Sunday Funday

 

 

We went to Community Park East and let the kids play before church.We had 2 more kids with us. I was hoping that Tim would see what it was like to have 5 kids so many he would change his mind about wanting 2 more, but he loved it. 

We found a Wildflower Trail. It was only 3 minutes long, my kind of trail.

The kids loved to play. There are three playsets at this park. They are scattered around to property with trails, tracks, gazebos, Frisbee golf plots and other treasures I haven't discovered yet.

Best part, I can easily walk from our house to there in maybe 15 minutes! I wish my other photos had loaded to this post from my phone.

Just Another Saturday

I had a ThirtyOne party last night. It went pretty well. I hosted it on a Friday night so people could come, specifically ladies with kids that are schooled.

I didn't have a large turnout. I don't think some invitations made it through the mail. That upsets me. Already, I know of 2 ladies who didn't get theirs.

I'll tell you why it upsets me: the mailman. We had this battle when we first moved here, for over 2 months, he would barely pick up my mail. I called and called and now he finally makes sure to get it. And even if it wasn't him, I blame the post office. I worked hard on those invitations, my hand cramped up.

I am so happy that some of my friends got to see our home. I got a lot of compliments! Thanks, girls!

I wanted Kayt to have a Thirty-one Inspired Banner for her parties (or whatever she wants to use it for!), so I made one courtesy of my shop.

I served a tray of deserts, some fruits, and then some chips and dips along with tea and lemonade. Yum!

This morning, Sehara had a soccer game, actually, 2 of them. A double header.

The first game wasn't that great, and the second game started just as badly but they pulled it together for the second half. It rained, drizzled, spluttered, the sun came out, then it started raining again. It was cold, too. I was drenched, and so was Sehara, plus some mud.

Turns out that Sehara is a really good goalie. She is kind of awesome at it, and another position I can't remember the name of.

I had to go into the YMCA a few times. Plus, I wanted to get some steps in on the treadmill. Truth is, I don't do enough physical activity. There, I said it.

We proceeded to a 5 p.m. frozen birthday party where we froze!

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Catch 22's, Sleep, and Sewing

Well, there has to be something said for "catch 22's"! Where did that phrase come from anyway?

The night before last I had a delicious iced coffee, which kept me awake until 4 a.m. You can imagine I was pretty tired yesterday.
Last night I decided to go to bed earlier than 4 a.m., I tried 11 p.m., and I've been wide awake since 6 a.m.

I actually got a few consecutive hours of sleep in. So now I'm awake. But, nap time will come soon enough.
Carson goes to preschool at 9, and Sehara gets on the bus just before 8. If Carson is awake when it's time for her to leave, I'll have him tag along and we'll walk her together. He'll love that. When he sees a school bus he points and jumps and yells "SKOOLBUS!!!". 

If I am feeling energetic when I drop him off, then I may go to the YMCA to get a workout in. I've been doing good at remembering to actually go and work out. I found it's nice to walk a few miles around the neighborhood. It's been too humid for that the past several days.

I may also write some letters I've been meaning to get to. I have a few college ones that need to go out, and some friends in other places. I bought a fabulous card for Dreama. I signed up at church to send birthday cards to the Potter's Home children, so that must get done as well.

As for crafty stuff, I got a half yard each of some material I want to try out for bows and bow-ties. I thought about sewing some bibs, (I would get more fabric first) and I may get to that in the next few days. A lady at church suggested I buy batting for the middle. I found a tutorial that has a pocket on it, and I don't like that so much, so I thought about leaving it out. She basically traced a bib, and gave some extra room for a seam, put the right sides together, sewed it, turned it out, and sewed around the edges. I maybe could handle that. It wouldn't include a straight line though... But then I saw a few cute bibs with ruffles on them. Oh dear!

Well, it looks like it's Carson's lucky day! That means I need to stop typing.

