Hello routine...

I am still working on my self study questions. TC on the other hand hasn't started yet. Very frustrating! Especially when I would like us to have these done by the time I start school again in a few weeks.

JT started kindergarten today. He was so excited....and VERY mad when I picked him up. He was not happy they learned so much all day (he told me he couldn't tell me what they did today because he was very tired) AND the worst part of it (according to him) he didn't get a nap. I don't know why he thought he would nap. He didn't when he went to preschool and I told him they aren't going to be taking naps. We even had him not take his naps the past couple weeks so he could be prepared on what to expect. I guess either way he was shocked. He said he didn't want to go back. He did learn to read a small little book (nothing major, it had a picture of a boy reading and he read 'I read' and another boy eating and he read 'I eat'). He was excited about that.

He is also excited for his glasses. He keeps asking when we can go get them. I hope we can pick them up tomorrow and he can have them for school on Wed.

Although, I do have to say even though I got to sleep in this morning and only worked 4 hours (I took JT to school and picked him up) I am exhausted. I have my registration stuff coming in for me going back to school in Sept and with the papers coming in for David's school it's a bit overwhelming trying to keep track of everything. We haven't even gotten into the full school schedule yet (handbells and choir for TC and I on Monday nights, JT will start piano lessons in a couple weeks, which means he'll need to practice every day. I'll have school every Wed night. TC and JT are going to do Pioneers through our church and all our PTC meetings and everything in between.) And adoption #2. We know God will help us get through all this but after looking at what is on my plate it's tempting to dump it to the side to see what falls off.

Happy Birthday, JT

Four years old! I can't believe JT is 4 years old today.

I also think about S today. I wonder if she thinks of JT. If she starts getting anxious for our pictures and letter as we send them around the end of July. Is she OK with her decision. Is she happy with how we are raising JT? Will she ever want to meet us?

So many questions go through my mind but I just concentrate on watching JT have the time of his life on his birthday.

We went and saw Toy Story 3 today. Great movie!! JT was enthralled. He loved it. We opened presents had tacos for supper and had a Toy Story cake with ice cream. He is now tucked in bed with his new toys close at hand. (Like the new Cars laptop from A&B).

I am exhausted and ready for bed.

Bored - B.O.R.E.D

I grew up in a house where my mom was a stay at home mom. Great, huh? Sure. But she watched TV ALL day. ALL DAY! While my siblings and I went outside and played she would be inside watching TV. After supper, she'd be inside watching TV. When we had to come in, we'd all sit and watch TV. Saturday's she'd be inside watching TV. When we would go on 'vacation' for the weekend (it was all my parents could afford) at a resort a couple hours away, my mom would spend the whole time in the room watching TV. I was bored then and am bored now.

I'm all for lazy days and quiet weekends, don't get me wrong. I do enjoy quiet time and mundane TV. I do have my favorites that I watch. TC has been on overtime the past couple months. At night it's just JT and I and he goes to bed at 7pm. I know some people wonder why not have him stay up later. The answer is he needs his sleep. He is an early bird (even if he goes to bed at 8pm or 9pm) and if he is up later he is Mr Crankypants the next morning.

This leads me to a long night of TV watching. And I'm getting bored. I'm not going to spend every night cleaning my house from top to bottom just to stay busy. I'm trying to find things to do at night. I'm going to find out and see if I can work overtime at home (we got approved to work overtime at work) since I can't stay late. If I can't, I'm wondering if there's anything I could do to make money those few hours a night. I'm wondering how I can make money with my blog. We're starting the IVF process and I'm sure it'll be great entertainment once I start giving myself shots. I just don't have a clue where to start. It's hard to know what is a scam and what actually works.

I guess I'll just keep looking. If you have any suggestions what I could be doing leave a comment and let me know.

Been a bit busy

Wow, these past few weeks have been a bit busy. Things are slowing down and I'm grateful for that. We had a wonderful Easter. Went to A & B's house where our friend's daughter thought it would be fun for JT to look for Easter eggs. It was gorgeous outside and he had a blast looking for the Easter eggs.

