Just some fun at the toy store in Mendocino!
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Aunt and Uncle Robot :)
Nae, I promised James he could see these pictures. Wanna show them to him? HAHAHA!
Friday, September 25, 2009
Wicked
I forgot to blog about our little day trip to San Francisco! Two weekends ago Ryan, Tammy and I went to San Francisco to see the broadway musical Wicked. It is described as the "untold story of the witches of Oz". It was really good! I didn't grow up seeing musicals, and I still don't like watching musical movies, but I enjoyed Wicked very much. They kind of portray the wicked witch of the west and GOOD, and Glenda as sort of mean/stuck up. It starts from school age - like maybe highschool age, until their "current" adult age. The girl who played the green witch was the main girls understudy, but you never would have known it! I wouldn't have realized that if we hadn't read the insert in the brochure. She was a very good singer. She was a bit of an "over actor" when she wasn't singing but I think that's how broadway is supposed to be. It didn't bother me too much. She was REALLY good. Glinda was WAY funny and I liked her big, beautiful dress at the beginning and end, too.
After the play we took the bart back to the Concord area where we started and went to dinner at Black Angus steakhouse. It was REALLY good and we were dang hungry because we didn't grab lunch before the play. eek!
Anyway, it was the day after Tammy's birthday, and her friend Debbie had the restaurant people sing her a birthday song which she HATES. But, we did get a free delish dessert which was amazing. I hope she had a good time - I think she did. It was a long trip for one day but we had a BLAST! :) I didn't get any pictures, but Tammy wouldn't have allowed me to get any of her anyway. wink
After the play we took the bart back to the Concord area where we started and went to dinner at Black Angus steakhouse. It was REALLY good and we were dang hungry because we didn't grab lunch before the play. eek!
Anyway, it was the day after Tammy's birthday, and her friend Debbie had the restaurant people sing her a birthday song which she HATES. But, we did get a free delish dessert which was amazing. I hope she had a good time - I think she did. It was a long trip for one day but we had a BLAST! :) I didn't get any pictures, but Tammy wouldn't have allowed me to get any of her anyway. wink
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Vacay, houses, work, oh my!
Last weekend we went to Mendocino with the Condit fam, the Lefebvres and another couple who are friends with the Lefebvres. We had a great time! We spent a lot of time at the beach and around the shops in downtown Mendocino. We visited the infamous chocolate shop where we ordered a chocolate & mint hunk of chocolate which was AMAZING, and of course the hunk of white chocolate with real, fresh raspberries in it. At the beach we relaxed, played with James, held the babies, saw a doggie on a surf board, got a good amount of sunshine, and lots of sand in my purse & cell phone (and James' diaper).
The babies got up VERY early so we came back a bit tired, but it was worth it. James woke us all up the first morning at about 20 mins til 7. I didn't want to be up that early but at the same time, I had fun listening to James' cute little voice for 20 mins before I got up. He's so funny lately and he's talking A LOT. I love that little guy so much! Waking up early also got as a good, early start which meant more time during the day to hang out. I was tired though and gave having more than just 1 kid a second thought for a moment. :)
________________________________________
So, we got a letter in the mail today stating that we did NOT qualify for the CHIP home that we applied for. :( It's kind of a let down since it's something we were looking foward to, and it wouldn't mean house hunting and all that stuff. But if it wasn't meant to be, then it wasn't. We were disappointed but at the same time, we both felt comfortable with the outcome. They denied us based on income. We don't make enough to qualify. I'm guessing that means they compared our income to what our payments would've been and we couldn't quite cut it. I thought that if the houses ended up being more than 200,000 that the payments would be a little bit too high for us. Maybe not if we got the first time buyers loan but I guess they wouldn't take that in to account if they weren't sure that we'd apply. I suppose we'll keep our eye on the mls listings and pray about our options. :)
So, at work we've been looking for a new office to move into and OUT of our tiny, non-creative, crap-fest of an office that we're in now. It's not as bad as I'm making it out to be, but it's definitely not a "creative atmosphere" which I believe is what our designers need. ANYWAY! A few days ago we looked at an office that is up for lease in downtown Chico. It has pretty much EVERYTHING we want in it. We wanted somewhere downtown for convenience sake, we wanted a more creative atmosphere, we wanted something bigger with a few offices within the space for my boss to have her own office and to use the additional offices as meeting rooms. This one has one big area where desks can go, another small area (lounge area?), two private offices in the middle, two private offices in the back, one big area that can be closed off for meetings in the front, and a place for our servers. It's way bigger, and it's SOOO BEAUTIFUL in there! I would MOVE there if I could afford it. :) It's in one of the upstairs buildings in downtown and it has windows that open up toward the street. It has tall ceilings, partial brick walls inside, small back patio, and SKY LIGHTS! It's pretty much amazing. It's also cheaper than most of the other places we've looked at and it's WAY nicer. All of us are in love with it except, of course, my boss. I can't really pinpoint what her problem is with it except for really small, minor details. You have to climb stairs and she buys a couple of bags of groceries each monday that she'd have to lug up there. We'd have to get three additional parking spaces in the parking structure. She said she felt like it was hot in there. There is a thermostat in there so no matter how hot it was we could make it comfy, first of all. Secondly, I saw that it was set to 76 whereas it's usually anywhere between 78 - 80 degrees in our office because apparently she has weird temperature issues or something. Anyway, I'm just bummed that she doesn't like it but luckily she doesn't make the final decision - the owners of the company do. Mark, one of the owners came to Chico today from Mt. View to see the building and take some measurements. I'll have to see what he thinks of it later because I left while they were still over there today. I hope we get it. It's SUH-WEET!
