Having a baby changes everything

It's amazing how in twelve hours your whole life changes. This is me Friday June 27th at about 8:30am. i had just gotten home from having a non stress test. I had a feeling that I needed to get this photo of what I looked like pregnant. I was 35 weeks and 3 days. On bedrest (supposedly), I was taking it very easy. Rob had taken the day off work to just chill out and do whatever little errands that had been bugging me because I could not do them.
Fast forward to early evening around 4ish, I had just gotten into my comfy clothes and me and the kids were hanging in the living room watching Cars. Rob was starting to get dinner ready. All of a sudden it felt like someone had unpopped a cork and my water broke.
After rushing into the bathroom I had a huge smile on my face because my pregnancy was finally over, and all the misery it entailed, and I was finally going to see my baby and find out what it was.

Rob's mom came over to get the kids as we grabbed all the last minute things we needed to throw into the hospital bag.

Get to TMC and my water is still leaking, gross I know, and there is a line for Labor and Delivery. I ask politely if everyone is just visiting and one lady said no but looked at me funny. By this time I'm starting to leak on the floor and I'm embarassed because all these people are looking at me. So I say sheepishly that my water broke. The one lady who had said that she was not visiting, whom was actually in labor herself, looked at the security guard who was the only one working and said to get this woman a wheelchair and get her back there. So I was wheeled to the back.
Once they got me back there, they had no rooms so I was put in a little cubbie until they could get me a room. So about 15 minutes or so I was wheeled back up near the front in their traige area. This is where I chilled out until surgery. I must say we had the best nurses that night. We were cracking jokes and just going with the flow. Once I was wheeled into the surgery room I was given a spinal, took him what seemed like forever, and then as I became numb I started to giggle because everything tingled and my lower extremities were now useless. I could feel them rubbing the betadine over my stomach and I just kept giggling because it tickled. Let's just say they liked my in that room because I was so cool about the whole thing.
So I feel a bit of tuggging and then I hear a cry. The doctor brought the baby around so that we could see and they informed us that we had a baby girl. Of course I am now abandoned by Rob so that he must do his duty of getting plenty of pictures.
Welcome to our family, Chelsea Yvonne Ross- 8 pounds, 1 ounce and 18 inches
They asked Rob if he wanted to see my tubal ligation but he opted to go back to the room with our new baby girl. What was interesting to us is that Rob was allowed to carry the baby from the surgery room all the way back to our triage room where my mom was waiting. She wasn't put in a bassinet and pushed like we had at St. Joes.
So after they finished with me I was also wheeled back to our triage room for my recovery. This was the first time Rob got to see me "come down" from the surgery. As I lay there shaking like a chihuahua everyone else was checking out my new bundle of joy. I refused to hold the baby until most of the shaking subsided cause I was nervous about her slipping out of my arms or freaking her out. After about two hours of recovery we were taken to our new room where we would stay until we left Sunday night around 6:30pm. We had plenty of visitors on Saturday and poor me had only gotten about an hour of sleep because the nurses had to keep checking on me, so I was running on pure exhaustion.
So now I'm pretty much recovered and can now sit at the computer more comfortably so I will continue to fill you all in on how things are going. More tomorrow................... pictures coming, blogger is having problems

A real quick update-
As of Monday I am on modified bedrest. I'm only suppose to get up to use the bathroom and to take quick showers. I am 35 weeks along.
When I went in for my NST on Monday I was having contractions and didn't even know it. those contractions lasted for about 5+hours and kinda freaked the doctors out. I'm not dialated at all but they want the baby to cook for a couple of weeks more, hopefully, so I'm now flat on my back. If I do go into hard labor or my water breaks the baby might have to be put into the NICU for tender lovin care but there shouldn't be any major problems. The baby is very active, healthy and strong and I am getting really excited about meeting him/her.
So I better get back to my couch and chill out. Now I really wish I had a laptop. :)
Carrie

Just for posterity

Had the sonogram on Friday. The baby has the chubbiest cheeks, is head down and full of energy. The tech who did the sonogram said that the baby's stomach is measuring at 38 weeks (not good) that the head is at 35-36wks (fine) and that the legs are all on target at 34weeks, which is what I am today. The tech also said that give or take a pound the baby weighs about 6.5lbs. UUmmm... excuse me???
Because of how big this baby is I am now wearing very stylishly a 3 inch wide elastic band that is suppose to support my stomach and ease my pain. It has helped to a degree but when baby wants to kick some ribs I am in agony. The only way for the pain to subside is for me to lay on my left side to take the pressure off.
So I have been put on a very restricted diet to help the baby's tummy to even out some and I have started on my NST's. If they see any fetal or mommy distress I will be thrown in the hospital to be taken care of.
My c-section has been scheduled for Friday july 18th, but Dr. Gardner has pretty much assured me that I won't make it that far. The bets are coming in that it will be around the first week of July.
So that is my update for now. Can't sit up very long or the pain in my ribs gets to bad.
I sure could use a laptop about now.......:)
Love Carrie

Boy did I get a surprise on Saturday.

I had a meeting with my friend Kristina who runs the junior church program and she will be taking over the nursery program while I'm out. So I head over to her house at 4:30 kinda wondering why we are actually having this meeting but I'm getting out of the house so whatever. So Kristina answers the door and I walk in to everyone yelling SURPRISE!!!

Yes I got surprised with a baby shower!

I looked around and started yelling back at them "You Suck, I'm not ready"(I was actually thinking of how the photos were going to turn out for the scrapbook page. sick I know). Here I was, no makeup, in glasses, comfy t-shirt, hair not brushed, but at least I brushed my teeth before I left. Defintely not looking my best at all.

