Taking the Scenic Route

Grandma Zandra & Great-Grandma Jackie visit

(Zach’s mom and grandma)

(no pictures from the 1st day because my batteries died)

Day 2

At the hotel opening gifts from Grandma Zandra

Playing with the new puzzle

Day 3

Getting the cake for Zach’s birthday.  Zane was very excited to see a cake.

Everybody amazed at Zane’s ability to play the new game from Grandma on the computer

Zane was very excited to take the leash and walk Bubula.

Zane looks on as Grandma Jackie shows Zach how her blood pressure cuff works.

It has been a wonderful couple of days.  I can’t count the number of times I have heard “wow, that is so much like Zach it is amazing”.  That is so good to hear! 

One last note, please keep Grandma Jackie in your prayers.  She is really struggling with high blood pressure right now.  It is a fairly new thing for her (until 3 years ago, she had never even taken a Tylenol or antibiotic her whole life) and the meds aren’t adjusted quite right yet.  She is a very spirited get-up-and-go type lady and those around her worry that she is pushing too hard right now.  It is such a gift to have her here!

Visit with the family went really well today.  They were very impressed with Zane’s ability on the computer.  They are going to be here for around a week, so I am really happy it is going so well!

Will post more and post pictures soon.

FeeBee…nope, just have a xanga.  If you have live journal though, I would love the addy.

I got a call from Zach when he got to the show tonight.  When he was walking to the backstage entrance, Robert told him ‘it looks like those people are staring at you”.  Zach looked up to see his Mom and Grandma standing there waving.    I am not sure if they are coming over after the show, so I have been trying to clean.  It is going pretty slowly, so I hope I get enough done I am not horrified.  lol.  Unfortunately, the dishwasher, which is a piece of crap so we never use, backed up into the sink and the floor, so it smells like farts and rotten eggs in here.  eeeewwwwwwww.  It is too hot to open the windows, so I hope the smell dissipates soon. 

I am not killing myself to clean the place either.  I don’t magically feel like wonderwoman just because somebody is coming over, and I am not going to act like her either.  So, I hope to get it to the ‘not gross’ stage and call it good.

Back to work 

Feeling a little better today.  I actually go a bit of cleaning done…more than I have for weeks.   That really helped me mentally.  I hope this trend continues and I am not totally pooped out after today. lol. 

Thanks for the comments ladies.  I feel sort of silly after yesterday’s post.  I guess I was more moody than I realized.

Feeling icky.  I am so tired of feeling tired and icky.  I am having the unnerving feeling of being both hungry and full at the same time.  I feel like I could eat an entire cow by myself, but when I start eating I can hardly nibble and I don’t feel like eating any more.  It is the weirdest thing.  I also get heartburn like crazy.  There is nothing that doesn’t give me heartburn.  I get heartburn from BREAD.  How is that possible?  I am also just so ‘done’ with the nausea.  Really tired of it.  The nausea is made worse because whenever I puke, it gets lodged in my sinuses and I am dealing with that too.  When the world smells like puke, nothing sounds very appetizing and everything makes your stomach roll.

Ok, I should stop complaining now.  I am grateful that everything appears to be going ok with the pregnancy.  I hope I get some energy soon and get my appetite back.  It is really frustrating because I seem to crave something for about  the length of time it takes to make it, then I am not all that interested any more.  My poor dh.  He doesn’t know what to do with me anymore.  lol.

Since I am already throwing a pity party, let just add one more thing that shouldn’t bug me, but sorta does.  Anybody notice that a lot of people that went private have like 40 comments left by people wanting to read the blog.  I feel like I am in high school again all desperate for somebody to like me.  Ah well.  I started blogging for myself, not anybody else, so it really shouldn’t matter anyway.  It probably wouldn’t matter if I was able to go out and see other humans other than my ds and dh.  I just feel so sick when I go out and the car is just torture.  (that, and the dr. told me to keep off my feet as much as possible).  My house isn’t clean, so that is getting me down too. 

