Four in the Bed

noreply@blogger.com (Annamarie) — Fri, 07 Mar 2003 18:48:00 +0000

We're MOVING!
Finally! I've been taking loads of stuff over to the new place for the past week or so and when Josh has been off work he's done some of the things I can't do like installing the washer/dryer and closetmaid stuff. I think on Sunday we will start taking some furniture over but Im not sure if I want to start with the beds or end with the beds (which would take another week possibly). I hope the transition will go smoothly for the kids and I feel hopeful that it will because they are already there everyday and many of their toys are there already. (I'm not thrilled about not having a garage there, but we'll figure out something to keep things like the bikes safe.) We are eating some meals there as well and Megan is seeming to warm up to the changes that are coming. Yesterday we were there all day long doing stuff and it was hard on Dawson but I think once the beds are there and we are settled instead of going back and forth so much, he will do better. If he isn't adjusted soon I won't be surprised because I'm not sure I will adjust all that quickly. lol

When he wakes up, we are going to Target to look for a pantry cabinet to help me with the lack of storage this house has. I found one online that I like but I want to look in a store or two before I order.

My FIL had his prostate removed (I think totally) a little over a week ago and is doing better. He had a rough couple of days after coming home from the hospital but is out walking around in the nice weather a few times a day and is keeping busy by cleaning out all his drawers. I think they got rid of 1/2 their clothes this week. lol I've done a lot of that too lately. I think I've taken 4 van loads to Christian Ministries in the past couple of months.

Dawson has grown an inch in 2 months and looks quite a bit slimmer these days. He hasn't lost any weight though. His legs are way slimmer but his little gut still has plenty of baby fat. :) He told me this morning "moo" when I asked what the cow said. IT wasn't clear but I knew. :) He still doesn't say much more than "UH" though. ITs frustrating for me and for him too. I hope his little tounge will loosen up soon. Megan is the same. Shes way too smart for her own good though. ITs so funny to hear the things she says and the processes she comes up with for things. Something that I think is funny...the one tv personality (if you want to call him that) that she knows is "Benny Hinn Misteries" (ministries). lol

Well, D just woke up so its off to target now.

noreply@blogger.com (Annamarie) — Wed, 29 Jan 2003 19:03:00 +0000

Wow! Its been awhile!
Lots has happened. Josh took that job in huntersville and when he got there, the job didn't even exsist yet and they wanted him to be a salesman for an undisclosed amount of time while they worked on getting it. Turns out, the owner was fighting the position, as was the Gen. Mgr. so who knows when it would have come about. Josh quit on Friday of the same week and went back to Valley. I believe God used that to get Jody out of J's life as well as to teach Josh what he was taking for granted at Valley. He has been back almost a week and is WAY happier than he was in huntersville driving that distance and not seeing us much. J's dad is having surgery on Feb. 25 for his prostate cancer so they want us in the house before then and that is another reason J didn't want to be working an hour away. I believe that we will still be out of debt at the end of the year regardless of where Josh is working so I'm not upset to lose the salary he would have made as a manager. There is a reason for everything.

Megan has decided she doesn't like black people based on 3 men who delivered some furniture to my mom yesterday. They weren't dressed horribly or anything, but admitadly they looked very different than what she is used to seeing. (not that she has been sheltered in the slightest, we just don't have any black friends...maybe we need to be like George on Seinfeld and look for some. lol) Anyway, they scared her and despite our trying to convince her that God made them the way they are and that they are just like us, she has her mind made up that they are scary. I don't know what to do. She has a black bible study teacher and today she said she didn't want to go to BSF because her teacher was black. She did go though and finally let my mom leave her in her class. SHe said she had a good time and will go back next week. How frustrating though. I hope she will forget about being scared of the men in mom's house. They were very nice and polite men and except for the peek-a-boo butt crack on one of them, there wasn't anything strange about them. (well, I don't consider the braided hair strange, but to a 3 year old it may have been...who knows.) I just hope she doesn't decide to say something in public like my older sister did when she was M's age..."My mom told me about you people!" (blushing icon needed here)

D has a piece of enamle that has come off his tooth in front. It was the strangest thing to see it gone when it had been there earlier in the day. All of a sudden it was gone. I'm not worried about it right now. Megan needs to see a dentist though soon. SHe is 3 now and hasn't been yet! Her birthday was fun and full of ballerinas and princesses. She got some Angelina Ballerina stuff. I called a local studio about classes for her and it will be about $200 to start up. We don't have that right now so thankfully she isn't begging for them. She still loves gymnastics. D isn't talking at all still. Besides mama and dada, his words are all baby blabber still. After my sister checked his hearing the first time and he failed, a few days later he passed when she checked again. SO, from that I can figure that based on the amount of congestion in his head at any time, his ears may be plugged up or not, possibly effecting his hearing. Thankfully its not a constant thing though.

