Busy weekends were well worth it!

Our last few weekends have been pretty busy! Not last weekend, but the weekend before, my brother and dad came over and installed new windows in my living room. They look fantastic, and I am soooo happy with them!! I cant thank them enough for doing that for us! It was a little scary at first seeing a saw cutting into your house, but once they got the holes cut where the windows would go, I was very excited!
Thank you so much Chris and Dad!!!

We've had some leaky pipes in our master bathroom, and until this weekend had just chosen to ignore it, and quit using our master bathroom shower. Derek's uncle Mike came over this weekend to help us with the pipes, and we had to cut a big hole in the ceiling in our kitchen to get to them. Again, very scary seeing a hole being cut into your ceiling! It appeared that the problem was that the builders had just failed to tighten the pipes very well when they built the house, and also not enough putty around the drain.... I think. There was also a little mold where the water had been sitting. Thank you Uncle Mike for volunteering your Saturday morning to help us with this! We greatly appreciate your help!

After that, we had to go to Home Depot to get some supplies so Derek could patch the hole in the ceiling. He did a fantastic job for having had no experience, and I am very proud of him! Then Saturday night, I was getting ready to go to bed, and I opened the front door to call the cats inside, and I noticed what looked like a huge spider on the porch railing. So I called Derek to check it out. Turns out, a certain plumber who thinks he's funny had left a plastic spider there for me to find and freak out at. Lets just say that even being close to a plastic spider made me a little panicky, so I made Derek throw it away.... BUT I made him wrap it in toilet paper first because I just know that when I go change the bathroom garbage, I would see that spider there and probably scream and scare the daylights out of Jadon again!

Anyways, I wanted to show you pictures of our windows!

Here's a before shot, showing you our old windows.....

And here's the new windows....


While I'm at it, here's a picture of the main upstairs bathroom that I recently painted (cupboards white, walls tanish color...) sorry I don't have a before shot of the bathroom.

Beautiful day gone sooooo wrong!!

Well it surprisingly turned out to be a beautiful day today! With that said, while Jadon was napping, I was able to go outside and get some flowers planted. I've been waiting to do that for a long time! Seems like its been a very long long winter, and that it doesnt want to go away!

ANYways, as I was sitting on my driveway planting flowers, there was one area that was pretty heavily bark-mulched. I start moving it around with my hands (I was not wearing gloves, I should add), and grabbed a clump that I thought was a rock, or a wad of clay. Our yard has been a real mess to deal with since the day we moved in because all of the soil in our yard is clay. So after years of experience with the clay, that is what I thought I had picked up. Turns out it was a nice, FRESH, yellow cat turd!!!!!!!!! I just stared at it in my hands for a minute, shocked at what was currently taking place in front of me, and awaiting that too familiar scent of cat poo. It never came though. For that, I was grateful! But ick, it was all over my hand, so I wiped my hand on the grass, then I hosed my hand off, then came inside and washed my hand twice, and I STILL feel dirty! YUCK!!!!!!!!!!!

This yellow mess was no doubt from a very LARGE cat....

It's A God Thing!

So I am a part of a group called the Pinecone Research Panel. Its an online survey company, they send you a survey once or twice a month in your email, you take this survey that is no longer than 20 minutes long about potentially new products coming out on the market, and a week or so later they send you a $3-$5 check. I know, its not much, but since I do not help with the income in our house, I enjoy doing these little surveys to earn a few extra dollars, because at the end of the month, thats an extra $3-$5 that we didnt have before that I can now blow on lunch for myself or whatever! Anyways, occasionally they send you a free product to try.

A couple weeks ago, I did a survey about a new low calorie/low sugar soda possibly coming out. Today, I was in my kitchen feeding Jadon lunch, and it was just kindof one of those irritating mornings, I was feeling kindof tired, cranky and sorry for myself. I thought about how I really wanted a soda right then, but how I didnt want to leave the house to go get one. I wished that I could just go online and order one, or call and order one (like pizza), and then I even thought about how I wished one would just appear out of nowhere!

No more than 45 minutes later, as I was cleaning up our lunch, there was a knock on the door. I opened the door, and there was a box on the porch and the UPS man was just pulling away. It was from the Pinecone Research Panel..... and I immediately knew what was in the box! They sent me a 20oz bottle of soda to try out! I smiled to myself and instantly my mood changed.

I felt like it was Gods little reminder to me that He is always there with me, even in my down times, and that He was reminding me that I have so much to be thankful for! Its the little things, like this soda showing up on my front porch, that remind me of how much He loves His children!

