Snow

This weekend about 18" of snow fell at our home. It came in the middle of the night while we were sleeping. When we woke up the ground was covered with a thick blanket of snow. It was beautiful. My husband wasn't as enthusiastic about it. I understand his point. When he sees snow he can feel the cold in his bones, anticipate all the traffic problems for his work day and the hours spent shoveling our very long driveway.

I love snow. When I see snow I feel like I'm in another world. It's crisp. Bright. Clean. Peaceful. Quiet. It reminds me of my childhood. We lived in a neighborhood with other kids my brother's and my age.

I don't remember what year it was, but I remember one snow in particular from my childhood. At the end of our driveway, just in between our house and our neighbors house was a street light. Dad got our driveway and sidewalk cleared and there was a huge mound of snow piled around the light post. A bunch of us kids decided to pack it down and make a "snow chair". It was awesome. There were probably half a dozen of us out there all working together to form this 'snow chair'. After the chair was finished we all took turns sitting in it and pretending to be the Ruler of some distant land.

After playing with that for several hours we went on to our front yard and gathered most of the snow in the front yard into a huge mound and made a snow fort. We sent my brother in to dig our a tunnel for us to all get in and dig out enough room for us to all fit in it. The guys dug and the girls made a window, the 'front door' and 'back door' of the fort.

Those were the good ol' days. That was back in a time were there were no computers, Xbox, Play Station, cell phones or even TV channels dedicated to cartoons/kid shows all day long. We played outside. In the fresh crisp air.

Unfortunately I wasn't prepared for this snow storm we just got. My kids don't have snow suits or gloves warm enough for playing in the snow. My son did go out for over an hour while Charlie was shoveling our front porch and walkway. I had him bundled in a wool lined thick jean coat, jeans with a fleece lining inside and 2 pairs of baby socks to cover his hands. He was having a blast trying to grab 'handfuls' of snow to throw at Charlie or at me on the other side of the front door.

The next day the snow was finally done falling. Charlie got bundled up to shovel our very long gravel driveway. Tabytha got herself dressed and I got John and Jessi bundled up. We all went outside to play. John was having fun, Tabytha soon lost interest and Jessi was miserable. She refused to walk and just stood wherever I put her. She had no interest in the snow. I don't blame her, it was pretty windy outside and the snow was nearly up to her armpits.

I think, as my youngest ones get older (and I'm more prepared with warm gloves and snow suits) we'll all have the same kind of fun I did when I was a kid.

It Runs In The Family

22 years ago I committed my first felony. I forged my mothers name. I was 7 and in second grade. I don't remember the circumstances leading to a letter from the teacher to my parents, but I was suppose to deliver it. Whatever I had done I didn't want my parents to know about so I hid the note from the teacher and signed my mother's name at the bottom. I took it back to school the next day and gave it to my teacher assuring her my mom had seen it.

Let me just say, my mom has the most beautiful handwriting of anyone I've ever known. I had relatively good handwriting for a 2nd grader. It was neat and legible. Nothing compared to my mom's calligraphic handwriting, though. So, my attempt at signing my mom's fancy handwritten name stuck out like a sore thumb.

I got busted.

Fast forward to yesterday. My oldest daughter is now in second grade. She does well in school, loves to read, has her own circle of friends. . .etc. . .

Yesterday I had a similar experience with Tabytha that my mom had with me so many years ago.

Normally, after Tabytha gets off the school bus she gets a snack, does her homework, gets her chores done and then has the rest of the evening to play, watch a show or two or read.

Sometime after Tabytha had finished her homework and I was in the middle of wrangling one of the little one's, she started writing on a paper. Nothing out of the ordinary. She loves to draw and there's usually some blank paper on the table for when she or John get the urge to draw a picture. So, when I came into the dinning room and Tabytha quickly stood up and put the paper and pen behind her back I knew something was up.

I put my hand out and asked "what are you hiding?". She gives me the pen she was using while her other hand was clenched behind her back. I asked for the paper behind her back and she gives it to me. I look at it and it's the reading calender that the school gives each student. It's a calendar that parents sign off on each day of the week their child reads at home. At the end of the month the calendar is turned in and the child receives a coupon for a free personal pan pizza at Pizza Hut.

Tabytha had signed my name to the remaining days of December. I won't lie. I was really upset. I gave her 2 swats on the butt with the spanking spoon and told her after her chores were done she was to spend the remainder of the evening in her room. At the dinner table, eating our pizza we talked about what she had done wrong and why it was wrong. It was a good talk. She understood what she had done and why it was wrong and sincerely apologized for it.