About 8 people showed up for a diaper and wipe shower, we had great Mexican food and had a great time lounging around the pool and having cake and ice cream. I received about 8 packages of size 1 diapers and 2 size 2's, a few containers of wipes and assorted gifts in between. Such a complete surprise but I was very appreciatve of everybody who was there.

There has been a lot going on this week. Starting on Sunday I began to have some contractions, about 10-15 minutes apart for two hours. Of course it was all my fault to begin with as at a dessert auction at church I started to jump up and down during the sale over a Mississippi Mud cake. Hey it's chocolate and really good. But otherwise no more contractions that I know of.

Had a doctors appointment on Wednesday. Dr. Gardner told me I'm to the point that if I go into labor that they wouldn't stop it. Okay, I'm sooo not ready. The crib is not made and the bag is not packed. I have also have been having lots of pain around my ribs and the doctor suggested that I get a belly band to help support my stomach, which has helped to some degree, but I can't sit up straight or walk very far without holding the top of my stomach to ease the pain.

Yesterday mom and I went up to IKEA and I bought the crib bedding and assorted items that I just had to have. I'll take a picture of the bed after I wash and get it put together. Tonight or tomorrow I'm going to wash the baby clothes and pack my bag. Tuesday I will turn 34weeks.

So today I have a sonogram which I'm bringing the kids to so that they can see baby and then this afternoon I will have my first NST or non stress test. This is where they monitor the baby's heartbeat and movement for about an hour. This I will have to do twice a week until delivery.

Okay if you look at the picture closely you will see I just took it while I was blogging. I will have Rob take a better picture later but this is just to give you an idea of how big I am right now. I'm off to the doctors Iwill see you later.

*waving frantically*** I'm here, I'm here!!

Believe me I have had plenty to talk about lately but I've been busy and tired.

Today I said to myself that I NEED to get this done. So let's back track a little shall we??

This is our first week off from school. Yeah !! I spent the last two days of kindergarten with Kelly in her class doing a special project for the moms and dads. I made the sign with my cricut and I took pictures of all her classmates and then printed out the pictures on my new printer (I'll ode later) and put them into cards for all the kids to decorate. They were a big hit.

The next day we; Wyatt, me, daddy and grandmom all had lunch with Kelly and her class. Kelly was so sweet, she took Wyatt around and introduced him to all her friends like Jaydn (pictured here)

K-Jaydn, this is my brother Wyatt

J- I know Kelly I met him before

This is how Kelly look when she was introducing Wyatt, arm around him the whole time, so cute.

I also got pictures of Kelly with Mrs. Watt and with Ms. Kathryn (my favorite)

So after hanging out and saying lots of goodbyes, see ya next year, we took our soon to be first grader home.

So there is that recap. So far this week we have gone swimming once, twice including today, watched movies, played outside and trying to keep busy. I'm planning on making cookies, going to build a bear, arts and crafts, music and dancing. Kelly can sing most of Queens- We Are the Champions. So cool to see some of the changes that she is making. Oh and yeah we need to work on reading.

Ode to Epson

I have a not so secret love. Unfortuantely this love cannot always be consumated, this week I finally got a taste that has me yearning for more.

I had a sweet project to do for Kelly's kindy class and this baby was the star of the show. Ladies and gents I give you....... The Epson Picturemate Dash.

Isn't she cute??

I am a big Epson fan but unfortunately I can't always afford Epson, so I go without. I would have loved to have gotten the Picturemate Zoom but I couldn't find one in town and I didn't have the $200+ at that second, so I bought the next best thing.

I most say I'm in love. The quality is great and most of you know what a print snob I am. When I was printing out the photos for Kelly's class I got so many ooohhhs and aahhhs that it just made my heart feel all warm and fuzzy. Great quality prints and I can print them right now and not wait 1 hour plus for prints or ordering off the net. hehehehe!! I feel like it's christmas!!

Scrapbook layouts look more interesting to me now that I have more printing options. I'm almost stumped with all the cool stuff that is roaming around my brain.

My next Epson buy I would love to have is the R1900 or R2400. Both of these are top quality wide format printers (about $500+) this is great for the photos that I want to print and put on my walls and for the scrapbook pages where I can print right on the 12x12 cardstock.

My other Epson that is on my wish list ( I actually do have a wish list) is a v-something flatbed scanner ($130ish) this I would like to have so that I can scan old photos of my family for scrapbooking and to scan the kids artwork to put on scrap pages.

So on my wish list of 8 things I can now mark off two.

Carrie's Wish list

Canon 24-70L lens $1100

Epson 2400 printer $600

Epson picturemate dash $130 gotcha baby

Epson scanner $130

13'' tv/dvd for scraproom $100 maybe for christmas, on sale??

print out all photos $500 almost done

a cell phone ??? as of last night on the way

a laptop computer ???

typing this list out for posterity in case I lose the hard copy

So everything went well with my two appointments yesterday. My sugars are coming back under control and i haven't gained any weight, also almost all the pain I was having is gone. Thank you Jesus!! That was making me seriously miserable.
At the sono I got to see the baby's heart and the tech said that it looked fantastic. It was so cool to see all the chambers of the heart beating. The baby's stomach is still in the right size range (even with all my cheating) and the little bugger weighs about 2lb and 11oz and it +/- 15 inches long. I was a good girl and told the lady that I didn't know what I was having and didn't want to know. I can't say I'm not curious, but I'm liking the anticipation.
Kelly keeps telling people that she is having a baby sister and her name is Shellshe aka Chelsea. Now we have no idea where she got the name from but Rob said it should be a name that we consider. Ok, considering it.

