Induction Day

November 7: We were scheduled for an induction due to the gestational diabetes and the dr was worried about the size of the baby. I was scheduled for the induction at 6am.  I didnt know really what to expect other than I was going to the hospital and the induction would be started to get my labor going. The nurses administered 2 ivs which I hated. I felt like I had to be so carefull not to pull them out and boy did it hurt getting them put in. One iv was for fluids and the other was for the insulin just to keep my blood sugars under control. Dr. R wanted to do the gel pill induction before pitocin because I wasnt dilated and my cervix wasnt ripe yet. The way that the gel pill worked is the pill was inserted behind my cervix. Only 1 pill could be inserted every 4 hours. Talk about a long process.  I did not want to be couped up in a hospital bed so we walked around the L & D ward. I was not dilated at all! After 5 pills at 12am on the 8th of November I was only 1-2cm.

November 8: 12am....Dr R had just broke my bag of waters which was a very weird experience in its self and immediately brought on some pretty uncomfortable contractions. Imagine being able to breath comfortably and then it hits you like a ton of bricks.  It was too early for the epidural and I was so tired so the nurses were able to give me a small dosage of demerol which knocked me on my butt. I was out of it. It was almost as if I could hear everyone around me, but I could not respond. Not a great feeling, but I slept.

 Next thing I knew it was 7am and the demerol was not working what so ever. My contractions were at a pain level of 9 and I was dilated to about a 5. The epidural was the only thing on my mind. The anethesiologist finally got there and he had some trouble getting the epidural cath in my spinal column. Finally he got it and like magic all the pain was gone and I went right back to sleep.

About 9:40am the nurse came in to turn me over and she decided to check me. She could see Trevor's head and told me not to sneeze, breathe or move. If I did, I would have the baby on my own. I was slightly panicked as Steve had just left to go home to get the camera. My inlaws ran downstairs to get him. Dr R almost didnt make it. He was at the Kissimmee office and I was about 20 minutes away. He made it in 10 minutes. The room was full of so many people for Trevor's birthday. Since I was a gestational diabetic and there was some concern over Trevor's blood sugars, the nursery brought in 3 nurses. My nurse asked if I minded 3 female students to watch the birth. I didnt much care at that point. Then at my head was Steve and to his right were the camcorder on a tripod and my mom and Steves mom. The deal was they could be in there, but had to stay behind me.

Dr R came in got his gear on, they got me all ready and he said when I tell you to push I want you to push really good. I seriously couldnt feel a thing. I was so numb. When he said push push push push push, I just did even though I could feel anything. I pushed 5 times and that was all it took to bring our little man into the world. At 10:18am on November 8th, 2002 Dr R held him up, let Steve cut the cord and then Trevor was passed over to the nursery nurses. He cried a lot and the whole time and I was thinking, JUST GIVE ME MY BABY! I wanted to hold him and see him. He had been a part of me for 9 months. Those few minutes seemed like eternity. Then they passed him to me and I fell in love. He wimpered a little, but for the most part was very quiet once he was placed in my arms. I remember looking up at Steve in amazement that we made this perfect little person. Trevor's testing wasnt done and his blood sugars were dropping so he was taken to the nursery.

When they brought him back to me the first thing I did was strip his clothes off. I wanted to count his toes and see whose feet he had. I wanted to take in every single inch of his little body. It may sound weird, but I couldnt wait to know every inch of him. He smelled so perfect. Even before his first bath he smelled just like a baby. He had dark hair and a beautiful complexion. The one thing we could not get over is the fact that he  had HUGE hunds. He got his hands from the Joy side of the family for sure.  We had many visitors that first day. Being that he was the first grandchild the grandparents couldnt get enough of him.

I could of not have asked for a better experience. My mom asked me if I could do it all again the next day and I remember telling her heck ya. It was a breeze. I just thanked God that our baby was born healthy. We were finally our own little family.

November 2002

November 1: Well only 8 more days and we will be having a baby. I am getting anxious and somewhat scared. I know everything will be fine, but its scary not knowing what to expect or whats going to happen.

November 4: Today Dr. R sent me to the hospital to be evaluated since I was having some pretty bad swelling. I was for sure that they would go ahead with the induction, but Dr. R wants to be positive that the baby is as close to full term as possible. He does want me to be on bedrest till Thursday.

November 7: The induction is today at 6am. I have all of these emotions that I just cant explain. From anxious to excited. I have waited so long for this.

October 2002

October 1: Lastnight we started Lamaze. I hope it helps Steve to get a little more into the delivery. He is a bit squimish. I dont blame him. My body is going to be doing all the work. I am a little scared myself, but this baby has to come out one way or another!

October 4: Today was my sono. Trevor weighed 5 pounds. He is a bug boy. His abdomen measurements put me at 34 weeks and 5 days, 2 weeks ahead. Joseph(the sono tech) said we will have to watch him to make sure he doesnt get too big too fast which is common for gest diabetes babies. I have a dr appt on Mon. so we will know more then. Trevor has had the hiccups every morning this week. Even Steve felt them.

