And These Are the Days of Our Lives. . .

One Year Ago

2011-12-13T12:08:00.002-05:00

One year ago today, we received our early Christmas present, when we found out that our FET cycle had worked and I was going to have a baby! Trevor will be four months old tomorrow. Part of me asks, where has the time gone? Part of me can barely remember not having him in our family.

Until later,

Emily

Merry Christmas from the Snow Boys (& Santa)!

2011-12-06T23:00:00.001-05:00

(Pretty cute, huh?)

Until later,

Emily

Trevor's Birth Story

2011-11-14T21:19:00.001-05:00

In honor or Trevor's Three-month birthday, here is his birth story:

Trevor Snow

August 14, 2011

4:46 PM

6 pounds, 14 ounces

19 inches long

head circumference: 33 ¼ cm

On Sunday morning, I was scheduled for an “elective induction” due to the fact that I had precipitous labor (fast labor) with both Thomas and Toby.

James & I walked into the hospital at 7:30 AM. We made a quick stop at the registration desk and then made our way to the maternity wing.

After changing my clothes and being asked another thousand questions, at 9 AM I was finally given the first round of IV antibiotics because I was a Group B Strep carrier. These antibiotics needed to be in my body at least four hours before the baby was born in order for them to be effective.

The actual “game plan” for the induction kept changing before anything ever happened. I didn't really care how the labor was brought on, but what I did care about was getting the epidural. My labors had been too fast with Thomas and Toby, so I was unable to have one, but I knew that I really wanted one this time around.

After expressing my concern to my doctor, Dr. Thomas, she suggested that I may as well get the epidural first and then they could start giving me doses of Pitocin, which is very unheard of.

Sometime during the 11:00 hour I was given my epidural. It was instantly wonderful! I guess I got a “good epidural” in that I could still feel quite a bit and had control of my legs.

At 12:15, I was given my first dose of Pitocin and I immediately started having some pretty heavy-duty contractions and couldn't feel any of them! This went on for about an hour and a half...I was sitting up in my bed in a way that was comfortable for me and was relishing no longer feeling the constant pain of carrying a baby, the urge to empty my bladder every 15 minutes (I had a catheter), or the ache down my right leg. It was the best I had felt in months!

When suddenly, Trevor's heartbeat plummeted. My nurse came rushing in and had me lay on my side. That seemed to do the trick and she half-joked that the baby just didn't like me sitting like that any longer.

Unfortunately, there were a few more of these episodes and my nurse kept saying that she “really wished he would stop giving her gray hairs”. I had to wear an oxygen mask for much of the remaining time.

Meanwhile, I was dilating but not extremely fast so it was decided that my water should be broken. After that, things go blurry. Sometime after my water was broken, Trevor's heartbeat dropped from normal down to almost nothing in only a matter of seconds. There was a surge of nurses that flew in my door and I went from left side to right side and was told that they were going to get me up on all fours to find the heartbeat again. Luckily, a turn to the side and he recovered.

By this time, I was dilated to a 9 and Dr. Thomas said that when my water was broken, the baby probably moved down rather quickly and was under a lot of distress. The pitocin was taken away and I was told that they were going to give my body a few minutes to dilate to a 10 on it's own, give the baby some time to recover before pushing, but if I didn't dilate to a 10 soon, I was going to have to push through to the 10.

A NICU team was called in. It seemed that nurses were flying in and out of my room. The NICU nurse came and talked to us and told us that when the baby was born, we wouldn't be able to spend any time with him, they would need to take him to the NICU right away and check him out.

Dr. Thomas came in and coached me that the baby was under a lot of distress and so when it came time to push, I needed to focus and get him out fast. Every push needed to count and hopefully there wouldn't be too many pushes (talk about pressure!)

I was able to grab my nurse, Nadine's, attention and asked her if she thought the baby's umbilical chord was wrapped around his neck and she admitted that that was what they were guessing.

Fifteen or twenty minutes later, it was pushing time. My body did dilate to a 10. We waited until the next contraction and I started to push. Since I had an epidural, obviously it felt different, from the other two times, but I pushed with all my strength and I instantly knew something was wrong. I knew he wasn't budging. Dr. Thomas then asked, “Did you have episiotomies the last two times?” which I replied that I did not.

It a matter of seconds, she apologized and explained that she would have to give me one because we needed “to get the baby out fast”. After that, I was told to push. Even then, the pushing was really intense. Soon, it was discovered that Trevor was coming out face up instead of face down, which explained why it was so difficult to push this time around. His head came out and then his neck. The chord WAS wrapped around his neck tightly(I don't know how many times) and they cut the chord before I had finished delivering him. The next thing I saw was a brief glimpse of my blue-gray baby.

Seconds later, though, there were cries coming from him and no rush out the door from the NICU team. They decided to stay and assess Trevor in-room and about five minutes later, he was brought to us, and we got to keep him. He was no longer blue, but was very pale. He quickly pinked up, though.

It was an intense, fast delivery. I pushed him out in less than three minutes. My induction was only 4 ½ hours long if you don't count the time that I sat in bed just getting penicillin.

My recovery this time around was the most difficult of the three. There was a lot of healing involved.

Until later,

Emily

Trevor Update

2011-09-23T09:00:00.000-04:00

All of my babies started out on the smallish side, but they all chunked up rather quickly once they were born. Trevor appears to want to be the fastest growing of the three of them. The kid has a killer appetite, basically when he is awake he wants to be eating!

I took him in for his 1-month well-baby visit on Monday. When he was born, he weighed 6 pounds, 14 ounces and now he weighs 10 pounds, 6 ounces! That's right, that is a 3 1/2 pound weight gain! There is a reason we call him our "Lil' Pig!"

We enjoyed the first couple of weeks of his life where he spit up very little, but unfortunately, he has become a "Happy Spitter" (for the most part, he's not bothered by it nor is it getting in the way of growth, obviously!) like his older brothers were. Not like Toby, who also was a projectile spitter, but he does spit up quite a bit and I am drowning in daily laundry.

He is starting to sleep longer stretches at night. He gets up twice during the night, for the most part. I'm exhausted though. I have a really hard time managing a nap during the day. So usually, I just have to make it on what little sleep I get during the night & "fake it till I make it".

Until later,

Emily

Grandma Arleen Came for a Visit!

2011-09-21T07:00:00.001-04:00

My mom recently came for a visit, September 10-17. We loved having her here just hanging out doing the normal "daily grind" kinds of things. It was really nice & it was hard having her go home.

Until later,

Emily

First Days of School

2011-09-20T09:09:00.000-04:00

On August 29, 2011 Thomas started the third grade.

On September 9, 2011 Toby started his second year of preschool, he goes three mornings a week.

Until later,

Emily

Introducing "Trevor"/3.0 Has a Name!

2011-08-16T23:00:00.003-04:00

Trevor Snow

born on

August 14, 2011

4:46 PM

6 pounds, 14 ounces

19 inches long

Until later,

Emily

39 Weeks!

2011-08-13T20:00:00.008-04:00

Today, I am 39 weeks along. Last night, I went to the hospital thinking I might be in labor. Turns out, I was having contractions every 4-6 minutes but they weren't doing much so Dr. Lee sent me home. If I was determined to get this baby out "on my own" I would be walking the neighborhood or going up and down all the stairs in my home, but since I have an induction set for tomorrow morning, with my favorite doctor, Dr. Thomas, I have been quite happy to take it very easy today!

Until later,

Emily

Any Day Now...

2011-08-11T05:52:00.001-04:00

On Monday, I found out that I'm walking around dilated to a 3.5-4. No big surprise since I have been having contractions on and off since Thursday, in fact, on Sunday, they got rather close (8-10 minutes) for quite a few hours. I did this with both of my other kids. It seems to be my magic number and then once I get past it, I just fly! Thomas I was at a 4 for a week before I delivered him. And Toby for 3 1/2 weeks before he arrived. I was at the hospital for less than 1 1/2 hours with each of them before they arrived. That is counting from the second I walked through the hospital doors until they were handed to me. I also dilated twice as many centimeters with Toby as I did with Thomas in that amount of time, I've done the math, and if this baby follows suit, and I don't catch on before I did with his brothers, I have about 45 minutes. That's not a lot of time considering it takes at least 15 minutes to take care of the little paperwork involved (I'm pre-registered) and get undressed.

It occurred to me that the contractions started 11 days after my last 17p injection. Interesting, huh? I guess my doctor was right when he said that the effects would wear off after 7-10 days.

I have been trying to notice every cramp, ache and twinge of pain. I'm trying my best to make it to the hospital before the contractions are right on top of each other and have me bent in two. The problem is, there usually isn't much time going from feeling relatively fine to being in pure misery. My sister made the statement that she thinks I've become sort of skittish...I believe she is right!

My doctor told me not to wait until they are five minutes apart and not to wait an hour until I've had regular contractions either. Once I am sure that they are the real deal I am to get to the hospital. Whether James is here or not! So I have friends on call to swing by, pick the boys & I up and drop me off at the hospital where hopefully James can make it before the delivery.

So, today, I am officially nine days away from my due date. I have an induction set for Sunday morning. It was going to be Saturday night but there was a conflict. Saturday night, Sunday morning...it really doesn't matter to me. You pick your battles in life, this wasn't one I cared to fight over. My doctor told me that since I'm already so far dilated, she's just going to break my water and give my body a chance before giving me any meds to bring on the contractions. Which I'm fine with!

If I go into labor on my own, I am trying to accept the reality that I probably won't get an epidural. It's a harsh reality to accept especially since having Toby almost five years ago, all I've ever dreamt about if I had another child, beyond not having another premature baby, was getting an epidural. I really don't want a 3/3 record! Sure, I go fast, but let me tell you, it still hurts like HE*L!

I still have no idea if I'll make it until Sunday. Actually, I'm uncertain that I'll make it until this afternoon. Yep. Skittish.

Until later,

Emily

The Germantown Splashpark

2011-08-06T11:30:00.001-04:00

We got invited to go to the Germantown Splashpark the same day that we went blueberry picking. Germantown is in Montgomery county, which is the next MD county from us, closer to Washington DC. We don't have anything like this in our county, unfortunately. We have since been back again. The boys had a blast here!

Until later,

Emily

Blueberry Picking!

2011-08-05T12:00:00.002-04:00

I took the boys blueberry picking on July 1st with a group of gals from my ward (church). We had never really done anything like this, and I wasn't sure how much Thomas and Toby would like doing this sort of thing. I was also nervous about the bees. Thomas is deathly afraid of bees even though I don't think he's ever been stung. I don't have a lot of patience for his little outbursts concerning bees! And Toby had been stung for the first time only a few days earlier, so he also wasn't the biggest fan of bees!

Fortunately, the bee situation was very minimal and the kids had an absolute blast! I think we might go raspberry or peach picking later on this summer!

Until later,

Emily

Still Growing...

2011-08-04T23:21:00.000-04:00

(37 weeks, 5 days along)

Last Saturday, I reached "full term" status. Anything 37-40 weeks along is considered full-term. It's interesting, laughable, really that there was so much worry and concern about keeping him in & now he's perfectly content to stay where he's at!

There is a light at the end of the tunnel, though: my induction date is set for next Saturday night, when I am 39 weeks! There is a chance that it still won't happen then, if there are already too many women at the hospital having babies, but at least I get to call and see if they'll take me. And if so, I'll get to deliver with my favorite doctor, too!

I have felt a lot of contractions over the past few days. This is a new one for me: I AM FEELING CONTRACTIONS! Maybe it's just because I am really, really paying attention. Of course, I don't know if these contractions are Braxton Hicks or the real deal, but they hurt, so I think they must be real. I guess I'll find out on Monday when I have my next doctor appointment, unless I have the baby before then. James is home for the next three days, so it would be awfully convenient if 3.0 decided to arrive soon! And, yes, 3.0 has a name...but we're still keeping it a secret!

All in all, I still feel pretty good. I'm tired and the baby likes to hurt my ribs, particularly the left side. My feet and lower legs are swollen. My back hurts, a whole lot! It's been almost nine years since I've been this pregnant, and now I remember how much it really stinks!

Until later,

Emily

I Hit 35 Weeks--and Baby Got a Little Anxious!

2011-07-19T08:20:00.001-04:00

I woke up Saturday morning and felt a little funky in the tummy. Which wasn't a huge surprise since Toby had been dealing with some kind of funk the day before. Nevertheless, this kind of funk isn't good for staying pregnant (I have a pattern!). So, I stayed in bed, stayed on my left side, and hydrated and hydrated and hydrated, trying to make up for the numerous trips to the bathroom that day. I felt some tightening of my abdomen which I was pretty sure were contractions.

By about 4:30 PM, I decided maybe it would be best to go to the hospital. I quickly grabbed my toothbrush, contact case, and glasses and figured if I needed some other things, James would get them later. James packed a small overnight bag for Thomas and Toby and we were all off to the hospital. (Later on, James called a friend who was ready to come retrieve the boys from the hospital if this was "the real deal"!)

I got admitted to the hospital and was taken to the maternity wing triage. They got me hooked up to some monitors and it was quickly determined that a) the baby was NOT under any kind of distress and b) I was having some fairly regular contractions. I was hooked up to some IV fluids even though it was determined that I had done a fairly good job at keeping myself hydrated (I told you so!). Well, after the first bag of fluid, my contractions were coming every 2-3 minutes. I was, in the nurses own words, "not behaving at all" and "do you want to stay the night here?" A quick call to my doctor (who was in the hospital delivering a baby I assume) and it was determined that I needed to be given some terbutaline to try to stop the contractions.

I was surprised but in a good way. I assumed that since I was past 34 weeks, I would have the baby. The nurse told me that I could have up to three shots of terbutaline to try to stop the contractions but after that, they'd probably stop the medical interference. After the first shot, I could feel my body relaxing. It took a second shot to stop them completely but it worked! After about six hours at the hospital I got to go home.