Funny things kids say-
So both grandmas were over yesterday evening. Kelly and Wyatt are running around playing like banshee's. Kelly comes running into the living room saying that Wyatt is playing on her tv. huh??
It seems Wyatt is turning the tv off and on.
So I tell Kelly to tell Wyatt to stop and that we don't do that with the tv and he knows better.
Kelly then goes back to her room and says to Wyatt, "Stop you foul beast!"
We all look at each other and start laughing. I call Kelly back to the living room and ask her where she had heard that foul beast line before and she said from Hanzel and Gretel, a cartoon that G-mom Ross had at her house.
I'm just glad that this time it wasn't MY fault.

Post #200!!

Okay so last Friday I'm sitting in the house by myself when I hear a noise. It sounded like a tarp being snapped in the wind. No biggie, the wind was really blowing that day. So I look outside and i don't see anything. About 30 minutes later I go to check the mail and this is what I found. Please note the almost perfect semi circle. This is how they fell and lay. Well we were planning to have the tree trimmed when we get that stimulus check. Guess what got moved up to Saturday?? Yup. As I was taking this photo, this guy who had quoted Rob a price for trimming the tree shows up. So I have Rob call him and they make arrangements.
I will now leave it at that because the guy so pissed me off on Saturday that I was in tears and ready to beat him to a pulp. this is the tree before the trim and I haven't taken a recent picture (like you really care anyway) But imagine this tree with 4 palms sticking out of the top.

Mothers Day was very nice. I did pretty much nothing except to watch movies and read some new magazines. Of course the next day I had to do the dishes from Mothers day but that was fine.

Since my breakdown at the doctors office a cuple of weeks ago I have been swimming almost every day and I'm feeling much better. I'm not sure if I will swim today cause it's kinda chilly out and might rain but we will see. Tomorrow I go in for a sonogram so I hope to get some new pictures of baby. I'm trying to eat better and keep my sugars down. I just can't wait to have this little one and get somewhat back to normal.

So here is my BIL Chuck with mom Ross. This was one of the best shots taken and I'm thinking of getting it bigger to give to Mom. Of course Chuck would probably argue because he was tired, dirty and needed a shower. Looks good anyway.


So for those of you waiting to hear about LUBBOCK well........
the proposal went in yesterday and now it's a waiting game to see if the regional wants us to make some adjustments.We upped lots of stuff (salary) and made notes that this was just an estimate and subject to change due to gas prices and whatnot.
So everytime Rob calls my heart skips a beat. So the first part of waiting has begun. If the regional agrees then it goes to corporate and then round two of waiting begins. So I will keep you all posted.
Have a great day.
C

wow! I didn't realize how longs it's been since I posted.

Life has been extremely busy and extremely not so busy. I think I held off posting at first because we had some news that I couldn't share until Rob and I had told our parents.

By now most of you know that there is a possibility that Rob might be transfered to Lubbock Texas. Rob came home from work one day and I was asleep on the couch, so instead of waking my up he hit the net and started house hunting. Once I was awake he told me about his regional asking him if he might be interested. So Rob looks at me and says."are you interested?". Not sure of anything at this point I said lets look it up, and of course Rob had already been looking things up.

After putting the kids to bed we kept doing research, I posted a question on 2peas for the lovely ladies that lived in that area to give us a heads up on stuff. Before we headed to bed that night Rob asked for what felt like the 100th time,"now how are you feeling about it?" Let it sink in dude!! I'm interested but nervous. Within the next few days Rob has a call with the regional who says to draw up a proposal showing how much it's going to cost to get us to move to Lubbock, plus whatever money/raise Rob is wanting, oh and to do it as cheap as possible.

Ummm... yeah I am not going to Uhaul it with a 2-3 month old infant. Not when his boss got a moving company to do all the work and he is married with an 11yr old. So I proceeded to do most of the legwork, for airline tickets(to house hunt) gas for two cars driving, food for 4 of us, hotel for 1 night. start up costs for gas,electric, water, garbage, yada, yada. Then I made Rob do the research for the moving company cost. Lets just say we are up to about $7000 total. So not sure if the company will go for it but with the cost of fuel it seems reasonable. Also we need a clause about what if our house doesn't sell??? Will the company buy it???

The cool thing about texas is that we can buy a house almost DOUBLE our size for less then what our house is worth and for the same if not less than what we are paying now. YEE HAWWWW!

So there is that update.

Headed over to Julie's house last Saturday for a girls scrapping night. I really enjoyed myself and we hope to get together even earlier in the day next time so that we can a) get more done b) spend more time together. It's nice to finally have a group of friends who understand what you are doing and enable you to buy the products that others have brought that you get to try out!! hehehehe (insert evil smiley)

So Robs oldest brother Chuck is in town till this coming Tuesday and when he goes back I will really miss having him here. the kids are just enthralled with him and have gotten to spend lots of time with him and grandmom. At first I wasn't sure if we were going to get along like we did last time he visited. Something about the way he talked and how he talked set my back up bad. So I just kinda sat back and listened to Rob, mom and Chuck talk. Then I said something that I finally realized how ALL the brothers sounded alike but it didn't bother me when Rob sounds arrogant,cause Rob says I know he is right(ass), and the words out of my mouth were to some effect that Chuck was an arrogant ass and reminded me of his brother Terry whom I can't stand. That I know that this is my problem and I'm tyring to work through it. Which I have. Yeah, not very eloquent and somewhat mean but boy was I getting pissy. So since that day everything has been great and we get along fine.

