The heartbeat was strong and about 130 beats per minute. My ultrasound is scheduled for December 19th. Will it be a turtle or a taco? I cannot wait to find out.

Off to Callaway

Today looks like it is going to be a lovely day. We are going to go to Callaway Gardens to ride bikes. We promised the children that the next time we went we would take the bikes. I am not sure how it will work out with Josiah, but we'll see. We are still fighting colds and a bit of a cough, so this may make things worse.

I have an OB appointment tomorrow at 4 pm. I sure hope she can find the heartbeat with the doppler.

Olaf is making pancakes for breakfast right now. The children love pancakes. I eat them, but they aren't my favorite. I have never really enjoyed breakfast food. I'd much rather have lunch food for breakfast. Leftovers are my favorite thing to eat for breakfast.

We have most of our Christmas shopping done. I think Caleb needs a few more gifts to be even with the other children. I did all my shopping for Olaf online. I love online shopping. Camille's wish list was mostly books. She loves to read. Her favorite series are Deltora Quest (the covers look hideous, but the stories are adventerous) and Phantom Stallion. Camille liked the Rowan of Rin books and the author is the same as the Deltora Quest. That is how she got hooked on that series. Disclaimer to Christian parents: Read the books yourself first to see if you feel they are appropriate for your children. I know a lot of Christians disagree about things, and children's books are certainly one of them. The debate over Harry Potter and such comes to mind. The Emily Rodda books Camille reads do have a "bad/dark side" but the good always prevails.

OK, off to brekky!

Type A Personality

You know what I don't like about Thanksgiving and Christmas? You can't go anywhere even if you want to. I know some grocery stores are open and, of course, the movie theater...but if I got a hankering to go shopping...ain't happening. For some reason that gives me an uneasy feeling inside. 99% of the time I never leave my house. My days are spent at home and I am content with that. In the back of my mind I know I could leave and go somewhere if I wanted to though. But on Thanksgiving and Christmas, just knowing it's not available is enough to drive me nuts. CONTROL FREAK! That would be me. I know a lot of you are thinking "just relax" but that is literally impossible for me. Unless of course someone gave me some narcotics. I guess it doesn't help that we do not have any family to spend the holiday with. The older I get the more I wish things were different for the sake of my children. I really wish they had a grandparent. Just one... However, this is my cup. It's time to get the big girl panties on and deal with it.

I think I may have felt a little flutter tonight. Not sure if it was the baby or gas. Maybe both.

Olaf and I watched Season Two of The Office. If you don't watch that TV show, you really need to. It is hilarious. It's on Thursdays at 8:30 pm on NBC. Flippin' hilarious. Rent Season One and Season Two to get to know the characters. It's not necessary, but it will make Thursdays even better.

We started some Christmas shopping for the children. I can't say what we bought as Camille sometimes reads my blog. Caleb is the hardest to buy for. He has the brain of a four year old in an adult (fat) body. He likes some children's toys but he breaks them. He likes some age appropriate toys but he doesn't understand them. (For example computer games) It is really hard to buy things for him. He has so many balls because that is what we always end up buying. Footballs, baseballs, soccer balls, basketballs, volleyballs...you name it. He also likes guns and swords and we have a bazillion of those as well. He wants a motorcycle. Yes, a real one. Ummm...I don't think so. We'll probably buy him another scooter although he exceeds the max weight limit on all of them. This will be his third or fourth scooter. He breaks them.

Olaf is in bed. He isn't feeling well. It's going to be a LONG weekend.

It's almost Thanksgiving

The children are doing better although we all still have colds. At least they can breathe now. Caleb is home all week from school so I get to hear "Mama eat" a thousand times a day.

I fought the crowds at WalMart yesterday to get groceries. It was super busy. If I would just get busy and start cutting coupons again, I wouldn't have to go to WalMart. I have been so lazy in doing that and it really does help tremendously in the grocery bill. This website is so helpful! We have decided to forego the turkey and just have ham this year. So our menu is:

Ham
Potato Salad (requested by Grace)
Mashed Potatoes (required by Olaf)
Sweet Potato Casserole
Corn
Green Beans
Gravy
Rolls
Pumpkin Pie
Apple Pie
Pecan Pie (required by MOI!)

The pregnancy is going fine. I have an OB appointment next Monday. Hopefully I will get to hear the heartbeat. I will be 16 weeks 4 days then, so I should be able to hear it. The appointment in December will be the ultrasound where we get to see if this little baby is a boy or a girl. I am looking forward to that. It will be my first 3D ultrasound. They can copy it to DVD as well, so maybe I can figure out how to post a picture from it on here. Don't get your hopes up though. I'm not that techno savvy.

