Welcome to the Family, Ashley!!!!!!!!!!!

My baby brother is married! He and his wonderful girlfriend got married in a courthouse ceremony in Maryland this past Thursday. There were a number of reasons they did it this way. Ashley just got a job in Michigan at Madonna University. She will be living on campus and in order to have my brother live with her they would have to be married. But they had been discussing getting married in a small ceremony since May so the move was not the main reason they got married but rather the reason they got married this week. They are planning a wedding for friends and family in a couple of years. This way they can save money for it. And besides what's more impotant...the being married or the wedding?

I am thrilled that my brother met Ashley and that they are married. I really like her and I think she is great for my brother. I am also thrilled that they are moving to Michigan! They will be about a four hour drive from me.

These pictures are from their wedding day and were taken by Pete and Ashley. They bought a small cake and bottle of bubbly to share.

Today (Sunday) Ashley is driving to Michigan. Her new job starts on Tuesday. Pete will be moving in a couple of weeks. He needs to find a job in Michigan now.

Good Luck Pete and Ashley!!!!!!!!!!

Lots of Pictures....

Irene with bits of left over yarn tied in her hair. She is saying cheese in each of these pictures.

More fun at the beach. A great time and it's free!

The doggies...

Talented Mom

My mom reading a book about fairies to Irene.

My mom knitted a beautiful baby afghan for the new baby. The pictures do not do it justice. It is a beautiful soft blue color. It will be a warm, cozy blanket for the baby and I can't wait to bring him home from the hospital in it. She has knitted an afghan for each of my kids and for my nephew Eric. Each blanket is a different color and pattern and are all beautiful.

Thanks mom!!!!!!

Just a Little Bit More

A lovely little story about my daughter...
She is thrilled to have daddy home. She is definitely a daddy's girl. If he is sitting down then she is sitting with him. When she wakes up she calls for daddy. I love to watch her with him. Today we put them down for naps and about ten minutes later she was calling for him. Depending on how insistent she got I might just ignore it and wait for her to go to sleep. Sometimes the kids will yell and call to try to get out of naps. But Mark went up to see what she wanted........and it was a good thing he did. She was waiting for him with a handful of poop. Gooey, stinky poop. Mark handled it very well and got her cleaned up and back in bed. Never heard him complain or anything. I was impressed.

Having Mark home has been good and bad. Wish he was working but having him here and getting to spend time with him is great. The kids love it. And it has made me see how alone I really have been. When the kids would go to bed at night I would be up alone for another three hours. I didn't have anyone to discuss the day with or talk about what we were watching on tv. Now I have company and companionship. We might have disagreements but at least he is here. It's hard to describe to people that don't live it. But believe me it's a treat to have him here. Plus he gives fantastic neck, shoulder, back, and foot rubs!!!

Still Waiting...

The other morning we went for a ride. As we were coming up to the bridge that crosses the river in our town we could see that it was up. Surprisingly it was a freighter coming in. This is always a big deal during the summer. Everyone likes to watch the freighters go through the bridges. People line the river walk to watch. This year with the economy being so bad we are only getting about one freighter per week. We have only managed to see one come in before this the entire summer. The kids like to watch the bridges open and like to wave.

This time we managed to see where it was going. It was dropping off a small load. We could see it from the road above and got to watch it move its big crane. The kids loved it.

Friday I had another doctor appointment. I really didn't want to go because I would not get to see my doctor but rather one that she works with. I understand that they want you to meet all the doctors in case one should have to deliver you but I want my doctor. If I go into labor before my planned c-section then I'll take any of those doctors. I realize it is suppose to make you comfy with them all but seriously I just want to see mine. If I wanted all these other doctors then I wouldn't have been so choosy in picking mine. Plus if I see her one week and a different one the next then they don't know what I discussed with her. And I am comfortable with her which is why I keep going back to her. When I had Henry and Irene my doctor was in another practice with just one other doctor. I was comfortable with that. Now she has moved to a larger practice and I feel a bit shuffled around.

