A Body In Motion

... In this house, tends to want to stay at rest after all the movement I've been doing.

Hello! And welcome to "What-the-feck-did-you-think-you-were-doing?-trying-to-move-around-everyone's-freakin'-birthdays-omg!"

We have the lease. We haven't signed it yet - we're waiting on the landlords' researching ways for us to pay electronically.

We've talked to our current landlord, who is fine with us pro-rating into May, until the 15th.

The new landlords said we can get into the new house by May 10th.

My birthday is in early April. Alli's birthday is just past the midway point of April, Aishlinn's birthday is in early May. We also have my best friend Kathleen's birthday, as well as her daughter's birthday, also after and before the midway point of April. Holy crap, Batman. Little does our oldest daughter know that Mommy has a surprise up her sleeve. I'm going to take the Hyrulian shield cake idea that she asked for, and do a mash-up cake. Because the girls' birthdays are within a few weeks of one another, I thought I'd combine My Little Pony with Link. It'll be Derpy dressed as Link, with a miniature shield of Hyrule. I really hope it turns out. The other option I gave Alli was for me to do a TARDIS cake. But, well, I haven't had spectacular results with that. Oh well.

***

And really? Have you ever tried getting rid of furniture for free on Craigslist? Honestly, it's like the hardest thing. They send an email expressing interest. I send one back confirming the size, that you'll need a truck to move it, and asking when can they pick up. I hear nothing back for four hours. It's like chasing someone down to hand them FREE stuff. I went through five interested parties before someone actually responded back. BINGO. The Antique chair is YOURS, Ms.I-have-a-truck! Come and get it TONIGHT.

***

We have boxes - some assembled, others not, still more filled with crap we're either taking with us or are intent on going through before we move. I have a feeling what's going to end up happening is this:
The week before we move, we start taping up boxes.

Me: "Whoops. Guess I never went through this shite. *tapes box up* I'll have time when we move to the new house. I'll do it for sure then."

This is exactly what happened the last time we moved - in 2010. And we still have those exact same emm-effing boxes IN THE GARAGE. (Sorry, I think I'm approaching Moving Rage, Stage 2 right now. It's been a long week already.) Then again, you're reading the ramblings of a woman who still has three dozen 35mm cameras from her wedding that have not been processed yet. We just keep moving the box that says "Wedding Cameras" from house to house.

We've been married seven years this year; I blame it on my husband.

I am known to be a pack mule.

Mommy's purse basically carries everything that you may ever need - from Barbie's lost pink shoe to graham crackers from three years ago that have been crushed into crumbs which are held inside plastic packaging that lies, saying it tastes delicious. No, they don't. They likely taste like stale toe jam.

Anyhow, I digress.

A few months ago, Dave and I were searching online at new products on www.Thinkgeek.com when I saw this little beauty.

I knew I HAD to have it. I proclaimed my intent to receive it on FaceBook. I called out the fact that I NEEDED it and it would be PERFECT to cart all the crap around for other people that I normally do in my purse.

Truth?

The sucker is just too big. It is the biggest messenger bag that I have EVER owned. I took it with me to church on Sunday to give it a test drive before committing to moving all the crap and crumbs over from my ChrisYulKwanzaCkah purse.

It was just too large.

And so now, I am determined to release my messenger bag back into the Wilds where --- oh feck that. I'll just wrap it up and give it to my oldest daughter who turns 14 this April, for her birthday! She was literally drooling over it when I took it out of the box anyway, so I know she'll just be jumping for absolute joy.

And for me? I bought myself at $13.00 black patent leather purse that still fits everything it did before. There's just no dancing gingerbread and holiday decor plastered all over the side of it. I even threw the graham cracker dust bag into the new purse to show I was committed to the change.

I'm such a good mom. Some days.

Kindergarten Woes

Aishlinn, after attending a Waldorf preschool for a year, and then ECFE for the next year so I could make sure she wasn't just literally playing with rocks and sticks and would know how to spell and write her name, began Kindergarten this year.

I adore her teacher. We'll call her "Jane".

Below, follows some of our exchanges. She just *gets* me, you know?

"Jane,
Our schedule got a big messed up this week, so I was wondering if it would be acceptable to have a phone conference from 6:15-6:30 tomorrow evening instead of coming in physically? 

Otherwise, I'll have all three children outside the door, yelling at one another while I try to hear you over the noise. At least if we do a phone conference I can hide in the bathroom and put towels under the door to get some quiet.

Please advise!
Thanks!

PS: Aishlinn is supposed to bring cheese sticks tomorrow for snack. I'm typing this to remind myself and you that they will be in her backpack tomorrow."

Her response:

"You make me laugh.  Yes, we can have a phone conference.  Would you call me at 6:15?  

It will be hard to show you her work...but, we can talk about it.  