Well, that's about it. I'll leave you with a funny little James story. My mom told me that she sometimes calls my dad "honey". James is over there once a week while Nae & Seth have date night. James was over there the other night and right now he's in that stage where he repeats EVERYTHING! It's also almost like he hears everything, too. Anyway, he started saying "come on, Honey" to my DAD! BAHAHAHA! Hilarious. It's so cute to picture tiny Jamesie calling my dad "honey". :) Kids are sooooo cute!
The babies got up VERY early so we came back a bit tired, but it was worth it. James woke us all up the first morning at about 20 mins til 7. I didn't want to be up that early but at the same time, I had fun listening to James' cute little voice for 20 mins before I got up. He's so funny lately and he's talking A LOT. I love that little guy so much! Waking up early also got as a good, early start which meant more time during the day to hang out. I was tired though and gave having more than just 1 kid a second thought for a moment. :)
Here's James in his sand "chair"
Here's Joey bundled up at the beach :)
James' SAND sock line from the first day playing on the beach
We saw some horses while we were at the beach. When we pointed them out to James he said "I WANT TO PLAY WITH THEM!" Haha. I pictured him playing fetch with them or something. Seth took him over there and he got to sit on one of them. He was so cute! He kept leaning down and hugging them. It was so sweet.
The Lefebvres & Co. caught up with us at the beach after they went on a hike. Here are their cutie's. Lucy Lefebvre, and Cason who is the son of Ashley's friend Robin.
Aw, what a sweet couple. Orrr, wait... is Lucy already betrothed to Josiah? Or is that Nory? I always lose track.
Joey and James both got to take their naps at the beach. Ryan said that James' legs looked like when the wicked witch of the east got killed by the flying house (see the striped "socks).
We stayed in the Garden Cabin which features a big garden behind it. Lynae took James out there for a photo shoot and he loved exploring. Here he is being a sweet, curious little boy wondering, "what's in here??"
________________________________________
So, we got a letter in the mail today stating that we did NOT qualify for the CHIP home that we applied for. :( It's kind of a let down since it's something we were looking foward to, and it wouldn't mean house hunting and all that stuff. But if it wasn't meant to be, then it wasn't. We were disappointed but at the same time, we both felt comfortable with the outcome. They denied us based on income. We don't make enough to qualify. I'm guessing that means they compared our income to what our payments would've been and we couldn't quite cut it. I thought that if the houses ended up being more than 200,000 that the payments would be a little bit too high for us. Maybe not if we got the first time buyers loan but I guess they wouldn't take that in to account if they weren't sure that we'd apply. I suppose we'll keep our eye on the mls listings and pray about our options. :)
So, at work we've been looking for a new office to move into and OUT of our tiny, non-creative, crap-fest of an office that we're in now. It's not as bad as I'm making it out to be, but it's definitely not a "creative atmosphere" which I believe is what our designers need. ANYWAY! A few days ago we looked at an office that is up for lease in downtown Chico. It has pretty much EVERYTHING we want in it. We wanted somewhere downtown for convenience sake, we wanted a more creative atmosphere, we wanted something bigger with a few offices within the space for my boss to have her own office and to use the additional offices as meeting rooms. This one has one big area where desks can go, another small area (lounge area?), two private offices in the middle, two private offices in the back, one big area that can be closed off for meetings in the front, and a place for our servers. It's way bigger, and it's SOOO BEAUTIFUL in there! I would MOVE there if I could afford it. :) It's in one of the upstairs buildings in downtown and it has windows that open up toward the street. It has tall ceilings, partial brick walls inside, small back patio, and SKY LIGHTS! It's pretty much amazing. It's also cheaper than most of the other places we've looked at and it's WAY nicer. All of us are in love with it except, of course, my boss. I can't really pinpoint what her problem is with it except for really small, minor details. You have to climb stairs and she buys a couple of bags of groceries each monday that she'd have to lug up there. We'd have to get three additional parking spaces in the parking structure. She said she felt like it was hot in there. There is a thermostat in there so no matter how hot it was we could make it comfy, first of all. Secondly, I saw that it was set to 76 whereas it's usually anywhere between 78 - 80 degrees in our office because apparently she has weird temperature issues or something. Anyway, I'm just bummed that she doesn't like it but luckily she doesn't make the final decision - the owners of the company do. Mark, one of the owners came to Chico today from Mt. View to see the building and take some measurements. I'll have to see what he thinks of it later because I left while they were still over there today. I hope we get it. It's SUH-WEET!
Well, that's about it. I'll leave you with a funny little James story. My mom told me that she sometimes calls my dad "honey". James is over there once a week while Nae & Seth have date night. James was over there the other night and right now he's in that stage where he repeats EVERYTHING! It's also almost like he hears everything, too. Anyway, he started saying "come on, Honey" to my DAD! BAHAHAHA! Hilarious. It's so cute to picture tiny Jamesie calling my dad "honey". :) Kids are sooooo cute!