So that has been what's been up the last few weeks. The proposal will go in on Monday and then it's a waiting game. I'm twenty eight weeks along and somewhat miserable already but I have a sono scheduled on May 14th so hopefully baby is doing great. Sure is kicking an awful lot :)

Love Carrie

Happy 11th Anniversary

Last year Rob and I wrote out what we dream will happen in the next 10 years. At the top of the list is 1 more kid-I said 2. Well soon we can mark that off our list. Other things that we wrote out were;
R- a motorcycle
C- go back to school for photography
C- lose 40-80lbs
R- go to New York City for vacation
C- Go to Scotland for vacation
Buy a red couch or chair
Move into a bigger house

I know everything is up to the Lord, and I just pray that our hopes and dreams are on God's list for things to occur.

For my hubby of now 11 years-
Yes it sometimes feels like we've been together forever, but there is no one else that I could even imagine being with. You are the one person chosen for me and I know this all the way down to the core of my soul.
I love you

Funny things kids say....

W- Please, please, please

M- No Wyatt

W- But I said pleeeeeaasse (said in desperation)

M- Just because you say please does not mean you get what you want.

(now repeat Wyatt steps again, and maybe one more time)

K- Mommy will you talk to me (being said after I pick Kelly up from school and she is sitting in the back of the van)

M- Okay, what did you do today?

K- same as every day

M- did you have fun?

K- I don't want to talk about it right now, please don't talk to me, I'll talk about it at home

Seriously, my mouth hit the floor, I was shocked, You asked me to talk to you kid!

Kelly is probably the funniest to me right now because she sounds so "grown up" when she says certain things.

You know when you have your first child you think you will remember every cute thing that child will say or do forever. Honestly, you forget the next day. I'm trying to keep track of some of the funnies and darndest things my kids say because thanks to them, I no longer have a memory.

Now if I could just find out how to print out all this year by year, in a book form.

*** I know more than 3 people read this blog. To post a comment, click on the comment link, if you get the security box click yes, type what you want to say and under indentity you can just remain anonymous by clicking on the circle. then click post. ****

I would really like more opinions please, thankyou

24 weeks today!
I'll update later with a picture. Feeling overall fairly good. I have noticed that doing some things are getting more uncomfortable. You know like bending over when your sitting down, climbing into bed and even rollong over, I've noticed an awkwardness.
Today I was at the grocery store and I started to get uncomfortable pushing the cart the heavier it got, so I finished up and got out of there.
Baby is kicking really good. I spent Friday night on an air mattress and it was the first time that I was pretty much up all night because the baby sure as heck did NOT like any way I tried to lay.
People are starting to put in their predictions on what I am having, so far the concensus is a girl. Now the hard part is what to name this child. I sincerely have no idea. Don't get me wrong I have a list for both sexes but nothing stands out to say, This is THE name.
Okay here, I'll list all names and you can give me your opinion.
Girls (middle) Boys (middle)
Arden (lyn,elaine) Henry (michael)
Evelyn (yvonne) Wade (charles,robert,william)
Laura (lyn) Van (charles)
Rebecca (lyn)
That's it so far. Arden is after my grandpa and Henry is after Robs Dad, Evelyn is after my great Aunt. The rest of the names are ones that are not as popular or not even in the top 100 baby names. My favorite for the boys is Van, so different, Hi, I'm Van Ross, sounds cool huh?
Okay I'm off to do house work. I'll post pictures later.

So yesterday I realized something BIG to me. That I haven't finished printing out photos from...umm..2000...6.
Yes, I still have about four random months that I have neither uploaded nor printed out. Sickening I know.
You wanna know something worse.
Are you sitting down. This is gonna be bad.
I haven't printed out almost ANY photos for 2007. GASP!!!! I counted yesterday and I have 3,149 photos from last year to print. Also if I use the deal currently going on I could get them all printed out, shipping included, for $379.88. Ummm honey could you go sweat in the sun and work on those cactus, oh and watch for snakes, for say 16+ hours so that I could get this done??? No, I didn't think so either. (seriously I would not even ask that)
But I will upload them all so that they are safe somewhere else besides my cd/dvds, and when we have a few bucks I will print out a month or two.
I could have sworn I had lots of 2007 printed but soon realized that was because I posted them on the ol' blog. Now if i could just get the blog printed out in book form by year, then it would be easier to remember some of those special moments from last year.
Such is life
Publishers clearing house where are you???
When are you going to be knocking on my door?? ;)
I could really use $400 right now.
Sigh...I'm so impatient. But dang it, in my defense I want them to scrapbook. I got the itch pretty bad recently and need some fresh meat.

Easter 2008

I didn't put any music to this because I couldn't find any that fit. All of these photos are from this last week. figured this was way easier than uploading each one.

Trying to get lots done while Kelly is on spring break, will post again soon.

ps. Happy 34th Birthday Kim. You are in my thoughts alot today. Miss you.

Okay, I must let you all in on a little secret.......and NO I don't know what I'm having. I have been reading a new blog that will knock your socks off. It's called Confessions of a Pioneer Woman and Rhee is downright funny. Actually it just took 2 bloggie awards. The link is now on the right and you just have got to try some of the things she cooks. I promise you will be hopelessly addicted. Plus i love her photos. she is my kind of gal.
Anyway not much else going on except baking 20 loves of bread for the bake sale tomorrow. Speaking of tomorrow we will be coloring easter eggs, getting packed for the egg hunt on Saturday, maybe make cookies, maybe make a couple of quiches for Easter morning. Who knows maybe nothing except for dying eggs and getting ready for the egg hunt. we'll see

What I've learned today;

If your child shoves disolvable candy(this instance Nerds) up his nose, just wait it out or try to make him sneeze, which he did halfway to the doctors office. If he shoves say a bead up there use Afrin spray and that should relax the nose to where the bead should fall out or be easier to get.

