31 Aug 2007 baby food! and 15 weeks! Grace is 15 weeks today! YAY! She was offered a bottle so far 3 times this week. Last night, away from home, she actually took about an ounce with much less crying than normal. I then nursed her though b/c she was choking and sputtering. She forgets to swallow if it's not pouring down her throat so I might try a sippy. I was recommended to try a nubby one? I guess it has more of a nipple shaped sippy or something. Anyways, we might try that. I've been on a baby food kick this week. I've decided that it will be easier to start making baby foods now rather than waiting until I have two mobile children! This week I had three leftover banana's that were on the last day anyone in our house would even consider eating them so I pureed them up= they made a whole tray! (I puree food and put them in ice cube trays to freeze and then transfer them into plastic freezer bags I mark. Each cube makes one ounce and so you can mix and match and control how many ounces you defrost at a time. Its VERY cheap, more work than the little jars but for me it was SO worth it for Tyler!) I also got peaches and nectarines on sale at walmart so i baked those and did them- 8 fruit gave me 2 full (I mean FULL) trays plus a 4 or so oz tupperware container b/c I only have two trays at this time. I really need to buy more! So this week a friend gave me two gi-normous squash so i'm making those. These suckers took three pans and three hours to bake (one hour each pan). I've got two trays in the freezer, a two quart drink container almost full and still at least half a squash left to puree! I'm trying to add as little water as possible so I have the option to thin with formula or breastmilk in the future so i would easily have twice as much if I thinned it out! I'd really like to get some fresh peas and green beans going next week but we'll see. It only keeps for so long but I want my little girl to have options! So while reading up and reminding myself how to do this, in addition to reading up on potty training I found that now the World Health Organization (WHO) is saying that for babies Bmilk or formula is best for babies up to 6 months and THEN introduce solids. So what are your thoughts? What did you do and why? We started Tyler on cereal between four and five months because he was so huge. At 6 months he was 20 pounds. Grace is barely 14 according to my guess based on weighing myself and then myself holding her. I think we waited a good month before introducing veggies. I really stuck to that "one food per week" rule too so it was a long time before he had enough of a variety to start him on real solids. As I remember it though once he started he took to foods very well and I can only think of a few things he won't eat. Speaking of "Won't Eat" we had a major battle of wills today. He ate his PB&J on whole wheat as if he had not eaten in days (wich is so not true b/c we ate everything in Lori's house last night- i'm sure she had to go shopping today to restock!) and so I gave him the melon I cut for dinner. I didn't give him much and he flat out refused to eat it. After sitting inhis chair for a half hour 'discussing' this with me (while I did my best to ignore him), two time outs, a spanking and my trying to feed him I just put him to bed. Too much craziness and not enough routine the past 2 weeks!! I guess I'd say we both won. He didn't have to eat all the melon but I had control and ultimately - quiet. I really should have made him eat them when he got up b/c when I went into his room to get him up the first thing he said was that he was not hungry and he did not want to eat his melon. I'm chosing to let this battle slide. Gary has aspirations of getting home before 6 so we are going to celebrate by going to McDonalds and then to get diapers. Tyler is literally wearing the last size 6 diaper in the house. I was going to go today, with both kids, but the crabbiness and the squash beat me down. I did play outside with Tyler for over an hour today though which is a major accomplishment for me. I did spend some of that time pulling weeds but we got to use both of Tylers wheelbarrows, rakes and shovels in the process. We also unearthed the sandbox. I washed out the lid and left it open in hopes of attracting some air to dry it out. Yes, wet sand is good, runny water-logged sand is not. It Is Gross. We are taking a break from potty training. It's just too much for this time when Gary is so stressed and has to be gone so much... I will either pick it up again mid-September or drop it altogether until January. Of course in January there is a chance Grace will be crawling and since Tyler never gets (or got) into anything she'll be my child who flushes toys down the toilet and drinks the window cleaner and climbs into the refrigerator... *(Side: just peeked in on Tyler and he found two more diapers. We're safe!)* I know that many will say i'm just being lazy- fine. That's your perogative! I read these stories of kids who train in like one day or one week and I just really want that to be me! I think Tyler's too strong willed for that though! We'll see. Mostly what I need is for Gary and I to sit down and talk about it- just the two of us- and decide what we THE PARENTS want to do. Grace is suddenly a scooting maniac. She does this thing where she plants her feet, arches her back and shoots herself across the floor. She also can turn herself so she's like a little inch worm working her way across the room. SHe never wakes up in the place we put her in the bed. I guess that means it's time to get the cute animals out of there! :) She may also be teething already b/c she doesn't suck her fingers, she chews her fist! She's getting her whole hand in there sometimes! Well, I must move on b/c Tyler is ready for some positive attention. 25 Aug 2007 My Neely Day Ok. Today was a Neely Day. It's a new term I came up with today. My friend Jen Neely (hi jen!) is wonderful- I love her to death- totally admire her- and she's crazy- in all the good ways. She's a stay at home mom of two which we have in common but she has the craziest stories she blogs about! Her husband is in construction so she's a single parent for days, weeks, and months on end. To top it off she's pregnant with thier third and has no air conditioning. Needless to say sometimes she just has those days where things go so crazy off schedule/wrong. She blogs about them pretty regularly and belive me- its' better than a novel. So today I was having a crazy day and in the middle of it, when I couldn't decide whether to laugh, or cry, or scream, the thought occured to me "relax, you're just having a Neely Day!" Last night I was up to 1:00 am for no particular reason... so it all started when Grace woke up at 4 am crying... then 4:30... then 5... then 5:30 when I moved her to the extra baby seat in our room close to the bed. This serves for those times where I just can't stay awake and can also hold the paci in her mouth from bed and at least have my eyes closed and half asleep. (I'm amazed at how many stages of sleep you find there are when you are a mother!) By 5:50 I decided to screw it and just feed her. She wasn't calming down and gary was getting up at 7 to go into work (which was also when I planned to feed her to make the day's schedule of events work) so I didn't want her bothering him too much. He can half-sleep through it but it just wasn't worth it. So I fed her and brought her downstairs where she finally went back to sleep and I slept on the couch. I heard the alarm go off 3 times upstairs and was reminded how long it takes gary to hear it when I'm not there to kick him! This is the alarm clock I've had since at least high school- maybe sooner. In our cell sized dorm room at college I used to have it by my head and I actually could hear the click before the buz somtimes and turn it off before the first buzz sound. That's how light i'm capable of sleeping. So after he came down and left I let myself fall back to sleep. I had him bring down our tiny bathroom clock to set for 8:30 so I could get the troops up and ready to go get the Angel Food at church and also get Tyler ready for his day with Grandma and Grandpa at the cabin. I got up around 8:15 on my own and started straightening up the things I had neglected the night before, got dressed and started some neglected dishes (shame shame- i know). I got Tyler up by 9.... ish got him dressed and packed. And then fed Grace. I called Steph to see when I could bring Tyler over and she said they were running later than expected so they'd get him hopefully around noon. I had until 11:30 to get the food so I was doing great on time. I was half ready, Tyler totally ready, and Grace not even started- but fed. That's more than half done in my opinion. After talking to Stephanie about the house I had an emotional breakdown about the house-renting stuff falling through and called Gary crying while I made Tyler breakfast and then got off the phone and went to get Grace. She had been happy in her seat all this time so I wanted to get her changed and dressed while Tyler played well by himself. As I picked her up i felt wet. i thought she had just peed out of her diaper- nope. She had an explosion. Literally. Poop was out of her diaper- SIDEWAYS in a way that I can't even figure out how it happened. The diaper was barely messy but the seat was covered as was her side- above the diaper. SO I took her up, placed a towel over the changing table pad (i know those things are washable but i'd rather just wash the towel- i'm weird) and tried to change her. She got one hand and both feet into the mess which then smeared it on her oposite leg and there was all the mess on her side so clearly we had to do a bath. So I wrapped her in the towel and put her in the crib, yelled down to Tyler (who miraculously stayed downstiars rather than hanging onto me yabbering questions incesantly) who said "Ok Mommy!". Thank you LORD! Most of the way through the bath Tyler asked to come up and I let him becuse he wanted to "help"- translation 'bother me'. I kept him from throwing "slippery soap" into Graces little bath seat when he suddenly left and yelled "Daddy's home". I said he wasn't- there was no way -and then I heard the door shut. I was scared to DEATH at this point. I've got my arm supporting my baby in the bath seat, my toddler at the top of the steps and an unidentified person just walked through the door- and Gary not scheduled to be home till noon. At the earliest. It was after 10. Tyler kept yelling dady's home daddy's home so it wasn't even like I could run and hide us or anythying so I just yelled "Gary?" and he yelled "Yeah" and kept talking onthe phone- he was on with the realtor. RELIEF!!! So he then came up telling me all the stuff the realtor said while tyler yabberd on about who-knows-what and I got Grace out and lotioned and dressed. I took her downstairs and by now it was well past the 10:00 leaving goal. I got her all buckled and was still talking with Gary when she threw up. This is literally like the 4th time in her life anything has ever come OUT of her mouth. This was the moment the "neely" thought popped into my head. I also said a quick prayer for her because had Gary not been home, or at least in the state, I think I would have had an emotional meltdown. Seriously. If we ever win the lottery I'm sending Jen and her husband on a crusise or something- no kids allowed. They are seriously hero's in my eyes for how they live and make it work and are so happy and have such wonderful children. Plus, as i read today- she cooks and bakes. She's that kind of friend you secretly wish you could hate because she's so stinking perfect but you love her because she accepts you totally as you are and doesn't judge or make you feel horrid about yourself at the same time! So thankfully Gary got her dressed and sat her up in case she was having digestion issues while I went and treated and washed the poop stained clothes from last night, this morning, and the towel and seat cover. He also talked with Tyler. Finally I got myself finished getting ready and we piled into the car. We got to the church at like 11:20. We got back and I had to try to feed Tyler who was being difficult since he ate breakfast so late but I got him to eat some while I washed dishes and gary made himself something. Finally we sent Tyler off with his grandparents in time for me to feed poor Grace again. We then went shopping. I got to go to Joanne's for some scrapbooking stuff and got a baby toy for Grace at Toys R Us. We came home to rest and feed Grace of course. It was so nice to go out without a two year old! :) It was also nice for peole to oogle over Grace wihtout Tyler stealing the show. ;) All in all it wasnt a total disaster, but I now have a new way of dealing when things don't go "right". Just Relax! It's a Neely Day!