A Busy Saturday

My day has been so busy. I made a goal for this summer to keep busy with my kids, providing them ample opportunities to develop social and physical areas.
So this morning, we had Carson's swim lesson in which he has greatly improved in regards to comfort in the water.
We took a long, hot shower, then it was Sehara's turn for swimming. My girl has progressed from the beginner class, which I shouldn't have put her in, to the advanced class. I think they are called the "sharks". She has always been a water bug.
Madeline stayed with her Auntie Jeanine for the swimming because Tim had to work and I didn't have anywhere to put her.
We rushed back to the house for a quick lunch full of nutritious foods! This was the point where Sehara decided she wanted to argue with me about a picture in the paper. Not that I argued back, but she kept going. She threw away an opportunity to have a sleepover with Elli.
Right after that, we had her soccer game, where we ran into the tail end of Garon's game and got to see Kayt, Larry, Addison, and Garon for a few minutes. Kayt gave me her leftover cookies and those saved my life and her waistline. I'm a good friend.
Sehara performed so well during her game! Her team gets better every week!
Melanie, Gabe, and Hunter came out to cheer her on! She loves visitors!
I grabbed a diet coke, and we went back to the house so the kiddos could nap. I dropped my brand new and fresh diet coke on the carpet!! UGH. I soaked it up while Carson played on the stairs (a no-no). He wouldn't go upstairs! Madeline had soaked her diaper and onsie and she was starving. I got everyone up, plopped her on the bed and got Carson in his bed. I fed Madeline and messaged a friend(the mother of Elli to let her know Sehara wouldn't come and why).
So now, I have started a soup for dinner. Chicken is thawing and Tim should get off work in 30 minutes. I'm so excited! I miss him.

I also wanted to point out that I did something great last night. I love to help people out, and not be recognized, usually. But here's where I'm going to pat myself on the back because it has to do with helping AND avoiding sin. I donated my time and some money for a friend, and went to do physical activity to show support (it was a group thing). When I handed the money over, I was told to wait so I could get some raffle tickets. I wondered what for, because I didn't understand and I asked about it. I very politely said, "No thank you, I am just donating money and I don't need the tickets!"

Look at me, actually applying lessons from the Bible to my everyday life. In case you're wondering, raffle tickets are a part of gambling. But we won't dwell on that.

I know this post misses my pizaz and flare, but here it is! I didn't fill in the cracks, and there's a lot of them. I'm not asking for a super mommy reward or any of that junk. I'm just telling ya about my day thus far. ;)

FlashBack Friday: Paris, France

My friend, Kari and I on our excursion to Paris for a week before summer classes stared in Denmark. Enjoy!

Not Ready To Share

I'm not ready to share my birth story yet.  We have a healthy baby and I feel physically great and that's all that matters right now.

I did want to say that Tim and I are trying not to be disappointed in the lack of visitors we received at the hospital, or now even. We have tried so hard these past two years to immerse ourselves into church activities and kids parties and friend's social things and we have been busy bees doing it. It sucks to sit back and observe that we have put so much into family and friends and it wasn't given back.

We have gotten apologies and apologies for it, but it really doesn't make it better, although we do accept them.

If you can't celebrate a life, what can you do?

The people that showed up were the people we couldn't have done it without! So, thanks so much to you guys! :) We know who we can count on and put our love and time into now.

Moving Train

The past two weeks have been dramatic. Some emotional stuff going on and then my past catching up with me.  Really, chasing me down, oh and then I got blasted via text messages.

Anyway, apparently, telling people someone's father is incarcerated is MUCH better than saying he's just a lazy bum deadbeat father.  Apparently.

Someone can explain that to me because I don't get it.  Just crawl back into whatever hole you got out of and leave me and my family alone.

I had to go through all my internet accounts and make them private. I'm not sure if anyone will even be able to read my blog for a while, but I will post anyway.

I was losing some faith in humanity until I was protected and encouraged by so many.  It goes to show that I have been doing good things, even though I feel like I'm failing with every step I take.

Being bitter is no fun and trying to forgive and move on is hard.  Trying to deal with all this, and a few more things that are not easy while watching a friend go crazy at me and trying to stop it is like trying to stop a moving train.

But I have all those people standing in front and around me, holding me up and it helps me more than they could ever know. So, thank you!

Just the worst...

Okay, If you don't appreciate my bowel movements, don't read this. You'll be scarred for life.  But, then you'll also miss the funniest  post I've probably ever written.