At this point, we are hoping for a couple more weeks. There is some worry that the baby's lungs are not fully developed yet, but he is past the point where he can receive the steroids (34 weeks is the cut-off). And the other concern is his immune system. Once I hit 37 weeks, I can have a new goal at making it to 39 weeks and getting induced. I'd really, really, like to try out that thing called an epidural!

I am not on bed rest but have been told to "take it easy"--whatever that means. For me, that means that I am making more of an effort to literally put my feet up more often during the day. I am staying well-hydrated. In the meantime, we are finally pulling the baby things out and trying to get organized. It is a slow process, right now it looks like we just moved in again. But, I figure if he were to be born this week, he'd most likely spend some time in the NICU so we still have some time to get ready for him. It will be OK.

Until later,

Emily

Hey Baby!

2011-06-21T08:00:00.001-04:00

Yesterday, I saw my perinatologist, for the last time, hopefully. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the guy (he's one of my favorite doctors), but if I don't have to see him again it's because the rest of this pregnancy will have gone relatively smooth.

I went in yesterday for my routine visit. Which means an external and internal ultrasound, assessment of the baby, the amniotic fluid and the condition of my cervix (whether it has thinned out anymore or if I was now dilating). It also could have meant a culture being sent off to find out the odds of me going into preterm labor within two weeks. But, as luck would have it, my cervix hadn't changed at all over the last three weeks, so the test wasn't warranted.

I was elated to find out that 3.0 had turned sometime over the past few weeks. I knew something had changed, but I wasn't sure what the changes were. I am feeling movement on the right AND left side of my tummy. Well, he is now head down so apparently I am feeling his legs moving around a little more freely than they had been. His head is really, really, really low. Which explains my overactive bladder (there was a night last week where I slept for seven hours and got up six times, that's how bad it is).

Anyhow, my perinatologist said the baby looks fantastic, the amniotic fluid looks great and my cervix looks absolutely normal for being 31-weeks pregnant and since we're taking care of the 17p injections at home, there is no reason to come back to see him unless I do go into labor over the next three weeks. I'm still at risk to have a preterm baby (50/50 chance), but there is nothing more he can do and now it's just up to me to pay attention to how I feel & call my OB whenever I think there might be changes going on.

My lower legs and ankles and feet continue to swell (some days are better than others) and he said to keep a watch on them and maybe mention it to my OB the next time I see them (I go to a practice and see five different docs), which is on Friday.

I got this 4D image of 3.0 yesterday. Unfortunately, his hand is covering part of his face, but it gives us a glimpse of what he looks like...he looks like Thomas & Toby. I particularly think he looks like Toby.

Until later,

Emily

Thirty Weeks and Counting!

2011-06-15T06:00:00.003-04:00

30 weeks, 1 day (June 12, 2011)

On Saturday, I reached my 30-week mark of this pregnancy. This the longest pregnancy, ever, I swear! The baby is oblique, which is slightly better than his transverse position that he had been in over the past couple of months. Basically he is sitting diagonally in my uterus. His bottom is wedged down toward my pelvis and his head and feet are in the lower quadrant of my uterus. It is very uncomfortable at times. My high-risk OB tried to take a picture of his face a while ago using a 4D ultrasound machine and his feet were covering his face, so he's kind of in the half-way, backwards somersault position. I am told he "still has plenty of time to turn", but, each week I get less and less hopeful because it seems like to me he is stuck. But maybe he's just not uncomfortable enough yet to try to move! At 37 weeks, if he hasn't turned, I will go to the hospital and see if my OB can turn him. It is done at the hospital in case my water breaks or the baby goes into distress and then they can hurry and do an emergency c-section to get him out. If my OB is able to turn him, then he'll be left in until I go into labor on my own or I reach 39 weeks, in which case, it has been agreed upon that I can be induced, because I had my other two kids extremely fast! If he isn't able to be turned then a scheduled c-section will be performed, not necessarily that very day but the next day or two.

And then there is the prematurity risk. I am approaching the time where I went into preterm labor with Toby. The first time was at 31 weeks and the second time was at 33 weeks. They were able to stop him both of those times. Then, at 33 weeks, 6 days, I went into labor again and they didn't try to stop him, because I was close enough to that magical "34 week" mark and he had had the steroids to develop his lungs. My docs are keeping a close watch on me. Things ARE starting to progress ever so slightly but not enough to do anything differently or take any kind of medication. There is a test that I am doing now that detects when your body is getting ready to go into labor within the next two weeks. I've taken it once and it came back negative and the next time I do it will be next week. If it comes back positive then it is time to start on the steroids to develop the baby's lungs. At that point, I will just watch for signs of labor and if I do go into labor then I will be hospitalized to stop the labor and try to keep him in until at least 34 weeks, like Toby. I really hope I can make it to 36 or 37 weeks and I'd be thrilled to have to be induced at 39 weeks and be able to take the baby home with me when I left the hospital. I continue to take the 17p weekly injections, and take my last one at 36 weeks. Time will tell if this medication is helping me, my doc says that once I take the last injection at 36 weeks, if I WAS one of the women that it helped, I should go into labor at between 37 and 37 1/2 weeks along, because the medication typically stays in the system for 7-10 days.

Other than that, the heartburn is getting really bad and pretty much everything is getting smashed inside of me. I am uncomfortable and not sleeping well. My skin is acting up. And my feet are swelling from the heat. Pretty much the only thing I have going for me is that my hair is thicker (it always is when I'm pregnant) and I haven't gained very much weight--only 11 pounds so far.

Until later,

Emily

NKOTBSB Concert

2011-06-04T23:59:00.001-04:00

My friend Leah and I bought NKOTBSB concert tickets way back in December, before I even knew I was pregnant. I was able to see New Kids on the Block in concert when I was 15 almost 16, it was my first ever concert. I was one of those crazy, kooky, obsessed NKOTB fans. They got back together and went out on tour when I lived in Germany, and I wasn't able to go. I made a promise to myself that if I ever had the chance again, I would take it. James didn't want to go, but as luck would have it, I had a friend who thought that sounded like a fun thing to do so we were all set!

I am not a huge BSB fan, but I know enough of their more popular music that it was still fun when it was their turn on stage. The concert was very entertaining. I thought I would enjoy it because of the nostalgia, which I did, but I wasn't prepared for how much of " a show" both bands put on. The way that it worked was they sang a few songs together and then one band would leave the stage and let the other band sing 4-5 of their songs and then that band would leave and let the other band come on and do the same thing. It was pretty much non-stop singing for about 2 1/2 hours. We had a great time!

Leah & I made it! It took us close to two hours to drive down there (right in the middle of DC) even though it's only about 45 miles away from our town.

NKOTB

Joey McIntyre

BSB serenading four lucky fans!

NKOTB getting the crowd all fired up!

Jonathan Knight out working the crowds!

Jordan Knight.

NKOTB singing "I'll Be Loving You Forever".

"Hangin' Tough" in their green Boston Celtics jerseys.

Finale with both bands.

It was quite the show!

Until later,

Emily

And He's Back!

2011-06-02T22:00:00.000-04:00

James returned home from his last work traveling trip (until after the baby arrives & I am on my feet again) tonight. He spent 11 days in Germany. This was probably the best experience the boys & I have had while he was gone. Go figure, since the next time James goes away, we will have three children! They behaved and I, for the most part, kept my sanity. The weather has been nice so we have been outside a lot and that helped! The only bump in the road was on Tuesday when I found out I may have to go to the hospital to get the steroids to develop the baby's lungs. I wasn't too happy about facing that while he was gone, finding last-minute babysitting for the boys and such, but it all worked out. It turned out that I didn't need the steroids after all/just yet.

Until later,

Emily

All Tuckered Out!

2011-05-16T08:33:00.005-04:00

Toby stopped taking regular naps nearly 1 1/2 years ago. But, every once in a while, he will take a random nap. Yesterday was one of those days...he had preschool, then lunch, then gym at the YMCA. We came home, he hopped on the couch with his "beautiful, tickle-y, moon-star blankie" and was out cold within 15 minutes! He slept for over two hours, and then I decided I better wake him up. I thought for sure that he'd be awful to get to go to sleep later on at night, but I was wrong, he went right to sleep & then slept about 45 minutes later this morning!

Until later,

Emily

The Power of the Magical Jelly Belly!

2011-05-10T07:08:00.005-04:00

Before we moved from Germany, Toby was almost potty-trained. He had #1 mastered, but still struggled with #2. Once we moved, he was a mess, having accidents, of both kinds, left and right and that was how it was until mid-September, until we moved back into our house and I think he started to feel some sort of normalcy. In other words: he was your typical kid with potty-training and major life changes!

Once we started getting into a routine again, and he had a sense of "where we lived", control over his bowels was no longer a problem. But, it was surprising to find that his desire to stay dry all day had left, even though he had already gotten over that hurdle once.

Day after day, month after month, he would have at least one accident. It became a power struggle for us. For some reason, he decided he did not want to use the toilet, especially if he was asked to. It was most frustrating. I tried every trick in the book. I was open to every single suggestion. Some things would help, some days were better than others. Things improved, but there was still at least one accident a day, usually between 2 and 3 PM. And when he would have an accident, he didn't care--he didn't care if he had the sensation of feeling wet or dry. He would take either. It didn't matter. Which you can imagine, added to my frustration. And after his fourth birthday, in January, I became increasingly frustrated by his bad attitude!

And, then, a few weeks ago, James requested that I buy some Jelly Belly jelly beans. Not for Toby, but for James to snack on. Toby was with me the day that I bought the jelly beans, and he was most intrigued by them. An idea came to me: why not try to use these as incentive for Toby to use the potty? Now, don't get me wrong, I had tried something similar, I had tried M&M's and Skittle's and neither of these helped. But Toby continued to be interested in trying all these colorful jelly beans, so I set the rule that every time he peed in the toilet, he could have two jelly beans! I am THRILLED to report that he has turned a corner! I still have to remember to remind him to use the toilet every few hours, but there isn't a power struggle any longer and very rarely an accident!

Until later,

Emily

Gettysburg--April 2011

2011-04-28T08:22:00.000-04:00

James' mom & dad came and spent a week in Maryland with us while Thomas & Toby were out for Spring Break. We did little day trips nearly every day. On this particular day, we went to Gettysburg. During the time that we lived in Germany, a new visitor's center was built in Gettysburg. It is really, really nice. After we toured the visitor's center, we drove around the grounds--the kids loved it!

Until later,

Emily

Two Cute Boys!

2011-04-20T21:30:00.001-04:00

While shopping in "Downtown Frederick" it really is best to leave the kids outside (with a supervising adult) rather than taking them in the cute stores with you!

Until later,

Emily

Easter Egg Hunt--Tuscarora Rec Center

2011-04-16T20:55:00.002-04:00

I signed the boys up for a little Easter egg hunt that was held nearby. It also included some games. Unfortunately, the day of the hunt ended up being rainy & cold so they had to move it indoors. Better than canceling it completely, I guess. Well, at least the kids thought it was fun. I don't have any pictures of the actual egg hunt, because I had to help Toby.

Until later,

Emily

Crazy Hair Day (at school/Spring)

2011-04-14T08:34:00.000-04:00

Thomas' school had "Spirit Week" and each day had a different theme where the kids had the opportunity to dress up & have a little bit of fun. His favorite day was "Crazy Hair Day".

Until later,

Emily

Mr. Sassy Pants

2011-04-04T23:24:00.003-04:00

My friend caught this on her camera today. This to me, is a very typical Toby look. He is sassy and silly. When he's not being sassy or silly and making us laugh he is giving us headaches and making us pull our hair out. There really is no in-between with him.

Until later,

Emily

"Wittle Bump"

2011-04-03T21:50:00.000-04:00

I have been able to feel Snow 3.0 moving for a very long time. If I told you how long, you would think I was C-R-A-Z-Y (OK, so I felt flutters before even the first trimester was over--honest!) However, nobody else has been able to feel him, even though I am now 20 weeks along (Yay! I'm past the half-way mark now!). Last night, he was kicking or moving around a lot and I was sure it could be felt from the outside. The whole family was together in the living room, but Toby was the closest to me. I asked him to come over and put his hand on my tummy to see if he could feel the baby. He came over, and immediately the baby kicked right where Toby's hand was. I said, "Did you feel it?" and Toby replied, "No, all I felt was a wittle bump!"

Until later,

Emily

Induction

2011-03-22T12:52:00.003-04:00

Yesterday, I saw my regular OB. At this point, these appointments are almost a waste of time to me. I see a perinatologist monthly too, and my appointments with him are much more interesting. Right now, with the OB, I pee in a cup, get weighed and we listen to the heartbeat. And then I'm pretty much done unless I have any questions. Since this is my third pregnancy, I really don't have many questions, and the ones I do have, I ask the perinatologist.

However, yesterday, I had a good question to ask, that my perinatologist couldn't answer since he's not going to be the one to deliver the baby, someone at my OB's office will. Since I had Toby early, I know everyone is concerned about me having this one early too. With good reason, the odds are rather high. But, if I can get past the premature weeks, I wanted to know about the chances of getting induced since my labors, so far, have been very fast. I am mainly concerned about getting to the hospital. Especially, if I happen to go into labor in the afternoon, if this happens to be the case and I go into labor at say, 4 PM, I will most certainly deliver without James because he won't be able to make it home on time due to the time that it takes him to get out of his office and drive back home in DC rush hour traffic. Plus it will be on me to find a place for the kids to go and a ride to the hospital or an ambulance ride. I am lucky/unlucky in that the contractions are not noticeable until they are intense and only a couple minutes apart. I was almost surprised when I was told that, absolutely I can be induced for that reason, that it is scheduled all of the time...the catch?...I have to reach 39 weeks.