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Here and There
My Blog entry doesn't deserve a "themed" title because I'm not sure what I'm going to talk about yet. :) I just wanted to blog about what's been going on and what's coming up.
We just had a 3 day weekend which was pretty cool. I like having an extra day off but especially if Ryan gets that day off, too. Friday evening I went to Lynae's house to watch James and Josiah for a couple of hours while she helped Seth clean up outside and work on the house. They're putting in new siding and just working on fixing up their house. It's going to look pretty good when it's done! It's kinda fun to watch the process. Seth is pretty proud of his work. :) As he should be - I think he's been working really hard at work all day and then really hard on the house all evening. The inside has looked good for a while now, so they're moving to the outside stuff now. Watching the boys was fun! It wasn't stressful at all since it was only a couple of hours and I knew that both parents were there in case something went awry. Josiah slept for a little while so I played with James in his room. He always says funny things and he's quite entertaining. After Joey woke up James decided he wanted to watch a movie so we hung out in their spare room watching sesame street movies. He told me he wanted to watch "The Healthy One" which is what he calls one of the Elmo movies that talk about eating your veggies & being active. For some reason he loves that one. He wasn't exactly pronouncing his words very clearly so for about 5 mins I was trying to figure out what he was saying. Luckily it was the first one I picked up so I finally figured out what he meant. We watched it 3 times. Yeahhh. Even Joey got into the movie a little bit. When he started getting cranky I'd turn him around and he was pretty happy watching Elmo. Oh no. It begins.
Saturday was our lazy day. We went out to lunch, or more like "Linner" at Applebees. We went when all of the oldsters go at like 4:00. We sat around saying "what should we do today" but didn't end up doing much. We watched some Lost and went for a walk... did stuff around the house. Yeah.
Sunday after church Nae went to a winery with my parents. She took Joey with her and I watched James at my house. He thinks my house is pretty exciting - mostly because it's something different and he doesn't come here very often (we're usually at his house instead). The whole way here he asked "where are we going???" He's sucha cutie. He LOVES Uncle Ryan. Ryan entertained him in the car the whole way home. They're pretty cute together. :)
Yesterday we slept WAY in and figured we would probably have another lazy day. But in the afternoon Lynae called us and invited us over for a BBQ at their house. Dustin and Uncle Paul were helping Seth on the house so they were going to BBQ after they finished up for the day. They decided to make it a "party" and invite everyone. It was fun just socializing and seeing all of the babies. I'm glad we didn't just sit around all day again.
Since we slept in pretty late and I also had a mountain dew around 4-ish, I TOTALLY didn't sleep well last night. I don't do well if I have caffeine after, say, noon-ish. I try to cut it off by 2:00pm. If I don't I generally don't sleep well. And it definitely affected me last night. I also caught a cold. My eyes have been burning all day! Today I've been pretty tired and I have a big fat headache right now. Over all the weekend was fun, and going back to work is kinda BLEH. The weekend went by too fast, of course. But at least this work week will only be 4 days long!
Anyway, we have a few little fun things coming up. Next Friday is Tammy's birthday and we're going to San Francisco from Saturday til Sunday. We're going to see Wicked (it's the "untold story of the witches of Oz.") It's a broadway musical and I've heard it's pretty good. That will be exciting. Ryan probably won't let us go shopping. :( UGH. Jerkface.
The following weekend we're taking Friday off and heading to Mendocino with Lynae and Seth (and the boys!), Adam & Ash (and Lucy!), and another couple who are friends with the Lefebvres. They also have a little boy I think. Yep, we'll be the only ones without kids. Haha! But that's okay. I don't know how pumped Ryan is about being around babies all weekend but I am! He is excited though because he doesn't see Adam as much as he'd like and I know that he's missed him being around a lot since he moved away from town a few years back. Also, hopefully having a second pair of fresh hands around (who don't have to care for their own kids yet) will be a big help to everyone. It'll be a fun little vacation. We're staying at The Lords Land.
It used to be a little hippie commune back in the day. Haha! It's kind of a funny place. But it's also really pretty around there and the cabins are cozy. I can't wait to see the ocean and go to the chocolate shop and spend time with our friends and the babies.
A couple of weeks after we get back from Mendocino, Ryan is going to a bowling tournament in Reno with Tammy. I think I'll stay home since watching bowling and then gambling sounds a little bit boring to me. :) But I'm glad they'll get some time to spend together and time to have some FUN! And maybe they'll even win some money like last time. They're both pretty good bowlers!
Ryan has been talking about possibly taking a week of in November just to get a good break from work. He's thinking November because that's when it will slow down for a little while at work. I might take some time off too to be with him. I'd like to go on a little vacation during that time but I can't think of something that we'll both like. Lately he's been kind of hating some aspects of work. He's been dealing with petty little fights between his employees. I don't think he likes the "babysitting" part of his new job title. I think he's hoping for a change - either be promoted to Supervisor (possibility - but not 100% counting on that), and what I think he prefers even more is for them to hire a supervisor, and then he can stay the Asst. Supervisor, still get experience and some say, but not necessarily have to deal with every single problem that goes on. That would be pretty ideal and we've been keeping one of those situations in our prayers lately. He has been really blessed in his job and we don't want to take that for granted AT ALL. I also just want him to be happy in whatever position he's in and not just go for the highest paying option.
