Holy cow! It's been almost two weeks since I've blogged. Well, a lot has went on since I last wrote. Mackenzie's stomach pain seems to be in check since starting the meds. I get to take her off the meds on Monday and see how she does. We hope it was just a temporary imbalance in her stomach. I'd hate for her to be on medicine full-time, but that's what we'll do if need be.

Last Monday, the 26th, I found out I am pregnant. Surprise, surprise! So that's why I couldn't stay awake much, and that's why I've felt like I was gonna puke everyday for the past two weeks. LOL It sure explains a lot. I decided to take a test just to rule it out, I honestly didn't think it would be positive. I got my little digital timer, peed on the stick, then set the timer for 3 minutes and put it on top of the test window. I think I just knew at that point, because I've never been nervous to look at the tests except when I knew they'd be positive. When I finally got up the courage to take the timer away and saw two lines, I literally couldn't breathe for a minute. I was freaking out. I called Darrell and told him, he took it all in stride. He's always steady when I'm freaking out. :)

So, I figure I'm due on September 5th. I've got a preliminary appointment on Tuesday, the 3rd. They'll do a test to verify the pregnancy, etc., then I'll have to call and make my first 'real' appointment. I've decided to use the same Dr. that I used with Hunter, Mackenzie, and Shelby. Darrell and I both like him, and he knows all of my history. I was shocked when I was pregnant with Shelby, and we were discussing birth weights, that he could recall the ballpark weights of Hunter and Mackenzie! He is a very busy doctor, he sees LOTS of people, I couldn't believe he remembered that. Of course he could have checked it beforehand, too. LOL

My "estranged" sister actually called me yesterday. I had just called my SIL to ask her something, so when the phone rang I thought it was her and answered without checking the caller ID. I had to sit for a minute before I realized it was my sister. She had called my Mom and Sara had told her about the pregnancy, so she called to congratulate me. It was awkward, and we talked for only a few minutes. :/

My BIL is a jerk-off. This is my oldest sister Stacey's husband. He's very into the 'husband is the head of the household, what he says goes' mindset, although he doesn't treat my sister with the respect that is supposed to go along with that life. She's more submissive, as in fixing his plate at dinner, even before she fixes the kids'. I've seen her fix his plate, then fix the kids', then him already be finished and want more, and her fix him more all before she can fix her own plate and eat. If the kids want company or want to go somewhere, they have to ask Dad, Mom doesn't make any of those decisions on her own. They see us as deviants, they probably think we are unfit to raise kids. LOL We aren't religious, we don't go to church, we don't pray, heck I don't even know that I believe in God. We swear, we let the kids watch 'objectionable' materials, Darrell drinks on occasion, used to be more often before he started his meds. They never come to visit, but I remember once they were over and the BIL actually had the nerve to ask me, when I offered something to drink, if we had anything besides beer in the house.

So, they don't let their kids stay over here with my kids because of that. Of course, they don't outright say it that way, but I know. My nephew Brandon is 10. He called today and asked if he could stay the night with Hunter. I said it was OK. He had to hang up and call his dad and ask him. He called back a few minutes later and said his dad said no. Then he wanted to know if he could come over while my sister goes to the store tomorrow. I said sure. Somehow I ended up inviting all three of her kids over to play while she shops. And she is not known for her speediness. :/ I just hope it's warm tomorrow so I can send them all outside. I guess I'm good enough to babysit, huh?

I was telling Darrell about it and he said it would get on his nerves if I sent the kids to him to ask him every little thing. I am perfectly capable of making decisions like that on my own. When the kids do ask if they can spend the night somewhere or if someone can stay with them, I just give them the answer, I don't even confer with Darrell. He's fine with whatever decision I make.

I guess that's all I'll bore you with for now. :) Maybe I can keep this thing updated better from now on. It just always seems to get pushed to the bottom of the list. Plus, I've felt like shit with morning sickness lately.