So I have to say, I will be very surprised if I make it to 39 weeks, but if I do, I'm sure I will gladly "get it over with" one whole week early! And I will love it if I actually get a chance to walk into the hospital standing upright, not in panic mode to get me to the maternity wing!

Until later,

Emily

Our Bad Luck Streak

2011-03-20T18:12:00.003-04:00

They say bad luck comes in threes. Well, I hope that is the case, because we have had a streak of bad luck over the past few weeks and we don't need anymore! First of all, as I had posted a while ago, our roof sustained considerable damage a few weeks ago during a bad wind storm. We got our new roof put on on Friday. I can tell you that I chose a very pretty shade of shingles, but they are so high up, you'll just have to take my word for it! We had quite a bit of rain in between the time of the shingles flying off and when we got the new shingles put on, but I think we got the repair done on time before it caused any other considerable damage. Well, I hope so!

Then, after all these months of being back Stateside, I finally got fed up enough and wanted my TPMS (Tire Pressure Monitoring System) fixed on my car. In fact, it was what I asked for as my gift for Valentine's Day. James did end up buying me something different but said to go ahead and get the repair done. I was really hoping it would be a free or inexpensive computer reset, but it was not. There were parts and labor involved. Ridiculously expensive tiny little parts! But we finally got it fixed and it's nice not having that bothersome light lit up on the dash anymore. All in all, it took three appointments in Germany and two appointments here to get it fixed! It was kind of a hassle for such a silly repair!

And then, a few nights ago, our water heater died. It was the original water heater that came with the house--it was 18 years old. The day that it broke, I had done a few loads of laundry and two loads of dishes and I know the hot water was working. After dinner, James went to start a bath for the boys when he discovered there was no hot water. Sure enough, I went downstairs, and it was leaking. But luckily the leak was slow enough that it was contained in the closet that the water heater was stored in and the drain that is built in there was carrying away most of the water. So all in all, we were lucky. We turned off the main water valve for the night and had a new water heater installed the next day.

Until later,

Emily

Toby's Fascination with St. Patrick's Day

2011-03-18T22:33:00.002-04:00

This week, in preschool, they focused a lot on St. Patrick's Day. They do lots of art projects. Toby brought home art with gold, shamrocks, leprechauns, etc. He was absolutely fascinated with St. Patrick's Day. He was intrigued by leprechauns and wanted to know if they were real, where they lived, do they start out as babies, etc. On the day of St. Patrick's Day, upon awakening that morning, he ran into my room, and wanted to "find the rainbow and the pot of gold!", he was certain it was in the back of our house. As the day went on, he grew more and more depressed that he hadn't found the gold yet. They made wooden leprechaun masks which each child colored, and that has been the prized possession of the week--it has gone everywhere with us! It has been such a funny thing to see him be so interested in. He has been more excited about St. Patrick's Day than he was for his own birthday or Christmas! Funny kid!

Until later,

Emily

A Lifetime Member of the All-Boys Club!

2011-03-13T13:08:00.004-04:00

(Profile pic)

Last Tuesday, James & I went to my 16-week sonogram. We knew this was most likely the "exciting one" where we would find out the gender of the baby. Upon our arrival, our sonographer cautioned us, "At 16-weeks, your baby is still pretty tiny." "I can make an educated guess but please do not go out and buy a bunch of clothes and certainly don't go out and paint your walls!" But, our baby was not shy and, as the sonographer said at first glance of it's parts..."Well, that is FAIRLY convincing!" We think so too. (It's a boy!) Since then, I have gone out and bought some light-weight sleepers since a lot of my NB and 0-3 month clothing is going to be way too warm!

(there is a curser point to the "boy parts")

I took the news pretty well. I was very realistic that it was probably a boy. But of course, there was a glimmer of hope, especially since this pregnancy has been so different from my other two. There were a couple days of letdown and accepting that this will be my family--no daughter, but I'm fine now. I'm just glad he's healthy & now to find a name for him! And, no, we're not sharing this time nor are we asking for suggestions...especially from my dad! That will be our big surprise to share when he arrives.

Toby was mad for about 10 minutes and then he was over it. Thomas is still trying to accept that it's not a girl. James, who has always been adamant that he never wanted to have girls because "they are far too emotional and I would have no idea what to do with one", finally admitted that he would have "been fine" if it was a girl, but "I'm fine that it's a boy too" which is about the closest thing to admitting that having a girl wouldn't have been the end of the world after all in his book, that I've ever heard from him in the 13+ years that I've known him!

Until later,

Emily

The Flu: 2 out of 4--And: He's Back!

2011-03-05T14:30:00.001-05:00

Last week, Toby came down with what seemed to be a very, very miserable cold. He ran a low-grade fever, had a dry cough, runny nose and seemed run-down (he took 2-3 hour long naps--and he doesn't nap any longer!) for about four days. I'm not the kind of mom that runs off to the doctor, usually, at the first sign of a runny nose. I did consider it, but then the fever went away so I never took him.

Six days later, on Wednesday, I woke up with full sinuses and a slight runny nose. I didn't feel great, but I didn't feel bad. I thought it might even be allergies. I went about my day, in fact, I enjoyed another day where my pregnancy wasn't slowing me down. Later on that night, Thomas had scouts. I took him and was still just fine. As I drove home, I started to not feel well. I got the boys bathed and off to bed and I realized that every inch of my body ached! I went to bed before 10 PM, and before midnight, I woke up with the chills.

The next morning, I knew I had to get to the doctor. I hurt all over. My nose would not stop running and I had a cough. I felt guilty because I realized that Toby most likely felt this bad, and I never took him to the doctor. I knew with the symptoms and with how fast this came on, it was most likely the flu. Thomas had a late-start morning at school due to parent-teacher conferences, and this was one of those instances where I was so glad that I now have a son who can be pretty self-sufficient and helpful when he needs to be. I was so tired and weak but Thomas poured himself and Toby a bowl of cereal and got them each a drink for breakfast and I stayed in bed an extra hour and a half. We all got dressed and out the door and you better believe that I was the very first patient at the Urgent Care Center in my town! And that is the truth!

The doctor agreed that with my symptoms, it all certainly pointed toward the flu. However, the rapid flu test he gave me came back negative. Although that test is a terribly unreliable test, lots of false negatives. We discussed it and decided to treat it as the flu anyhow and get me started on Tamiflu right away. Apparently, the flu and pregnant women are not a good combination to be had! Tamiflu is an anti-viral that lessens the severity of the flu symptoms and speeds up the duration by 1-2 days. The Tamiflu made me nauseated and hurt my stomach. It says you can take it with or without food, and I took it with food right from the start. But, after two doses, I figured out it needs to be LOTS of food and a full glass of milk and then I'm fine. Two days later, I'm on the mend, but still not great. I ran a few errands this morning and came home out-of-steam. I'm going to try to get some extra rest today and tomorrow.

And where was James during all of this? Well, he was in Vienna, Austria! He left last Saturday and returned Friday night. He had a layover in Frankfurt, Germany, Friday morning, which had me a little nervous because of the two Americans that were killed there only two days before, but he said there was nothing to worry about. He never even left the airport. It's good to have him home.

Until later,

Emily

When the Wind Blows...

2011-03-01T10:14:00.000-05:00

When the wind blows at 60+ mph hour speeds like it did last Friday, your shingles that were on their "last leg" get to be replaced whether you like it or not! In a couple of weeks, we're getting a new roof (shingles) I guess! Hopefully before we get anymore substantial rain or snow that will cause other damage to our house.

Until later,

Emily

I Am Surviving

2011-02-26T16:15:00.003-05:00

Today, I hit 15 weeks. Over the past two weeks, I have had some better days. But, no matter what, it's as if I have some kind of internal clock, the morning sickness always kicks in at about 5 PM. And, there are still days, during the day, almost out of nowhere, where I will be seemingly fine and then find myself rushing to the toilet to heave the entire contents of my stomach. I never threw up with my other two pregnancies. Still, there are days where I feel miserable all day long! I have started to show over the past two weeks. But only gained two pounds so far. Actually, early on, I gained five pounds almost overnight, but then I lost it when the morning sickness kicked in, so now I'm once again weighing two pounds more than I did at the start of November. I have also not been headache-free for 16 days now. (Yes, I am counting!) Sometimes it's just a headache and other times it festers to a migraine.

Last Monday, I got to hear the heartbeat with the Doppler for the first time. The doctor forewarned me that it might take a few moments because the baby was still so small. Well, she placed it on the exact right spot and found it within a half a second! There was a nice, strong heartbeat!

Next Saturday, I start my 17p shots. We got it all worked out with the insurance and the medication is being delivered to the house early next week. In about a week and a half I get my next ultrasound. I suspect this will be the one where we find out if we are having a boy or a girl. James is going to this appointment. Thomas and Toby are certain it is a girl. I'm not sure who will be more upset if it's not, me or them. I'm still trying to prepare that it's another boy and that I'll be a permanent member of the "all boys club" but it's hard not to wonder, especially because I have felt quite a bit different this time around.

Until later,

Emily

Snow Baby Update

2011-02-08T08:52:00.004-05:00

(12 weeks, 2 days)

I saw my perinatologist, Dr. Hodor, yesterday (high-risk OB). Everything went well. I got a thorough sonogram and everything appeared to be normal with the baby. There are no subchorionic hemorrhages and he said now that I am to where I am at it would be "very, very unlikely". There was some worry because I am "older" but once I explained that the embryo was frozen when I was 31, there was a look of relief on both the sonographer and doctor's faces.

Dr. Hodor wants to see me monthly where I will get another thorough sonogram until 32 weeks. They will keep checking on my cervix and at some point start doing some kind of test where they check the cells and can tell if my body is starting to show signs of preterm labor. I think he said they'd start doing that at around 22-24 weeks. I am also going to start weekly progesterone shots (called 17p) in a month. They have been found very effective in preventing preterm labor. This office wasn't using them five years ago when I had Toby. I will be able to give them to myself at home rather than go into the office weekly and pay the co-pay since I've already been doing that because of the IVF. I will take them until 36 weeks. Usually once the shots are halted, labor starts in a week or two after that.

Until later,

Emily

Announcing...Snow 3.0

2011-02-05T09:29:00.004-05:00

● I am due Aug 20th. However, since I had Toby prematurely, I have a 50% chance of having this one early too. I am trying to focus on the fact that I had Thomas on his due date. But, if I can have this baby sometime in the month of August--I will be thrilled!

● This is another IVF baby. Technically, it's a FET baby. Which means Frozen Embryo Transfer. We had this embryo from January 2006 when we were trying to have Toby (the cycle failed). A FET cycle was SOOOO much easier and less stressful than a fresh IVF cycle! I actually started seeing a doctor only one week after we returned to MD, but I had to go through all the preliminary testing again since it had been a while, and that took some time. Two of my tests had little "bumps in the road" so I had to have further testing. I finally got the "green light" in November. Five weeks later, I was pregnant! Easiest fertility treatment I've ever experienced!

● I also saw an acupuncturist weekly for the five weeks that I was undergoing the fertility treatment--to "compliment" the procedure. I love acupuncture! It is amazing!

● I have been supporting this pregnancy with daily progesterone and estrogen shots every third day. Today, at officially 12 weeks along, I get to stop! Yay!

● I have been really, really sick and extremely tired. Morning sickness hit me a week and a half earlier than it did the first two times, I was not amused.

● It's only one baby--I've already had four ultrasounds! There wasn't much of a risk anyhow, we only put one embryo in...but I was sweating it for a few days, especially when I got sick sooner than I had expected!

● I had threatened miscarriages (subchorionic hemmorhages) with both Thomas and Toby before the stage that I'm at this time around. Every day I am a little less worried, which isn't saying much. I'm on pins and needles, which is why I waited to announce this a little later.

● We hope to find out the gender of the baby. We'll probably find out in the next 4-6 weeks. I am planning on a boy until I hear otherwise. The kids want a sister. We shall see...

Until later,

Emily

And...He's Back!

2011-02-02T09:23:00.003-05:00

James recently returned from a 12-day TDY (work trip) to Germany. This was the first traveling he has done since returning to the States. It breaks up the monotony of his regular job, gives him a break from the grueling commute and gives him a chance to make some extra money. He's hoping that he'll get many more opportunities to travel to Europe, working in the office that he's working at now. In fact, it looks like a trip to Vienna, Austria is in the works. I totally support it too. In other words, I don't have a problem with him traveling every once in a while. I got used to it a long time ago and there are "pluses" that I focus on when he's gone too.

Until later,

Emily

Grandpa Dan & Grandma Arleen Came for a Visit!

2011-01-31T08:58:00.000-05:00

Way back in October, my parents came to visit us for about five days. We spent a lot of time with them last summer, but summer is also my dad's busy season (he's a farmer) so there wasn't much down time. We were still living amongst boxes, with not much on our walls yet...they insisted they did not care and so they came and stayed with us.

They informed us beforehand that they didn't want to come out and "do" much of anything. They were coming out to visit and spend time with us. Unfortunately, the week before, my dad had hurt his back. My dad had gone to the chiropractor three times the previous week, but by the time he got off the plane, he was in a lot of pain, that was on a Sunday night. Needless to say, Monday morning, we drove him to the Urgent Care Center around the corner from my house and got him hooked up with some muscle relaxers and pain relievers. I think five days away from the farm and heavy lifting was probably helpful too.

We spent a lot of time just being together, talking, eating, watching movies, the boys spending time with the grandparents. It was also the first time that I felt that I kind of stepped back and relaxed over what needed to be done from the time that we moved back into the house. It was a wonderful time!

Until later,

Emily

Pay It Forward

2011-01-27T14:00:00.000-05:00

This afternoon, I went to the gas station to top off my gas tank. It is warmer than it has been so I thought I'd take advantage of the climate and fill up the gas tank now, perhaps avoiding having to do it on one of those really cold, frigid days.