I'm going to take a shortcut here.  This is a message I wrote to my friend explaining the situation (yes, I tell my amigos all about my poopies):

omg, I can't even text this, bc it'll hurt my fingers! I just had the WORST mommy moment EVER. (lol, seriously). So, here I am sitting on the bed with Carson and I feel that spikey caterpillar feeling in my belly, like I'm going to have raunchy gas or the worst blowout ever. I hold my breath and wait for it to pass. It passes, then I immediately feel the blow out about to happen. Like, I better run. RUN, I tell you. WELL, right at that moment, Carson decides to choke. Wonderful, right? Naturally, I grab him and run for the toilet. I don't even know how I got my pants down in time. SEriously, I don't remember. I'm banging on his back and crapping at the same time. Then, get this, he's hungry. And my butt is still exploding. So, I pull up my shirt and put my booby in his mouth. He's making these nasty faces the whole time and all I could say was "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry" bc you know that was grossest thing he's ever smelled. I get done, and Tim's still not home from getting Sehara, so I'm all like, what do I do? Do I put him on the floor to wipe or do I wait. I figured I had done enough damage, so I waited. Ugh. UGH. HORRIBLE. I've probably traumatized him from the toilet/potty training. Good thing their memory is similar to those of goldfish! 

 

Anyway, you can judge me, because how horrible am I?!?!  Just a bad experience.   The worst part is that I know my poor baby will have some serious cramps and blow outs himself and that's sad to think about.  Because it's all my fault, because I've eaten something that my body hates, and so will his.

My Birth Story

*This post contains some pretty graphic pictures and details.  If you don't want to see, click that X in the top right corner*

Our intention was always to go naturally.  Like, completely natural...almost in a hippie fashion because let's face it: it's healthier for the baby and the mother.  I will put in my little disclaimer so no one yells at me, that it is safer for some mom's to have a c-section... yada yada.  Because it is.  I had no road bumps in my pregnancy for a c-section to even be considered though.  We wanted to go as natural as a water birth or the squatting kind.  In the end, we decided laying on a bed would be the most interactive/easy for my team and I.

Anyway, at 37 weeks, I started dilating and it was going to be at least one more week.  38 weeks, still 1 cm and it would be at least one more week.  Tim and I realized Sehara's birthday was only 2 weeks away from my due date.  So at 39 weeks, being only 1 cm still dilated and at least one more week we asked about the possibility of being induced.  Our doctor asked us to come back at the end of the week to see if I had progressed anymore and we would see where to go from there.  One day before 40 weeks, on Friday, still only 1 cm dilated and my effacement had gone down, like stepping back on the progression board (only from him moving around and not putting pressure on my cervix).  We decided we would jump-start labor the next morning with gel, and more importantly, not pitocin.

We got to the hospital a little early, 5:45a.m. and started the paperwork.  Finished by 6:00 a.m., very conveniently, and got escorted to our suite. The nurses were about to change shifts, so one just came in to put an i.v. in and the monitors on.  Then we met our nurse for 12 hours, Marilee, and fell in love!!  She let me know that I could be as mobile as I wanted as long as I wheeled my little "friend" around and that my doctor called and said he was on his way.  7:25, he came in, massaged my cervix for a good while with the gel, and chatted with Tim, Marilee and I for about an hour about timing things and degrees that we all had.  I had what seemed very similar to Braxton-Hicks only they got stronger and stronger.  Around 10 a.m., I was officially "in labor".  The plan was to use, if I needed them, 2 doses of the gel and if I didn't dilate enough, THEN pitocin would be given to me.  My mom and sister arrived about this time!!!  (YAY)  Around 11, I had my second internal exam and I had dilated to 2 cm.  The nurse seemed very pleased and said that I should have my baby by the end of the day...  But, I had to have a second dose of the gel.

4 hours later and nothing.  I hadn't dilated or effaced any more. My Doctor was constantly communicating with the nurses and had them give me the option of eating and showering or just starting the pitocin.  Of course I chose to eat!!  Pitocin was given an hour later.  The nurse came in a few times and increased the dosage.  The contractions started getting more and more painful.  I had my team and my ball so I could handle it.   After 4 or 5 hours I got another internal exam to see if I had progressed.  I hadn't.   I was so sad.  Everyone but Tim left the room and I balled my eyes out because the plan was if I hadn't dilated at all, I would be taken off everything for a few hours, I could eat again, then around 12:00 a.m. I would be started on pitocin again.  I just felt like my body wasn't doing what it should do as a woman.  I didn't go into labor naturally and now my body wasn't taking this "stuff".

