What's My Deal?!

Assorted ramblings from a Christian wife, mother and public school teacher.

My Photo
Name:
Location: Iowa

I am a Christian, I am a wife and mother and am a public middle school teacher of math and gifted education. My Blog, "What's My Deal?" is just day to day ramblings. My other Blog, "All About the Fish" is more like a personal webpage about my Christian experiences.

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

He has arrived



Okay, Here's My Deal...

The new boy arrived on the 20th as expected!! Things went well and we ahve been home a couple of days. Here are the details:

Owen was born at 8:08 a.m and was 8 lbs 8 oz and 21 in. Dark hair--tame, not wild like big brother's was. He has a story to tell about his going home day...not unlike his brother's tornado-evacuate-to-the-basement-of-the-hospital-story...his papa from NC, who had flown in with his Ama to help Daddy and Mama, had to have his appendix taken out the day Owen came home!! What a crazy deal that was!!

Friday, April 20, 2007

Here It Is...



Okay, Here's My Deal...

This is the last entry before we head to the hospital for the birth of #2...I say #2 because we wtill do not have a name...yes, pitiful. But, we have a plan:

no hair, it is one name black hair...one name blonde/light hair...one name

Yeah, sounds good, but who knows, we may look and find that aniother name entirely fits him.

Unless, of course, it was the umbilical cord or a shadow and it really is a girl instead of a boy then we are all set.

Well, better go. More news...AND A NAME...to follow.

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Done & Almost Done...



Okay, Here's My Deal...

I just finished this afternoon with a student that I have been working with on an independent study in high school geometry. We have been working hard for a while and she and I are both glad to be finished. We did not get quite as much done as I would have hoped, but there were some cooperation problems from the math department of the high school she is from...my Ohio friend will not be surprised to hear that, I am sure. However, we made the best of an icky situation and have done our best.

And, I am glad to say that I am almost done with being pregnant. I really have enjoyed it, but am glad to be moving on in a couple of days to the next stage. I think having two children in the house, one newborn and the other almsot 3 will be a challenge, but a blessing, too. How on Earth we will hadnle both of them, I don't know except iwth the grace of God. Everything will unfold according to His plan and we are just along for the ride.

Monday, April 16, 2007

Hormone Settle Down...


Okay, Here's My Deal...
I think my hormones may have settled down a bit. One thing that helped is that I went and got my hair "fixed" from the hair cut disaster the other day. I think that the original stylist really did try to do what she thought would look good on me, but I just did not like it and I was in such a hormonal state that I could not take it. So, today, I went somewhere else and said here's the deal...can you do something with it? She gave me a little bit more shape to the cut and took off some more length and it really did help a lot.
I think I have one more batch of cookies in me...I bought another bag of chocolate chips, so that will be on the agenda tomorrow and then I think I am done for a while.
Guess that is it for now...

Sunday, April 15, 2007

Pressure or Hormones?!?!



Okay, Here's My Deal....#2 for the day

I think by the time Friday gets here I will be a puddle. Everything just seems to be mounting and I am not sure I am ready for it all. Tired is the key word for me right now and I am not up for a lot of action. I mean, going to the store for cat food the otehr day after dropping my son off at the sitter was enough to wipe me out for a few hours.

This week is going to be crazy...

  • Tomorrow is lunch with a friend which won't be too bad.
  • Tuesday I have no big plans, which is good.
  • Wednesday, my husband will be out of town almost the entire day, at the end of which he will be picking up his mom and stepdad who will be here to help out for a couple of weeks...which, I honestly do appreciate, I do, really. I mean, I know I will need help and I will be grateful.
  • Thursday, well, that is our pre-op visit with the OB/GYN and we may even try to squeeze in a visit to the pediatrician for our son's eye which has been bothering him we think. My husband tells me to probably expect that we will be going out ot eat somewhere nice at the treat of my in-laws...hope I am up for it after the pre-op and then possibly the ped...and it will be an early supper because the appointment is at 2:20. This is important to his folks, I think for a variety of reasons and I don't want to disappoint...I know that their thinking is that I won't be up to it soon after because of the surgery, but they will be ehre for two weeks, second but-but I hope I am up for it right then after the appointment(s?). This is where ithink the hormones are kicking in and I am being unrational--I know that they mean well and want ot do whatever tehy can for us and are really thinking of me being tired later, but I wonder if they understand how tired I am now?! I guess I just have to relax, go with the flow and let nature take its course. And, if I am too tired, I should just speak up...but then I am afraid it will set a bad tone for the rest of the visit. Then it is go home after that and wait for my parents to arrive that evening for a vist. But, it does have to be an early night because--
  • Friday at 5:30 in the a.m. we need to leave for the hospital for the birth. My husband is already stressing about how my mom will react to his mom...too many issues to get into there, but I keep telling him that if she does have a deal with it, that is her problem and I am not going to worry about it at all. I have learned, well, 97% of the time anyway, to just let her have her deal and let is run its course and all will be better later. Then in the early evening my brother and his wife will join us at the hospital--they are unable to come for the actual birth becasue they don't ahve enough days left to take off from their jobs due to church mission trips to New Orleans and a three year anniverary trip to Hawaii to get away from it all...even though they knew about the baby long before they planned any of that. This doesn't set well with my husband, or, honestly me, but I ahve learned to understand taht they have their own lives and make their own choices. Besides, and here are those hormones again, his sister and her boyfriend won't be coming either...but they were able to take a few trips of their own this year to get away from it all even though they also knew about the baby. Well, they also have their own lives and make their own choices.