So, I really did just top off the car, and it cost me $17.00, I sat there thinking about when I was in high school and even college, that would have paid for a full tank of gas.

I was putting my gas cap back on when this early-twenties young woman approached me.

She was well-groomed, (although a little disheveled) nice clothes, a cute scarf around her neck. She explained that she was "Really, really embarrassed" but was wondering if I had a dollar or two to spare. She further explained that she got stuck in the snowstorm last night and had to use every last dollar that she had to pay for a hotel last night, she lives in DC and didn't have any gas left in her car to get home and she didn't know how she was going to get home. In the moment, I believed her.

I never found myself in this situation when I was her age, but I could have. There was a time where I only could pay for things with the cash in my wallet. If that cash were taken or I had to use it unexpectedly, I would have been in trouble. So I took out $10 and gave it to her. She thanked me over and over again and she seemed genuine.

I thought of my kids when they get older. They might find themselves in a situation like that or in a situation where they rely on the kindness of a stranger, or in the belief of a stranger that they are telling the truth and will give them the help that they need. Or perhaps one day it may be me. It is an awful feeling to lose your wallet, I know because it happened to me once. The point is there are lots of bad, dishonest people in the world today, but there are also good, honest people that sometimes find themselves in bad situations like the girl I briefly met today. I hope she is on her way to DC now. And I hope that she will "Pay It Forward" someday.

Until later,

Emily

Baby Brax

2011-01-21T10:42:00.005-05:00

My sister Kate and her husband Ryan had their first baby on January 18, 2011. He is my boys' first cousin on my side of the family. He was born on his due date, after going through a month of thinking that he was coming "any day now".

Unfortunately, Kate did not get the gene for the fast, relatively easy labor like me, our mom, and our grandma. Her labor was approximately 25 hours long. It was really scary and came close to an emergency C-section. He also came out face-up (ouch!) But baby Brax is fine and Kate will be too once she recovers some!

He weighed 6 pounds, 10 ounces and was 20 inches long.

We got to see him on Skype last night and he is a really, really cute baby!

Until later,

Emily

Carving Pumpkins 2010

2011-01-21T09:06:00.002-05:00

October 28, 2010

Until later,

Emily

Thomas' Baptism

2011-01-20T18:37:00.005-05:00

On November 5, 2010, Thomas became baptized as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was baptized along with 6 or 7 other eight years olds that had recently had their birthdays in our Stake (larger congregational region). In our church, we wait to baptize children until they are eight years old. There was a lot going on in our Stake that morning at the same time, a wedding, and Scouting for Food, so he didn't have as much support as he would have if we would have waited another month. But we knew December was going to be really busy so we just went ahead and scheduled it for November. We had some of our closest friends, the Odekirk's, the Sanger's, the Lund's and James' cousins Shannon and Hillary there to share this event with him. After the baptism, we met up for lunch at Cici's Pizza.

Until later,

Emily

Toby Turns Four!

2011-01-19T09:58:00.003-05:00

January 11, 2011

Last week, Toby turned four. This year was a bit unconventional because James had to leave for a business trip a couple days before his birthday. So we celebrated some on January 9 and then again on January 11, his actual birthday.

January 11th was a busy day for us. I had an early doctors appointment that I had to go to and it was calling for snow. They don't deal well with snow here. They like to shut everything down. I was tossing and turning all night worrying about my early morning appointment with my kids in tow. It was also Toby's last day at preschool for about seven weeks. I was sending in birthday cupcakes. Amazingly, the snow storm didn't hit until early that evening, so schools were only closed an hour early and it didn't effect Toby's day at all.

Until later,

Emily

Christmas Cookies!

2011-01-17T15:00:00.000-05:00

At Christmastime, I generally make lots of sugar cookies and give them away to neighbors and friends, but this year didn't work out that way. I did manage to make some sugar cookies and gingerbread man cookies on December 24th. We set a few out for Santa that evening.

(no, we didn't set all of these out for Santa, he got one of each!)

Until later,

Emily

Krispie Kreme Kids

2011-01-14T08:45:00.001-05:00

In November and December, I had quite a few appointments in Rockville, Maryland. Just down the street from where I was visiting, there is a Krispie Kreme location. Let's just say, we made it a point to visit Krispie Kreme after each of my appointments. They are our family's favorite donut, that is for sure. And it's probably a good thing we don't have one in Frederick!

(They are holding balloons.)

Until later,

Emily

Character Counts

2011-01-13T15:53:00.005-05:00

In early December, Thomas got nominated as one of the students in his school class to be recognized in the "Character Counts" assembly. From what I could tell, about 1/3 of his classmates were recognized. Only the children nominated and their parents were invited to this assembly, where the PTA served us beverages and donuts also. It kind of threw me for a loop because I didn't know anything about it until the night before and had committed to helping a friend out that next morning. A little panic, but then a quick phone call to the friend and she changed her plans so I could still go to the assembly and I was able to help her later on in the day.

Thomas was recognized for the quality of "Respect".

(His name is printed on there, but I edited it for the blog)

Until later,

Emily

I Stumbled Upon an Old Picture...

2010-12-22T10:08:00.005-05:00

Three days before Christmas. Oh boy. So much to do. A little more wrapping. A big grocery shopping trip. Cooking, baking, cleaning. Finishing up the Christmas cards. If only I didn't have to sleep over the next three days I think I would be all right. This morning, I have been going through old, saved emails and Facebook messages trying to dig up "new addresses" that I never managed to copy into my address book. What a tedious process!I came across this old picture of Toby that was taken by a friend when he was about 10 months old.

Also related to Toby, we are here in my bedroom as I am posting this. He just said to me, "Mom, I am scared of that sound!" "What sound?" I asked (not noticing any sound). "That sound!" I listened carefully, Tailer, our cat, is sleeping at the foot of the bed and she is snoring. I assured Toby he had nothing to be afraid of and pointed out that it was merely Tailer. And all is well again!

Until later,

Emily

It's Beginning to Look Like Christmas!

2010-12-13T09:11:00.002-05:00

This December has been a busy one, it seems like they always are. This year, because we aren't going to Utah, I decided NOT to put my Christmas tree up before Thanksgiving. I have to say that was a mistake for me. Thanksgiving came and went, then a week went by and it was the weekend again, and I was sick & down in bed the next weekend. Finally, James got the Christmas decorations out of our storage unit and they basically sat in our living room for another week, the kids & I got the tree out and half-decorated it Tuesday night and then that was about all. So another weekend rolled around, and it was already the 11th of December. At this point, I was very tempted to finish the tree and call it good for the year. But, I couldn't. I start hauling the stuff out of the boxes. Saturday night, I stayed up until the wee hours and our house was transformed! Sad to say, moving was not easy on my Christmas decorations. Let's just say that next year I am going to be on the lookout for quite a few new Christmas decorations to replace the ones that were demolished while traveling on a big ship!

I still haven't made it outside to put up the Christmas lights, it has turned bitter cold, and I can't bring myself to go out in it. I tried to get James to do it yesterday, but it was raining all day long, so he couldn't be talked into it.

This week, I am taking the kids to visit Santa at the mall. They are so excited. This is a fun year at our house for Christmas. It might be the last magical year for Thomas. But, I hope he has at least one more year as a "believer".

James & I have been busy planning our Ward Christmas party (church Christmas party) this year. We are planning on at least 300 people on Saturday. We have planned to have a full Cajun Christmas dinner and a nice Christ-centered program. It has been a little ironic to be asked to do something like this, since neither of us particularly enjoys parties nor crowds...but we are getting the job done. But we won't be saddened in the least if someone else "gets the opportunity" next year, either. It is satisfying, at this point, to see all the planning and hard work start to come together...but I am excited for it to be over and to not have to worry about it any longer!

Until later,

Emily

A Movie Break

2010-12-11T18:01:00.003-05:00

It seems that this December is the same as most all Decembers...way too busy. Despite our never-ending lists of things-to-do, we decided we were going to hit the brakes for a couple of hours today and take our kids to see a movie. We took them to see Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Was it the best movie of all time? No. But it was a warm, touching movie with a good message.

Until later,

Emily

Dear Santa

2010-11-29T15:52:00.009-05:00

My friend, Michelle W, emailed this to me recently. So in honor of kicking off the Christmas season (I can't believe I don't have my tree up yet--but that's what happens when you rent a storage unit and it's no longer convenient to start hauling out the Christmas decorations whenever you feel like it!) here it is:

Dear Santa,

I've been a good mom all year. I've fed, cleaned and cuddled my children on demand, visited their doctor's office more than my own doctor's, and sold sixty-two cases of candy bars to raise money to plant a shade tree on the school playground.

I was hoping you could spread my list out over several Christmas', since had to write this letter with my son's red crayon, on the back of a receipt, in the laundry room between cycles, and who knows when I'll find anymore free time in the next 18 years.

Here are my Christmas wishes:

I'd like a pair of legs that don't ache (in any color, except purple, which I already have) and arms that don't hurt or flap in the breeze; but are strong enough to pull my screaming child out of the candy aisle in the grocery store.

I'd also like a waist, since I lost mine somewhere in the seventh month of my last pregnancy.

If you're hauling big ticket items this year, I'd like fingerprint resistant windows and a radio that only plays adult music; a television that doesn't broadcast any programs containing talking animals; and a refrigerator with a secret compartment behind the crisper where I can hide to talk on the phone.

On the practical side, I could use a talking doll that says, "Yes, Mommy" to boost my parental confidence, along with two kids who don't fight and three pairs of jeans that will zip all the way up without the use of power tools.

I could also use a recording of Tibetan monks chanting "Don't eat in the living room" and "Take your hands off your brother", because my voice seems to be just out of my children's hearing range and can only be heard by the dog.

If it's too late to find any of these products, I'd settle for enough time to brush my teeth and comb my hair in the same morning, or the luxury of eating food warmer than room temperature without it being served in a Styrofoam container.

If you don't mind, I could also use a few Christmas miracles to brighten the holiday season. Would it be too much trouble to declare ketchup a vegetable? It will clear my conscience immensely.

It would be helpful if you could coerce my children to help around the house without demanding payment as if they were the bosses of an organized crime family.

Well, Santa, the buzzer on the dryer is ringing and my son saw my feet under the laundry room door. I think he wants his crayon back.

Have a safe trip and remember to leave your wet boots by the door and come in to dry off so you don't catch cold.

Help yourself to cookies on the table but don't eat too many or leave crumbs on the carpet.

Yours Always,

MOM

P.S. One more thing ...you can cancel all my requests if you can keep my children young enough to believe in Santa.

Until later,

Emily

Crazy Hair Day (at school)

2010-11-24T09:46:00.002-05:00

October 27, 2010

Until later,

Emily

Tantrum at Target

2010-11-17T14:15:00.005-05:00

Well, I just got home from a thoroughly humiliating experience at Target...

Let me begin by saying...I knew better, I had a long list (i.e. a FULL cart) to knock out and I went AFTER I picked Toby up from preschool today. He no longer takes regular naps, but he still gets very cranky at this time of day.

First we stopped to get the "Popcorn Combo", unfortunately, they were out of BOTH Diet Coke and popcorn (what the heck?!), looking back, we should have just left and got the necessities at the grocery store, but, alas, we did not. Toby still got some Hawaiin Punch and a pretzel...but still...within the first two minutes our Target trip was already going downhill.

I knocked out most of the list and then added some because so many of the canned goods were on sale. Despite one small meltdown over which type of fruit snacks we were going to take home, all was still going well. I only had three items that I needed to look for over in the toddler department. Which, unfortunately, I went by the toys to get there (foolish, foolish!). That's where it all fell apart quickly.

Toby saw a Buzz Light Year. Toby declared that he wanted Buzz Light Year. I told him no and suggested that he put it on his Christmas list. That did not go over well at all. Unfortunately, Toby has picked up this screaming habit (high-pitched shrill is more like it) when he isn't getting his way which is awful and I hope he grows out of it soon.

So it was going something like this:

Toby: "I WANT A BUZZ LIGHT YEAR!"

Me: "No, Toby, not today, please stop screaming."

Toby: "But I want a TOY!"

Me: "Toby, I am not buying you a toy when you act like this, now please stop, you are being too loud."

Toby: "Yes, MOM, I WANT SOMETHING!"

Me: "Toby, you are not getting anything today."

At this point, I knew it was time to leave and as luck would have it, I had everything on my list now in the cart. We were on our way out. That's when this older lady (I would guess around 75-80 years old, who was not more than six feet away from me says:

"I WOULD SLAP HIM!"

Well, I don't know if she thought that I wouldn't know where that comment came from or if I would take her cue and just slap him across the face.. or if I would lower my head and submissively walk away...but that's not what happened next.

I looked right at her, right in her eyes, and raised my voice just a bit, and I said,

"No, maam, I will NOT slap my child!

Old hag: "Well!" (you can imagine that look of shock and disbelief that a "younger generation" is not respecting her elders).

Me: Well, and you have a nice day, maam." And she went running to her husband where they started mumbling, I don't know what, and it's probably for the best.

(Now let me explain, I am not actually against spanking. I do spank, maybe not daily but at least weekly. But I don't think this was the answer here. The facts were that he was tired, he saw something that he wanted, he wasn't getting it, so he acted out. And it was time to leave the store. It was embarrassing as it was. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, I just think it's rude to be a complete stranger in a store and think that you have the right to say it, or think that you can say it without any ramifications)

So for the next 60 seconds Toby was quiet. I think he knew something out-of-the-ordinary had just happened. But then his reality set in that we were headed to the check out stand and he wasn't getting Buzz, a toy, a candy...nothing...so he started screaming again. I started looking for a Target associate that I can tell I am leaving my full cart here but please don't put it all away and that I will come back in when he is settled down. Only then I realized that my purse and my keys are in the bottom of the cart which consists of 50% canned goods. I am stuck in Target, at 1:30 PM, with a screaming child and I just want to die! Not only that, I am afraid Old Hag and her husband are going to come around the corner and yell at me again! I see a checkout aisle that has no line. I check to see if it is the Express line, it is not. I figure I'll just get in line with him screaming. I've done this 100 times, this is not new, you know, it happens in parenthood.