I have baby lust and told Josh if he would take me last night, I could get pregnant. LOL He wouldn't touch me with a 10 foot pole after that. I know we need to wait...its hard. lol

I don't know who said that 2 year olds are hard. I think 3 is WAY worse! Her will is Iron strong and won't bend for anything when she gets her mind on something. SHe won't even stop long enough to listen to a compromise. All she hears is "no" or "not right now" and shes off the deepend. Its a severe pain. I try to remember all the good things about a strong willed child...are there any? lol

noreply@blogger.com (Annamarie) — Sun, 05 Jan 2003 19:13:00 +0000

We just got back last night after spending 4 dyas at the beach. We had a great time and it was really relaxing not to have to do too much. We did cook in most meals in, but we got out some too. We went the first morning to the ocean and Megan took off her shoes and socks and we let her walk in the water some. It got really windy while we were there though so we left and went to Wendy's for lunch. The next day we had promised to buy Megan a new helmet since I ran her's over so we found a wal mart and got her a new set. That afternoon while D napped, I got to see "Two Weeks Notice" with my sister and mom. The next day my sister's family was leaving so we hung around all morning and then Josh took Megan to the Alligator Adventure Park. They had a really good time there too. The trip down was really pretty easy despite being in the middle of the night. I had to pee really bad once and couldn't find anywhere open so I peed in a diaper which was pretty funny. I sat there for several minutes not able to go because it just wasn't natural to pee that way. Then when I started, I couldn't stop and got scared that I would over flow the diaper. All was fine though thankfully. THe trip home was in the day time and was a bit more stressful but not too bad. I'm really glad we got to go. The last time we went on vacation was almost 2 years ago. We are planning to go to the outer banks this summer and then next year at this time we hope to go to Charleston, SC. WE weren't that pleased with the resort we chose this time because they didn't have an indoor pool or a pool available to us despite the fact that they told us there was one. The rooms were nice and big but the ammenities in the room weren't as good as others we have stayed in. I can't complain though. We had an almost free vacation.

noreply@blogger.com (Annamarie) — Sat, 28 Dec 2002 18:52:00 +0000

Christmas was fun and not very stressful at all despite cleaning the house from top to bottom on tuesday because family was coming over for brunch on CHristmas morning. It was amazing how much mess just a small pile of presents could make, but flylady came out and got the house whipped back into shape on wed. night. I also packed up 2 garbage bags of stuff that no one plays with and there is more to come when I have more time. Everyone just left for Myrtle Beach and Josh and I decided to go down as a family when he gets off work on tuesday. Hopefully it won't be too late when he gets off. Mimi got in a fight with a cactus when no one was looking this morning and I keep pulling pokies out of her body. My BIL was supposed to be watching her and I looked outside and there she was...not that she hasn't been told before. Poor girl.
My sister is an audiologist and she checked D's hearing this morning...he has fluid in both ears and failed the hearing test in both ears. :( I guess if he fails again before they go home next week I will take him to the dr to make sure everything is ok. Josh starts at the new dealership on the 6th in the sales department but they dont think it will take long to transition him into the new position. THey have to convince the owner they need him, but neither manager feels it will be a problem since the guy doing it now isn't really able to give any attention to the store in huntersville because the store in Charlotte needs him too much. I'm not bothered by him selling down there though because the salesmen there make twice what Josh has been making, and it won't be too long...anyway, YAY! Another answered prayer.
After D wakes up, I'm going out to look for party stuff for M's birthday and 2 helmets. M's helmet was going to be given to D, but somehow it got under the van this morning and isn't worth 2 cents anymore. :( Always something. LOL

noreply@blogger.com (Annamarie) — Fri, 20 Dec 2002 18:26:00 +0000

Well, we decided not to buy the Impala. There were too many reasons that I kept coming up with why I didn't want a car and low and behold, yesterday (after getting D's cast off) there were 3 2002 Chrysler Town and Countries sitting outside that had just been delivered. I told Josh to find out about them and call if it looked like something we wanted. Well, I had no sooner walked in the door and Josh was calling to tell me to come back. I put the kids back in the car and we flew back to the store and drove home a sage green one. :D Its just a little more expensive but I feel so much better driving it and it suits our needs more. Josh of course is happy that I am happy but quite dismayed that we are buying a Chrysler product. LOL (It is still under warrenty and has way less miles on it than the Impala had. It was a former rental car though as well.)