I can always meet with you at a different time too, if you would like. 

I'll look for the cheese sticks tomorrow!!  It's not a big deal if you forget.  We are adjustable. 

Thanks, Jane"

My response:

"You have saved my sanity! 

The next few weeks are insane, and I'd really like an idea how Aishlinn has been doing overall before we get too close to the end of the year.
I will absolutely call you at 6:15. From the closet. Upstairs.

Stay warm!
I'm crossing my fingers I'll remember the cheese sticks.
Thank you so much. :)"

Another exchange regarding mean little boys who were picking on my daughter with her adorable little perfect pixie haircut:

"Jane,

I thought to let it ride another day or two, but Aishlinn came home again today - the second day - in tears.

"Mommy, the boys keep saying I have a boy haircut!! They called me a boy."

Me: "Who called you a boy?"

"Alex from Mrs. Nelson's class. And Brady, and Charlie and ... Rex in my class."

You could tell the last boy was really breaking her heart. (Insert inappropriate Mom giggles here because of the drama of a first crush being mean.)

We've been telling her since Sunday that she got an adorable Pixie girl cut. And that only girls can pull off that style of cut, and anyone that says different doesn't know about Pixies or magic.

Obviously it's not working.
It's a silly thing, but as adults, we know it hurts as a small child. I'm not sure what could be done, if anything, but if she seems upset or morose or screams at those boys, or punches one of them... you'll know why.

Sorry to toss this at you."

Her response:

"Hi!

Sorry to hear about the teasing.  Her haircut is absolutely adorable and she looks so mature.  I bet they really like her and teasing is just a way to get her attention.  I'll talk to the boys and hopefully put a stop to it. I didn't hear of it happening, so thanks for bringing it to my attention.  Let me know if it continues. 

You really should be a writer!!  Love your emails.  Too bad this one was about a serious matter.

Have a good day! 

Jane"

If I got a quarter every time someone suggested I should be a writer... I'd be swimming in a sea of quarters.

I've Been Busy

Salutations!

My Life as a Suburban Goddess has been extraordinarily busy the last five years. I started this blog as a way to talk out thoughts and feelings and just generally assure myself and the friends who read it that I hadn't dropped my basket. Yet.

Many things have changed. Some have stayed the same.

My husband Dave is still a web developer.

Our oldest daughter, Alli, is coming up on 14 this year. Aishlinn, who was born right before my heart attack, is going to be six in a couple months.

We also had the surprise of a lifetime - trust me, it was a doozy of a good one - with the addition of our son, Albert Alexander. I know it's such a big name for such a little boy; we call him "Xander" instead.

He is the product of a botched vasectomy (Love you, honey) and one egg that escaped. I was six weeks pregnant before I even went into the doctor - I seriously thought I was dying with all the nausea and bloating I was experiencing. I thought for sure my liver was failing. Nope.

The nurse I see for my INR checks told me, "Your INR has been consistently low for the last six weeks. I bet you're pregnant!" I smirked at her and told her "Shaddup". (Because seriously, she and I have that kind of relationship.) After my INR visit - still coming back low - I had my doctor appointment. She did a physical exam. Then I told her my INR nurse's comment. She decided to do a pregnancy test "Just in case". I peed in the cup. Then waited ten minutes. The doctor came back in and said, "Okay, let's take a look here at those te-- OHMY."

My heart stopped for a full three seconds. "What? WHAT?" I was panicked, sweating, and felt hot and cold. I thought for sure I was going to pass out.

The kindly doctor turned the screen towards me, pointing to a yellow highlighted line of words across the screen. "PREGNANT ------ POSITIVE". I nearly did pass out at that point. My vision narrowed to the words on the screen, stunned into silence.

I knew I couldn't get too excited. I could barely drive home. I kept feeling like this was either the best day or the worst day. It was up to me to tell Dave though.

I cornered him upstairs when I got home. "Hey... they know what's wrong with me."

He stopped and sat on the bed. "What's up?"

"Hah... yeah... Guess what? I'm pregnant."

"FUNNY. Really, what's wr-- ," he could see the sincerity in my eyes. I'm sure that the huge-ass smile of disbelief on my face didn't hurt, either.

And so, after many, many, many trips to my Hematologist, the Cardiologist, and the Perinatologist, we were scheduled for a c-section on February 14th, 2013. Yep, our boy is a Valentine's baby.

I am still a Domestic Goddess, as I like to call it; much of it is due to the fact we still have a toddler at home and childcare is expensive. I do enjoy spending time with my kidlets as well, though.

I did my first 5K with a couple friends last summer 2014. I'm still happy with myself and my body, but I know I can always be healthier, however, I'm in better health than I was five years ago.