Today Grace is 14 weeks old. She's also been exclusively breastfeed that whole time! It may not seem like it to you, but for me, that is a huge accomplishment! Of course today all I can think about is eating ice cream and drinking a margarita. Oh well! Last weekend I got to spend with my mom and I also got to see Aunt Toots, Grandparents Cline and Grandma Len. It was nice to get away and see people rather than have large events to go to.
I hate the term "potty training" but we are into learning to use the toilet (for Tyler). I'm trying not to get sucked into the competetive aspect of it. The sooner people accept that all kids are different and develop and learn at different rates the better. The teacher in me wants him to get it fast and the mom in me doesn't want to start for 6 more months. He's my baby after all! :) I"m trying to approach it as I did with teaching reading- imersion into the concept knowing full well he may not be developmentally ready. The probelm is that to do anything outside the house with the term "preschooler" attached he has to be trained. I have a friend who's son is in the 2 year old room at church which is basically a playroom and can't go to the 3 year old "Preschool Class" where they actually learn about Jesus until he's potty trained. Why? Is there something that makes you mentally prepared to learn if you are potty trained? They say "staff does not have time to change diapers". Why can't we, as the MOM just say "leave him in a dirty diaper till I get there!" It's only an hour... I do understand both sides but I hate that battle of 'teach him before he's ready so he can do it' and 'let him learn at his own pace'. There is merit to both schools of thought in many areas of learning!
Wednesday Grace, Tyler and I drove up to Cleveland to see Hannah. Unfortunately I didn't bother to do my makeup and she didn't bother to do her hair so we don't have many photo's to document the event. :) It's wonderful to have friends you don't have to get all 'gussied' up for though! It was a long day with the driving but SO worth it! I hope we get our house sold or rented soon so we can use the extra money for me to travel to friend's houses who live far away and have playdates more often. At least until the random Ohio snow storms dump 20 inches... We got to see my dad yesterday and I got an adorable pic of him with the kids. Gary's been having some major stress at work so pray for him. Tyler seems to have picked up on the stress as well. Of course, the novelty of having a baby in the house seems to be wearing off. He's fine with sharing my time between him and Grace...for the most part... but add computer time, cleaning time, or daddy time to that and watch out! At least he has me all to himself when he's on the potty...

