It's About Freakin' Time I Posted Some Pics...

So, I’ve been putting this off for quite a while. There are a bunch of pictures that I have been wanting to post, but I just never got my lazy butt around to pulling them off of the camera. Well, today, after getting some beautiful flowers from my sweet hubby for our anniversary, I decided to take some pictures of them (while they’re all fresh, etc) and FINALY move ALL of my pictures over to the computer. Here are just a few that I’ve wanted to share…

A brief explannation of each picture...

1) Jasmine on the beach at Surfrider Resort in Newport, Oregon (during my family reunion last month). I was trying to get a picture of the increasing patch of freckles on her cheeks, but you can't see 'em in this snapshot. Bad lighting, bad camera, etc....

2) Tyler eating a big ol' pickle in the beach house at the same place. That pickle was HUGE, but he didn't let that stop him.

3) Tyler playing at the train table in the Portland Children's Museum.

4) Tyler sleeping on the living room floor. That's one of his favorite positions to sleep in. As usual, his icky tattered blanky is with him. Heaven forbid if he should ever lose it.

5) The flowers I got today!! The boquet has my favorite flower-- the stargazer lily. The cute little teddy bear came with 'em! My 7th anniversary was actually on August 20th (5 days ago), but having the flowers come late made them even more of a surprise!

Gradually, as I get around to it, I'll post more pictures. When I transerred them from my camera, there were like 100 of them, so I've got a bunch more to weed through. Whew.

A touching blog...

Today, while cruising through the ivillage message boards in the December Expecting Club, I ran across something that was particularly touching to me. I think it may have something to do with the fact that, as of today, I am exactly 23 weeks pregnant.... the same as Truman's mommy. Eventually, when I get around to it, I may post the link to this blog on my sideboard. Until then, here's the link... for anyone who wants to read it.

http://www.tinytruman.blogspot.com/

Hum, ho, blah, blah...

The past several days have been rather blah. I think I've had an icky stomach thingy, because for several days there, I spent a large portion of my time in the bathroom. Or, maybe it's just my pregnant body doing funky stuff to my digestive track. (I think it's gone now... whew.) I know, that's probably TMI, but dang it all! I had to miss church because of it on Sunday! That really ticked me off. Luckily, I was able to find someone to take my place at the piano in Primary. That's often not an easy thing to do at the last minute. At least it wasn't some big busy holiday weekend where half the ward is out of town (and I'm unable to find someone to sub for me). Right after my hubby came home from his meetings to pick up Jasmine, I put Ty down for a nap and I zonked out as well. I slept until about ten minutes before they got home. Wow, a three hour nap. My stomach still hurt, but I got some badly needed rest in.

Yesterday, I did the unthinkable. I actually.... CLEANED! I cleaned the kitchen, did a bunch of laundry, swept and mopped, and hauled a bunch of stuff down to the garage. In fact, I overdid it. I was so freakin' sore by the time I was done, that I could barely move. I had a very difficult time sleeping last night because of it. Other than doing the dishes and taking care of the kids today, I have pretty much done squat. I may get around to doing a teeny bit of laundry if I feel up to it. I'll have to figure out something pretty simple for dinner, but that shouldn't be too difficult. I am just very grateful that this pregnancy isn't gonna last forever. I HATE barely being able to walk! It's like being saddle sore, or having ridden on a bicycle with NO seat cushion, every day. Grr.

This morning, I attempted to duplicate my own version of that Frappuccino Creme drink that I got at Starbuck's the other day. I ATTEMPTED, and BOMBED! Oh, poo! I guess I'll just have to go back if I want another one. I just gave them a call, and for $3.20, I can buy another cup of happiness. That is for a small. A medium is like $3.70, and a large, $4.70. Pricey, but not as bad as I thought it would be. I think I can afford to get one like once a month or so. I'm sure glad I don't drink coffee... people who DO must spend a TON of money on that stuff to feed their addiction.