The other good news, and please pray for this to happen soon, Josh had a job interview on wednesday here. They just opened this new place and are going to need a manager to do only inventory. This move would really solve our problems. There are some draw backs, the biggest being that it will be an hour commute, but JOsh is going to ask if he can have a monday-friday schedule and be off on weekends. If not that, maybe he can have sunday and monday off and it would still be like a long weekend. It looks like the job is his, but we don't know now when he will start. All he knows is that it will be after the beginning of the year. He should get more info from his friend that works there now this weekend. I'm so excited and have already come up with a first draft of a budget. (we have never been able to plan a budget because we live from week to week most of the time) I am going to start a pretty heavy savings plan for us and one for each of the kids. We will also pay off our debt and other than the van, I know that will happen pretty quickly once we can actually throw a little extra their way every month. :) If he likes it there, maybe we can plan to move down there after we are out of debt and have some good savings to put down on a house. Mimi is on my lap now and wants to go look at maisy so I'm off!

noreply@blogger.com (Annamarie) — Sun, 15 Dec 2002 18:26:00 +0000

As if we needed anything else to happen, we've had another trying morning. We got ready and went to church this morning and all went normally until we got into the big golf-cart shuttle that takes us from the end of the parking lot to the front door. We were riding up the hill and the air was blowing in so I reached up to pull the zipper down on the flap when Megan fell out the side. We think her knees were run over, but she is just fine and if we hadn't already checked in at the ER, we would have just left because after the shock and all wore off, she was running around and acting normally thank God! One of the ministers at the church tracked us down and came up and waited with us and filled out an accident report and now we're at my parents house because Josh is gonna do some yard work. THere was another Thomas incident though when we got there. Daddy asked him to be quiet while I brought Dawson in and he continued to run his mouth so I said "SHHH!" and then "Can you not just be quiet?" and he threw a big 5 year old temper tantrum and Josh tracked him down where he proceeded to call me a Bitch and Josh proceeded to throw him across the hood of his car. I wish that hadn't happened obviously but this crap has gone on way too long. He respects no one and doesn't care about anyone els'es feelings. I did manage to get D back to sleep but I wasn't sure I would for a bit and Megan did end up waking up. Ugh! WHat a day!

noreply@blogger.com (Annamarie) — Fri, 13 Dec 2002 18:18:00 +0000

I've been thinking about the past 2 or so years online lately and have come to the realization that I have wasted so much of my life online. I'm not saying at all that noone matters to me and that I've wasted my life on you. If you matter to me, you know it. All my mama-sister's are not included, nor are most of the matrix mamas. WHen I say I have wasted my life on it, I am refering to all the drama, gossip and other garbage that has sucked so much of my time away from my family. I'm so glad I am able to come to the place where none of it matters. I have not officially left yaaps, but am no longer an active member there and I noticed some more has come up regarding the anon feature but haven't even cared to go look. I just don't have time to be sucked in to all of that. I have also suffered in my spiritual life and I like the way things are for me right now. This may sound strange to those of you who don't consider yourselves Christian, but I have been reading my Bible every day and feel a real relationship with my Heavenly Father now. I also am more involved with the kids in church than I ever was before and that is wonderful. Megan sang with the preschool chior on Wed. night and it was hilarious. I am sick of losing all that time I spent online and have more to give to them. I also feel my anger/rage issues disappearing. I stay more patient and I yell a LOT less. I'm not even sure I care about having the internet back on for the time being. I do miss being able to look up stuff on a whim (like the time D had hand/foot/mouth and I was able to get online and id it right away or study up on things like the Ezzo's to send to people like I did with my friend.). I also miss chatting occasionally with many of you, but life will change and settle down soon and I'm sure we'll get it turned back on eventually. I guess none of this really matters a whole lot, but I wanted to update on that part of my life.

Now to the fun stuff. There is a 2001 Chevy Impala sitting in the driveway right now. I am just test driving it at the moment but Josh decided to turn in an application so we should know something soon. Its pretty basic, but it drives nice, has a lot of room in the backseat and trunk and its priced well. I haven't heard back from Josh but I think its something we could sell easily or trade out of later on down the road. Oh and its silver. :) I really wanted a mini van but we haven't been able to find anything. THe one I wanted got sold by another salesman out from under me and everything else has been too expensive and since Josh is insistant that we buy where he works (which I can understand), there isn't much option. Anyway, I've prayed about this car and I feel at peace about it so if its meant to be, we will be approved and if its not, I'm not sure what we will do, but we will have something soon one way or another.

noreply@blogger.com (Annamarie) — Tue, 10 Dec 2002 21:09:00 +0000

Man, its been awhile! My mom was having computer problems too so I've been offline for quite awhile. The biggest news right now is that Dawson fell off the couch the other night and broke his wrist. Of course it happened on the worst night of the year (weather wise) but we got it taken care of and he's doing fine. He wriggled out of the first cast and we had it redone yesterday. They gave him Tylenol with Codien at the hospital to help calm him down and it made him loopy but wired him so he didn't sleep for many hours that night. Otherwise things have been great with him. My FIL was diagnosed with prostate cancer the very next day but they caught it very early and I'm sure things will be fine for him too.

