Christmas #1 - SNOWED IN!

Christmas #1 was up North at Don & Caroline's. Thank Heavens I was able to get my boss to let me take Christmas Eve morning off so that we could leave then to drive up. We took our time and arrived safely.

This was our car on Christmas day, and it kept coming after I took this picture. It was a LONG TIME digging the car out, and it took half the family in shifts, at least 6 shovels going, and a snow blower too.

Dave prepares to go shovel. I laughed hysterically as this made me think of Big Daddy when "Scuba Steve's Dad" comes to visit!?!?!? LOVED IT!

Uncle John and Aunt Kathy watch WD get started on a gift.

Aunt Kathy and Uncle John passed out after all the festivities.

The Cousins Kara (green), Christi (blue), Danielle (Black), and Anthony (6 weeks in white).

The guys just chillin. Dave w/ Buddy Too, Damon, and John.

WD hangs with (or on) Uncle John - watching everyone outside take turns shoveling the driveway out.

WD is ready for bed with Aunt Cindy and Christi trying to console him (and not doing too well).

Dinner is always a favorite time. After the kids are done, they leave while the adults sit, catch up, or reminisce. (L-R John, Kathy, Dave, Cindy, Bob & the back of Caroline).

A little fun before Christmas.

Just thought I'd share some fun photos before we head North for Christmas with the Kluvers this weekend. Then Next weekend South for Christmas w/ my folks. We've been pretty busy and poor WD has a double ear infection! I felt so guilty, but I guess that's how things go. All things considered he's really still been a wonderful baby and a blessing as always. Just wish I could make him feel better.

Going for a boat ride in the Christmas tree box.
Our sitter took a couple days off which ended up being the big blizzard, so Grandma Karyn came up (before it got bad) and stayed a few days to help out. WD and Grandma got pretty cozy.

Here WD demonstrates his nack for making trouble and for stacking things. (See the 3 glass-glasses stacked on top of one another - barely.)

Apparently WD got bored waiting for us to get him up one morning as this is how I found him. I think I interrupted shortly before he would have tried o get his diaper (a poopy one) off!

Our Thanksgiving - Such Blessings!

We had a great Thanksgiving and thought we'd share some of the pics. It was full of family and fun. Dave kept busy creating projects to do on the farm while WD and I made the rounds.

Inside: the adults made Aunt Lucille's AWESOME Peanut brittle. (L-R Sharon Bettis, Sabra Simmons, and Aunt Lucille)

Outside: Lydia takes everyone for a ride on the Kuboda, WD didn't last too long even with Uncle Rob and Ben there to reassure him.


The cousins are KING OF THE MOUNTAIN...but WD is off and running. (L-R Ben Bettis 5, Duncan Simmons 4, Kellen Simmons 3, Meredith Meyers 4, and WD 21mo.)



We also visited Great-Grandma Frances. She was awake and we had a nice visit.

GOING...

Going...

... gone.

Don't stop Great Grandma...

(She was rubbing WD's back and it calmed him almost instantly!)

Rowan, Sutton, Henry (their new addition) and WD.

Raspberry is plumb-tuckered-out after the weekend. Thank goodness for a relaxing Sunday.

Hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving!

BOYCOTT WAL-MART (Why I am, and why you should)

I've said that I didn't like Wal-mart for several years now but I kept going right back to them because they were cheaper. Well - I've had enough and am trying to cut Wal-mart out of my life. I'm not 100% successful yet but I'd guess last month I was about 75% successfull. It's hard to find a better buy on diapers and wipes, but for everything else I'm trying to shop around (e.g. Fareway, Hy-vee, Dollar General, Campbell's, etc.). I hope this makes you think about your shopping.

Here are some Wal-mart facts to consider:

> Wal-Mart is the biggest employer in 25 states. They set the standard for wages and labor practices.

> Wal-Mart employs 1.4 million workers worldwide and over 1 million in the United States. More than half of Wal-Mart’s U.S. employees leave the company each year.

> In 1970, the country's largest employer was General Motors, with 350,000 workers. Overwhelmingly union, they earned $17.50 an hour plus health, pension and vacation benefits and cost-of-living increases. Today, the country's largest employer is Wal-Mart, with over 1 million US workers. They earn an average hourly wage of $8.00, with no defined benefit pension, and inadequate health care.

> 2007 study found that the opening of a single Wal-Mart store lowers average retail wages in that county nearly 1%. In the general merchandise sector, wages fell by 1% for each new Wal-Mart. And for grocery store employees, the effect of a single new Wal-Mart was a 1.5% reduction in earnings.

> Money spent at Wal-Mart does not stay in the community: In Virginia, for example, 60 cents of every dollar spent downtown, stays downtown — compared to just six cents for every dollar spent at a big-box stores like Wal-Mart.