Really.  I am done whining now.  I just needed to vent to feel a little better.

A foot thing

First, a warning:  Dawn, if you are reading this, you will want to stop now.  I don’t think your stomach can take this. 

Zane has this obsession with feet.  I have no idea where it came from, but it is funny (and a bit weird).  For ages, he was facinated with shoes.  He was always carrying our shoes around the apartment and trying them on.  He would also go up to other kids and lean down to look at their shoes. 

Now is is crazy for feet.  If I am sitting down, he insists I have my feet propped up and my shoes off.  (he will take off my shoes if I am wearing them).  He will, on occasion, run from his room, come up to my feet, smell them, and then happily go back to playing.    Verah strange, I tell ya.

  Fourth Of July out at the farm

The weather gave us about as perfect of a July 4th as I remember.  The ground was wet, so we didn’t have to worry about fires, and there was only a whisper of a breeze. 

We got to my folk’s place late afternoon.  Zane immediately found the sprinkler and occupied himself running under the water while the burgers and brats where being cooked.  After supper, Zach went inside and took a much needed nap, while the rest of us sat on the back deck.  Steve and Joy brought a bunch of fireworks and we spent the early evening watching them shoot them off.  Zane really enjoyed the fireworks.  He had a hard time remembering to stay at a safe distance while they were being lit and we had a lot of prolonged starts as we waited for him to sit back down.

The Roman candles sort of made my heart stop for a second because I am sincerely hoping Zane will not imitate his aunt in the future.  It drives me nuts to see people holding explosive devices in their hands…just one of my things.  Zane sure liked it though.

Roman Candle

One of Zane’s favorite fireworks was what we called the ‘Viagra house’.  lol.  It was a little house type thing that spun around for a while, and when it was done spinning, another 4 stories of the house popped out the top.  He ended up bringing two of them home with us.  It was pretty funny. 

His other favorite was the parachute fireworks.  They had a bunch of small ones and a few big ones.  Steve showed him how to ‘fly’ the parachute by throwing it and watching it land, or running with it behind like a kite.  Zane carried his parachutes around for quite a while.  He was very  excited about them.

Parachute instruction

Zane even carried the parachute with him as he followed Shelby, the black lab, in a game of fetch.  He was giggling as he ran with the dog.  One of the funnier moments was when Shelby was momentarily distracted after throwing the stick, but Zane ran after the stick and brought it back.  Although Zane did not bring it and drop it at their feet.  lol. 

Fetch

Dad charged the batteries up for the RC Hummer since Steve & Joy were coming out.  Zane tried the remote for a bit, but really didn’t quite get it yet (it is meant for 8 years old and older, if I remember right).  When Steve got the remote, the first thing he aimed for was the spent firework containers sticking up all over the place.  He plowed through them, knocking them over.  At that point Zane ran over to them and gathered all the fallen fireworks into his arms.  After a few rounds of this, he couldn’t hold any more fireworks and started getting upset, so I grabbed a box.  He picked up pretty much all of the fireworks so the Hummer couldn’t crash into them. lol.

Manning the remote

Fireworks rescue mission

Holding his Fireworks, watching where Joy drives the Hummer

Mom and Dad had a cheap little golf set they got for Zane.  It was especially funny watching Steve use golf clubs sized for a toddler/preschooler.  He was so good with Zane…always watching really carefully where he was at and just being great with him. 

Mini Golf

Returning from one last mud puddle

When it got dark, we went over to the city park, just outside of town, to watch the fireworks.  It is a lot less ’spectacular’ than the big city fireworks, but it compensates by being so pleasant.  It also isn’t as overwhelming to little people.  Zane was actually able to snuggle in my lap and relax during the show instead of getting all overwhelmed and upset. 

