Wordless Wednesday

This is going WAY back....Senior Prom, May 1999!

10 on Tuesday

1. This had got to be the slowest day in the history of the Earth!

2. I'd much rather be home with my great husband and Kenley, than sitting here at my desk :)

3. Justin is on Spring Break this week and it really sucks that I have to get up and go to work while he's at home. I guess I'll have those days soon, but it will be no 'break'. I'll be taking care of a newborn!

4. Rain, rain go away...what a crappy day. It's been raining all day long and our backyard is a swamp!

5. Kenley got a new fish over the weekend. Her old Beta, Sagwa, died on my birthday. Sagwa was a red fish....this one is blue with a red tail and she named him Blueberry. Hey, it beat the hell out of Sagwa!!

6. We had a nice weekend, although we didn't do much. Just kind of sat around and did some stuff at the house.

7. Justin is starting up his lawn care business again, so we went out and purchased all of his equipment. I about had a heart attack when the cashier said the total. That stuff is expensive, but I know it's a one time investment and it will pay off as soon as he gets going.

8. We sold my car. Goodbye Galant...You've been a good car, but I'm glad you are gone. We are currently hunting for a truck for Justin to drive for his business and to and from work. I needed more room, which is the main reason we sold my car, and I'm now driving the truck. It's been hard to find a decent truck with our fairly small cash budget. We don't want/need another car payment though! In a couple of years Justin is will go back to driving the truck and I'll finally get my new (or new to me) SUV!

9. Spring is finally here! The grass is getting green and the temps are getting warmer! I'm so glad because I hate the Winter!

10. 45 days to go. Man, it's getting close and I'm really starting to freak out now :)

Wordless Wednesday

10 on Tuesday

1. Kenley has gotten up 6 days in a row with a dry pull up. She's also taken 2 naps in those 6 days and woke up dry both of those naps as well. It may be time to try big girl panties at bedtime now. GO KENLEY!!!

2. Yes, Kenley's nose is ok today and I am still laughing about the whole ordeal. I actually thought it was pretty funny from the beginning, but I was freaking out a little as well. That's one expensive rock....that's all I'm sayin!

3. Kenley is feeling better all around now. She was very sick last week, even throwing up, at Grandma's house and in the car, but is on the mend. She weighed 35 pounds and was 39 inches tall when we were at the appt. She's getting so big!

4. Since I didn't get to have a proper birthday post...we went to dinner last night at Shakespeare's Pizza. It's one of my favorite places and everyone that knows me, knows that I LOVE pizza! We were joined by my parents, Justin's parents, my sister and niece, and Justin's brother and grandma. We all had a great time and Kenley took her rock to show off!

5. Pictures from my birthday...Kenley helping ice the cake!

6. Kenley and Kylie....silly as always!

7. Mommy and Kenley just after blowing out the birthday candles!

8. We had another scare last week when Missy (my sister) went into preterm labor. Thankfully they were able to stop her contractions so that Miss Olivia can stay put for several more weeks.

9. I feel like I'm running out of room in my belly these days. I'm not sure how Kason is going to fit in there for another 5-7 weeks! I remember feeling the same way when I was pregnant with Kenley though....I guess it's just something that happens!

10. 52 days or less (but who's counting, right?)

Happy birthday to me (You'll never guess what I got to do today)

Today is my 28th birthday and it started off like any other day. I woke Kenley up to go to preschool and she was happy to sing happy birthday to me first thing this morning. Then she started going on and on about going to eat pizza tonight for mommy's birthday and how her cousin, Kylie, would be there. So, I went on to work and enjoyed a normal Monday, until about noon when I got this call from Miss Kristin at Kenley's school.....

"This is one of those calls that I don't like to make (my heart sank, wondering what happened to my baby girl). Kenley has stuck a rock in her nose and we can't get it out. I think you're going to have to take her to the doctor to have it removed"!!

Miss Kristin went on to explain what they had done to try and remove it themselves, but nothing was working. I could hear Kenley in the background crying. Part of me was laughing and part of me was kind of freaking out because I didn't know what to expect. I wrapped up at work and off I went to pick her up and assess it for myself. When I got there, I knew right away that it wasn't something that I could fish out by myself either. Kenley was crying and upset, but I think it was more because she thought I was going to be mad at her. Her little nose was swollen and red.

