devastated and determined for him to have those presents next week. I called UPS to complain. I mean we have a screen door he very easliy could have put those boxes between the doors. Anyway, they have to file a claim and blah, blah, blah and now we are two Christmas presents short.

So, I would like to thank the UPS delivery man and my dog for making my evening so very interesting.

Deck the Halls

Last night we decorated our tree. I know it is late but better late than never! Triston was really excited because his ornament he made at school was the first one to go on the tree. He was so proud. He did a good job helping out when we could keep him focused. What can I say, he is a 7 year old boy he would have rather been playing football. So, here we are decorating our Christmas tree...

Drum Roll Please

I spoke with my doctor's nurse yesterday to get the results of my glucose tolerance test and the results from my second ultrasound a couple of weeks ago. Talk about suspenseful!! So, the results go a little something like this: The glucose test was out of four readings I had one high reading. The second hour after drinking the sugary drink my blood sugar was 156. That is a little high. After three hours my blood sugar was 121. That level is okay. So, because I only have one high reading I am "okay". I do not have gestational diabetes. YAY!! I just need to watch the amount of sugar I intake (easy for them to say).
Then the results from my ultrasound were the same, sweet music to my ears! The aorta was there and functioning properly. Also, the radiologist was able to make sound measurements of her skull and they are normal as well! I am so thrilled that both of the tests turned out with not just good but fantastic results! So, now that I can stop stressing those things I will start to count down the days until Presley gets here! That would be twelve weeks and counting!! So, next is the Rhogam injection (for the different blood types) on Thursday. I am not, by the way, looking forward to that.

Deserving Win!!

Well, once again I am proud to write about a winning team!! The WHMS boys played across town rival PMS Thursday night and they were able to put another one in the victory column. I think these guys are really starting to learn how to play as a team and use each other's assets to win ball games. I saw some guys play better than I have seen them play all year. They all hustled their lil hearts out and that is what counts.

The breif synopsis goes like this: The panthers pulled out ahead early and we did not get our heads down. We started passing to our big guy under the basketball for some 2-pointers in the 1st quarter. He played exceptionally well and I think he liked being trusted to put some points on the board! Then we gained the lead and stuck with it for the rest of the game. After PMS (I just realized how funny that is!!!) started defending our big guy underneath a little tighter we pushed the ball out to one of the most aggressive players we have. He has been kind of timid all year but really came out of that Thursday night. He had a total of 18 points that night. After halftime, the panthers started kicking the ball out to their go to guy. #24 was an excellent 3-point shooter. And we had a hard time defending that. But thumbs up to the effort on defense outside the key! Those guys are little but they will defend anyone they must. All that to say the blue devils deserved this big win and they were all smiles afterwards, including their coach!!

I am excited about the game Monday night because we play the other team that we beat early in the season. I hope we can come out and show those boys what we are made of! Good luck guys and congrats Brian on that cheap birthday present for mom!!

Down the Drain...

Well, this morning was a big, huge, ginormous day and it all went down the toilet..literally! I had my appointment this morning for my glucose tolerance screening. This one takes three hours and you are required to drink double the amount of the nice sugary drink. Oh, and did I mention you can't eat from dinner time the previous night to the time you are done with the appointment?! So, I prepared myself mentally and physically for this appointment. And I prayed until I could not pray anymore that my blood sugar would be normal. Well, I guess God is not ready for us to know the answer to that yet. This is how the morning went...

1. Got to my appointment on time (Go me!!!)

2. Paid my monthly payment to my ob (She needs to have a Christmas, too!)

3. The lab technician called me back (Elizabeth O'Neil...I know it sounds so grown up and professional!

4. She explained to me that she was going to take my base line (assumingly that meant she is taking my blood before I put anything in my system.) So, she did! The first of so many little pricks!

5. She gave me my lovely drink (lovely, not so much...but I was so hungry and so thirsty I got it down pretty well!)

6. I finished my drink at 8:10. So, she explained to me that we will be taking blood at 9:10, 10:10, and 11:10. (Good thing I brought a good book.)

7. I went out to the waiting room to...well, wait!

8. 8:50 a.m. I felt it. It was the lovely drink telling me it wanted to come back up. It was bad enough going down, seriously?!

9. Off I went/ran to the bathroom to revisit the lovely drink.

10. I shamefully walked back into the lab to let her know that I no longer had the drink in my system.

11. My doctor then came in to give me my options...the first being that I can come back for yet another three hour appointment and take medication for nausea prior to and have someone drive me; then the second being that I have my finger pricked for my next three visits.

Well, I am thinking the latter of the two sounded better than my experience today. But she is the doc and advised we try this process one more time. So, I will do what she says and try this again. I have rescheduled my next glucose tolerance screening for Friday morning. Keeping all extremeties crossed that the medication helps and I can drink the drink and keep it down the whole three hours AND my blood sugar levels are right where they need to be!!! Until then, I am stuffing my face (with healthy foods of course!).

