27 April 2011

Spring! It's here!

It would seem that spring has finally decided to visit NoDak!  We have been spending a lot of time outside in the backyard.  Every time we actually need to go somewhere its a fight to get the boys from the house to the truck because they want to go play.








It feels so good to be able to open the windows.  The sunshine and fresh air can totally brighten a person's day.  Unfortunately I think the boys have allergies, and too much time outside results in runny noses and slightly miserable little men.

18 April 2011

my turn

well, here it is.  Me.  And the bump.









For the first time in a very long time, I felt cute today.  And I decided to take advantage of it.  M took the first picture before he left for work.  And then I decided to see how well I could do using the timer on my fabulous fancy-shmancy camera.  I have to admit that I'm pretty impressed with how well my self-portrait-ing came out. 

As you can see, Lil' M's room is coming along!  In truth, that is only completed part... and even that isn't 100% done.  I'm waiting on a few more packages to arrive.  And the weather to improve a little so I can do some spray painting.  My goal is to have it done in the next 2 weeks.  And then I'll be washing all the adorable little baby{girl} clothes, packing my hospital bag in case she wants to come early, and waiting (very eagerly) on her arrival.

17 April 2011

this evening after bath time and supper I decided to pull out the camera and have some fun with it.  The boys were more than willing to cheese it up for me, along with insisting that I cheese some of their cars.
























I feel so proud and honored to be their mommy.  I keep looking at these pictures in amazement that they are really, truly mine.  This little family I've been blessed with... there is no better thing...

16 April 2011

I've been having the most fun trying new recipes lately.  I've realized that I can save a lot on our grocery bill if I have every meal and snack planned, instead of just having our supper planned and figuring out the rest as needed.

This morning we had yogurt parfaits for breakfast.  And for lunch I made delicious pesto pasta.


Both the boys are either coming down with something or allergies have descended upon us, so G didn't really eat anything.  Z on the other hand LOVED it!  He told me over and over that it was "dewicious", and ate all of his.  Part of mine.  And all of G's.

Other fun new things I've tried lately are sweet potato muffins.


Another thumb's up!

And then there are the bologna and cheddar muffins.  I've always been afraid of muffins.  I have problems mixing them just right almost every time.  But I've realized what an amazing thing they are, and what a great quick meal they can make in a pinch.  These were supposed to be ham and cheddar, but it was a "I need to go shopping, what can I make with what's in my fridge" meal.  And ta-da!  Bologna Cheddar muffins!




are they not the cutest little boys ever?!

Some more things on the menu for the next few weeks that I'm excited to try include....

bang-bang chicken salad
ham and cheese crepes
egg pesto melt
and
homemade graham crackers

15 April 2011

We got the Jeep back on Wednesday.  It seems to have been an electrical problem.  The codes that came up said that the fuel injectors were ALL bad.  And that there was some problem with the throttle making connections with something.  The mechanic cleared all the codes out, cleaned a few things and it seems to be fine.  Of course, only M has drove it so far.  And it only has problems for yours truly.

Yesterday was a very long day.  I had training in Minot for the apartment complex I started managing.  Which meant getting me AND the boys out the door by 7am.  What a chaotic ordeal.  I dropped them off at the daycare I used once before.  They immediately started running around and playing.  And didn't even come and tell me bye =(

After a long day of training, which ran late, I went and did my grocery shopping.  And then went to pick up my little men.  Oh, how I missed them.  10 hours without hearing or seeing them is way too long.  I was so anxious to get them I could have cried.  They were at the basketball game, completely passed out in the stroller.  The daycare lady said they did amazing and played and ran all day long.  Only a few times they asked where I was, she told them I had to go bye-bye, and they were fine. 

It was good to have a day away.  It made me realize how much I love being able to spend every day with them.  And how much I miss them when they aren't around.

I need to go back to Minot sometime in the next week to get some training and certifications, and I'm already dreading having to leave my boys.

13 April 2011

Taking A New Turn

Yesterday's post started the new turn of my blog.  When I originally started this, M was in Georgia.  The boys and I were in New York.  I wanted to make sure that I wrote down the little things of our day so M could be part of it.

But now here we are quickly coming up on our 2-year anniversary of living in North Dakota.  Together, as a family.  Our life is changing again with the arrival of our little girl.