The lease on my blazer is up tomorrow and I don't have a vehicle still. I'm not going to worry until we have to drive that blazer in and we don't have something to take home.

Thats the big news for us at the moment. I hope to get back over here tomorrow and catch up with everyone else. I sure miss everyone!

noreply@blogger.com (Annamarie) — Fri, 29 Nov 2002 19:03:00 +0000

AH, I think I am actually done with shopping for my kids. If I buy anything else, it will be stocking stuffers for Dawson. I was going to go in 1/2 for a wagon for Dawson, but my IL's found a really nice wooded side one for only 40$ so I got him a tricycle this morning at Target. He has been wanting to get on M's bike for awhile now so hopefully he will like this instead. I got Megan a Barbie this morning and some fabric to make both kids an outfit for Christmas and Megan an outfit for her Birthday to go along with her Angelina Ballerina book and puppet. :)

Thanksgiving was really nice. My family and J's family all ate together at his parents house and Megan got to play with her older cousin Emily. They had a ball putting on makeup and reading books and playing house. Dawson was upset a lot because (as Josh puts it) "he is short." lol He wants to be big but I didn't feel right about putting them in charge of him too so he got to be with the adults. I don't know what possessed me to shop today but we did and it was fun as well as frustrating and now mom is upset because she lost her watch. I did get Dawson's trike though so it was good that we went (for me anyway.)

I'm a little concerned about Dawson's not talking. He is 15 months old tomorrow and still says no more than mama, dada and aye (Hi). He only says mama and dada when he really wants to and I know his hearing is fine because he answers me with a nod or shake of his head. I'm going to give him a few more months and then I might ask for some help through the resource center to see if I can get him talking. He is at least babbling and he does it a lot when he really wants to. Maybe he will just be a quiet person (which would actually be nice if it counterbalanced Megan. haha) Speaking of Megan, she has learned to do a backbend and a cartwheel.

I don't know if anyone is even reading my blog anymore but I hope you havent given up on me. I've tried to post a few times and can't get mom's computer to do it. Here goes nothing...

noreply@blogger.com (Annamarie) — Sat, 09 Nov 2002 19:05:00 +0000

Mom and I just got back from shopping for our Samaritan's Purse shoe-box stuff. I wish I had gone with my first instict and stayed home. By the time my mom got herself ready (keep in mind I had showered, dressed and fed both kids and called her before I started so she could get ready and I still had to wait on her) it was getting close to 11 and we saw some yard sales to stop at. Those were a waste of time. WE went to the dollar tree and mom had to pick through everything they had in the store I think. D was tired, I was hungry and it took forever. WE went over to Tony's for a slice of pizza and then came home finally. Megan has allergies and D has a cold that isn't getting any better. :(

I don't think I'm going to get Megan the cash register toy. It goes against all I believe in and she is getting Barbie stuff that will thrill her to no end so I've changed my mind. My mom is getting her an itty bitty baby from American Girl and I think I'll make her (or buy) a sling to go with it. I'm getting in the mood finally for the holidays to return.

I thougth it would be hard to live without yaaps and blogging everyday but it really hasn't been. I miss my friends at mamasis the most and wish I could keep up with them more with chatting. Phone calls are so expensive but I guess I'll be doing more calling until we get the computer running again.

noreply@blogger.com (Annamarie) — Wed, 06 Nov 2002 18:08:00 +0000

Ah shit. BLogger ate my post.

Still around, still no modem. Megan is on her way to see Veggie Tales and is very excited. We should be moving at the end of the month. I"m packing already. We have a new sherriff finally and mom won her seat back on the school board.

noreply@blogger.com (Annamarie) — Tue, 29 Oct 2002 17:50:00 +0000

I'm NOT pregnant!!! I was 11 days late and sure the whole time that I wasn't but Josh sure was relieved to have proof lol!

I have a little more done on Megan's dress and if I can keep getting to work on it a few days a week for 30-45 min here and there I should have it done by the end of November. This Cinderella dress is her main Christmas presnent so I want it to be perfect and I'm going to make the headband and find her some fancy dress up shoes to go with it. She has also found a cash register set in the Disney catalog that she says she wants really bad. I'm torn. Its only $25 but it has a credit card thing with it which I don't want her to have. I have thought about calling it a library card or her princess club card or something like that. I'm not sure what I'll do yet. Josh wants to buy her at least 1 "real toy" so I'll probably give in. I still don't have any ideas on something to make for Dawson yet. I want to have a tradition of making them something each year that they can keep. Last year Josh built their train table (a small one) and I put together a huge art kit for Megan and found a table and 2 chairs at a yard sale that I fixed up for her. I want to get Dawson a wagon too but can't afford the whole thing so I have talked to Terri about us splitting up the cost some so we can get him a nice one. A friend of mine said you can find them in new or close to new condition at the flea market so I"m going to check into going that route and trying to save some $.

