Strange site

After Ryan and I went to church this morning we decided to go to a local Greek restaurant for some brunch and conversation. I love times when we get to go out for omelets and coffee and spend time in deep conversation about anything from global warning to haircuts, etc. This morning we had a lot to discuss, especially about church, work and where we'll be living come June. After roughly a half hour of deep conversation I looked over to see one of the strangest sites. The woman in the booth next to us had gotten a glass of orange juice and was putting a packet of SUGAR into it! Now, I had (not 5 minutes earlier) just finished diluting my glass of OJ with roughly a third glass of water, and this woman was ADDING SUGAR! So, I decided that it would make a good blog story, but then the story got even more interesting. The lady looks accross the table at her husband and tells him that she had just gotten some tests done that week at the doctor's office and that he thought that she "may have type II diabetes". Jeepers, do you think so?!! It was a rare occassion where I wanted to go over to the woman and delicately give her a crash course on diabetes and carb control. Alas I couldn't, but my goodness I sat in shock for the rest of Ryan and my breakfast.

Christmas is almost over

Ryan and I had a good time this year heading out to Michigan early, and then getting to spend some time with family, and friends. Saturday night was wonderful, and we made it to the Kearney family Christmas Chili party that my best friend from home's family throws every year. This year I was "welcomed" to the party by someone I'd never met before, which was a bit odd since I've been going for the past oh, 13 years oh so. :) Anyway, Ryan and I had a good time and ate lots of chili and too much chocolate.
Christmas Eve with the Johnson side of the family came a day early this year, and it went really well. I enjoyed the space this year, and being able to interact with people and have some breathing room was nice. It was also nice to know that in case of an emergency, 75 people woulnd't be consumed by the flames while 25 or so would be able to make it to safety. It was a nice time with the family and Melodie made out with some great gifts! The ride home was a bit of an adventure however, and we ended up in a ditch on the side of the highway. Luckily my Dad and husband were able to push us out, and we made it home safely.
Missy, Ryan and I went to National Treasure Book of Secrets on Monday, and we had a great time. The movie was entertaining, and we even saw a couple of our LaBarge cousins while there. Christmas Eve night we had a taco bar with the Roberts' Family, Missy, Ryan and myself. We had a good time and found out that Malorie's impersonation of both a hitchhiker and coloring is to shake and dance as much as possible during the game of Guesstures.
Christmas Day went well also. The whole family came over to my parent's house and we had brunch and presents. The food was wonderful, and watching the nieces and nephews open gifts was great. It was nice to be able to hang out for a bit before we headed back to Milwaukee, and apparently we left at just the right time. Ryan and I made it home in 3 hours and 35 minutes! I think that's a new record! We were pumped by the time we made, quickly unloaded the car, added "fluff friends" to our facebook accounts and went to bed. It was nice to be able to have some relaxing time before the week started up again.
Saturday will be the last of the Christmas celebrations for us, and I'm looking forward to it. Ryan and I decided to wait until after Christmas to start cleaning, and getting ready for Melodie's arrival, and with all of the new stuff that she got, it's time to start getting a' gettin'.

On the road again...

Anytime now I should be getting a call from Ryan to come and pick him up so that we can start our drive to Michigan for the long weekend. I'm looking forward to it, and it should be a good time with a lot of family and friends (thanks to the Kearney's Annual Chili Party!). However, I think that right now Ryan and I are both looking forward to a bit of sleeping in tomorrow. Neither of us slept well last night, and he's been waking up at 5am every morning this week and working late to boot. Hopefully we'll get a bit of rest in before the craziness starts tomorrow night. I doubt that I'll be posting until we're home again, so Merry Christmas to all!
Marni and Chris, I wish that you were able to make it out to Grandma's for Christmas "Eve" this year. We'll miss you, but I'm sure that you'll enjoy some mountain snow and relaxing times in Colorado without us. :)

Christmas Time

It's been a fun Christmas season so far for Ryan and I. Last week Ryan gave me an early Christmas present when he took me to his old high school's production of Inspecting Carol. We had a great time at the play and then went to Candy Cane Lane to check out some of the crazy houses decked to the hilt with lights and other stuff in the yards. We had a really good time. Last night we went to the Trans Siberian Orchestra concert at the Bradley Center, and it was incredible! I couldn't believe how amazing the musicians and light technicians were to be able to coordinate that show, and it was an incredible experience. Melodie was able to enjoy the concert too, I don't think that she stopped moving the entire time!!
Today was also a great time. My old roommate came into town with her husband and their little guy. It's the first time that I got to meet Cohen, and he is absolutely adorable! He's such a good baby, and four of us had a great time being able to catch up. I was bummed that Ryan was still at work and had to miss seeing them. Hopefully we'll be able to get down to St. Louis to visit this summer and perhaps catch another Cardinal game with them. I thouht that I post a couple of pics of the fam, and one with Cohen crying, just for Dom. :) I can't wait for Melodie to come, but it's been great to get a fill of good kids the last couple of weeks.

My husband is my hero!

Yesterday I offered to watch my nephew for a few hours to give my brother-in-law and sister-in-law a well deserved break. Gabe is in the Army and is finishing up his accounting degree, while Anna is a stay-at-home mom who also works part-time at a friend's flower shop. Both of them are busy and don't get much "date time". Anyway, the dropped Ari off, and he was out like a light. That was great for me since I was already tired, about an hour later the fun began and we built a race track, a ramp and a roller coaster for a matchbox car and another random rollable toy. After a good hour or so the fun ended and the REAL experiment began. Ari laid a load, and it was time to get him changed. Usually I can change a diaper without a problem, but since I've been pregnant smells are all the more pungent and I spent the entire time changing Ari's pant by gagging and trying not to throw up! Poor kid. Anyway, Ryan came home shortly thereafter and I told him that should we have another number 2 to change that it would be all him seeing as how I didn't think that I could get through it a second time without unfortunate results. Ryan agreed, and about two hours later he followed through on his promise. My HERO! He didn't complain and took care of the dipaer without a problem! He's going to be such a good dad. I can't wait to see him with Melodie.

In trouble

I've been home from work since this Friday, and after the past few days off of work and being home I've found that I'm in trouble. I LOVE being a stay at home wife! It's nice to not be stressed from work and then come home and try to be full of energy to spend with my husband. It's great to make lunches and dinners for Ryan and to have him satisfied with simple things like that. It's nice to clean up the apartment (of course, in pieces because I can't do too much before I start cramping) and make a nice home. It's nice to get enough sleep, and be able to be refreshed when I talk with Ryan on the phone during the day and when he get's home. I just love it. I also like my job, and I'm thankful for it, but I'm looking forward to being a mom, and also trying to figure out if I'll be able to work for Abbott from home, or whether I should see if I can get a weekend-night hospital job. It'll be interesting to see what happens, but for now I'm thankful for my short-term medical leave.

Half way there!

Yesterday I hit the 20 week mark! Woohoo, we're half way there! While Ryan and I can't wait to meet Melodie, we are excited that she's got another 20 weeks of growing and developing to do. We're very thankful that she's healthy and that couple scares that we've had this past month are all going to be okay.

I'll be home for Christmas...