Oh, and just in case you're wondering, the soda is REALLY good! I cant tell you anything about it though, i'm sworn to secrecy! :)

Happy unBirthday Jadon!!

Today was the day Jadon was supposed to have been born (a year ago anyways).... obviously he had other plans though! Its just weird to think about... for me it really puts into perspective just how early he was. It seems like his first birthday party was months ago!

Well it looks like we might get some snow tonight! The weather men are saying theres a chance! I cant believe it, its April 18 for Pete's sake! I'm more than ready for some warmer, nicer weather! I even bought some flowers to plant yesterday, but thought id keep them on the porch until this unseasonably cold weather passes. Its beginning to feel like winter is never going to leave!

Tomorrow morning my big brother is coming over to replace our downstairs windows! (He is a general contractor.) I cant wait!! I hope the house will look ok with bigger windows! I took before pictures, and I intend to take some after pictures as well! I'm very excited!!!

Well, Jadon is AGAIN sick! Wednesday he was doing a little coughing, then Thursday it got a little worse, and by Thursday night he was up all night coughing, and today he's got the coughs, sneezes, and really runny nose! He had a very minor low grade fever tonight as well. Poor guy! I feel so bad, we are still not quite over our other colds yet! I'm sooooo ready for summer!!!!!!!!!

My kid can eat!!!!!

So, since shortly before Jadon's first birthday, we've begun having some issues getting him to eat certain things. Its gotten better, but he still will not eat more than a couple bites of some foods. His favorite foods right now are anything that has to do with fruit, olives, and jelly sandwhiches (we havent given him peanut butter yet.) Usually he will polish off half of a jelly sandwhich like nothing, so I always end up giving him several other things to satisfy his appetite. Today for lunch I decided to make a whole sandwhich and see how much he ate of it. Well, he ate all of it but 2 bites! Yes! So then I gave him about 6 bites of the bean burrito that I was eating... would've given him more, but that was all that was left of it. So I then gave him some diced fruit as well! When he eats things that he likes, he is like a bottomless pit! How does a person that is soooo small, eat soooo much????

My next story is just amazing to me. Jadon makes a filthy at all meals, so we strip him down to his diaper most of the time, and let him make as much mess as he wants. Afterwards though, cleanup is a disaster! He manages to get food all the way to his feet, on his legs, in his diaper, on his back, and then from the chest up he is completely covered in his meal. As we clean him, a good portion of it falls on the floor, so after i'm done cleaning him, I grab a rag, and crawl around on the floor wiping up all the crumbs and mess. Well yesterday I was folding clean towels, and Jadon grabbed one of the clean towels, went over to the linoleum and started "wiping" the floor!!! The amazing thing to me is that he is beginning to comprehend these everyday things now and remember them! It is just so cute! Oh, and he calls our cats "sss." (not like hissing) Pretty much any word that you say that has an "s" in it, he picks up on it right away and says "sss". But today the cats walked by him and he actually called them "sss".

I love being a mom!!!

America's Funniest Home Videos

So I don't know if you all watch America's Funniest Home Videos or not, but we do on occasion. Last night I was watching it while I was feeding Jadon. One of the videos was a man talking on the phone....he is scared to death of spiders. And someone put a tarantula on his back, and it crawled up his back, over his shoulder and down his chest. The man has no idea, and everyone around him is laughing. The man stands up facing the camera, (still talking on the phone) and the other people in the room must start pointing to his chest or something, because the man starts feeling his shirt, and puts his hand right on this tarantula!!! Then freaked out obviously! As many of you know, I am horribly terrified of spiders, and for some reason I couldn't stop watching this video! I got so into it that when the man put his hand on the spider and freaked out, I too started screaming and freaking out! Then I hear Jadon whimper and I was brought back to my senses and I looked at him, and his little bottom lip is sticking out a mile and he starts crying. I had scared him!:( Then Derek came running downstairs saying "whats going on down here?"

I really really REALLY hate spiders!!! I used to have nightmares almost every night about them... just ask my husband, I woke him up every time I had one because I would suddenly jump out of bed, turn the light on, and start looking through the bed sheets to make sure there were none in the bed. Thankfully, I haven't done that in a long time! ;)

Sick of Being Sick!!