Josh and his dad started on the laminate flooring in the living room on Sunday. THey didn't get very far though because they claimed it took a long time to get started. I'm not sure if it really took a long time or if they just didn't have a clue what they were doing and it took that long to figure it out. Who knows. THey should finish the living room by the weekend and then they have the hallway to do. The kitchen still needs linoleum and the plummer needs to come back (which can happen any time now) to connect all the bathrooms and the kitchen. The last thing will be the mouldings and then the remaining wooden floors need to be refinished. That is the very last thing though because those rooms are being used still for construction stuff. I think we will be moving by the end of November. (although I have thought we would be moving soon for a very long time).

noreply@blogger.com (Annamarie) — Wed, 23 Oct 2002 14:51:00 +0000

My hair is now really dark with streaks of red in it. I love it, its exactly what I wanted! I am getting mixed reviews of it though (although I could care less). Megan said it looked a little funny, mom (who I knew would hate it) said it was too red but Josh (who really matters) said he really liked it. He has never cared what I did to my hair and I am so thankful for that. It really bugs me to hear women say they can't cut their hair because their husband doesn't like it short (or colored or whatever). I have nothing against marital submission, but when its about me, I ask his opinion if I care for it and then do what I like.

My period seems to be missing which has Josh worried. We had unprotected sex once but I am positive I wasn't ovulating. I don't feel pregnant but I'm a week late and wishing I had kept up better with my cycle. I'm giving myself to the weekend and then I'll probably test. I should have kept my damn mouth shut about not repeating last time a few weeks ago. I talked to Courtney and there are some things that were going on during the times when I would have normally ovulated that could have pushed it back and I feel like that is probably what happened but I am sick of this nagging feeling in my gut that I don't know. If I am, this will be the last baby for us. Josh will get a vas because I cannot risk that happenening again. Anyway, I'll keep you updated.

Josh is downstairs hauling off trash out of my parents basement for them. He has to go to work in awhile so I'll take the kids and go home. Its COLD today and I am feeling like a big pot of pintos. :) Its been a slow month for him at work and a little discouraging too. I hope he can keep his head clear and stay focused on selling.

Megan is drawing faces. She draws a very good circle for the head and then either 2 dots for eyes or 2 smaller circles for eyes and then a dot for the nose and a smiley mouth. I am very impressed. (but of course). Dawson still isn't talking very much but I see improvement in his babbling so I am not worried. I've been told that boys can take longer to mature in this way so I feel he is still within normal range. He is such a sweetie though. He loves to cuddle which I am happy for because Megan never would let anyone do that with her. (unless she was nursing of course.)

I need to go check on D, he's sleeping downstairs. later

noreply@blogger.com (Annamarie) — Wed, 16 Oct 2002 17:36:00 +0000

me again. I can't believe the amount of clutter my parents live with. They have a king size bed and when mom goes to bed at night she pushes the junk to the middle of the bed. There is stuff sticking out of every nook and crany of the computer desk. There is stuff piled underneath the computer desk and beside the computer desk. There is stuff piled on top of the file cabinet (which is not full) and beside the file cabinet. THere is stuff all over the floor next to the bed and computer desk and dresser...this isn't half of it. She has stuff (at least stacked neatly) in a bookshelf, and 2 file cabinets (5 drawers total) and 2 white file crates and then there is downstairs which I haven't touched. I can't believe this. No wonder I have a problem with having a place for everything.

noreply@blogger.com (Annamarie) — Wed, 16 Oct 2002 13:47:00 +0000

I tried to update last time I was at my parents but I couldn't get Blogger to work that day. I think it was last Friday. Anyhoo, I called Mina last weekend and thats the only online contact (sorta) that I have had in awhile. We have all been sick since Monday. Actually I felt it come on on Sunday but on mon I felt like a truck had run me over. Today I'm feeling much better and the kids are acting better too. Just some lingering cough. Josh went to the race on Sunday and its a wonder he isn't sick too as much as it rained that day. My house has fallen apart in the past couple of days so I hope to get it squared away and I'm going to do some cleaning here at my mom and daddy's this morning because they need to have an appraisal done soon. I don't know where to start. Mom and Megan are at BSF this morning and then mom leaves for the rest of the week to go to a school board seminar in Asheville. Daddy has an appt in Asheville tomorrow too but I guess he'll be going alone. I would go but I don't know what I would do with the kids in a dr. office...its not possible I think. FIL has been off work and working on our house this week. Josh is helping him today. It doesn't look like it will take that much more work for us to move in, its just going to take the time. I'm tired of waiting tbh.
The modem we bought isn't loading for Josh. My computer savy friend is going to have a look at it one of these days. She just hasn't had the time and we've been sick so maybe next week.