After a referral from the pediatrician, we headed to the ER to have the rock removed. We got there and got right in. The nurses and doctors were all kind of laughing and told us that this happens a lot more than you would think. The doctor, Dr. Nash, told me to plug the nostril that was clear and to blow in Kenley's mouth and that a lot of times this would blow the object out of the nose (who knew???). We did this twice, but it didn't work.....it did, however, blow the rock down in the nostril so that the doctor could reach in with her needles nose tweezers and pull it out. Finally, Kenley's nose was rock free again! I asked her why she put that rock in her nose and her reply was......"well, I thought it was a good idea"! This girl is a STINKER!!

Kenley was a champ....she never whined or cried the entire time we were there. I'm sure this won't be our last trip to the ER for something a little "strange". I was able to catch a couple of pictures from my phone, so they aren't the best quality, but you get the point.

When we first arrived

Her little bracelet

Rock free and happy as a clam!

The $100 rock :)

Baby shower for Kason!

First of all, I want to say thank you so much for everyone who put this together. It was nice to get everyone together to celebrate the upcoming birth of our baby boy! We got so many nice gifts (everyone is SO generous) and we had a wonderful time just hanging out and visiting with all our guests. We have so much stuff for Kason now....we really need to get to work finding places to keep it all! Here are VERY few pictures of the great gifts we got, a picture of mommy and daddy, and a picture of the homemade cupcakes from the cupcake party on Friday night. Even Kenley made her very own cupcake for her brother's baby shower!Even Kenley got some gifts! She was excited to help open all the presents for her baby brother, but even more excited when she got one all for herself! Thank you everyone for thinking of Kenley as well as Kason! It means so much to Justin and I!

Wordless Wednesday

10 on Tuesday

1. 59 days to go!

2. Thank you so much to everyone who helped with the baby shower on Saturday. It was really lovely and we got so much great stuff. More to come on this, in a different post!

3. I'm pretty sure Kason is trying to jump out of my belly today. This kid is so active, he never stops moving, but today is out of control. I can tell he's getting bigger and bigger because his kicks are getting stronger by the day!

4. I had my 32 week appointment today. Everything looks great and Kason had a healthy heartbeat 144. I gained a couple pounds, so a total of 13.5 so far. Not too bad.

5. Dr Womack said that I'm measuring a little big. She predicts that if I make it all the way to 40 weeks, I'll have over an eight pound baby. YIKES! That's more than a pound heavier than Kenley was. I guess she was born 2 weeks early though, so she might have weighed 8 pounds too.

6. Poor Kenley. She's been so sick. It started on Thursday is a bad cough. The cough kept getting worse and worse and she started a low fever over the weekend. By Monday she was in pretty bad shape, so we took a trip to see Dr. Paula. It's a sinus infection. I went ahead and took her to her Grandma Sherri's today and she just wasn't feeling any better. She threw up several times today, including once in the car on the way home. All over 'nannie' (her blanket), herself, and her carseat. We got all cleaned up as soon as we got home and she's been laying in bed all night. Poor thing....Daddy will be staying home with her tomorrow to make sure she's feeling MUCH better.

7. This is Tito, our youngest dog. I never get good pictures of the dogs anymore, but I was happy with this one!

8. This is how I found Kenley one night before I went to bed. I always check on her and make sure she's covered up before I close her door and go to bed myself. It was too funny! She's has this thing lately with not wanting to sleep in her pajama pants, so we take them off when she's getting in bed.

9. This is all for today!

The Price of Children

The Price of Children

The government recently calculated the cost of raising a child from birth to 18 and came up with $160,140.00 for a middle income family. Talk about price shock! That doesn't even touch college tuition.

But $160,140.00 isn't so bad if you break it down. It translates into:

• $8,896.66 a year
• $741.38 a month
• $171.08 a week
• A mere $24.24 a day! Just over a dollar an hour.

Still, you might think the best financial advice is; don't have children if you want to be 'rich.' Actually, it is just the opposite.What do you get for your $160,140.00?

