Calling in a favor

I would like to call in the favor of magic to extend the weekend by a day. I am starting to stress out a bit about the whole month of May starting with this weekend. I have lots of traveling to do as well as the church garage sale to get to. This weekend we have Brett's college graduation, and nefuwe Brady's first communion one on Saturday, one on Sunday and they are about 5-6 hours driving distance appart from each other. Fan-tastic. And I just started to realize that I don't have a plan for the dog. BOOO! The following weekend is Mother's day which might be spent cleaning the house, happy first mother's day to me! The next weekend, BJ has a job on Saturday and Sunday we will be driving to Iowa for Tom's college graduation. The weekend following that does not have a plan set in stone but we will be getting our stuff ready to bring to the garage sale at church, then I will be taking several days off during the week for garage sale, then it is Memorial day and we will be hanging out with Grandpa Brain one day. Plus some where in the month of May Elijah is switching Daycares which means in my free time, HAHA, I need to get all of my paper work ready for him to start there.

So much to do, I'm going crazy!

Couponing

I think the whole idea of couponing is an awesome idea. I even think it is an awesome stress reliever, and if you are really into it, you can save a TON of money without driving all over God's green earth to find the deals. I actually and in the beginning stages of couponing, the cutting out the coupons and the reading the sales adds around the area. I really need to get into the second stage of couponing that would mean shopping. Yes, I actually do not go shopping every week. Surprising I know, I do go to Costco about every other week or so, so that keeps our house full of food so we can eat lunch most days.

With our finances being tight, or me just wanting to spend money smartly, have basically cut out all fun shopping. This leaving the only time I get to spend money for when I pay the bills or go grocery shopping. Therefore, I make it a game and try to challenge myself and set expectations for how much I have to save per trip. So BJ all those times you say I am not competitive or athletic you just are putting me in the wrong competition. Give me the coupons, and food I need to buy and I will see if I can get it for the cheapest possible price.

Swimming part 2

After we returned from our trip, I needed about 5 days of rest. I was utterly exhausted, then add some other things in my life and I had no energy left to blog. But no worry, I am back. Time to get back to the important things in life... Elijah!!

After the poor swim attempt on Sunday morning we went back after all the kids left the hotel on Monday and did some swimming. Elijah was not super fond of the whole idea, however, he did let us go all the way in and pass him back and forth. The only problem... I had to be caught on camera in my swimsuit. Sorry about that everyone.

First we needed to walk down to the pool. BJ needed a picture.

We got in slowly and we were okay as long as we stopped to wave at Daddy every couple of minutes.

We did have a couple of questionable moments where Mr. Elijah needed to grab on with both hands.

We eventually got brave enough to get our shoulders wet.

Then we had the best part...we got out and dried off.

I love you but go away

After a long family packed weekend with, uh, well family, I am ready to be done. I love family, and I especially love family that is close and gets a long. However, after so many days and hours and minutes together I really can't handle any more. BJ's cousin said it best, this has been great to see you all and spend time with you all, but now I want all of you to leave. I even started to get sick of my husband. Almost to a point where I almost jumped out of the car about 10 miles west of the Minnesota/Wisconsin border. When I decided that probably would have ended badly, I then just stopped talking with my husband and when I did finally get a hold of me crabby emotions I told him off. That was probably about 30 miles East of the Minnesota/Wisconsin border. Then BJ let me drive which aloud me to calm down a bit but still I am ready to go back to work tomorrow just to get some quiet, wait..., um, how about time away from my child and husband.

Now to all my kids, I don't have the patients to deal with your crabbies tomorrow, so I only expect wonderful children to show up. Thank you.

In memory...

Warning first and foremost, this post will have some sad moments and if you cry easily or were part of this last weekend, you might not want to read this while at work.

As many of you know this past weekend our family traveled to Minnesota for BJ's grandpa's funeral. One thing I like about funerals is everyone shows up. Unlike weddings people bend over backwards to get to a relatives funeral. Most of the time weddings come along and if we have to travel it seems difficult and we tend to look towards reasons we can't go. Funerals on the other hand, we know that that is the end and we have to get there to say our goodbyes. This weekend I met ALL of BJ's family. There were cousins I never met, aunts and uncles I haven't seen in years, and second cousins I have never met. At the same time, every one was able to meet our little man.