If you haven't seen A Walk To Remember, go rent it today! I always passed it over because of the reaction I have when I see Mandy Moore, but she did a great job and I didn't have any tics until I watched the music video they added to the dvd. lol I called the library and got on the list to read the book. I wasn't that impressed with Message In a Bottle so I didn't read that one. Maybe the book was better, who knows. I'm not a big book reader but I have also read The Divine Secrets of the YaYa Sisterhood during my hiatus and it was WONDERFUL! I can't wait for that one to come out on video.

I'm off to clean out my inboxes and get to work on this house. ciao!

noreply@blogger.com (Annamarie) — Sat, 05 Oct 2002 15:45:00 +0000

Finally an update...I hope this time.
We got a new tv and vcr/dvd combo thanks to the insurance company. We also got a new modem but it isn't installed yet. Hopefully that will come pretty soon. A friend of ours is going to do it and I'm hoping he can also look and see if he can figure out why we are having problems with the hardrive too. We love the tv and dvd tons! It is such an improvement on what we had and we spent way less for it than what we spent for what we had too. It was almost a blessing that it happened. :p

The kids are well. Megan has a cough but nothing major unless you ask one of the grandmothers. (big eye roll) Dawson is toddling all over the place and looking so much bigger than I want him to. In a lot of ways he is still so much more a baby than Megan was at this age though. I was 2 months pg with Dawson when she was this age. Thank God I am not repeating that again. (not that I'd change a thing now!) Megan has decided that she wants to be a ballerina. SHe is into everything ballet and shes a hoot too. A real prima donna in the making. :)

The break from the computer has been really good for me. I am getting way more done in the day, we are getting out earlier and going more places. I have made myself a notebook and have a detailed schedule that I put EVERYTHING in. I even schedule time for sewing or cleaning and it makes certain I get everything done. I am doing better at planning meals and such too.

My daddy isn't doing well at all. As soon as I get moved (by the end of the year we hope, we've been set back again, but thats fine, I'm too busy with the kids to even want to pack anything yet) I'm going to work as much as I can to help my parents get their house ready to sell in the spring. They need something smaller without steps for daddy. He shouldn't be going up and down. He fell on Sunday and when I saw him a few days later I could see that he had really gashed his leg. :( He's nothing but skin and bones anymore and hardly eats anything either. I"m concerned about him.

Dawson is wanting my attention now. We want to go to Sam's club but he is acting cranky yet won't sleep. Maybe he will give in and sleep soon. Maybe lunch would help...where has this day gone?

noreply@blogger.com (Annamarie) — Wed, 02 Oct 2002 17:11:00 +0000

shit. I just posted an update but Blogger ate it. oh well. :(

noreply@blogger.com (Annamarie) — Mon, 23 Sep 2002 14:16:00 +0000

It rained all day Sunday.
Thunderstorm killed our tvs.
Ruined connection to my modem as well.
We have no entertainment in the house.
Poor us! :(

noreply@blogger.com (Annamarie) — Mon, 23 Sep 2002 14:16:00 +0000

It rained all day Sunday.
Thunderstorm killed our tvs.
Ruined connection to my modem as well.
We have no entertainment in the house.
Poor us! :(

noreply@blogger.com (Annamarie) — Sun, 22 Sep 2002 14:25:00 +0000

Part 2
1. LAST MOVIE YOU SAW IN A THEATER?

Toy Story2-Christmas Day 1999

2. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?

I can't remember the name but its a book about praying for your kids. (nak)

3. FAVORITE BOARD GAME?
Monopoly

4. FAVORITE MAGAZINE?

Mothering

5. FAVORITE SMELLS?

lavendar, vanilla and Mulberry

6. FAVORITE SOUNDS?

children laughing, silence

7. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU THINK OF IN THE MORNING?

I have to pee!

8. FAVORITE FAST FOOD PLACE?

Taco Bell

9. WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT IN LIFE?

family and living every day like it could be my last

10. FINISH THE STATEMENT, "IF I HAD LOTS OF MONEY I WOULD..."

Build my dream house in the mountains as well as a smaller house on the same land for my parents to move into.

11. DO YOU DRIVE FAST?

usually

12. STORMS... COOL OR SCARY?

cool

13. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CAR?

