HOME

WOOOHOOO! I'm home! Thank you God! At this moment in time, I don't ever want to travel again!!!!!!!
I had to wait at the airport for David and Ben to be done with thier soccer game, so we were gonna have to wait like 2 hours (I didn't want to bother any friends with having to come out of thier way to pick us up, I thought about getting a taxi while I was waiting cause she was so cranky, but I didn't have any cash on me). These two young girls were behind us on the plane, they loved Christianna and played with her and we got to talking and I had told them I'd be waiting around a while. They flew in from San Fransisco and were visiting friends here in Wichita for just 3 days. Thier friends were suppose to pick them up, but I guess they couldn't, so the girls ended up renting a car and saw me still waiting around. Christianna was running around like crazy, cranky as all get out (I had been up since 2:45am and she had been up since 4am). I guess they talked amongst themselves and wanted to ask me if I wanted a ride. So they offered me a ride. I was very grateful and said sure. I was still looking at waiting another hour. I only live 5 minutes from the airport and I'd be on the way to anywhere they had to go anyway. So we loaded up and they drove me home.
The second we got out of the car, Christianna ran in yard and started riding her bike (Ken and Jennifer had no outdoor toys or anything-just dirt, cactus, rocks and animals-which she loved chasing!!!). I loaded luggage in the house, let the dogs out, started unpacking, and cleaned up the yard a bit. The second Christianna saw our car pull up to the gate, she screamed with excitement and ran to David. David opened the door and pulled her into his lap and drove in the driveway. The boys hopped out of the car and were talking a mile a minute over each other. They had to show me everything. Ben learned to ride his bike one handed. They had gone to the family fest on base and they showed me all the stuff they got and each one had made me a braclet. They told me everything they did and all that went on while I was gone. Shanndon was all over Christianna. He missed her so bad!!!
I took Shanndon to a classmates birthday party at Pump it up, while David stayed home with Ben and a napping Christianna. We ended up going out for dinner, then home and to bed. AHHHH, such a comfy bed!

The NAME

6 days after the baby's birth and he is finally given a name. His official name is Jayson Darrell. Well at least we have been calling him Jason and not "baby boy".

The honeymoon is over

Maybe it's because I'm so tired from being up all night, maybe it's the emotion of everything, maybe it's because I'm due for my period...the honeymoon is over. I'm fustrated, annoyed and angry! I arrived in Arizona on April 5th. I've pretty much done nothing-in comparison to my normal daily life (I've done daily upkeep with Chrsitianna and did a little cleaning a couple times, did some dishes). I've felt like I was on vacation. I thought things were going well. There has been the slight exception, like Christianna is INTO EVERYTHING, thier lifestyle is different then mine, thier parenting is different then mine, etc. I've been dealing with it and didn't think it was that big a deal, I felt like I could handle it for the 14 days. We've been friends forever (12 years!), I've know all these differences before I came here!!! Well..tonight, it's hit me! I'm on the verge of tears. I guess I just expected that since I bend over backwards to make my guests as comfortable as possible, that everyone did that (pregnant or not Jennifer doesn't clean-I knew that!)!
Kyle is no longer "being nice" to Christianna, he's taking things away that she was playing with first, trying to be her parent and telling her "no" all the time, not allowing her to do anything, even when it's harmless. I want to help as much as I can, I've been cleaning, doing dishes, laundry, etc.,but I don't know how to cook thier food (one of the main things a helper should be able to do!!!). They do everything meatless, dairy-less, organic, wheatless, sugarless, from scratch, etc. I dunno what grains to grind to make the pancakes (my Bisquick mix says add milk and eggs!)! The midwife asked me to get Jennifer food after the birth and I didn't know what to get, Jennifer had to tell me (Cashews and Raisins), and then the midwife said it wasn't enough, what else did they have? I DUNNO! So she told Jennifer I was going to make her toast and peanut butter, so I did. I made me, grandma, grandpa and Ken (dad)-scrambled eggs with ham and cheese on tortillas! Thier cleanliness is less then stellar and everything reaks! The bathroom is disgusting! I have to hold my nose to just go in and pee and nag at Christianna to not touch anything and stay off the floor, etc. I finally had enough and we went on a cleaning rampage on Monday. Bathroom got cleaned! Jennifer came out for my birth of Shanndon and they had a bed and as many pillows and blankets as they wanted or needed, thier rooms were prepared for them, not thrown together last minute, the house was clean and everything was "just so".
All of this and it's the first time away from my family and I miss them!!!!! Not only do I miss them and home (my bed, food, microwave and coffee) terribly, they DON'T miss me!!!! They are fine, happy, and having fun. David's not stressed, he's got everything under control. That's not fair!!!! I want them to miss me. I want them to struggle and feel like I'm a hero for all I do! Alas, I guess I'm not. If I die-my kids will be fine and my hubby will be fine and the house will still be standing and laundry will still get done and the dogs will still get fed. HUMPFFF! Whatever!