So far we haven't heard anything from the CHIP home people yet. I wish we knew at least WHEN we'd know, you know? Haha! Seriously - I hate waiting. Also, not much "herxing" going on lately. My migrating specific spots of pain kinda subsided. I feel pretty much like my "normal" (not-so-normal) self with the exception of more frequent headaches and I've also been more tired than normal lately. I really hope that the meds are still working. I'm waiting to hear back from Mitch to see if he wants to make any changes to my treatment or if we should keep on going with my current dosage and stuff. I don't think they will up the dose or anything, but I have wondered if he might want me to go back into the hyperbaric chamber for another round. I wouldn't mind doing that because in my mind, anything helps. I'd rather attack it and get rid of it even if it means I'm sick for a little while. I just want it to be GONE!
So, that's what's been up with us lately. I'm looking forward to Autumn in some ways, but in other ways I'm sad to lose the summer days. Apple Chai at Starbucks, scarves, and sweaters will be a nice change but I will sure miss doing BBQ's and going swimming and things like that.
That's it. I'll leave you with some cutie pie pictures of my favorite beh-behs.
Cutie-pie Joey at Grandma's Birthday Party
James' pizza-face :) Yummm.
Josiah laughing! :)
Little Nory-pie smiling! :)
We just had a 3 day weekend which was pretty cool. I like having an extra day off but especially if Ryan gets that day off, too. Friday evening I went to Lynae's house to watch James and Josiah for a couple of hours while she helped Seth clean up outside and work on the house. They're putting in new siding and just working on fixing up their house. It's going to look pretty good when it's done! It's kinda fun to watch the process. Seth is pretty proud of his work. :) As he should be - I think he's been working really hard at work all day and then really hard on the house all evening. The inside has looked good for a while now, so they're moving to the outside stuff now. Watching the boys was fun! It wasn't stressful at all since it was only a couple of hours and I knew that both parents were there in case something went awry. Josiah slept for a little while so I played with James in his room. He always says funny things and he's quite entertaining. After Joey woke up James decided he wanted to watch a movie so we hung out in their spare room watching sesame street movies. He told me he wanted to watch "The Healthy One" which is what he calls one of the Elmo movies that talk about eating your veggies & being active. For some reason he loves that one. He wasn't exactly pronouncing his words very clearly so for about 5 mins I was trying to figure out what he was saying. Luckily it was the first one I picked up so I finally figured out what he meant. We watched it 3 times. Yeahhh. Even Joey got into the movie a little bit. When he started getting cranky I'd turn him around and he was pretty happy watching Elmo. Oh no. It begins.
Saturday was our lazy day. We went out to lunch, or more like "Linner" at Applebees. We went when all of the oldsters go at like 4:00. We sat around saying "what should we do today" but didn't end up doing much. We watched some Lost and went for a walk... did stuff around the house. Yeah.
Sunday after church Nae went to a winery with my parents. She took Joey with her and I watched James at my house. He thinks my house is pretty exciting - mostly because it's something different and he doesn't come here very often (we're usually at his house instead). The whole way here he asked "where are we going???" He's sucha cutie. He LOVES Uncle Ryan. Ryan entertained him in the car the whole way home. They're pretty cute together. :)
Yesterday we slept WAY in and figured we would probably have another lazy day. But in the afternoon Lynae called us and invited us over for a BBQ at their house. Dustin and Uncle Paul were helping Seth on the house so they were going to BBQ after they finished up for the day. They decided to make it a "party" and invite everyone. It was fun just socializing and seeing all of the babies. I'm glad we didn't just sit around all day again.
Since we slept in pretty late and I also had a mountain dew around 4-ish, I TOTALLY didn't sleep well last night. I don't do well if I have caffeine after, say, noon-ish. I try to cut it off by 2:00pm. If I don't I generally don't sleep well. And it definitely affected me last night. I also caught a cold. My eyes have been burning all day! Today I've been pretty tired and I have a big fat headache right now. Over all the weekend was fun, and going back to work is kinda BLEH. The weekend went by too fast, of course. But at least this work week will only be 4 days long!
Anyway, we have a few little fun things coming up. Next Friday is Tammy's birthday and we're going to San Francisco from Saturday til Sunday. We're going to see Wicked (it's the "untold story of the witches of Oz.") It's a broadway musical and I've heard it's pretty good. That will be exciting. Ryan probably won't let us go shopping. :( UGH. Jerkface.
The following weekend we're taking Friday off and heading to Mendocino with Lynae and Seth (and the boys!), Adam & Ash (and Lucy!), and another couple who are friends with the Lefebvres. They also have a little boy I think. Yep, we'll be the only ones without kids. Haha! But that's okay. I don't know how pumped Ryan is about being around babies all weekend but I am! He is excited though because he doesn't see Adam as much as he'd like and I know that he's missed him being around a lot since he moved away from town a few years back. Also, hopefully having a second pair of fresh hands around (who don't have to care for their own kids yet) will be a big help to everyone. It'll be a fun little vacation. We're staying at The Lords Land.