...or should I say, for the weeks leading up to Christmas? Ryan and I were both very relieved this past Wednesday to hear why I've been bleeding and cramping on and off over the past couple of weeks. (No more bleeding since Tuesday) Apparently I had a clot form in the placenta which broke off and attached to a part of the uterus wall. That clot had been bleeding, and the reason for the cramping was that my uterus was trying to heal itself. Apparently, the uterus usually get's only 1% of the cardiac output from the heart. So, if the heart is pumping 100cc's of blood a minute, then the uterus get's 1cc of that blood. During pregnancy however, the uterus get's 20% of that bloodflow, AND the cardiac output goes up 60%! So instead of receiving 1 cc of blood, the uterus get's 32 cc's of blood! That's a huge increase, especially since the same vessels are carrying the blood. The perinatologist explained it as if an old country road went to the amount of traffic on an LA highway. That's a huge adaptation to take, and it's no wonder why occassionally a blood vessel will rupture and clot. Apparently 99% of the time, there's no reason or cause for it, just the increase in flow. Anyway, as long as the placenta continues to nourish the baby, and provide adequate blood flow/nutrition, everything should be fine, but it takes about four weeks to heal from. The perinatoligst also said that if you were to rupture a blood vessel on your arm, it would be no big deal to bandage that arm up for a bit and allow it to heal. However, there's no way that you can bandage up the uterus, and the only thing that can be done to heal it is to rest it. In other words, when I've been cramping, that's when my body has been been telling me that I've been doing too much and need to chill. So I took Wednesday off and went to work yesterday under the directions that if I could work great, and that if I started cramping, then I was probably going to have to take medical leave for the next four weeks to allow the clotted area to heal. Getting to work yesterday was a breeze, and I actually was looking forward to being productive and having some social interaction for a change! However, about an hour into the work day the cramping returned and only worsened as I continued to work. I ended up leaving at lunch, and laid down for most of the rest of the day, and am feeling better but not 100% yet today. I'm relieved to know that in spite of it, Melodie is okay, but am a bit shocked that sitting at a desk job was too much for me. Anyway, today I get to figure out the wonders of short term medical leave, and what that will mean for Ryan and I over the next few weeks. It's definately worth it, to know that Melodie will be okay then, and that things will heal up, but I think I might need to figure out some hobbies that I can do from laying on the couch. Anybody have any good ideas? Or book suggestions? I'm up for about anything but our non-cable tv channels which seem to have nothing on at all during the day!

RELIEF!!

Melodie and I had an ultrasound today and everything checked out okay. What a relief! The perinatologist explained why I had been bleeding and cramping which made sense. I just need to take it easy for the next four weeks and heal up and everything should be fine. Melodie looked "great" today and has her next photo op scheduled for the beginning of January. She'll be so excited.

Photo op

After another couple of interesting days of being pregnant, Melodie is preparing for her fourth photo op. Marni joked on the last picture post that this was going to be the most photographed in-utero baby ever. Apparently Marni, Melodie didn't want to disappoint. :) Last night she threw a dance party at like 10:30 and Ryan commented, "of course, she knows that she's going to get her picture taken soon, so she's just practicing her poses!"
Everything checked out okay last night at the doctor's office, and my OB doesn't seem to be too concerned about this past weekend's cramping, etc. While that's reassuring, I'm looking forward to having the perinatologist take a look tomorrow and be able to give us a clue as to what has been going on, and to reassure us a little more.

Cold

I woke up this morning and opened the door of my apartment building to be greeted by weather that takes your breath away...and not because of its' beauty. It's COLD! My car said that it was 18 degrees, but with the wind added in, who knows what it was. All I know is that any piece of skin that I had exposed was freezing by the time I got to my car, and I couldn't wait until the heater kicked in. It looks like our wonderful winter season has begun!

*************
3 degrees! It was 3 degrees this morning with the windchill!!

All clear

I had a doctor's appointment today, which was supposed to be a "routine OB visit", and turned out more as being a follow-up from this past weekend. After I told my doctor the story of what had happened, we listened to the heartrate and she checked some stuff out and said that things look good and where/how they should be. Even the UTI was cleared up (although I'm still finishing the antibiotics) Of course the bleeding this past weekend was of concern, but that'll get checked out again in two weeks with another scheduled ultrasound to check the placenta, etc., and everything else looks good. The only thing she told me to do, is to call her immediately should bleeding occur again, but neither of us are expecting that. Thanks for praying, and please keep Melodie and me in your prayers. I'm excited to meet her, but I can definately wait until the end of April when she's supposed to come!

Thanksgiving scare

This weekend Ryan and I spent Thanksgiving with the Young family and then headed to Holland for the long weekend. It was nice to be able to have an extra day to spend with the LaBarge family for a change, and we were excited to get some relaxing in. However, Friday night gave us both a bit of a scare. I hadn't been feeling well over the past few days, headache, crampy and nauseous, etc. Friday night I started cramping more and bleeding, which freaked me out quite a bit. Ryan took me to the ER and I got checked out. They took blood tests and a urine test and then did an ultrasound. It was 1 in the morning when we had the ultrasound done, and much to my shock Melodie was quite alert and active. She was playing with her hands, flipping around and even sucked her thumb for a little bit. Thankfully everything checked out at the hospital, and I ended up having a urinary tract infection and was sent home with an antibiotic, and instructions of what to look for. Ryan and I were so relieved. Everything is still going okay, and I'm feeling much better which is good. I've got a follow-up with my OB-GYN on Wednesday, so it'll be nice to see how everything checks out then. Until then, we'd appreciate you praying for everything to go well with Melodie and me.

Bowling

Last Monday Ryan had quite a game of bowling. He opened up his second game of the series with 10 straight strikes, and barely missed getting a perfect 300 game, ending up with an impressive 288! Last night we went bowling together in our Wednesday night league and I opened up the game with two poor throws. Just as I was thinking that it was going to be a looooooooong night of bowling when I got a spare, the next frame was another spare, then came another spare, and another! I ended up the game with 8 spares in a row and a 157 game (and barely even beating out my incredible bowler-husband)!! It's by far my highest game ever and I ened up the night with a 141 and 126 giving me a 141 average over the three games! Hopefully next week will be more of the same, but for now I'm savouring the fun night last night.

Early in, beat the snow

I got into work early this whole week in hopes of getting out early every day. Unfortunately that hasn't happened because I need to cram 6 days worth of work into 3 this week. However, it's been nice to be extremely busy, and also to have something to look forward to this weekend. I got in early today as well, and after a couple funny stories from my co-workers finally sat down to "work", or blog. :) Hopefully my cases will be released early on today so that I can beat the snowfall home and out to the bowling alley tonight. We'll see. Safe travels and a happy thanksgiving all!

Headlights

It seems as though the Corolla is going through a rough patch these past couple of weeks. After blowing a tire, I also found out that one of the headlights had burned out as well. I decided to go to the auto parts store tonight and get a light to fix it. (Awhile back one of the headlights had burned out on the Grand Am, and my dad took me outside to help him fix it - mostly so that I'd know that I could do it in the future should the oppurtunity arise) After I brought the book into the store and told Jim, the guy behind the counter, what kind of light I needed I left the store with a new light. I got home and figured out how to take out the light and put in the new one without touching the glass. However, that's when the problem arose. Jim gave me the wrong light, and I was frustrated, and didn't want to go back and yadda yadda yadda. However, I went back to the store and told Jim my dilema, and five minutes later I was walking out of there with two new lights that were the right kind and way more expensive than the original purchase, although they gave it to me for the price of the original purchase. Now THAT'S customer service! I got home and changed the light, and now I can see! :) Wonderful, and after not having been able to change my own tire last week, it felt good to be adept at something relating to cars.