Sunday we attended the memorial service, which was absolutely beautiful. I learned things about Grandpa Berwyn that I never really knew. One thing that I learned is he lead a full life. Yes he made some poor choices along the way but it really made him human. He also realized his decisions and changed his ways to be a good father and grandfather in the end. I also realized that although BJ did not get a lot of physical traits from his grandpa, instead he received his outgoing personality. I heard more times than I can count, "he was always smiling" and " He would talk with everyone he met." That right there is my husband and one of his best personality traits (although it does drive me crazy some times).

Monday we went to the National Cemetery out side of Minneapolis and had the funeral processional. This was the first time that I had been a part of funeral for an individual who had been in the armed forces. The best way to describe it is beautiful. The whole thing was perfect. It was also the first time that I had actually been inside a National Cemetery. The white head stones, the straight lines, perfect. Elijah did well with the 21 gun salute, mostly because his ears were completely covered, but it was wonderful. Then when the service was complete one of the family members looked up to see a complete rainbow around the sun. I have never seen the full circle of the rainbow, but it was wonderful.

After the ceremony was complete we drove the couple of miles to the Mall of America for lunch

(Elijah watching the fish and the gorillas at Rainforist cafe)

then went back to Grandpa's burial sight and marked it with the GPS. Although his permanent head stone was not in place yet, there was a blank, white head stone that looked perfect. We marked it with the GPS because he will be buried in the middle of a large section and it might take a while to find him when we go back in a couple of years.

All in all this trip has been very peaceful. Seeing the family, reminiscing about Grandpa's life, and laying his ashes to rest in a very peaceful place, has brought a calm feeling about his passing. I just hope the peaceful feeling will last the entire drive back to Chicago tomorrow. And in the words of Grandpa Berwyn, "Have I told you today that I love you?"

PS: Happy Adoption Day Rescue.

Swimming?? by Elijah

We are currently living in a new place, it is weird, it has lots of doors and the magic room that lets you go to a different place. Mom said that we are going swimming. New experience for me! Mommy took off all my clothes and put a special diaper on. then she put these real cool orange shorts on, but she forgot my shirt. Then Daddy got shorts on too. We went to the magic room that Mommy keeps calling an elevator, and went downstairs. Then we went into a room with lots of screaming kids in a giant bathtub. Daddy then tried to put me into the pool but it was cold, and the kids kept splashing and I didn't like it. Daddy tried to put me on the top step but I was holding on to daddy with all the strength I could possibly handle, I didn't want to be dropped in. Then we left, Mommy says we have to go back tomorrow because all the crazy kids that were there today will be back in school. I'll try it, I guess.

I have so many idea's about what to post about maybe I will do a two part post. If you only get one idea out of it that is probably one of two reasons. 1) I forgot what the second idea was by the time I had written the first or 2) I am just to sleepy to continue. Who knows.

#1- Last night (Friday) BJ and I drove up to Minnesota after work due to BJ's grandpa passing away. We decided that it would be best, since we have a child under a year, to travel the 6-7 hours at night that way Elijah could sleep the entire time giving us peace. BJ ended up working Friday, while I packed, and cleaned. Packing for an extended weekend is hard work, especially since the last time I traveled with this little man he was eating and doing a whole lot less. But anyway, we traveled though the night and pulled into our Orbitz hotel at 1:30 am. Immediately we should have known we were in for a fun time, for a cop car was parked out front. Lights were off but unless these Minnesota cops were doing business on the side, it isn't typical for cops to visit a hotel in the middle of the night. BJ gets out of the car and goes to check us in. Not even 5 min. later BJ calls me and lets me know the pool is out of service. Well typically this wouldn't be a big deal except we had called both of BJ's brothers letting them know that we would have a pool and that there children should bring their swim suits. Then apparently the hotel lost our reservation because they had filed it under BJ's first name as his last name. At this point BJ being tired and slightly crabby wanted to leave and go else where. Me, I just wanted to go to bed, and I didn't think 1:30 am was the best time to drive around town and find a hotel. So we decided we would only unpack what we needed for the night and the next morning and deal with the situation then. WEEEEELL when you have a baby, what you need for the night and the next morning= everything you put in the car. Stepping into the room my initial thought was, "it smells" then I saw the carpet, my next thought was, "ewww, Elijah is not touching this floor." We set up the pack and play, and put him to bed then quickly followed suit. The next morning BJ was awake and on the phone with orbitz around 6:30 canceling our reservations and finding a better place to stay. (I like this place). However, what I have learned from this experience is that when I stay in a hotel it has to be 3 stars or more. If that is not an option, then I will 1. not go or 2. camp. Because in all fairness, camping is sooooo much more clean that the state of some of those hotel rooms.