I also learned that Wyatt has a cold.

All for the good price of $20.

Gotta love 3 year old boys, they sure do keep you on your toes.

Hi Mommy, I'm in here all snug as a bug. Today has been a busy day, I've been kicking and punching you all day. I'm sure the poor tech lady sure had fun trying to take photos of me today. Did you see me wave to you? Towards the end I was feeling a little tired, so I gave a big yawn but I couldn't sleep because there was soo much going on. I'll be seeing you soon.

Love baby

Everything is looking great, baby is measuring perfectly at 19-20 wks. Heart, kidneys, bladder, spine and brain look perfectly normal. Baby is VERY active and BREECH, so little one likes to kick mommy in the cootchie.

I've known that I have a heart shaped uterus, well today we took a very good picture of it for my doctor. The tech said I have an I love Lucy type heart shape, I thought it was kinda funny.

That last picture is kinda freaky but it's the only time the baby kinda waved.

And for you all wanting to know the sex, because the rugrat is breech they couldn't find out the sex if I wanted to know, which I am firm so far and don't want to know.

I could have watched the baby move most of the day, he/she is so active with the kicking, waving, sucking it's fingers, yawning, flipping etc, etc, etc.

So I'm half way to delivery and I have lots to do. See you all soon

Carrie

So my vehicular baby is home and snug under the carport. Grand total was $4600 and change. Cough....cough. Thank you Inez for saving our butts. I am extremely blessed in my mother-in-law. Betsy drives like nothing has ever happened and it's great to have her back.

So I'm laying in bed this morning @ roughly 5:25am and i can't sleep. I start to feel junior (as I call baby) moving around. Now I feel pressure but rarely have i felt a kick. So I put my hands on my stomach and with one finger I tap 3x and stop, then 3 more times, and I felt the baby kick! I had the hugest grin on my face. This is the first time i have felt a kick against my hand. Now I have had plenty of cootchie kicks, which can stop any time by the way, but I love to feel the baby kick against my hand. Once these kick grow a little harder and more consistent I can let the kids feel them too.
My sonogram is this coming Tuesday @ 9am and i am still firm in not finding out what we are having. At least I will try and stay firm on not knowing.
Cute little funnies that I need to remember: Kelly saying that she has a baby in her tummy also. Kelly saying that Daddy has a baby in his tummy. Also that I would be having the baby last Tuesday when Kelly got home from school, ummm, no.
Wyatt keeps asking," mommy, you have a baby in your tummy?"
me, "yes buddy"
Wyatt, "Okay" and off he goes to play.
So I'm off for now, I probably won't post again until Tuesday afternoon, once I call my family and tell them how things look, size, health, yada, yada.

Truck update

Well the verdict is in.......................We need a new engine. The mechanic says that it looks like we have/had a bad oil pump and this lead to probably throwing a rod in the engine. So to the tune of $4-5000 thousand dollars the truck is getting a new motor from Ford and all will be somewhat right with the world. Lots of stress and crying when I found out.
Now for the headache part. At first we were going to put this on the newly paid off credit card, instead Rob( who just walked in the door) talked to his mom and she is going to pay for it and we will pay her back. No interest!! Can I say I feel like crying all over again.
It's frustrating that we have to run to momma because as an adult it makes me feel like a failure, but it is also a blessing that I have a relative who is willing to help us out.
So the truck will hopefully be ready by tomorrow night and Rob can bring home the bacon on Saturday.
I understand now how men fall in love with their cars, I teared up when they were loading the truck on the flatbed because she has been with us for almost all of our marriage and been such a trustworthy vehicle. The truck is 11 yrs old and she just recently rolled over 100,000 miles, she supposed to still be a baby, not an old lady. Well now with the new engine and whatnot I know we will keep her for another 11+ years.
Oh and since she is a member of our family we have decided to name her Betsey. Maybe later I will write and ode to her.
:) Carrie

Ya know, everything was going real good. I paid off the credit card, we purchased the rest of the stuff to finish redoing our bathroom, I haven't had a shower in the master bath since June of 07, and I found my day planner that has been missing for 2 weeks.

Then on Sunday the truck started to make a knocking noise. Okay, no big, add more oil. Knocking goes away. Go and finish bathroom shopping, knocking comes back louder. We get home Rob adds more oil. Nothing changes. We decide to let it sit and Rob went to start the truck last night and nothing. We have power but the truck just won't start. Tried to jump it but not even a flicker of truck grumbling.

Let's just say scared is an understatement.

This has been the best vehicle we have ever owned. She hasn't given us any problems and now it's looking like it's going to cost close to a thousand to fix.

HELLO Mr. credit card, did you miss me?

Dang it, we just got out of debit and now it pulls me back in. Granted we will use that Bush tax check to pay most to all of it off, but still.

Now the waiting starts, first towing costs, diagnostic check, and we need the rear seal fixed and now who knows what else.

**On a different topic, poor Kelly is sick again. This is day two being home from school. Not a happy camper but thankfully it just seems like another cold. But with all the crap that is floating around she sure as heck doesn't need to be contaminating anyone else. So Kelly is quarantined to the house until the fever and sniffles have passed. Poor kid, stuck in bed or on the couch all day with nothing but Disney and movies to watch, books to look at, all your meals brought to you. It must be so rough, I feel so bad for her ;)

All your prayers are very much wanted and needed.

Love carrie

Well they did it!!

In more ways than one ;)

The Z Mansion. It's very pretty and they did a wonderful job.