Everybody is spread out in their vehicles.  Either you have lawn chairs set up, or just have everybody watching from the bed of the pick-up trucks…small town life at it’s best.  I know they usually sell ice cream and such, but we came just 10 minutes before they started, so we didn’t get any this year.  One change that they implemented this year, which made is SO much nicer with a small child:  no setting off fireworks in the park.  I have seen many a near-miss over the years and it was nice to be able to totally relax and enjoy the big show.

12 weeks today.  Hooray!  1st trimester over.  I sure hope the morning sickness and tiredness is over soon too.  lol.  It could be another month though.  *sigh*  At least I have a dh who is ok with changing icky diapers and making food.

I found this cool thing online from a blog or something and saved it.  It shows fetal development in a flash file.  You slide the little bar under it to show the growth.  (when you get bored, you can slide it back and forth really fast and giggle at it…if you have a warped sense of humor)

It takes a second to load.  Fetal Development Flash File

confirmed tornados on the ground, small rope tornados dipping in and out of the sky, golf ball size hail, softball size hail, 100 mph winds, bow echo shapes, hook echos.  The camera they are showing bouncing around is just a few miles from us.  houseboat turned over, 5 serious injuries.  siren problems.   All headed towards us…supposed to hit in about 3 minutes.  The worst of it is supposed to be just a tad bit south of us, but we are still going to get nailed.

I hear the rain starting now.  Yuck.  I HATE this.

still in green.  the storm seems to be surging on the south side of the city and seems to be weakening as it hits the edge of the city on the north.  a long way to go yet. 

the Air Force Base has sirens going off and there was another tornado east of the airport (both on the south side).  Huge shelf cloud can be seen via cameras and you can actually see the dust and wind damage happening.  Our electricity keeps flashing and it is out over some parts of the city right now.  Evidently, it is getting pretty tough to drive for some of the storm trackers..lots of debris in the road (trees, powerlines).  More reports of rotating clouds out there too.

 I would guess the winds here are closer to 40-50mph…so not bad relatively speaking.

Oy, I have a VERY persistent little guy.  Yesterday was one of those days he was determined to what he wanted to do, without regard to anything the grownups wanted.  An example:  Robert brings his external hard drive over when he comes over and they work on his web design stuff.  At one point (who am I kidding…5 times or so) we instructed him not to touch the hard drive.  He listened, but threw many fits over this, which I understand…it is a new thing and he wants to look at it.  However, it is something that he should not be messing with.  A good two hours after one tantrum, he comes into the room, sees that his Dad and Robert are not at the computer desk (they are standing in the middle of the room talking back and forth as Zach makes popcorn), Zane looks over to the hard drive on the computer desk, walks over, takes his pointer finger and drops it onto the middle of the hard drive, leaves it there for a second, and walks away with a smug little look on his face.  Little stinker!  I know he didn’t realize I saw him do it, and was glad because I was trying not to laugh at his utter persistence and it would have been really hard to discipline him effectively.  After a day of battles, it just so wasn’t worth it.  Funny thing was, after that incident, he was not NEARLY as defiant.  Memory of an elephant and doggedly persistent.  Those are great traits to have as an adult, but so hard to deal with as a parent.

Another funny.  We will call this one “a 3 year old’s guide to problem solving”. 

The problem:  Don’t want to quit playing & listening to music in his room, but is hungry for the leftover spaghetti in the fridge.  (no red sauce, btw…just spaghetti)  His solution:  take a massive fork full, carry the fork full from the table to his room.  Eat it.  Come back with empty fork and get another bite.  lol.  Watching him oh-so-carefully carry gobs of spaghetti is worth the show because a piece will fall off every 3 or 4 steps, and he will lean down to pick it up, usually resulting in another piece dislodging itself.  It probably takes a full 2 minutes to get all the way back to his room with it.  After returning for his 3rd fork full, I suggested taking the whole plate with him.  He looked at me like “whew..that sounds a LOT easier” and promptly grabs the plate and carries it his room.