I keep thinking it's Sunday. That's why I hate Monday holidays. I'll be screwed up for the rest of the week now.

I had a boring weekend. We went to Columbia on Saturday to pick something up at Wal-Mart. Our WM sucks ass, so we had to drive all the way up there. I bought me a digital scale while we were at it. It's pretty nifty. I was weighing everybody when we got back home. Hee!

Yesterday I was being so lazy. I could not muster up the energy to clean or anything. I kept falling asleep just sitting on the couch watching tv. Weird. It must be a sign to get my ass off the computer at night and go to bed. Shelby has recently stopped sleeping in so well. She's been getting up with me at 6 everyday, which is fine on the weekdays, but she's doing it on the weekends too. Wah! Just when Hunter and Kenzie start sleeping in later, Shelby wants to get up at the buttcrack of dawn.

I had to take Kenzie to the Dr. today for her stomach pains. I got up early (thanks to Shelby), and got both bathrooms cleaned before I had to call the ped's office and make the appointment. They made it for 9:40, and it was 8:30 when I called, so we had to leave within 15 minutes. I hadn't even ate breakfast at that point. We left at about 10 til 9 and made it with 5 minutes to spare. But anyway. Before I left, I asked Darrell to do a few things for me. Nothing difficult:

-dust the living room
-when the washer finished, put the clothes in the dryer
-take something out of the fridge to thaw for supper
-put the breakfast dishes in the dishwasher and run it

That was it. I figured when I got home, I could finish laundry (folding), mop and vacuum. Oh, he also had to put Shelby down for a nap, not hard. I get back at 10 after noon. The kitchen counters were clear of dishes, but had not been wiped down. My fault, I should know that when I said load the dishwasher, that didn't mean wipe down the counters. Duh. I asked if Shelby had napped, and he said yes, she'd just woke up. Then he told me that he didn't put the clothes in the dryer, because Shelby was asleep. I run the dryer with her asleep all the time, I just make sure to catch it before it buzzes. THAT will wake her up.

So, I put the clothes in the dryer, and ask if he dusted the living room. 'No', he says. So I said 'What DID you do? Run the dishwasher and put out some hamburger meat?' Then he actually said, out loud!, 'You don't give a person enough time.' What? I actually started laughing, because it was so absurd. I said 'I was gone for three and a half hours!' These were not mammoth tasks, all of them combined shouldn't have taken more than a half hour, and that's being generous. I told him I could have asked him to fold all the laundry (3 baskets, plus one in the dryer and the previously mentioned one in the washer), vacuum and mop, in addition to the other things. At least Hunter got his room cleaned while I was gone like I asked him to.

The consensus on Mackenzie seems to be acid reflux. She's taking Tagamet for a month as a trial thing. If it helps, great; if not, we're back to square one. They did have her give a urine specimen, and do a strep culture, both of which were negative. (Although I don't know what they tested the urine for) She hates the medicine, she said it smells like vinegar. LOL It's not that bad, but if it doesn't taste like candy then it's yucky. She's on two doses a day. I gave her the first two today, and her belly was still bothering her this evening. I wish I had thought to ask how long before I would see results, provided this medicine does the trick. I'm not going to make her suffer for a month if this doesn't work, but I don't want to go running back up there before it's had a chance to do anything. I guess I could call tomorrow and ask.

Don't you hate stupid song lyrics? There are many, many song lyrics that make absolutely no sense out lately. And inaccurate song lyrics bugs me even more. There is a song that Hunter likes called " 'Cuz the chicks dig it", it's a country song. The first line of the chorus says 'scars heal'. What? A scar is a scar, man, it doesn't heal. And since it's in the chorus, I have to hear it multiple times when Hunter listens to the song. Darrell says he used the word because it flowed well with the music, syllable wise, ya know. Well, I say 'wounds' is also one syllable, would have worked just as well, and is correct, because wounds do in fact heal.