October 11: Well this week was pretty eventful. MOnday at my drs appt he decided to put me on insulin so Thursday I started giving myself the insulin shots.  I guess I am pretty good at it. Its amazing what you can out your mind to doing for the sake of your child. I never thought I could give myself shots. I feel like this has made me a stronger person. I just want Trevor to be healthy. Thats my goal. A strong healthy baby boy.

October 25: We only have 2 more weeks left since Dr. R isnt letting me go past 38 weeks. I hope Trevor doesnt get much bigger. It feels like my rib cage is sitting on his little bottom.

September 2002

September: I didnt journal a lot this month. I had a lot going on. This was when I found out that I was a gestational diabetic. I think that my mind was really occupied with the worry of that.

September 19: I think Trevor is ready to come out. I have had contractions everyday this week.

September 20: We went to Pointe Orlando to see a movie and I was having some real bad contractions. I could barely walk to the car after the movie. They last for about 3 hours and then just stopped. If these contractions are only practice, I cant imagine what the real ones will feel like.

August 2002

August 13: Wow! The third trimester! I cant believe it. Where has time gone. This weekend was spent in Lousiana. It was time to take my brother and sister back to my parents from staying the summer with us. We celebrated my mom and I's bdays. To think the next time I see my family Trevor will be here. My mom brought me Trevor's baby book and I absolutely love it and cant wait to fill it all out. He is so active! Especially at night! Sometimes he wakes me up in the middle of the night. I love to feel him move. I know he is growing strong. On the 11th I could see my stomach moving as he moved. That was weird. Like I had an alien in there. I try to involve Steve as much as I can. I am sure this is weird for him. I hope he is excited. I know he wants Trevor to be here already. Its hard for Steve to grow a bond with Trevor while he is in my belly. Steve is going to be a great father. I just know it.

 August 23: 7 months today! Time has flown. In 3 months from today we will be meeting our little boy. I am getting so anxious. I want to set up his nursery and get everything ready for his arrival. I also cant wait for my baby showers from work and then my shower April is throwing. So many things are happening.

August 30: Its amazing the love that I am beginning to feel for Trevor. I guess I have finally realized that a baby will be entering our lives soon. I cant wait to be a mother. I cant imagine the love I will feel for him when I get to hold him for the first time in my arms.

June 2002

June: Figuring out what to name the baby has been so hard to agree on. We already had a girl name chosen, but not a boy. My mom called today and said that she had an idea for a name. She said Trevor. I liked it and mentioned it to Steve and he liked it a lot too. So Trevor Ray will be our little bundle of Joys name! I hope he looks like a Trevor.

June 26: The baby is starting to move a lot! I cant wait till Steve can feel him move too. I am getting very excited! I want to see Trevor. I want to smell his soft baby skin. Babies always smell so good. I hope he is cute like Steve was when he was born. I guess I am really starting to show now. Aunt Stef came over tonight and she couldnt believe it! Only one more week till we see mom and dad. I cant wait.

May 2002

May 3: I am so excited! Today we are leaving to meet my family in Mississippi cause Dad is buying Steve's Yamaha. I cant wait to see them. We are taking the sono tape and pictures. Moms bringing me some baby stuff she bought. We are going to have so much fun! I also have a doctors appt this morning. Its my 4 week ck up. I cant wait! I had my drs appt and they were unable to get the babies heartbeat on the monitor so they did a sono. The baby was doing somersaults. They said that the baby is more than likely a boy, but we will have to wait and see in July at my 20 week sono. I think I felt the baby move this weekend, but I am not sure.

May 31: Its A BOY!!! We had a sonogram yesterday and sure enough its a boy in there. I am excited! I dont think I really cared what it was just as long as it didnt have 2 heads! He is so precious. He actually looks like a baby now. Thru the whole sono he had his hands in his mouth. He has some long legs too. I cant wait to meet this precious wonder growing inside me.

Cravings: Strawberry Banana Smoothies, Mexican Food, popscicles, candy spree, lemons

April 2002

April 22: I had my sono today and I am 9.2 weeks with a due date of Nov. 23rd. We heard the heartbeat.  It was 168 beats per minute. The baby was moving inside my belly. Its little legs were moving. This is so amazing! I cant believe the baby is so small. I cant even feel it moving. It just amazes me. There is actually a growing baby inside me! I am so happy. :)

Cravings: Snowcones from the ice cream truck, fruit roll ups, olives, lemon ices, mexican food

Pregnancy Journal

I have always been one to keep journals and document things that happen so one day my children can look back on them when I am gone and have a small piece of me. I think that it is so important for them to know how loved they were from the start. I hope that thru my journals and the scrapbooks that I have made for them they will never question the love that I have for them.