13 weeks... This afternoon Grace is thirteen weeks old. Tomorrow she'll be officially Three Months. I am just in shock! It's time to get out a whole new set of clothes already! I'm also proud to say that she's been exclusively breastfed for the whole 13 weeks! This is longer than Tyler was and suddenly my goal of 6 months nursing at least half of feedings doesn't seem all that scary! Sometimes I really do hate it but my kids have both been fast nursers so it's 'easy' for me compared to some. She smiles a lot these days and loves to coo. She will open her mouth and kind of lean forward when you are talking to her like she's trying to talk back. She's much more serious than Tyler was. Tyler's eyes were in a constant smile where as Grace's eyes are much more serious- like she's always thinking. Durring the day I can put her down for her nap while she's awake and she'll go to sleep by herself- as long as she has her pacifier. She sometimes falls alseep without it in her seat and often in the car or swing without it. At night she needs a little more coaxing so I sometimes hold her or rock her but thankfully, so far, (knock on wood) she doesn't nurse herself to sleep. I'm so so so thankful for that. She still cant' decide how long to go between feedings durring the day or at night so I'm still just trying to make a routine that fits us and fits into Tyler's routine. There's just no easy way to get them both to nap at the same time for some reason! Of course I also want to not have to get up at 5 am and don't want to feed her in the middle of the evening which is when we're always out doing our shopping or visiting people. My hope is that if there is a mid-evening feeding established she'll start to take a bottle. So far she will only take it well if she's starving and (based on last night's story from Gary) when I'm not around. I really think that the trick to getting her to take the bottle is for us to be consistant with it and for Gary to always be the one to feed her. We just have not had the time or really the motivation to do it yet. It's so nice to be so relaxed about this child. I worried way too much about what everyone thought of what I was doing with Tyler and way too much about what "experts" said he should and shouldn't be doing. After he turned one a lot of that stopped and I was able to be more relaxed. I also have a lot of Mom friends who I can talk to which I'm so thankful! It's nice to express a concern and have others say "my kid did that and it's ok!" Grace still hates her tummy time but she's getting SO much better at holding her head up. When I put her on the boppy she likes it and if I put her anywhere near an ON TV she's the happiest! We are a household of TV addicts unfortunately. I did really well with Tyler limiting his screen time because he watched it as an infant too. I'm trying with her but I doubt I'll be as successful. We will see! She's just such a blessing and the joy of my life. I am constatnly amazed that God has given me so much love that I can share it between my husband, TWO children and a wonderful collection of family and friends! How much more, even, does God love me? and You? How great is our God?!?!

Tyler :)

Me

Josh and Faith Kellogg

Faith and Grace on the way to Faith's Shower

Faith and Grace at the Shower


Jackie and Grace

Caryn, Baden and Grace

Heather and Caryn

Faith Kristina Kellogg

The Bush Family

Grace

Bathtime! She loved the water this day!