Back to the Real World

I so thoroughly enjoyed not having to roll out of bed at 5:30 A.M. the last four mornings that I did not mentally prepare myself for the big return. That is the return to the working world. Big sigh...it just isn't fair!!! I am so thankful that I am physically and mentally able to work but I wish that my money tree in my back yard would start growing so I did not have to work. I feel like I could get so much done if I could just be home all day! Oh by the way, I was home most days over my little holiday break and I got nothing done!! It sounds good though doesn't it?! So, I guess I will get over my pity-party and, oh yeah, get back to work! I also need to go check on my money tree and see if it is growing yet!!

It's Turkey Cookie Time!

I found what looked to be an easy recipe for sugar cookies decorated as turkeys. So, we decided to attempt this. Knowing the Betty Crocker that I am not...I was hopeful this would not be stressful or turn out terribly!! So here we are working on them...

And the finished product...

All things considered I think they turned out great. And FYI...they taste good too!!!

Bitter Sweet

I told my brother yesterday that if they won their game last night I would write another blog entry about them. Well, for the effort they put out to winning the game (I am sure it was just so I would write about them!) I will make an exception. They faced a team that they usually get "molly-whopped" (my new word) by. Their school is intense, their fans are intense, their coach is very intense, heck even their uniforms are intense! Our boys made the best effort I have seen all year. They did it all well for the most part. They got all emotional and worked up towards the end and just couldn't close it. It was such a close game and I am very proud of the way they played. Their effort just proves that we are closer and closer to pulling off a win in the near future! Go Blue Devils!!



Also, I went for my re-do ultrasound yesterday and the news, so far, was much better. The radiologist still has to read it but the tech was confident this one was better. She showed me her aorta so we know that is there!! She also said that the head was up a little higher this time and that should enable him to get better reads and measurements! Some other side notes of interest...it was incredibly awesome...we saw her yawning! We were looking at her face, which ow has soft tissue and looks so much more real, and she opened so wide to yawn and closed so gently. It was the most precious thing I have seen thus far. We have beautfiul pictures of her smiling and of her profile...I still think she has my nose! The tech told us that she now weighs one pound and twelve ounces! It is somewhat terrifying to know that I feel her this much now and she is that little...I just can't wait until she is six pounds and kicking me!!! I will do my best to get the new ultrasound pictures uploaded soon.

Finally...

Well, finally, I have the time, the energy and the news to write about!! I have several things to share actually. First thing is first...Triston had his football banquet last week and got a really cool trophy and athletic bag. He was very excited to see his football friends. We also had a doctor's appointment on Thursday. It was a fun, long one. It was for my gestational diabetes screening. Just so you I will explain the procedure. They give you a bottle of very sugary flavored (badly) water. You have 10 minutes to drink the drink then you wait for an hour. In the meantime, I had my 25 week check-up. I have officially gained 14 pounds. Yuck! That sounds like too much to me but the doctor is not phased so I won't be either. I got to hear Presley's heartbeat again today and it was pounding away at 153 times a minute. I am sure it was from that sugary drink she had just consumed!! So, the check-up concluded and everything appeared fine. Then I waited some more and finally went back to have blood drawn. They draw your blood to check your levels and make sure you are producing enough insulin to metabolize the sugar consumption. Then....you go home and yet again, WAIT. I heard back from the doctorthe next day and turns out my levels were too high. And now I have to go back for a three hour screening. This is where they give you twice the amount of the sugary drink and they take your blood every hour for three hours. Can you say pin cushion?! My nurse continued on (never a good sign) and informed me that I am anemic and I will have to start taking Iron supplements. I am not really excited about that. I also go back to the doctor today for my re-do ultrasound. We have our fingers crossed that they will find her aorta and she will have wonderful measurements on her skull. I am sure it will all be fine, after all, God is in control!!

Let's see, lastly, we had some fun yesterday. Daniel played in the Turkey Bowl at church. For thsoe that don't know, the Turkey Bowl is a flag football tournament with the small groups from our church. We also invite some guest out of church to play as an outreach project as well. We had a good turn out and Daniel's team did really well. They made it to the semi-finals and got beat (by the Pastor's team!). They all played well and I am sure will feel the effects of it today! As for me and Tris, I was bundled up in the car and he convinced Grandma to take him home early!!

24 weeks and counting

This week has been quite the uneventful week other than some exciting basketball games and the other same 'ol, same 'ol stuff! We did update our pregnancy shots this week though. My stomach has certainly gained in girth! The sad thing is I used to be able to stick my stomach out to look just like this before I was pregnant and look at me now!!! So, here are some shots of the "new look".

I also have had time to take some pictures of our bedding we got for Presley! She is going to sleep so well in her crib with her little lady bug friends!