He is screaming. I start unloading my cart. I realize just how full the cart is. He is still screaming. I have adrenaline still pumping from my little scene with the Old Hag, and I still want to die because he is SCREAMING. And he's not two anymore, he's almost four, I know how bad this looks and sounds! Believe me, I wanted out of Target! I can't hold it together any longer, a tear trickles down my face and another and another.... Awesome. Just awesome. He has broke me and now I am going to embarass myself. I have two moms come up to me and briefly tell me that this store if full of moms and that they've all been there. I know, I know, so have I. But it all hit me the wrong way and all I can do now is cry and continue to unload the bloody never-ending cart! Toby and I we were quite the scene today. The early-twenties cashier was in shock, I think.

We are home now. Home and what about Toby? Well he's sound asleep of course!

Until later,

Emily

Thomas Turns Eight!

2010-11-14T08:20:00.002-05:00

10/24/2010

Happy Birthday to our guy, Thomas! Eight years old, already?

This year, Thomas' birthday fell on a Sunday. Sunday is our "day of rest", we don't do much on Sundays. But, we he opened presents in the morning where he got "lots of clothes" and "only some toys". We went to church where we had our annual Primary (children's) program. Thomas nailed his part. We came home and had Thomas' dinner of choice which was dinosaur chicken nuggets and tater tots. Later on that evening, we had the Lund family over for cake and ice cream. We like to keep things very simple. Thomas also received many thoughtful phone calls and cards in the mail.

But, actually, Thomas' birthday was kind of a four-day celebration:

◆ Friday, I took in donuts for his class. They don't allow for "parties" but they will serve a special treat during lunch time. The kids must have made Thomas feel special all day long, with birthday wishes and birthday privileges, he was beaming when he came home.

◆ Saturday, we took him to Toys R Us to pick out a set of Legos of his choice and also a new bike.

◆ And, finally, on Monday, we went out to dinner, as a family, for one last celebration. We went to Cracker Barrel, where Thomas selected pancakes.

Until later,

Emily

We Have Been Busy...

2010-11-12T08:51:00.002-05:00

Over the past few weeks, we have had two birthdays, Halloween, a visit from my parents, and a baptism. Plus all the normal stuff that I can never seem to get on top of...check back after the weekend, hopefully I can get some new posts up.

Until later,

Emily

Flying Potatoes

2010-10-30T08:23:00.003-04:00

This week, we were under a tornado watch one night. Toby must have overheard us talking about it/but heard it wrong, because we noticed he was slightly concerned about the "Flying Potato" watch. Too funny!

Until later,

Emily

Promotions are a Good Thing...

2010-10-23T21:55:00.001-04:00

Long overdue (in our opinion anyhow) and much deserved. James received word Friday afternoon that he has finally been promoted. It feels a little weird posting about it, but I posted about his promotion frustration a couple of years ago and so my followers know how disgruntled James (and myself) were over about not being able to get promoted overseas because his "work overseas was not traditional work for the next increase".

Of course, the extra money will be nice, but it is the acknowledgment and recognition that come along with this promotion that I think are just as important/if not more important than the increase in the pay check.

Good job James!

Until later,

Emily

According to Toby

2010-10-22T19:00:00.000-04:00

While out-n-about with Toby this morning, I asked him, "What will I do when you grow up, Toby?" his reply was, "Maybe you'll crawl in the covers and take a nice, long nap." Hmm, sounds good to me...

Later on today, he saw something on television that made him turn to me and point to himself and say, "I am a boy." I agreed and then asked him what I was. He thought about it and said, "You are a girl-mommy."

Until later,

Emily

Toby's First Day of Preschool

2010-10-12T23:30:00.000-04:00

Toby started preschool today. He was supposed to start yesterday, but our plans were squashed when we pulled up to the high school (his preschool is inside the high school as part of the child development lab) and all the students were evacuated to the football field and there were policemen and police dogs all over! Turns out there was a bomb threat. It was a little crushing since he had been pretty excited. We went to breakfast at the Cracker Barrel instead. James had the day off of work since it was Columbus Day.

Today, Toby got his second chance to start preschool. He wasn't as excited to go this morning, I think mainly because he was fearful that "the bomb might still be in the school!". Like most things with Toby, preschool will take a little getting used to. The drop off was a little hard. But, he was all smiles when I picked him up. He goes four mornings a week, for just a little over two hours each morning.

Until later,

Emily

Unpacking is a S-L-O-W Process

2010-09-29T20:26:00.002-04:00

It's been two weeks since we received our stuff. We are certainly making progress but it is slow. It would be easier if we had moved into a bigger house. (Not complaining, James & I both agreed to move back into our old home, but we knew it would have it's challenges!) If we had moved into a bigger home, we could have designated a couple of rooms for boxes and then had the appearance of living in a neat and orderly home. Instead, we are living amongst boxes and it is chaotic. In our house in Germany, we had a whole unfinished basement that was eventually lined with shelves, in other words, over time we had a lot of storage set up in the basement. When we absolutely ran out of places in the main and upper floors in that home, we could take the pile of "whatever" and put it on an empty shelf! But even that, took time, I remember it took six months to unpack, so I shouldn't worry that we are two weeks into it and still in boxes, right?

The fact that we lived here before, isn't exactly helpful because I have this idea of using the existing storage space almost in an entirely different way. For example, we hope to, at least one day use our garage to park James' car in it. Well, we used to have Tailer's litter box in the garage. Well, if James is going to be pulling in and out of the garage I don't want her to happen to be in there and either get ran over or run away. I'm also not going to be "on call" to go get Tailer and James isn't going to want to deal with her either. After all, he tolerates her, and he certainly doesn't want to inflict pain to her, but she's definitely mine.So, we decided to move her litter box and cat bed into the space under the stairs. Which I might add that I think she loves having that space, she naps there voluntarily during the day even.

Anyhow, back to the space under the stairs, I have had shelves set up against one wall for years, and I used to have our food storage in there. Well, I'm not putting food storage in the same space as her litter box, even though it's covered and gets cleaned daily, that would still be GROSS! So then, I decided to move the food storage elsewhere but now the items that I stored in that room previously have to go somewhere else. So, I am constantly going to Target and Bed Bath & Beyond for storage solutions, or Freecycling or taking items to Goodwill. Items get put away, then a few more boxes opened and we do it all over again! A slow process, indeed! We'll get there someday.

Until later,

Emily

Fall is Here!

2010-09-23T10:36:00.000-04:00

Fall is here! Can you believe it? I enjoy Fall. Sort of... I enjoy the cooler temperatures, but when I say "cooler" what I mean is that 70 degrees is a nice feeling. And I quite like seeing the leaves change colors. I like cozy sweaters and sweatshirts. Typically, I like decorating for Halloween, but I don't think I'll be doing much this year. We have yet to hang any of our regular decorations. But, I can't for the life of me shrug the feeling that "winter is coming". I despise winter. I find nothing redeeming about the season. I think one day I'd like to be one of those people that live in Arizona for the winter. Although, I've never been to Arizona except for that "four corners" spot, but that doesn't really count, does it?

Until later,

Emily

Re-doing the Nursery/Guest Room

2010-09-20T12:59:00.006-04:00

While our house was empty, we took advantage of the opportunity and we (James) repainted a large portion of our home. He repainted the basement, living room, and all three bedrooms. It was also easy because we were replacing most of that carpet (with the exception of the living room carpet, which was still in good shape). To my surprise, (and to James' delight) I actually still liked all the colors, which meant everything just needed one coat to make it look fresh again. With the exception of our nursery. I had painted this when I was eight months pregnant with Thomas. It took many, many hours of me sitting on the floor being very uncomfortable doing this. When we found out we were having another boy (Toby), the walls still looked great, so I felt there was no need to change it.

But, eight years later, the light blue walls and bugs had to go. This required two coats of primer and two coats of paint. The walls are now a very light buttery cream color, although I know in one picture they look quite yellow. They are not, that picture was just taken in the evening light.

(in case you are wondering, that blue stripe is painter's tape)

Look at the detail in this border. I am NOT an artist, but I was pleased how this part, in particular, turned out. Obviously, it was done with a stencil, but what you may not recognize is that it was a stencil with three layers! That's right, I went around that room three times with stencil paint which is like dried out paint/pain in the neck paint. Now imagine doing that while eight months pregnant and having sciatic nerve problems...now that's love! Or it craziness? All the same, it was time, past time to get rid of the bugs.

Nasty, nasty carpet!

New and improved guest room!

Until later,

Emily

Tips on Tipping Your Movers

2010-09-16T10:01:00.002-04:00

We found this article last week and found it to be very helpful as we had two crews of movers work for us this week!

Tips on Tipping Your Movers

Everyone likes a reward for a job well done
By Rick Hazeltine

Consumers put a lot of faith in professional movers, which is why good ones are as prized as a competent and fair mechanic. As a customer, you are entrusting all of your possessions, prized and otherwise, to people you may not even have been introduced to before they started taking your stuff and loading it into a truck.

Although movers are considered part of the service trade, there is usually a lot more riding on their job performance than, say, a waitress or someone who cuts your hair. If the waitress drops your rye toast, she can quickly get you a new order and, hey, your hair will grow out.

If a mover, however, does a poor job packing, drops your family heirloom or drags your furniture across the wood floor, there is a lot more at stake. Besides, there are few people in the service industry that work as hard as movers.

Perhaps because consumers rely so much on a mover doing a good job that they don't consider them as a service professional. But they are and proper etiquette requires that they be treated as such. This means it is proper to offer a tip, whether it is cash at the end of the day or you buying the crew lunch or even both.

As with any other service provider, you would base your "tip" on job performance – a bad attitude and indifferent work habits would hardly be considered tip worthy. If, however, you think your crew was attentive, helpful and professional, then give what you believe is fair.

Movers usually don't expect a tip but is appreciated when given. More than anything, it's a sign that you recognized their effort and thought it worthy. You may think you're paying a small fortune to the moving company, but what trickles down to the guys actually lugging your stuff won't have them driving home in a Beamer.

Moving is a stressful life event overloaded with thousands of small details that need attention. One of those is how to treat the crew moving your life's belongings, so here's a quick reference that should keep the guys happy and moving:

Moving is hard, back-breaking work so it would only be common decency to have cold bottled water, soda or sport drinks on hand.

Some people prefer to buy the crew lunch in lieu of a tip and this is perfectly fine. Some do both. It's whatever you are comfortable with. If you do offer to buy the crew lunch, make sure to ask if they have a preference as to food choice. Many people think, "Oh, we'll get some pizza," so you can imagine how much pizza these guys might have had that month.

You will hear varying advice on how much to tip. Percentages don't really work as they do in restaurant work. The difference between a $2,000 full-truck move and a $20,000 full-truck move is likely the distance the moving van travels, not how much time it took to load the vehicle. Basically, if it's a half-day (4 hours) move, $10 per person is considered appropriate. If it's a full-day move (8 hours), then $20 is the consensus. If you have a lot of heavy furniture, narrow or winding stairs, a steep lot, etc., you should consider adding to the amount. If the crew works 12 hours to get your belongings packed, figure $40 as fair.

A tip about tips from movers themselves: Don’t give the lump some to the foreman or driver. Give each worker their tip. First, it shows that you recognize and appreciate their individual efforts. Second, there are some unscrupulous foremen, who will keep the entire amount for themselves.

Avoid giving the guys beer at the end of the day. It's a bit stereotypical and most legitimate moving companies have rules against drinking on the job. It also opens liability issues. Make the tip cash and the movers can spend it how they wish.

Until later,

Emily

Kitchen Countertops

2010-09-12T00:43:00.007-04:00

Before we moved to Germany, I knew that if we moved back into our house one day that I would like to upgrade our kitchen countertops. They had had their better day already and were white Formica after all. When we got back, our countertops were disgusting! We knew right away that they were definitely going!

I spent a lot of time pricing countertops. And deciding on colors. And options. Even when I had made all my decisions, I had to make another when we found out that our cupboards were made by a Canadian company that is now out-of-business and they did this one unique thing with their style so when you go to put a new countertop you run into a problem. Luckily, we were working with an experienced professional who has an eye for details and he caught it and he had a solution, which unfortunately for us meant a little more $ but it was worth it.

I ended up going with Hi-Mac's which are like Corian. They are a synthetic solid surface countertop. I was really nervous about the color...whether I could tie the cupboard color, floor and the countertop color all together, well I think I did! I am so thrilled! You can't really tell from the pictures but they are a brown base with flecks of black and peach and darker brown. I also got a new sink out of the deal and we opted for a new faucet as well.

I think I'd like to paint the kitchen just a light cream color. It's always been white and my breakfast nook has two walls that are painted sunflower yellow, and I'm still happy with that, and I don't think the cream would clash.

Here are some before/during/after pics:

This stuff had become so warped.

Gross, tiny sink. James had been painting and using the sink to rinse items

off in, so it looked even worse.

Our renters apparently didn't like these two pieces...they were there when we left.

A whole lotta white going on in here!

I guess there's no turning back now...and just like that the

old countertops were destroyed!

And wait till you see the difference:

Approximately 4 hours later...

(And you better believe I hope to get a new stove in the next 6-12 months, I'm switching to black, I got a new dishwasher this week, so now I need the stove and fridge...eventually!)

Until later,

Emily

"When my Dad finds a new job..."

2010-08-29T01:00:00.000-04:00

After the third day of school, we were at the hotel and Thomas & I were talking about something, I don't recall what but it lead into,

"When my Dad finds a new job..."