So, everyone went to sleep for the night, away from the hospital, and Tim and I tried to get some rest.  I had to be given an Ambien to sleep.  I hadn't slept for about 48 hours until this point.  I don't remember much until 12 or 1 a.m. when a new nurse came in to give me pitocin again, then I fell back to sleep.  I startled awake around 3 a.m. with an oxygen mask on my face and a bunch of tubes all over me.  Scary!!  I woke Tim up and he got the nurse.  She explained to me that the baby had some distress once the pitocin kicked back in and she had talked me through what was happening but I was completely out of it...  I went back to sleep, mask free, until some time in the morning.   My nurse, the awesome one, told me she wasn't playing anymore and cranked the pitocin up and up and up.  I had another exam and I still hadn't dilated so they decided they wanted to go ahead and break my water.

I just had to wait a little while because there were like 3 emergency c-sections going on.

Around noon, the cutest little doctor came in and did the deed. I was so mean to him.  He decided to break my water in the middle of a contraction.  Jenni was not a happy camper.

An hour later I had dilated to 4 cm.  My doctor decided to come to the hospital and wait it out in my room, with my family.  That was super awesome!!  Only, he kept talking... and one of my "rules" (completely made up out of pain) was no talking during a contraction.  The second rule was, if you were in my room during a contraction, you had to be rubbing some part of my body.  It was weird, but it worked.  And my doctor was loud.

Unfortunately, the pain was causing some serious anxiety.  My nurse kept asking me if I wanted an epidural, and I did not, but I did request some kind of pain medicine. We decided on Nubain.  The first dose was absolutely wonderful.  I still felt the contraction at its peak, but I didn't feel it start or end.  So lovely, and it took away my anxiety so I could focus on my breathing.  Another hour passed, and that Nubain wore off.  My doctor allowed a second dose but it didn't do squat.  At this internal exam, I was 8 cm dilated!!

I went to the bathroom, for the billionth time.  My doctor told me that when I got back to the bed, I would probably need to use the bathroom one more time and I would feel like I needed to poop and push, but not to push on the toilet.  When that happened, to let him know.  So after a good 10 or 20 minutes (not exact timing here), I went back to the bathroom.  I was really just eager to get it done with. BUT, I felt enormous pressure, definitely like I need to poo and I couldn't help, literally, to push.  I yelled out to him and headed back to the bed. He checked me and I was fully dilated, but with just a little "lip" left on my cervix.  He said that if I felt the need to push, go ahead and do it.

The doctors and Tim suited up (that cutie doctor that broke my water was there to assist).  I'm writhing in pain on the bed and pushing.  When they got to the bed they could see the baby's cone head!  So, I just kept pushing and pushing.  Actually, after I pushed that first time, I got a little 2 minute reprieve from contractions.  Ha!  Bad timing!!  They kicked in again and I did what I needed to do.  I remember a burning pain, like a HUGE burning pain in my lady parts but I pushed past it.  Tim actually delivered our son with the help of both doctors.  He only froze once when the baby needed to be rotated.  I will never forget the relief I felt when Carson was completely out.  Pain-free, literally.  Everything felt better.  I had only one more desire to push, and that was for the placenta.  Which I requested to see, and my doctor obliged and gave everyone there a tutorial on the anatomy of my placenta AND giving me the utmost compliments on how it  was evident that I was not a smoker, I took my vitamins and very good care of myself during pregnancy. :)

After nearly 30 hours of labor, Carson was born at 2:32 p.m.  He weighed 7 pounds, 9 ounces and was 20 1/2 inches long.  The 1/2 was his cone-head, but the doctor gave it to him anyway!  Enjoy the pictures!!

 

Ok, so I can't figure out how to make these photos look good.  Oh well.  Enjoy anyway.Oh, and P.s., Poop happens!!  It did for me and it was pretty gross but, what do you do?? :)

38 Weeks

38 Weeks 2 Days

Ahh, I need to take a picture.  A bit has happened since my last post.  Not big events, but events none the less.  A lot still needs to happen: pictures for proof.  Tim and I go on walks almost every night, it's our thing.  We are blessed to live with his grandparents, so it's easy to walk for an hour once Sehara goes to bed.  Without them we wouldn't be able to!