Instead of harassing the people on the Interwebs, I now bug my childrens' teachers, write and edit fanfiction for random fandom friends, and occasionally dream of being able to sit down to finish writing something besides a ten minute post that I can ONLY do because Xander is sleeping. After I put another load of laundry in. Or figure out what needs to come out of the freezer to defrost so my family doesn't starve. Fat chance of that - literally.

Um.. Hi?

I'm alive! I made it through the c-section - which turned out to be on May 8th, 2009 (waiting for my platelet count to come up).

Aishlinn Deirdra at 6 lbs, 2 ounces, made her appearance at 9:53am into the world. Meanwhile, I was knocked unconscious because of my low platelet count and other factors.

I woke up and life was grand. Not. The nicest thing Dr. Wagner did for me was he cut vertically along the same scar I had from Allison, 8 years prior. The stitches were great, too. I was able to drive within 4 days. (tee hee hee) The doctors and nurses will usually tell you to wait 2 weeks after your c-section to drive. Trust me - with the vertical cut it's PAINLESS to push your foot down to accelerate while driving.

Again I say, my doctors rock.

So... gave birth, yadda yadda, beautiful and healthy baby girl, go home after 4 days (yippee!), three weeks later we move from Mtka to Roseville. Six days after we move into the house we are renting I wake up with chest pains.

It's 4am on June 11, 2009. I'm having chest pains and it feels like my heart is squeezing itself. I start breathing shallowly. Indigestion? REALLY BAD indigestion? I take some Tums thinking that'll help. I wait 10 minutes. The pain is still there - no better, no worse. I wake up Dave and tell him to call 911.

Now get this picture: I'm 31 years old. Just had a baby a few weeks ago. We are new to the area. I'm not scared though - if anything I'm thinking I'm having awful gastritis, or a gall bladder attack.

The ambulance comes. There's no question - Dave is freaking out right now. Alli is watching her sister sleep in the front room as I am driven off by the nice Allina EMTs. They put an IV in, both females think I am having a gall bladder attack potentially - all because of my age. One of the EMTs gives me a couple of Nitroglycerine tabs - one at a time of course - to cover all bets.

I get to United Hospital and they take a bunch of blood. Do labs and an Echo and an EKG. I get two more Nitro tabs from a nurse, one at a time, rating my pain scale in between as before. At about 4:30 an ER doctor comes in and says that my Troponin level was elevated and they think I had a myocardial infarction. MI. HEART ATTACK.

The first words in my mind were: "WHAT THE FRACK?" What I said aloud was, "Umm... ok? What do we do now?"

In the next 24 hours my best friend came with her toddler daughter to stay with Dave, Alli, and the baby. I ended up going in for an Angiogram. My parents drove down and saw me right before I went in for the diagnostic. Perhaps it was the fact that my IV had sprung a leak (infiltration into the tissue) inside the vein and I wasn't getting enough of the pain meds... or the fact that there was a machine above my head that looked like a giant upside down toilet... whatever it was, the Angiogram was not my favorite thing about the stay.

A couple days later I was out of the hospital, a heart attack survivor. 2% damage that was said to be totally reversible. Heart attack caused by a random clot. Even though I was on Lovenox.

But hey, I'm here. With all new meds and a brand new attitude. How d'ya like me now?

Rounding Home Plate

We're almost there!

Thursday, May 7th, around 11:30am my c-section is scheduled at Abbott NorthWestern Hospital.

My amniotic fluid has been up and down again. I had an office visit last week where I was having contractions every 6-8 minutes. Yep, I was excited! I thought for sure that it wouldn't be too much longer before I drove to the hospital in labor. Yeah, right. So much for another "April baby" like Alli and myself were - as well as my best friend Kathleen and her daughter Evie.

I swore that towards the end of pregnancy I wouldn't bitch and moan like every woman seems wont to do. But I have to say a few words:

I am tired. My back hurts. My belly muscles ache. I'm tired of heartburn. I'm peeing every 15 minutes.

I'm just ready to meet my other daughter and get my body back. I'm sure Dave feels the same way but for an entirely different reason. He was ready for the hormone levels in the house to return to normal about 6 months ago.

Still, we have come a long way and are very excited. I just pray to the Gods that everything goes better than we expected and I am not completely laid up for the following 6 weeks. It's been 8 years since I had Allison, and I don't remember much about the c-section but that it burned when I peed after they took out the catheter. lol

Anyways, we have plans to take the laptop with us to the hospital to make sure we can upload photos and email updates to everyone. Thanks so much for your blessings and well wishes!

Speaking To Soon

I went to my normal Tuesday doc appointment yesterday.

My amniotic fluid had decreased to 5.8, from the 7.X that it's been holding steady at for the last couple visits. My wonderful nurse advised me that anything at 5 and under, since I was 37 weeks, was an indication of an earlier c-section than May 7th that they planned for. Since I'm thankfully so far along, they just wouldn't want to mess around with trying to wait longer and me and the Melon getting into a distress situation.