It kind of stunned me. I told Thomas that his dad does have a job. And started laughing. I called James in and told him what Thomas had just said. And he further explained that he still has a job, he's just using special time off for taking the job in Germany and that he still gets a pay check so we can pay our bills.

It's pretty easy to see where he's coming from. After all, as Thomas also said, "Well, he doesn't go to work any more, he's here in the morning, he's here when I come home and all he does is work on our house." Looking back, I know he's also heard plenty of conversations about unemployment and foreclosures and hard times going on. And I don't think it would be far-fetched that maybe they talked about it in class. So, it all makes sense.

But, we had to reassure Thomas that James IS employed and that pretty soon he will get dressed up again and be gone to work for most of the day.

Until later,

Emily

Thomas Starts Second Grade

2010-08-27T09:51:00.003-04:00

This week, Thomas started second grade. The school he is going to is much bigger than ISW. There are five second grade classes with roughly 23 children in each. Last year, there were two first grade classes with 14 children in each of them.

This year, he is also a bus rider. We decided to have him ride the bus even on the first day because we knew the kindness & patience of the bus driver would only last for so long. Good call on our part, because while she was really patient on Monday, by Tuesday (the second day) she was already yelling & taking charge of that bus. But, by Thursday, she was sending them all home with Tootsie Pops because they were all "good kids".

Thomas seems to be doing fine. I had imagined that he would make a best friend right away but he has not. I also imagined that there would be another sweet, second grader at the bus stop for him to play with after school and there is not. In fact, he said to me a couple of days ago, "Mom, I don't really see the big difference between Maryland and Germany except that I don't have any friends to play with that live next to me." And that is hard, because we had it so great with not one but two ISW friends for him to play with on our same street. It made play dates very easy and low-key. And I have to admit that I did feel a twinge of bitterness yesterday when I counted six fifth graders rallied together after school in the center of my neighborhood.

But, all in all, the first week has been a success. He seems to be taking it all in stride and I think he is enjoying life.

Until later,

Emily

Life in a Hotel/Life Right Now

2010-08-22T22:23:00.003-04:00

A week ago, we checked into a hotel that we plan on living in for three more weeks. Yes, you read that right, we are staying here for one whole month. We have received a lot of condolences over this, but let me assure you that we are quite OK. We are staying in a hotel with two bedrooms and two full bathrooms, we also have a little living room and a full kitchen. And THREE TV's (that's two more then we'll have once we unpack). A full breakfast is served daily. There is a pool and a small gym. Housekeeping can come daily, if I want them to. Free internet.

This hotel is only a three-minute drive from our house. So we kind of look at our house as "work", we go there during the day and work in the house, but in the evening, we come back to the hotel and unwind and sleep. We have been going through the boxes that we sent on our own (essentially, we mailed our own air freight), and assessing what needs to be done to the house.

We had "good" renters, but there is still quite a bit of work to do, after all, they did live in our home for three years! Most of it is cosmetic. I think I was naive to think we could finish it all in a month, but we'll get a good start on it.

Most rooms could use a fresh coat of paint, we'll start with the basement, master bedroom, and smallest bedroom (it pains me to paint over Thomas' baby room, I spent sooooo many hours painting it while 36 weeks pregnant), but the time has come!. I'd also like the living room to get a fresh coat, my thinking is the more paint that can be done without furniture and while we still have the old carpet, the better. New carpet is ordered. I ordered a new storm door on Saturday. This week, I will be ordering new kitchen countertops, once I get a second quote. They aren't the fanciest, but I think almost anything would be an improvement over white formica! Oh, and a new sink and faucet is kind of a must!

I'd like to replace a lot of my curtains, but haven't had any luck finding even one set that is "calling out to me" so I realize this may take a very long time. And we have time, we have blinds on all of our windows. We're going to switch out the white ceiling fan in our bedroom for a black one and also put one up in the basement. That will make five ceiling fans in our home, I guess we are "fans" of fans!

Until later,

Emily

Still Blogging!

2010-08-14T08:38:00.002-04:00

Please be patient. Don't give up on me, don't give up on my blog. Some are good about blogging while vacationing/in the middle of a major change...I don't fit in that category. I'll be back. Soon.

Until later,

Emily

Aah...Home Sweet Home

2010-07-15T18:42:00.003-04:00

A week ago today, we landed in Utah. We will be here until mid-August. James gets almost eight weeks off of "home leave" for taking the Germany assignment. Some people choose to take a little right away and then spread it out over a year, but he's heard of too many people that once they started working again, they weren't able to take the time off and after a while you lose the days...so he decided to take it all in one lump.

So far, we have had a fantastic time, spending time with my family and running into a few friends. We have enjoyed the shopping and the restaurants and the customer service! This week, we have also been to the dermatologist, the dentist, I got my hair cut & colored and today I got my nails done. James & I also went on a little two-night getaway at a local bed & breakfast. I also got to finally see "Eclipse"!

The kids have been having a wonderful time at my mom & dad's place. They have a huge yard where they can play with water, or in the sand pile, or on the swing set, or Thomas can drive a 4-wheeler or Toby can drive his little motorized tractor. OR, they can go over to the farm and do things over there. Toby likes riding in the tractors with Grandpa Dan and Thomas likes feeding the baby calves. They are thoroughly entertained all day long!

On Sunday, my sister announced that she is pregnant! It was a shocker! They have been married for 10 years and I wasn't quite sure they wanted to have kids and had kind of quit asking her about it. She is at the beginning of the 2nd trimester already. How exciting that my mom & dad will finally have three grandchildren, and this one will live close by which will be nice for everyone!

Tomorrow, we are heading down to James' mom & dad's for about a week and a half. Thomas and Toby have 13 cousins that all live close by so it should be a incredibly fun time there as well!

Until later,

Emily

These Blue-Eyed Boys are Comin' to Town!

2010-07-07T09:30:00.001-04:00

I am dreading the plane ride to Utah something fierce. I am preparing for the worst and hoping for the best. It's going to be a LONG day. From the time we get to the airport until the time we get to my mom's it will be approximately 19-20 hours of traveling. Thomas, on the other hand, cannot wait. He has been upset the last three mornings because he wants to go to the airport and "go to Grandma's".

We will be there soon...

Until later,

Emily

PS: Happy Birthday Mom!

Good Bye Germany!

2010-07-05T14:02:00.004-04:00

In a few days, we will depart from Germany. The PCSing process (moving) has been time consuming and stressful. Somedays were absolutely nightmarish. If you've never done it, you will not understand, but you can take my word for it.

We are wrapping up the last of the loose ends (shipping our Mini Cooper tomorrow, shipping the last of our boxes, organizing our suitcases and packing our carry-ons), and James still has quite a bit to do in the office before we fly out at the end of the week. But the end is near. (And I can't say that without adding a little jingle to those five words!) I have a long list of things that I am looking forward to, after all, we have lived here for three years and it's been two years since we last visited. To say that we miss the United States of America would be an understatement.

But, I also have a list of things that I will miss here in Germany:

1) Above anything else I will miss all the special friends I have made here, I was lucky because I had A LOT of support; not to sound like I'm bragging, but I made friends everywhere, I had wonderful neighbors, church friends, work friends, DODDS preschool friends, ISW friends and gym friends...but good bye's are hard, and I actually didn't say too many...they were too painful.

2) I will miss my neighborhood. I loved living in Bremthal (I can now post it since I don't live there any longer). It felt safe. The streets were wider than many German neighborhoods. I loved having the park next to my house. Well, most of the time.

3) I will miss the autobahn. I loved driving on it. And I drove fast. I like driving fast. It was absolutely thrilling.

4) I will miss Thomas' school, the International School of Wiesbaden. It was a great experience for him. The class size was so small and he had great teachers. I feel that he was truly lucky to go to school there.

5) I will miss the traveling. The first year was frustrating because weren't able to get out and do a whole lot, but I think we made up for it during the second and third years. It was hard with the kids, because they were so little (especially Toby) but I'm glad we got out and saw things.

6) I will miss Pipistrello's (Italian) and Jade Drage (Asian), they were restaurants in my neighborhood and I will miss them because I thought they were both darn good and the fact that they were close by was secondary.

7) Schwepp's Bitter Lemon soda

8) Good chocolate

9) Fasching

10) Christmas season in Germany

11) New Year's fireworks

12) I will miss Charley's Steakery at the Mz. Kastel base. Sometimes it was the highlight of my week, especially at first. A regular veggie sandwich minus provolone with lettuce, tomato, mayo, jalapenos, banana peppers and a side of buffalo sauce. MMM, mmm good!

13) I will admit that while I won't miss "base shopping" I will miss the commissary baggers. I know a lot of people don't like that the baggers are not included in the price/they get paid in tips, but I didn't mind giving away a few dollars each trip to have help with putting my bags away in the car and taking my cart back. Most of the time, all I had to do was get my kids settled into their booster seats and the groceries were practically unloaded. It was kind of like having James with me shopping only once I got in the car, I had full control of the a/c and the stereo.

14) I will miss the girl that did my nails. She also gave me occasional pedicures and waxed my eyebrows. Maria @ The Arms Hotel. She is fantastic.

15) The beauty of Germany, especially in late Spring, all of Summer and early Fall. I have never seen more beautiful autumn leaves. I have decided I loathe Winter no matter where I live.

Until later,

Emily

Busy Bees

2010-06-15T22:37:00.000-04:00

Here are some pics from the last assembly at ISW.

The theme was on insects, but Thomas' class had a particular interest in bees, so his teacher, Mrs. Berton, kind deviated a bit from her original plan and she put more of her focus on teaching about bees & their part of the assembly was all about bees!

The kids did such a good job on this dance, that they were actually asked to perform it twice!

It was adorable. And they had a great time doing it!

Until later,

Emily

Good Times!

2010-06-08T03:00:00.002-04:00

Thomas, Toby & friend D at Playmobil Funpark, June 6, 2010. More to come...

Until later,

Emily

Spoiled Indeed!

2010-06-07T03:16:00.004-04:00

This is Tailer really "roughing it" in Utah on the back of my mom's couch. She looks quite miserable, right?

Until later,

Emily

The Simple Life!

2010-05-30T09:52:00.006-04:00

Well, it took three whole days, but this week we finally packed out! It is strange to think that we will not see our "stuff" again until sometime in September, probably after Labor Day. Actually, it will arrive much sooner than that, but we are having it stored in VA for some time while we stay in a hotel and do some work in our home.

Now we are going to be able to go away on a few weekend trips and not be stressed out. The extremely hectic pace is over for a few weeks as long as something unexpected doesn't happen now. I am loving living in this house with only the necessities (OK, well, right now we have more than that, but week by week I will mail stuff out or get rid of things). I love the simplicity!

Until later,

Emily

Shrek Forever After

2010-05-29T14:50:00.003-04:00

This afternoon, James & I took the boys to see Shrek Forever After or as they like to refer to it, "Shrek 4". I really didn't know much about the movie or the story line for this Shrek installment. Basically, Shrek goes through a mid-life crisis. I thought it was entertaining. And it's only about an hour and a half long, I hate it when kids movies are much longer than that. Thomas sat through the entire movie and Toby drank two cups of Sprite on his own which resulted in three trips to the potty, but other than that he also sat through the movie.

I found this quote on the internet tonight, which basically sums up how I feel about the movie:

"Not as bad as number three but not as good as one and two."

Until later,

Emily

Tailer has gone to Grandma's!

2010-05-24T13:40:00.000-04:00

(Tailer at Grandma's house)

Last week, we flew Tailer to Utah. We used PetAir and were very happy with their service. As we got into the moving process, we didn't want anything to happen to her as we had movers and workers coming in and out of the house (she is strictly a house cat) nor did we want to stay in "pet rooms" in hotels if we could avoid it.

It seems strange not having her here in the house with us. I have left her a lot for trips to Utah but she has never left me the entire nine years that I have had her (except for the two nights she had to stay at the vets when I had her declawed). She wears a collar with a bell and a name tag so she "jingles" everywhere she goes and she's also vocal.

So Tailer is having an Utah adventure and my mom is having an adventure with a house cat for the first time ever. I was worried about Tailer adjusting to living somewhere new but as the days go by I can tell the adjustment will be when we take Tailer back to MD with us at the end of the summer! Let's just say my mom, dad and brother are spoiling the already spoiled rotten girl!

Until later,

Emily

Passing the Agricultural Inspection

2010-05-21T03:10:00.000-04:00

May 18-19: Time to scrub down everything that has been outside/that we intend to ship back with us. Our "Agricultural Inspection" is on Thursday morning. We have always planned on waiting until just before this inspection, since we don't have a garage to store everything...why scrub it all down two weeks before just to have everything get dirty again? We were also waiting for the weather to get nicer. It never did. So, on Tuesday, I took a look at the heap of items that we had organized into our back yard and started taking them upstairs to be scrubbed in the bathtub and shower. Eventually, our kids' floors of their rooms were covered in towels which were then covered with random items, toys, flower pots, garden tools, totes, bikes, more toys.

James went out later on that night and did scrub down our winter tires, our patio table and chairs, and the inside and outside of our outdoor storage box. But there were still quite a few items that needed to be cleaned. I was hoping and praying for better weather.

No such luck. The weather got worse and it rained pretty much all day. Five o'clock hit and I knew I just had to go out in it...the drizzling rain had now turned heavier and it didn't matter. The work had to be done. So I went out in the rain, with my bucket and my cleaner and brushes and hose and sprayed off everything else that needed to be cleaned. I am sure I was a sight to see!

May 20: "Inspection Day", James & I had taken everything from the boys' rooms and set it back outside in neat little, shiny piles. Our inspector arrived, took one look at our items and with a big smile on his face said, "It's OK, you have passed, I wish all my customers were like you!" Our appointment literally did not last for more than five minutes! For a passing moment, I have to admit, I was a little perturbed! I worked hard to get all those items nice and shiny. But then I thought about it, and the goal at the end of this was to pass the inspection the first time around and not have to schedule a second inspection. And that was exactly how it worked out.