One of my best friends, April bought me a pregnancy journal. It was a book that went day by day thru the pregnancy with detailed information on how your baby is growing inside of you. When she was pregnant with her son someone bought one for her, she gave me mine and then when she was pregnant with her daughter, I bought her one. When my Aunt and Cousin Tara were both pregnant I also bought them one. I guess it is a little bit of a tradition and something nice I like to do for friends and family when they are expecting. I loved mine with Trevor and have enjoyed looking back on it thru the years and especially when I was pregnant with Eme. You dont realize just how much you forget. I will be writing actually journal entries for my pregnancy with Trevor.

March 2002- Trevor Chapter 2

March 17, 2002: It was our 1 year wedding anniversary and what better present to wake up to than 4 positive pregnancy tests. Finally our hopes were coming true. We were having a baby! I think Steve was in shock after I took the first test and it was positive. So he had me take 2 more and then took one himself just to make sure they werent defective. We sat down to eat our frozen 1 year old wedding cake and not only were we celebrating our anniversary, but also celebrating the life that was growing inside me.

This is the actual test. It is in a scrapbook so the lines have faded.

Steve's mom wanted us to take a pic holding one of her dolls. The look on Steve's face is so funny! This was after we told her and my father in law that they would be grand parents in 9 months. They were both very excited. I had to tell my parents over the phone. They too couldnt wait. Everyone knew we were trying so I think they were just all waiting for the phone call.

Dancing Queen

Emelyn loves to dance! She dances in the car and is constantly wanting for me to turn the music on in the livingroom to dance to. She spins around and puts her arms in the air. Sometimes the whole family will get involved and dance in the livingroom. Trevor and I will do the tango, then Eme will cut in and we will tango all three of us. Its a lot of fun and something we didnt do till we had Eme.

The other day as I was watching my family dance in the livingroom it was as if I was taken back 26 years to when I was a little girl. Me and my Daddy would dance together in our livingroom all the time. He would let me stand on the top of his feet and he would dance and I would move with him. I remember these times like it was yesterday. Steve carries Eme while he dances with her so it isnt quiet the same, but it was as if I was watching the past repeat its self. To see the tenderness and love that Steve had for Eme in that moment must of been how my Daddy felt letting my tiny feet walk on his as we swayed to the music.

October 2001- Chapter 1 Trevor

October 2001: Steve and I were enjoying our first year being married. We were only 7 months into being married, but had already been trying for a couple of months to start a family. We knew it was something we didnt want to wait on. At my yearly check up that month I mentioned to my dr that we had been trying with no luck. So he did a sonogram to find that I had polycystic ovarian syndrome and my ovaries looked like grapes were hanging off of them. PCOS causes problems with ovulation which can cause fertility issues. I was then sent for some bloodwork and Steve was sent to have his swimmers checked. All was fine with Steve and I was the one who was causing the hold up. With my doctors advise we decided to try clomid which is a fertility pill. I would take the Clomid at the first of my cycle then 7 days later they would do a sonogram to make sure I was ready to ovulate. I would then receive an HCG injection which was a hormone to make the egg release. We would then go home and "TRY" to have a baby. The process felt very un-natural and was often finished at the end of the month with us feeling let down.

End of January 2002: January was the 3rd month on the fertility treatments and the doctor wanted for us to take a break in February. Take a break from the fertility, but to keep trying right around the time I should be ovulating. If this didnt work our next step was 3 more months of fertility then invitro.

February 2002: This month was our break. We just relaxed and had fun, didnt worry at all about "TRYING". Valentines was fun. We went out to dinner. Nothing really fancy. We kept it low key because we knew our 1 year wedding anniversary was the following month.

First week in March: My monthly friend didnt make its appearance like normal. So being that I worked at my gyn office, I had a nurse friend do a pregnancy test which was negative. She told me to wait a couple of days and check back if no monthly friend. 3 days later same thing happened. So we did a HCG qualitive test which tests the level of pregnancy hormone in your blood. The level is suppose to double every couple of days. It showed 0. I waited a week in agony with no monthly friend. I took another pregnancy urine test which was negative and same with the blood test. At this point I was just frustrated. The weekend was coming and we had family in town and would be celebrating our 1 year wedding anniversary on the 17th. So I vowed to just relax, my period wasnt coming cause I was stressed. We had a fun weekend. We went to Clearwater Beach and just enjoyed having family in town. That evening we went out to dinner at Olive Garden. I ordered a glass of wine and took a sip and immediately felt tipsy. I thought "this is odd". Then after dinner I had the worse heartburn even which was also odd and something I had never experienced. I had Steve stop in the way home at Walmart and we bought some preg tests.

At a beach side restaurant in Clearwater.

Olive Garden Anniversary Dinner

To Be Continued------->

Stories to Tell....

I plan to start blogging a little on how our babies were brought into our family.  Wait! That sounded funny! We all know how that happened, but I mean the story of them. I love to tell my labor stories and reminesce.  I may even go as far back to tell how we decided to have them. Not sure yet. I also have a journal from when I was pregnant with both kids. I may even go that far. I do wish that I had the blog back then to document every month, but its never too late. So watch for more stories to come........maybe one day the kids will like to read them.