Jason

I am in Tucson Arizona for the inpending birth of my best friend's (Jennifer) 4th child. April 10th, 2008-it's a beautiful day in Tucson Arizona. 80 degree weather, sunny. Nothing much going on. Jennifer says if I want to get out of the house, we could go up to the mountian, it's a National Park up the road and see cactus and what not. I didn't care, I was pretty fine staying home. I'm a home body and enjoying doing nothing and having very little responsibility at the moment. I played on the computer on and off all day, researching baby names (they have no middle name picked out), looking up how to digital scrapbook, and silly things.
Ken was actually home early today, about 5pm. He and the boys went out to the workshop to work on his "bridge" for boy scouts. Then they all came in and we hung out. While we are all gathered together making dinner, playing on the computer, chatting, etc. Jennifer has several contractions. Not a big deal, she didn't time them, she didn't feel they were regular. Christianna, who hadn't paid attention to Jennifer's belly all day (as she had all week), started paying attention to it during the making of dinner. Jennifer also mentioned at this time that things felt a tad different then they had been feeling, but who knows that didn't neccessarily mean anything.
About 830pm, dinner is done, Christianna is bathed and put to bed, the boys' chores are done; we're watching YouTube clips, playing music, and just hanging out. Jennifer says that she wanted Kenny to start writing down the times of the contractions, just for giggles. They weren't regular...10, 15, 20 minutes apart...though since the start of dinner she'd had several and these were a tad stronger. Probably about 930 or so the boys settled in to watch Spiderwick. Martin and Kyle fell asleep pretty quick and Ken put them in bed. I was pretty tired, so I mentioned I was going to head to bed just in case anything happened this night. Ken and Jennifer sat to watch Spiderwick.
I woke up to knocking on my door and some muffled noise beyond it. I said, I'm awake, come in. I hear another knock, I say, "yeah". I hear Ken say, you can wake her up. I got out of bed and came to the door. There was Jennifer, Ken and Kenny. Jennifer mentions that the midwife was on the way. The contrations were jumping around (3,7, etc. minutes apart), she had a bit of bloddy mucus, but didn't "feel" like it was much. She wasn't sure if anything was happening, but her step dad was on the way as well and they were calling her mom (who lives in San Diego for the moment til she can get a job in Arizona). I got my pants on, and came out and we just sat around chatting. I started water for coffee and called David to give him a heads up.
The midwives started arriving. Kenny opened the gates for them, they brought loads of stuff in. I guided them to places they were going to be and got them various supplies and such. Once they were all set up, the midwife checked Jennifer and she was a very stretchy 7 and very little cervix, so she said, we're having a baby. Jennifer was suprised. She didn't "feel" in labor.
We walked around, sat around talking, joking, taking pictures. The midwives sat in the kitchen chatting. Jennifer felt "slow", like the contractions were getting farther apart, not closer. They were stronger, but not super strong. I mentioned something to the midwives and she went to Jennifer's room and offered to check her, strip her membranes, said she could go for a walk, etc...Jennifer opted to go outside for a walk. We got outside and it was too cold for her! She said it'd stop her contractions, not help them. So we came back inside. She paced back and forth around the house. Things started to speed up. The contractions were strong now. She was having them what seemed like one on top of the other. She was tired of walking, but didnt want to lay down either. The midwife offered the birthing stool. So her and Ken did that. I came in and was rubbing her feet, Ken was behind her on the bed. It's about 4am at this time. Things are pretty strong now and Jennifer is uncomfortable. The midwife suggests a shower. After the shower, Jennifer is ready for the bath. She labored in the bath for a while.
About 430am, I woke up Martin and Kyle (Kenny had been up this entire time, he watched a movie with grandpa and just hung out looking for baby names). Martin and Kyle came in and saw Jennifer and we talked about what was happening. It was getting close to baby time, they decided to go watch Spiderman 3 with Kennny and grandpa. A bit later, Jennifer started feeling like pushing, so we again assembled the boys...
Jason (no middle name yet) was born at 5:03am on April 11, 2008. He weighed 8 lbs 5 oz. He looks just like his brothers and more specifically like Kyle. He nursed right away, he's calm and content and so awake and alert!
Grandma arrived here from San Diego about 630am. She brought coffee and breakfast makins. I got breakfast for mom (nut, raisins, toast with peanut butter and apple), and the boys (cereal) and then I cooked scrambled eggs with ham and cheese in tortillas for grandma, grandpa, dad and myself.
Today I have just been doing dishes, cleaning up, feeding everyone, getting things, laundry, etc. I took a little nap with Christianna this afternoon until the dog started barking right out our window for 5 minutes. LOL. Oh well, at least it was something. Gonna take my sleep medicine tonight and sleep well! I had put Christianna down to bed, but they had friends come over to visit baby. The friends had 3 kids, so that was a bunch of people. They brought presents for the boys so it was loud and chaotic. Kyle and Martin had a mishap (which never was explained) and Kyle screamed bloody murder for 5 minutes and woke Christianna up. Well, she'd been sleeping for a little over an hour, so nice little nap. Who knows when she'll go to bed!