It was fun listening to JT talk to friends at church about what the Easter bunny gave him. (We don't dwell on the Easter bunny. Well actually we haven't talked about the Easter bunny. We believe Easter is more about the rising of Christ and not a bunny.) Well I overheard a friend ask JT if the Easter bunny came and JT said NO. That is true he didn't come but he did find his Easter basket. Another friend asked if Easter bunny came and again JT said NO and they said well maybe he'll come after church. I guess we'll need to let JT know that people will ask but he doesn't visit our house.

Work is stressful. Many layoff's, budget cuts, and more work than one person really should take on. It's suppose to be getting better and I hope so. I hope it's sooner rather than later.

Well I'm going to spend time with TC. Sorry to cut this short. I wanted to jump in and let you all know we are here.

Hello antibiotics

Yesterday afternoon I received a call from my friend who watches JT during the day. Actually I missed the call and will go into that reason later. But JT had a fever of 103. Off to urgent care we went and he was diagnosed with a double ear infection. Ugh. Poor thing. Got one round of antibiotics in him before bed last night. Then he and I were up for about 2 hours while his fever spiked. Poor thing was miserable. I was able to rock him to sleep and this morning he woke up chipper and happy and fever free. Yahoo! He has been fever free all day. He does have a pretty wet cough and sometimes I can hear the gunk in his chest. I'm hoping the antibiotics will clear that up too since he has a runny nose and that's probably the culprit.

OK, back to why I missed my friend's call. Two of my coworkers were told their jobs were eliminated yesterday. Two other departments are going through the same thing. Our environmental services manager was laid off and the lead housekeeper. It's tough to see our friends and great coworkers go. Today was a down right crappy day. I have more work on top of my already heavy work load. I just cannot get done what I need to when the added on work is pouring in. I'm close to hysterics and tears. It's so overwhelming I feel myself shutting down.

A fellow medical biller at one of the hospitals here in the cities told me the perfect analogy on how I feel. I feel like a dog in a room full of bouncing balls. There's so many I don't know which one to grab and stand there watching.

We have a busy weekend this weekend and all I really want to do is stay in my pj's and watch movies all weekend. Then we're busy every night next week. I really hope I don't explode.

Quiet Day

This has been a pretty relaxing weekend. We had no major plans and pretty much everything in the house is in it's (new) spot. I am still looking for the camera cord, one of my pictures that has the Lord's Prayer on it, and my jewelry box. How do you lose a jewelry box?! I think it's packed in a box but I thought all the boxes were unpacked. It may be in the garage, although I really hope it isn't.

Daddy got the kitchen cleaned out and there aren't any boxes or bags in the dining room any more. Yahoo! He also cleaned off the papers on the counter and table. I really wish I could find the camera cord so I can post pictures.

The snow is melting off of our driveway and I noticed it's a cement driveway and not asphalt (did I spell that right?). Nice. I can't wait for the rest of the snow to melt so Little Man can play outside. I suppose that would require warmer weather and I wish for that too.

On Feb 17th I had my one year anniversary at my job. I can't believe it's been a year. That year has flown by. I have gone from being extremely confused in my job to taking on all the Medicare billing, and soon will be learning HMO therapy billing to help with that (you know that means the person in that position will be let go...but shhhh you didn't hear that from me). I have my 1 year review on March 1st. I'm not nervous or anxious about it because my boss has told me multiple times how much they appreciate the work I do. She has also mentioned how the board of directors are noticing the money coming in. In this economy a little bit helps. The one thing I'm wondering about is if I'm getting a raise. I would love a raise. In most places I would say I know I would be getting a raise. But in the health care industry, especially Long Term Care, money is lacking, jobs are being cut, and we are pinching every penny. We have furlough days we are required to take once a month. So that is why I am wondering if I get a raise. It would be nice if I did but I completely understand if I don't.

A goodbye

Goodbye to our dearest apartment. We finished cleaning it out today and tomorrow I will hand in our keys.

As I was walking through I am amazed and humbled at how God has blessed us. In a time of great need he blessed us with a place that was quiet (for the most part) and pretty spacious. The bedrooms were huge compared to most apartments and we had 2 bathrooms (we didn't have that at our old house). And we had a washer and dryer in our unit.