Presenting...

Baby Girl Young!

Everything looks good so far, and we should still be on for late April. Ryan and I are thrilled, although I am quite a bit shocked that she's a she and not a he!

It's a.........

Don't know yet, but we'll find out tomorrow morning. How exactly am I supposed to sleep tonight?

Things I learned today

1. If I leave 10 minutes later than usual in the morning, it equates to a 55 minute LONGER commute! Also, it will ALWAYS be the day that you're 10 minutes late that you look at your gas gauge and realize that there is NO way that you'll make it to work on the remainder of your tank!
2. My kitchenaid euro peeler works incredibly well for peeling potato skin, unfortunately, it works incredibly well for peeling my skin as well!
3. The days of pork chops in my frying pan/oven are over. My kickin' crock pot from my super cool aunt made some of the best pork chops I've ever had! Here's the quick recipe:
--brown the chops in butter with salt and pepper
--throw a family size can of cream of chicken soup in the crock pot along with about a cup of water
--cut three to four slots in the chops and then put them in the soup along with all the left over cooking product from browning them, and let cook on low while away at work.
--result: they come out as SUPER tender pork chops, with fantastic gravy to boot.
4. A nice walk with the hubby after a tasty meal is one of the best things to do at night, yes, even better than the $1 movie at the budget theater.
5. Days can start out rough, but they don't have to end that way.

Too tight

A week ago I put on my favorite jeans (thank you AGAIN Missy, I LOVE them), and buttoned them with no problem. I generally save them for when I want to look cute and go out, but today I put them on because they were my only clean pants that I could find didn't require a dressy shirt. I slipped into them, and tucked in my t-shirt since I was wearing a sweatshirt as well, and MUCH to my chargrin, they didn't want to button! I had to untuck the t-shirt and try, and was barely able to make it work. Then I remembered a trick from a friend at work who used rubber bands to expand the top of her pants until maternity pants were necessary. That would have worked fine, if the baby didn't want to take the zipper as well! :) I finally got the pants buttoned, but I think that this is the last time I'm going to be wearing these jeans for awhile.

The title

I had a hard time coming up with the right title for this post. Initially I thought, "sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug" would be appropriate. Then, I thought about "change is neccesary". Then, "the day started out well". "Listen to that little voice in your head". Then perhaps, "anyone got a wrench?" Then "how NOT to do costumer service", but none of them seemed to fit exactly. So here's what happened. I woke up this morning in an unusually good mood. It seemed as though it was going to be a great day. I got ready for work, got out the door early, and headed out to greet the day. I was hoping to get to work early, so that I could get some stuff done, that didn't get done last week. I pulled on the highway, and turned up the radio a bit for some Mercy Me and Casting Crown's. It was a great morning. After driving for about a half an hour I started thinking to myself, "Hmm, I wonder what I'd do if I ever got a flat on my way to work?" I thought about how my mom had changed a tire before at Grandma's, and that I new where the spare was in the car, and that I hoped that it wouldn't be a terrible blowout where you lose control of the car, and what shoulder I'd pull over to to be the safest, and then I thought about how glad I was that it had never happend, and that really, since the Camero died inches away from my house about a year and a half ago, I had never really had much car misfortune. (talk about a run-on sentence) Anyway, a couple of minutes passed when I noticed that the pavement sounded a bit different than usual, and I was wondering if it was just because there was a new surface on it, so I sped up a bit-which didn't change the sound. I pulled over to the right side lane to see if that helped when I heard a loud noise and a rumbling underneath my car! "Oh my gosh!" I thought, "I got a flat tire!". I was able to pull off the highway since there was an exit right there, and I was in the right lane. The side of the road had a wide enough gravel way on it that I pulled all the way off, and got out to take a look. Sure enough, my rear right tire was flat. Now, I had been having a particularly good morning, and I decided that a little thing like a flat tire was not going to get me down. So I started cracking up at how funny it was that not five minutes before it happened I had run down the senario in my head of what to do in such a cricumstance. However, I was lucky that it wasn't snowing, or a bad blowout. I cleaned out the trunk, to find baseball gloves, tennis balls, a bat, Ryan's golf clubs, some outdoor fold-up chairs, and branch cutters?! . After that I pulled out the spare, and the jack. I proudly figured out how to assemble and work the jack, and grabbed a rag to keep my hands from getting super rusty. I jacked up the car and then went to the trunk to find that there was no lug wrench in the car. Now, this had not been in my plans that I had made five minutes prior to blowout, what to do? I put on my hazards, and put the spare resting against the back of the car so that it was apparent that I had a flat tire, when all of the sudden a truck carrying 8 semi-truck tires passes me by on the road, and then pulls over. The guy comes back to see if I needed any help! What luck! Welllllllllllllll, perhaps not. He had no lug wrench either, nor did he know where to get one. He told me that he'd pick one up at the next stop and if I was here when he drove back in an hour that he'd help me out. He also said that the Sherrif patrolled through roughly once an hour, and that he'd be able to help me. Anyway, so I went back to my car and sat to wait. Finally a woman pulled over in a pick up, got out and was able to lend me a lug wrench. I went to work on the tire, but found that the nuts wouldn't budge and were rusted into place. She new a guy at a local farm and said that she'd be back shortly. (A local farm? It happend to be the place that Ryan and I went to pick out our pumpkins) Minutes later she returned with Ephraim, who kicked and pushed and pulled and tapped off the rust enough to get the tire off, and help me put on the spare. I ended up having to call into work, knowing that I couldn't drive there and home on a spare, and set out to get a new tire. Goodyear didn't have one, neither did the discount tires place across the street. I found that apparently you needed a special size for the Corolla. I had been giving Ryan updates, and he called the tire place that we'd purchased the tires at who got us in for an appointment at 2. I drove over there, and dropped off the car and went Christmas shopping for my nieces and nephews while I waited. I got Raleigh and Brendan done! And then it was time to head back to Tire's Plus. Now, I had been agonizing about taking the tires there, since the last THREE times we've taken the cars there we've had horrible customer service. Twice they scheduled appointments to get out car in to have parts fixed and on the first time they confused which Jeep was ours and worked on someone else's and then the second time they had told us that they had the part to fix the window and we dropped the car off to find out two days later that they never received it! Then, they never discounted our price or apologized for the inconvenience! I was livid, but decided that if Ryan could deal with them, then it was one less headache for me. Now, this time had been great. They had gotten my car in the same day, and had said that they'd fix it within an hour. I came back, looking forward to driving home with a new tire when the guy came out and told me that it wasn't a repair, but that I needed a new tire. Since that was what we had discussed when I dropped the car off, I was confused why he didn't just put on the new tire. "Oh no, we don't carry those tires in stock, we'll have to get it from somewhere else and won't have it until tomorrow". EXCUSE ME? YOU put on the tires two months ago, and you don't carry the tire in stock? Also, you knew it was going to be a new tire when I made the appointment and when I dropped off the car. Why couldn't you check that in your computer then, before I waited an hour and a half, and drove out there to find out that they couldn't fix it? Then, on top of that, the original quote was for $50, and now they were going to charge us over $100! I called Ryan, and told him what was going on, and we agreed that since this was the 9th tire (we'd gotten new Jeep and Corolla tires this past Aug/Sep) in three months, and the fact that they'd been terrible on the customer service end every time, that we were going to take the care elsewhere. As I was talking to the guy to let him know that they could put the spare back on and that I was going to go elsewhere I asked for the specs of the tire and also for the store ID number. He asked why, and I told him so that I could contact the better business bureau regarding the stores customer service record. 20 minutes later, I was given a deal for a new tire and warranties for the other three done tomorrow for $35. Now, why couldn't they have done that in the first place? I wasn't being unreasonable, nor was I being a pain, but honestly, someone has to say that they are going to contact the Better Busines Bureau in order to get customer service? That's crazy. Anyway, it all worked out. I came home, and e-mailed my manager the story of why I hadn't made it in (of course, a much shorter version) and offered to come in tomorrow which was originally supposed to be a day off. She responded with this, "I'm glad that you are OK. Take your vacation day tomorrow. Life happens and this happens. Enjoy your vacation day". Whew! At least the day ended on a great note. I am blessed by having a great husband who loves me and advocates for me, I'm blessed by my job, I've been blessed over and over again with safety in dangerous situations, I've been blessed by this little baby inside of me, and lot's of other things. It's good to know that bad days don't always have to be bad, and it's good to see the good in people when they pull over to help you on the side of the road, or get dragged out of bed to do the same. It's been a crazy, full and nuts day, but it's been fun. I hope that tomorrow is less expensive and less eventful, but I hope that I can laugh just as much.