Rescheduled

When I got the call from the surgeon's office on April 3rd telling me that I was able to get surgery, I set the surgery date for May 16th but told her I needed to talk to my husband about when he could get vacation time. I call David and tell him, and he checks with his boss. The soonest he could get leave was the last week of June and first week of July. I call the scheduler and set the surgery then for June 24th. April 8th, I call David from Arizona and he tells me he's in his bosses office and he's asking if he could rearrange the leave for the first week in June. So I call the scheduler's office again and set the surgery up for June 5th. The next day they call me back and say the surgeon's schedule has been cleared for June 5th and 6th, they need to reschedule. So I call David and the next day he finally gets a hold of his boss and says the June 24th date is fine. UGH!!!! My head is spinning! Make up my mind people! So at the moment my lower body lift is scheduled for June 24th, check in at 630am, and surgery at 730am. Crikey! Now, my referral is only good to June 16, so I now need to call TriCare to get an extention. I'll have to write that on my calendar, to do on Monday.

STARS

Last night, Ken and Jennifer and the kids finished playing Uno and the kids went to bed, I had finished blogging, and smoked my nightly cigarette. I was gonna head to bed. I wasn’t tired, I was just going to go to bed cause it was 10pm and nothing to do. Ken asked if I wanted to watch a scary movie (in hopes of getting Jennifer to go into labor). He has to get up at 6am, so I was like, "are you sure? You’re the one that has to wake up early". So we talked about what movie to watch and decided on "The Mist". Jennifer doesn’t like scary movies, but we convinced her to sit with us and watch it anyway. For those that know me, I HATE BUGS!!!! This stupid movie, was about bugs in the mist (alien, robotic, outer space bugs!) DAMN IT! So, we finish the movie and clean up and I head ouside to smoke another cigarette.
"HOLY CRAP!!!!!! Have you seen these stars you have out here?" The sky was so dark and clear. The stars, there were so many and they were so bright. You can hear an owl hooting in the distance, a bird swawking, coyote howling and dogs barking. I sat staring up in the sky, making "pictures" out of the stars (one set of stars looked like the spiders that were in the movie we watched!!!), and listening to the background sounds. Ken and Jennifer came outside and sat on the stairs with me. We were trying to identify different sounds in the distance. Looking at the stars. Talking about living out in the boonies. It was quite chilly and I could hear Jennifer chattering and shivering. I finished my cigarette and we headed inside. It was so beautiful. It reminded me of camp when I was young. If it weren’t so cold and I wasn’t such a baby, I’d have camped out! LOL.
I’m a city girl, born and raised (Chicago)! I don’t think I could survive in the country or "50 minutes drive from town"! I love having Walmart one mile away, and fast food alley 4 blocks away. But every now and then, like last night, I can see the draw to boonie life! The amount of land out here too that they have for a yard would also be a huge plus!!!!!!! Altho, I probably would not be raising goats. LOL We have to drive thru the mountains (a National park) to get to town. It’s so beautiful here. I’ll take the camera when we go to town for Jennifer’s prenatal appointment today and take some pictures. There is a military base here, Jennifer wants us to try to get transferred too (she’s been trying for 3 years to talk us into it!), but there is no way. David could not handle the heat! LOL He sweats at 32 degrees! Alright, off to get ready.