> Wal-Mart forced local small businesses to close: Studies in Iowa showed that some small towns lost up to 47% of their retail trade after 10 years of a Wal-Mart store moving in nearby in the mid 1990’s.

> In 2005, Wal-Mart real-estate manager Jeff Doss spoke about an oft-cited remark by company founder Sam Walton that Wal-Mart would not build stores in towns if the residents did not want them. “Were that the case,” he said, “we’d never build a store anywhere”.

SOURCES FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:

http://www.ufcw.org/take_action/walmart_workers_campaign_info/facts_and_figures/index.cfm http://wakeupwalmart.com/downloads/factsheets/wmt-community-impact.pdf

Fall Fun

We had a little fun yesterday in the yard taking our family picture.

Our Number 1 did a Number 2

Yesterday 11/15/09 WD saw me going the bathroom, so in trying to get him to talk I said "Mommy's going potty on the potty." At this WD patted his bottom so having time to spare I took his pants and diaper off and put him up on the toilet. He promptly started grimacing and his face turned beet-read. He then cocked an eye-brow up and then smiled. He must have watched his daddy as he sure didn't learn those things from his mommy. :-) And sure-enough he went #2 (if I have my numbers right) in the potty! This is the first attempt at potty training since the last entry. WD couldn't communicate when he needed to go, and we couldn't just ask every 30 seconds, so that first attempt didn't make it past that weekend. Maybe we'll start back up now.

WD meets Lily

We had an opportunity to meet up with Dave's best friends from college (Dave & Toni Wilkie) for lunch recently. We also got to meet their Daughter Lily who is a couple months younger than WD. We got some cute pics, as you can see.

Dave & Dave.

Setting the stage.

Lily moves in...

Goes for the tickles...

And WD responds...

Updates for WD

As I had previously mentioned had is 19 month check-up last month and forgot to tell you all that our slim guy is 26.6#. So he pails in comparison to some of his peers (Cousin-Caeden, Friend-Chas, BFF-Kaden, etc), but he's just right to us. :-)

We also had our first AEA Early Access evaluation at home for his speech. They will come a 2nd time (all for free) in November. The 2 women said that he was a very bright, cute and charming kid (of course), but that he was falling just a little below average for his speech skills. They gave us a booklet to help coach us in how to coach him to talk. Turns out we are already doing many of those things, but this will help us keep doing them. That same day (Monday 10/12) WD had a hearing check which came out fine. We didn't think his hearing was the issue w/ his speech but it needed ruled out. His tympanogram (ear drum pressure test) said he was congested but no fluid showed in either ears. Well after 3 very rough days we got into the pediatrician on Thursday (10/15) and he had a pretty bad ear infection in his left ear and he got amoxicillin for it. Here WD has on his new bibs and boots, both of which are a little big. He's not very happy as this is Thursday morning - so we're lacking sleep and not feeling well and Mama has the camera and won't give it to him. She's so mean!!!

A happier moment with Mama Thursday morning.

Our Adventures in Potty Training are on hold as well. With WD not feeling well and being very crabby, and us being in the same boat, it just hasn't happened. He hasn't shown much interest in it either since last weekend. Hoping to try and pick it back up in a couple weeks again. Guess it's really all up to him, not me. Not sure I can get used to that idea, but then again I don't have much choice do I? :-)

EVENTFUL DAY!

We had an eventful day today. Don & Caroline spent the night so we had a nice evening out, and this morning we woke up to SNOW!!! It was coming down pretty good and we ended up with about 1 inch accumulation (except none on the roads) but then it all melted away by the afternoon.

While it was yucky outisde, WD and I ventured out anyway. While we were gone, Dave installed our new toilet (we just upgraded to a more efficient one). While at the mall, WD and I made a pit stop at a family restroom which had a regular toilet and sink, and a little toilet, and little sink. I sat down, and WD sat down, but he quickly noticed that he had pants on and tried to take them off. After a little assistance he sat back on the little toilet and proceeded to pee!!! We have not worked on this at all at home, so this was a great surprise! We went home and got the potty chair out (that I'd gotten at a garage sale about 2 mos ago) and he went potty at home 2 more times today. Not that they were substantial amounts, but we're still pretty pumped that he has connected the dots. The biggest issue now is how WD is going to tell us he needs to go since he's not talking yet. Our AEA (speech pathologist assessment) appointment is Monday so they might give us some ideas, but I can also look up sign language as well.

Now the fun really begins. We'll keep you posted.

