March 23, 2007
Happy Birthday! Where does the time go?
It doesn't seem like five years ago today my water broke, & 10 1/2 hours later she came into the world....without pain meds. Where does the time go?
2 years ago today we took her to the zoo. It was SUPER hot, I was SUPER pregnant & beyond uncomfortable. She was so excited to see the animals she wanted to run from one exhibit to the next. I finally told my husband to go ahead, I had the cell phone & I could call him to see where he was.
Today we are expecting MORE rain. As I type we are hoping that we can get off our property tomorrow to take the kids to the birthday girl's party at my MIL house.
My parents are making her a Barbie house along with having made most of the furniture for it. There will be about 30 people at her party, including us. All but 3 are family members. They will only be 6 children, but that is plenty for me.
This week we also celebrated our wedding anniversary. I woke up to a pair of drawings my daughter had made for me & her saying "Happy Anniversary Mommy!". Next I see a card on the island in the kitchen. The note on the back said "Look Outside". I look out the back door to see a huge bag of potting soil, several packets of seeds & a large pot to start a mini-garden. I have been wanting to start a garden for YEARS, but we never had the money, or no time, or I was pregnant & in no condition to start one, or ...you get the idea. To say I was touched was an understatement because I had not mentioned starting a garden for at least a year now. My gift to him? A card & some homemade bread. He LOVES my bread & I don't make it often...plus money is still tight from our trip to Illinois last November.
I took the kids on a tour of the school the oldest is to attend this fall. She was so excitied to see her school. The school is on spring break but some of the staff & the principal were there. I like that they have a seperate playground & entrance for the Kindergarten classes. She will have to have a uniform though & did you know that Kindergarten has P.E now? It is fine with me, but I was a little surprised about it Registration is sometime in May, I will call in April to find out when that is happening & how much $$$ registration will cost.
March 14, 2007
Daddy's Day Off (will post photos when blogger will LET me)
After the Dr. appointment we headed to the zoo. Daddy rarely has a day off during the week so this was a special treat. The oldest asks to go on the Endangered Species Carousel everytime we are at the zoo. I tell her we have to have Daddy to ride because I can't hold on to both of the kids at the same time on the carousel. Well, the first thing we did was ride the carousel. Daddy took the little one & I took the almost birthday girl. The little one got excited when she saw the shark, the oldest choose the otter.
Next we headed to Sting Ray Bay. This is a new & temporary exhibit at the zoo. It will be there until April 18th. The last time I took the kids in January, Liz wanted to touch the rays but got scared. This time she actually did touch one & loved it. The little one wanted to touch the rays but each time they got close, she would squeal with delight. After about 10 minutes, she lost interest.
After that it was time to see the giraffes at the African Veldt exhibit. In January the zoo was building a new set of steps & observation deck. It was finished this time & very busy. Daddy took the oldest up on the deck & sat her on his shoulders. After she was off her Daddy perch, he took some photos.
It shows that it allows you to be at eye level with the giraffes. I'll go on that the next time we are at the zoo. Since each time we go to the zoo, seeing the Giraffes is a must...I'll go next time when it's not so busy.
Another animal display we must see each time we visit the zoo is the Flamingo display. I think she likes the birds because they are pink. This time we didn't watch them for long.
This time we saw the Giant Tortise, Elephants, Turtles, Wallabys, the Giant Anteater & a small Toucan type bird.
We packed our lunch & found a secluded shady spot to eat. Daddy had fun throwing popcorn into the lagoon to get the ducks & turtles to come over for food. Thankfully, the ducks stayed in the water & didn't approach us for food.
After lunch we headed back up to the Elephants, as it was feeding time for them. The zookeepers passed out carrots to all the kids so they could throw them into the Elephant display. Then one was talking about the Elephants & asking for questions. The oldest child asked me how elephants talk. I told her we could ask the zookeeper, so she did. He looked a bit surprised at her question because she isn't even in school yet. He said it was a good question & talked about it for at least 5 minutes.