We are hoping that the rain stays away for us to make it to the high school's football playoff game! Then tomorrow is a big day with Triston's football banquet. Oh, and I guess I shouldn't leave out Daniel's new toy...I can hardly contain my excitement!!

1-0 BABY!!! Undefeated...for now!

I am so happy to announce that my brother's basketball team, WHMS, is officially undefeated!! Ok, before the cheers get too out of hand they have only played one full game!! But let me just explain that his football team this year only won one game the whole season and his basketball team last year, well let's just say that this is a new year! So, we are so pumped that the basketball team is doing better so far.

Anyway, they played Rucker Stewart last night and boy was it an exciting one. Rucker led by one point at halftime. It was a very emotional game his boys really pulled together and just showed that they wanted it more than the other team. They had some miscues that is for sure. But they were able to put this game in the victory colomn with a 40-35 score.

I am really happy for the guys and Brian in that this puts a great outlook on the rest of the season. They needed to start the season off with some confidence. I will hopefully be able to pull off some pictures of some of the games but I was not prepared last night. I do know that they have one excellent cheerleader in the crowd, Triston said he was the reason that the other team missed one of their free throw shots!!! So, keep up the good work guys and get your hands up!!!!!!

Crack of dawn...

This morning Triston and Daniel got up at the "crack of dawn" to get to Knoxville for the UT vs. Wyoming game. Some of our good friends let us use their tickets for the game and we are soooo appreciative!! Unfortunately, our Vols could not pull out a victory for us but they still seem to have had a good time. Here are some pics of them...

Friday my dad went to eat lunch with Triston for Grandparent's luncheon and Triston informed my dad that he and his daddy were going to have to get up at the "crack of dawn" to get to the game today!!! They repeat everything they hear don't they!

Meanwhile, while I had the day to myself, mom and I went shopping. The current condition of my closet was not matching the current condition of my body! So, we fixed that today with some new options and I love them. We also did some "wishlisting" for Presley. We created our baby registry at Target today. That was very exciting and fun. We can't wait for her to be here to use all of these things though.

Top of the Sixth...

Well, I would say we have made it to second and waiting on the next pitch!!

With my baseball analogy I am talking about our little blessing on the way. We are over half way there and we are just waiting for the next big move. She is growing fast...as am I! That part is not so exciting! But I am dealing with it. We do have a big month in November. Presley has lots of appointments scheduled! (Oh, in case you didn't know we have decided on a name, Presley, and we are still tossing around the middle name) But we are scheduled with the doctor on the 20th for the diabetes screening. I hear that is a yummy drink to swallow!! We are praying that goes well. Then on the 24th, we have our second/re-do ultrasound scheduled. Presley's Nana will be joining us for that one!!! We are hoping for better results this time. Hopefully, she is positioned in a way that will allow them to measure her skull and see her aorta this time. She is my daughter we do expect her to be somewhat difficult!!! She is a very active little lady. Always kicking and squirming! That seems to be all the latest with her anyway...and that is plenty for 'ol Mom and Dad to handle trust me!!! We will do our best to keep everyone updated.

Got Him!!!!

Tag team!!! That is right with the help of Triston's mom we teamed up on him and got some pics from Halloween. Well, looky there, we did have a Halloween after all! And a scary one at that. This was the first year for the whole scary thing so it was difficult for me to accept. But we survived it!! He looked cute as a button...if I am allowed to say that with him being so grown up now!!!

Our President Should be...

Yesterday, I was cleaning out Triston's binder from school and found a paper he had written about characteristics our president should have! Intrigued, I began to read the five sentences that my creative step-son wrote! In the very middle it ready, "Our president is a very special person." He is so right about that one. Next he wrote, "Our president should be a nice person." Another true comment. He is so brilliant!! Thirdly he wrote, "Our president should be responsible." Ok, we are still working on the real meaning of responsible but we are getting there!! Then he wrote, "Our president should not be a liar." Oh, if we could only get that out of our politicians!!! And lastly, and my personal favorite he wrote, "Our president should not be a drug seller!!" Like I said before he is just so brilliant!! I could not help but get a good laugh and continue to get a good laugh out of that one!

On another note, since my "brilliant step-son" would not let me take pictures of him at the Trail of Treats last night I will just show you the picture of our award-winning pumpkin we carved! And when I say we I mean my hubby!! And when I say award-winning I mean we think it is the best!!!

Our First Love!!

Well, I guess I will start with telling you alittle about our first love!! Tris has a lot to love that is for sure. He is so full of energy...he is a 7 year old boy after all. He surprises us more and more each day! He is our little athlete and smart as a whip. His teacher loves his academic effort!! He is getting used to the idea of having yet another child around the house. I did not say he is liking it!! He is going to be a good big brother whether he knows it or not. Here are some sorta recent pics of him doing what he loves!! There will of course be more to come.