One more thing that rather irks me about it too is that you get a different nurse with each doctor. The doctor I saw Friday has a bitchy nurse. She had to have my left arm for my blood pressure and was rather short with me when I offered her my right. Then it was discovered that my sugar test results were not in my file and the doctor did not want me to leave until they found them. I figured that the test must have been fine since they said they'd call if there was a problem and I never heard from them. Anyway this nurse acted like it was my fault that the results were not in the file...like I stole them! Crazy and she was not happy that she had to find them. Turns out she never did find them, an office lady looked it up online. The nurse that works with my doctor is great and we chat and get along. Overall it was not a happy visit and I felt like it was a waste of my time. Time spent with the doctor was less then three minutes.

To add to all the drama is the people that work for the county/state. We jumped through a ton of hoops to get all the crazy paperwork that they wanted to get on medicaid. The woman said she'd have it done by the end of the week. Well Friday came and went and what did we get??? a big fat nothing. She hasn't completed it and she is not returning calls. We just don't count anymore. We have become the lowest of society and so it doesn't matter how quickly things are done.

And while I am on this particular rant...I also feel a bit abandoned by another person(s). I am finding it hard to deal with said person(s) because I feel like I have been thrown over for other people that are not in my situation. It makes me think of yet another person that would easily forget me (us) if those people not in my situation came calling. Confusing? Yes. Just ignore.

After dinner tonight my mom is watching the kids for a little bit. Mark and I are going for a ride by ourselves. Not very exciting but with no money it is about as exciting as it gets. But we get a chance for quiet time and to talk.

Well here is to tomorrow...that it is a better day.

Fun in the Sun

We decided to take the kids to the beach today. Since daddy is home with us we are trying to make to best of the situation. The weather was lovely at the beach with a cool breeze. The kids played and played for over an hour. One of the great volunteers from vacation bible school was there. She just happened to be Henry's favorite...he used to sit with her and would always join her table for crafts. She is a volunteer for the Vacation Bible School at the Methodist church. It starts on Tuesday. She wanted to tell us about it because she thinks Henry would really enjoy it. I was thrilled because I would love for him to spend more time in that kind of environment (school, church, children). That VBS is from 5:30 to 8:30 on Tuesday and Thursday for two weeks. They give the kids meals those nights too. So overall I would have to say our beach trip was a success!!

Yesterday I worked poor Mark to the bone. I made me carry all the totes that had baby clothes in them up from the basement. We are talking at least five totes but I think it was more. I sorted through them and pulled out all the boy baby clothes. Thankfully this baby is going to be born just shy of a month from Henry's birthday so all of Henry's baby clothes will be perfect for him! I am saving a bundle of money. Considering the current jobless state we are in this is a good thing! Plus I had fun going through the clothes and cooing over the times Henry wore them. I have been stressing a little over the things we still need for the baby. The registry still has 21 items on it but for the most part I think we could live without those things for now. I just get nutsy and want everything to be ready and perfect for when the baby arrives. Oh well...chill...

Speaking of baby stuff...I have been having dreams about having this baby early. I have one at least once a week. Last night I had two. I the first one Mark delivered the baby at home and we had to rush to the hospital. In the second I was being prepped for a c-section and I kept trying to tell them it was too early. I am paranoid that all these dreams mean that the baby really is going to come early. Two weeks ago I told my doctor about them but she is not overly concerned. When she was pregnant with her second she was a resident working a lot and she had a dream that she had the baby at work and took it out to her car and left it in the trunk. Being pregnant makes you so paranoid! We did decide on the date for the upcoming c-section. This baby will be born October 20th which is a Tuesday. Of course that is as long as he doesn't come early ;-)

To end on a sweet note...last night Irene was looking at the pictures on the digital picture frame and naming off the names. She was just talking to herself not realizing that we were watching. Then as each picture came up she would tell that person in the picture that she loved them! Too cute!! Then she would kiss the picture!!!!!!!!!! She was the sweetest thing :-)

Whale Pool

We got the pool set up at Grandma's house and then the darn clouds came out. The kids played for a little bit but it would have been better had it been hot and sunny liked predicted. Had hamburgers and corn on the cob. The kids didn't eat much and had repeated fights over the toys. Then while Mark was trying to close the garage door it came off the track. Now it is hanging crooked. Granted the door was old and crappy anyway but at least it shut before ;-) Oh well...what can ya do?!