Now, I need to go find one of Jasmine's Littlest Petshop toys that Tyler as been accused of taking. The other day, he dropped one of her toys down the A/C vent. That wasn't a pretty picture. After attempting to take the thing apart to remove the dearly loved toy that's probably worth a whole 2 cents, Daddy tipped the unit on its side and the toy rolled right out. I just hope Ty didn't do something disasterous to this toy. I'd better go rescue it.

Today, I Went to Starbuck's...

I went to Starbuck's today for the very first time in my life. You see, Jasmine completed the 15-hour summer reading program at the local library, and she got a whole bunch of prizes. One of 'em was for a free a coffe-free blended drink from Starbuck's. So, after being reassured that there was absolutely no coffee in the drink, I ordered a Double Chocolate Chip Frappuccino Blended Creme for Jasmine. It's just a blend of chocolate, chocolate chips, ice and milk... topped with whipped cream and chocolate syrup. Dang! That thing was good. Jasmine was very sweet to share with Tyler and me. I can tell that Ty really liked it, too, by the really long "sip" that he took. I don't know how much it costs, but if it ain't too much, I wouldn't mind going back there again sometime to get me another one.

So flippin' tired...

Lately, I feel totally and completely drained. Getting up to do anything is a huge chore. At least I don't feel like throwing up so much anymore (just occasionally in the mornings if I don't eat a decent breakfast). I haven't actually barfed for a few weeks now. It's about freakin' time, since I'll be 22 weeks pregnant tomorrow. What happened to morning sickness staying in the first trimester?

Last week, my husband accompanied me to the doctor for the first (and probably only) time. The only reason he was there was because I was having my ultrasound, and I needed help with the kids. It's just a big pain in the butt having him take time out of work to attend all these doctor appointments. I can normally manage just fine by myself with the kids.... tons of other moms hafta do that. Tyler would have been into everything, though, if daddy weren't there to police him (either that, or screaming in his stroller for 40 minutes during the ultrasound... not an option!) ANYhoo... all along, we have talked about not finding out the gender of the baby. I was afraid that it would be really hard to go along with that when the day of the ultrasound came. Amazingly, it wasn't. We just told the technician that we didn't wanna know, and she told us when to look away from the screen. I know that the gender was detected, though, because when I had my followup apopointment with another doctor (my own wonderful doctor was away on vacation to Alaska), he scribbled out the gender on the ultrasound sheet so I wouldn't see it. It's kinda weird, knowing that someone out there knows what we're having (and I don't), but that's okay. It will still be a wonderful surprise for us when the baby is born. I'm just happy that the ultrasound looked good, and that no abnormalities or problems were detected.

I haven't done much around the house for the past week. I've just been really tired and sore. My main goal for this week is to get the bathrooms cleaned. I'd really like to do one of 'em today.... preferably while Tyler is sleeping. He just zonked out right before I started this blog entry. I also need to clean out our fridge in the garage, and do meal planning for the rest of the week. First, I think it'd be a good idea for me to get cleaned up and dressed. After all, it's almost NOON. YUCK! I'd better get started, and see how much of this I can actually accomplish.

Craziness of the Whole Week

This week has been crazy. For starters, taking Jasmine to the zoo every day and picking her up three hours later REALLY bit into Tyler's nap schedule. That meant that he ended up taking late naps, which made it EXTREMELY difficult to put him to bed at a decent each night. Tuesday and Wednesday, while Jasmine was with her zoo camp group, I just ended up staying at the zoo with Tyler. I pushed him around in his stroller, and he even fell asleep during the bird show on Tuesday. One day I bought a big ol' elephant ear (yum!), and the other day I brought a lunch. Due to the terrible parking situation at the zoo (while it's in it's crowded summer months), which I experienced on Monday, I ended up riding the MAX to the zoo on those two days. On Wednesday, my hubby took the car into work, but he came home early and met up with us at the zoo. I thought Jasmine would be happy to see him, but she was upset because she realized she wouldn't get to ride the train home. Poor little girl (not!) ANYway, I was A-OK with it, cuz on one of our rides this week, a lady was STUPID enough to bring her kid with CHICKEN POCKS onto the train! She warned me as soon as I sat down next to her (the doors had already closed and the the train in motion), so I quickly rushed my kids to the other end of the cart...but Puh-LEEZE! They should have some sort of rule or law that people with highly contageous serious sicknesses, such as chicken pocks, can't go on the buses or trains. It still frustrates me to think aobut it.