The giggles

Ryan and I were headed out the door last night into the chilly Milwaukee November weather, when I caught him at the door and said, "wait, let me just grab my hat". So I went into the front closet pulled out my winter stocking cap and put it on. I turned around and found my husband doing something that he doesn't often do. He was giggling! I couldn't figure out why, since it seemed perfectly logical to me to grab a winter hat. He kept giggling until I insisted that he told me why. Finally he says, "It's just freaky, that's all". me - "WHAT'S freaky?!!" Ryan - "How much you look like your dad with that hat on! It's freaky." So, later on we were in the car and talking about a recent meeting at church when I started crying (I'm pregnant, and I'm emotional). After comforting me, he goes, "on a lighter note, now I never have to wonder what it would look like to see your dad cry", which made ME giggle.

Football blunder

My husband is a typical guy. He loves football, and amidst the cold weather, I think that the football season sometimes is the only thing that redeems the fall for him. (I, on the other-hand, LOVE fall weather and wish that it were between 40 and 65 degrees year round) Anyway, today Ryan went over to his parent's house to watch some football: Green Bay vs. KC, Pats vs Colts and Dallas vs. ?. Since his parent's have DVR they had recorded both the Packers and Patriots games to watch after church this morning. I stayed home to sleep and clean and chill out, but had planned on calling Ryan later on in the afternoon. After the Packers took their game, I flipped through some channels to see what else was on when I happened along the Patriots game. I waited until halftime, and then made an age old sports blunder.
B-"Hey Ryan"
R-"Hey Becky"
B-"Hey, well the Colts are winning..."
R-"Aghhh, we're still watching the Packers game!"

Whoooooooooooooooooops! Now, why was I even watching football? Well, it was the clearest channel we get on our non-cable tv. Do I normally watch football? Not much, but today was a nice day to just flip on the tv for a bit and veg. I had just decided that I was rooting for the Colts, when they took a first half lead, and I was excited. I also assumed that Ryan and family had caught up with the games, but was wrong. Truth be told, I just wasn't thinking and I did that thing that no one likes, I let the cat out of the bag. Fortunately for me, I have a forgiving husband. But I still felt badly.

Time for the weekend

I can't wait for the weekend. I have a few more minutes here at work, and then I'm heading home for a night of pizza, games and relaxing with my hubby and brother-in-laws. I'm looking forward to it, and also hoping that the weather turns out well this weekend. It'd be a good chance for a nice fall walk, and to get out and do something instead of sitting inside. Also, Ryan has a five hour written police officer examination on Saturday, so if you could be thinking of him/praying for him I'd appreciate it.

Baby Post #4

So good news on the ultrasound! I was nervous yesterday that they were scheduling me for an ultrasound/amneocentesis because I didn't know what kind of "special ultrasound" they were talking about. I googled things for a maternal history of spina bifida, and that's what I kept finding. Well, my idea of a good time is NOT having a huge needle stuck in you while you're having an ultrasound. I've had that done before post appendix problems and I blacked out from pain. Needless (or needle-less) to say, I wasn't too thrilled about the idea. So to put my mind at ease, I called the hospital today to find out EXACTLY what I was scheduled for. Turns out, no big scary needle is in my future, well, except for maybe an epidural during labor. The "special" ultrasound was really that they were having a perinatologist come in to do the ultrasound and to read it on spot so that if there were any neural tube defects, etc he would be right on hand and be able to tell Ryan and I about it, and what needed to be done, medications, future scans, etc. It also turns out that he is apparently one of the most sought out perinatologists in the state! And also, it means that we get a 3-D ultrasound out of it! Woohoo! Today was a good day, and I'm looking forward to the ultrasound. Who'dve thought that having spina bifida could actually pay off for once?

Baby Post # 3

I had my second OB visit today, and all is well! Ryan ended up getting off of work so that he could make it to the appointment and hear the babies heartbeat. It took a little bit of searching, but Dr. Ring found it, and then started laughing at how much our kid likes to move. Apparently we have a really active, healthy sounding boy or girl! I'm thrilled! I got scheduled for a "special" ultrasound on 11/14 because of my history of spina bifida, then the next appointment with Dr. Ring is on 11/28. I'm looking forward to both appointments. It should be fun to watch this kiddo grow!

Long weekend...

I had a VERY long weekend this weekend, and I don't think that I got enough sleep because of it. I woke up at 2am this morning with a pounding headache, which followed me to work. I think that it's the start of a VERY long day!

New day...

This morning is a new day. I got to start a new schedule at work which will enable me to work from 7-4, instead of 8-5. It may not seem like a huge difference, but the new schedule should get me home in time to be able to cook some dinners for Ryan finally, and to be able to get some needed rest before nearly nightly engagements. I'm really excited. Also, I've found over the past week and a half that the morning hour plus commute has been a great time of worship and prayer. This morning I happened to bring headphones to listen to some tunes at work, and when I was looking for Ryan's CD's in the car I found my little case of my favorite music! It looks like it's going to be a great day! Right now I'm listening to Casting Crown's LIFESONG and I'm so glad that I found my CD's, it makes a huge difference!

Pumpkins

A Daddy Pumpkin, a Mommy Pumpkin and a Baby Pumpkin (picked out specially by Daddy)

Do you ever...