It used to be a little hippie commune back in the day. Haha! It's kind of a funny place. But it's also really pretty around there and the cabins are cozy. I can't wait to see the ocean and go to the chocolate shop and spend time with our friends and the babies.
A couple of weeks after we get back from Mendocino, Ryan is going to a bowling tournament in Reno with Tammy. I think I'll stay home since watching bowling and then gambling sounds a little bit boring to me. :) But I'm glad they'll get some time to spend together and time to have some FUN! And maybe they'll even win some money like last time. They're both pretty good bowlers!
Ryan has been talking about possibly taking a week of in November just to get a good break from work. He's thinking November because that's when it will slow down for a little while at work. I might take some time off too to be with him. I'd like to go on a little vacation during that time but I can't think of something that we'll both like. Lately he's been kind of hating some aspects of work. He's been dealing with petty little fights between his employees. I don't think he likes the "babysitting" part of his new job title. I think he's hoping for a change - either be promoted to Supervisor (possibility - but not 100% counting on that), and what I think he prefers even more is for them to hire a supervisor, and then he can stay the Asst. Supervisor, still get experience and some say, but not necessarily have to deal with every single problem that goes on. That would be pretty ideal and we've been keeping one of those situations in our prayers lately. He has been really blessed in his job and we don't want to take that for granted AT ALL. I also just want him to be happy in whatever position he's in and not just go for the highest paying option.
So far we haven't heard anything from the CHIP home people yet. I wish we knew at least WHEN we'd know, you know? Haha! Seriously - I hate waiting. Also, not much "herxing" going on lately. My migrating specific spots of pain kinda subsided. I feel pretty much like my "normal" (not-so-normal) self with the exception of more frequent headaches and I've also been more tired than normal lately. I really hope that the meds are still working. I'm waiting to hear back from Mitch to see if he wants to make any changes to my treatment or if we should keep on going with my current dosage and stuff. I don't think they will up the dose or anything, but I have wondered if he might want me to go back into the hyperbaric chamber for another round. I wouldn't mind doing that because in my mind, anything helps. I'd rather attack it and get rid of it even if it means I'm sick for a little while. I just want it to be GONE!
So, that's what's been up with us lately. I'm looking forward to Autumn in some ways, but in other ways I'm sad to lose the summer days. Apple Chai at Starbucks, scarves, and sweaters will be a nice change but I will sure miss doing BBQ's and going swimming and things like that.
That's it. I'll leave you with some cutie pie pictures of my favorite beh-behs.
Cutie-pie Joey at Grandma's Birthday Party
James' pizza-face :) Yummm.
Josiah laughing! :)
Little Nory-pie smiling! :)
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Art
I have this yearning for an artistic outlet. I kinda have a split personality (but not in the crazy freak sort of way). The job I have now is completely the furthest from "artistic" as you can get. I spend MOST of my day typing - mostly numbers, and some words. I look at a paper and translate it into a database. I enter the info from the paper into the database. Wow. Lame. It's weird because I work for a graphic design company and everyone around me has an "artistic" mindset. Even though my job is completely boring and far from that mindset, I still KNOW for a fact that I have an artistic person inside of me.
I wish that I could find the specific type of "art" that I'm supposed to do. In highschool I considered graphic design as a potential future occupation. I don't know now that I would like it very much. I do think I would be good at it because I have the "technical" mindset squared away and I also have an artistic yearning inside of me. I've always thought that being a pastry chef or even ANY kind of chef would be SO FUN. I would love to paint and wish that I had ANY skill involving painting or drawing. I really really really do NOT have any skill in that area. Making jewelry has been something I've really wanted to do for the past couple of years. I bought a bunch of beads and some books but I've only made a few pieces of jewelry. I think what it comes down to is that my logical side convinces my artistic side that it's not "good enough" to succeed. It's because making good art takes RISK and part of me won't let myself do that. (It also takes lots of MONEY sometimes!) I love to watch So You Think You Can Dance and I always loved going to my friend's dance recitals as a kid. I love going to Glazed Creations and painting pottery!!! I look at Etsy.com (my favie website - all handmade stuff for sale), and dream of making beautiful things like the things that are on there. I love shopping and looking at clothes. I feel like when I see a really nice print on a shirt or a well structured dress or a beautiful blouse it's like looking at a beautiful painting for me. (Now if it only looked as good as I'd like it to look ON me.) :) I have an artistic person STUCK inside of me and I have no idea how to let it out. I like it all - yet I only have a tiny big of skill. Somehow I need to figure out how to hone in on whatever skills I have and just as importantly, learn how to develop them. I need that outlet!
Sometimes I just want to take out a piece of paper and some paint and paint something. It ends up being the same rainbow with the clouds on either side or "happy tree" that I used to paint as a kid. Either that or I just streak a bunch of colors across the page. Sometimes the color ones turn out nice... but what am I going to do with it? I mean, seriously, we're talking like... a piece of computer paper and some WATERCOLORS.
Last time I busted out the paper & paint for some art "outlet" time, this is what came of it... a beautiful portrait of me and Ryan:
Ryan loved my painting so much that he hung it on our refrigerator
(using the strategically place magnets, as you can see).
He's a doll.