Crazy, Crazy Life

So much has been going on. I am 28 weeks along now and last week I did the glucose test at the doctor's office. It has been a week and no calls about any bad results so I am assuming it was normal.

Friday we had to go to Traverse City again. Both kiddies were born up there and we needed to get copies of their birth certificates. We stopped at Red Mesa Grill for lunch which was great! I highly recommend it. We also went to Wal-Mart for a new shower curtain and found a blow up kiddie pool in the shape of a whale. Once you hook up the garden hose to it it sprays water on the slide and you slide into the pool. The best thing??? It was on sale for 10 dollars!

That has been the fun stuff...we have had some not so good stuff going on. On Sunday Mark and I got up at 4am to be on the road at 5am. I was taking him to the Greyhound station in Muskegon. He had a 17 hour bus ride to Wisconsin. He was starting a job with a new trucking company. This company would allow him to park in town thus eliminating the 5 hours in the car to pick him up each time he came home. Plus the other company had given him two months of bad miles and having pay checks vary by $500 or more each week is messed up the finances. And just to top it off the owner of that company is a southern biggot that refers to us as "those Catholic northerners." Nice. Oh and when Mark put in his two weeks notice they suddenly took him away from his dispatcher and gave him a minimal amount of miles. Basically they screwed us out of a lot of money just out of spite. Talk about a classy company...more like a bunch of bratty little bullies.

Once Mark finally got to Wisconsin and got settled in he had a day of "classes" or rather a lady standing in a room telling you all the dos and don'ts of their company. Lets just say this new company had some crazy ass rules. They finally got a lunch break at 1pm. Not knowing that he would be getting a blood sugar test an hour after lunch Mark had mountain dew to drink with his lunch. An hour after eating they decided to do a finger prick blood sugar test while doing the physical/drug testing. They did this 1 hour after they ate! This is the time when the blood sugar is highest. Heck my sugar test last week was taken 1 hour after drinking the glucola...it's to see what it is at at the highest! Okay...I am going off here but this nurse aide was at the top of stupidity. Anyway...Mark's blood came up with a 130. This was only 4 points above the DOT cut-off limit. Instead of saying okay we'll take it again in an hour and see what it is she decided he was no longer able to work. Seriously...while the company did not fire him he was just no longer hired by them because of this nurses aide's findings. BUT SHE NEVER RECHECKED IT!!!! She has denied him a job because of her stupidity. And the best part was that she decided that the other guy there with Mark (also about to work for the same company) had a heart murmur. Yes...she successfully diagnosed a heart condition (insert massive sarcasm here).

So the company decided they could no longer employ my hubby and this other guy and decided to bus Mark back to Michigan. And to show how dumb they are they decided to pay extra for a bus ticket and a hotel room when then could have sent him across Lake Michigan on the Badger car ferry. The Badger leaves from Manitowoc, WI and goes to Ludington, MI in 4 hours. Instead they paid out more for a bus ticket that went through the upper peninsula of Michigan and took 13 hours.

So where does that leave us? Well...Mark has no job. We have no health insurance. And we are doing all we can to find him a job before our tiny bit of money runs out. We are trying to get me and hopefully the kids on Medicaid. Medicaid requires birth certificates as well as social security cards and a proof of pregnancy for me. This made me laugh because all it actually is is a fill in the blank "note" on the letterhead of my doctor's office. One of the office ladies filled in my name and due date. That is proof of pregnancy...something I could have made at home with a computer and printer if I was feeling creative. But if it gets me on medicaid then it'll be worth the hassle.

So Mark has been sending out applications like crazy and some very kind friends have been sending us info on jobs. Hopefully something will come through soon...please pray for us!

We have had some good times too!! Today we went to church and the pancake breakfast. It was nice to have Mark with us this time. Henry went to Vacation Bible School this past week. He loved it and was very sad that it ended. Irene was not happy that she didn't get to go and she was so quiet while Henry was gone. The kids were also invited to their first non family birthday party. They LOVED it and had a lot of fun and so did I! So we have had some good times in with the bad. After naptime today we are going to Grandma's house. Mark is going to change the oil on the car and we are going to set up the whale pool for the kiddies. Plus we are going to cook hamburgers on the grill and have corn on the cob. Cute pictures should be coming soon!!!

Pray for a job miracle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!