...just want to pack up your stuff and go on a nice long vacation? I know that I'm pregnant. I also know that my patience level is lower than normal, but it seems that lately things have been crazy. It seems that lately Ryan and I have been busier than normal, and it looks like things aren't going to slow down anytime in the near future. We've been gone the last two weekends, this weekend we have plans, next weekend is the women's retreat, the weekend after that I'm going to St. Louis for my cousin's wedding, and I can't think much beyond that to know what other busy weekends are in store. My old roommate Joanna told me last week that her mom had scheduled me to teach Sunday school this week, which I thought was strange because I requested to be taken off the Sunday school rotation for awhile due to being pregnant and being tired and sick all the time. (Joanna offered to teach for me this weekend, which I was thrilled about! Thanks Jo!) I also found out last week that I'm supposed to be playing worship on the Sunday morning of the women's retreat with Sandy. Apparently I was volunteered. Then this week I found out through the grapevine that I am supposedly now on a schedule to lead worship in Racine on a regular basis!?!?!? Isn't that strange? I'm just confused as to how I got volunteered to do something on a schedule without being asked, not once or twice but three times, and all at church within the last week and a half! It's draining. I'm t ired of saying no to things, but sometimes I don't know what else to do? Ahhh, soon enough it will all be behind me, but I can't wait for soon enough to come.

The weekend

Ryan and I went to Michigan for the weekend to visit the family and had a great time. We decided to take 2-94 instead of the sky-way which ended up being a four hour mistake, but other than that everything went well. We got in late Friday night and were able to hang out with my parents before heading off to bed, and then it was go-go-go for the rest of the weekend! We did countless loads of laundry, got to watch Ellie and Mallory on Saturday which was both a blast and exhausting at the same time. (According to Ellie I make the "Bomb-diggity" pancakes--which of course made me feel like an AMAZING cook. It's funny how a compliment from your five-year-old niece will make you feel like a million bucks) We also went up north to the trailers to visit Aunt Jill, Uncle Rick, Aunt Janet and Uncle Bill. We had a great time there, and walked the beach. The water was pristine and the perfect temperature. I can't remember seeing Lake Michigan that clear and beautiful. However, we did end up having to turn around and go back to the trailers after mom got licking attacked by a huge St. Bernarnd! We cooked burgers on an open fire and had a golf-cart tour of the place from Uncle Rick. Finally to wind down a bit, Rick brought out the tv and we watched the first period of the Redwings under the fullest sky of stars I've seen in years. It was great. Today we both slept in and then helped mom out as much as my energy level would allow. (Who'd have thought that a baby the size of a lime would zap you of ALL your energy?) Then all the siblings came over as well as the nieces and nephews and we had a great ham and twice baked potato dinner with Carrie's salad and Janet's punch. It was really fun. We left a bit later and got home in nearly record time thanks to Ryan's driving skills and not taking 2-94! Now I'm home, tired and heading to bed in a few. Ryan's watching the Packers game at his brother's and should be home in awhile, but I'm not planning on wating up for him the trip wore me out WAY too much!
Good luck on Moab Chris, stay safe.
Hope you're feeling better Marni!

Thoughts...

We're starting up a young women's group on Monday night and the original plan was to go through the Purpose Driven Life. We were planning on going through the book as a means of having everyone open up and be on the same page. However, in reading my brother-in-law's blog, it prompted me to think that there might be some more relevant books for us to go through. So the toss-up is now between:

The Purpose Driven Life
Blue Like Jazz
Velvet Elvis ~or~
Sex God

Has anyone read any of these or have any thoughts? I'd appreciate any thoughts.

HELP!

Someone at work today mentioned that they had recently gotten some cheese balls at the store and how much they had enjoyed them. I INSTANTLY began craving the cheesy, crunchy round balls and could think of little else for the rest of the day. I lucked out when my husband called me on my way home and asked if I wanted him to pick anything up for me at the grocery store. What luck!? I specifically requested cheese balls and said "not the puffs, not the crunchers, the ones that come in the blue tin". That's when ALL the problems began. Apparently the Pick N Save grocery chain no longer carries them, and then Target doesn't either. Ryan, feeling as though he had failed went home to cook some Spaghetti. I stopped at a third store, and had the stock boy and produce manager scouring the store for the orange balls and they were no where to be found. What happened? Where'd they go? Has anyone seen my cheese balls, they seem to have gone missing!

Cancelled...

Seems to be the theme lately. I wasn't feeling well on Sunday and so Ryan and I ended up missing church (he had a bit of a head cold too). Last night I was supposed to host the first meeting of a small group at my apartment, but had to cancel it because I had been "morning" sick all day and couldn't keep anything down. And lastly, tonight Ryan and I had to cancel dinner with Matt and Rachel for the same reason! Hopefully this morning sickness will go away soon, I'm not a huge fan of being nauseated and tired all the time.

Introducing...

Baby Young, complete with a heartbeat, arm and leg buds and movement!





I had my first OB appointment today, and much to my surprise, got to see our baby for the first time. The physician assured me that everything looks healthy and normal for our little 8 week old, and that it looks like everything is developing exactly as designed. It was incredible to watch the ultrasound, and see our baby's heartbeat when he/she is just the size of a peanut! I can't wait for Ryan to see it in about ten weeks during the "official" ultrasound. What a miracle life is! It truly is a picture of joy to see your kid for the first time and to realize that there is a special human being inside of me that God has given to us to raise. It's unbelievable and makes the nausea and tiredness more than worth it. I can't wait until April 28-ish to meet this little one!

tired...

I'm so tired! My new job is going well, but it's draining. It's about an hour and fifteen minute drive both ways, and long days right now. I get home exhausted everyday and try to find energy to do stuff but it's hard. I haven't looked at blogs in a week, and haven't cleaned the house or done dishes in a longer time than that! :) I'm just trying to settle into doing things and getting a routine down, but this little life inside me seems to be saping ALL my energy. It's funny to think that this baby is about a 1/2 of an inch long and completely exhausting me, but it's cool at the same time. I can't wait until the second trimester when everyone tells me that I won't be sick all the time and tired. Until then, I suppose I'm just enjoying the thought of having a little guy growing inside of me and dreaming all about what he/she will be like.
Well, it's time to go grocery shopping, do laundry and hang out with the family tonight. I think that there'll be a nap in there somewhere as well. :) (Hopefully I'll be more blog faithful this week too.) Hope all is well in bloggerland.

Colleen is here!

Ryan and I had a busy, busy day today. (No Marni, we didn't have our baby and name them Colleen...however, I was slightly more conscious of my title this time :) ) We went grocery shopping, made lunch for a friend, picked up our bowling balls, (mine is pretty blue and lime and smells like limes too), dropped off Ryan's brother in the boonies, and then I got to pick up my best friend's little sister for some dinner and a movie at our apartment. She just came to town for college, and I think that we saved her from a night of homework and boredom! We had Edwardo's pizza, and watched a good flick, and got to hear all about the first week happenings for Colleen. It was really fun to hang out with her and get to make her feel at home in "my town". It also made me very thankful that 1) I will NEVER have to repeat my freshman year of college over and 2) that I'm done with school. Not that she's had bad experiences, but all of the feelings of "who am I", and "what do I stand for" and "am I going to fight in" worries are more in the past now than they were when I started in Milwaukee. Tonight made me very thankful to be where I am, and very proud of where I'd grown from 6 years. It's nice to see how things have laid out, and to be hopeful and excited for the years to come.

Please Pray

Hey all--this is a quick prayer request. My church sent a team to Senegal for a 10 day missions trip, and they're due to come back this Friday. Everything had been going well until Sunday when one of the members of the team came down with Malaria. On Tuesday a second member caught it, and today their translator/interpretor also caught it. Please pray for their healing and the teams' protection. You can check out their progress at Senegal Missions. Thanks

Not showing yet...