I spoke with Dr. Wothe after the non-stress test, and luckily the Melon was doing great with a steady heartbeat - no signs of distress. The only thing he did caution me about is if decreased movement - less than 10 movements in 2 hours - to come right in after calling the MAC (Maternal Assessment Center).

She's been kinda lazy with her movements the last day or two, and it was explained to me that as long as she is still moving normally, even if her movements aren't as vigorous, it's due to the decrease in room because of the lower fluid level. So, me, being the paranoid person that I am, will be doing kick counts today every few hours just to make myself feel better.

I've also decided to drink strictly water until my Friday appointment instead of counting any Juicey Juice or milk as fluid. My own experiment to see if that makes a difference in the fluid levels.

Also, we started the Heparin injections last night.
Wow, it makes me miss the Lovenox. Dosing myself 1.3 ccs every 12 hours (6am and 6pm), out of these itty bitty teeny tiny vials of 20,000 units per 1 ml....it's annoying because I have to use two of them each time I dose. And DUDE, you should SEE the length of the needle on the 3 cc tuberculine syringes they gave me. Crap on a stick are they ever long! It's seriously like a 2 and a half inch long needle for the 3 cc syringes.

It just amazes me when I think of how little I personally have gone through... knowing that it may be a lot of medical issues - Factor X/Lupus Anticoagulant, constant blood thinner injections, lab draws, doctor visits - for me, but that there are other women out there who have gone through so much more in order to carry their babies to term. That's what keeps me going.

We're close now. Whether they tell me this Friday we're rescheduling for a sooner c-section, or we can safely wait until May 7th...we are definitely looking forward to our new addition.

Overwhelmed much?

No further updates on my Tuesday and Friday doc appointments due to the fact that things haven't changed all that much. My amniotic fluid level has swung from 10 to 7, and is holding steady at 7, with bed rest still prescribed.

Some news as of last Friday's appointment: MN Perinatal has tentatively scheduled my c-section for May 7th at 11:30am. I say 'tentatively' because it could be May 8th - dependent on my labs.

They are switching me from Lovenox injections to Heparin injections. I had to jump through a few hoops to get that all squared away - including a PA (prior authorization) that we had not anticipated. The PA was approved, but Walgreens doesn't carry the necessary dosage that I needed. They'll have it in tomorrow afternoon they said - so I'll start it beginning Wednesday, and have a lab draw on Thursday to see if they need to adjust dose.

Again, being switched from Lovenox to Heparin is due to the fact that Heparin has a shorter life in the body than Lovenox does. It ought to be fun... I have to draw up my own Heparin and inject as normal. Lovenox apparently, is the lazy persons' blood thinner injectable. lol Yes, I find it humorous. :)

So.... we've started making lists and checking them several times. Not like we need to bring much to the hospital, but with my memory the way it is right now, always best to rely on the written word.

Also... we've started going through stuff. I keep offering things to friends and asking them to come over and figure out if there's something they could possibly NEED. We have less than 3 weeks before the Melon makes her appearance, and less than 8 weeks before we move to our single family home in Roseville.

And please don't take this as bitching, but even though I've gained about 14 pounds total the entire pregnancy so far (which is good and fine and dandy) I feel like I've gained about 40 pounds and everything is stretched out and uncomfortable and ... and ... while I feel blessed to have made it happy and healthy to this far point of nearly 37 weeks with this baby, it's just really hard to get comfortable. Daytime naps are becoming more common.

In fact, time for one now.

DIY Breast Pump?

So Dave and I were lying in bed Friday around 11:30 at night and we started talking about some of my fears of breast-pumping/feeding and how, while I would love to just breast feed, it's always good to have a milk supply in the freezer instead of having to use formula like I had to with Alli.

Then, we got around for some reason to talking about the FoodSaver vacuum sealer that we have. And Dave started talking about how we should work on retro-fitting it to make the motor into a working breast pump.

WHA??????????????

I think the first words out of my mouth were "Uhhh NO. Let's stick your manhood in the vacuum and see how you like it. I don't need my nipples ripped off!"

We'll be buying my breast pump, thank you very much.

MN Perinatal - Friday Appointment

The ladies in the Edina office are WONDERFUL. Let me just say that. And have I told you how I love, love, LOVE the doctors there?

Anyways, I went in for my 2pm appointment today. We did the BPP and non-stress test. "The Cabbage" as Dave calls her, did great. My amniotic fluid is a bit lower, but steady, and not alarming to the staff. So we are essentially still in a holding pattern.

Dr. Ney - who I admit, is of my favorites next to Dr. Gazianno - was even telling me that if I wanted to, I could set up appointments into May as I already have April appointments scheduled. All I could think of was "Ummm sure." While in my head I'm screaming out "OH GODS PLEASE LET ME HAVE THE BABY BEFORE THEN!!!!!!!"