Since I'm handing out my gripes, don't you hate it when people have to one up you with their health complaints? Darrell is the world's worst. I cannot mention that I have a headache, my legs are sore, my belly hurts, back hurts, or anything hurts or is sore without him telling me about his aches and pains. Maybe he thinks he's just commiserating, but it's highly annoying. I've taken to just not complaining about my minor aches and pains because I have to hear about his in return. You know, when I say 'God, my head hurts', I'm not really looking for you to say anything, maybe just a little 'that sucks' or something. I don't need to then know that your back hurts and has hurt for a week now, along with the toothache and the giant hole in your skull. Why do you feel the need to outdo my aches and pains?

I looked through the clothes I have put up this morning. I thought there was a lot more clothes put up for Shelby than I found. There is only one of those bigger Rubbermaid containers in there, and it's filled 3/4 of the way with Hunter's summer stuff from last year, Kenzie's summer stuff from last year, and some stuff that's still too big for Mackenzie. I separated all the clothes into piles according to size. I only had like 4 items that are 2T, a few sweatshirts and one outfit that are size 3, then only about two or three things each in sizes 4 and 5. I know I was given a whole bunch more clothes than that. I don't know where I might have put them. I thought there was still some winter 2T things that Shelby could probably fit into now.

If anything is in the shed it won't be found until spring though. We're going to clear out the shed, build better shelving units in there and use it purely for storage. Darrell has his big shed where he keeps the mower, 4-wheelers, and all his tools. The small shed is just full of junk. I do keep some of my Christmas decorations out there, but it's just two containers. The tree, all the tree decorations, and all of my indoor decorations are in the closet inside. I could save so much room if I could store all of that out in the shed, along with the seasonal clothes for the kids.

I am dreading the spring clean-up though. Our yard looks like a typical hillbilly family's at the moment. LOL There are two, yes two couches sitting out by my driveway that need to be hauled off. On the side of Darrell's big shed is just a bunch of garbage, things he's set out there. Behind the shed is old lawnmowers, stripped of course, old motorcycles, all the old bicycles the kids have ever owned, plus our skeletons of two raised beds from our attempt at a vegetable garden last year. And how can I forget the shells of the truck Darrell bought last spring that ended up being a lemon, and the van he also bought when trying to fix the truck. Maybe I should just embrace my hillbillyness and make flowerbeds out of them. We are picking the first warm day and borrowing Richard's truck and cleaning all of that up. Oh, who am I kidding. It'll take at least a weekend, if not two or three weekends. Especially with the dump only being open half days on Saturday and closed on Sunday.

Ah, Monday. We had a pretty uneventful weekend. On Saturday morning, we had to go over to my Mom's and do something to her computer. Darrell had worked on it and fixed it a few days before, but there was a problem. We were there an hour, during which time Molly managed to get mud on Darrell and Mackenzie, and Shelby found an old coke can and dumped the contents on herself. Molly is the dog, btw. A huge golden retriever that they have inside. So we came home and let them change clothes, then headed to Columbia. I wanted to look at Hobby Lobby and see how their scrapbooking selection is. Very good, as it turns out. I've requested scrapbooking supplies for our anniversary. :)

After that, we went to two pet shops and found nothing, then to a dollar store. I got some sets for the computer, you can do iron on transfers for shirts, magnets, mousepads, and even a shrinky-dink type of set, all for $1 each. Then we went by Lowe's and got some stuff for the fish tank, or stuff to make something for the fish tank, I should say.

We got home at 10 minutes to 4, having to be at Rebecca's birthday party at 4. Ugh. So we unloaded stuff, changed diaper, then left again. The kids had a good time at the party, they love playing with their cousins anyway.

Sunday I cleaned all day, per usual. I had to go to the grocery store too, since I didn't get to go on Saturday. We didn't need much this week, though.

Weigh in was this morning, I haven't lost or gained since last Wednesday. I am sure that no loss can be directly attributed to my two day slip last week. I am very glad there was no gain though. I've got to get more exercise and more water in this week. Maybe it'll warm up enough for Shelby and I to hit the park everyday this week. I need to check the forecast.