1984 Toyota Tercel 4 speed

14. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE COLOR?

green or purple

15. FINISH THE STATEMENT..."IF I HAD THE TIME, I WOULD LOVE TO...":

Take enrichment classes (sign language, baking, sewing, quilting, knitting...someday)

16. DO YOU EAT THE STEMS OF BROCCOLI?

occasionally

17. IF YOU COULD DYE YOUR HAIR ANY COLOR, WHAT WOULD YOU CHOOSE?

Not sure, I'm itching to try something outrageous so if I could get the guts up to do it, maybe some orange streaks (not day-glo orange though)

18. GLASS HALF FULL OR HALF EMPTY?

half full

19. HOW MANY DIFFERENT CITIES HAVE YOU LIVED IN?

I've never lived in a "city" but I've lived in 3 different towns

20. FAVORITE PLACE TO RELAX?

couch

21. WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?

baseball

23. WHAT IS UNDER YOUR BED?

luggage

noreply@blogger.com (Annamarie) — Sat, 21 Sep 2002 01:32:00 +0000

Boy have there been some emotions in this house tonight! Megan was on my very last nerve and it was crumbling quickly! Shes been whining non-stop all evening. Dawson was asleep by 8pm because he hardly napped today and she managed to wake him up an hour later as she screamed her head off over the boundaries I was giving her. I can't stand the way she paws at me while she nurses. On top of that she has started kinda biting on me and it hurts and leaves marks. I insisted she open wider and she insisted that she wasn't going to so I put her in the floor where she tantrummed. I had to go get D back to sleep and Josh eventually got Megan out of the living room. He got her calmed down but refused to hold her until she stopped screaming. That doesn't work for me but I guess there isn't any harm done in having a different method. After a few minutes she came in and told me she was sorry and gave me a kiss. Then her and daddy laid down on the couch for a book and she was out cold within a few minutes. I guess its another case of full moon syndrome.

My MIL bought me a bottle of Emeril's Roasted Garlic spagetti sauce yesterday. I really liked it but Josh wasn't impressed and Megan said it burned her tongue. oh well, more for me. lol

noreply@blogger.com (Annamarie) — Fri, 20 Sep 2002 20:07:00 +0000

Found this at Laura's:
urvey I found online to help you know me just a little better:

How often do you cry?
as often as I need too.

What makes you cry the easiest?
One of my kids crying and money issues.

What makes you really happy?
my family, time alone to sew or crochet

Has anyone close to you ever died?
A woman from church that I knew and loved died suddenly of an anuerism a few years ago, a few people I knew in high school died and that was hard to deal with.

Has anyone close to you ever committed suicide?
no but my maternal grandfather did way before I was born.

How many funerals have you been to?
lots, can't remember exactly

Have you ever cried over the death of a celebrity?
No

What would be the scariest way to die?
Falling

What do you do in your spare time?
sew, crochet, surf the web and read

What are some of your favorite restaurants?
Ruby Tuesdays, McGuffys and Red Lobster

What time do you wake up in the morning?
7-8

What is your natural sleeping pattern?
On my side holding a pillow smooshed between 2 children or one child and the edge of the bed.

What made you decide to have sex for the first time?
I was married. lol

Were you in love?
yes!

What's your preferred method of birth control?
right now condoms but they aren't really prefered, just used.

Have you ever had a one-night stand?
no

How many rooms does your house have?
7 rooms. Our new house will have 7 as well except here we have a dining room and our other house's extra room is a play/school/sewing room. 2 baths and 2 bedrooms each.

What would be your ideal living arrangement?
A log house on acreage in the mountains or on a farm in Michigan.

How many times have you moved in your life?
3 that I participated in. once when I was a baby.

What city/state would you like to live in?
Michigan

Have you ever lived on your own?
Never

What do you do on weekends?
Saturdays are just another day of the week. Sundays we go to church and spend time with family.

Do you enjoy alone time?
in the rare moments when I get it, yes!

If you were stranded at home for a weekend without a computer or a TV, what would you do to entertain yourself?
turn off the phone and sew

What is one thing you would love to learn?
knitting

If there were a book about your life, what would it be called?
I don't know right now.

What word or phrase best describes your sense of style?
safe (but I'm working on that)

What's your favorite article of clothing?
tan capris

Describe a typical outfit you'd wear to work/school.
low rise blue jeans with kahki stretch button up shirt OR tan capris with navy babydoll tee

What fashion "season" are you?
fall

How long does it take you to get ready to go out on the weekend?
fifteen minutes

Sum up your life right now in 5-10 words:
full of blessings and challenges

Current mood:
a little down

Current music:
Veggie Tales Sunday School songs (not my choice of course. lol)

Current taste:
water

Current hair:
darl blond chin length and flipped up on the end.