Ryan and I found out that we were pregnant yesterday! We're tentatively due April 30th, and we both can't wait and can't believe it at the same time. Here's prego photo number one, not quite showing yet. (Oh yeah, and Ryan's surgery went really well and he's in minimal pain and recovering quickly, although I did get scolded by the nurse for not taking Ryan's temperature :) )

Fall

Growing up this used to be my favorite time of year. School was about to start, the soccer season was underway, the changing seasons and the freshness of everything. This year is no different.
I just got back from four days in Michigan visiting family, having a slumber party with my nieces, playing Nintendo Wii with my nephews, hanging out with my sisters and cousins and taking a boat ride on a rough Lake Michigan (no, the rip-tides didn't get me). I had a great time in Michigan and was glad to be able to spend some non-stress time with my family.
This morning Ryan had surgery to remove his tonsils, etc and it went well. However, it didn't go so well with me when I went to pick up his pain medication and got sent to three other pharmacies before being able to have the drug in hand! Finally I tracked it down and was able to return home in time to find my husband waking up from a nap and looking for some meds. He's doing okay, better than I hoped he'd be doing, but he's still in a bit of pain which is never fun to see. It will be nice to be able to spend the next week with him before I start my new job.
It feels perfect to be starting a new job now, mostly because it reminds me of being a kid and school starting. This will be something that it completely different than what I'm used to, and yet I might really like it. It'll also serve as a means to an end for us. We'd like to try and be debt free before kids come along, and this job hopefully should help us to get there.
Not much else is going on. My plans for the next couple of days are 1) take care of Ryan 2) prepare to teach on Sunday 3) clean the house and 4) relax as much as possible before starting the new job. It'll be interesting to see how it goes, regardless I'm looking forward to the time off.

Becky Simpson

Thanks to Dave and Burger King, the following is my flavour of simpson today.

To Simpsonsize yourself go to:

http://www.simpsonizeme.com/

Happy Birthday Ryan!

Happy Birthday Ryan! I'm looking forward to dinner and a movie with you tonight. I hope that you enjoy your 1/2 day off! Love you.

Holland Bound

Ryan and I are out for my Uncle Jim's annual family reunion at Lake Michigan. We're both looking forward to it, albeit it seems like we're never going to get out of the apartment! We're picking up my cousin Jim at Midway, and then meeting another Uncle Jim (other side of the family, and let me differentiate--this is Pepsi Jim, not one of my five other uncle Jims) Anyway, I digress. It'll be nice to catch up with my cousin Jim and see my Dad's side of the family tomorrow night. We're also hoping to get in a bit of tennis tomorrow and my mom's side of the family on Sunday. It'll be a busy weekend, but full of family.

(Also included some pics of a couple of the previous home visits, for viewing pleasure. :) )

Oh no

19-4!!??!!! My Brewers are making me pretty sad lately. Thank you Rockies for the fantastic hitting clinic you put on yesterday for the sweep of the series. It was, umm, humbling to say the least.

Brewer Game

Yesterday Ryan and I went tailgaiting with his family. His Grandpa had organized the afternoon, and it went really well, minus the few drizzles that came down during the tailgait. However, one of the nice features of Miller Park is that it has a retractable roof, so that by the time we went in for the game, the roof had been closed and we were able to enjoy the atmosphere. The Brewer's have been in first place for sometime now, until the recent Cubs surge that has got us actually having to PLAY in order to keep our rank. Earlier on in the week the Cubs took the number one slot for a day, until we ended up winning and reclaiming the title. Now every game is one where we seem to be rooting against the Cubs and rooting for the Brewers. Unfortunately for us, the Cubs pulled off a game yesterday and so there was a tension throughout most of our game of whether or not we'd win and keep the lead. The Phillies were beating us until the 8th with my favorite player, Prince Fielder, hit a two run jack which put us ahead 6-5. Miller Park erupted and it was one of the loudest and most energetic games that I've been to yet (something like the 23rd sellout this season for the Crew). It was a great environment, but the best play of the game came from Corey Hart who had to extend all 6ft 6inches of his body up and over the wall to catch a ball from being a home run! It was a fantastic catch, and again the place erupted. The Brewers were able to hang onto the lead and ended up winning the game. Ryan and I, along with the whole family had a great time and I'm looking forward to going back again next year.

Ryan's at the game this afternoon in order to pick up another Bobblehead. It's another sellout, and the Crew is going for a sweep of the series against the Phillies. It should be fun for him and Mike, and I'm looking forward to getting some cleaning done. :) 2 weeks left of work at the clinic to go, then 2 weeks off before the new job starts. It should be a fun rest of the summer.

Festa

A couple of weekends ago Ryan and I went to Festa Italiana in Milwaukee. It was a lot of fun. I think that the best part of the afternoon was the entertainment. It was nice to be in a crowd of people who weren't scantily dressed and heavily intoxicated. Overall we had a really enjoyable time.

The guy with the white coat was an incredible singer from Italy, but he had one big quirk. EVERY time he had one of the musicians solo he acted like he was playing the guitar, REGARDLESS of the instrument soloing...keyboard, trumpet, saxophone, DRUMS! It was hilarious. We had a fantastic time, and I can't wait until next year.

Update

I've got a couple of minutes before Ryan returns from the grocery store, so I thought that I'd throw in a quick update before our friends come over for dinner tonight.
First off, I did end up making stuffed tomatoes last week and it went over rather well. I got to use the nice dishes that my Aunt Judy gave Ryan and me for our wedding, which is always fun. Tonight it seems that Matt is stopping by Edwardo's for some pizza, which should be pretty yummy, and have less dishes. :)
As an update for the weekend, Ryan took me out golfing at a real golf course on Friday in order to practice for my brother-in-law's company outing the next day. Now, I had fancied myself a decent golfer after our last outing at the Par 3 course where I shot a 72. Apparently playing on courses where some holes are 480 yards from the tee are a different story! I was TERRIBLE, not only that but it was after a frustrating day at work, and I realized how true those commercials are on TV where people throw their clubs into the water. Apparently the game is supposed to be fun. I think, however, it should be played when you aren't already frustrated to begin with. Saturday was a bit more fun because we played Scramble, and went with everyone's best shot in the foursome. My foursome still ended up 7 over, but for all of us being fairly unpracticed, I wasn't too disappointed.
Sunday was another busy day. Ryan stayed in Milwaukee to lead some worship at church, and I went down to Chicago with a team of people from our church to help pray for and encourage a Vineyard church down there. It was a fun afternoon, with crazy driving and good pizza. I ended up sitting across the table from my pastor's mother-in-law who is from Mexico and doesn't speak any english, albeit she's lived in the US and is a US citizen for the past twenty years (granted, she does reside in Mexico 1/2-3/4 of the year), because as she says "I'm 73 years old, what's the point in learning it now?" :) She's pretty cool, and I had a good time talking with her. Although it renewed my frustration with being able to speak a LOT of medical spanish, and having a great lack in conversational spanish. Hopefully I'll be able to start practicing soon.
Lastly, Ryan and I went to the ballgame last night to watch the Brewers take down the Mets in the bottom of the 13th inning! Geoff Jenkins had a walk-off homer, Tom Glavin pitched (hoping for his 300th win, but not suceeding), and there were two Sausage races! It was a long and late game, but we had a lot of fun. It made me thankful that we live in Milwaukee. The Brewers truly have one of the nicest parks in the league, and it's like five miles away from our apartment. It was the 20th Sell-out of the season, and it's fun watching baseball. Ryan and I were talking about how fun it would be to someday buy a 20 game pack, and we fantasized about where our tickets would be. He'd ideally like to be in the second section up directly behind homeplate, and below the press box. personally--and since this was a fantasy---I'd take right by the Brewer's dugout! :)
Well, Ryan just got home, and we're going to do some quick cleaning before Matt and Rachel come over. Congrats again on the new job Marni! Just Ryan and Chris to go with the new jobs. Pictures to follow.