It's all kinds of these profound things crashing on you when your child arrives into the world. It'like you've met your reason to live. - Johnny Depp

 

It is amazing the journey that a Loggerhead Sea Turtle takes in its life. And this, is where it all starts.  It starts with a momma turtle taking her precious eggs to the shore where she has to leave them in a clutch of sand and hope that they will make it to the next stage in their life. She comes a shore in the middle of the night with one goal in mind, to get her eggs to the sand dune where she will spend 45 minutes to an hour making a nest strong enough to withstand predators like crabs and racoons...oh and dont forget mankind. 

  Once she is sure she has covered her nest thoroughly she heads back for the sea.  It was dark when she set shell on sand and now the sun is just starting to rise. 

 Seeing the turtle tracks and nests in Melbourne reminded me so much of being a mom myself.  Moms tend to give so much of themselves for their children. It amazes me how the life cycle of a turtle parallels with being a mother.  We spend endless amounts of time taking care of our children and teaching them.  We would go to the ends of the earth to protect our children. Then before we know it they are grown and it is time for them to leave the nest. I just hope when that time comes that I can be as strong as the mother loggerhead turtle and let my hatchlings emerge from their nest and enter the world with everything I have taught them.         

                                                                           

2nd Grade

Every year it is tradition on the first day of school to get a picture of Trevor. This year however I was rushing to get us both out the door on time so I wasnt late myself. So this picture was taken with my cellphone. The batteries in the camera crapped out. 

I did get to walk him to class which is something I would have not done. I mean it is 2nd grade and he reminds me on at least a daily basis that he is a big boy. But he had so much school supplies to take in and his backpack was already so heavy. 

2nd Grade already? It doesnt seem right. Like maybe we skipped a year or something. I know from here on out the time will fly and he will be going into middle school. He has a great teacher this year who is suppose to bring out the best in him and hopefully he wont be bored this year. God bless her. I pray she entices his brain in some way. Looks like she will though. No worries yet.

Goodbye Summer

Seems like this summer just flew by. I didnt want to let this summer go already. Even with Trevor starting school....it still didnt quite feel like the summer was ending. Even after going to the beach this weekend and enjoying a nice night in Melbourne, it still didnt feel like Fall was approaching. This morning though as I was letting the dogs out I realized that our beautiful tree with the white blooms had leaves turning colors and we also had some leaves in the backyard. Also while we were driving to the beach I noticed the fall colors on the trees.

So I guess it is time to say goodbye to summer 2010. We didn't do much this summer and weren't able to travel much, but the time we spent together as a family was enjoyable.

Gone Too Soon

A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than you love yourself.  ~Josh Billings

 His eyes

 It was almost as if he had a human inside of him. The kindness in his eyes was not often found in other dogs.

Unconditional Love

He was Trevor's best friend. When Trevor was afraid to walk in a dark room, he would always take Maxi with him. I remember when we brought Eme home from the hospital and he would lay by her crib. 

My dog too.....not only was he a great companion for the kids, but I also loved him too. Whether he was laying on the floor beside my bed or under my feet keeping them warm, he was always there. I will miss watching him jump in circles outside looking for birds to bark at or running his cold nose along my leg. Maxi you will be missed, but if All Dogs Go To Heaven......I know forsure God will let you in. We love you friend!

Summer is here.....

The tans will fade, but the memories will last forever.

I have always loved the summer. I love to go swimming and there is something about the sun shining on your face.  Its the time of year that we go to the beach and bbq in the backyard. I love the afternoon rain showers that soak central Florida.  More than anything I enjoy having Trevor home from school.  

I didnt get around to blogging much in the month of June.  Once Trevor's first grade year ended we have been going non stop. I returned home from San Angelo for my visit and to see Skyla graduate and it seems like we are already in July and I am going WHHHOOAAA! hold up let me just figure out where June went! I guess a good reason the month flew by is that we were having fun.  I like having fun, but hope the rest of this summer doesnt pass so quickly that I dont know where it went. That seems to be the story of my life.

Captain Pantyhose

Children change so fast and it seems that one day they like something and the next they dont. I hope that isnt the case with Trevor's imagination.  These days there are so many children glued to the tv or their hand held games.  Trevor he has never been on of those kids...well unless he is sick and confined to the couch.  It seems as though his imagination is constantly at work.  Captain Pantyhose was something that came straight from his imagination!

He came to me and said mom can we cut a hole out of your panty hose. This took me by surprise, but I had a brand new pair of panty hose that I probably was never going to wear. I hate them things! So I found them and he asked me to cut the foot area out. Then he placed it over his head like a bank robber. He made funny poses and ran around the house. Then later that afternoon we were playing in the back yard and he went in the house and came back with the panty hose on his head and a cap on. He got on his razor scooter and rode it around the yard. He came around the corner of the house and the air would catch his cape and we would say TRALALALA. Thats what Captain Underpants says. The Underpant series is one of Trevor's favorites. If all that wasnt funny enough he took his shorts off and tried it in his underware. I love this kid! Always making me laugh!