Kyle

June 2003 Ben and I went to visit Ken and Jennifer (they lived in California). They were due for thier 3rd baby. Jennifer was due June 10th, but she’d gone early with the other two, so I came out May 31-June 10. June 6, 2003 Ken and I watched "The Ring", Kenny, Martin, and Ben were playing in the bedroom, Jennifer doesn’t like scary movies, so she was watching her own show in her room. After "The Ring" was over, we cleaned up, put kids to bed, I went out and smoked my nightly cigarette, came in, and set up my bed. All of a sudden (just before midnight), Jennifer screamed. She’s always screaming tho, it was not a big deal. So I said "Jennifer, what’s the matter?" no answer...again I asked. Nothing. So I go in her room and she’s on her bed just staring at me. I thought she was teasing. I was laughing, saying "What’s the matter with you? Say something. If your faking it I’m gonna beat you!" Ken was standing next to her bed saying the same things pretty much. Then Jennifer starting talking...her water broke, she was having a contraction. We didn’t see the water in the bed because she had a pillow between her legs. Sure enough she showed us. We called the midwife (and birthing center), woke up the children (who had only been asleep for 15 minutes!), called Jennifer’s mom, got ready and headed to the birthing center. Now, her water broke at 11:45 pm, Kyle was born 1:35am! Martin was asleep in the "living room", Kenny and Ben splashed in the water Jennifer was birthing in. It was such an amazing experience. Ken was in the tub with Jennifer. I was sitting on the toilet which was at Jennifer’s head, rubbing her head, blowing on her, wiping her sweat, , whatever comfort she needed. I gave updates to her mom who was pacing back and forth and peeking in. Kenny (who was 8 at the time) did excellent. Jennifer only screamed about 4 times the entire labor, but one time Kenny got a little scared and cried a tad, we comforted him and explained what was going on. Reminded him that this was what we talked about and showed him would happen. After that, he and Ben were fine. They splashed in the water, played and didn’t fuss about anything. The midwife was very hands off. She checked Jennifer’s cervix a couple times, warmed up the tub water, gave us all suggestions to help her and her to alleviate the pain, or position change. Other then that, Ken birthed the baby. It was awesome! We were home by 730am. We came home, put everyone to bed and slept all day!!!!!! I left 3 days later.

Vacation

I really didn’t intend this trip to be a vacation. But so far, it has turned out to be just that. Chrisitanna is having a bit of a hard time. She’s not eating great and is kinda clingy. I only have one kid with me tho. The other 3 kids here aren’t mine; I don’t have to referee, clean up, cook, dicsipline, etc. Christianna is loving being outside, but she won’t let me out of her site, so we play in the yard in the playhouse and walk around the yard, play with the dogs or goats, I push her on Kyle’s little bike. Inside we color or play, she helps me play cards with the boys (Kenny is 12, Martin is 8 and Kyle is 4). Kyle is a bit "mothering" of Christianna, but for the most part, they are getting along great! The boys play peek a boo with her or sit and play with her. She’s certainly getting very dirty and worn out. It’s been fun and relaxing. I try to clear the table or ask where something is...Jennifer just says, "the boys will do it, it’s thier chore, don’t worry about it". Saturday and Sunday was living in a fog and I was barely functioning, and today I woke feeling better and refreshed. The only thing I’ve done now for three days pretty much other then recover, is play with my toddler and play on the computer!!!!!!!!!! WOW! This is awesome! So relaxing! I don’t know what to do with myself! Part of me wants to worry about what’s going on back at home. Think about "what’s next?" What’s for dinner. How am I going to pack? (in two weeks!) The other 75% of me wants to just chill and never mind, don’t worry about anything, don’t think about anything, etc. Woohoo!
I made a wish on a tootsie pop star that Jennifer go into labor tonight. Now that I’ve said it, it won’t happen, but maybe since I’m not verbally telling any one person, it will?! LOL. We’ll see. Better take my meds, go smoke my cigarette and head to bed, just in case!