Thursday was, by far, the most hectic day this week. For starters, my husband slept in too late to take the MAX to work. Since we didn't want him to have to pay for parking again, I drove him to work. Traffic was light and we made good time, getting him there shortly after 8:30. I got home around 9:00, and quickly realized that I locked my keys in the car! AAAAAH! Worse yet, they were sitting right on the front seat, plain for all to see. AAAAAH! So, I trudged up the hill to the leasing office to get a spare key to at least get into my apartment. We don't have a spare key to unlock the car, so I called my hubby and told him about the situation. He agreed to meet me at Pioneer Courthouse Square downtown to give me HIS key. It's a dang good thing I still had his MAX pass from the day before. So, after getting the kids dressed, we zoomed out the door and caught the bus to the MAX station, then rode the train into meet Daddy. It was after NOON before we got back. This was just enough time for me to throw some lunch together for the kids and head out the door once again. Traffic was horrible while driving to the zoo. We barely made it on time (zoo camp starts at 1:00). So, after dropping off Jasmine, and knowing how bad the traffic was, I decided to stay put. After drifing around in the parking lot for like 15 minutes, I finally found a spot to park. By this time, I was kinda sick of going to the zoo, though, so I took Tyler over to the Portland Children's Museum, which is right next to the zoo, and bought a 1-year family pass. Tyler had a BLAST in there. I took some cute pictures, which I will have to post shortly.

At 2:30, I had to zoom over to the arboretum just down the road. My husband's company was having their annual picnic at 3:00. My hubby was gracious enough to go back and pick Jasmine up when her camp was over. We had a ton of really good food, plus had a water baloon toss. Although Jasmine didn't participate in that, she had lots of fun with her own purple water baloon. After we left, we ran some errands and then went home and crashed. It was the first chance I had gotten to relax all day, and I very much needed it.

Yesterday was Jasmine's last day of zoo camp. While she was there, I once again battled horrible traffic to go to Toys R Us to pick up a gift for a birthday party Jasmine was invited to last night. When I got her home from camp, we wrapped the gift and zoomed out the door once again. The party was for a girl almost two years younger than Jasmine (but they love to play together anyway). Her mom is my visiting teacher, and I am HER visiting teacher as well (I know.... weird....). The party was at a local park, and they had a Slip 'n Slide set up for the kids. Jasmine just crawled on it (she had never played on one before), but she still had fun playing in the water and getting wet. So did Tyler, and I didn't even bring his swimsuit. They also had dinner for everybody, and the girl's daddy grilled hot dogs and bratworsts. YUM. Ty and Jazz each got lots of little party toys, and they both had fun. I was even given a bunch of food to take home for my hubby who couldn't come because he had to work late. In fact, I drove directly from the party to go pick him up from work. I was kinda paranoid, cuz one of our headlights is now burnt out and it was getting dark fast. We made it, though, with time to spare to stop at Blockbuster. There, we rented a bunch of movies (Benchwarmers, When a Stranger Calls, and some other one I can't remember), and even bought a few (March of the Penguins, The Longest Yard). We watched Benchwarmers last night, and I was honestly grossed out by the whole thing with that dude eating sunscrean. YUCK! All in all, though, it was a pretty fun, albeit crude, movie.

This morning has been rather uneventful. The kids woke me up at 8:30, and my husband had been gone for who knows how long. I think he rode the train into town to take some pictures of the city (Portland is a beautiful city) and of his office (which they will be moving out of by the end of the month). I don't know when he'll be back, but being the lazy blob I am right now, I really dont' care. I'd like to take the kids to the museum later today if we can swing it (Jasmine's never been there), but we'll see. Now, I think I'm gonna wrap up this long blog entry and go back to being lazy. G'bye.