I can only hope and pray she learned from this and won't do it again. Heaven knows I didn't learn my lesson and went on to sign my mom and dad's name to lots of stuff when I got into 8th grade.

A Year Goes By So Fast

One year ago today Charlie and I welcomed our third child. She was a scheduled c-section because big sister and big brother had both been c-section babies as well. The day before I took Tabytha and John to my parents house to stay with them while I was in the hospital to have Jessi.

Nov. 25, 2008 Charlie and I woke up around 7am. I took a shower, got dressed and we headed out the door to have a baby. My c-section was scheduled for 11am and we needed to be at the hospital 2 hours beforehand to sign final paperwork and have blood work done.

We get settled into our room, sign paperwork, get blood drawn and get hooked up to IV's. Then we wait.

And wait.

And wait.

Time stands still when you're waiting to have a baby by scheduled c-section. I try to get some rest while we're waiting and Charlie's watching TV and relax. It's so hard knowing that in a few short hours we'll be holding our new baby girl.

The doctor comes in to say that the anesthesiologist is caught up in another surgery and we won't be going in at 11am. We have to wait until he's done with the patient he's with before we can have baby. We're disappointed and I'm at the point in my pregnancy that I REALLY want this baby OUT! So, I try to get some rest again, but the waiting is killing me!

FINALLY. The doctor comes in and says we're ready to go. I get taken into the OR to get my spinal while Charlie waits outside the door. I prep for the worst because both other times getting a spinal have been agonizingly painful. But, praise the Lord, this time he got the spinal in quickly and with minimal discomfort. I know what's coming. My body gets warm and goes numb. I'm laid back and the curtain goes up. Charlie is allowed in and comes to my side. He's giddy with excitement and I'm groggy and trying not to throw up all over the place.

This time around I actually wanted pictures of baby being born. I never wanted pictures with my other children. I had no desire to know what it looked like having a baby pulled out of my body, but this time was different. I NEEDED to see THIS child born. I had given one of the nurses my camera as I was taken into the OR and she was ready to start taking pictures once I was opened up.

I hear the suctioning and know they're close. I'm tired and numbly nauseous. The nurses know I've been through this before and don't sugar coat it when they say "You're gonna feel a 'little' pressure". I know it's coming and like each time before they press on the top of my pregnant belly to push baby toward the c-section opening and I let out a loud grunt as all the air is pushed from my lungs temporarily.

She's out! Nurses take her to the scale to clean her up and weigh her. Charlie goes with her to finish trimming up the cord. She's 8lbs 3.5oz and 20 inches. That's IT?!?! She's tiny compared to my other children at birth. I dub her my runt and the nurses whisk her off to the nursery, along with Charlie, as I get put back together and closed up. Then I'm taken back into my room and wait for Charlie and Jessi to come back from the nursery.

I'm exhausted, sore and overjoyed. Charlie brings Jessi back and I meet my little runt. She's beautiful and perfect.

Today my runt is a year old. It seems like just yesterday and at the same time it's hard to believe it's only been a year. Jessi has grown so much. She began crawling at 6 months old, sat up independently a week later. She has 8 teeth and she began walking just before 11 months old. She can be as rambunctious as big brother and laid back as big sister.

Jessi had truly blessed our lives and our family was completed when she came into the world.

I Can't Believe She's 8

8 years ago my oldest daughter came into the world and blessed my life. I was due Nov. 5, 2001 with my first child. My due date came and went. No baby. I was growing impatient. My body wasn't giving me any signs I was ready to have a baby. Baby never dropped. I never dilated. My water never broke and I never lost the mucus plug.

The week after my due date (Nov. 13th) I went in for a regular check up and had a sonogram. The sonogram tech said there wasn't enough amniotic fluid, it wasn't alarmingly low, just not quite enough to let me go any longer waiting for labor to begin. I went home to pack a bag and my mom took me to the hospital later on in the evening. I was hooked up to a pitocin drip over night to jump start labor. The next morning my doctor came in to check my progress and NOTHING HAPPENED. I wasn't even contracting yet and had been on pitocin for 12 hours at this point.

So, the nurses increased the pitocin dosage every 15 minutes until I was at the limit. As the day went on I began feeling some of the contractions. Doctor checked me sometime after lunch (now on pitocin for 18 hours) and STILL NO CHANGE. Baby still hasn't dropped into position, no water breaking, no dilating.

By dinner time I was getting contractions every 2-3 minutes and they were getting really uncomfortable. Around 7:30pm (24 hours on pitocin now) the doctor checks me again . . . and . . .