I'm glad Little Man was pretty young when we moved in. A few of our neighbors loved to try new things, ah hem, smoke something that is not a cigarette. It took a year for Little Man to ask what that smell is. (I started replying 'That smell is the reason we are moving.)

It wasn't easy living in the apartment. I started feeling clastrophobic a few months ago and really was having a hard time even being in the kitchen. It was closed in and didn't have windows, let alone space.

I'm grateful we found such a pretty nice place. We could have been somewhere not so safe for Little Man. One place we were inches from signing when Daddy looked at me and said 'I can't do this.' It was in a duplex and our other 4 neighbors were bachelors. We feared there would be nightly parties. Luckily we made that decision as a few months later the same unit we were going to sign on caught fire.

It was pretty nice to go through a summer and not have to worry about mowing and watering the lawn. Most of the winter we didn't have to worry about shoveling the driveway.

But as I sit in our upstairs livingroom, exhausted and sweaty from vacuuming the whole upstairs and basement, I am thankful. Thankful we have to mow again and shovel (as we are expecting 2 inches tonight). Thankful that smell in my house is due to having viles of poo in Little Man's bathroom and not from something someone smoked.

So again, thank you apartment for being there when we needed you.

Home

We are HOME. As in the new house. We moved in last Saturday and I want to shout out to all 8 friends who helped. It helped make it go by fast and the company was delightful. There was one mishap, the kitchen table broke. I highly suggest not standing on one. It is fixed and looks just fine. We are slowly finding everything and putting everything in its new place. Pictures are going up and it's starting to feel like home.

I was going to upload the pictures but I have no idea where the cord to the camera is. Hmm.... must find it soon. I already have a ton of pictures I never uploaded so my card is going to be full soon.

We are much closer to our church and I'm loving the straight shot drive to Little Man's babysitters and work. No back tracking for me! Yahoo! It feels good to be back in the area. I really did miss it here. Quiet small town feel but not too far away from the city.

As you can see we have internet (got hooked up today!). We also have cable again and Daddy informed me today he got us DVR. Whoohoo!! I can now DVR shows and watch them in one night.

I'm also excited because we lost the antenna to our TV upstairs. We now have cable up there and I can have the news on in the morning. This is a big deal in the winter with snow. Like with the snow storm going through right now and the last thing I heard it is suppose to drop up to 14 inches by Tuesday. I can watch TV tomorrow and see if it's safe for me to go to work and drop Little Man off at A&B's house (S took the day off. Lucky her!).

Hopefully now I'll be updating this more. Well I'm going to go watch some commercials, and maybe some football too.

Time

Time. There are days when time seems to move nice and slow. Like when I wake up and have half an hour before I need to be up and will lay in bed enjoying the quiet. Or when it's a beautiful sunny day, Little Man is napping and I'm sitting on the couch looking out our patio door. Or when it's 2pm during the workday and time seems to have stopped and sometimes to my horror started moving backwards.

Then there are days time just flies by. Little Man is now 3 1/2. Daddy and I will celebrate our 9th wedding anniversary this coming March. It's 7pm and I want to sit and relax before going to bed at 10:30pm but laundry, dishes, cleaning and other mommy jobs call my name and before I know it it's bedtime and I haven't sat down yet.

Time. We have two weeks until we move. It seems like just yesterday I was counting 41 days. Only two very short weeks to pack. A little over three weeks until we have our final walk through. Three weeks until I have to do a major cleaning of the apartment so we can get our deposit back.

This past year has flown. Two new jobs, a new place to live, car and Little Man growing another year older.

We had a guest pastor at church this morning. He was wonderful. He is a teacher at one of our synod's highschool's, St. Croix Lutheran, here in MN. The highschool I graduated from. I caught myself thinking that I hope he's still teaching at SCL when Little Man starts highschool. Then I about passed out, that's in 12 years. Sure seems like a long time but time passes quickly. Twelve years ago I was 19. In college, working full time and praying every night for God to find me 'The One'. Now here 12 years later I have been married for 8 1/2 years, have a 3 1/2 year old son and am living the most wonderful life I could ever imagine.

I'm not going to speed up time and will quit thinking about sending Little Man off to highschool. I think we'll conquer Preschool first.