#2-Funerals. It is funny, okay not funny but interesting, how a time for mourning turns into a happy and fun family gathering. I have been to my fair share of funerals where I have not been part of the family or the person who passed away was young and it is hard to be there, however, when an individual has lived a good life, and made a strong family with lots of memories, funerals are a good time to get together with all your loved ones and remember the good days. I'm sure there will be a different thought tomorrow, but until then this is my thought.

#3- Traveling with a 10 month old. Remember my post about traveling with a 6 month old. Yeah, it got a little worse. Here is what I packed for our 4 day trip.
6 different casual outfits some short sleeve, some long sleeve, some shorts, some long pants
2 different pairs of shoes
dress outfit
3 pairs of PJ's
socks
diapers
swim diapers
swim suit
baby soap
butt paste
thermometer
nose sucker
nail clippers
pack-n-play
2 big blankets
2 small blankets
a quilt
3 stuffed animals from home
pacifiers (even though he doesn't use them at home, in new places he typically will forget he needs to sleep)
5 bottles
formula
Cheerios
puffs
3 boxes of 2 pack stage 2 baby food fruit
3 boxes of 2 pack stage 2 baby food veggies
animal crackers
wagon wheels
another finger food thing
3 bowls
6 spoons
4 small snack cups
oatmeal for several feedings
bottle cleaner
dish soap
all of his toys
high chair
I'm sure there is more but I just can't think anymore, I need sleep. Good night.

My day as an SLP

Today I was schooled by an eight year old and a Robin helped me with my feeding kid.

So this week I have been a little overwhelmed because I will only be at work Monday-Thursday and spending Friday getting ready to travel to Minnesota for BJ's grandpa's funeral, I have had some reschedules into the week so my kids don't miss therapy. With that The last two days I have been in a room that a pesky robin thinks there is a tree where there is really a window. Plus I just got a new speech book, and have been using it with just about all my kids! So Fun! Anyway, I was trying to convince a child he needed to swallow an apple, and he was not having it. Then the pesky robin started running into the window again. The kid got really excited and started asking questions about the bird. Then me, wanting to manipulate the situation as much as I possibly could (and taking a page out of my mom's parenting style) said, the bird wants you to eat the apple. He wanted me get the bird to come back and i said that he needed to put the little bit of apple into his belly before the bird came back. We argued about this for 5 min. until I finally was able to get him to put the apple in his tummy. The whole time I was praying that darn bird would come back. Thank God! He returned!!! I got the kid to eat the apple a second time. That's when the angles started to sing. I was so happy. Then my next kid came in, I was showing him my new book and he wanted to check out a sound. So I casually say, man, I wish I could figure out the order of these words. No joke he looks at me and says, "yeah, they should be in alphabetical order." HAHA they are. After 2.5 days of using it in and out, that's how long it took an eight year old to point it out to me. After that I was ready to go home.

Animals

The other day I had a thought, the fact that I am remembering it is awesome. But the thought was there should be year round chocolate animals. I mean why do we have to wait until Easter to eat a chocolate bunny. Fine I understand that bunnies= Easter but wouldn't it be fun that if for summer we ate chocolate bumble bees? And Christmas time we could eat chocolate Reindeer? Thanksgiving, turkeys, forth of July lightning bugs, I could go on for hours with this thought. I would even be happy if we could eat these animals but they don't really have to be made of chocolate Popsicles would be fun for the summer months.

