Thursday, October 29, 2009

I'm Back!!!

Well that was too long of a break! I just (tonight!) got my netbook and set it up. So now I'm getting used to the smaller keyboard and how much faster than my old laptop it is. Amazing. And this one has a built in webcam, and of course wireless so I can take it anywhere!

James' birthday went well, and he did get a few things like an rc car from us and my mom and stepdad got him a couple little cars as well. We've been running around like crazy getting things ready for winter, and fixing the car again. Go figure! So far we've managed to avoid any major illnesses this fall, which is unusual for us. I can only attribute it to us being home more since they aren't at public school now. There is a lot of it going around in the neighborhood right now though and I'm grateful that we haven't caught it.
Not a whole lot else going on right now, just getting ready for Halloween and planning on having Dad and Colleen down for Thanksgiving. He's excited because this will be the first Thanksgiving he's spent with any of his kids in a LONG time.
Hope to post more since this thing works sooooooo much better than the old one.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Laptop Died!

Not sure how often I'll be able to get on here in the next couple of weeks, as my laptop decided to die a fairly slow and painful (for me!) death. It's no longer even turning on, so my wonderful brother in law is going to salvage what he can off the hard drive and help me to put it on a new computer (when I finally manage to get one!). Right now I'm using hubby's not-so-ancient-but-very-slow desktop. It has brainfarts, so when I type anything it takes two to three times as long as it normally would because I have to wait for the computer to catch up. So not fun!

On the plus side, since I'm on his computer, I don't have to try 20,000,000,000,000 times to get it to turn on and then hope that it doesn't shut itself down while I take a potty break like my laptop was tending to do towards the last. I'm hoping that he can salvage my pics and files, but not overly hopeful at this point, given the fact that as of late, whatever can go wrong does go wrong.
For example, Mike fixed his car last week right? Wrong! The bearing that he changed is shot too, and we don't know why, as it's only a week old. He bought rotors but why put them on when you'll just have to tear it all apart and do it again? So this weekend has been spent, not with family time, but with him still trying to fix the car. It sucks, because the weather has been especially crappy, going up and down all the last 2 weeks, and I may be walking everywhere this week if he can't fix the problem.

Not much else going on here, we are doing things for James' 12th birthday a little late, because with all the car troubles we just don't have the money. So I told him that he and I will go shopping on the 30th and then the whole family will go out to dinner where he picks. What should I get for a 12yo boy? He likes cars, but I worry about Gabe messing with them. He likes games, especially racing games, but that gets expensive quick.

Quick Note: In case my sis is reading, Happy Birthday Brianna!!!!! Would have messaged you, but like I posted, the laptop is D-E-A-D! Happy Early Birthday to You too, in case my computer problems aren't fixed before then! Call me at home some time sis!

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

10 More Days....

...And James will be 12 years old! His due date was the 17th of October, and by then I was 80% effaced and dilated to 2. I spent the next 6 days dilated to 2, so we thought when I went in for my induction that it would go smoothly. We were sooo wrong.

Went in at 7am and filled out all the paperwork, and got into my room and gown. They did all their usual stuff, checking me and giving me an IV and hooking up the monitor. After a bit, we started walking the halls in an attempt to get him moving and on his way. No such luck. I labored all day, and the doc broke my water at 6pm. I'd gotten to 6cm at about 4pm and was stuck there. Labor was SO intense after that, and by 8pm I was BEGGING them for an epidural. I still hadn't progressed beyond 6cm, and I figured I could at least get some sleep before the really hard stuff started (ie pushing). By 9 pm, James had started having a few decels here and there (times where his heart rate would slow). The doc came in and said if I didn't have him by 11, they were going to start prepping for a c-section. Needless to say, nothing happened! And James was born at 12:22 am on the 23rd of October via c-section. He weighed in at 8lbs 10.5 oz, and was 20 inches long. He had a full head of hair, and beautiful blue eyes that later changed to brown.
Now, he's almost as tall as me (and I'm 5 ft 2 or about there) and weighs in at about 110 lbs or so. He's grown so much, and matured some, and is starting to show an interest in girls. Particularly a certain 17 yo girl that lives 3 doors down from us! We keep joking with him about her and telling him that she's WAY too old for him. But I'm sure it's just a crush, or at least I hope it is.
I just can't believe that my baby is going to be 12. God, I feel OLD!

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Wow Have We Been Busy!

Wow hard to believe how fast the last couple of weeks has flown! Took Mike a while to get the car fixed as he broke a couple of bolts and also messed up the wheel bearing. So he had my van for a few days and we got to catch up on things at home, and I even took the kids for a couple of rides on the city bus. We've tamed the laundry monster, and even washed the blankets and quilts already that we've had stored away waiting for winter.
Last night our low was 27 degrees, and we have a freeze warning and a frost warning that started yesterday and goes through Monday. We even had it trying to snow today! Just little flakes that didn't stay long on the ground, but enough to tell us that winter is on it's way.
Today Caitlin and I went to the farmer's market, and we spent about an hour just wandering around and picking up veggies for the rest of this week. We picked up cabbages, squash, sweet corn, cherry tomatoes, bell peppers and from the Mennonite stand we picked up strawberry cream cheese bread and spicy apple cinnamon bread. From the last stand we went to we picked up big apples that we're going to use tonight for baked apples for dessert, and small apples for the kids to snack on.
Along with the baked apples, we are having turkey tenderloin with bell peppers done in the crock pot, and baked cabbage and corn. The house smells sooooo good right now. I've been baking more the last few weeks, making up banana bread, blueberry bread and corn bread, as well as making biscuits. It helps warm up the house and also gives the kids a great treat for lunch or dinner. They've been helping me with the baking and cooking, and we count the reading that we do as part of our school day.
Nothing tastes better than something you've helped make! Tomorrow I plan to make up another big pan of corn bread, and maybe do up a pork roast if we don't go to the in-laws for dinner.
School has been going well, and Gabe has been "reading" on his own, mostly picture books and Disney books. His favorites so far are The Lion King and Pinocchio. He's had dad and I both read them to him over and over. He's also showing an interest in doing journal time with the other kids, with his favorite thing to draw being faces. He draws like a preschooler, with people being big circles of mostly head, with lines for the arms and legs coming right out of the head. It's great to see him being so interested in the books, as before he would have thrown a fit if I'd suggested that he pick up a book (much less read it!).
He's also started doing some simple chores around the house without much of a fight. He puts socks in the basket, calls the other kids for me, and takes dishes to the sink. He also has been eating better as of late, and sleeping a little better. Weird how all of a sudden things are going so well, but I'm not complaining!
That's all for now I guess, can't wait to see how dinner and dessert turn out!