Yup.

You guessed it.

STILL NO CHANGE.

No dilating. No baby dropping. No water breaking. Nothing but uncomfortable contractions. The nurses take me off pitocin because my body is saturated with it and it hasn't worked well enough to jump start labor. So I relax, have some dinner (Chick-Fil-A sandwich and nuggets provided by an old high school friend and his girlfriend).

Around 11pm the nurse comes to let me know that Tabytha's heart rate is a little too high, so she has me lay on my left side for about 30-40 minutes to see if that will help. It doesn't. Her heart rate actually increased a little. The nurse comes back in and puts an oxygen mask on me thinking maybe Tabytha isn't getting enough oxygen and I continue to lay on my left side. Another 40 minutes goes by and still, Tabytha's heart rate is too high (around 210-220 bpm).

The doctor comes in and explains to me she doesn't like the way things are going and my lack of progression. Tabytha's already a week overdue, the amniotic fluid is low and her heart rate won't come down. She wants to do an emergency c-section to get her out since my body wasn't responding to pitocin and wasn't going into labor.

(12:30am, Nov. 15) I muster up enough of a voice to ask if I can call my mom so the doctor can explain what's going to happen. I dial. Mom answers. Doctor says "Emergency C-Section" and mom's dressed and out the door to come be with me.

I'm prepped and taken into the OR. It takes about 10 minutes for the anesthesiologist to get the spinal going.

It.

Hurt.

So.

Bad.

Mom gets there just as the anesthesiologist gets the spinal in. My body gets warm and goes numb. I LITERALLY feel nothing below my ribcage. So much so that I begin hyperventilating because I can't feel myself breathing. Mom reassures me I am, in fact, breathing.

Then it happened. I couldn't feel it, but I knew it was coming. My mouth began to water. I was going to get sick. This should be fun. I can't move. Can't wrench my stomach like a normal person getting sick because the stomach muscles are sleeping from the spinal. I turn to my mom and say "I don't feel so good" and no sooner did she grab a kidney dish, I let all my chick-fil-a out. I didn't feel much better, a couple minutes later I get sick again.

I'm getting so sleepy. I hear suctioning. I'm opened up and they're close to getting Tabytha out. They need to push on the top of my belly to get Tabytha closer to the c-section opening. The nurse says "Ok dear. You're gonna feel a little pressure". Boy, was she wrong. I thought someone jumped on my abdomen and let all the air out of my lungs in a huge "Ouf" I Mom stands up to peek over the curtain and they've got Tabytha's head and one shoulder out. She watches them pull her out and proclaims "That's My Grandbaby!!!!". She goes with Tabytha to finish cutting the cord. I hear her cry and I feel relief. She's here!

The nurses take Tabytha to the recovery room. Mom stays with Tabytha while the doctor puts me back together and staples me up. I'm then wheeled into recovery to meet my new daughter.

She's perfect. She weighed 8lbs, 12oz and was 20 inches long.

It's hard to believe she's 8 years old today.

Happy 8th Birthday my sweet Tabbykotka!

Ebay Heartache

My husband is not an avid sports fan. He doesn't spend his weekends glued to the television watching whatever sports game happens to be on. But, he has been a Washington Redskins fan since childhood. If a Redskins game happens to be on and he's not busy with other things around the house, he'll sit and watch it.

He mentioned early in the season that he'd like to have a John Riggins (retired Redskins player) or a Chris Cooley (current Redskins player) jersey one day.

Aha! A Christmas gift idea. I went to Ebay to search out a Riggins jersey. There were several. More expensive then I was expecting to find on Ebay, so I sorted by lowest price and found one for around $15. Shipping was $19!!! More then the cost of the jersey!!! But, it was still far less expensive then the other jerseys I'd researched prices on. So, I bid on it. I won the item and paid immediately through the paypal account.

2 weeks goes by. Still no jersey. No word from the seller. I email the seller asking were my item was and why it was taking so long to receive. A few more days go by and the seller sent a message saying he'd been sick and in the hospital for 2 weeks. He automatically refunded my purchase w/o seeing if I still wanted the item. There's plenty of time before Christmas. I still wanted the jersey. But, it wasn't going to happen. At least not with that seller.

I search again and find another Riggins jersey, this time a couple bucks cheaper, about $13 for the jersey. But shipping was $19 again. I bid on it. I won.