Grace in Blue

Blogs from Myspace sorry I have not kept up... Aug. 9 8 hours cha-ching!! So we've been going back and forth and forth and back with Grace about her eating habits and routine. Basically we don't have one even though I do try. It's just so much harder to stick to with two kids and varrying schedules and it's hard to do a feeding at the same time every mornign to start the day when you are desperate for some sleep! The week before vacation Grace started skipping a feeding in the middle of the night. She'd go 2-3 hours all day and then her last feeding around 11 or 12 adn then I'd just go to bed and see when she woke. She'd been waking like clockwork at 2 or 3 and one day she just made it till 5. Then the next night, up around the clock, then she'd skip, then not...then she skipped consistantly the entire time we were on vacation. Well, we got back from vacation and she decided to only eat ever 3-4 hours so I had much longer breaks in between but she wasn't skipping at night She'd still go 4 at night instead of 6. I tried making her eat every 3 so she's keep skipping and she would just not eat well and then she'd go 5-6 during the day and every 3 at night- now that's just plain annoying! She also resumed her crying fits and I decided to just go 24-48 hours letting her do whatever she wanted and see if i could find a rhythm and I think, at least for one day, I did. Last night I woke her up at 11 to eat which had been 4 and a half hours and she went to sleep really well. (She had not had a crying fit in the evening either) She woke up at 3 on the dot and I rocked her back to sleep and gave her the paci and she did really well going back. Uusually she'd have only slept for another hour but this time- she slept till 7 AM!!!! I awoke in the middle of the storm at 6 am which I vaugly remmeber and thought to myself that I was so proud of her and so thrilled she'd gone back to sleep and stayed asleep and i thought to myself how selfish it would be to hope she slept till 7 and then she was crying and it was 7! I had no idea i'd fallen back to sleep! It was a good thing she'd finally awoken though b/c the power went off and we'd have been in bed till 9 had she eaten at 4 or 5 am like usual and fallen back asleep!!! So I wnet to bed shortly after midnight, got up from about 3-3:30, 6-6:01 i guess and then up at 7! She went 8 hours between feedings!!!! I'm so excited. I have not slept that well in months and months!!! Now we'll see if she eats every 2 hours till noon to make up for it. HAHA!!! 10 Aug 2007 forced into church... So we buy food through Angel Food Network and it's an awesome program and we get it through our church. You go at the beginning of the month to pay and put in your order and then they have one distribution day at the end of the month where you go pick it up. Well, the pay days this month were yesterday and Saturday and since we have plans Saturday we had to go last night. So Gary got home and the three of us were literally laying on the floor napping. Grace was sleeping on the floor so when I brought Tyler downstairs from his nap and could not stay awake i figured we'd be safer on the floor next to her than on the couch potentially falling on her or stepping on her. I fell asleep right away b/c I was exausted and told Tyler to play quietly in the playroom or lay down next to me. He had not been quite ready to get up so he layed down and next thing I know Gary's home. I am such a bad mom sometimes! So I told Gary to go turn on the oven so we could do a frozen dinner before we left. He wanted to go to Target to return the print cartridges we bought earlier this week b/c they were the wrong ones. He then suggested we just get ready and go and eat out. I never turn down eating out! So we left and went to the post office to FINALLY send the first batch of thank you's and announcements from Grace and I heard the emergency siren for the town. I told Gary that means there is an emergency and probably it was the storm but could it mean tornado? Should we stay home? He said don't worry about it and we left for Canton. We turned off of the one road and were facing the storm and it was one of the most awesome and scary things i've ever seen. There were clouds above and this huge white cloud with a def. line at the bottom and below was this blue/grey sky. Now I know why they say storms "roll in". It litterally looked like a huge wave rolling under itself. I wish I had had a camera but of course I didn't. The batteries were dead anyways. So i tentitavely suggested maybe we turn around but you know "it's just a thunderstorm" so we kept going. We only had super heavy rain for a few minutes but cars were almost stopped for those few minutes. I was FREAKED! See i completely trust Gary's driving but there are several million other people in the world who drive and most I've met on the road are idiots. I also don't completely trust Gary's depth perception especially in the dark, in the rain. We got to the church and I ran in and immediately I knew something was wrong. The lights were mostly off but then I thought maybe that was smart to keep heat and electric bills down when there are not many ppl in the building. Then I noticed that there were no people at the welcome desk. So I walked one direction a ways and there was no one in the cafe and no sounds coming from that end. I was the only person in the church! Or so it seemed. I heard voices coming from the other end, sounded like some college kids or guys from staff messing around and then I heard them say 'evacuation'. Now mind you it's dark as night outside raining cats and dogs so I wondered what on earth was going on! I noticed they all had flashlights and walkie talkies at the exact moment the largest one (who was no college kid!) said, "Mam, I"m going to have to escort you to the lower level immediately. (Here he reached to lay his hand on my back and I jumped) The storm has dangerous capabilities and we are getting everyone on the property to saftey in the lower level." I knew right away that Gary would want to just leave but I also didn't want them dragging me downstiars while my husband and two kids were right outside parked in the driveway so i said "Can I bring my family?" which I know sounds incredibly stupid but that's what I said! So I ran outside and to avoid an argument or lengthy discussion said to Gary, "There might be tornado's so they are putting everyone in the basement. Get Tyler. Let's go." I grabbed Grace and the bags from the backseat and ran in. I was shocked they let us leave the car there b/c it was the fire lane I'm sure but I also knew if Gary was told to move the car he'd say let's just go. I figured it was just a precaution and didn't really worry about it until the guy tried to carry Tyler b/c we were moving too slowly. Gary had taken Grace and I was holding his hand and he did NOT want this big dude carrying him. So i kicked off my shoes and grabbed him and ran down the steps. I have no doubt Gary was rolling his eyes the whole way. So we got to hang out in the lower level where I'd never been before in the Children's Worship area. Gary saw the one guy we knew other than Jen's family in the church and he said something like "how ya doin'?" and Gary said "I think I made a bad decision." Just for the record I did suggest we go back home! I KNOW had I just gotten in the car and asked him what we should do he would have looked out the window's and shrugged and said either "I don't care- it's up to you." or "Let's go, we'll be fine." It was fine, nothing happened, we paid and left probably a half hour later and went on to Target and then the Mall to eat but it was interesting! Tyler was very concerned about the fact that we went to church and he did not get