Catch up

Well, I took Josiah to the doctor on Tuesday because he was starting to get croup. When Josiah gets croup it is pitiful. I wanted to get him started on steroids and they helped a lot. Today is his last day on steroids and he sounds SO much better. It is a struggle for him to breathe when he has croup. So...of course...Grace starts last night with the same symptoms only she is also manifesting a fever. She is struggling to take every breath and it is scaring her. I gave her some Motrin and decided she needed to sleep with me so I could be with her if she woke up scared. Her voice was nonexistent thanks to the virus, so she couldn't cry out for me. Needless to say, I got very little sleep last night. I started her on steroids this morning and hopefully she will be feeling better in the next couple of days. I guess mt children are just prone to that inflammation of the the wind pipe and voice box. They really don't get the cough, just the stridor and such. Camille started with it this morning as well, but hers isn't as severe as the little two. Her voice is gone, but she doesn't have the wheezing.

I went out to dinner on Tuesday with my friend Misty. Guess what? She is pregnant!! But don't go over there and congratulate her because her family doesn't know yet. They have been trying to have a baby for FOREVER, and she is about 8 weeks preggo...WOO HOO! Congratulations girlfriend!

My other friend, Penny, had her baby November 15th. She sent me pics and Matthew is so cute. I'm sure she will be posting pics on her blog soon.

Tonight I am going to a women's ministry event with my friend, Chantell, at her church. It's some sort of Christmas thing, but I'm not sure what. She invited me and I am going. Anything to get out of giving the littles their medicine at bedtime. I am sure this weekend will be spent resting and recovering from the sickies. Caleb is out of school next week so hopefully we can recuperate before he brings home something else from school:)

Have a great weekend! Thanks for checking in on us.

I knew it...

HowManyOfMe.com

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There are very few Jorek's in the USA!!!

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The West Your accent is the lowest common denominator of American speech. Unless you're a SoCal surfer, no one thinks you have an accent. And really, you may not even be from the West at all, you could easily be from Florida or one of those big Southern cities like Dallas or Atlanta.
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What a day!

Let's just say that Camille did school from 9:30 am till 8:00 pm with only one break for dinner. I really don't want to talk about it. When my children do not excel, or show a lack of intelligence or diligence, it reflects poorly on me. At least, in MY mind it does. Therefore, I will now shut up about my very bad, not-so-good, awful, horrific day. I am silently hoping that there is another homeschooling mom out there who feels like I do so we can commiserate. The perfectionist mom with a child who is, well, NOT a perfectionist. As a matter of fact, this child has NO inner drive whatsoever and is perfectly fine with repeating the 5th grade all over again. ::heavy sigh:: Sorry. I said I wouldn't talk about it and here I am blabbing.

Did I mention that Josiah only lasted two nights in Caleb's room? He is now back in his toddler bed in the girl's room. I think he feels safe with Camille. Hopefully one day he will decide that sleeping in the girl's room is for...girls!

Next week is Thanksgiving. I am trying to talk Olaf into buying a precooked turkey this year from Publix. We did it before and it was fabulous. Olaf insists on having a big Thanksgiving dinner although it's only our little family. Every year he is in the kitchen cussing under his breath while preparing the meal (I'm not allowed in the kitchen) and every year I beg him to just order the darn meal from Publix. He is kind of like the dad from "A Christmas Story." It drives me insane, but he never listens to me. We just have to put up with his "joyous" attitude the entire day while he cooks, and then sit down for 10 minutes while the children eat a roll and I eat sweet potatoes. Yes it's true; no one enjoys the turkey and all the fixing's except my husband. I guess that is why he is so insistent about having a huge dinner every year.

Gosh. Can you tell I'm pregnant? I've done nothing but complain today. Deal with it!:0)

Say it isn't so!

5 1/2 years old and lost her first tooth! She is SO cute!

SCORE!

Olaf scored big time with Cingular. Somehow my husband fanagled FREE Razr phones, and mine is PINK! It is so cute...and FREE! My husband called Cingular and cut this deal with a customer service manager awhile ago. Of course, Cingular doesn't usually GIVE AWAY Razr phones, so it got sent back and forth within their system for awhile. He kept calling every few days to see if it was finally solved. They credited us $30 on our account "for our trouble" and the phones showed up today via FedEx. Free phones, a $30 credit...it doesn't get better than that.

My throat is scratchy. I am constantly clearing my throat. It's annoying.

Have a great weekend. I'm not too sure what we are doing, but it will probably involve being lazy.

Birthday Fun!

My birthday was wonderful. I was spoiled, spoiled, spoiled. Want to hear all about my presents? Good...

Olaf: Digital Cable and a DVR box! WOO HOO!

Camille: Willow Tree - Mother and Daughter

Caleb: Yankee Candle Jar - Home for the Holidays

Grace: Willow Tree - Thank You and a pretty bracelet.