I guess everything that I am gousing about is really nothing to be so keyed up about and the stress is most likely not good for me or the baby. It just seems taht something so wonderful as the birth of a second child to our family is being clouded by everything else. And, I am sure even though he doesn't express it like I do, my husband is under much the same stress and pressure if not more right now, so when he reads this I am sure it won't help. I could jsut talk to him and that would probably be the best, but then he will want to talk to them and then they will feel weird or not wanted and then taht will cloud the trip...AAAUUUGGGHHH. It is just a viscious cycle that I didn't intend to happen. Besides, I would just be a puddle of tears if I brought i up anyway, and I am sure I will be if he talks to me about it when he reads this, so waht would be the difference?

Oh, well, my hormones would let me go one and one for a long time I am sure, but I need to get some rest and try and take my mind off of all of these things I cannot control and aren't really my deals to begin with. It is just wehn you love everyone in your family so much and want them to be happy, it is hard because you know it is not possible all of the time.

Last Minute Things...



Okay, Here's My Deal...

We are entering the final countdown to babytime. A flurry of activity is happening...for me it is a slow pace, for husband it is a little more quick.

He, as I have already said and been very appreciative of has cleaned and organized most everything for the house. Today, he cleaned out both vehicles and mowed the lawn.

We are almost done packing bags...just a few odds and ends that are not absolute necessaries for the hospital need to go in, but if we don't get to them, that is fine.

People are in line to watch our son and we have a backup person to take me to the hospital if my husband happens to be out of town if something happens earlier than Friday...which I am hoping upon hope doesn't happen because I would have one honked off mother in law. I know in reality that as long s the baby came healthy that she really would not mind...at least, I think so. She missed number one because of being ill and under travel restrictions.

Thought that if I got my hair cut that I would feel good...wrong. It is not that she didn't do a nice job, but it is not what I was thinking and now I am regreting it. But that may just be hormones, too--they are in high gear right now.

The only thing now is a name...no, we still have not decided and it is drving me nuts!! Guess we will just look at him and decide.

Guess that is all for now.

Saturday, April 14, 2007

Cookie Mania



Okay, Here's My Deal...

I must have a form of nesting...although my husband has been the cleaning and organizing machine, I have made several batches of cookies in the last three weeks--something rare in our house.

I am not a chef, let alone a baker. I am a self-confessed open-the-box/open-the-can and heat-it-up kind of woman. There are few things that I make from scratch, but cookies seem to be the thing lately.

Sugar cookies and chocolate chip ones have been the fare. One is my great-grandmother's recipe and the other is my great-aunt's. The funny family thing is that in one of the recipes she had written down "1 eggs" as an ingredient and to this day whenever I write the recipe or tell people I say, "1 eggs" that is the key. The other does not even list chocolate chips as an ingredient...it must just be a given no brainer that you need them.

I need to maybe make a batch of oatmeal...or snickerdoodle--but theyare much more work than I think I want to tackle now.

Well, off to grab a glass of milk and indulge in my creations and then off to bed.

Friday, April 13, 2007

Almost Dead Dog...


Okay, Here's My Deal...

I thought the dog was going to be killed by my husband last night. He, my husband, not the dog, was in here on the computer and I was in the living room playing with stickers with our almost 3 year old son when I sniffed and looked up and saw the dog pooping all over the floor...and not like a diarrhea accident like he couldn't help it but solid. I yelled his name and my husband asked what he was doing and I told him and he came in and grabeed the dog and pulled his face down to it and proceeded to tell him NO NO NO and yes, beat him a little, then drag his dog butt outside and put him on the chain. Then he shampooed the carpet where he'd gone.

Later, the boys went outside to take the trash for today's pick-up and when they came back in my husband told our son to turn around and show me the back of his shirt...I did and there were dirty paw prints. He said the dog had jumped up and knocked into him and that he, the dog, not my son, was lucky he wasn't beaten within an inch of his life and his collar taken off and put into the van and dumped in the country somewhere.

The dog has been on restriction (I was "grounded" as a Yankee child, my Rebel husband was put on "restriction" when in trouble) in the kitchen ever since. Maybe tonight he will be able to join the family again. I tell you, once the baby comes, it will be a big adjustment for all.