to go to nursery which I thought was so cute b/c It proves how much he enjoys it! 15 Aug 2007 I hate to ask but... WE NEED PRAYER! This is one of those things where the possibilities are so great that all your prayers are about to be answered that the human part of you doesn't want to jinx it by saying it out loud or telling others. The trusting side of me has decided that friends are for telling stuff and praying along with us for *sigh* God's will even if it's not what we think we want. *sigh* So- we might have a renter for our Mansfield house. It seems that between the Ohio schools tanking and the real estate market crashing right along with them that it could be years before our house sells. After 18 months on the market, 12 of them vacant we've had less than a dozen lookers and not one single offers. To avoid me living there alone all week and Gary coming home on weekends and living with his parents, or **GULP* all of us living with his parents (a supposed option to Gary but not in my world- no offense intended!!) it's time to bite the bullet and rent out the house. We've been thinking and praying about it daily since we moved out of it and for awhile just really felt we needed to leave it in God's hands and wait for a buyer. It's his house after all and he's provided us with the money to keep it and we've asked him to protect it. More and more the past 6 months we've felt that maybe it's time to take a different kind of risk and rather than risking it being trashed by vanadlism, risk it being trashed by renters. On the bright side we could end up wiht someone who loves it and would want to buy it someday, not to mention a check in the mail each month to cover the mortgage and an end to the checks that go out each month to cover utilities. Our realtor has gotten calls nonstop since we put it up for sale or lease so there is definite intrest. It's one of the nicest and largest houses on the street with air conditioning and the largest yard. We've found a young lady who is single with a two year old and a baby on the way. She's in a program called METRO which in a nutshell helps her get and stay on her feet and work and learn to pay bills and be independant. A portion of both her rent and utilities would be government paid meaning we get a check from Uncle Sam for his part and a check from her for her part. We met her and some of her family a couple weeks ago when we went to the house to clean and mow/weed the forest. She loves the house and we really feel like she will do her best to take care of it. We also feel like this would be a great way for us to use our house as a bit of a ministry to help someone out. That said, i guess I just really feel like we need as many people praying for us as possible- and for this woman. The house will be inspected to be accepted into the program next Friday. We're really praying that the Lord just show us clear as day if this is what He has for us and to please slam doors shut if need be! This is something that could work out to answer so many prayers! No more traveling there once a month and not having time to see friends (sure would be nice to go to Mansfield and just be there to see people!), no more worrying about it being empty, no more worrying about making the payments and the possibility of saving some money into *GASP* a savings account and getting OUT of credit card debt!! The house has for a year now been a huge source of stress for Gary especially and for our marriage. Please just pray for wisdom on both of our parts and for this woman- that if it does work out she's a good renter and if it doesn't that God provide her (and us) an alternative. We know God has a great plan for us- help us not to screw it up!! :) So I can be like Jen,.. Ok, so since she's just the coolest I am going to blog about scrapbooking too! HAHA! So I didn't go Monday b/c I had no photo's printed and never got around to doing them last week or over the weekend. Monday I printed 254 pictures over the Walmart website. Now they have it so it pulls up your files you have saved on your computer, check the ones you want and order. It's so easy! Of course that's IF your credit card in your wallet isn't the one that expired and they won't take your pin and then they won't take the new one with the new pin b/c security stops you because of too many attempts to use that number. Ugh. See what happens is that Gary carries every card he's ever gotten in his life in his wallet which he of course like a real man wears on his butt so he sits on it all the time and his cards bend. They always bend along the magnetic strip so he has to order a new one like 2-3 times a year. No biggie- they just send new ones in the mail and it's not like we have to pay for them (at least not that I know of...) so a few times a year we get a new card and I guess sometimes those cards also extend the "valid thru" date. I keep only the cards I need in my wallet so they don't bend. I have my licence, my bank card, two library cards, discover (the card that pays you back!), Kohls, insurance, and AAA. Apparently my Discover is an old one and my new one I had in there still had the activation sticker on it so in my ordering thigns got all befuddled so I had to use the bank card. Drat. That means no eating out or shopping till payday on Friday. I HATE living paycheck to paycheck!!!!!! *end rant* So yesterday it took me literally 2 hours to sort all the photo's and get them in order then i had to shower, get ready, feed Grace and pack my stuff. Needless to say I made my customary late entrance. I walked in and was relieved beyond measure to find a familiar face! I litterally know like 4 people in that church by name- and one is the pastor. I'd say I reconize faces of a dozen more from Mops and services- on a good day. So I know Jennifer and her hubby and Angie. That's it. SO I walk in and there is Angie at the front desk!! Yay!!! We chatted a little and then I went around the corner to the scrapbooking. Now I totally expected there to be like an auditorium filled with like 100 women 2 or 3 to a table so I was really surprised to see only a few. To keep me humble God made sure I walked in and immediately said something stupid. I did a quick scan of the room and said "Hi! Is Jennifer Neely here?" SO then this smart A-- girl right next to me goes. "Nope. She's not." yea, it was her. Open Mouth Insert Foot is like my post-children mantra I swear. Soooo I reamain one toy short of a happy meal, not the sharpest tool in the shed and not the brightest crayon in the box. Ya'll love me though! You can't help it!! Poor Jen though, she's the local friend who has to put up with me on a more regular basis than most of the rest of you. Gary at least gets mostly edible food, clean clothes and awesome sex out of the deal. Sooooooooooooo (I'm not a 'make a long story short' kind of person) I got all set up and of course there was a consultant there with stuff (ON SALE) you could buy so i was double irritated that I had no extra money on me. I broke out, for the first time ever, printed photos of Tyler as a baby. I skipped the hospital/birth ones b/c I know it'll take me ages to pick exactly the right paper and get up the nerve to cut them evne though I know perfectly well I can just reprint them all. So I did a layout of his first day home and of a day my mom held him in the sun to help his Jaundice go away. It was so much fun. I blasted the radio the whole way there and back. I got to listen to what I wanted and no one laughed at me or rolled thier eyes when I switched songs in the middle... I even turned off the air conditioner and let some fresh summer breeze in. Ahhhhh... I got home and Gary was watching TV half asleep and both kids were sleeping. What a wonderful night!

