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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

School Days...

I signed Henry up for preschool in the fall. He is going to Trinity Lutheran school which is the same place that my brothers and I went to as children. They accept all religions (and non) and is a lovely place to learn and grow. I am very excited for him.
On Friday Henry received an invitation to Vacation Bible School at Trinity Lutheran Church. It is starting on the 27th and goes five days. I was so excited that he was invited and that he would get a chance to "practice" for preschool. He'll be in a setting without me and will be able to get an idea what school will be like in the fall. Plus it will be a fun week of bible stories, songs, games, crafts. I preregistered him for it today. And as an added bonus it's FREE! They are taking donations to a teaching thingy in India. I can't recall what it is but we'll give a donation. Have I mentioned that I am very excited for him?!?!
We also got invited to a birthday party this Saturday for one of the great little boys we go to Kindermusik with. I was so pleased to be invited and I know my kids will love playing with the boys. I just hope mine behave themselves! I am really looking forward to this too!!! Chang Po playing "dead dog"

Lulu with her new dog toy. In less then 5 hours she had already put a big hole in it which Dr. Mom so kindly sewed up.

Sunday Pancakes

Okay...I love taking pictures of my kids eating pancakes at the church pancake breakfast.

We had hamburgers on the grill at grandma's for dinner. While we were eating a deer came very close to us. I really think she wanted a yummy hamburger too. I tried getting a picture without scaring her away. She actually got closer then where she is in the picture. I was amazed.

Dinner Out With Grandma

Grandma took us out for dinner last night to the Brookside Inn in Beulah. Dinner was ok but it seems like when they get busy or are having a dinner special then the other meals fall by the wayside. It costs too much for them to fall apart like that. Also they did not have my favorite dessert available and if I am going to splurge on dessert then that is what I want. Our waitress was new too and...I am trying to think of a nice way to put it...but she must not have been brought up to know which fork goes with what. Things needed for our dinner were forgotten and it seemed like it just never occurred to her that we would need them. Oh well. I appreciate that Grandma was treating us to an evening out! The next time we go out for an expensive meal we'll be heading to the Glenwood in Onekama.
The pictures are just random ones of the kids. I need to take more of our surroundings instead of just the kids' faces. Irene actually caught smiling.

Henry hamming it up for the camera.

View outside our window.

4th of July Weekend

This year daddy was home with us for the fourth. We picked him up in Grand Rapids on the first. We attempted to eat at Red Robin again while in Grand Rapids. Every time we try to eat there the kids have a major break down. This time went better and I actually got to finish my meal. After lunch we went to the mall in Grandville that I can never remember the name of. We were just going to ride the carousel. We went for a ride and for some reason Henry did not want to ride on a horse, he wanted to ride on the seat so I rode with him and Mark with Irene.

While we headed back to the bathrooms and our car we briefly stopped at one of the kiosk things that sells fake brand name purses. Irene was checking out a small, round, pink coach knock-off when a woman came up and threw her arms around my husband. My first thought was that a drunk woman had fallen into him. But no...it was his Aunt Kathy and her daughter and grandson. Aunt Kathy is one of his mother's sisters and his favorite aunt. We have not seen or talked to her in over two years. Some of you know that super drama that is his family and certain events that had lead to their removal from our lives. Turns out that the story his parents are spreading is about 100 miles away from the truth and Mark's crazy sister is still stirring the pot two years later. It was an informative visit and it was interesting to learn that Mark's sister is insanely jealous that Mark has a daughter. Supposedly that is why she is still pooping out the drama years later. Anyway it was a quick visit and Kathy gave us her address and phone number. She also bought Irene the fake coach purse and Henry a "The King" car from Cars. Mark also told her about the new baby. We wondered how long Kathy would hold onto that secret. But enough of that drama...it is best left in the past.