2 weeks goes by AGAIN. Still no jersey and still no word from the seller. I go check the shipping details for the item and the seller states items ship within 2 days of confirmed payment. Well, paying through our paypal account puts the money into the sellers account immediately. The item should have shipped by now. I contact the seller to find out when he plans on shipping my item and tell him that since he didn't ship within 2 days like his shipping details specify I thought it only fair that he refund my shipping charges, but keep the $13 for the jersey because I still want it. A couple days go by. Still no contact from the seller. I send another email, same as before, but this time a little more firm. 'I want the item, you still haven't shipped it, please refund my shipping cost, but still send the jersey, I'm willing to pay what you've asked for it minus the shipping cost'.

The next day. A message from the seller. All the money has been refunded to me, sorry for the inconvenience. But NO JERSEY!!! ARG!!!!!!!!! What's a girl gotta do to get a simple jersey?!?!?!

At this point I've given up. I told Charlie he wasn't gonna get his Christmas gift and told him my ebay fiasco. He asked what I'd gotten him that's causing so much trouble. I tell him what I was trying to get him a John Riggins Jersey. Since I can't seem to get it I figure it's no big deal to tell him. He was really bummed out. I told him I was really sorry, but everywhere else I looked was more expensive then we can afford at the moment. So he tells me to call his buddy who's got a couple Redskins jersey's and find out where he gets them.

So, we hang up and I give his buddy a call. I tell him my story and ask where he got all his jersey's. His reply?

wait for it . . .

EBAY!!!

I wanted to scream!

So, needless to say, Charlie's not getting a Riggins OR Cooley jersey for Christmas. I'm sorry. Maybe I'll use a little bit of our 2009 tax return to get him one and save it for Father's Day next summer.

#2 For Dinner

I made "Stew Beef Casserole" for dinner yesterday. It's my grandmothers recipe and it's very simple and ANYONE can make it. It takes about 5 minutes to prep and 4 hours to cook and your house will smell like a little piece of heaven. I typically make egg noodles to go with it. So, I plated everyones dinner and we sat down. Charlie prayed and we ate. (I actually made myself 2 small chicken patties because I don't like beef). John scarfed down his egg noodles and rubbed his belly saying "Mmmm". When I told him to eat his meat he looked down at it and said "Ewww! Poo!!!"

Well, that made me feel REAL good to have the meal I prepared for my family compared to 'poo'. We couldn't help but laugh, though. He's only 2. He doesn't know any better. I can understand the comparison because what he 'deposits' in his pull-ups each day is very similar in color to the beef that was on his plate.

I've made it before and he's happily eaten every other time. Guess I'll be making him something different for dinner next time I make it. Charlie, Tabytha and Jessi tore it up. Charlie and Tabytha liked it so much they wanted to take leftovers for their lunch today.

My Grandma's Stew Beef Casserole

2 lbs stew beef

2 cans of cream of mushroom soup, diluted

1 pkg of Lipton Onion Soup mix

cooked rice or noodles of your choice

(I like to add a can of mixed veggies)

Combine ingredients and place into a casserole dish. Cover & bake at 300 degrees for 4 hours. Serve over cooked noodles or rice.

(told ya it was easy! Enjoy!)

Handmade Memories

A package came in the mail today for Tabytha from my Aunt Georgette. She'd been cleaning out a closet and found a box that had an afghan crocheted by my mom's mom (my Babci). Babci was always crocheting. Baby clothes, doll dresses, scarves, hats, afghans. . .if it could be crocheted, she did. She always hummed while she crocheted. I still hear it every time I think of her.

Babci passed away nearly 6 years ago. Tabytha was 2 years old. She has no actual memories of Babci, but I have lots of pictures of them together. Tabytha was her first great grandchild.

So, out of sheer curiosity for what could be in the box sent from Aunt Georgette, I opened it. (I felt 'justified' opening the package because the label was addressed to "Tabytha, c/o Charlie and Jamie"). I read the note and then took out the afghan. Tears began to well up in my eyes.

My mind was flooded with memories of my Babci. I loved her so much. I got teary eyed for the short time Tabytha had to know her, but this afghan, crocheted with Babci's own hands will be a treasured possession for her.

So, after composing myself I took the afghan back to Tabytha's room to lay it out on her bed for her. I waited outside for the school bus to bring her home and told her she had a surprise waiting for her in her room. She perked up and wanted to know what it was. I told her it was something made by Babci many years ago, before she passed away and she wanted to hurry up and see what it was. I told her to go look on her bed. I followed her back to her room and heard her exclaim "AWE!!! It's SOOO beautiful!!!"

My heart melted.