• Naming rights, First, middle, and last!
• Glimpses of God every day
• Giggles under the covers every night
• More love than your heart can hold
• Butterfly kisses and Velcro hugs
• Endless wonder over rocks, ants, clouds, and warm cookies
• A hand to hold usually covered with jelly or chocolate
• A partner for blowing bubbles and flying kites
• Someone to laugh yourself silly with, no matter what the boss said or how your stocks performed that day

For $160,140.00, you never have to grow up. You get to:

• Finger-paint
• Play hide-and-seek
• Catch lightning bugs

You have an excuse to:

• Keep reading the Adventures of Piglet and Pooh
• Watch Saturday morning cartoons
• Go to Disney movies
• Wish on stars
• Frame rainbows, hearts, and flowers under refrigerator magnets
• Collect spray painted noodle pictures, and hand prints set in clay

For a mere $24.24 a day, there is no greater bang for your buck. You get to be a hero just for:

• Retrieving a Frisbee off the garage roof
• Taking the training wheels off a bike
• Sewing an arm back on a bear
• Filling a wading pool
• Coaxing a wad of gum out of bangs
• Coaching a baseball team that never wins but always gets treated to ice cream regardless.

You get a front row seat in history to witness the:

• First step
• First word
• First bra
• First date
• First time behind the wheel

You get to be immortal. You get another branch added to your family tree, and if you're lucky, a long list of limbs in your obituary called grandchildren and great grandchildren. You get an education in psychology, nursing, criminal justice, communications, and human sexuality that no college can match..In the eyes of a child, you rank right up there under God. You have all the power to heal a boo-boo, scare away the monsters under the bed, patch a broken heart, police a slumber party, ground them forever, and love them without limits, so one day they will, like you, love without counting the cost.

That is quite a deal for the price!!!!!!!Love & enjoy your children & grandchildren & great-grandchildren!!!!!!! It's the best investment you'll ever make!!!!!!!!!

Wordless Wednesday

10 on Tuesday

1. It's only Tuesday....it REALLY should be Friday!

2. Some family and friends are throwing a baby shower for me (& Kason) on Saturday. I'm really looking forward to it. It's always fun to get together with all my friends and family.

3. Kason hasn't stopped moving all day today. He's normally pretty active, but today takes the cake. My belly has been jumping all around today. It's funny to watch it move.

4. The nursery is coming together! I got the curtains pressed and hung up over the weekend, so it looks more complete now. I'll be posted the completed nursery pictures in the next few weeks.

5. Kenley's room is coming together as well. If you remember, we moved her from the nursery to what used to be the playroom. We painted and bought new furniture and bedding for her big girl room. She moved into the room is December, but it's been a work in progress since then. We finally got the finishing touches for the walls and the only thing left is to find new curtains. Pictures will be coming soon for her room too!

6. We went through a rough patch with Kenley's sleeping habits. She was waking up every night to kick Max (the cat) off her bed. It was really hard on me to keep getting up several times a night and she was waking up really cranky. We finally decided to close her bedroom door after she fell asleep to keep Max off the bed, and it's worked great! She hasn't woke up in the middle of the night since then. Thank goodness, for both of us!

7. Speaking of Kenley's sleeping habits.....naps are pretty much a thing of the past now :( We were having issues with her not falling asleep until much too late on the days that she took a nap. Plus, nap time was a huge fiasco anyway. We're pretty much not forcing naps anymore, but she does have to have quiet time. This means laying in her bed watching a movie or cartoons, usually. She does still takes short naps at school most days though.

8. I'm going to be 31 weeks on Friday. I can't believe it! It really seems like this pregnancy has flown by so far. I know I keep saying that, but it's the truth....only 66 days to go!

9. We have a couple of birthday coming up soon! Our good friend Kim's birthday is on March 9th, our friend Todd's birthday is on March 10th, my dad's birthday is on March 11th, MY birthday on March 16th, and Justin's grandma Joanna's birthday on March 18th. March is a busy birthday month!

10. Today is my one year anniversary here in Residential Life! I've been with the University for over 2 years, but just one in my current job (which I love)! I came in this morning to Panera bagels on my desk....I LOVE Panera bagels. Thanks, Louise!