On a roll

Since I'm on a roll and posted twice yesterday I thought why not post again today. Who knows maybe this will get me back into the swing of blogging.

I am trying to think of subjects to write about and right now my mind is a blank. I think because the only thing I can think of is our move and where we were last year. At this time last year we knew we needed to be out of our house. It was a devastating time to us as a family but especially to Daddy. He was the bread winner of the family working hard to support us. Although the economy was on the down swing his job field was hit hard. Work wasn't coming in but the bills kept going out. When your in a situation like that there is only one way to turn. For us it was on our knees hands folded in prayer. Many judged us. Judged our circumstances and formed their own version on what was going on in our family. Even now others still judge. I feel judging is something that should be left to God. What matters is God has taken our family by the hand and lead us through. We knew he would and he did. Now we prepare to move for the 2nd in one year. And God willing the last time.

I love looking back and seeing where God has brought us. From no kids, to having a wonderful and beautiful son. From no job, no house, to 2 wonderful paying jobs, a great babysitter for Little Man (and VERY affordable!), to friends who are always willing to help us out.

My favorite moment to look back on is when I quit my job (of 3 years) back in college with no notice and no job lined up. I was unemployed for 2 weeks (which was a HUGE deal when I was paying my own college tuition with no loans and had 1 year left). I landed a job at a department store and met this great guy. Ten years ago we rang in the new year, 2000, as a couple. Six months later he proposed and nine months later we were married.

You never know where God will lead you.

Whoops

So I finally got back into blogging and then we cancelled our cable. So hopefully I'll be blogging more once we move. In 29 more days!! Woot!

I am excited and anxious about our move. Excited that we will have more space and Daddy will be a tad closer to work. Anxious because it will cost a few dollars to move. To top it off Daddy's car didn't start today. I'm really hoping it's the 17 below weather that's the culprit and not the battery.

Life is busy here. Little Man is in love with trains more than ever and still is our non stop talker. We are trying to teach him to eat and do less talking. I don't want it to turn into a negative thing but right now we have deemed supper quiet time because he will talk and talk and not eat. Then his food will be cold and he won't like it and not eat.

My friend has introduced me to a new author Bodie Thoene. I'm on book 3, Munich Signature, in the Zion Covenant series. I highly recommend these books. This serious is about WWII and a Jewish musician, her family, Jewish friends and hidden players who are trying to stop Hitler. I have been reading so much that Little Man is picking up on it and I find him sitting on the floor reading his books. I love it. I have on my wish list when we move to get him his very own bookshelf. Then we can put all his books on there and it can be his very own library. Right now his books are strewn all over the place and sometimes he can't find that one book he wants to 'read'.

I will end here and hopefully I'll be back before we move. If not and you don't hear from me I'm probably running around in circles trying to figure out what to pack first.

Quiet day

Little Man and I stayed home from work and daycare today. Little Man has had diarrhea for 6 days and I was worried he would pass this on to the other kids at daycare. Even though Ms. S. is wonderful and said she would still take him. We are having a quiet day. He’s colored, played with play-doh and even watched me clean the bathroom and put clothes away. When he wakes up from a nap we’re going to watch a movie.

I’m hoping we’ll have a big announcement to announce soon. Although if you are from Adoption Talk or friends of Daddy on Facebook you might have seen and heard what is possibly going to happen. We are so excited and petrified all at the same time.

It’s hard to believe next week is Thanksgiving. This past year really has flown by. We are staying home for Thanksgiving and will enjoy lots of turkey and food maybe a nap or 2. I am off that day and the day after. I’m looking forward to sleeping in and putting up the tree. Due to possible announcement we won’t be decorating as much.

I better go before I give away too much. 

Whoa!

I knew it's been awhile since I posted but I didn't realize it's been this long. Life is busy and Little Man is growing. Recently he 'found' his little Elmo computer (it's not a real computer mind you) and has been playing with it and talking with it constantly. It's funny because I hear him arguing with Elmo. 'NO! That is NOT an octagon!' Ha ha.

Daddy is loving his job and I am loving mine. Daddy has been on overtime the past month or so. So it's just been Little Man and I most nights. I hate to admit that we are watching movies most nights or cartoons because I am so tired. Little Man doesn't mind as he'll sit in my lap and we'll snuggle.

