A Crazy Week

This has been a very very crazy week. I went to the midwife on Monday. First appointment. Heard the baby's heartbeat, everything looked fine. Except ... well, I was measuring 3 weeks ahead. I've never measured over! So, she suggests that maybe we should get an ultrasound to rule out twins. WHAT?

Even before that, on Monday morning, we got an e-mail about a job Old Man has been looking at (Air Force job) in Colorado Springs area. The e-mail was amazing. His potential boss said he only expects 40 hours a week and TDY once a quarter. I literally started crying when Old Man told me this. That is a dream job. Colorado? 40 hours a week? No commute? Rarely will he be gone? WHAT?

Needless to say, by the end of the day on Monday, I was a little bit of an emotional wreck.

Tuesday was our 13th Anniversary! Still an emotional wreck. It didn't help that, since a friend from high school contacted me, I decided to look at year books. Wow, I forgot how badly my junior year of school went. It was sad to look back at that year and remember. Since I was already an emotional disaster area, this did NOT help. I felt like I was feeling those emotions from a few years back (hee hee), all over again. Did I mention that Old Man wasn't sure about the job thing still? WHAT?

Wednesday wasn't too bad. At least I can hardly remember Wednesday at this point. :-) Oh, Wednesday evening, Old Man got a phone call that eliminated the only thing keeping him from accepting the job in Colorado. Good, in a way, but tough for him - so I was sad for him. Still a bit of a wreck here (although I don't think I cried on Wednesday at all).

Thursday, Old Man accepted the job!!! Now, don't get too excited. There are still a couple other things (out of our control) that have to happen in order for this job to go through. But, the house hunting has begun. We should PCS (move for all you non-military types - Permanent Change of Station) in July, if all goes as we would like.

Friday, ultrasound at 8 this morning. I have been so nauseated this week that I was starting to be sure it had to be twins. Why else would I feel so sick and tired at 16 weeks, plus be measuring large? Well, we are happy to announce that there is only ONE baby expected here! Thank GOD. I'm not sure I could have handled two. I was trying to think how I could escape my body and run away from that. Hmmm, not sure it can be done. :-)

So, I am not crying. Still nauseated. Not jumping up and down yet about Colorado - not until there is a move date given to us. Thrilled that we're only having one baby. And did I mention, looks like it is a girl. Still a little early to say for sure. I'll let you know in 4 weeks when they do another ultrasound. They like to do plenty with old people like me, you know. :-)

Oh, and Ranee, the due date is September 11. Thought you might like that.

Happy Easter/Resurrection Sunday!

I hope you all had a wonderful day. Ours was good. We were supposed to go to some friends, but decided we were just too tired to drive to Virginia (close to were hubby works). We went to church this morning. Our oldest was baptized today! After church we came home, hubby slept, I took a walk/jog, the older kids played outside. Had a great dinner, watched a movie, had family time. Nice and relaxing. Oh! I even took a bath today. Ahhhh.

Thought you would all like a recent picture of my kids (and even ME) dressed up. There's also one of hubby and the girls. These were all taken very quickly this morning, since we were running late (as usual!).





On another note. I think I need to come up with "names" for my family. I'm tired of referring to them as #1-4 and hubby or husband. :-) So, I think I'll call the kids by their middle names - from here on, #1 will be Dawn, #2 will be Anne, #3 will be Joseph and #4 will be David. My husband will be referred to as "Old Man" since that has been my nickname for him since we met (he is older than me!). If you must know, he used to refer to me as "Little Miss" (anyone know what song he would be referring to??? think early 90's).

Losing IT

We have had a particularly stressful week (month?) due to trying to decide if my husband will retire next January or take another military assignment this summer. There is a huge amount more involved in this decision than just that little sentence, so trust me, this is stressful. I was under the impression that the deadline to make a decision was today. Turns out I was wrong. I'm not handling the not knowing very well tonight. I've been ok with it, but I guess just thinking that we would know something tonight gave me some relief. Not knowing tonight is NOT GOOD.

In light of that, I called to make an appointment to get my hair cut. Understand, I get my hair cut 2-3 times a year. I am VERY picky about who cuts my hair (having had a horrific experience once). A couple years ago, I found the perfect hairdresser. Donna, at Miracles. She looked normal, is a mom, just seemed down to earth. Well, you can guess, SHE MOVED. Oh my goodness, I really want to sit here and cry over this! Stressed a bit? Hormonal maybe? This just completely stinks. So I had to make an appointment with a different person. Which causes me huge amounts of stress. What if she completely botches my hair? Seriously, how hard is this - it's long, not much to it. But it has happened before.

All right. Now you know how completely dumb and shallow I can be. It's just a stinkin' hair cut! Who really cares? If they botch it, it will grow out. But did I mention I have to attend my husband's 20th college reunion the end of April? AND I'm PREGNANT and NOT in shape? I NEED to at least have nice hair!?!?!

