H

On my friend Rachel's blog she wrote about 10 things she loved starting with the letter "C". I thought it might be fun, so I decided to join her and she assigned me the letter "H".

So here it goes, things I love:

Husband: I love my husband! He takes such good care of our family and he always makes me laugh. There are a million other reasons, but I will try to keep this thing short.

Home: It is a good thing I enjoy being home because I am here quite a bit these days. It is not that I love my house so much, just the comfort of it being our home.

Holidays: I absolutely love when there is something to celebrate and lots of family comes to town. Of course, that normally means there is lots of good food too and mostly food I didn't make.

H2O: I love ice water! Especially right now I get really thirsty and feel like I will die if I don't get cold water. I even have to have a drink in the night when I get up to use the bathroom, which of course just makes me need to use the bathroom again in a little while. It is a vicious cycle.

History: I actually majored in history in college (minored in elementary ed). This does not mean I remember important dates in history, but I really enjoy reading about things that happened long ago.

Humor: I love to laugh. I love to watch funny things on TV and movies. I am not really into dramatic stuff. My husband would say it is because I don't "like to feel". All I know is I would much rather laugh.

Hearing my boy talk on the monitor: Matthew still has a baby monitor in his room because he sleeps upstairs and we sleep downstairs. It feels like he is very far away so I will probably keep a monitor in his room until he is 17 or so. I really enjoy hearing his cute little voice sing and tell crazy stories (the whining because his blankets aren't perfectly flat with no wrinkles, I could live without).

Happy people: Happy people are great. Obviously, all people can't be happy all the time, but I like when people are able to see the good in things and not be pessimistic all the time.

Handwritten notes and Homemade gifts: It is awesome when someone takes the time to actually write a note or make a gift. Don't get me wrong I like e-mails and store bought things too, but I just find the handwritten and homemade things more meaningful. Does this mean I write lots of meaningful letters and make lots of wonderful gifts? Absolutely not.

Hotels: I think it is a ton of fun to stay in a hotel although I haven't stayed in one in a really long time. Of course I am talking about nice hotels. You can swim and get free breakfast in the morning.

That is all. If you want to love a letter you can too, just let me know and I guess I will give you a letter to love. I will probably pick really great letters too like U and X, so if you love unicorns and x-rays you will definitely have a good time.

My Dad, the Super Cool Guy

My Dad has wanted a Mustang FOREVER. He has been talking about getting a new car for months now and looking around. On Saturday he went and test drove a few Mustangs. He also brought a few by our house since we live near the dealership. Matthew LOVES Mustangs, so he kept telling my dad which color to bring over next. I never really thought my dad would actually buy one because he is such a practical dude, but he did.

Matthew thinks this car is the coolest thing ever. It, of course, leads him to say "Oh yeah baby".


After Matthew sat in the driver's seat and pressed all the buttons, he then said "Papine, will you open the hood, so we can check out the engine?". Everything seemed to be as it should.

My dad told me on Sunday that if I happen to go into labor before the scheduled date and I need to get to the hospital quickly I should call him. He and the Mustang are kinda looking for an excuse to speed.

Honesty is the best policy, but.....

honestly you don't have to share your EVERY thought with the world, kiddo.

Matthew is very honest, always. I think it may be a blessing in disguise that we have only one vehicle and Matthew and I don't get out as much as we used to. To say that I am nervous when he speaks out in public is probably an understatement. Here are a few of his honest comments from the last few months.

On Matthew's birthday a neighbor boy stopped by to give him a gift. I had just gotten Matthew up from his nap when they arrived and he said "Oh (neighbor boy's name) it is you again" Now that one kind of made me laugh (inside) because these neighbors had been stopping by ALOT.
After Matthew opens the present he says to the boy, "Wow, you are really great at giving me presents. I am glad I invited you to my birthday. I think I will invite you to my Christmas too."

When my sister and her girls were visiting, all the girls (my sister, nieces, mom and I) and Matthew went shopping. As we were getting ready to go, Matthew looks around at all of us and says, "I am going shopping with all these girls today. I love all you girls, but I love Katy the most."

At Walmart there is a certain cashier I avoid. She is very sweet, but her voice sounds like she has been smoking a pack a day since birth, and I know that my son will have something to say about this that will turn my face crimson before the first item is scanned. Erik did not know about this, so we ended up in her lane a few weeks ago. She is so nice to talk to Matthew, but of course he notices her voice and says "Oh your voice sounds REALLY old". Luckily, she didn't hear him and I whisper to him "Matthew that is not a very kind thing to say". He gets as close as he can to her and gestures toward her face, "It's ok, Mama. Look it didn't hurt her feelings."

Last week, I was helping Matthew get dressed. He says to me, "Mama, I smell something stinky. I think you are stinky."
I say, "Matthew you should not say that people stink. That could really hurt someone's feelings."
He says, "Oh sorry Mama, I was just using my sense of smell."