He loves going to daycare at MS. S's house. Who wouldn't if you were the only boy? AND! Ms. S's husband has John Deere equipment and Little Man is in HEAVEN! He asks to go every day and loves to show off all the projects they do. He is quite the drawer. Speaking of drawing he has been asking for me to help him write his name. His favorite letter to make is a 'O'. I wonder why. :)

That's a pretty quick summary on what is going on and hopefully I'll be back to writing rather continuously soon.

Day 1

Tomorrow is Day 1 of Daddy's new job and Little Man's first day at daycare. I was getting a bit worried when she never called me back (she was on vacation last week) and was hoping I wouldn't have to miss work tomorrow. Come to find out her father in law (and mother in law) are in town and he had a heart attack on Friday. He's doing well and will be going home to Florida on Thursday.

I'll be dropping Little Man off at daycare at 7am. And I'm petrified. Not because Little Man is actually in daycare but because I've never driven to her house by myself. She lives in the country by our church and the past couple times Daddy has driven. I'm going to Google her address and put it on my GPS, just in case.

Tomorrow becomes our new routine. Wake up at 5am, drop Little Man off at daycare by 7am (requiring me to leave around 6:30am), Daddy will leaving a little before 6am to be at work by 7am, work, I'll be leaving around 4pm, Daddy will be leaving around 3:30pm, he will pick up Little Man, and I will head home to clean up a little and start supper. Hello normal, you will become routine in no time.

No more nights with Daddy away. We continue to be overwhelmed at how much God continues to bless us.

Work and life

Well Daddy FINALLY got the job! Yoohoo! Now reality is setting in. Not that unemployment didn't but having to juggle dropping Little Man off at daycare and picking him up and Daddy driving a total of 2 hours everyday. It will work and we are truly blessed for him to finally be working. We are beyond excited. A huge weight is lifted off and we feel we can live. Not that we haven't but we have not gone up North in a year and 3 months. Daddy and I are itching to get up North and take Little Man out into the great outdoors.

Work for me is going great. Because of Daddy's new job he needs to go up and get a physical. He has to do this tomorrow and since our daycare gal is on vacation this week (perfect timing huh?) I'll be staying home tomorrow morning. I thought I'd ask my supervisor and see if I could work from home that morning. She emailed our manager and she said yes! How cool is that?! It's suppose to be hush hush, which is fine. I'm so thrilled I get to get a few hours of work in and won't have to make it up, use vacation or risk not getting paid at all. And the fact this could be an option whenever Little Man is sick and I could get some work done while at home and not have to use up vacation or sick time.

I also ask for your prayers as one of my friends dad just passed away unexpectedly a couple days ago. This is a rough time with her and her family.

Back at it again

After talking to his former coworker (who got the job HE originally applied for), Daddy emailed the company yesterday and a couple other people want to interview him. We are scrambling to find someone to watch Little Man (a glimpse into what is to come when he is in daycare) sometime the first week in August. I can't miss time as it's month end. Well maybe if it's before the 3rd but who knows.

At my job lots of changes are happening. With budget cuts and letting go of people our business office is being restructured. Depending on who you are (meaning how hard you work and how well you know and want to do your job) this is could be bad thing.

I got the hugest compliment from my boss when I found out my coworker is our new supervisor and I was also apparently in the running to be a supervisor. The only reason I didn't get it is because I'm so new. Which is fine. I would have taken on the job with pride and would have been shaking in my boots at the same time. This is bad for our current supervisor. She's kind of getting demoted. She really was not a good fit for being a supervisor. She just can't separate friendship and work.

I on the other hand will be working Medicare A AND B. My coworker who handles the B is not strong enough. She is not on top of things and they are seeing that. Her new position is clerical, entering cash receipts and doing insurance verification. I am not sure how she is going to handle this (she already knows she is handling cash receipts but I don't think she fully realizes I'm getting B for both facilities). I'm sure she'll be in my cube complaining after her meeting and our department meeting on Friday afternoon (I had my meeting this afternoon with my boss).