YES, I'm losing it. Someone please tell me this doesn't matter. No one is even going to notice my hair when I show up obviously pregnant (with our 5th child) to his reunion. THAT will definitely be the focal point. Maybe I'll just dye my hair green, get a tattoo and a few piercings - you think they won't notice I'm pregnant then?

Where's the wine, chocolate and bath?

Pictures!!!

I haven't added pictures in a while, so thought I'd add a few today.


This is our "baby" on his birthday (this past Tuesday).


Apparently my 4 year old thinks he is going to be a rock star!


Oh wait! So does our 7 year old!


This one was just too funny. He is really, truly asleep here. Right before dinner one night. Just fell asleep!


We were doing yard work last weekend and they got a little cold.


#2 just wanted to drive the 4-wheeler around (it's battery operated).

My "Personality"

I took a personality test online today. I thought the results were funny.

Extroversion	||||||||||||||||||	60%
Emotional Stability	||||||||||||||||||||||||||||	86%
Orderliness	||||||||||||||||||	60%
Altruism	||||||||||||||||||||||||||||	86%
Inquisitiveness	|||||||||	30%

You are a Supporter, possible professions include - nurse, social worker, caterer, flight attendant, bookkeeper, medical/dental assistant, exercise physiologist, elementary school teacher, minister/priest/rabbi, retail owner, officer manager, telemarketer, counselor, special education teacher, merchandise planner, credit counselor, athletic coach, insurance agent, sales representative, massage therapist, medical secretary, child care provider, bilingual education teacher, professional volunteer.

Why funny? First, I used to be a HUGE extrovert. Not so much anymore. Second, did you look at the job choices for me? How many of those do I currently have, sort of? Let's see: nurse, social worker, caterer, medical/dental assistant, exercise physiologist, elementary school teacher, minister/priest/rabbi, officer manager, counselor, special education teacher, athletic coach, massage therapist, child care provider, bilingual education teacher (have you ever conversed with a toddler??? plus we do sign language), professional volunteer.

Guess this means I've picked the right job for me! Or I've adapted to my job very well. :-)

On a side note - our baby turns 2 tomorrow! WOW! He's talking very well, climbing the fence in the back yard, extremely good at screaming NO constantly and loves loves loves to do puzzles.

A Few Questions

I have some questions to ask. Please feel free to leave lengthy comments (or short ones) about this.

1. Who has the authority over the ordinances/sacraments (baptism and communion, specifically)?
a. Would you be ok with your husband baptizing your kids?

2. What does it mean, to you, to be a part of the church (member?)?

3. What does "the church" mean to you? Locally? Globally?

Those are all the questions I can think of right now. After I get some opinions, I will have to share a lengthy issue we have been dealing with. And are tired of dealing with. Sometimes I just like to find out if I'm really weird in my thinking, or if I'm normal and other people are weird. :-) Or, if we are all weird! :-)

And Even More Shocking

Woa. Now I'm not sure this woman on the phone IS my mother-in-law. She called last night and offered to babysit our 4 children so we can have a date for our anniversary. Wow. That has never happened before - ever. Now don't get me wrong, she has watched our kids for us a couple of times (but I don't think she's ever watched all 4). The deal is, she never offered, we just asked. Usually out of necessity. You know, like Tonya's out of town for her niece's funeral and I need to go to work, so can you come down and watch 3 kids for 1/2 a day? She did. Very willingly and very happily. But never offered.

I think we've entered the Twilight Zone.

Sometimes People Surprise Me

We have been a little bit, ummm, chicken, shall we say, to tell my mother-in-law that we are expecting again. Only because she has mentioned that my husband "needs" a vasectomy about a thousand times since we had baby #3. We really just didn't want to hear it anymore. So we have avoided telling her. But, we are supposed to go over to her house in a couple weeks, which means she is either going to figure it out, or we needed to tell her. I didn't want to just show up and hear her reaction, I wanted my husband to call and tell her. He, being a wonderful avoider of conflict, didn't want to call. We came up with a wonderful solution - we had our oldest daughter call her! (Aren't we brave?) She calls Gammy up and tells her. Gammy says, "oh, really - let me talk to your Mom." Since we had anticipated that, we had told our oldest that we were unavailable. Yep, chicken. :-) As expected, Gammy got off the phone with us and immediately called her daughter, who confirmed that we are indeed expecting another baby. Later in the evening, my husband finally called his Mom. Her reaction was surprising, to say the least. She is thrilled! Even sounded excited, according to my husband. But, the most surprising of all is that she asked this question, "What can I do to help?" Wow. She has never offered to do anything to help us. He was so shocked at her question that I think he almost dropped the phone! :-)

Isn't it nice when someone surprises you? Now, I still haven't talked to her. Not avoidance, just lack of time to call her without kids all over the place. But I am so thankful for her immediate reaction. Now, if I just have the nerve to tell her to not mention a vasectomy ever again . . .