Until later,

Emily

Potty-training Progress

2010-05-20T04:42:00.003-04:00

Yesterday, Toby, made big progress with potty-training. He has been doing great with #1 and even has woken up dry over half the nights over the past two weeks since he started this. But, #2, well, that has been a whole other story. Accident after accident and I had lost my cool more times than I'd like to admit. Finally, yesterday morning, after numerous trips to the toilet (this was about a 90-minute process), he made it in the potty! Then an hour later, he made it to the potty again! He was so proud of himself! And he had that look of relief that I believe means he discovered that it's not as scary as it seemed to him. And, that is a relief to me.

Until later,

Emily

RIP "Really, Really Old Guy"

2010-05-14T08:00:00.002-04:00

For at least two and a half years of this crazy German adventure, day after day, I have watched a really old guy that resembled a gnome walk by my kitchen window. He had white hair that was sort of long and I don't really know how to explain it but he looked like a gnome! I would ALWAYS see him at around 9-9:30 AM every morning and then most days again at around 3:30-4:00 PM. He would walk circles around the park that is next to my house. He wasn't very fast, and he walked with a cane, but religiously he went on his daily walk (sometimes twice a day). But I admired him for going out and getting his exercise no matter what the weather was like. I often thought I should get a picture of him because he really did become part of my day. I couldn't figure out how to do it without seeming like a stalker though. And he may have been old but he was certainly aware of his surroundings. We never had a conversation, we barely said more then "Guten Morgen" to one another, but I could tell that he was a gentle old soul that made me smile whenever I saw him. I never knew his name.

It occurred to me a while back, that I haven't seen really, really old guy in quite a while. Sometimes in the afternoon, his daughter (or who I assume is his daughter) would walk with him. One day, I saw the daughter walking with a female friend and the dog that would accompany her with really, really old guy. That's when I realized that it has been a long time since I have seen really, really old guy around, I think he must have passed away over the winter. RIP, "Really, Really Old Guy".

Until later,

Emily

Potty-trained!

2010-05-06T14:30:00.002-04:00

I have been trying for months to get Toby interested in potty training. Not that I've been spending countless hours, but I spent 3 days in December, where all I managed to do was clean up pee on the floor and do a lot of laundry (he never once made it in the toilet).

Every night (for months, not just those 3 days in December), we invited Toby to pee in the toilet before he got in the bath tub. And every single night he would scream "NOOOOOO!" and run away. I put him in underwear for a couple of afternoons/evenings in March and NOTHING.

I had finally accepted that he was not ready and I was just going to stop worrying about it for a while. Thomas was 3 1/2 years old, almost to the day, so I accepted that Toby would probably be that old...or older (oh the shame of it!).

Then, on Monday, he decided to take all of his clothes off and streak around the house. I took one look at him and told him that if he was going to run around with no clothes on and only a diaper, he may as well wear some underwear. He stayed dry all evening and went pee in the toilet once. I thought surely, it must be a fluke.

Tuesday afternoon, after we were done with our errands, I put him in a Pull-up, I was curious as to what he would do. To my surprise, he stayed dry the rest of the day and peed 3 times.

Yesterday, was a rare day at home, except for driving Thomas to and from school. I threw underwear on him...and he stayed dry ALL DAY LONG! He even went to the school with underwear on....DRY...DRY...DRY!

This morning, he woke up with a dry diaper and AGAIN stayed dry the whole day! Not to say that he's not ever going to have an accident, of course he will, but it does appear that he's ready to do this. Like so many other things (like finally walking at 18 months, and RUNNING with coordination a week later!) it had to be when HE was ready not when anyone else was ready! By the way, he's 3 years, almost 4 months old.

Until later,

Emily

Pretty & Shiny is NOT Always Better!

2010-04-29T15:38:00.002-04:00

I have been trying really hard to get my winter tires taken off. We wanted to keep them on until after our trip to Italy just in case we hit snow as we crossed through the Alps (we did). Since coming back, I have taken my car in twice to get the winter tires taken off, but, alas they are still on.

The first time I took it in, I was under the impression that if I left it the night before, they could fit me in for a simple tire change and oil change (because this is what I was told last Fall), only to find out that fast-forward six months later, I needed an appointment, which they couldn't give me until the next week.

Well, next week was this past Tuesday. I dropped it off the night before and got a call as I was on my way to the gym at the 9 AM hour that there was a big problem and those tires weren't coming off.

It turns out that my chrome valve stem caps have completely rusted onto my tires! With as much snow as we had here in Germany and the fact that road salt is used so much, it makes sense that corrosion occurred. It also turns out that my car has a Tire Pressure Monitory System (TPMS). In order to get those caps off, they are going to have to use a lot of force and will most likely break all four of the tire sensors...which they don't have in stock.

So, I found a new set of sensors at amazon.com ($139). Only they (the company) won't send it to my mailbox out here. So, I opted for overnight shipping to my mom, where she will then go to the post office and send it to my mailbox. And it will take at least 6 days to get here. Once they arrive, I will take my car for a third attempt at getting the tires switched. What a pain in the neck!

Therefore, a piece of advice, if you have chrome or metal valve stem caps, consider replacing them with the cheap, basic plastic ones. That's what we had to begin with and the only reason we replaced them with the shiny, pretty ones was because the plastic valve stems didn't get replaced during the last oil change so we bought what was available at the first store we went to.

Until later,

Emily

Enjoy the Little Things

2010-04-28T03:00:00.000-04:00

I have a plaque in my house that says:

"Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things."

I absolutely LOVE this saying. I think it is so true.

My kids like to pick flowers for me. They don't distinguish between a tulip, a clover blossom or dandelions. They bring them to me with excitement on their faces. They are trying to brighten my day, which they are.

Truth be told, I hate all this moving nonsense. If I could wiggle my nose and be done with it now...I would. I hate it. James is just as bad, actually worse, because not only is he worrying about moving from here and all that that involves, but he is also trying to tie up loose ends at work.

So when the boys brought these to me, I thought of my beloved saying. Trying to enjoy the little things. Accepting my boys' bright, cheerful bouquets and giving my little guys some big hugs!

Until later,

Emily

Camera Hater

2010-04-26T16:49:00.004-04:00

You may have noticed that I have recently changed our header picture. This is our most current "family picture". This was taken in Venice, Italy earlier this month. Some people may think that Toby's grumpy expression ruins this otherwise decent picture, but I have to say, I actually LOVE it! This is truly him! He HATES the camera and he does things HIS way (he's our free-spirit). Smiling at the red light blinking on the camera set on our tripod was not on his agenda that day.

Until later,

Emily

Bye-bye Naps!

2010-04-25T08:53:00.002-04:00

Well, it has been eight days since Toby has taken a nap, so I think it is official. He has dropped the nap. No more quiet time for me in the afternoons. Kind of a shame, really. I liked that quiet time. Quite a bit.

Until later,

Emily

The Moving Process

2010-04-19T03:10:00.003-04:00

Well we have started our moving process. We were able to secure our pack-out dates last week. We got the exact dates we hoped for and everything worked out as far as that. Which will be in just over one month from now (time to get serious)! We are packing out early and then bringing in loaner furniture and living another month in our home. We have our hotels booked while we are finishing up here. We will be staying in a hotel in our town for five days and then we will go stay in Frankfurt for the last week. We have our appointment to have my car agriculturally cleaned inside and out (not a grain of German sand can go home!) The next day we will drop off my car and have it shipped back to the U.S. They are expecting it to take about 45 days to get back to Baltimore.

James still has to look into shipping his car, it won't be going through the military channels, so we don't really know what to expect about that. Shipping it back to the US was built-in to the price when we ordered the Mini.

I have made some of the travel arrangements for Tailer, but most of her "out-processing" can't be done until 10 days before she leaves (she has to be checked out by a vet and get a "Health Certificate" not more than 10 days before our flight).

We have our flight reservations. Unfortunately, there are no direct flights from Frankfurt to Salt Lake but we're going to go all the way to Denver and then take a short flight into Salt Lake.

Oh, yes, in case anyone missed that...we're going to UT for a while before we settled back in Frederick, MD.

And speaking of Frederick, MD...

I have contacted the principal of the school that Thomas will be attending next year. I can't register him yet, but they can assign him a "student number" and know that and count on that he is coming. He also has to come with a current physical but I'm still waiting to hear if that can be from my German pediatrician, if I can get it done while we are in UT or if it needs to be done in MD. Thomas will be attending school in the school that is within the neighborhood that I would really like to live in one day. So I guess if you can't live in the neighborhood that you want, at least your kids can go to school there (I love that we're probably considered the "un-desirable" families!), at least that's the way it's working out for us!

I was also able to get Toby into preschool for next fall. Thanks to a friend and a friend-of-a-friend, funny how it's sometimes harder to get your kid into preschool rather than real school. It's the same preschool that Thomas went to his first year, so in the end, Toby was "grandfathered" in after said friend and friend-of-a-friend plead his case. He'll go four days a week, but it's only for 2 hours and 10 minutes each day. But the starting time is great. Plenty of time to get Thomas on the bus and then I'll drive Toby to school. I probably won't go home much but will run my errands or hit the gym while he's there. I'm hoping that there might be a class at the YMCA on the other day that I can enroll him in. I always enjoyed that day with Thomas. I took him to class and then we went out to lunch every single Monday.

Until later,

Emily

Just One of Many Signs That We've Lived in Germany for Too Long!

2010-04-15T03:51:00.003-04:00

We recently returned from a vacation to Italy. I will post more about that later. However, I wanted to share a cute little story that happened with Toby while we were on that vacation. More than likely, it's more of one of those stories where "you had to be there" to appreciate how funny it was...but here you go:

We were sitting in a restaurant and we ordered our drinks along with a carafe of water. All four of us associate restaurant dining with soda drinking but sodas are very expensive in Europe and they don't come with refills. So, what we do a lot of times is order the sodas and then drink water as our second drink. The water is also expensive, and we drink the non-carbonated water, so you know it most likely comes straight out of their tap, but we get charged nonetheless.

Anyhow, we ordered water, Toby had finished his soda, and I poured him a glass full of water. Toby took one look at that water and noticed ice! You see, in Germany it is not customary to drink your drinks with ice, but apparently in the Italian restaurant we were at that night, they serve ice.

Toby noticed the ice. And started laughing and pointing to his glass. He said, "Ice in the water?" Giggle, giggle, giggle. "Why did they put ice in the water?" Giggle, giggle, giggle.

James and I turned to each other and reminded ourselves again that Toby was only a mere 7 months old when we moved here. Sure, we did spend two months in the summer of 2008 in the States, but Germany is really the "home" he knows. It's some of the little details that will be different for him. If I said the "grocery store" I know he wouldn't know what that is. It's "the commissary" or it's "Tengelmann's" which is the German grocery store as an example.

Until later,

Emily

Dying Easter Eggs

2010-03-29T16:00:00.000-04:00

Whenever I think about "dying Easter eggs" I always think about "The Family Circus Easter" cartoon when the question is asked, "dying Easter eggs isn't like killing them, is it Daddy?" Well, this year was full of extra fun and at the end I was about ready to kill Toby. Toby...who would not keep his hands out of the Easter egg dye. In the end, he had it on his t-shirt, pants and spilled red dye onto the rug. I think next year, I'll give him a cup full of water and tell him he's in charge of dying the white eggs. I love this kid, on one hand his personality is really cute and he's easy-going and often goes with the flow and he has a way about him that is adorable but on the other hand, I hope to never have another child quite like him. I don't think I could survive two of him. He and trouble...they go hand and hand! Quite literally this time.

Thomas was so excited to get to do this. I boiled the eggs on Saturday morning, and we kept trying to find a time to do it...but didn't do it until Monday night.

Don't ever think he's sweet and innocent...it's all an act.

"Show me your hands!"

(check out his tongue)

All ten digits in all their glory.

OK. We did it. Thomas was happy. Toby was happy too. James and I were glad

to be done. Isn't that sad?

Until later,

Emily

All Good Things Come to an End

2010-03-29T03:00:00.001-04:00

(This was a little flower arrangement/thank you gift I was given on Sunday)

Last week, on March 21, 2010 I was released as being the Relief Society president in our ward. I served as the RS president for 13 months. The last couple of weeks have been bittersweet. I knew almost a week before I was released that it was coming. What a week of highs and lows. One minute I would be relieved that this would "probably be the last time" this or that and the next minute I was in tears over it. I learned a lot serving in this capacity. Almost every opportunity was a growing experience for me. And I think I am a better person for it. I liken it to being a sort of a bootcamp for me. I changed a lot in a relatively short time and had to face a lot of fears that I probably never would have if I were not given this opportunity. And, of course, I got to know people in ways that I know I never would have.

So last Sunday, I was released and a new, wonderful sister was sustained. The next day, she and I called a meeting and I got her up-to-speed the best I could. That day, I received a few phone calls from sisters with problems, sisters that didn't know the change had happened. Over the next couple days, I received a few more emails. And then the word seemed to be out and that was that. How quickly life moves on.

We have three months left here in Germany. I am promised that I will be given another church job to serve in until we leave. Just not one that takes so much time and carries quite so much burden. The timing is good...actually the timing is great. Truth be told, I thought I would be serving for another month so it came as somewhat of a surprise to me. We are about to go on a long vacation and then once we get back we are going to jump into full "moving mode" and start going through all of our stuff. Just this afternoon, we received our moving orders so now we can start scheduling all the moving stuff, once we return home . But we are hoping to ship out our things before Memorial Day. That leaves just over a month to get our house in order once we come back from vacation. That's not a lot of time! Once our house is empty, we will bring in Army loaner furniture and live another month in our house. We'll check into a hotel a couple miles down the street from our home at the end of June and start working on returning our house to our landlady. It has to be in tip-top shape. Rental laws are quite different here. I'm sure I'll post more about this later on.