Change

Why is it that change is so hard to accept and enjoy? I mean over 90% of the time change brings on good things. Look at technology. We all sit around and complain up and down about how the new cell phones are "to much" and how the new computers are able to do "ridiculous amounts of stuff." However, we are all in the lines to buy the new and improved piece of technology and with in 3 months we look at one another and say, how did we live without this thing for so long. There is no way I could go back. So why don't we just skip the whole criticism, and skepticism part? On the same note then, why is change in life SOOOOOOO hard? There are changes in families, changes in where you live, what you eat, where you work, what you drive, what you watch and the list goes on. But when ever you want/have to change you cry about it, worry about it, and spend over 60% of your waking (and some of your sleeping) hours consumed with how your life will be after the change has taken full affect.

Just for the record it is not change that I do not enjoy, it is the fear of the unknown. I love change and I love it even more when I am told that the change happened 3 months ago and this is the new way of life. I hate the anticipation of change and being in the holding pattern waiting for the change to take place. I hated the waiting for the baby but love the change he made in our family. I hated my husband losing his job but I love the change it brought in his personality and his career pattern. The rest of the waiting I'm sure will lead to great change but it doesn't mean I am going to enjoy it. Not one bit!

-On another note, no new news on my car. But I am enjoying my mother's car.

Off to the doctor

My car that is. Yes, it is going back to the doctor. Actually this is to fix the check engine light and the shaking that is going on. So to day my mom and I played musical cars and I am now the proud driver of a lovely SUV.

On another note, we have had a ton of rain these past few days and when I got home and put Rescue out she went out and drank the water pools off the fire pit cover. I tried to get a picture but go figure batteries were dead and by the time I got new ones she was done. Oh well. It was cute.

First hair cut

Elijah was born with a full head of hair. And since that day he has had a couple of really, really long hairs. I mean the root of the hair was in the back of his head and it would come down and touch the bridge of his nose. We are talking crazy long. It was also getting a bit unruly around his ears. So off to the modern day barber (sportclips) for our first hair cut. Daddy needed a hair cut too so the boys did it together. First daddy sat in the chair and he had his cape put on, then Elijah sat on his lap and they pulled out a little kid cape. I just about died. He was just soooo cute. They then cut about 10-15 hairs on his head, without cutting any skin or ears while he wiggled around, taped the hair that they could catch to paper, then paid $15.00 for the Experience. HAHA yeah, next hair cut, Elijah will be doing it at home, and we will be waiting until he can sit still long enough to do so. I will not be paying $15.00 for my child to get 4-5 hairs cut every couple of months. And in the coming years... Buzz cut for the summer!

Happy Easter (a couple days late)

Happy Easter! Of all the church Holidays this one has and always will be my favorite. I just love everything about Easter, the celebration the songs, the excitement about the Easter miracle. Of non-church related holidays I have to go with the 4th of July. But I am off on a tangent.

This year we went over to my mom's on Saturday. Elijah was able to show off his new skills, stair climbing, walking with his baby walker, and waving. The rest of us ate, talked, and died Easter eggs. (The black things on the Easter eggs is Electrical tape). It really gives the eggs a cool look but it is difficult to do because you can't touch the tape too much or stretch it to much. My mom had one of the coolest electrical tape eggs with the triangle We also learned that you really need vinegar to color eggs. We had a couple of colors with just water, yeah, they didn't take the die to well.

Then Easter Sunday we all got dressed up pretty and headed off to church. We came home, and the whole family took a nap. It was great! I love Sunday naps and to think that it was a special holiday Sunday was even better. Once Elijah woke up from his nap we went looking for all the eggs the bunny left for us at our house. He also brought Elijah some fun balls which he was having a blast with. We then all got dressed up again and headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Chapman's where we had a wonderful dinner.

Like I said it was a wonderful Easter Sunday and Elijah was real cute during his egg hunting.

Baby boom

I feel that since Elijah was born everyone one else on the planet got pregnant. I wish I would have known that everyone else time line was about 9 months behind mine. It's not that I want to have another baby, it's just I wish my friends had kids closer in age with Elijah. I always grew up YEARS older than everyone we hung out with. It is hard finding new friends (it takes time I don't have, and I barely see the friends I have now). I just wish there was a kid in my close circle of friends, or family that was about 3-6 months younger or older than Elijah. Don't get me wrong, I am SO EXCITED that I have other parents to hang with, and I know once Elijah gets into school we will have more same aged peers to hang with, but who knows if I will get along with their parents. Oh well, lots of babies in the next year, that equals lots of cuteness, lots of diapers, lots of boobies for breast feeding mommies.