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

THAT was Gross...



Okay, Here's My Deal...

Last night at 5 in the morning, I awoke tothe sound of the cat yacking up numerous hairballs. That in and of itself is sort of gross, but it gets better or worse if you will.

I go to the kitchen to get a mass of paper towels to clean it up with and when I come back into the bedroom, I find that the dog is now walking away from the hairball area...I look down and what do I see?!?!?!?!?!

NOTHING. That's right, the dog had eaten every single one of the cat's yacked up hairballs.

I warned you in the title.

Monday, April 09, 2007

That Man-O-Mine



Okay, Here's My Deal...

Everyone should have a husband like mine when they are pregnant. And I mean that sincerely.

To begin with, I freely admit and do not deny in any way that he is the neater of the two of us and is way ahead of me when it comes to dishes and even cooking. Laundry was pretty much a tie until we moved to this house and I became pregnant...the laundry is downstairs and he has literally taken it over so that I do not have to go up and down the steps.

Most definately he is the nester when it comes to me being pregnant. You hear of women who suddenly become cleaning and organizing machines when they are pregnant, especially as the due date gets closer. Me? Not so much. Not last time, not this time.

It is all him. Oh, I pitch in now and then, and he is so sweet about making me feel like the few minutes I have spent doing somehting small is a huge help to him, but I know that if it were not for him, we would not be ready in any way for this new baby.

Despite his hard work at work and trying to fit in as much flying as his work schedule, OB appointments and weather permit, and his not feeling well he just is like the energizer bunny---he keeps going and going and going...makes me even more tired watching him.

I tell him not often enough how much I appreciate all that he does and I mean every word. I feel a little guilty about going on maternity leave for these next two weeks and just lounging around the house while he continues to work. I am taking advantage this week of spending some time in the mornings with my almost 3 year old son before taking him to the sitter. Won't be much alone time in the near future...although this usmmer I am going to make an effort to have at elast one day a week where the new baby goes to the sitter and I keep my oldest at home for a mama big boy day.

Well, I guess that is about it for now. Ladies, if you are pregnant, I hope your husband is half the man mine is and men, if you want to score big brownie points, be good to your wives when they are pregnant.

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Do Da Do Da...



Okay Here's My Deal...

Two more days and then I'm done DO DA DO DA

Two more days and then I'm done OH DA DO DA DAY!!!!!!!!!!!

Can you tell that I am excited to have only two more days to be done with school until next August? I am just ready to be done...the weather is getting warmer and with a 36 week pregnant human furnace like me that is not good...especially in a non air conditioned building. Besides, it is getting to that point where the kid are getting squirrely and I am losing patience.

All of the things i agonized about are done...sort of. My room is no longer a disaster, but it is not exactly organized. I just sort of put things into piles and stacked them onto bookshelves to be sorted out in the fall. My lesson plans have been done for a long time and my sub has had them for a couple of weeks to peruse and get acquainted with what we are doing. Other department chair type things that needed to be done after I left have been delegated into capable hands and are no longer my problem. The last meeting I have to attend is tomorrow morning and that will be relatively painless.

So, listen carefully over the next 36 hours or so...that DO DA DO DA you hear in the background is me--smiling and humming and anticipating the oh so near day of my c-section and the birth of my second son!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sunday, April 01, 2007

A Whole Different View



Okay, Here's My Deal...

Being just over 36 weeks pregnant means that I am getting tired more easily. Mostly as we get done shopping at Wal-Mart lately, I got sit on a bench near the door fanning my self with my oriental folding fan catching my breath as my husband and son go play air hockey and ride the rides.

Does that ever give you a whole new view of the various clientele that go to Wal-Mart. I know, I am clientele at Wal-Mart, too. I am just saying that you see a wide variety of people going into the store...but oddly enough, it is the same variety of people no matter what Wal-Mart you are at. I mean, people are people everywhere.

Fit people, fat people, way skinny people, way fat people. People who are way skinny on top and way fat on the bottom...mismatched if you will. Then there is the person whose body is just not describable. You've seen them.

People alone, people with kids, adult children with older parents, grandparents and grandkids. People who are obviuosly dating or newlyweds...or maybe they have been married forever and have never lost that spark.

Grumpy people, cheery people. Laughing, crying, snarling...every emotion is there.

People with a purpose...that come back out in just a few minutes. People who have returns. People who come back into the store in a few minutes after leaving because they forgot something.

People who must have the day off from the freak show.

You know you have seen all ofthese people, too. I am these people. So are you.

To end this not so thrilling little entry, I will quote my Ohio Buck-a-roony friend, who taught methe official Wal-Mart Cheer:

"Wal-Mart, Wal-Mart that's our store! We shop these 'cause we're poor!"

Search Popdex:
my pet!