After this long week all that is happening is making me happy. I love what I do and as scared as I am that sometimes I don't know it all I am doing a great job and they are seeing that. Also, I was thinking this morning (remember it's been a long week) about Daddy's job and if I really should stay at my job. I was worried about advancing in the company. I honestly didn't see any advancement opportunities for me. I thought of the supervisor position but figured it was out of reach. My boss commented that it is not out of reach and I would definitely be considered down the road if/when people are promoted (or someone leaves). That makes me feel good.

Life is looking up. Now if only we could get through our agency. We are having issues with them being more worried about money and the secretary has NOT called or emailed me back since we talked last Friday. Daddy and I aren't happy and are ready to pull our application and ask for a refund.

I'll keep you posted.

Stashing money

I found out today Daddy has been stashing away money. Ok ok, he's been putting money aside. I didn't know about this and was worried about why he was stashing money away when we are putting money aside for the adoption.

He said he's been putting money aside the past few months so that at the end of this month he can get new tires on my car.

YAY!!!!!!! My car has needed new tires since we got new tires 2 years ago. I am SO excited!

I better go. We're off to our friends to celebrate Little Man's birthday.

Fireworks

One of the things I look forward to in the summer is watching the fireworks over the bay in Grand Marais, MN. Once we watched the fireworks right on the rocks on Lake Superior in Tofte, MN (right in front of Daddy's grandma's house). Note, I said once. I didn't like it. Amateurs light them off and it just isn't safe. I use to joke that it's more fun watching the people who are setting the fireworks off than it is watching the fireworks because it's like they don't know what they are doing. One year in Grand Marais we watched one guy almost get badly hurt. That wasn't funny.

I'm glad we didn't go up this year. Click here to watch what happened. I'm glad no one got hurt.

It's been awhile

Wow, I really haven't been writing much, have I? Honestly the past few weeks I haven't felt like writing. Just a lot going on. Frustrations with Daddy and the job market and the lovely economy were in.

I do have some news to share.

First, it's looking like Daddy may be going back to school. He may do this program through this school here in the Cities our friend is going through. I will definitely keep you all posted on that.

Second, next week I will be mailing out the formal application for our 2nd adoption. Eeeee!!! I'm so excited and scared. We are going to do what we did the first time and take our time with our homestudy. We should be approved by the end of the year. Daddy also been getting lots of hours from Cabela's which is helping in saving up for the homestudy. It's nice we can pay cash for that and not have to figure that into our loan. I'm eager to start the homestudy because then we can apply for grants. And by the time we're done with the homestudy Daddy should be done with the program and maybe have a full time job. Who knows.

Keep us in your prayers.

BTW, Daddy was a daughter and Little Man wants a brother. Sigh...I just want another child to love.

Pondering a thought

I was in a meeting today at work. It was held in the auditorium which is by the dining area. The dining area was full of residents there to listen to a gal and guy play music. They both come once a week and do a set for about an hour or so.

Well during the meeting they started playing and singing. I should have listened to my meeting but a thought struck me...what kind of people will come and sing at a nursing home when our generation is there?

Will they be pumping out songs by The Black Eyed Peas, Snoop Dog, and Alicia Keys instead of polka and yodeling? Instead of swing dancing will they make room for break dancing? (Can you see the ambulances lining up at the front for all those broken hips?) Instead of having movies ranging from Guys and Dolls to Casablanca, would they have American Pie, Ocean's Eleven, or even Hangover?

Instead of writing letters to your friends would each room have a computer so the residents could get on Facebook? Would some be blogging about nursing home life? To help residents stay be more enjoyable and comfortable, instead of magazines would they suggest they surf the web or IM their former college roommate who happens to be down the hall but can't get out of bed? Would a new activity involve a Wii and a few controllers?

Would half the men still have their pants down by their knees and it's not because they are old?

Instead of having to charge $2 a day to use the phone will everyone bring their new and updated cell phone and call family that way? Would their cell phone work as a call button and they'll be able to press a button and it'll go straight to the nurses desk? Would they be too busy text messaging their best friend at the assisted living to pay attention to what's going on in their care conference? Would they Tweet how much the care conference sucked and they just want to go home?

Time will tell but I find it very interesting how our generation will be in another 30 - 40 years.