We did a bunch of photos up on the round balcony. the only photos I have are the few that Rob or myself took, when we didn't have to be in them.

The one photo that we forgot to get done was a quick family shot of Rob, I and the kids.

The rugrats didn't stay much past the ceremony cause they were.. just kids, I guess.

Kelly looked wonderful and did a great job walking down the aisle and only threw her petals until she got up to the wedding party. It was so cute. After the ceremony when we were taking more photos Kelly refused to be in them and both her and Wyatt wanted to go home. Wyatt for some reason wouldn't come to me and almost didn't recognize me. Both kids were happy to leave and go home with Rob's mom. Considering we didn't leave until after 11, it was a smart idea. According to Inez, Wyatt fell asleep early and Kelly was up until 9:30.

As soon as I can get a copy of some of the photos I'll post them. I was told repeatedly how fantastic I look. I know....brag,brag, brag.

I was just so happy to see my brother so happy and to marry a woman that I like and admire.

It was a beautiful night and Rob and I danced together more than ever before. The cake was both gorgeous and delicious, and except for the small piece of cake to feed each other Mike and Amanda didn't get to eat a piece.

I'm not sure what else to say so I'm going to leave it at that.

Happy Post Valentines day.

I am slowly getting better and last night our little family went for sushi at our local Oishi sushi. Come to find out that Kelly will eat nigiri. All nigiri is is fish and rice. So we ordered tuna, shrimp and salmon and Kelly of course took both pieces of shrimp and then she tried the salmon. Now being the smart parents that we think we are, we did NOT tell her what type of fish she was eating. Kelly even tried the masago (orange fish eggs) on top of a couple of our sushi rolls.

I should say she licked the top of the roll clean and then handed it to me to eat.

Now Wyatt, no way would he even touch anything sushi type on our plate. Wyatt was perfectly content to eat his "spaghetti noodles", we ordered the kids chicken yakisoba noodles for their dinner.

So V-day was nice, nothing outrageously special and of course today is even much better with the rain and the fact that all of our tax return is here. Yee Haw! I have reordered all of my scrapping magazines, a couple of photography mags and a paper crafts magazine. We have paid off the medical bills, the one credit card we have and the rest will go to food and finish remodeling our bathroom. Yowza.

I sincerely hope we can stay on track cause next year we want to get a new tv and laptop.

Today is going to be a nice day. I hope your day will be great too.

Love C

Sickness round #2
This past week Wyatt and I both got sick. Although Wyatt is doing WAY better than myself. I have a nasty cold and not much of a voice that is seriously kicking my butt. And before you joke that Rob must be thrilled about my voice, think again, it's driving him nuts not understanding me.
I agreed a couple of weeks ago to watch a friends two kids today and oh my, I am whipped and it's only 11am. I really want to curl up and take a nap but that is not even remotely possible. I believe I will be heading to bed very early this evening.

It occured to me that my Dad will be here next Monday and Mikey's wedding is next Friday. Seriously?? I don't have a few more weeks to go?? Next week? Gulp..... Oy......deep breath... I'm fairly ready..... I need to get my mega brow tamed and buy some new makeup, buy Wyatt new dress shoes. Kelly is ready to go. Of course we both(kelly and I) need to get our hair done that night but.... it just seems to fast sometimes.
I will admit I can't wait for it to be all over. Thankfully I shouldn't have to worry about another wedding until Kelly or Wyatt gets married, unless of course that one man shows up and will sweep my stubborn mother off her feet. I would sincerely love for that to happen. **I know you'll fight me on this Mom but I believe it's true.

Sorry no pictures today, I haven't uploaded the bridal shower shots from Saturday yet. Hey I'm sick.... your lucky I took a shower this morning.

I know you were all thinking about me yesterday, weren't ya?? When the rain first started coming down here on the east side I was driving in it. The poor kids and I were headed to Walmart to get something when the deluge came on. Lets just say I also bought a golf umbrella big enough to fit me and the kids. (Plus I had been wanting it for a couple of months now) The umbrella really did help, especially loading and unloading Wyatt, the slowpoke ;)

So on to the baptism pictures. It was a balmy 52 degrees and we don't know what the temp of the pool was. Let's just say it was over fairly quick, but it was very cool.

At one point my mom turned around to check onthe kids and Wyatt had already taken his shoes and socks off and was working on getting his pants off too. That boy was determined to go swimming, even though he doesn't "know" how to swim. Mom herded him inside real quick.

On the sickness front~ Kelly ended up with a double ear infection and a cold. After two different types of medicine and lots of fighting we finally have a antibotic that we can get Kelly to take without her throwing it up and putting up a HUGE fight.

Today was also the first day that she felt well enough to go back to school. Kelly is such a stubborn kid. She refuses to put on chapstick until her lips bleed and then cries because it burns. So I have become the nag about keeping the chapstick on. Hopefully the ring-around- the mouth will be gone soon.

So thank you for your support on the lives that were lost last week. I didn't get to go to Cindy's funeral because I ended up taking Kelly into the doctor and Mikey didn't go to Michigan cause basically he was told he wasn't welcome. So I grieved from home and prayed for both of these people. I know they are both in a better place.

So, I'm in the mood to scrapbook and I know Julie, you are too. So when do you and Andrea want to get together? I can say this weekend is out, I'm hosting a bridal shower on Saturday. Lets email, shall we.