Make it Fit.......

Emelyn loves shoes. I am not sure if this is because she is a girl or that we have just always put shoes on her. This morning she went into her room and returned with a pair of shoes that she has outgrown that I had put in the closet to give away. She handed the shoes to me and climbed on the couch. I told her that they didnt fit, but she insisted I put them on. As I was squeezing her chubby little feet into them I got a image in my head of the prince's servant going thru the town looking for the foot that fit the glass slipper and all those feet that just would not fit into it. Emelyn wanted to wear those Navy blue shoes with the red bow on top just as bad as all those ladies in Cinderella wanted the glass slipper to fit them. I would squeeze her chubby foot in and she would walk around and come back to me to take them off. This went on 2 or 3 times until she gave up. I now know how it would feel to be the person trying to make all those chubby feet fit into the glass slipper.

~CaveWoman~

Cavewoman: A cavewoman is a female who lives in a cave or exhibits uncivilized behavior.

Poor little Emelyn. She is really trying to talk and has some words we can understand. She also has her own little language which I call mumbo jumbo with some words you can understand mixed in here and there. Steve and I both have on numerous occasions called her a cave woman. No she doesnt live in a cave and doesn't exhibit uncivilized behavior......well.....not too bad. I have seen her put her finger in her nose, but that could be cause she has seen Trevor do it or maybe she just found that he finger fits in there. The reason we have called her a cave woman is her lack of using her words. In the last 2 weeks though she has said more words...... thank you is hank eww, cracker is racker, kisses is isses, and then there are the other words she was already saying like outside, dad, daddy, mom, momma, bubba, dog and I am sure there are others. It is as if she is just listening, taking it all in.  You can tell her to pick her toys up and she does it or go get her shoes and she will. She will choose between juice and milk by pointing to them.  She grabbed Steve's hand today and took him to the back door and said something something something outside. Another words she wanted him to take her outside. But like a cave woman there is intermittent grunting for certain things. If you ask her if she wants something she doesn't say yes, she says ugh and you repeat do you want this, yes and you get a ugh. It is hard not to compare her to Trevor who talked in sentences at this age. I know it is in there waiting to come out and when she does start talking, I am positive she wont stop. Oh and in regards to the uncivilized behavior...does pulling her diaper off at nap time and sleeping naked count as uncivilized? Oh well....whatever if it does. She can be a nudest just as long as she talks soon! ;)

Childhood is a promise that is never kept. ~Ken Hill

As my baby sister's high school graduation approaches I have conflicted feelings. On one hand I am so happy that she is graduating from high school with honors and has a wonderful future ahead of her. On the other hand I cant believe that this moment has come so quickly.  I know that my time with my babies is so short, but this really puts things into perspective.
There are 11 years between her and I. You dont think that is such a long time, but for siblings it really is. I mean I have and will experience everything in life 11 years before her. It makes it so very hard to be a sister and to have a close relationship. However I feel that we are very close, but many times I have had to take a step back and remember to keep the role of sister and not mother. That has been very hard at times. I will always cherish time like when I sat with her in the bathroom when she was 3 years old and couldnt go for close to 30 minutes and read her a book, I picked her up from kindergarten in my "cool" convertible, watched Barney and Wishbone countless times, was the first one to paint her toe nails and curl her hair, she knows my deepest darkest secrets and I am pretty sure I know hers, I helped her thru this summers relationship which almost broke her(something I never thought would happen;shes the strong one), and we went together when she got her first tattoo. This really is just the beginning. So many more things are to come......a wedding, babies, college graduation, and many more decisions. I just hope that I am the one she goes to for advice.
Skyla......you will always be my baby sister, no one can take your place. I will be here for you NO matter what. Its hard to believe close to 20 years ago I wished on a star for a baby sister and my wish came true. That wish is you! I love you and cant wait to see you this weekend to see you walk across that stage. Everyone else may see a woman walk across the stage for her diploma, but I will see that little girl who used to follow my every move. I LOVE YOU!

18 months...REALLY?

Yeah its true. Emelyn is 18 months old and will soon be turning 19 months on the 21st of May. I had a friend ask me at what point do we stop counting the months and just say the year. I have thought about that and my answer is.......when I cant add anymore! HA! Probably once she hits 2! I mean do you really hear anyone say oh my chil is 37 months old? No! Not really.

18 months and her personality is just blossoming. They say spring showers bring May flowers, but in this family its a little girl that is blossoming and flowers would be nice since she ♥ them.  Some new accomplishments are:

*Saying give me(out of frustration when T has what she wants), cheese, whats this, whats that and some very interesting jibberish.

*Using a fork and quiet well I must say

*Running

*Interest in skateboards

* Loves her Teddy that was given to her by Noah's Ark Animal Workshop- They do at home Build a Bear type work shops. We call him Teddy

* 2 new teeth on top and 2 more that will poke thru soon

* A love for Barney, Sesame Street and Smurfs

* It doesnt look like she will be giving up the binkie or get potty trained anytime soon. But whatever....whenever she is ready, then I will be ready too.