Dinner plans...

Every Wednesday night Ryan and I have our friends Matt and Rachel come over for dinner and a movie. The guys and girls alternate weeks for cooking, and last week the boys made us some tasty tacos. This week, however, I'm in a bit of a bind because I don't know what to make. Ryan, Matt and I started to eat low-carb on Monday, and so our food options are quite a bit more limited than they used to be. Also, it's not as easy to just get a pizza and call it good anymore. So far, I have the idea of either Chicken Salad stuffed in tomatoes or Pesto Pizza. Unfortunately, I made the Pesto Pizza for the first time on Monday. While both Ryan and I loved it, we don't want to wear out our new meal in a week. Oh what to do!? I think that I'm leaning towards the chicken salad stuffed in tomatoes, but I'm dreading the cooking time. Any other ideas out there?

In case you're interested, here's the recipe for the Pesto Pizza:

One low carb pizza crust
One 1/4 cup Pesto
One package of shredded italian cheese (substitue one cup mozarrela 1/2 cup fresh shredded parmesian if the store doesn't have any italian)
Strips of cooked chicken (we used frozen fajita strips)
Strips of cooked red pepper (we substituted fresh tomatoes)
Heat oven to 425

Cover the crust with the pesto, leaving roughly 1/4 inch of room at the edge for cooking
Add the cheese, chicken and tomato and cook for 8-12 minutes or until the cheese begins to turn a little brown. Serve and enjoy! Thanks www.atkins.com for the recipe! You make me look like a genius!

long week

It's been a long week this week. I don't think that I've caught up on sleep yet from when Missy was in town this weekend, followed by a couple of baseball games, etc. On Monday I got a job offer from Abbott Labs in Illinois which I'm planning on accepting this coming Monday. Ryan interviewed at a place called Uline...also in Northern Illinois and we're waiting to hear back from them. I put my four week notice in yesterday, so if all goes as planned, my last day at the clinic will be August 17. Then it's two weeks off before starting my second real job. It could work out the same way for Ryan, so we're hoping to possible get to Holland to visit my family for longer than a day and a half, and also to go down to St. Louis to visit one of my old roommates, who should have a baby in tow by that time. It's been a long week, but it's almost over.

What's your ethnic background?

I had a rather odd experience at work today. Human resources called me to get my ethnic background for a report that they were generating. Yeah, they wanted to know that types of "minorities" that they had employed. Isn't that odd? And when I asked the HR person what she meant by ethnic background she answered, well like African American, Caucasian, Latino...so I answered, "well you can put me down as caucasian, but really I'm like 1/2 dutch, a quarter french (fr-candian) a little scotch irish, a little spanish (like spaniard spanish, not latina), a little german and probably some other stuff as well. Her answer: "wow, I don't think I've every met someone as mixed up as you...". INTERESTING, very interesting.

Beaten by the 65+ year league

Missy came to town, and we definately painted it red! Here's a breakdown of the day:
1:20am---Missy's boat arrives in Milwaukee, she calls to wake me up (I'd fallen asleep at the docks)
2:00am---we take a tour of the old houses in Milwaukee on the Lake
2:30am---we arrive home at the apartment and chat and go to bed
9:00am---rise and shine time!
9:30am---Target for some tennis balls, paper towel, gatorade and shampoo
10:00am--hit the courts! Watch out 65+ year doubles league, Missy and I are in town!
~11:30am--Dick and Steve invite us to join them in a doubles game. Missy and I gladly accept thinking that it will be a "friendly match". Couple points from the game: 1)Missy HAS played doubles tennis on a team 2) Steve, albeit he doesn't move, does have a MEAN overhand (thanks for the tennis ball tatoo on my right leg! 3) Dick and Steve are ranked 3 and 5 out of 200 players in their league 4) Yes we did lose 6 games to 0.---we're pretty amazing
~12:30--We return back to our match to finish our singles best of three set, I squeaked it out, but just barely, as Missy would say "Run! Run faster Becky, can't you run fast enough to get the ball?"
1:20pm--Return to apartment, have great difficulty getting up the stairs and plop ourselves down at the kitchen table
1:40pm--Hit the pool for a refreshing dip
2:10pm--shower, change and watch the baseball game
2:45pm--take a long walk through Marshall's, NOT BUYING ANYTHING! :) (THAT was a challenge)
4:00pm--Rent "Pride" from Blockbuster
4:15pm---hit up PF Chang's (I'd recommend the lettuce chicken appetizers)
6:30pm---Oscar's for some Milwaukee style custard, Flavour of the Day being Butterfinger Blast
7:00pm---home for the end of the Brewer's 2-1, 10th inning win over the Rockies
8:00pm---Boccee Ball, best of three, Missy beat me single handedly, even though there were FOUR guys that tried to join our game because of her!
9:00pm--"Pride"
11:00pm--BED!
4:45am---Back to the docks, last I saw the security guy was letting her into the building, so I'm assuming she got home safely!

I had such a great time with you Miss! I'm so glad that you came out for one of the most expensive games of tennis either of us will ever play. You've worn me out, but it was well worth it. I can't wait for the tennis and Bocce rematch in August...you better be training. (I'm going to hunt down Dick for some lessons, he does spend ALL of his time "on the courts")

Missy's Coming!

Missy's Coming! Missy's Coming! Missy is coming!! I can't wait! Her boat gets here at 12:30 tonight, and I can't wait to see her. The apartment is clean, or at least as clean as it's gonna get. The air is cool, and it looks like she should have had a beautiful clear, starry night for the voyage across the "Big lake". I can't wait to see her and hang out. We've got a fun weekend of tennis, bike riding, bocce ball, cards, PF Chang's, movie rentals and hangin' planned/not so planned. :) I'm still working on getting her to stay until Monday morning, but I'll have to see if we can convince her that it'd be worth it.

A couple of weekends ago, Ryan and I made a trip to the Johnson family reunion in Kalamazoo. Ryan has always been quite a trooper about going to these type of events, when I can only imagine they have to be a bit intimidating. There are usually 100+ people, but he does a great job.

Anyway, after returning home from the reunion I got to spend some time with my sister Missy. We usually have a good time together, and this visit was no different than normal. She had mentioned that my sister Carrie, while by my parent's house, had seen one of Missy's old friends. When Carrie told her that it was Chubby, Missy nearly jumped out of her skin. You see, when Missy and I were about 10 and 6 (respectively) we both got life sized stuffed animals. Hers was a lifesized polar bear that she named Chubby. Mine was a life-sized dog who I named Eskimo. We had both thought our beloved stuffed friends had been destroyed in the "flood" of 2003 which happened in my parent's crawl space, but apparently our friends were more resilient than we had anticipated and were still alive and kicking. We both ventured into the crawl space and dug them out for a brief reunion of our own. (I, however, had to convince Missy that I wasn't planning on "murdering" Chubby and I just wanted a blog picture - to which she reluctantly pulled Chubs out from his hibernation for).