Well, my tooth broke off while eating a Charms cherry flavored sucker, on one of our walks.  Ugh, not only did it cut the walk way short, it really upset me.  Didn't hurt at all, just, ughhh.  I do not enjoy teeth problems.  I wasn't comfortable eating or drinking anything but water so you can imagine I was very hungry.  I promptly called a random dentist first thing in the morning and got in that day. 

1/3 of my laundry

Little infant carrier.  Too cute

Awesome matching Stroller

another 1/3 of my laundry

My friend Brandi also took me out that day to save me from my misery.  I got a wonderful pedicure and we walked around the mall a little.  AND THEN Olive Garden.  YEah Buddy!!!  I ate, I'll admit it.  I had to.  Even with a broken tooth.  :)  We went shopping a little too, then she took me to my dental appointment.  Turns out that tooth needed a root canal.  Yay! 

I got referred to another dentist place and got in there the next day.  Got my root canal!  Worst thing about it was laying on my back for 3 hours.  I was kinda high and grumpy for the rest of the day.  My mouth is just a tiny bit sore still and I can't bite down on that tooth.  Next step is getting a crown put on.  That dentistry wants me to get all my wisdom teeth out once I have my little baby.  How does that work if you breastfeed?

Tim and I got to sneak a little peak at our baby boy last Tuesday.  I requested an ultrasound and was given the green flag.  We got to see his little chubby face!  Wasn't a special 3- or 4D ultrasound, but it was definitely great to see.  We reconfirmed that he is indeed a boy!  The tech lady told me that he's little.  As in 5 pounds 15 ounces little, give or take 1 pound (wtf).  I told her those were never accurate, to which she was slightly offended. Oh well.  And as of last Tuesday, I was 95% effaced and 1 cm dilated.  We'll see at tomorrows appointment where I am now.  I know that more of that plug is coming out.  People have lied to me... sex does not help.

Sehara has been at Brandi's since Friday night.  I figure the booger should have as much fun as possible before her brother is born, because I am really going to have her involved with him.  Active roles in this household. 

We are trying to find a dresser to put in our room.  It's hard work.  Tim's grandparent's are getting it and they want to get good quality wood.  Tim agrees, but I honestly don't care as long as it holds these baby clothes. I'm seriously a firm believer that you should have a cheap set of furniture for your children's first 10 or so years, then get your good quality, expensive crap for life. We have baby things coming out of our ears, with no room to breathe.  That's frustrating.  It doesn't help that we can't find anything.  Well, Tim and I went to a thrift store yesterday and found a dresser we really like, we found two actually.  G-mama wants to take me to a few other places to keep looking, but I'm all like, "hey, let's just get this!".  I wouldn't say that though.  That's Tim's job.  And her driving gives me more anxiety than I would like to admit, so I don't really want to go with her (only for that reason).  People don't understand that I have horrible PTSD in the car, more specifically, in the passenger seat of the car.  I can't even tolerate my mother's driving.  I can't tolerate many people's driving.  Tim is a very cautious driver so I lucked out there.

 I am very pleased to announce that since my chiropractor visits I am virtually pain free.  Things get stiff after every walk but that's normal for me.  I can't imagine what my body will feel like once he's out of it.  Will I feel light, or loose and heavy still, with no baby as an excuse?  Questions, questions...

Oh, and I had this plan, right?  This plan about who would be in the hospital room when we delivered.  People that are important and who I thought would be an integral part of this baby's life, but I judged that based on the relationships I built when I first moved here.  Things have changed and I have become closer to other people, and I have really seen who cares about me and mine, just by observing who takes to Sehara and has patience with her and enjoys her as much as I do, and those aren't the people I originally picked.  How do I go about telling them that I don't want them there any more?  Harshly, I don't even know if I want my mom there, either.  I feel like she doesn't see this as important or a priority.  I know that if my other sisters were having problems and needed her, she'd be there and do anything in a heartbeat.  I don't see that for me.  But I'll call anyway and hope that she gets here.

Okay, since it has taken me a few days to write this post, I would like to add that I have been to see my OB/GYN this morning and nothing has changed. Nothing.  Minus the fact that I went from 95% effaced to 80%.  How does that happen?  I still can't find a pediatrician and I need to make another dentist appointment.  I feel "done".  I just want to lay down and die.  Seriously.