We've landed!

Well, I survived getting ready for the trip (I stayed up all night as I always do when preparing for a trip). I feel okay about the condition I left the house, got lots of work done that I had needed to get done. Washed, dryed, folded and put away all laundry in the house, sorted and cleared piles of papers from various areas, cleaned the kids’ and living room, kitchen, etc. Cleaned and replaced cat litter boxes and did a bunch of shopping.
Christianna and I survived the plane trip. She did pretty good for being woken up at 5am and dragged across the country with no understanding as to why or where, or what was going on! The flight from Wichita to Denver was 1 hr 16 minutes. We had a dinky little plane, but got two seats to ourselves (she’s a lap child, so we’re lucky!). Christianna fell asleep about 15 minutes before landing and stayed asleep while we got off the plane and then drove across the airport and she woke up as we were boarding the Denver plane. The second flight, from Denver to Tucson was 1 hr 43 minutes. It started off a bit scary as they couldn’t get the door shut!? That took 20 minutes to fix. This was a nice plane (thick comfy seats), I was in a row of 3 with two other people, but they requested to move!!!! So Christianna and I ended up having all three seats to ourselves! Christianna fell asleep about 15 minutes into flight and woke up as we were deboarding.
It was a long day, Ken and Jennifer picked me up and we went shopping for some things we needed for dinner (for them at thier mom’s house, they are vegan, she’s carnivore) and lunch for me and Christianna (picked up a sandwhich at the store Deli). Then we headed to Beth’s (Jennifer’s mom) house. It’s pretty warm here...85! I was so tired at Beth’s. We had lunch and showed pictures, talked, etc. Then we took the kids swimming. Christianna and I came back to Beth’s house and napped. When we woke up it was about 45 minutes til dinner. We had a very nice dinner and then cleaned up and left. By the time we got home, unloaded, Ken set up our air matress and we got ready for bed...It was 1030pm here which is 1230am for us Wichitans! I slept hard and good, so did Christianna, but she was up at her regular 630am (local time). I was not ready to wake up.
Today I ended up getting her dressed and ready for the day (it’s cold-45 degrees-in the morning so we had to wear jackets) and we went outside to play and run around a bit. Then we came in and Jennifer’s kids were up now, so I napped on the couch while she played with them, lol. She’s not eating or drinking very well, which worries me. We went grocery shopping for us today. Ken and Jennifer are extreme VEGANS (no meat, eggs, cheese, wheat, sugar, animal products of any kind, etc.) and I’m an extreme junk food eating Carnivore! LOL I bought Christianna juice (which at home we don’t do much of, but she does love it) and she’s drank some now today. For dinner she actually ate a Banquet Corn Dog meal and some milk, so hopefully tomorrow she’ll eat better.
David’s doing well with the boys, lots of bike riding, playing outside and today they went to the park. Ben’s bike tire has a hole in it, so tomorrow they have to get a patch kit. They went to McDonald’s Saturday morning before soccer to "celebrate" mom being gone!!! LOL.
So that’s it, we’re just waiting for a baby now! I’m so tired and "jet lagged", I’m hoping that’s better when I wake up (I bought myself instant coffee!!!!)