Our September - in pictures

This was my first attempt at homemade bread. It's suppose to be dark as it was a hearty multigrain. When they said to grease the pan liberally, as you can see - I apparently didn't do it liberally enough. I also followed the directions of temping out the insides to above 205 and it was, yet the insides once out of the pan were like a thick pudding. Needless to say, we've been eating store-bought bread. :-)


Here is one of 2 young bucks that were in our yard. We had never seen bucks, only does.

I kept WD and myself entertained one evening but playing dress-up. WD loves my hat and black patent flats as it is, but then I put him in one of my shirts and he got the oven mits and was in heaven. :-) Daddy didn't like it as much as WD and I did.

WD found "super goggles" at G'ma and G'pa Kluver's house. He LOVED LOVED LOVED these, and would wear them around until (as you can see) he's fog up the insides and not be able to see out. He'd then pull them off, to air out and then want to put them back on. He was so adorable with them too - in a comic relief way that is.

Last weekend we had a baby shower for our niece Jessica and her fiance Damion. Good attendance, and everything went well (once we got started an hour late).

So much going on....

Sorry for the delay in any updates with us. We've been keeping busy. Dave is playing primary parent a lot more lately and WD has definitly become a Daddy's Boy. I'm taking a graduate class and working on my application to graduate school (I can take a few classes w/o being admitted); that on top of work, family, doctors' appointments, etc. has kept me pretty preoccupied. I've also been having several health issues as my body still tries to recover from childbirth, including numerous physical therapy appointments for my back and hips, as well as other things I'll not go into here.

WD is growing like a weed, and so smart. He had his 18mo check-up yesterday (even though he's 19.5 mos - it was the soonest we could get in). He's 26 pounds which is the 50th percentile for weight, he's between 25-50th percentile for height, and he's at the 75th percentile for head size. We did get a referral for a speech assessment, as he's not saying any words yet. He talks up a storm in jibberish, but not in English yet. So there is a free program that will assess and help him if he needs it that we will be doing. We're not worried yet, but the doctor suggests we just have the free evaluation to be proactive, rather than wait until he's 2 years old and behind others his age and trying to play catch-up.

Hope you are doing well, and we'll try to do a better job with pictures and posts in October!

Copperhead was Sunning by the Pool

Drew C. Wilson
Havelock News
http://www.havenews.com/news/0in-5994-style-span.html

When Kim Waters found a copper colored snake curled up on some decorative rocks next to her backyard swimming pool the first thing she did was call Havelock Police.
“I have a small dog. That’s why I had to call,” Waters said.
Officer William Pressler responded to the home at 215 Manchester Road Thursday morning.
The city’s animal control officer, Kim Van Houten, was in New Bern at the time so Pressler and Waters had to wait as the snake lay still, not moving from its apparent nap in the sun.
Pressler described the snake over the radio to Van Houten as being copper colored with a V-shaped head and splotches.
“Stay away from it,” said Van Houten in return.
Upon arrival Van Houten identified the snake as a copperhead, one of North Carolina’s venomous snakes.
“It was right by her pool by some decorative rocks,” Van Houten said. “It was curled up like it was sunning.”
“I poked him with the snake stick and he didn’t move,” Van Houten said, “so we took it out into the grass and made sure he was dead.” Van Houten decapitated the two-foot long viper on the spot and put in a bag.
“It’s the kind of snake you don’t want to be messing with,” Van Houten said.
“I’ve caught plenty of them,” she said. “They’re all over the place.”
North Carolina has the highest annual frequency of snakebites in the nation with 19 bites per 100,000 residents, according to WebMD, which also said the nation has 7,000 bites per year yet an average of only four deaths per year.
Van Houten doubted that Havelock’s recent rains had anything to do with this snake’s appearance.
“It’s a little late for him to be coming up because of the rains,” she said.
“He picked those rocks to sun on. I don’t know why he was dead. He didn’t have any bite marks on him,” Van Houten said.
Van Houten gets lots of snake calls. She encourages people not to kill snakes but to call her instead.
“There are endangered species out there,” she said.
“If you get something in your yard that needs looking at, call me,” she said.
“Hopefully I won’t have any more,” said Waters.
Down the street, her neighbor Irene Zaccardelli heard about the two-foot-long snake. “Two feet? That’s a python to me,” she said.

Both pictures here are of the actual event. Bottom from Mike & top from the Havelock Paper.

Been a busy past few weeks...

Sorry for the delay as we've been pretty busy. We had family in, the family reunion, Restoration Days, I started class (for my master's degree), we planned a block party....and on and on.

Uncle Michael was back form NC, and you can see that WD enjoyed seeing him. Poor U. Mike couldn't play too much w/ his bum shoulder, but hopefully he can do more next time we see him.