Current annoyance:
budget

Current scent:
lavender

Current meaningless thought:
where are my groceries going to come from

Current longing:
For Megan to quit whining at me.

noreply@blogger.com (Annamarie) — Fri, 20 Sep 2002 16:09:00 +0000

I dont' know why I try
I was looking at the classified adds this morning and noticed 3 jobs that the welfare lady's husband might be interested in. She was online so I IM'ed her and told her and asked if he would be interested in them. She says "maybe, I'm not sure." So I said, "Does that mean he might have found something?" She says "no, I'm just not sure how motivated he is anymore." How many more reasons do you need to be motivated if you have 2 kids and a wife living on food stamps and govt assistance and living in crisis housing? The real thing that gets me is that he has a career. He is a mechanic specializing in diesel trucks afaik and one of the jobs was for an experienced diesel mechanic. I am feeling like I have helped this family all I can and need to move on. She invited us to a birthday party at her house but I'm feeling like we won't go. I know its a shitty attitude on my part but there are more reasons than just this one.

I woke up with a horrible pain in my jaw this morning. I need to see if MIL has any passionflower pills. I hope I'm not grinding my teeth at night. I've not been feeling stressed about anything so I don't know why I would unless it was subconsiously over the check that bounced this week. I'm not sure where it happened either but I wasn't feeling that worried about it in general. My bite splint is going on 7 years old and is in really bad shape so I know that alone could be the reason I'm in pain. I hope I can afford to do something about it fairly soon.

I went through some old bookmarks the other night in my "Natural Parenting" file. I threw out everything but Yaaps, Complete Mother and MamaSis. I decided to check on a few of them though beforeI dumped them and was shocked what I found out at Mango Mama. I guess I'm behind on that whole drama (not that I was ever a regular there, I did enjoy her journal and checkd out a few boards sometimes). Evidently at the beginning of July, she left her husband and her kids and ran off with some boyfriend to live in a tent in the woods. She left them with no food and little belongings and someone posted (how they know I don't know, it sounded like they might have talked to Jen's husband) that she had been leaving the kids at home alone for some time to go off with this guy. How sick and sad is that? If she is going through mental problems I hope she gets help for her family's sake. Regardless of whether her and her dh get back together, her kids still need her.

noreply@blogger.com (Annamarie) — Thu, 19 Sep 2002 03:59:00 +0000

Megan went to church tonight with Josh! We were all going to go because the message was going to be on the Biblical POV on war and Josh wanted to hear it. Around 6:30 Dawson got really sleepy acting and I decided to stay home. Megan really wanted to go though so Josh took her to her class and left her with Tammy and she was fine. Hopefully this issue she has with church is over now! Dawson went to sleep though and woke up immediatly and within 30 minutes was screaming his head off. I'm not sure what the deal is. In some ways it seems like Hand Foot Mouth but there isn't any fever and so far I can't see any sores in his mouth so I'm just waiting this out.

Jay Leno just showed his "jaywalking" segment and OMG there are some morons in this country! He asked one girl who won the Civil War and she says "Geez, I don't think I was born then." Another guy was like "we did." He asked another guy if we had ever had a war with Mexico and he says "I don't know but we should." LOL

noreply@blogger.com (Annamarie) — Wed, 18 Sep 2002 16:51:00 +0000

How do you explain to a 2 year old that she can't play with the deceased bunny that the cat just carried down the driveway? We were sitting in the garage this morning and Megan was riding her bike while J and I ate and Dawson walked around. In runs the cat with a bunny rabbit and he climbs under my blazer with it. He proceeds to play with it and Megan thinks this is hilarious and wants to play too. GAG! She was really depressed that we wouldn't let her play too. I really wish she would nap right now but she refuses as her daddy is home.
Josh is doing all the yard work for the dealership now. Sunday he has to mow, spread mulch and cut down a few small trees. He will be paid nicely though and said he would let me take some and get some clothes or fabric to make me a few things for winter. Everything from last year is either falling off of me or pretty close to it. :)

I found an intersting site this morning when I was navigating the Made by Mom webring. Its a commentary on Breastfeeding in the Bible. She says that Moses, Samuel and Isaac were all weaned at around age 5 and that Isaac had a weaning party when that happened. Josh and I had the discussion the other night about how long I intended to let Megan nurse. At this point I am comfortable with 4. I want her to wean by the time she is 5. I am just feeling all kinds of icky these days because she wants to nurse everytime Dawson needs to. We have discussed the right way to ask me, the appropriate places for nursing Megan as well as that we only nurse one baby at a time when we are places like my parents or IL's house. She still just plops up on top of me and demands that she needs "booby too." Usually at home I just let her but I wonder if that is the right decision to make. This is certainly uncharted territory for most of my friends and family so saying anything remotly negative about my feelings regarding nursing her is a no-no because I'll just hear people comment that I need to wean her already. Its a shame our society wants babies to grow up so fast.