*Copying Michael Jackson sounds from the TV

* Love Love Loves the beach, pool, bath....any water

Never does a day pass that she doesnt make it interesting. I feel that it is all just passing me right by. I am doing my best to just soak it all in. I will never get these days back again. I may be able to see them on video, but in person is so much better.

Saving the Polar Bears!

We recently saw a video on how the global warming is killing the polar bears. This video really bothered Trevor and he asked how we could stop global warming.  He started out small by not littering.  I came up with the idea of recycling. So we are now a recycling household.  Our sanitation company doesnt offer recycling so it is a little work.  We have to put everything seperated into the bins and then once a month take the bins to the dump by Trevor's school.  Its a small price to pay for saving the polar bears. Dont ya think???

Last 9 Years!!!!

Just a few things Steve has taught me in the last 9 years!

*How to take a Harley Davidson Sportster apart and put it back together.

*No matter where we live all that matters is we are together.

*How to forgive.

*When you reach speeds near 110 in a Ford Mustang it feels like you are floating ;).

*You wont blow out a sliding glass door in the middle of a hurricane.

*Some things are just possessions. Good to remind yourself of when your car is stolen out of your driveway.

*Sitting in a quiet ICU hospital room listening to your husband sleep and waiting for him to wake up isnt fun at all.  It was then I knew I needed him ♥forever♥.

*Even when times get tough he wont leave.

*A motorcycle ride to Biketoberfest in freezing rainy weather can be fun.

*A strong man can go weak in the knees by seeing an epidural shot.

*Time changes people.

*Sometime sacrifices have to be made.

*Winging it can turn into an adventure.

*A proposal in a Walmart parking lot is definitely memorable.

*Two people can fit into the smallest places.

*Grocery shopping can be fun.

*There is something so sweet about seeing your husband paint your daughter's toe nails.

*Grass isnt greener on the other side.

*Silence can be a good a thing.

*You have insurance on a vehicle for a reason.(so it can be stolen)

*Money doesnt equal happiness, but when you have it you sure are happy!

*There is a big kid inside of every grown man.

*A hug can do wonders.

*You can catch a fish with a cigarette butt.

*You can get sick on a boat in the wake zone.

When I asked him what he has learned from me in the last 9 years he said "I cant put everything into words. but its been a lot, baby."

Winging it

As most of my friends and family know, I am a master planner. I plan everything almost to the point that it is a fault of mine and a little but ocd. But I love to plan trips and be prepared. I dont have to have everyting planned, but at least like to know where I will be laying my head down and what the place looks like.

When our anniversary rolled around last week and Steve wanted to wing it I wasnt all that thrilled and I still did some behind the scenes preparing. Not so much planning, but I had an idea of where we were going and what is would cost us. You cant just go into something blind. Especially when you are on a budget and a tight one at that.

So we set out on our drive to the beach. We reach Melbourne and take a right on A1A in hopes of finding a quiet mom and pop hotel. We came to a few places that had no vacancy and decided after the 6th place to turn around and head back towards the north. Thats when we came across the Sea View Motel which had its own private beach and no one on either side of them. This place was perfect, but no rooms available. We will def go back there this summer with the kids. About when I was ready to give up we pulled up to the Windermere Inn By The Sea a bed and breakfast. I just knew we would not be able to afford this place. We went in and they had rooms and were in our budget. The place was so nice and we enjoyed tea time and breakfast there the next morning. It turned out to be a great weekend and we even found a place to come back to to bring the whole family.

Winging it turned out to be great and a nice little adventure. I was proud of myself too for not getting upset when all we were getting was no's.

Building a Home Planning Notebook

Building a Home Planning Notebook......

This is a great idea!!!!! I think I am even going to give it a try. I have SO many lists here and there. This might actually be a great way to stay organized. Thanks to Lindsay at her Passionate Homemaking blog!

Rocking

I spent the last hour and a half rocking a very sick little girl. Emelyn has had what seems to be the stomach virus since yesterday. She woke up about 11:30am and she was smiling when I went in to get her from her nap so I thought for sure she was feeling better. She drank 3 sippies of pedialyte and had some cherrios. She did manage to keep it all down, but had a poopy diaper that was of course diarrhea. After changing her diaper we sat in the recliner and she laid with her stomach against mine and just snuggled into me. It is amazing how her little body moulds perfect to mine. As I was rocking her she was getting limper and limper and I could tell that she was sleeping. I was pretty hungry for lunch at that point, but times are few and far between that she will sit in my lap anymore and just snuggle so I took advantage of the moment together. I eventually got up and laid her in her own bed. I was afraid my stomach growling would wake her. Even though I dont like for her to be sick, I must say that I ♥LOVE♥ rocking her.