I went to check on WD one night to find this scene! I was startled for a moment wondering where WD was! Had he finally learned to climb out or what??? (note the teeth marks on the railing in the bottom left of the picture...pretty expensive teether for him)

WD had somehow crawled under his crib sheet, and was sleeping between it and the mattress.

Here WD models some shades of Great Grandma's that he fell in love with while at Grandpa Ray & Grandma Karyn's house.

WD enjoys his first sucker at the Restoration Days Parade. He enjoyed seeing all the restored tractors, especially the big one that kept moving it's bucket up and down as it drove by.

WD stopped at the hardware store to check out carts and wheelbarrows. He took it upon himself to rearrange them for the store workers.

YOGURT!!!!

Today I Am - August Addition

Today I Am: a 1 on a 0-10 pain scale with my back! YEAH!!! And I really put it to work yesterday!! I Felt great yesterday (except for the heat and humidity) so I was in the yard for a couple hours while Dave took his shift with WD. But I iced it and took my Rx Naproxin (Aleve) and slept like a rock between thunder crashes.

Reading: The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid. It's one of 7 books I'll have to read for my graduate class this fall. I talked with a couple coworkers this weekend and they were telling me that I have one of those intense professors, and likely I'm wasting my time Reading ahead of the class as she's just going to make me read it all again in class, mostly because I'll need to in order to remember all the details that will be discussed. Great. Oh well - now I'm into it and trying to figure out the climax...as I just can't see it coming yet.

Listening To: The CBS Early show - it's my morning routine and it's on in the background. I'm also trying to hurry as I just heard WD starting to fuss and now bellow from his crib.

Thinking About: How I'm going to juggle everything this fall and yet not have to be committed for a mental breakdown.

Planning To: Go to Grandma's this Saturday and help Dad & Rob clean it out.

Looking Forward To: Our 2009 family vacation, the first week of September. Just going North to Don & Caroline's but hoping to get out do some things in that area that we haven't or wouldn't normally. Maybe the zoo? Or the big water park there in town (if it's still warm).

Enjoying: Life. Just some moments it's more present in my mind to do so than others.

Working On: Minimizing. I went through all the baby things to 1 year this weekend and tried to thin things down a little. This morning I hope to get all my maternity things into one tub (instead of 2). We just don't have the storage we need!

What are you up to???

Very eventful past week

It has been one crazy-busy week! Let's see - last Friday I has the stomach flu which I caught from Dave (who had it on Monday). This as we had planned to head to the Farm to have a garage sale w/ Dad while Mom was in NC on vacation. Well - we did it anyway and last weekend we had a huge 2-day garage sale.

Then on Saturday - Dave knocked down a building on the farm. He was saying, "Well, a funny thing happened."

While milling around in the garage at Mom & Dad's I found the swing Uncle John made and WD enjoyed it for a while on Sunday morning before we went back to town for Day 2 of the sale.

THEN.... we got back and Monday night/Tuesday morning I had horrible pain in my leg from my back. So bad I couldn't really sleep after 3am. I ended up getting into the doctor on Tuesday morning and the ball started rolling. He didn't like some of the symptoms I gave, and he couldn't find a reflex in my right ankle. So he referred me for an immediate MRI at the hospital. He also referred me to the pain clinic in Ankeny the very next day (Wednesday) and told me that pending the results of the MRI I could need surgery, or at least some injections.

Turns out I have another disc herniation at L5-S1. I met with the pain management doctor on Wednesday and he was very nice, and took all the time I wanted to answer my questions, and he felt (and ended up making me feel) very confidant that he would be able to help me.

Thursday at 12:30 Dave drove me to the Mercy Ambulatory Surgery Center for what I totally thought was going to be 2 shots in the back, maybe a little numbness in the leg (hence needing the driver). Well...it was a little different than that...

They actually had me in an operating room, had like 4 nurses and the doctor, and then when I looked to my right - they were x-raying me the entire time to watch where the catheters were in my spine. It was so surreal!!! I looked up and I could see my own IUD - I started laughing - and I'm sure the nurses were thinking "Oh Boy - She should have opted for the sedation." The whole procedure took 20 minutes, and we were on the way home by 2:30. My pain is better, but still there. I still had to take a couple Vicodin last night as I woke up with pretty strong pain at 3 am again.

This is the closest picture to what I saw that I could find. Very similar, but my was of my low back and pelvis, and this is of the neck. But I thought you might get the idea.

This is what they did, term was actually Intraforaminal Epidural Steroid Injection.

This is what Dave and I came home to - Buddy Too will apparently need to be kenneled from now on, and we now have a new home improvement project.

And this - this is just the cutest kid ever - he was in my kitchen this morning. I hear he's got great parents too! :-)