Must go for now. Shelby's up from her nap, and I have to vacuum and fold two loads of clothes.

I'm boring this week, there's really nothing going on. The kids are back in school and everything is back to normal, just doing the same old stuff. I've been doing better about keeping up on the housework this week. Of course that can fall apart at a moment's notice. Heh. No big plans for the weekend. I've got to try to get the Christmas lights taken down and put away. I still have green garland hanging on my fence, and a concrete snowman out there. LOL

My neice's birthday party is tomorrow evening. It's from 4-6 PM. I hate evening time parties. It's gonna screw up dinner. I don't know why my sister thinks she has to have a party for each one of her kids every single year. Hell, Hunter and Mackenzie haven't had parties since they were 1 & 2 years old. We do a birthday dinner, cake and presents, but no huge get together with decorations and company. Speaking of birthdays, their birthdays are coming up fairly soon. Mackenzie's and Shelby's in a month and a half. I don't know what we're doing for them yet. Kenzie wants a party, but I don't know. I wanted to redo her room and have it finished by her birthday, but we've ran into some unexpected mold problems, and we're going to have to replace all the walls in her room, which adds expense. I don't think it'll be even started by her birthday, because the wall has to be done first, and it costs the most. She said something about Rapunzel Barbie, so maybe we'll just get her a couple of more Barbie things to go with the dollhouse and things she got at Christmas.

Shelby, I think, is getting one of those battery operated driveable cars. Nothing fancy, just something she can play with outside as it warms up. They have the one seater models at Wal-Mart for around $100, and one seat is all she needs, otherwise Hunter and Mackenzie will be trying to ride. We wanted to get her one for the summertime anyway, so we can kill two birds with one stone here.

Hunter's birthday is a month after the girls', and he's getting a new bike. He's had his current bike for 2 years, and he's extremely rough on it. He wanted a new one for Christmas, but we decided to do his birthday instead since it's closer to summer and warm weather.

Wow, it has been a few days since I updated, huh? I didn't realize it'd been that long..

So. . . what's new. Hm, I've been doing really good on my eating, mostly. I've went overboard a few times, and last night pretty badly. I paid for it this morning though, my stomach hurt like the dickens. I didn't feel like eating breakfast then, but I made myself have a small bowl of cereal. I don't want to start skipping breakfast again. I bought me some Special K with berries at the store today, much better than Froot Loops. Ha!

The kids went back to school today. They had a pretty good day, it was fairly easy to get back into the routine again. I figured it'd be harder. I got up at 5:45 this morning with no trouble, the kids got up easily. They were ready to go 20 minutes before time, so they watched Between the Lions on PBS until we left.

This week is pretty boring. Maybe it'll get exciting tomorrow. Sorry to all my readers. Hahaha!

btw, did anybody notice I posted my last entry at 19 seconds after midnight? LOL

I am SO tired today. I have been busy, busy, busy! It all started last week. Darrell woke me up in the middle of the night chasing a mouse around. It woke him up chewing on a water box that was at the back door to be took off. So we set out some traps and things, but didn't catch anything. On NYE, after we went to bed, we could hear one chewing in the kitchen. The next morning we get up and there is water in the kitchen floor in front of the dishwasher. I thought my dishwasher was broke. Darrell started pulling everything out from under the sink (dishwasher is next to the sink), and finally found that the little flexible tube that he has a reverse osmosis filter hooked to for the fish tank, has been chewed into, and there's our water.

So we decide we are going to deep clean the house, declutter, and get rid of these mice. Darrell set some traps and put them under the sink. He had turned on the RO machine at around lunch. After we got back from the grocery store he checked it and it hadn't filled up. He followed the line back and the mice had chewed into the tubing behind the tv too. So for about 4 hours, water was dripping onto my carpet behind the tv. Ugh! Darrell moved the tv stand (it had been catty corner in that area), and there was mouse shit everywhere. NASTY! They had chewed into some of the tv cords, and Darrell's playstation 2 controllers (he was pissed about that! they are so expensive).