Video Obsession

Trevor like most kids gets into a thing that he likes and that is all he wants to do and all he talks about. He was a pirate for about 3 years. He had all kinds of pirate costumes, watched POTC and practiced all the sword fighting just like Jack Sparrow, he had every POTC action figure and playset. After the pirate phase it was Indiana Jones. That didnt last long and he was on to Star Wars. The Star Wars obsession was a lot like pirates. He went to Disney with his grandma and rode the Star Wars rides, had to have the Millenium Falcon(the BIG one that opens and the action figures go in), all the action figures, Star Wars movies, clothes and anything else he could find. He doesnt just like toys and things. He also loves guitar, skateboarding and riding his razor scooter. Since the summer when he found out about Michael Jackson he has been obsessed with him. He watches all his videos on You Tube and is making costumes like his. He studies the dance moves and perfects them to a T. It is great and we encourage him to do what he loves.

So now he is wanting me to make videos of him dancing to MJ and riding his scooter. I like to do it. Making and editing the videos has been a lot of fun. The way I look at it. At least we are supporting something he enjoys. We cant afford guitar lessons or dance lessons, but we can be there for him and make these videos. With as fast as the other obsessions went by, we better enjoy it now and get all the video footage we can. Cause tomorrow could come and he may not even turn the MJ music on and dance anymore.

15 1/2 months ALREADY????

I say it oh too often it seems, but time sure is flying by. I cant believe that Emelyn will be 16 months old in a couple short weeks.  This last month her milestones are more like leaps and bounds. It is amazing all the things that she is accomplishing and learning. This was one of my favorite ages with Trevor so I know that with her it is going and already has been great. Here are just a few of my favorite moments from the last month:

*Learning to push the bell on her bicycle. When she first did it, I didnt notice that it was her pushing it cause we have been showing her how to do it for so long and her thumb just wasnt strong enough to push the button.

*Yesterday she said shoes. She took her crocks to Steve so we could go outside to play and she said shoes just as plan as day. Steve and I both looked at each other in complete amazement!

*She brought Steve her sippie cup and said "more juice". Now she hasnt said that since then, but it was neat that she said it. She also can point to the juice or milk in the fridge and tell you which one she wants.

*A new tooth came in on top. Its the middle left. Yeah for a new tooth. That makes 4 total. These things are taken for ever to come in.

*My favorite milestone for the month....well its right up there with saying shoes. She has started playing hide and go seek. She will stand behind the curtain and I will say wheres Eme and she giggles and then when I find her she laughs. She also runs beside the couch and puts her face toward the couch. She thinks if she cant see you, then you cant see her and well, I just play along cause its so darn cute! Its these kind of interactions that I love the most!

*We had our first trip to the ER which was not fun at all. Emelyn was having some issues with asthma and had a full on asthma attack which I was sure she was going to be admitted to the hospital, but after 8 hrs in the ER they were able to get the attack to stop. We now are seeing a Pediatric Pulmonologist tomorrow. I am a little worried cause it sounds scary, but I know that they will be able to better access her.

*She weighed in at 22 pounds and I didnt get her height. That was last week. Her 15 month appt is on Monday so we will see what the dr says then. To see her next to the neighbors baby who is 2 weeks younger than Eme you would think that Emelyn was a lot older. She seems big to me. Then today we saw a 19 month old little girl at the park and Eme and her were the same size. I must say she has a hearty appetite! Finally a child that eats. She makes up for what Trevor wont eat!

Blog Title

When I named my blog, never dull moments just came to me. It wasn't till recently that I realized just how much in conversations that I tell someone that my life is never dull. It really is quiet exciting. Now I dont know if it is exciting because we make it exciting or because our children are so interesting, but it really is never dull! I guess the name fits our life and our blog well!

Couldnt have said it better

This video made me sad that I sometimes wish for times alone. Cause the times with my babies now, will not happen again.