Burn Baby Burn

This past Saturday, whilst in Louisville/LaGrange area, my little family accompanied my side of the tree to a pool party.  It was put on my a friend of my dad's.  They ride dirtbikes together.  That's a manly thing to do.  I guess.

Anyway, the pool was a pretty big above ground 4-foot deep pool.  You know the kind...you can't sit on the rail because it will bend.  It was so nice having access to an outdoor pool.  We all got there and jumped right in.  Well, I was pushed in.  I opened my eyes under water and experienced a horrible burning sensation.  The water didn't taste good, either.  I only stayed in for a few more minutes, I got one of "those feelings", and exited with my sister.  Everyone else stayed in.  *Evil laugh*  Not really.

The next issue: my wee little 13 yr old brother got out and very quietly told my sister and I (and he'll kill me for this if he ever reads it) that his penis hurt.   ERRMM  Oh dear.  Oh-KAY, try not to show how awkward that was.  I went right into the billion question mode: "Does it burn, does it sting, is it red, is it swollen, did you pee, did it hurt"  blah blah.  I encouraged him to tell the parents, that it could be a UTI, then realized it's probably a chemical burn (didn't realize this until later on that day).  Poor boy.  He was so embarrassed about it.

Next event:  my daughter and niece both got out with burning eyes.  Okey dokie.  Don't open your eyes under the water.  An hour or two later I made her get out.  Her eyes and all around were so red, like her cheek bones had been sunburned.

Final: My husband's eyes also looked like they had been sunburned.

Sunday morning!  Both Sehara's eyes and Lexi's eyes were bruised.  BRUISED!  Like, purple (black eyes) and they hurt to the touch.  So was Tim's.  Brother's manhood was feeling A-OK.  He could walk again.  It was still red though.  Here's the kicker:  both Sehara and Tim had HUGE rashes.  Tim's were in his inner thighs (and are still there) where they rub together.  He's so sensitive there because of that.  Sehara's was where (and still is) her bathing suit rubbed her skin.  It's halter top style, so around the back of her neck down to her armpits, like so:

When I got there and I played in the pool and realized it was super chlorinated, I thought, you know I'd rather there be too many chemicals in here to keep it safe than to swim in dirty water.  I'm not so sure now.  I don't like my loved ones having these marks on their bodies.  Painful marks, mind you.  The only good thing about it was it stopped the peeling on my brother's arm (probably because it ate a layer of his skin).  I am so thankful that I got out of that pool after a few minutes.  I don't even want to imagine what it could have done to my unborn.

..a little bit of everything..

I got to hang out with my Dreama Bean today.  Actually, I was supposed to hang out with my friend Josh, but I totally forgot and when Dreama called to say she'd be close, I jumped on it!  I don't get to see her enough. It was a great visit.  We went to Steak 'N Shake and chowed down on the best burgers and topped it off with an excellent milkshake.  In the process I accidentally skipped out on Josh, but we'll meet up tomorrow and Tim will hang out too. In the end, it all works out!  That's good though, because Josh just got accepted to the University of Hawaii (wooo-hooo) and we need to get some time in with him.  Golly, he and I have so much to catch up on.  Dreama and I got a little over a hour to fill in all the blanks. 

Here's my lovely Dreama Bean!  I think I posted a year ago about her graduation.
 
Jim and Valerie, Tim's friends first, came over last night to bring us a loot of baby items.  It was a great visit!  They got us a Jungle Baby Bath that came with a few bath toys, Jim apparently picked this bad boy out... he went bananas over it, a ton of clothes, the coolest pacifier (ever), a stain stick (it's supposed to work wonders and I hope it does), baby shampoo, the softest blanket with cute polka dots around the edges and a brochure on cloth diapers!  The brochure was cool because the diapers listed held our interest in the beginning but gDiapers won because of their overall pros versus cons.

I haven't posted belly pictures because I stink at taking them, but here are a few:

17 weeks

19 weeks, 3 days

I really do need to pick one top, probably a white one to show the belly better. I can say that I am super excited that it's getting bigger and I'm starting to look pregnant, boy do I feel it!  I think that since I am able to feel pregnant, I should look it too so people can sympathize. I will try to be more punctual with the photos though.  I need to document all about this pregnancy and the ones that will follow.