This is the scene at my house right now.
Wyatt is taking a nap on the couch and Kelly is sick on the love seat. The sickness started last night with a 102 fever and today we have a slight fever and an ear infection. Sweet hubby Rob gave up his half of the bed last night so that Kelly could sleep with me and I could keep a watch on her fever if it decided to return.
Poor Rob, today is his 37th birthday and he is still getting over being sick. Just mostly coughing now.
*A Funny* Rob said that he set the alarm on his cell phone to remind him of all birthdays. Well he also put himself in there, but when he did he put in the wrong age!! Thankfully it was for a year younger, but the poor guy can't remember his own age!! The mind is already fading.

Also tonight my brother Mike is getting baptised. So cool and going to be soooo cold. Rob will be doing the baptisim in Mike's pool, with NO heat on. Yes, it will be fast.
I'll post pictures tomorrow.
Love
C

This week is turning out to be very sad.
We found out on sunday night that our friend Marc's mom passed away. Cindy or Ma as we called her, died from breathing problems. Cindy was maybe in her late 50's. I met her when Rob and I started dating. We would all occasionally hang out at her house, her kids(marc, christina, lexi), kim and anyone else were always welcome. About 2 yrs ago her youngest Lexi passed away after a medical overdose of pain meds at/from the hospital after a motorcyle accident. According to Cindy's other daughter Christina after Lexi's death Ma just gave up and was very depressed. The funeral has been set for this Friday.
Today we received a call that Mikey's friend Brian (the one that my mom put in jail for stealing) passed away yesterday. Brian was back home in Michigan and was doing well until recently when he started doing drugs again. So as of right now we are not sure if he overdosed or he commited suicide. We are understanding that his sister found him and his dad is overseas in the military. Hopefully by tonight we will know about funeral arrangements because mike might be going back.
So many memories about these two people. No matter what, they will be missed.

It has been a beautiful cloudy rainy day today. So Perfect.
I took the kids to their soon- to- be cousin Claytons 5th birthday party. The party was not nearly as rambunctious as it could have been but the kids did have plenty of fun. Wyatt had so much fun that he wore himself out and he fell asleep on the way home.

Almost all of these photos were taken just a few minutes ago as we were playing around.


As you can see it is a family affair!

Sorry the camera was set to auto and I couldn't get a good shutter speed to blur our tongues wiggling back and forth.


(Our newest recruit. He practices daily to become as good as his Master.)








Of course here is our resident tongue wagging Master, he taught the kids everything they know.









(One day young pada-wan learner you too could be as good as your Master. Have patience.)










You can't tell in this picture but Wyatt was licking my finger as he swished his tongue.

(Here is the other Master, unfortunatly she only made master status because the elders felt sorry for her short tongue.)




May the tongue wagging force be with us, always.
















So now we have come to photos from the other day. This is the typical Wyatt man behavior. This huffiness is usually followed by the required,"No Mommy!"
Getting the re-enactment isn't has fun as the original but we do strive to achieve. It's pretty hard to get Wyatt to copy his typical 3 yr old brattiness because the boy just wants to see every picture that I take of him.
So what is a Mom to do??? Well just make said kid mad again and TA-DAH.

We hope you have enjoyed today's typical Ross craziness.
PS-Right now Wyatt is playing in the empty laundry basket, oh excuse me, his bathtub he says. I'll post photos tomorrow.
Night Y'all
Love Carrie

Houston we have a heartbeat.
Yep the little sucker was sure hard to find but we did get to hear that fast tiny heartbeat. Baby is deep in the cootchie (pelvic) area and hard to hear but for a couple of seconds we did hear it. Unfortunately Rob started to cough and had to step out of the room and it was right after he left that we heard the baby. The doctor tried to catch the heartbeat again so that Rob could hear but she couldn't. Rob is okay with this, he said as long as I heard it that was all that matters.
She also told me that I'm doing great and that occassional I can cheat and eat some of the "bad" stuff. You know french fries, sushi. I have lost another two pounds, bringing the total to 12 so far. I'm not sure where I've lost it though. Overall I felt I had a great visit. My next appointment will be in the beginning of February and then it's on to the 20 week sonogram.
So that's all for now. I need to make sure the house is ready for homegroup tonight and Kelly has Daisies.
I'll see you later.

New Year and new hair

So last night I finally got a picture, albeit with wet hair, of everyone's new do's. Kelly's hair goes just below her shoulders and is much easier to handle. Wyatt's got totally buzzed off, we needed to start over. Rob decided for a modern Colonel Sanders look where he shaved off the parts that connect the mustache to the goatee. He also trimmed down his top and sides. so except for me everyone else is fresh for the new year.




Last Friday we had to do a spur of the moment photo shoot for the soon to be married couple who need to send out their invitations. The invites that Amanda picked out called for a photo underneath. I don't think this is the final photo. We had hoped to do it outside but the sun set 20 minutes before they got there, so we compromized and had to use the kitchen. Not the best setup and lighting but we worked it as best we could. Mike looks fairly natural cause her works outside not Amanda, she works inside and is pale, it really is a stark contrast. I'm still learning.

So tomorrow at 9am I have a doctor appt and hopefully we will be able to hear the baby's heartbeat.


So I do plan on updating tomorrow. But right now i promised Rob i would clean the scraproom so that he can put his drums back up. In my defense the room has been cleaned twice but we all like to throw miscellanous stuff there and then the mess resumes. So he has had 2 opportunities to put those darn drums up.

On Friday of last week I went to Joanns and told them(Monique and Jackie) I will no longer teach scrapbooking and I took all my layouts home. Jackie understood but you know Monique was not happy. Ya know I haven't scrapbooked in a couple of months and I'm sick of how the education department call me the night before or maybe two days before expecting me to be available. Sorry I don't jump. Not that I have quit I actually want to scrapbook again. Go figure. Maybe this weekend since the house is fairly clean. hmmmm.