As you can see, I probably shouldn't pursue painting as a long-term career choice or even as a hobby. :)
Monday, August 24, 2009
Muahahaaa (evil laugh)
For those of you who have husbands who are addicted to sports, you will enjoy this. I suppose I'm mostly talking to Teryn.
Anyway, tonight my feet started to hurt pretty bad. Somewhere at the "top" (I learned that's actually the BEGINNING, not the END) of the 13 inning of today's Giants game, I decided to ask Ryan for a foot massage. Yes - I said 13th as in thirteenth inning. I know - you're thinking, "there are only supposed to be what, 9-ish, right??" WELLLL. This game has made it to at least the THIRTEENTH INNING!!! So, he says "will the Giants win if I give you a foot massage?" and I say "Only if you do a reallllyyy good job". Yes, ladies, I have found a way to get a GOOD foot massage with some passion behind it! Haha! He would get all worked up and excited about the pitch and say "c'mon! c'mon! You can dooo it!!" Meanwhile, he'd be crushing my foot in anticipation - hoping and dreaming that the harder he massages my feet the more it will push his players into hitting home runs. And THEN, if they suck and make a terrible hit, he would get all worked up and upset and he'd massage my foot out of ANGER. Hahaha! WIN-WIN! :)
I thought I'd share because it made me laugh. Maybe pointless to you but I thought it was pretty funny. And I'll definitely try to use it to my advantage in the future.
Oh - btw - we've just moved into the 14th inning. YAY FOR ME.
Anyway, tonight my feet started to hurt pretty bad. Somewhere at the "top" (I learned that's actually the BEGINNING, not the END) of the 13 inning of today's Giants game, I decided to ask Ryan for a foot massage. Yes - I said 13th as in thirteenth inning. I know - you're thinking, "there are only supposed to be what, 9-ish, right??" WELLLL. This game has made it to at least the THIRTEENTH INNING!!! So, he says "will the Giants win if I give you a foot massage?" and I say "Only if you do a reallllyyy good job". Yes, ladies, I have found a way to get a GOOD foot massage with some passion behind it! Haha! He would get all worked up and excited about the pitch and say "c'mon! c'mon! You can dooo it!!" Meanwhile, he'd be crushing my foot in anticipation - hoping and dreaming that the harder he massages my feet the more it will push his players into hitting home runs. And THEN, if they suck and make a terrible hit, he would get all worked up and upset and he'd massage my foot out of ANGER. Hahaha! WIN-WIN! :)
I thought I'd share because it made me laugh. Maybe pointless to you but I thought it was pretty funny. And I'll definitely try to use it to my advantage in the future.
Oh - btw - we've just moved into the 14th inning. YAY FOR ME.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Watching Jamesie tonight :)
Tonight I watched James over at Nae's house and Lance was there, too. First, I must say that Lance is really growing up and maturing. He just kind of does his own thing. He's got his dinner routine down, he knows how to entertain himself, etc. I also don't know if I mentioned this already but I saw him change James' diaper a couple of months ago and he's a PRO! And he stepped right up to do it without complaints. Luckily, the one I saw wasn't too yucky of a diaper but he still did a really good job of cleaning up Jamesie. It was pretty sweet - despite the poo poo. I still get nervous changing diapers and I never know if I did it right. I suppose they stay on well enough to do their job, but I always wonder if they're too tight? Too lose? Lopsided? Either way they never seem right. I can at least now tell the front from the back. That was until I came across the Swim Diaper which apparently has no back or front - it just goes on either way. Thanks for confusing me right when I sorta get it down, Diapers!
Anyway, I also told my mom recently when she had a few days in a row of not feeling well, that she could let me know if she needed help with Lance. She said "he's so good". It's just nice to know that at least lately she's had some peace with him. It was hard growing up with him and I know it was hard on my mom and and the rest of us, too. There's not really a way to explain it until you've lived it. There are good and bad sides to having a family member with a disability. And I still don't think that my parents' days with Lance are "easy" but I'm just pretty proud to hear that he's matured a lot over the years. He's really sweet with the boys (James and Joey) and just likes to be helpful. It's funny - I was going to go online a few days ago, and I opened up internet explorer and it defaults to like a Yahoo homepage. It has news and different stuff on it. Well, there was a story about a girl on there - I think the headline was something like "Always hungry, all the time". I clicked on it and it was a little glimpse of this girl's life with Prader-Willi Syndrome and a little bit of a look into her daily life. That being, her parents locking the cabinets at home, her having to live in a group home most of the time to control her diet, and her gaining 25 pounds on her week long visit home. Yeah, yeah, stuff I've heard before, right? The news lady that was kind of interviewing her and her family said to the other news woman "I spent the day with a woman who is always - and this is no exaggeration, this is not a metaphor - ALWAYS HUNGRY." and later "some people say the have an 'insatiable appetite' but what if it was literally true??" She later talked about how there are some meds available that help things like obsessive compulsive habits such but - the words she used - "the hunger remains". It's just SO WEIRD because I've grown up with Lance all of my life. I've known that he is always hungry, never full. The "need" for food never goes away. But for some reason, somehow, I didn't REALIZE what that meant until I heard someone else's story and the words coming from someone else's mouth. It's so weird. I just kind of caught me off guard I guess. I mean, I think I grew up at times thinking "We have it so hard as siblings of a person with Prader-Willi Syndrome" or "oh, my mom and dad have it so hard having to care for Lance day in and day out". Those things are true - it's very hard sometimes and I know that is/was especially true for my mom. But I guess I've rarely thought about it from LANCE'S point of view. How hard it is for HIM to constantly have the struggle going on in his mind. He has the tendencies to want (or even NEED) to eat, eat, eat, must... find... food. But another side of him, I'm sure, wishes to be RID of that need. I think it's probably a constant battle for him. It's not something he can control - maybe he can control 10% of it, I don't know, I don't want to put a number on it. But it's not really something he can "teach" himself to stop doing/wanting/needing. I just wanted to say publicly that I'm proud of him. I never thought Lance would "grow up" but in a lot of ways he has.