While this blog will still talk about my adorable children, because they are indeed my world, I'm also going to start taking the time to just write.  Write whatever it is that I'm thinking about.  I realized yesterday that my facebook status has been an outlet for a lot of this.  Only, there is so much you can post on facebook. 

And so a new chapter begins...

12 April 2011

I have decided.  That I should just stop going to my OB appointments.  This entire winter, every single OB appointment I have coincided with bad weather, or just plain old bad roads.

Last appointment (2 weeks ago) had a special spin to it.  I had failed my 1-hour glucose test and had to take the 3-hour test.  This test requires you to start fasting at midnight the night before.  Getting your blood drawn once after you've been fasting; drinking this special, 'yummy' orange potion (which really I don't find so bad... a lot like flat orange soda); and then having your blood drawn at 1, 2 and 3 hours post-drink.

I already had an appointment scheduled for 1:30 in the afternoon, so I decided I'd just do the test then.  M had just come off of working 3 double shifts in a row, and I wanted him to be able to sleep as long as possible before I left him with the boys to head to Williston.  The roads were, of course, bad and it took me longer than planned to get there.

Going to jump over a bunch of minor details.  Important facts: I'm pregnant.  I hadn't ate in 14+ hours.

Between my 2nd and 3rd blood draw I ran to Wal-Mart to pick up the groceries I needed.  I RAN through the store, and successfully got everything on my list in 30 minutes.  And then got the slowest cashier in the world.  Who felt the need to make a comment about every single thing I was purchasing. 

"Oh, I need some of this."
"Hmm, I haven't tried this yet.  It looks good."
"I love fruit snacks too."
"Do you like rice?  You must like rice.  I don't like rice."

And so it went.  I'm hungry.  I'm tired.  I'm tapping my fingers on the counter.  I'm ignoring her.  I need to be out of this store and back to my doctors office at exactly 4:32 PM.

Finally she was done.  I run (literally, run) through the parking lot with my cart load of groceries and start to unload them.  And then the guy who was behind me in the checkout walks by.  2 seconds after I've picked up the dog food.  He offers to put the dog food in the truck, and then says he'll unload all my groceries for him.  We talk about how SLOW the cashier was.  And I mention that I have to be somewhere in exactly 7 minutes.  He so very kindly offered to push the cart back for me so I could get on my way.

I walked through the doors to the office at exactly 4:32 PM.

After the blood draw I grab something to eat and happily head home.  Once home it was a little while before M started unloading the groceries.  After one trip in the house he asked me if someone had helped me.  I told him yes, and how wonderful and sweet this guy was.  M had a funny look on his face.  I asked if something was wrong.  And he handed me a set of keys.  This poor guy had dropped his keys in the bed of my truck.  And I didn't know.  Until 2 1/2 hours later.

Fast forward again... I ended up having to get back in the truck and driving the 1 1/2 hours back there to bring him his keys.  He had just moved here, knew no one, and had been sitting in Wal-Mart hoping I'd call.

And then today's appointment.  It was all going fine.  Just a quick check-up.  Yes, the numbers on the scale are still creeping higher.  My blood pressure is good.  Lil' M's heartbeat is good.  All done.  Grab a few groceries and head home.  2 miles out of Williston the Jeep starts acting a little weird.  Not too weird, same problem its had on and off for the past 3-4 years.  And then it got worse.  20 miles outside of Williston the 'check engine' light came on.  And then engine/RPMs started doing crazy things.  It would be in the normal 2000 RPMs @ 65mph, and all of the sudden the engine would rev and shoot up to 3000 RPMs.  So I called M, told him what was going on, and to be prepared if I should call back saying I needed a ride home.  It was if it was losing power and then overcompensating to keep the same speed.  Eventually if I was going 60 MPH it was shooting up to 4000+ RPMs.  And hills did it in.  I was able to drive it all the way to Crosby, where M met me, and we left it at the garage.  The best way to describe it, is it felt like it was running out of gas.  Even though there was 1/2 a tank.  And I drove it 60 miles.  We'll see what they say about it tomorrow.

But it has lead me to believe that I should just stop going to these little, quick check-ups.  They don't bring good things.