Dress Up

I rotate out my toys every now and then, so things don’t get too boring, and are always "new". The kids seemed to be bored with what we had out-Little People and cars. Yesterday I put them away in the attic and I took out dress up stuff. There’s everything in this bunch of stuff...3 big boxes full. There are shoes, wands, crowns, pom poms, swords, shields, masks, hats, scarves, halloween costumes of all sorts, feather boas, etc. The kids (even Ben) are having a blast! Shanndon got home from school yesterday and I was cooking dinner and he gets into the dress up stuff and he exclaims he wants to be a princess. "Okay! Be a princess. Oh, how pretty". Christianna is so cute trying to walk in these plastic little high heels, and wearing sunglasses. Ben puts on a pirate hat and says "I’m a pirate", so Shanndon also wants to be a pirate but he wants the hat Ben has, so I tell him he needs to get the other hat and Ben says, "Yeah, besides, I’m the captain" as he flales his sword and snarls. This morning all 3 of my children were mass murderers! We have this mask that’s a bloody hockey mask, I forget who it is...and Shanndon’s wearing it running around with a sword. Then he puts on the bumble bee costume...he says, "mommy look, I’m a dead bumble bee" and falls to the floor. Then he’s alive again. I tell him, "oh you’re alive, you need to go eat some flowers and make honey!" LOL..."Why" he says...cause that’s what bees do. "Oh, okay!" he says and runs to the other room as I continue to fold laundry. It’s too cute!
Of course they have thier favorites that are always out-house stuff, babies, bionicles, books, etc. With the decent weather I’ve been throwing them outside and they ride bikes and play doll house and run with the dogs, etc. I just had to take a break from getting ready to go to Arizona and share the "dress up" stories!

Off to Arizona

I am going to Tucson Arizona. My best friend, Jennifer, is due to have a baby (approximately April 12), she’s having a home birth (so excited!!!!). I am leaving here April 5th at 430am and the plane takes off at 630am and will arrive at 930am. I am taking Christianna and leaving David home with the boys. I will return about 1pm on April 19th.
Here I am sitting on the computer. I’m not ready, I’m totally procrastinating. I’m scared, nerveous, worried, etc. This is Christianna’s first time on a plane, she doesn’t travel well, doesn’t sleep well when traveling (Chicago trip in Dec/Jan was hell!!!!!!!!!), etc. This is David’s first time home alone with kids (and dogs and cats) for more then 2 days! The weather here still feels "winter" to me, but the weather there is summery. I can’t wrap my brain around the clothes I need to bring! I need to bring a carseat, which is cutting into my packing abilities. Just in case she has a girl, I had wanted to bring a couple "girly" outfits (she has 3 boys). On top of that, she asked if I was bringing any scrap stuff. UH, NO!!!!!!!!!! Ken and Jennifer are vegan (no meat, animal products, etc), I am a total junk food carnivore. Jennifer went to the store (first time she’s been in a regular grocery store in 10 years!) yesterday and while I was on the phone with her, picked up some things to tide me and Christianna over for the first day or so. She got a gallon of milk, Honey Bunches of Oats cereal, two burritoes for me, and Christianna two "Banquet" meals (chicken nugget and corn dog) and a loaf of bread. I told her, why don’t we just stop at the store on the way home from the airport? She said, well I don’t want you to have to worry about shopping right away. She lives in the country and it’s a 20 minute drive to the nearest anything! Okay, so what if she goes into labor and has the baby Sunday night then? We’re stuck eating MILLET and TOFU! I’m not a bird or rabbit!!!! (I love her, but she’s crazy! HAHAHA) I asked her where the closest McDonalds was and she didn’t even know, but said that Ken could bring stuff home for me on the way home from work, LOL...poor Ken (he loves the carivore junk food to, but only eats it at work)!
I am so many emotions right now, I can’t see straight. And here I am sitting on the computer!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am taking the laptop, so hopefully I’ll still get to email and myspace! LMAO. Okay, David took kids outside to ride bikes, I’m going to pack. CRIMENY! Wish me luck!!!!

APPROVED!!!!

got a letter last week saying that the insurance needed more information to approve my surgery I want. I assumed it meant it was a no go, I thought the Dr would send all he had, so what more info could they want and need? Today I got a call from the surgeon’s office saying that insurance approved it and the nurse said I seemed suprised. I said, well, I got this letter. Apparently when they send the information, they send everything by fax, but the pictures come out black, so they mail the pictures.
I got approved for the excess abdominal skin removal. I want a lower body lift, so I’ll have to pay the remainder of the cost, but at least this will help defray the costs. My father in law called last night and I shared with him the news and he said he’d loan us the money to get it done. WOOHOOO! I had it scheduled for May 16th, but when I called David at work to tell him, the soonest he could get vacation was end of June, SO, I will be having surgery on June 24th, I check in at 630am. I am having a lower body lift with my thighs done as well. Maybe next year I’ll get my arms and breasts done (which David wishes were getting done first!!! LMAO) I’m one happy camper!!!