So I had a doctor appointment yesterday.

I was nervous because last week I has some bleeding. Well according to the doctor my cervix is closed, long and soft. I look great internally. My sugars are pretty much under control even the morning ones. I also have lost 8 lbs according to their scale. We tried to listen for the heartbeat but couldn't catch it. Of course I started to worry even more but she said it was normal and also a little early. Course my extra layers don't help much. I will go back on the 16th and we will take another listen. Because of my bleeding I'm on what the doc calls "light life", no long walks, no sex, no lifting.

I must say that my doctor and her nurse are the best I have ever had. I don't feel rushed, I can ask anything and they will call ME and see how I'M doing. Just cool and she is very thurough.

Before I forget-- Happy Birthday Mikey!!

He turns the BIG 30 today.

Happy New Year

well I started to post a few days ago but I was having problems uploading all my pictures. Randon shots from this last week.

I'm kind of disappointed cause most of the shots I took for our Christmas were blurry. Oh well, I'll use them any way. Been an exhausting couple of weeks. Rob has been on vacation and has been very busy around the house. I've had good days and bad so I've been vegging out at home. Really not too much going on.

I have a doctor appointment tomorrow at 11:30 and we will see how I am doing. morning sugars are getting under control and daily is not a problem. If I choose to cheat I just take a bit of insulin before dinner and i can have a couple slices of pizza. Otherwise I am trying to be good since the beginning of December I have lost 5 pounds. Now that I'm feeling better I want to walk more, heck just get out of the house more.

The doctor bills are starting to come in and kinda off freaking me out. Thank god for insurance. I guess I won't be doing any scrapbook shopping anytime soon. Which right now is HARD cause I want to shop.

I finally got to go to the new scrap store on the north side Pages in Progress. Not bad, kinda pricey, but the customer service was great. I also met a girl that also frequents Two Peas in a Bucket Message Board. I actually recognized her pea name. I need to call Julie and let her know. I also need to tell Julie how great she looks and I love the new hair style. Now that the holidays are over and I'm feeling more on the upswing I would love to try and get back together for another round of scrappin.

Well I better go. I'm suppose to be finishing moms christmas present (a scrapbook) but I know if I don't do this now I'm gonna keep putting it off and i have been wanting to update.

So ignore all the grammar errors, I'm trying to type fast and get everything out.

Happy New Year!! I sincerely hope this will be a great year, we need it.

Love carrie

I'm alive!!

Today is a good day. no morning sickness and I have some energy. not that taking a nap wouldn't be nice real soon, I have things that NEED to be done today.
You have morning sickness?, you say
Why YES I do, I'm seven weeks pregnant!
(I will try not to do all that 7 wks, 3 days thing, who cares)
Things are going well for the baby, we say his/her heartbeat and it's little sack but that's about it. I'm still having trouble with my morning sugars. I started out last week on 10 units of NPH and now I'm starting 24 units tonight. No change in my morning sugar levels at all. Which in some ways freaks me out because with the baby developing I need to have lower blood sugars during the night and morning before breakfast to not cause any problems with baby.
On to brighter news. I'm going to do my best to NOT find out the sex of the baby. I have one of each and I could use a surprise. Now lets see if I hold out till the end. It also means that I need to hunt down both baby girl and boy clothes to be cleaned again.
Knowing this is going to be my last makes it hard for me to decide which gender I would like. I still want two of each and was kinda secretly hoping for twins but I think I will just focus on having a healthy baby. God will choose what he thinks is best for me and our family.
Starting to work with the kids about a baby growing in Mommys tummy. I know it's kind of early but I don't want any resentment and I would like to get the kids excited about a new brother or sister. Kelly said she would like a sister. Wyatt doesn't get it yet. I think Wyatt will be more excited when he can feel the baby kick and move.
Alright enough baby talk. (I can't believe I'm having baby talk)
Christmas is fast approaching and I'm not ready. I still have lots to do but I must say I'm glad we are not having Christmas at our house this year. This house is a complete disaster and I'm going to start working on that today.
So I have to go pay the bills and get busy and maybe sneak in a small nap.
As long as I'm feeling good I will try to be a better blogger.

I'm feeling great today!!

woke up this morning with very little back pain and almost none of the yucky feeling I've had for the last few days.

I have cleaned the floors, done a load of laundry, finished 1 Christmas present and have started the second, straightened up the living room and kitchen. I have just gone through all my favorite blogs and am now up to date. And it's only 10.30am! Whoo hoo me!

Now if I could just find where oh where I left my glasses it would be almost perfect.

My little man in his Thomas pj's saying, "Can I see picture of Wyatt?" Trying to get him to understand I have to take a picture first before he can look at it.

So for all of you, have a great day~C

Something for me to note:

For the last year I have been following two blogs, one is www.lyonsfamily.org . This woman Julie had stage 4 inoperable melanoma and passed away on 11/24. Her family was a big inspiration for me as I dealt with Kim having cancer and wanting Kim to fight and look into options for treatment and to beat the cancer. This is not as eloquent as I would like to say. The strength and support this family has was/is fantastic and I was impressed by Julie's fight to beat the cancer.

the next blog is www.careyann22.typepad.com Carey is a scrapbooker that I really admired her style. So when I learned she was pregnant I was very excited for her. Unfortunately she lost her son at 22 weeks shortly after giving birth. Prayers started full force when I found out she was pregnant again this last march and this time it was with twins (natural conception). Well this morning when I woke up I told Rob that I needed to check my blogs because this lady was due, and sure enough she is being induced today. more prayers for a safe and healthy delivery.