ANYWAY! The post was supposed to be about my time with Jamesie tonight and turned into a Lance post. Oh well. :) So, tonight I got to watch Jamesie because Lynae and Seth were going to Lynae's 10 year highschool reunion tonight (eekkk!). Josiah went over to my Grandma's house so that I wouldn't have to have Lance, Joey, AND James. I suppose I could've handled it but I'm sure "great-grams" loved some Josiah time. :) When Nae first told me Joey would be with Grandma I kind of thought to myself "aww, dang." I love Jamesie with all of my heart, but I'll just say it - Josiah snuggles more these days - yes, kind of because he has to since he doesn't have the strength to pull away from me yet. But still, I get to hug him the WHOLE TIME! James used to be my little snuggle bug but now that he's getting older he likes to have his personal space. Ugh. :) Still, I was happy to watch James because I love him sooo much. It turned out to be WONDERFUL! I asked him what he wanted to do. "Watch ELMO in the moobie woom!" (movie room). "Okay!!!" James watched Elmo while I went on Facebook and checked my email and all of my various portals. He would get so excited if I sang along with a song on the movie or danced or clapped my hands. I LOVE how easily entertained he is and also how much he loves music. (BTW, I really think he has a good natural beat and probably some sort of musical gift in his future). The couch was folded out into a bed in the "movie room" (the guest bedroom) so that's what we were laying on while watching Elmo. James actual SNUGGLED with me and let me rub his hair and give him kisses. Lately he's been saying "NO AUNT LEE LEE!" when I try to snuggle him. But for some reason tonight he let me. And we just had such a blast together watching Elmo. I know that sounds really funny but it was quality time with JUST James that I hadn't had in a while. I had so much fun lovin' him and being his aunt Leelee. :)
A little while before I put him to bed I decided to see if he wanted some yogurt since he had barfed up some of his dinner. It sucks when that happens because I'm sure he gets hungry again like 30 mins later. So I fed him some yogurt - should've stopped there. I figured he was still hungry and asked him if he wanted some "okey sticks" (aka "turkey sticks" aka rolled up pieces of lunch meat). He did. He didn't throw up. Yayy! Since we had watched several Elmo movies, I thought maybe it'd be fun to give him a bath and let him splash around and play with his bath toys. I brought him into his room and put him on his bed to finish drying him off and to put his diaper and jammies on. For some reason he started gagging and barfing. Aaahhhh! I caught what I could with the towel but some of it got on his bed. Then he just kept going! I brought him off of his bed onto the floor. I caught some more of it in the towel but some got on his little ikea rug. Dang it! Several more hurls later the towel was full and his tummy was covered in vomit. :( Back into the bath!!! I screamed for Lance so that he could get his sippy cup which sometimes helps him stop vomiting. Lance wasn't responding and I was guessing that he was just ignoring me. Turns out he was on the potty. "LAAANNNCCEEE!" He comes in a couple of minutes later. "What?! I had to cut myself off!" HAHAHA! wow. TMI. He watched James in the tub while I cleaned up. I came back and I thought James was crying but it turns out he was cracking up and him and "Adu Ubby" (uncle Lance) were having a blast. So cute. :) I got James to bed after that and he fell asleep pretty quickly. But not until after he played with my ears and poked my face. Sounds weird, but it's something he's been doing forever. So cute. :)
I love my James and I had so much fun with him!!! Dealing with the mess was hard but he's worth it. Plus, Nae and Seth deal with it on a daily basis. I was glad that they had even just one less mess to deal with. It sounds like they had a fun time out without the kiddos!