A night to remember We had our first date in I can't tell you how long last night. I worked in the morning on still more Thank you cards and announcements, cleaning and playing with the kids and changing and feeding them and cleaning up after them and trying to put Tyler on the potty... the usual. So by the time Tyler went down for a nap (late) I was exhausted and not in the mood to clean, but I did! I got things organized for the kids... or at least I started to!! I ate and played with Grace and tried to get ready. At 4:15 I finally called Gary to see why he wasn't home yet and he said he was almost here so I just put the kids in the bathroom with me and started to shower. 30 minutes later when Melissa got there I was almost ready. She was SO good for Tyler. I"m glad I was finally able to use her! She said they played cars, he ate well, and went to bed well too! Of course he woke up when we got home and had a bit of a screaming fit but then he slept through the night so it was no big deal. He got himself all worked up over nothing. Just like his mommy that one! So we left and took Grace to grandma's house. She's been pretty consistant on her screaming fits every evening and I iddn't want Melissa (or Tyler) to have to deal with that. It was good for Tyler to have someone pay attention only to him for a night also. So then we went to Applebee's where we spent entirely too much money but had the best dinner we've had in ages. I didn't have to share a single bite with my son. No crayons on the floor, no race cars, no tears, no cutting his food while mine gets cold, no stopping the tears or getting up to take him to the bathroom for a diaper change. No stopping halfway through to feed and burp the baby, no dirty looks from across the restaurant, no old ladies running over and trying to touch either child. No carting the diaper bag and toddler and car seat. No in and out of two kids- one complaining of the seatbelt being hot. I don't particularly mind any of these things (except when the old ladies smell of cat feces) but not having any of them, what a difference! Freedom! We also FINALLY saw Harry Potter and it was awesome!! I don't know how on earth Gary could possibly follow it without having read it but we talked about it the whole way back to grandma's to get Grace and the whole way home and it seems like he did understand it! I think I'm going to re-read the entire series begining to end but I don't want to start it just yet. Gary's reading book 2 and I'm so excited! It'll be nice to have something else in common to talk about that's new. :) Other than kids I mean. Thanks for a wonderful date Gary!! And Thanks Melissa (who i got to visit with when we got home! BOUNUS!!) for watching Tyler! He misses you already!!!