Josiah: A Yankee Candle votive and some Goat Milk Lotion from Cracker Barrell.

Cheri: Vera Bradley Tote in Mesa Red. It's lovely. I am going to use it as a purse/diaper bag when the baby comes. She also bought me an ornament from Disney and a board book for the baby.

Charity: Homemade apple sauce, Beanpod Soy Beans and warmer, A Beanpod Candle jar with the wonderful scent of Earthly Embrace, and some Beanpod tealights for my warmer. She also bought me a bouquet of flowers!!

I also received cards from my friend Mary in Virginia, Misty who walked the 3-Day with me, and numerous birthday wishes via e-mail and phone!! It was a fabulous day and I am so thankful for all the love that was showered on me. I think it was my best birthday so far. I cannot wait for 40!! Well...I can wait another year.

Update

Olaf got smart and is backing out of the van deal. As much as I would love to have a huge van, we simply cannot afford it. We will have to deal with the minivan and possibly taking two cars if we need to go somewhere as a family. At least for now...

Shameless begging...

...will get you everything! I received THREE birthday cards in the mail today. THREE! All in one day. The first one is from my best friend from middle/high school. She sent me a Napoleon Dynamite card. YESSSSS! She also sent me a DVD of my birth year; 1967. Thank you so much for thinking of me Tammy. Then I got another card from my sister and, get this...my father-in-law. He is still thinking of the children I guess. If you haven't sent one, you still have time. My birthday is Thursday. ::giggles::

The children and I went to Uncle Bob's Pumpkin Patch today. We took a hayride, watched a woman spin rabbit angora into mohair (right off a live rabbit on her lap), learned about bats and bees, petted all the farm animals, plus much more. It was fun. I need to download the pictures tonight.

I made a fabulous supper tonight, but it was time consuming. It is a cheesy chicken spaghetti. Grace and Camille liked it. Josiah wasn't so sure because it didn't "look good." He did take about 5 bites which is his normal dinner. The boy just eats to live. He is my skinny child. My only skinny child.

Oh, guess what my birthday cake is going to be? Lemon Cream Cake from Olive Garden. DEEELISH! I am so excited about that.

Olaf is buying a 15 passenger Chevy Express this weekend in Alabama. It is a 2006 model with 11,000 miles on it so it still has a factory warranty. Now just pray that we can sell our minivan. We have a 2001 Mazda MPV with about 78K miles on it. It is a terrific van though. Super clean, super reliable, nice shape. I told Olaf that we don't need a 15 passenger van. Especially right now. But when Olaf has something in his head that he wants to do, he does it. Since I don't take care of the finances (at all) I really don't care. I know we cannot afford it, but I am burying my head in the sand because I don't want to know. I just really don't.

On that happy note, I'm signing off.

Woo Hoo it's Friday!

I can honestly say that nothing exciting has happened to me since I posted on Monday. Got up, did school with the girls, surfed the net, did a little housework (not much), showered once in awhile...you get the idea.

The children have enjoyed the cool weather by jumping on the trampoline. They all have colds thanks to Caleb, but it's nothing more than a runny nose. No cough or fever. The little two love to be outside and Camille is their official babysitter. Thank God for big sisters!

My friend, Karen, started chemotherapy again yesterday. Please pray for her and her precious family. Chemo makes you feel horrible and Karen has five small children to mother. She is taking Xeloda which is a pill. It doesn't make you lose all your hair either. She was on Xeloda when she was first diagnosed with cancer over 18 months ago. She went off it last November and has been chemo free for almost a full year. You can read her update on her blog.

I received my diapers from Jardine Diapers. I love them. I had the best time washing them and folding them. Yes, I still have SIX MONTHS before the baby comes...but I cannot wait to put a cloth diaper on it's little bum.

Look at all that cloth loveliness!! Notice the pile of covers on the right. I have many different brands and sizes to try. I bought some cheap baby washcloths from the Dollar Store and some from Target as well to use as baby wipes. I figure if I'm washing the diaper it will be much easier to use a washcloth than try to dispose of a regular wet wipe with poo on it. I'll just wipe their little bum and put it in the soiled diaper. Can you tell I am really excited about this?

So glad it's the weekend. Olaf needs to do some yardwork and get some things ready to donate to Goodwill. I need to do some grocery shopping.

Oh, I baked a yummy loaf of whole wheat bread yesterday. Charity ground some wheat for me and the bread was delicious. No, I do not have a bread machine. Yes, I do everything by hand...just like the old days. (Except my pan is WAY better)


My recipe just calls for wheat, water, yeast, honey, and salt. No egg or oils at all. I am going to have a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch. YUM!

There ya go! There was my week. Have a blessed weekend. Now I am going to make myself a sandwich...