Let's face it: For those of you who truly know me, you know I'm not a patient person. I completely LACK patience. Christmas is not one of my better times of the year, nor my birthday.

I am not the typical pregnant woman. I don't just assume that everything has been great up to this point and we will end up with a happy healthy baby and I should just run out and buy the rest of the baby's things. No.

I am the type of woman who's been pregnant before... and lost. Being this far into the 3rd trimester makes me feel EXTREMELY blessed, and NERVOUS. I just feel like the sooner I deliver, the sooner our baby will be safe from my body. The sooner we can hold her and count her fingers and toes... see if she has hair... attempt pumping and breastfeeding. Again.

When the OB visit was nearly over I asked Dr. Ney a question that I've been forgetting to: Can I/Will I be able to pump and/or attempt to breastfeed while I'm on blood thinners? This question has no definitive answers online - in fact, there's much that's misunderstood about anti-coagulants.

Dr. Ney looked me right in the eye and said "Yes. Your body is ready this time; you aren't sick. You are healthy, and healed." She went on to give me greater confidence by telling me that the dosage of blood thinner I am on is considered "prophylactic" - meaning a preventive dosage.

On one hand, I thought I would never want to give the whole breastfeeding and pumping thing a try, but on the other hand, I never had the chance to breastfeed Alli because my milk ran out before she came home. It made me feel like a failure to some extent. However, years later, I am an older, wiser mom. I know that if I give it my all, I'll be fine. If it doesn't work out, then it doesn't work out. I'm not going to beat myself up over it. Or let someone else make me feel guilty because they think that I didn't try hard enough.

We are moving along though with the accumulation of baby things. I'm thinking about ordering some things from Amazon in a week or so. Don't want to crowd the house up too much now, do I.

Surprise!

One thing that Dave and I kept under close wraps until just recently really is the fact that I'm 32 weeks pregnant today. Yes, this means that I was finishing up my first trimester when we were getting married in November. :)

Because of previous disappointments/losses and not wanting to get our hopes up, we decided to tell only a few select people who were encouraging and happy for us, but also cautious.

I have a previous history of pre-eclampsia with my daughter Alli. She was delivered at 27 weeks by emergency c-section, weighing in at 1 pound, 11 1/2 ounces. Yes, I know I've probably related this information before, but it bears repeating to bring you up to date on the current pregnancy.

So from day 1 that I was aware I was pregnant this time, I have been seen by Perinatologists through MN Perinatal Physicians. I have been lucky enough this time to not have any major issues - no signs or symptoms of pre-eclampsia, no gestational diabetes, etc.

My luck has held.... until last Thursday (3/12/09). I went in expecting a regular OB check and Bio Physical Profile and came out with a letter from my Perinatologist putting me on bedrest.

Good grief.

Apparently after my second BPP, they noticed that I had the same low levels of amniotic fluid when they did the amniotic fluid index sampling. They find this concerning - as I do - enough to put me on bedrest indefinitely.

Then, after being told I'm on bedrest, we still needed to meet the next day (Friday 3/13/09) with the anesthesiologist at Abbott Northwestern, where my MN Perinatal Physicians are going to be delivering me by c-section.

And so, Dave came with me to meet with Dr. Abbott for the consult at the hospital. Two things became immediately clear:
1.) I could be knocked out for the birth - again - like I was with Alli.
2.) Or, I could be awake for the birth - which scared me more.

(Back story: Because of my blood disorder that causes clots (Lupus Anticoagulant), I have been on Lovenox blood thinner since the day I found out I was pregnant, as well as 1 81mg tablet of Aspirin daily, per my perinatologists. This has been monitored closely to make sure that there are no clots that present, as they could potentially cut off blood flow to the placenta and kill the fetus.
We've been blessed this pregnancy in that my Hematologist and Perinatologists do communicate quite well most of the time.)

So anyways...Dr. Abbott was saying that if I need to be delivered prior to 36 weeks, I will likely be under general anesthesia with a breathing tube and all that fun stuff that I had with Alli. Honestly, I'm not worried if that happens - Been there, done that.

If, however, we can make it past 36 weeks with everything working out well, then the docs will switch me over from Lovenox (which has a 12 hour life span) to actual Heparin (which has a life span of 6 hours or less) so that if they need to do some quick work and get the baby delivered they don't have to worry too much about excessive blood loss. Always a nice thing.

As of right now, things are progressing. I'm eating and sleeping. Dave is calling the baby "the cabbage" because that's the size it was compared to on my babycenter.com weekly email update. Alli is VERY excited about being a big sister to a little sister.

Oh, didn't I tell you it's another girl? :)

O. M. G.

Dave and I got married November 1st, 2008.