Anyway, I also told my mom recently when she had a few days in a row of not feeling well, that she could let me know if she needed help with Lance. She said "he's so good". It's just nice to know that at least lately she's had some peace with him. It was hard growing up with him and I know it was hard on my mom and and the rest of us, too. There's not really a way to explain it until you've lived it. There are good and bad sides to having a family member with a disability. And I still don't think that my parents' days with Lance are "easy" but I'm just pretty proud to hear that he's matured a lot over the years. He's really sweet with the boys (James and Joey) and just likes to be helpful. It's funny - I was going to go online a few days ago, and I opened up internet explorer and it defaults to like a Yahoo homepage. It has news and different stuff on it. Well, there was a story about a girl on there - I think the headline was something like "Always hungry, all the time". I clicked on it and it was a little glimpse of this girl's life with Prader-Willi Syndrome and a little bit of a look into her daily life. That being, her parents locking the cabinets at home, her having to live in a group home most of the time to control her diet, and her gaining 25 pounds on her week long visit home. Yeah, yeah, stuff I've heard before, right? The news lady that was kind of interviewing her and her family said to the other news woman "I spent the day with a woman who is always - and this is no exaggeration, this is not a metaphor - ALWAYS HUNGRY." and later "some people say the have an 'insatiable appetite' but what if it was literally true??" She later talked about how there are some meds available that help things like obsessive compulsive habits such but - the words she used - "the hunger remains". It's just SO WEIRD because I've grown up with Lance all of my life. I've known that he is always hungry, never full. The "need" for food never goes away. But for some reason, somehow, I didn't REALIZE what that meant until I heard someone else's story and the words coming from someone else's mouth. It's so weird. I just kind of caught me off guard I guess. I mean, I think I grew up at times thinking "We have it so hard as siblings of a person with Prader-Willi Syndrome" or "oh, my mom and dad have it so hard having to care for Lance day in and day out". Those things are true - it's very hard sometimes and I know that is/was especially true for my mom. But I guess I've rarely thought about it from LANCE'S point of view. How hard it is for HIM to constantly have the struggle going on in his mind. He has the tendencies to want (or even NEED) to eat, eat, eat, must... find... food. But another side of him, I'm sure, wishes to be RID of that need. I think it's probably a constant battle for him. It's not something he can control - maybe he can control 10% of it, I don't know, I don't want to put a number on it. But it's not really something he can "teach" himself to stop doing/wanting/needing. I just wanted to say publicly that I'm proud of him. I never thought Lance would "grow up" but in a lot of ways he has.
ANYWAY! The post was supposed to be about my time with Jamesie tonight and turned into a Lance post. Oh well. :) So, tonight I got to watch Jamesie because Lynae and Seth were going to Lynae's 10 year highschool reunion tonight (eekkk!). Josiah went over to my Grandma's house so that I wouldn't have to have Lance, Joey, AND James. I suppose I could've handled it but I'm sure "great-grams" loved some Josiah time. :) When Nae first told me Joey would be with Grandma I kind of thought to myself "aww, dang." I love Jamesie with all of my heart, but I'll just say it - Josiah snuggles more these days - yes, kind of because he has to since he doesn't have the strength to pull away from me yet. But still, I get to hug him the WHOLE TIME! James used to be my little snuggle bug but now that he's getting older he likes to have his personal space. Ugh. :) Still, I was happy to watch James because I love him sooo much. It turned out to be WONDERFUL! I asked him what he wanted to do. "Watch ELMO in the moobie woom!" (movie room). "Okay!!!" James watched Elmo while I went on Facebook and checked my email and all of my various portals. He would get so excited if I sang along with a song on the movie or danced or clapped my hands. I LOVE how easily entertained he is and also how much he loves music. (BTW, I really think he has a good natural beat and probably some sort of musical gift in his future). The couch was folded out into a bed in the "movie room" (the guest bedroom) so that's what we were laying on while watching Elmo. James actual SNUGGLED with me and let me rub his hair and give him kisses. Lately he's been saying "NO AUNT LEE LEE!" when I try to snuggle him. But for some reason tonight he let me. And we just had such a blast together watching Elmo. I know that sounds really funny but it was quality time with JUST James that I hadn't had in a while. I had so much fun lovin' him and being his aunt Leelee. :)
A little while before I put him to bed I decided to see if he wanted some yogurt since he had barfed up some of his dinner. It sucks when that happens because I'm sure he gets hungry again like 30 mins later. So I fed him some yogurt - should've stopped there. I figured he was still hungry and asked him if he wanted some "okey sticks" (aka "turkey sticks" aka rolled up pieces of lunch meat). He did. He didn't throw up. Yayy! Since we had watched several Elmo movies, I thought maybe it'd be fun to give him a bath and let him splash around and play with his bath toys. I brought him into his room and put him on his bed to finish drying him off and to put his diaper and jammies on. For some reason he started gagging and barfing. Aaahhhh! I caught what I could with the towel but some of it got on his bed. Then he just kept going! I brought him off of his bed onto the floor. I caught some more of it in the towel but some got on his little ikea rug. Dang it! Several more hurls later the towel was full and his tummy was covered in vomit. :( Back into the bath!!! I screamed for Lance so that he could get his sippy cup which sometimes helps him stop vomiting. Lance wasn't responding and I was guessing that he was just ignoring me. Turns out he was on the potty. "LAAANNNCCEEE!" He comes in a couple of minutes later. "What?! I had to cut myself off!" HAHAHA! wow. TMI. He watched James in the tub while I cleaned up. I came back and I thought James was crying but it turns out he was cracking up and him and "Adu Ubby" (uncle Lance) were having a blast. So cute. :) I got James to bed after that and he fell asleep pretty quickly. But not until after he played with my ears and poked my face. Sounds weird, but it's something he's been doing forever. So cute. :)
I love my James and I had so much fun with him!!! Dealing with the mess was hard but he's worth it. Plus, Nae and Seth deal with it on a daily basis. I was glad that they had even just one less mess to deal with. It sounds like they had a fun time out without the kiddos!
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