Then it was to the Water play area. It was 90 degrees yesterday so the waterplay area was busy. Unfortunately, the water smelled like swamp water. It has never smelled that way before. My only thought about this was that it must be in it's first days of operation for the 2007 season. Thank goodness I had extra clothes for the kids.
After that, we headed for the gift shop, bought less than $10 in zoo stuff & headed for home. All in all we had nice, hot, inexepnsive day at the zoo. being zoo members, we don't have to pay to get in. That saves us $$$ each time right there. Next, we had to pay $1 each for String Ray Bay instead of $3 each. We also get 10% at the gift shop with the basic membership we have.
I always pack a lunch....so that saves mega $$$. Since refills on drinks in zoo cups are $1 each, I always take both of them...just in case I want some soda pop. After going to the zoo, seeing how easy it is to use the membership & the money it can save, I don't think I'll have any trouble talking my Husband into renewing our membership this year.
March 09, 2007
This Week In My World
This week my best friend got a puppy. The pup is beautiful & she looks much like my "Scooter". I almost got teary eyed when I saw pictures because she looks so much like my beloved Scooter. It has been 1 year & 4 months & I still have this huge hole in my heart from his death. I don't miss having a dog, I miss HIM! I am happy for Barbie & her kids though welcoming a new fur baby to their family. We are giving her a dog house...the one we had for the pup we couldn't keep. She was going to take the DH with her, but the house wouldn't fit into the back of her SUV. We even took to apart & it still wouldn't fit. She said she would have to come back without the kids to get it.
My friend brought her kids out yesterday for a play date. It was the first time since we moved here 1 year & 5 months ago that she has been here. Her & her husband helped us move so she had seen our place before....after moving us all day, driving an hour one way with two exhausted kids in the car & going back to her house at 11 pm. So, she saw our house...but full of unpacked boxes & only a couple of lights.
She really liked it & until she saw the boundaries of our property, she didn't realize just how much landscaping we have to do here. We have 1 1/4 acres to landscape. That is equivalent to 9 parcels of the property we moved from when we moved here. All we have done is part of our driveway. We were going to use our income tax refund to finish it & make a few other improvements but the fuel pump on our car took a dump. replacing that ate up the "extra" from our refund. It sucked to have to spend it on that, but at least we had the money to replace it. I have to find the bright side...right?
As for me, my activities on PX are picking up. I will do my best NOT to get over my head on exchanges this year. I plan on going back to taking part in my tags & fewer travelling notebook projects. The notebooks get expensive to send across the Pacific & Atlantic Oceans. I had fun with them, but I want to be able to do more & or save a few bucks. Therefore, most notebook projects are out of the question.
My husband wants to have child #3. I told him at my weight I feared another pregnancy would literally kill me. I told him in March of 2oo8 we can seriously discuss it with a few stipulations.
- I had to lose no less than 50 pounds.
- He had to lose no less than 50 pounds.
- We have to improve our communication skills.
- He had to help out more around the house & with the kids.
- If we have another child, I get to have my tubes tied while they do the c-section.
So when March of 2008 rolls around, we will see if all 5 stipulations have been met. I don't think it is unreasonable to request those five things. Especially since I weight 235 pounds at 5 ft 2 inches tall & my sweet husband weighs 285 pounds at about 5 ft 7 inches tall. Since I don't want my kids to be without either of their parents, I don't wish to be a widow or make my husband a widower...losing the weight needs to be done. It needs to be done with or without another child in the house.
As far as the tubes being tied go...that one is NON-NEGOTIABLE! My husband has a problem with it, but it is a must for me. I will be 40 very soon & I don't want to be having children at age 40+. Not only because pregnancy is hard on me, but I don't want to be raising teenagers while I approach my 70's! It doesn't make emotional or financial sense to me to be doing that. His attitude is 'Whatever happens, happens!". Well, I'm sorry but when it comes to my body...that doesn't work for me at all.