Perhaps it was seeing our old friends, or that my work had a company picnic this weekend, but I braved my fears and went to the Milwaukee Zoo with Ryan today. We were planning on getting some grub, socializing a bit, and then checking out the animals. Usually seeing animals and smelling the petting zoo is enough to make me break out in hives and have some severe breathing problems, but I figured I could "put in my dues" and go to enjoy the day with my hubby who has been trying to get me there for the past year and a half. Now, I had a classmate in Bible school who is one of the Elephant keepers at the zoo and she had told me that whenever you go you should wear khaki shorts and a navy blue top because the animals will respond to you more since that is the uniform of the zoo keepers. I laughed, but decided to try it anyway. Ryan and I went in to the exhibits and I had forgotten about our said attire until getting to the Silverback Gorilla exhibit. We walked up to one of the windows and our friend, Cassius noticed us and, NO JOKE, struck this pose for our picture. He kept throwing us glances to make sure that we were watching him, but he held the pose. After a couple of minutes he moved by one of the other windows, where we followed to watch him. As I was walking towards the window Cassius karate kicked the window and the ten people watching ALL jumped back in shock. I moved easily towards the window where my new friend kept looking at me. He looked sad, and kept throwing me glances. Finally his lip starting quivering and he head butted the wall and tried to karate kick another tree next to the window. Too bad we don't have the picture but right below Cassius read a sign stating the between the hours of 11am and 2pm the gorillas are periodically taken for 15 minute sessions of "BEHAVIOR ENRICHMENT". Hmmm, sounds like my friend may have needed some enriching. Anyway, Ryan and I were amazed that Cassius kept staring at me, lip would quiver, he'd beat his chest and let out a howl and then charge at the window, pick up big sticks threateningly, etc. It was then that Ryan looked at my clothes and realized that it was feeding time, and I looked like a zoo keeper. Our friend was hungry. I was kind of sad for him, but also SO intrigued by his outburts. I'd never seen such an actively restrained angry animal before. It was unusual, and incredible and sad all at the same time.

We also saw a bunch of other neat stuff too, the bears came out to greet me, as did the tiger, hippos and rhinosaurus. It was pretty neat to see such responsive animals. My advice, as long as there is thick plate glass between you and the gorillas...wear khaki shorts and a navy t-shirt to the zoo, things will be much cooler.

Whoops! or "It goes the other waya"

Don't you just hate it when you attempt to update your blog, click post it, shut down your computer only to find a day later that you posted the wrong thing on the wrong blog? Perhaps it's just me. But it's happened twice so far when I've blogged, and I'm starting to get embaraced! I had attempted to post the following blog last night on my personal site, but it apparently was posted to the Johnson family site by mistake. Alas, only one commentor - my husband, so perhaps the embaracement is amongst a small circle of friends. :) If not, at least it's amongst family...lots and lots and lots of family.

My Original intended post from yesterday:

the other way
Ryan and I have been trying to fix up our bikes a bit, and do some of our own repairs. For instance. He has an undated, but rather old, ten speed that I purchased from a co-worker. The frame seems to fit him well, but the seat was rather uncomfortable. Probelm solved. I went to the local bicycle shop and picked up a new $10 saddle, and figured out how to install it myself. Problem number two was that we decided to take his new bike out for a spin and the rear tire got a flat. Not a small flat, but a big flat. It was most likely due to the fact that his bike is undated and the tires and tubing had NEVER been replaced. Problem solved. I brought his bike in for a "tune-up". I figured the chain could use some oil and looking over, he could use some new tires and they could check everything over. We got the bike back, and everything went great. I'm so proud of him. he took like four minutes off of his commute in the morning with the new/improved bike, and all was going well. Enter problem number three. Both of us noticed that we were getting blisters on our hands. I think we both had the same revelation at the same time that it was from all of our bike riding. Problem solved, we went to the same bike shop with the goal of buying gloves. I got pretty blue and light blue ones (mainly because they fit my hands) and Ryan also got a pair. He also told me that he wanted a set of pedals with toe clips on them so that his feet didn't slide as much. (not the shoe clip pedals, the other type). So I let him pick out the ones he wanted, and we headed home. Now, I like to take things apart, so the first thing I did was to take off the pedal, that was followed by the problem of there being a large black post through the pedal that I didn't realize was there. I tried rather unsuccessfully to take it off, got furstrated and went to the other side of the bike, took off the black bar thing (along with its pedal) with no problem and endeavored to free the left sided crankshaft from it's ugly black bar. WD-40 didn't work. Soaking in Coca-Cola for 24 hours didn't work. Attaching a wrench and banging on it with a hammer---no dice. Ryan and I were struggling. Finally I decided to Google ideas of how to get the darn thing off. Problem solved....stupid left pedals are screwed in with a left handed screw. Try the other way next time and it will save hours of frustration, sweat, errant wrenches in the ankles and hammers to the thumb, and a can of Coke to boot. We tried unscrewing the proper way and got it apart and the new pedals on with no problem. Ryan's ready to go with his newish bike and it should be interesting. Oh, we also got new wraps for his handlebars which I put on, because the old one was disintegrating. They don't look as pretty on the bottom as I'd like, but they'll work. It's been an adventure, but it's been fun. I'm looking forward to learning more as we go along, but for now we've both learned a lot from our small projects. It should be fun to get the Raleigh 10-speed up to par. New project with new things to conquer.

One word....

Verlander!!!!

New Freshness

Well, last week was a very long week, and I'm thankful that it's over.

I was feeling down, and missing my family a lot - which made things a bit difficult, however I'm doing much better this week. Ryan and I talked a lot about the practicality of moving to Michigan, and what that would look like career-wise and financially. After a lot of talking, praying and crying we both decided that it'd be best to get debt free before we decided to move anywhere and make big life changes. We're hoping that we'll be there in a year or two, and then we can look to get a down payment for a house and start working towards those things. But for now, it's going to be the getting outta debt game, and seeing what we can cut and where we can save money. There are a couple of possibilities for something new around the corner, so we'll see how that goes, but for now I'm content staying in Milwaukee for another year. We've commited to leading a missions trip to Mexico this winter, and it'll be good to stay true to that commitment. If anyone has any fun LOW-budget ideas for couples, let us know. That includes recipes and things to do for cheap around the city and the house.

Welcome Home?

Two weeks ago, Ryan and I went to Holland to visit my family for the weekend. During our visit we went out to dinner with some of my family. My niece Mallory repeatedly asked me and my husband to come and sit by her during dinner. She kept saying things like "Aunt Becky, sit by ME. Autn Becky, Look at this. Aunt Becky..." I never realized how much a kid could steal your heart, but Mallory stole mine, and she hasn't given it back. We've been back in Holland for two weeks and I'm still home sick. Normally it only lasts a couple of days after we return, but not this time. I miss my family.
So, I started talking to my husband about the "possibility" of moving back to Michigan. I figured that he'd be supportive, and encourage me, and tell me that things really weren't as bad as I was making it out to be. But that's not how he responded. He's up for whatever, and fully supports whatever and wherever we move or don't move. His comment last night was, "as long as your happy, I'll be happy". Now I'm in a quandry. Do I really want to move back home, or is it just a phase? I don't know, but we're going to keep praying about it. What do you think?