OBX 2007
The Wednesday before we left the Lambert's and Connie Troyer came to visit. The Lamberts were in Ohio for a couple days before the annual Collective Camping Trip. It was amazing to see their two children and I loved watching Tyler and Lance play together! Lance is about 2 months older than Tyler and I was amazed at how similar they were! Tyler loved having two other boys to play with and Caleb was sweet as could be. He sure is a climber though! I've not seen a kid climb like that in a long time! Since working the toddler room at church I suppose! They all played well in the backyard, the living room and the playroom and we also had a pizza supper.
Thursday I spent the day finishing packing so we could take our HUGE suitcase full of clothes to the Bush's for them to take it in the van and for us to get Grandma Bush's car to drive since it's bigger than ours and much more comfortable! I was amazed that even though I'd been thinking about the trip and making lists and cleaning and organizing all week I still had SO much to do! It was a good thing I got about 4 hours of work in on Wednesday before company came! We had lots of shopping to do as well so we were out late and up past midnight but in the morning we were able to leave more than a half hour early! That's even with me showering!
We hit the bank and post office and Louisville Library before we really got going. We stopped in Columbiana to eat lunch meat sandwiches and feed Grace. We ate at the little gazebo near the Inn there and let Tyler run around in the grass. Since we didn't hit a bathroom there we stopped in Chippewa PA as well to hit the potty and change Tyler at the Wendy's there. :) We arrived to our hotel in plenty of time to check in, get settled and feed grace as well as do some swimming and sit in the hot tub. It took us awhile after the swimming to get us all put back together and re-loaded but we did and headed off to Shawnee State park. Of course there was construction going on which caused major traffic on this random road in the middle of nowhere so what was a 10 mile trip took us about an hour so we were freaking out because we had Friday's dinner! We got there expecting everyone to be standing around starving and complaining that we were late (as usual thanks to me) and only Curt was there! We hung around with him awhile and in the meantime Brian and Mike arrived. Later the Lamberts and the Wright's came. It was so fun to see everyone and I could not believe how much we had all changed over the years! I think I was nostalgic due to it being Gary and my anniversary weekend. We all looked pretty much the same but 3 of 'the guys' had kids there! We had to leave when it got dark to get Tyler back and to bed at a reasonable hour. Even with the shorter drive back, and a quick bath he still was up past 10! He finally was settled in his bed (not yet sleeping of course) and Grace in hers (we actually all had baths!) Gary left to go to Walmart to see about getting the last Harry Potter Book. He got there a little before 11 and found that it would be a waste to drive back to the hotel so he got an arm band and hung out waiting. I had him be sure to call Marie to let her know they had them there. He also got me a couple posters and bookmarks. We figured the Walmart had about a thousand books and they had arm bands you got to reserve your book. Of course Gary wandered around walmart for an hour and when he went back to get in line there were lots of people in front of him even though he'd been over an hour early and they were in the first of 4 bags of bands. He says he kind of slipped in line which helped him get back to me earlier but probably irritated quite a few people behind him! Anyways, I got it! I wanted SO badly to start reading it but i was also afraid. I was SURE Harry would die and really didn't want him to so I felt the best way to keep him alive was to not read. Plus I knew I'd never have time in the next day to read because I get carsick when I read so I refrained. I made Gary hide it across the room even. :) We were in bed around 1:30 and let me tell you Hampton Inn has the absolute best rooms and beds. The bed, pillows and even bedding were WONDERFUL!!!! The best part- FREE ROOM!!! We decided to consider this our anniversary present. :)
Saturday morning I woke to Grace needing to be fed and I did. Then I got her dressed and re-settled in her bed, showered, got ready -makeup even! - got Tyler up and pottied and dressed, and took him to breakfast before Gary showed signs of life! We got on the road around 9:30 and made good time till our stop for lunch, had lunch meat sandwiches again, and kept on trekking. We were starting to think we'd make it before dinner when things started going a little haywire. We hit some major traffic and Gary's patience began to loosen and we tried getting off the highway and 'winging it' I was half asleep and in asking what was going on must have confused Gary because we went the wrong way. In finding our way around Tyler FINALLY surrendered to being tired and we stopped at Wendy's for a sandwich saving his till he woke up. We got back on track and figured we probably just wasted time instead of making up time but at least Gary felt we were moving and his mood improved. We made one last stop a the last rest area before the bridge to the Outer Banks so I could feed Grace and go to the bathroom and Tyler could eat. We figured we'd make it to the house in another hour but having Grace miss a feeding and scream for that hour would have been a disaster. Thankfully we stopped because even though there had been SO little traffic since the detour we suddenly, within a mile of the rest area, were in stop and go traffic all the way to the bridge, across the bridge and up to Carolla. It was miserable. That stretch took us almost 3 hours. (On the way home we did the same miles in 64 minutes) Grace cried most of the time from the rest stop to the house. We finally got to the house around 8:30 which means we were in the car almost 12 hours with two kids under 3. Yeah us! Thankfully we both kept our patience for the most part.
We got to the house, unloaded, fed Grace and let Tyler relax a little and then we made a really fast trip up to the dune to see the Ocean and the beach for the first time. It was getting dark and as always, after climbing the 30 or so stairs to the top of the dune it just takes my breath away. The Ocean. There's just something about the beach and ocean that is Holy to me. I feel most connected to God and his creation there. Across that Ocean is whole other countries full of people living and working, thinking and believing.... in that Ocean are beautiful animals created by God, many we know about and I dare say most we don't. Waves that move to his hand, each drop important, each grain of sand important... the romance of it.... I just love it! I wanted so badly for Tyler to love it and the next day would prove God had answered that prayer! We went to bed early because even though we had sat all day, we were exhausted!