Yes, it was beautiful - the tent was tremendously gorgeous. Our guests were fantastic - some of them even helping out prior to the ceremony.

We did start late - people kept coming upstairs to see ME of all people, who was trying to finish getting dressed - and people in the house kept TELLING the guests where I was getting ready, and they kept coming upstairs to visit! lol

The food, provided by my friend Josh and his lovely and patient wife Kim, was AWESOME!

Our menu:

Fruit Board :
Pears, Plums, Grapes, Apricots, Apples, Pineapple

Cheese & Nut Board:
Swiss, Pub cheese, Caramelized Onion, Truffle, Dubliner, Tomato Basil Gouda, Herb Gouda
Walnut, Almond, Pecans, Figs, Dates

Salad:
Apple & Pear Waldorf on Baby Greens

Soup 1:
Lentil (Vegetarian)

Soup 2:
Pumpkin

Entrees:
Roast Buffalo
Turkey
Smoked Turkey Legs

Vegetables:
Cinnamon Roasted Sweet Potatoes
Wild Rice & Mushroom sautee with Vidalia Onions
Roasted Butternut Squash
Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Gravies:

Turkey

Dark Beef

Roquefort dressing

Bread:
Petite Baguettes, White Buns (made by Linda), Dark Rye Buns, Wild Rice Buns.

Oy. It was a lot of work for Josh and Kim, and my parents who helped out by letting them use their commercial kitchen for food prep because it was much closer than anything else in the area.

April, Dave, and Allison

I was abducted by aliens!

Just kidding.

I think we all know and realize that time flies when you are having fun...and sometimes not so much fun.

For the past two months, Dave's been getting used to the new schedule - up at 4am, out the door by 5 am to ride the bus to St. Paul for nearly 2 hours. Work for 8.5 hours respectively, and wash, rinse, repeat in the opposite bus order to get home.

I am still getting up with him at 4am.

We are both exhausted.


However, wedding planning still moves forwards. We've had a couple adventures and a few moments since June:

• We went to WineHaven (Chisago City, MN) & Eichtens (Center City, MN) and enjoyed a day of food and wine tasting. Eichtens raises their own buffaloes and cows and make their own FABULOUS Gouda cheeses and buffalo summer sausages amongst their delicious bistro/cafe and shop area. WineHaven happened to have a wine tasting the same day we headed out to Eichtens.... and so we tried a few varieties. We've already decided to get the Honey Wine and the Merlot from there for the wedding.
• Dave, Alli, and myself headed out to Howard Lake, MN for the 3rd Annual Garlic Festival; put on by the MN Sustainable Farming Association. They did a wonderful job and we enjoyed things ranging from
• demos from Minneapolis area chefs that work with the understanding of sustainability,
• belly dancers (not what I'd have thought - a few white chicks doing some pop music moves, more power to 'em - I've seen REAL traditional belly dancing though...),
• kids games & art, garlic ice cream (YUM), fresh raw gourmet garlic (It BURNED!)

Then... we hit the MN State Fair this last weekend. On Sunday early morning, we headed out on the Southwest Transit to the fairgrounds. It was a long day full of sunburn, good food (elk burger, porcupine meatballs, beef sticks, funnel cake, cheese curds, strawberry smoothy), and needing more water than I got which resulted in my crabbiness for about an hour. Yes, poor Dave. lol

We saw most of a wood chopping competition, walked around one end and saw the skate park portion with guys on bikes, hunted down food favorites (cheese curds), and waited in line for Sweet Martha's Cookies for about 15 minutes. Well worth the wait. It was fun to see the sights and smell the wonderful foods.


We also hit the Little Farmhands area for kids. Cute! Alli got to put on an apron and pick up some corn kernels, and 'feed the cows', 'milk the cows', drive the hay on the 'tractor' - John Deere of course, and 'grow' vegetables.
Here, we have Alli and Daddy. They gave the kids free John Deere sun visors made from a foamy material and emblazoned with their symbol.

Seriously, they had sunflowers that were REAL
and taller than Alli! Heck, they were even taller than me.













We also went to the Eco Experience - where Dave had been working for most of that week previously. Since Dave works for the Pollution Control Agency, he offered his volunteer services to help out at the Eco Experience photo booth - essentially, he was the 'man behind the curtain' running the technology aspect and making sure that as people came through, had their photo taken with signs saying why they promised to bring their own bag, and made sure that those pictures showed up on the Reduce.org website.

As a momento....

All said, we probably spent about two hours just going through the Eco Experience. Sustainability is something that everyone should think about. Compost when you can - we live in a townhouse and we are looking for ANY way that we can do that. We have been recycling and separating as needed with all our waste as well for a while already, but still, you feel like there's always more you can do to contribute to a healthy Mother Earth.




