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!