Sunday morning we got up and ate and got unpacked and organized... some. Gary hit the store for milk and checked out the new coffee and smoothie shop (something for both of us!) where they apparently had one worker and a line out the door. He said as he was entering a man left mumbling something about “a half hour later” so we didn't get anything that morning. That was our first sign we were officially in the Outer Banks! The concept of time and deadlines is completely lost. You only need to know what time it is if you are going somewhere that might be closed! Tyler and I were playing in the sand and on the swing under the house when Gary's parents arrived. Tyler was SO excited!!! We helped them unload, had lunch and Tyler got his nap and then we went out to dinner at The Tomato Patch. The Haywoods got there late that night after fighting traffic as well and Tyler and Marta got right into the spirit of vacation by playing hard! Tyler was very overtired and very wound up and overstimulated so it was a nightmare getting him to bed. He screamed and threw a tantrum, something he does so rarely it completely unnerves us! Finally, with help of Tylenol, he fell asleep.
In the morning we managed to get up and eat breakfast and get to the beach for a full morning. We came back to the house for lunch and naps, then back after nap to the beach, and back to the house for dinner! We did this most days. Wednesday we went to Manteo to visit the Aquarium which Tyler really loved too. That evening the Bush's watched the kids for us so Gary and I could go out. We find a little sandwich shop with literally no one in it and we got meals and a drink to share, walked around the shops and got a small Thank-You gift for the Bush's to thank them for bringing us and for allowing us to use their hotel points to get that room on the way down. We finished the night with coffee for him and a smoothie for me from that shop Gary visited the first day.
Tyler is an official beach bum. It was too hot for Grace to be out very much but three mornings she was out with us, under the shade in her car seat. She slept mostly and ate a little from a bottle when she was thirsty and I thought she did just fine. Gary's more concerned about her getting hot than I am. Most days I stayed in with the kids while Gary went back to the beach to keep his dad company. Some days we went back after nap, some days we didn't. We tried to go out for walks but most nights it just didn't happen. Tyler was really good about wearing his water shoes all week as well as a t-shirt, a hat and his life jacket when he was in the water. He rode the boogy (sp?) board a few times but mostly just like to sit on his bottom in the sand and let the waves come up over his legs. Sometimes he sat in a chair and did the same. He LOVED to push his dump truck down on the packed sand looking for rocks and shells, sometimes saving them, mostly throwing them back in. He loved digging in the lose sand up by the umbrellas, making smaller castles with us but mostly castle work was too tedious for him. Sitting still, I think, made him realize how tired he was from all that hard work! By the end of the week he was jumping into the edges of waves (3-4 inches deep) face/tummy first, looking up and yelling with laughter. He was always upset to go back to the house and the first one, other than Pops, to ask to go in the morning.
I think by the end of the week he was ready to come home. He slept well all week in his Thomas bed and on Thursday night began asking about his house, his big boy bed, his other toys and his backyard with grass. Thursday afternoon and Friday he had to be carried a lot more because the walk to and from the beach, the stairs, and the sand walking was finally getting to him. He was So good all the way home too. He seemed to enjoy the quiet of the car and when he got tired of it was content to yap our ears out and didn't want to get out and run much, which was such a blessing! The Bush's had decided to do the trip home in two days and let us stay at a hotel with them. What a blessing!!!!! We made great time even though we hit some traffic. At the hotel we went swimming which Tyler loved and then out to eat, to a grocery store and then back to the hotel. Tyler played so nicely in the room with his cars and other toys. He didn't fall asleep until after 10 but when it was time to get in bed, he did stay in bed, and he stayed quiet.
Around 1 in the morning Grace woke to eat and while I was feeding her I felt a small something on the back of her head near the neck and thought it was apiece of dirt or something and tried to slide it out of her hair. It didn't slide so I thought it might be a scab and immediately wondered how on earth she could have a scab and me not know she's been cut or pierced enough to have one so I looked at it and scraped it a bit with my fingernail and realized that the majority of it was moving, but at one point it was securely stuck to her skin. My next reaction was TICK! I ran to the bathroom and threw on the light and sure enough, it was a bug. It wasn't' all ballooned like a tick that had been sucking but it was a brown round mass with 6 little 'legs' on it. I FREAKED! I tried to act calm but inside I was terrified. I woke up Stephanie, which in God's great humor was hard to do because for the first nigh tof the entire vacation she was actually sleeping soundly! Finally she woke, couldn't tell what it was but pulled it out while I held Grace. Gary woke up in the commotion as did Tyler. Tyler's cries woke up Pops who came to check as well. Gary got Tyler back to sleep pretty quickly and came in too. It would have been hysterical with the 5 of us in there had I not been backing out and getting hot flashes and nauseas. Pops checked it and thought too it might be a tick because he had had one on him earlier that day! Then Stephanie and i were both FREAKING that the hotel was infested and they were in the beds and crawling all over us. Every time someone in the room moved the rest of the night, especially Grace, I was wide awake, Stephanie said she was up for a few hours before falling asleep again too. (A check at the Doctor Tuesday would indicate everything was fine with Grace by the way. Most likely I found it just in time to keep it from getting anything into her or out of her.)
The next morning we got up and left for the final leg of our trip. This was the worst because it made it a reality that we were going home, tomorrow Gary would go back to work, and vacation would be over. We made decent time home stopping only a couple times, hitting only one detour and me getting sick mostly only in PA and over the Ohio line. I was struck, as i was on the way down, at how many people's houses we were literally minutes from and didn't stop. That made me so sad. Maybe someday we'll make it a several week trip and stop along the way at friends and families houses and see some of the historical places along the way... battlefields and such which I am sure Tyler will like since Gary's into all that. It won't be long before Tyler's playing war right? As I finally finish writing this it's Friday which means we've been home 5 full days now. I'm still recovering, Tyler's still re-adjusting and there are still clothes in the suitcase! How embarrassing! I'm sure there is so much I'm forgetting (believe it or not)!!! Our 7th trip together to the Outer Banks and even though the trip has changed drastically since the beginning, it still was wonderful!!

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