Alli, hugging Bernie the Burn Barrel at Eco Experience. Bernie tells people how bad for the environment burning your garbage is. He has a lot to say about keeping the environment and air clean and clear - and that just because your parents and grandparents did it - doesn't make it right!






In other news...
We finally met with my friend and the caterer, Josh, this week. Wonderful meeting. Unfortunately I think we made it a tad too long - I didn't get his email about his wife feeling poorly and could we make it a short meeting until the day AFTER. I sure felt like an ass. Sorry Joshy! My email at work apparently dislikes me intensely - but only SOMETIMES.

Thursday night this last week was Alli's Open House. She's heading into Second grade and frankly, her teacher seemed nice, but I'm a bit worried about Alli and her Math skills that we worked SO hard on last year... and haven't used much of this last summer. Her reading is perfectly fine though as she loves to read anything and anywhere.

Time will tell I suppose.

Dave and I went on our first date in about a month last night. To the Claddagh Pub in Maple Grove. It was wonderful! The food was plentiful and delicious - melt in your mouth good. Dave had a drunken steak that was a prime piece of meat with Jameson whiskey. I had the more mellow but still fantastic and homey shepherd's pie. Accompanied by a Guinness for myself and a Newcastle Nut-brown Ale for Dave, it was truly an enjoyable dinner only made better by our dessert of Tipsy Bread Pudding. Yum!

Afterwards, we headed out to the local mall to have our ring fingers resized - I'm a 7, and he's an 11.5. I'm putting it in print so he doesn't argue with me later right before we order our rings. lol

Anyways, we need to get the invitations printed out tonight and things addressed. We need the RSVPs by October 6th and are offering the option of RSVPing online or by phone, or lastly, by snail mail.

Still so much to do, but we are looking forward to it!

The Tardis Cake Fiasco

I wanted to do something nice for Dave for his groom's cake.

We had seen a while ago an "action shot" on the Thinkgeek.com website a bride and groom and a Tardis cake. Yeah, notice that their cake and mine look NOTHING ALIKE.

Now, for those of you whom aren't familiar with what Tardis is, it's basically a dark blue phone booth that has the words "POLICE BOX" on it. Dr. Who uses it as his time traveling vehicle as he visits the future and the past.

Not familiar with Dr. Who? Don't worry, I wasn't either. It's a pretty neat BBC show that Dave loves. So.... me, being the loving, devoted fiance and having time on my hands and having watched one too many Food Network Cake Challenges.... I did it.

You'll see the slowly sliding frosting that pulls down my perfectly square designs. I didn't expect it to be easy mind you, but even the slight amount of frosting to coat the sides was slooooowwwwwllllyyyyy sneaking down towards the cake board on the bottom. Stupidhead cake.

At least it tasted good, despite the 4 wooden skewers:

• 4 boxes of Betty Crocker Spice Cake mix. Prepared as stated on the back of the box.
• 4 containers of Betty Crocker Cream Cheese frosting
• 1 jar of Trader Joe's Pumpkin Butter
• 1 entire squishy thing of Blue food coloring (needed at least 3 of them to make it as blue as it should have been)
• 9 inch square cake pans
• over 5 total hours of free time

I mixed 2 of the containers of cream cheese frosting with the 1 jar of pumpkin butter and used that as 'cement' between the 6 layers total that I made. Cut it down a bit, frosted the whole thing, had Dave scold me, put in skewers to make sure the whole thing stood up.... and then, when he saw the finished product, he said I should probably do a 2D version instead of the 3D version I made. Arrrrrgggghhhhhhhhh!!! *L*

Don't worry. The cake was gently dismantled and one part was put in a container and frozen, another part set aside for me to take to work, and then the remaining part was turned into what I like to call a "Franken-Cake". It's a sad sack of deliciousness with scary blue frosting and looks like a small hill under the frosting. The side is tilting the to left. It feels like I look: defeated.

Back to the drawing board!

End of School Year Notes

Alli, practicing her spelling words. Yes, even in first grade they now apparently have spelling tests!

Just a couple things to brag about, seeing as I feel we are so fortunate to have our little girl:

* Alli is showing reading and comprehension above 2nd grade level

* She is meeting her Math skills and most of the comprehension things they start teaching in 1st grade. Considering we were really worried about her lack of aptitude with Math in the middle of the year, Dave has spent a wondrous amount of time and devised countless study tactics to help her. Apparently it's paid off! :)



And a couple months ago, I thought it was hilarious when Alli decided to take some old monster Ziploc bags that were empty and play with them. Talk about recycling!

She said that She was "going to the Fuuuuttuuuurreeeeeee!!" Can't you tell that the hanger is her steering wheel?

For some reason, it reminded me of Conan O'Brien's skit "In the Year 2000" where the guy in the background is singing that phrase in a the high falsetto voice.