RIP Shalena the hamster

~~~RIP Shalena November 2008-February 2010~~~

Shalena the hamster was bought at Pet Supermarket in November 2008. Trevor Joy became the new owner of her. She was a dark brown teddy bear hamster. Trevor brought her home and we soon learned that she did not like to be squeezed and bit Trevor to show him the correct way to hold her. She enjoyed running in her hamster ball all over the house. But one of her most favorite activites was escaping from her cage in the middle of night to run all thru our house. This led to a few freaked out panicked mornings of looking all over the house for the escapee. Thank God mom has got some great hearing. If it wasnt for her, little Shalena would of cooked under the stove. Shalena also enjoyed running on her hamster wheel all hours of the night. Her most memorable wheel run was the night she kept my sister up from wondering what was scratching in the wall. Little did Skyla know that on the other side of the wall in the living room was Shalena laughing it up as she ran in her wheel.

Shalena will be missed. We will miss that furry smelly little girl. One day we will see you again. Till then....enjoy hamster heaven.

"Is there a heaven?"

While we try to teach our children all about life,
Our children teach us what life is all about.
~Angela Schwindt
Trevor always amazes me, but usually he amazes me by the insight that he has. The way he looks at things and sees them is so not like 7 year old would. He is like a 30 year old in a 7 year old's body.

To tell you this story I will have to jump back to the first of December. Trevor came home and wanted to know if Santa was real. Steve and I always agreed that if he ever asked about Santa, the Easter Bunny or tooth fairy that we would be honest. So we told him and we got the response that wasn't exactly what we wanted to hear. He said "well if Santa isn't real, then how do I know that God is real?". Hearing this made me sad. But the question was sure to be asked and is one of the reasons I didn't want to lie to him about Santa. Whether it's all fun and make believe or not, with a child like Trevor, we were sure to be asked that question about God. We told him that he just had to have faith.

That brings me to faith.....well to be quiet honest we don't go to church every Sunday, but we pray and teach Trevor to do right by others. We have set very strong morals in our children. I was brought up going to church and I believe in God. Steve was not brought up going to church and he often questions the Bible and evolution. That's just Steve and Trevor is a lot like him in that aspect. We did try going to church for about a 2 year period where Steve asked me tons of questions and he was even saved in the church. We ended up not going quiet as often and eventually not at all. Trevor went to a Christian prek for 3 years and Christian values were instilled in him there.

So that brings me to last week when Steve and Trevor were playing in the backyard. Steve notices that Trevor is digging something up and he asks him what he is doing. Trevor tells him that he buried a dead frog in the dirt a couple of days before and if the frog is gone, then there is a heaven and a God. Well you know what happened next, Trevor came to the frog who was still there dead. He covered him back up with dirt and patted it down and said "We will wait a couple more days.". Then he went on playing. Then a few days later he was out again with Steve and went back to that same spot, started digging and he told Steve that he just knew that frog went to heaven. Sure enough the frog was gone. He told Steve, "In there was heaven and a God and thats where the frog went." Steve asked him if that was enough for him to know there was a heaven and Trevor said "uh, huh." Now you and I both know that the frog would still be there in that same little dirt grave. But by some chance he must of dug in the wrong place. Thank God! He has his faith back. All because of a dead frog.

Potty Ready

We are contemplating starting to potty train Eme. I am pretty sure she is ready. The other day she had a mild diaper rash and I let her run around with just bloomers on to let her hiney air out. She came right to me when she wet the bloomers and was pulling at them like EEEWWW get these off me.

She also watches intently as Steve or I use the restroom. I always tell her "Shhhh, listen for the peepee to go in the potty." And of course she listens.

So we will soon be starting our potty training journey. My mom said that I was potty trained at 13 months so why cant she be potty trained at 14 months?

Addicted

Steve mentions more than once a week that I have an addiction to the computer. I personally am beginning to wonder if I am. I do enjoy surfing the internet and can get completely lost in Facebook, but I can honestly say that I do not sit on the computer while my children are trying to burn down the house and I can go a whole day without turning on the computer. A whole day!
So this evening as I was logging onto Facebook and saw someone post that Johnny Depp had died...oh no worries, this isnt true. As I was saying, as I logged onto Facebook Steve stepped in behind me and went to the tool bar. He clicked on something called Page Addict which pulled a window up that had counted how long I have been on the internet and for how long on each site. Are you kidding me? He said he had just set it up today just to show me in the future how long I spent on the computer in one week. He couldnt keep it from me and had to go ahead and show me. I was shocked and could not believe a site such as this even existed. I was however pleased to see that this evening was my first log in to Facebook and only for 2 minutes.
We will see how this page addict thing goes.

Warm Up Woohoo!

It has finally warmed up from our little cold snap. I didnt think Florida would ever see the snow again. But here we are on day 2 of over 70 degree weather and I could not be happier. I seriously couldnt handle living up north where you are snowed in your home. It put me in such a funk to not be able to leave for the week. I was lucky to have Steve taking Trevor to school so I didnt have to get Emelyn out in the cold and frost.
I do have to admit that I was not aware how used to the climate the plants, animals and people are in Florida. Every yard has brown grass and trees are bare. Iguanas in south Florida were falling out of tree because they were going into hibernation mode. The manatees were all trying to find the warmest water which led to baby manatees being seperated from their mommas and manatees huddling in to canals for warmth. Logerhead turtles were found on the beach with their body temperatures seriously low and Sea World was at capacity for animals. I never looked at Sea World as a place that would put up a No Vacancy sign, but I guess that is what happens when it gets cold for too long. Needless to say, Florida hit record lows and we saw some temperatures that were super low. It was nice for 2 weeks, but let me tell you, I am so relieved it is over.

Happy New Year

2010 has arrived and I sit here and wonder where 2009 went. People tell me that time seems to go quicker when you have 2 children. I didnt think that was true and now a year has gone by and I cant believe it.

This New Year I hadnt even given my New Year's resolution a thought. Since past New Year's resolutions havent worked out so well, I have decided to do things my own way this year. I am not telling anyone what my New Year's resolution is. I am going to keep it to myself as a personal goal. If I come thru on it great and if I dont, well I will just file this one away with all the other failed resolutions, but this time no one knows I failed.