This is the grossest fucking thing ever. Last night, we were getting ready for bed, and we heard one of the traps snap. Darrell went into the kitchen and it had caught a mouse by it's back leg. It ran back down into the hole it came out of with the trap still on it's leg. Darrell ended up having to pull out the kick board stuff that's under the cabinet, trying to find it. He finally found the trap, but the mouse had got away. There was blood on the trap, so it is injured at least. When we got up this morning, there was a mouse caught in a trap, but it wasn't the hurt one, so it's still loose. Maybe it went somewhere and died from the injury. Doubtful, nasty little bastards. So my cabinet is still empty tonight, we have glue traps and regular traps all around, and poison. We really want rid of the nasty little rodents.

So that's why I've been cleaning all day. I've been cleaning out all the closets, toyboxes, cabinets, top of the fridge, under sinks, etc. etc. I want to rid the house of any and all possible bedding spots for mice. I found a bunch of Froot Loops in the bottom of Shelby's toybox today. No wonder we have mice, heck, we've laid out a buffet for them apparently.

Mom came and got Hunter and Mackenzie yesterday. She called and asked if she could come get them for a while. They left around 2:30 or 3. Darrell, Shelby, and I went grocery shopping together, then when we got back Mom called and asked if they could just spend the night. She and Sara came down here and got their clothes and toothbrushes. Then we had Subway for supper. I had a full card, so I got a free 6" with the purchase of a drink. It was yummy too. Ham on wheat bread, with cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickle, and mustard. I prefer mayo on my ham and cheese, but I'm trying to watch what I eat. I REALLY prefer Subway's pizza subs, but I knew that was out of the question, TOO many calories. I picked from their 6 subs with 6 grams of fat thing.

Mom told me she didn't know when she'd bring the kids back today, then she called around 4 and asked if they could just spend the night again. She washed their clothes from yesterday, so they could wear them again tomorrow. I said okay, it's easier for me to get all this stuff done without having to fix 3 lunches, referee fights, and just have them generally underfoot. I miss them though. I got Shelby to sleep at about 8:30 this evening, and then the house was so quiet. I'm definitely not used to that! :)

New Year's Eve. Sitting at home like it's just another night. I remember when me and my girlfriends would spend hours getting ready: showering, shaving, putting on smelly stuff, make-up just right, hair just so. Because NYE is not just any old party night, ya know. Hee! Now I make Jell-O and buy gummi bears for my kids, make hot dogs and french fries for supper, let them stay up 'til midnight watching hours of tv, and drink one lonely little cooler drink at 11:30, which I am almost ashamed to say is making me feel a little tipsy. I am such a lightweight anymore. In my defense, I have been pregnant or breastfeeding since June 2001, and didn't really drink before then either. I think the last time I got drunk was 1995. Ha!

My healthy life begins tomorrow. I'm pretty psyched about it. I've got to go to the bank Friday and deposit some money to pay for my Weight Watchers subscription. I wish I could wait to grocery shop until I join and can get some recipes for next week, but I have to do the shopping tomorrow. I don't have enough food to last through Saturday. I'll just have to plan some meals and wing it, and hope for the best.

I told Hunter and Mackenzie they could stay up until midnight tonight, never thinking they'd last, but they're both in there in the living room still watching tv. After midnight (in 5 minutes!), I'm going to make them get to sleep. They are gonna be so tired tomorrow. I hope they're not cranky.

Hunter has major sucky attitude lately. He's just getting to be a little shit. I've been letting him slide on too many things I think. I told him (and Mackenzie too, although I haven't had any trouble from her lately) that I am tightening the belts on them. I am not putting up with this back-talking attitude. He reminds me of a teenager, and he's not even 8 yet!!

Must go, it's almost midnight. I don't want to be typing when the new year comes in. Happy 2004!!