Tim had his big Senior Capstone presentation last night and invited Sehara and I to go.  Okay, he insisted that his immediate family be there.  We supported him fully, and he totally did an excellent job, and I'm not just saying that because I am his wife.  He had a clear objective and went about to explain it.  Just excellent.  He was able to answer every question that was asked by his professors during question/answer time, and sounded intelligent doing it.  To be honest, only about 3 other presentations were good.  Jim's was great (and relevant), and their friend Brenton's was funny (but didn't target anyone there due to it being about surfing).  I didn't know the other girl and already forgot what it was about-- oh, grocery bags!  These are Technology majors, so their interests range from here to waaaay over there.

I Got Married!!

I got married the 14th, on Valentines Day. Isn't that just so sweet? We did the courthouse thing. It was so peaceful... it was just he and I and Sehara, along with my parents and his mom and grandmama. We did pictures, courtesy of Selah Photography and went to O'Charley's to eat. I sooo wanted a steak and got it. Overall, it was the calmest experience I have had in a while. His family adores Sehara and I, as does mine, and I couldn't ask for much more.

Right now Sehara and Tim are at Church and I'm sitting on my bum, experiencing a Huge headache. I've been getting them daily for about a week now. No fun.

Work has upgraded my hours to 20 a week (from 10). I suppose I'm part-time now. The thing is with them, that they send people home early all the time to "save labor". I got 5 hours cut off my week from going home early yesterday. Regardless, it's more than before. I can say that it stinks that I'll have to move out soon due to disrespect (first excuse), then the owners walking away from the house (2nd excuse) because of their financial situation, when I'll finally be able to give them more money monthly. But, I don't think that's going to happen (giving them my $$) because of the lack of reasons I was given. In turn, I think I was the friend that was disrespected the most. I keep care of this house better than they ever did, with a dog. I never thought I would see my great friend send me a text saying we were kicked out, without talking to me first. I think communication is the key to all healthy relationships, and I learned that the hard way. I have been questioning what kind of friend I have invested in the past three years to be smacked in the face. Did I ever really know her?

I called her right away and had to probe every corner of the conversation to get even the littlest reply. You can send those texts, but you can't talk?!? One of the biggest problems, besides lack of respect, was that the utility bill was high (ok, call me so we can discuss it). I don't get that I am the one to get the brunt of the blame when the roommate downstairs leaves the lights on constantly, they hadn't been turned off in three months until I went down to the garage to do it. And she leaves the garage door open all day in the friggin dead of winter, along with using that door as her primary leaving/entering door. Who does that? Yeah, we three upstairs use our fair share of utilities, but we definitely do not abuse it. We are very conservative in that aspect because we know that times are hard. To top it off, I was literally depositing all of my paychecks, minus $20 for gas, into her account for rent/utilities. We both knew that once I graduated it wouldn't be the whole amount, but when the jobs got rolling, it would eventually balance out.

On a more positive note, Sehara has started calling Tim "daddy". We both never asked her to do it. The day we got married, she just started doing it. It's still really awkward, but I guess we'll get used to it. I wonder if the grandparents had anything to do with it? hmm. Married life is so nice. It's not much different, because we were spending all of our time together beforehand, just now it's accepted...lol. We've been going through all of our things to figure out this moving stuff, trying to get rid of the junk for now. I've accumulated quite a bit since I have been on my own. It's my pride that wants to keep it all, I earned it, ya know?

Dreama's Graduation

DREAMA YOU ROCK MY SOCKS..Congratulations girlfriend. You truly inspire me to keep going. I don't know how you have done it (and I'm sure I could give a few guesses) but you have! And that's so stinking awesome.
Sunday was graduation, and not only did Dreama graduate, Ebony did as well. I love Ebony's humor, haha. There is no one like these girls, for sure, so you'll surely be missed. I honestly can't imagine a Berea without you two. I think I'm still waiting for Ebony to come back and I know I am definitely dreading Dreama moving. However, Just like all my earlier blogs, I understand that friends will move on. :) Oh, and even though this isn't the best picture, it is obvious that the dress was absolutely smashing on her. I love it so much.

This cake was actually good..