I've had this cold now for about a week and a half or so, and I'm soooo ready to just rip my nose off! I woke up this morning and my chest just aches from all the coughing, and I'm afraid I'm going to get laryngitis.
I spent half the night coughing and blowing my nose, and the other half with Jadon who again didn't want to sleep. Nothing is more frustrating than laying your tired head on your pillow, only to have your nose plug as soon as you lay down. So you try breathing through your mouth (which I hate doing!), only to get a dry, itchy throat which prompts a lovely little cough attack. And the cycle just repeats all night long!

THIS is why I am germaphobic!!!! I hate being sick!!!!!!!! :(

Sorry!!!

Sorry to all my loyal readers.... i've been MIA for a while! I decided to paint our main upstairs bathroom, and it took a good solid week and a half to do it! I decided to paint for several reasons. Its a small bathroom, so I decided to paint the cabinets white to try to make it look bigger. Also, when/if (I say if because of the way the economy is now) we sell I want it to look as good and as big as possible! So the cabinets I painted white as well as all the trim, and the walls are now a light chocolate-ish color... very pretty! Then yesterday I went to town and bought a few new things: shower curtain, a few hand towels, soap dispenser, 12" fake palm plant, a yummy smelling reed diffuser, and a bath mat. So after I got the place cleaned up of all the painting materials, and put out all my new things, it now has the feel of a mini-spa! I love it! I still need a few more decorative items (artwork for the walls mainly), and I still have some minor painting to do, but other than that, I am very proud of the fruits of my labor! It was really hard trying to balance everything: Jadon, Derek, my other household duties, etc.. along with the painting, and I started to feel like every other aspect of my life was beginning to suffer... Jadon wasnt getting my attention, the house hasnt been cleaned in a few weeks now and is totally driving me nuts, and we had a few nights of just nachos for dinner. So I feel great now that I'm done with that project for the most part and can focus my energies back on the things that are more important in my life.

On that note, I wanted to update you on Jadon's sleeping. A few weeks ago I had written that he had 6 great nights in his own bed, then 2 bad nights. After those 2 bad nights, he went back to sleeping again in his own bed, and has been there ever since!!! I didnt want to say anything sooner and jinx it, but its been two or so weeks now, and things are going well! Last night wasn't the greatest, he was awake at 1:45am, and didnt sleep much more after that. So I think he's going to be conquering a new milestone, or cutting some more teeth, because thats usually what he does for several nights when something big is going to happen! We'll just have to wait and see now! Also, he is completely walking now... only crawls about 3% of the time! He just LOVES being able to wander around and carry his toys with him! Its so cute! I am so lucky to have two of the greatest boys in my life! :)

Wow I'm Getting Old!!

Has it really been 10 years already since I graduated from highschool???? How is that possible??!! I'm beginning to feel ancient!
Last week, Derek and I were watching American Idol, and the contestants had to sing songs from their birth year, and one of the contestants was born in 1990! In my mind, someone born in 1990 should only be about 5-8 years old! Not 17! I was trying to think of where the last 10 years of my life have gone.... and its pretty simple:
First year after graduation I just worked and screwed around, and wasted money. The next year I met the love of my life and then my head was in a fog for several years. ;) Then the 4th year after graduation, I got married to the love of my life, and landed my glorious job at the Corvallis Clinic. The following year, we bought our first house...(oh the excitement of purchasing your first house!) The next two years were spent working, traveling, and purchasing things for our house to make it our home. The 8th year, we got pregnant unexpectedly, then miscarried, then a month later got pregnant again unexpectedly. Then last year was spent doting on our first born, and that brings us here to today! Other than that first year out of highschool, the last 10 years have been amazing! We are so blessed to be where we are today!

On a different note, as many of you already know, Jadon developed a nasty nasty rash on sunday evening. I took him to the doctor on Monday, and they said it was a reaction to a virus and told us to give him childrens benedryl. Whether or not she's right or not, we may never know. I still have a feeling that this rash was caused from his chicken pox vaccine that he had had just 2 weeks earlier, especially after hearing of my cousin's friend whose son had the exact same thing happen after his chicken pox shot. Either way, Derek and I both agreed we'd rather Jadon have a nasty rash for a few days than the full-blown chicken pox! Today the rash is almost gone, but he still goes back to the doctor tomorrow to get rechecked. He has also developed another cold from who knows where... probably the nursery at church. I too have had a scratchy throat for the last few days, and still waiting to see if its from Jadons cold, or if its seasonal allergies. Hopefully just allergies, but I will gladly and happily take a cold ANY day over the stomach stuff!