We actually decorated the inside of the "helmet" and "space ship" with red circles that are all "buttons" that help her drive. It was so flippin' cute!

Due to her cardboard playtime, Dave keeps telling Alli and I that this Yule/Christmas will be a "Cardboard Christmas". Kids are kids are kids. Give most of them bubble wrap or cardboard boxes... wrapping paper, ribbons, and bows... and they are happy enough to sit for hours with just themselves for company. As any parent knows! :)

Mother's Day (late!)

Okay, so it's a bit late, but I have to say, after suffering a miscarriage right around her 7th birthday, my little pumpkin was sure to keep giving me hugs and kisses whenever I moved towards her for one or two. Well on Mother's Day, Dave and Alli let me sleep in. At one point I went to the potty, and had to walk by her bedroom door. In her doorway, I saw this beautiful sign that she wrote ALL BY HERSELF! She spelled everything correctly and it brought absolute tears to my eyes. Such a sweetie!

Little Evie!

Kathleen & Evie


Evie & Alli

We went to visit Kathleen and Charlie and Evie a couple weeks ago and oh my GODS how she has grown! She's more adorable than she was when she was born. Enjoy!

Evie

Updates

Things have healed much here. :) We are focused on the future and the near wedding.

Dave has also had a job offer from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. So, yippee! A continual income instead of the contracting will be a huge benefit to our family. Also helps that he's getting paid WAY more than peanuts. *G*

The downside is that I'll be assuming all pick up and drop off for Alli during this summer AND when she starts up school again in the Fall. This means that my schedule is now changing from 7:30am to 3:30pm, Monday through Friday to 8:00am to 4:30pm Monday through Thursday, and working 8am-2pm on Fridays. I won't be able to flex a lot of time, but at least Alli and I can have our Friday afternoons/evenings together this summer and do mommy-Alli stuff.

Dave will be taking the bus from Minnetonka to St. Paul which means he'll be leaving extra early and coming home barely before 6pm each night. More of the daily routines will be my responsibility - getting dinner on the table, helping Alli with homework, etc. - whereas before they were shared. It'll be a hard adjustment, but nothing I haven't already done as a single mom before. And Dave, you better read this and realize that just because you are working outside the home doesn't mean you're excused from HELPING! So there! :P

And onto the wedding/handfasting planning. Oy! Who knew napkins and linens were so expensive? Probably every other woman who's done wedding planing.

It's all in the details, you know? Each person's table setting is going to amount to around $10 each - including glass goblets, coffee cups and saucers. Don't forget the coffee pouring items, and the salad forks tongs, the wicker bread bowls, and OHMYGOSH, don't forget the TENT and sidewalls! We'll also need a tent heater, and while we're at it, crap, we might as well find a generator to beg, borrow, or rent. *L*

So yes, it's been exciting. We have an appointment to see Aarcee Tent and Party Rental
on Monday at 5:30pm. Because of Dave's analytical nature, I even made a spreadsheet detailing everything. Holy buckets. There's way more than I anticipated. I will say this though: the price isn't nearly as bad as I thought for what we've listed so far.

Anyways, Alli starts summer camp on June 12th, Dave starts his new job on June 11th, and the fun really starts then.

Flatulent Funnies (well, to me at least)

The other night I was in the process of falling asleep, cuddled close to Dave; fortunately facing him.

Cocooned in my own little sleepy world, I heard a LOUD sound that made me shake and wake myself up.

Dave had farted. It sounded like a sonic BOOM to me.

Apparently I said, more than half asleep," Oooh! That was loud. It scared me!" in a small little voice. Then I promptly giggled as he laughed a full belly laugh ...and then I fell back asleep.

So now, at random intervals Dave will repeat the "That was loud. It scared me!" in a falsetto voice and we both giggle. I know. We're weird.

Little Evie

On the bright side, and somewhat, I dunno, ironic? side some would say, my best friend Kathleen had her daughter on April 16th, 2008.

Evelyn "Evie" Elizabeth weighed in at 10 pounds, 5 and 3/4 ounces, measuring 21 inches.

Kathleen ended up having a c-section because her body just wasn't cooperating with such a large and healthy little girl.

We went up this weekend to Sandstone to see them and I have to say, Evie is absolutely ADORABLE. And so disgustingly good a baby you've NEVER seen. Seriously, she barely whimpered when she had gas - and she ate like a champ. I was just in awe! Kathleen joked that she was going to be a hellraiser when she hit 2 though... payback for being good the first couple of years. Tee hee hee.

Aunty Witchy has nicknamed her "Cheeks" because she had the most sweetest and pinchable little cheeks... That kid is lucky. :)

Kas and hubby were obviously tired and all, but doing well. After 8 years they finally have their first child and the glow hasn't worn off yet...as they are already planning for their second!

Blessings to the mothers of the world on this beautiful Sunday afternoon. :)