Thursday morning we had an early appointment in Traverse City for the Durango. That was another huge drama. Those people tried to tell us we didn't have a warranty while we held the signed warranty paperwork in our hands. Mark got VERY upset with them and we'll never do business with them again or recommend them. (Took from Thursday morning until the next week Thursday to fix the car too) We had lunch and went to the mall where I got some maternity shirts.

Friday we went to the carnival and flea market in town. We also checked out the animals and fed them carrots. By this time Roo was getting a cold and both kids were overtired. We decided not to go to the fireworks since they didn't start until 10:30pm. Both kids were in bed long before that.

Saturday we went to the parade. It was fun but Roo fell down and cut open her knee. Plus we were sitting by a very nice woman and her son. They shared any candy that got thrown near them and actually talked with Henry. On the other side of us was a kid that practically took the candy out of Roo's hands. Geez people...teach your kids to share!! From there we headed to the art fair. I wasn't too impressed overall and didn't buy anything there. We decided not to do the carnival again that day since Henry was getting a cold too. Instead we had naps and then a cook out at Grandma's.

Sunday we planned on going to the classic car show and the carnival. The darn carnival was already packing up! They were suppose to be open that day so I was mad that the kids missed it. But we went and fed the animals and the kids rode the camel. And Henry loved the classic cars. He had to be picked up so he could see the inside of every car. I so wished my brother Pete had been there so they could have talked cars together. Henry would have loved that. He did pick out a very pretty blue corvette that he said uncle Pete could have.

I can't remember what we did on Monday. We bought blinds at Meijer to put up in the living room and a big shade at K Mart to put in the playroom. Tuesday was back to Grand Rapids to drop off Mark. I did learn that I really like the Toyota Sienna minivan. That was our loaner car while the Durango was being fixed. Super-Duper car salesman Pete informed me that I can get one in all wheel drive and now I am wishing for one!

And that is what we did over the 4th of July weekend!!

And Baby Makes 5

I am now in my 24th week of pregnancy with baby #3. Or should I call this baby # Holy Crap How Did That Happen? Yes this little bundle of joy came as quite a surprise to us. I completely blame my husband though. This is a result of that weekend back in January when he surprised me with a two day home visit. I remember at the time telling him that I didn't think it was the best time of the month and then our laughing about it because yeah, right, sure...nothing will happen. Seems we forgot that the other two kiddies we have were both unplanned "how did this happen" babies. Then I think about my friends that are trying so hard to get pregnant and I realize that #1 we are so lucky and #2 we are jerks for laughing about the chances.
So baby #3 is a boy...which I knew it was going to be. I knew what the other two would be before ever getting an ultrasound. I'm not bragging...it's an intuition thingy that comes with being pregnant. At first we weren't going to find out the sex but I was so certain that it was a boy that I couldn't wait. So far things are progressing smoothly. Of course that is after three months of being sicker then I ever was with the other two and then a month of I gotta eat NOW! Hormones seems to have gotten under control a bit and now I am hungry but not eat a bear ravenous.
This baby is due October 24th. He'll be born a few days before that since it'll be a repeat c-section. The great thing is that his birthday will be a month after Henry's so I'll have a lot of baby boy clothes that can be reused. It's all about saving money! Of course I did start a Wal-Mart baby registry with bedding that I feel in love with and some items that we really do need. I keep saying we don't need a lot but the registry was 18 items long (now 16 since my mom bought the bedding and Ashley got the diaper bag). There are just a lot of cute items that match the bedding and blah blah blah.
On a different note...My husband is planning on switching companies at the end of the month. It won't get him home more often then the other company BUT it will cut out the five hours in the the car to pick him up!!! And that is five hours just to pick him up and get him home. We still have the five hour (round trip) to drop him off again. He'll be able to park in town which will save us time and MONEY on gas and food. Plus the kids hate all that time in the car and it cuts into our time spent with daddy.
Well after all that news I am tired and in need of a shower. Things to do and all that!

Happy 4th of July!