Might As Well Laugh

So ever since Erik lost his job in late October things have been pretty interesting around here. We have never really had anything go wrong with the house or car in the past, which has obviously been a major blessing. However, in the last few months it seems we can't go a week without something breaking. I had a dream last night that our microwave broke. Thank goodness that hasn't happened, then we would REALLY be in trouble. It is however missing the door handle, luckily that has no bearing on it's ability to heat.

Last week we had some interesting health insurance happenings. Did anyone know that there isn't an insurance company out there who wants to cover an expectant father???? Erik and Matthew have been on a separate insurance policy from me because I am on the expensive COBRA (due to pregnancy). We happened to be reading that my insurance wouldn't cover the baby bills once she is born since she would be born 60 days after his employment ended at his last job, so Erik called to see if she could be put on with he and Matthew. They told him that not only could she not be added but they would have to cancel the policy altogether because he was an expectant father. Very long story short Matthew has new insurance, Erik has nothing, and we think baby girl will in fact be able to be added to my policy after all.

Also, last week we realized we must in fact fix the breaks on the van and not put that off any longer.

Last Monday, Erik was supposed to be getting off early because he was over in hours. He called me 15 minutes after he was supposed to be off to tell me he had been in a car accident. Praise the Lord, no one was hurt. The other driver ran a red light and hit the driver's side door on our van. The door is dented, but it really isn't that bad. The other driver however, has no insurance and her tags were expired, plus she got a ticket for the accident since it was her fault. I would say that the incident was definitely worse for her. Erik took the van in this morning to be repaired and got a rental car since the van is our only mode of transportation these days.

The theme of the last few months has definitely been change. New job, new schedule, one car, broken water heater, new car brakes, car accident, crazy health insurance, and preparing for our new addition (a.k.a.baby girl, which is definitely a good change). I definitely am not saying all this to complain, but to say the Lord provides. We are beyond blessed! I am so thankful that we can go through seasons with so much uncertainty and be completely certain that we will be taken care of, whether it be the way we expect or not.

Baby News

I realize now that it was completely mean of me to tell you I had news and then not share it. We have been having some crazy insurance stuff going on lately, so I didn't want to share my news and then have to tell you it was all wrong.

I went to the the doctor Tuesday and I got to pick baby girl's birthdate. She will be born Feb 5th ! It was pretty much the wierdest thing ever to pick out my baby's birthday.

I had to have an emergency c-section with Matthew because after much pushing (and of course the use of those horrible giant doctor prong things, otherwise known as forceps) he didn't even budge. It probably had something to do with the fact that he was 9lbs. 10oz. with a gigantic head. I used to think that I would still try to have our second child without the c-section, but I changed my mind. My doctor is willing to let me try having her on my own if I really wanted to but doesn't suggest it (especially since most people have bigger babies the second time around) and Erik feels alot better scheduling it rather than having an emergency c-section again. I have to admit I don't really want to recreate that birth experience of being in labor all day and night, pushing and then having a c-section.

We are very excited to be so close to meeting our baby girl. But I am really hoping she sticks to the schedule because Erik isn't allowed any paid personal days until he has been with the company 90 days and Feb 5th will be his 91st day. Praise the Lord for that timing!

Christmas Pics

I obviously have not been on top of this blog thing lately. We had a wonderful Christmas. We were home for Christmas and spent the morning opening a few gifts then headed over to my parents for the rest of the day.
I got Matthew a few animal info books and put them in his stocking. I knew that he would love them, but that he probably would be more interested in toys on Christmas morning. He, however, felt it was necessary to look at each and every page in every book telling us about every animal he saw, making up the names he didn't know along the way. By the time he was on the third book, even Erik and I were ready to move on to some toys, but Matthew insisted we finish all 4 books.

Matthew got a digital camera of his own from Grandma and Grandpa. He was so excited because as you may remember he loves taking pictures. He took pictures of everything Christmas morning, even the cat throw up he found on the floor. I guess it is good to document everything.

He told me right after he opened his gifts that he was having the best Christmas ever and that this green bouncy ball was his favorite. I was so happy because this kid wanted EVERYTHING he saw a commercial for before Christmas (that wasn't pink or girly) and we didn't have much to spend so we didn't end up buying a thing that he had said he wanted.

My parent's got Matthew this cool keyboard that is loads of fun. You can actually make your own music and record it on to an Ipod looking thing and then listen to your music. There are several different types of music that you can chose from and Matthew has decided techno is his favorite. We rarely get to hear any other type of music these days.

The three boys each got a gun that shoots little balls. After opening these, we took about an hour break to try them out. Matthew was not really able to shoot his on his own so I HAD to help him. I didn't really get hit too many times either because I am pretty sure the guys felt bad hitting a pregnant lady. I can tell we are going to have alot of fun with these. Matthew's has already come in handy. When our tree was still up the cat kept eating it, which of course made him sick, so I used the gun to shoot at him when he was underneath the tree. (Animal lovers don't worry he was not hurt in any way, I just used it to scare him)

Matthew made ornaments which were just made from flour, salt, and water then painted. Zoe, the dog thought they smelled good enough to eat, but luckily the ornaments were saved.

Well that concludes the Christmas summary. I will try to blog again soon because I have some baby news.