Until later,

Emily

Our Last Trip to Paris!

2010-03-28T16:00:00.001-04:00

We have managed to visit Paris three times over the past 12 months. As our time is running out, this was our last trip here. This was during Thomas' "Ski Week" break at his school, we were there February 23-28. We love France. It was pretty cold most of the days there except for the last day. The last day was probably 10 degrees warmer and with our coats and gloves on, quite comfortable. We shopped and ate and shopped and ate. We love the French pastries, they are actually sweet as opposed to the German pastries which I've just stopped buying because I figure if you're going to have dessert it should taste like a dessert and not a piece of bread! (However the cheese, the cheese in Germany and really everywhere in Europe--yum--who am I kidding, I LOVE cheese no matter where it's made for the most part, except if it's melted in large quantities and then I start gagging right then and there)...anyhow....Traveling is getting easier with Toby, go figure. We took the train all over. Toby thought he should be friends with all the other passengers on the train or ask to eat the apples that they were eating. He's at a funny yet oftentimes embarrassing stage right now. We stayed at our favorite Marriott resort again. I'm really going to miss our favorite little getaway location.

Fontainebleau, France

Nourishment before touring the palace--always a good idea!

Handsome Thomas. I love this hat.

I love this pic of them.

More nourishment. We are all in happier moods if we stop often and eat. Especially pastries.

More of the palace grounds. It was freezing cold and windy.

Me and a lemon tart with a Cola Light. If you consume them together they cancel each other out and you get zero calories and fat. Yeah, it didn't work in college and it didn't work in my mid-30's either. It's so much more enjoyable putting in on than taking it off,

which is where I'm at right now--taking it off, ever so slowly

Quite possibly the best lemon tart we ever ate in France. We've tried a lot.

This one was perfect.

Triumphant to have found the perfect lemon tart.

However, disappointed that we only ordered one each.

Outside Versaiiles in Paris.

Inside Versaiiles. There were signs everywhere that we weren't supposed to take pictures. But people were taking them left and right with guards right there doing nothing. I joined in just because. As a side note, strollers were not allowed inside. The day before when we were inside the palace at Fontainebleau and also didn't take in our stroller (our choice), both days Toby became too tired and wanted to be carried. Unfortunately, he only wanted "Mommy" to carry him. And both days he was almost asleep so he was dead weight. Bummer.

Outside the grounds. I imagine they will be just beautiful in a month or so.

You can't tell by the picture but his pants are wet past his knees.

He enjoyed jumping in every single water puddle at least twice.

Family pic outside of Notre Dame. The last time we were here, we didn't have our tripod.

There are these metallic street performers all over Europe. For some reason, I find them fascinating. I don't know why. No one else cares, but

I'm always excited when we see another one.

And let's here it for more french desserts!

A chocolate tart for me, a lemon tart for James.

A yummy, feta, cucumber and tomato sandwich on a crusty loaf.

A little park by the Eiffel Tower. We let the boys run around for a few minutes, Thomas thought it was a "baby" park. He's growing up.

At first you may think this is inside some fantastic palace...

but, it's not...

It's an amazing shopping center called, "The Lafayette Galleries". We weren't there for very long...about an hour but I thought it was a lot cooler than Harrod's in London!

Until later,

Emily

Ramba Zamba

2010-03-27T16:59:00.000-04:00

Today, Thomas was invited to a birthday party of one of his classmates. It was at a place called Ramba Zamba in Mainz. In Germany, they have all kinds of indoor play places for kids to run and get out some energy when it is cold and rainy outside. Since it is also a public place, we decided to take Toby along and stay at Ramba Zamba for the three hours. It takes us 30 minutes to drive there so it almost wasn't worth driving home. At the end, we had two sweaty, worn-out children who had a great time.

Until later,

Emily

Opel Zoo

2010-03-26T17:59:00.000-04:00

Last year, I bought season passes to the Opel Zoo for Thomas and I (Toby was free until he turned 3). Our passes expire on the 4th of April, so I thought it would be nice to go to the Opel Zoo one more time. I wanted to take Thomas, but darn it, he has school five days a week and because he had so many snow days this year that happened to be on days where he has afterschool activities, he had makeup days for those classes. I ended up just taking Toby and inviting my friend, G, and her little boys D and G. Mainly we spent our time at the playground.

These are coin-operated, they take an euro each.

It's so fun playing at the park...especially when you have a friend there to play with!

You have to by sneaky to catch a smile on this kid. And push your camera button at exactly the right millisecond. Sometimes I succeed!

Visiting one of my favorite animals.

Partners in crime. Two peas in a pod. Really. Troublemakers 1 & 2, folks!

Baby G is so cute!

G and his Mommy.

Until later,

Emily

E & E's Visit to Germany!

2010-03-25T11:38:00.000-04:00

Our friends, Erin and Ethan Sea came to visit us February 10-15. We met Erin and her husband, Dan, back in late summer 2002 when Erin and I were in our second trimesters of our first pregnancies. They bought the townhouse right next to ours. As it turned out, our sons were born 11 days apart. It was a really special time. She stayed at home, as did I, and so we did a lot of things together, helped each other out, kept each other company, and a strong friendship was formed. Unfortunately when our boys were not quite two years old, Dan's work relocated to PA. Which was great for them because they could buy a lot bigger house there then in MD and as it turns out, they bought in Erin's home town where her mom and dad still live, but it was sad for us to see them leave. However, over the next three years we managed to still see each other every few months, the drive is only a couple hours long. They now have three children. As we have lived in Germany, Erin had mentioned coming to visit, possibly bringing Ethan. As our time here is coming to an end, I thought it might not happen, but then at the end of 2009, Erin emailed me and said she thought she could make something work out. Dan travels quite a bit for work and had a lot of airline miles that could be transferred to family members. Essentially, they flew over here, round-trip, for the both of them for about $150! Dan took work off to take care of the younger kids and Erin and Ethan came to see us for a few days! The weather was not great. OK it was downright freezing and snowed almost every day but we had a great time. Of course, time always flies when you're having fun and this was no exception. And I always hate goodbye's but we plan on seeing them in August when we move back to MD, so I reminded myself that this was only a "see you later" not an actual "goodbye".

Here are a few pictures:

I arranged to pick up Thomas from school right before lunch. Here

we are walking to his classroom.

Reunited after 2 1/2 years.

Let's fly how many thousand miles over the ocean so we can sit down and play the Wii?!

(kids!)

Rudesheim, Germany

Windy, freezing and nearly everything was closed.

Waiting for traditional German cuisine at the Brauhaus in Mainz Kastel.

Kinderfasching in Mainz.

Ramba Zamba--one of many indoor play places that have SOOOO many attractions that you would never find in the US.

We told Ethan we were going to see a castle. He didn't seem too excited. It wasn't until we arrived that he let on that he thought we were taking him to a "girly princess castle" like his sister would like. As it turned out, this was pretty cool! Too bad it was closed...so we could only walk around the entrance just a bit. This is the St. Goar castle.

The original four--back then life was easy, only we didn't know it at the time.

Nothing compares to Nintendo DS...not even cool castles all along the Rhine River!

Thomas had to go to school the day that E & E went home. So we woke

up Ethan right before Thomas left.

Outside of my house. There was apparently a snowflake on my

camera's lens.

Bidding them a final farewell!

Until later,

Emily

Handsome & a Little Stinky...

2010-03-16T17:00:00.000-04:00

I can't believe it, but the time has come for Thomas to start wearing deodorant! I "Googled" it because I know I didn't start wearing it until the beginning of the sixth grade (11) and he's only 7...and a 1/2...but basically what I found was when children start to stink, and that bothers you (it does), it's time for deodorant! I don't want him to be the stinky kid in class...so I bought him some Axe deodorant spray and he thinks it's the coolest thing! And it does the trick.

Until later,

Emily

PS: This decision was after we made sure he never skipped bathing one day and was diligent with pit-washing...so, there you go, it's time!

Alice in Wonderland

2010-03-13T06:20:00.004-05:00

Last night, James and I took our kids to see the new "Alice in Wonderland" movie. Johnny Depp is in it, he's probably tied with Jack Nicholson as my favorite actor so I was excited. And, actually, the whole family currently likes Johnny Depp because of a certain pirate character that he plays...

The movie was a fun movie. Both my kids were fully engaged the whole time. It was directed by Tim Burton, so you know it is a little dark and odd.(Rated PG for fantasy action/violence involving scary images and situations, and for a smoking caterpillar.) I thought it might be a tad scary for my kids but it was not. Yes, the do keep up with the "Off with your head" line and there is one scene in particular that dealt with decapitated heads (Alice has to step on the floating heads to get across the moat) and James & I both winced. But, it went right over both of our kids' "heads" if you will. At the very end, there is a battle with a dragon which ends in bloodshed...but I plan on letting them watch it again and will purchase it on DVD when it comes out.

Until later,

Emily

Brothers

2010-03-06T11:30:00.005-05:00

Fontainebleau, France--February 25, 2010

My family and I are a bunch of "pale-faces" right now (a "Twilight" reference), we really need a little sun right now!

Until later,

Emily

Goodbye Afternoon Naps

2010-03-05T05:17:00.002-05:00

Over the past few weeks, I have noticed that Toby is making it through more and more days without an afternoon nap. It is to the point where I think his body only really "needs" a nap about twice a week now. Unfortunately, I have no idea when those days will occur. In the afternoon, we come home from our errands and/or appointments and he typically just "wants to watch a movie" for a while. Sometimes that results in him dozing off on the couch for a few minutes, but more than often, it does not.

My baby is growing up. However, he is still not potty-trained. I gave it a really good try in December and he showed absolutely no interest. I have noticed a few of the "signs" over the past couple of weeks but I really would like to have a few days where I can stay at home to try to tackle this again. For some reason, I really have a hard time ever doing this. But then, we are going to Italy at the end of this month...should I even pursue this when we are planning a major trip where the three truly potty-trained people in our household may have a hard time with the whole "finding a toilet" situation? Maybe all four of us should just wear Pull-Ups?! Maybe that's the solution!

Until later,

Emily

Still Blogging

2010-03-03T05:11:00.000-05:00

February 2010 goes down as my worst month ever for blogging. No I have not abandoned this hobby...one of the only things in my life that I can truly call a hobby. Sometimes there just isn't enough time to do everything. We had our friends Erin & Ethan come and visit us, they were here for about 5 days and we made the most of it. A week later, James, the kids & I went to Paris and spent 6 days. I love Paris and I can't believe we never went the first 18 months of our assignment here. But I guess we sort of made up for it by going three times in the past 12 months! I will post pics of both soon.

Until later,

Emily

And Back Goes the Baby Gate!

2010-02-05T09:56:00.002-05:00

About 3-4 weeks ago, I took the baby gate down, the baby gate that kept Toby out of the kitchen. We had grown tired of having to hoist ourselves over it each time we want to exit and enter the kitchen (it's just a pressurized gate) and we figured he was old enough "to be trusted".

Well, after a few weeks, I have had it! He has turned the stove top on, melted my favorite cupcake carrier lid, broken our only Frankfurt Christmas market mug, taken far too many utensils out (thus me having to wash far too many kitchen utensils), stolen my drinks, made far too many dishes, been underfoot when I am cooking in the tiniest kitchen and today, he shattered the glass lid that belonged to my favorite sauce pan. Luckily he wasn't hurt, but when I say shattered, I do mean shattered. As in into a million little tiny pieces. Our floors are tile and the glass didn't have a chance.

For safety's sake and my sanity's sake that gate is back up and I don't know when we'll take it down again.

Until later,

Emily

Perspective

2010-01-22T01:32:00.002-05:00

My mom emailed this to me and I found it to be very profound.

Perspective

One day , the father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the express purpose of showing him how poor people live.

They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family.

On their return from their trip , the father asked his son , "How was the trip?"

"It was great , Dad."

"Did you see how poor people live?" the father asked..

"Oh yeah , " said the son.

"So , tell me , what did you learn from the trip?" asked the father.

The son answered: "I saw that we have one dog and they had four.

We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end.

We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night.

Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon.

We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight.

We have servants who serve us , but they serve others.

We buy our food , but they grow theirs.

We have walls around our property to protect us , they have friends to protect them."

The boy's father was speechless.

Then his son added , "Thanks Dad for showing me how poor we are."

Isn't perspective a wonderful thing? Makes you wonder what would happen if we all gave thanks for everything we have, instead of worrying about what we don't have.

Appreciate every single thing you have , especially your friends!

"Life is too short and friends are too few.

Until later,

Emily

Christmas 2009 Pics

2010-01-18T03:21:00.005-05:00

Such excitement & anticipation as they waited to find out if it was

"all clear" for them to go downstairs.

I don't know if it was James or Thomas that thought Toby should wear

a red bow on his back, but he had no idea that it was there.

I love this picture!

"Awesome!"

Our family loves anything with skulls and crossbones!

Toby also got one that is quite similar.

A total surprise (because he had no idea they came out with the new game),

the NEW Wii Super Mario game!

Toby was funny this year, he got into the unwrapping of the presents, but once he unwrapped the boxes, he wasn't very interested in what was actually inside the boxes!

(Wish we would have known, it would have saved us a lot of money

AND time spent shopping!)

Merry Christmas!

Until later,

Emily

"Winky is Watching!"

2010-01-18T03:13:00.004-05:00

This year, my friend, Erin sent us this cute "Elf on the Shelf". The story goes that he is a magical elf from the North Pole...a helper of Santa Claus. He watches what is going on in the house and every night he flies back to the North Pole to report to Santa. The kids know he flew back because the next morning, sure enough, the elf was back but was in a new location. Oh what fun!

Each family has the opportunity to name their own elf. After much thought and discussion, Thomas & I decided on "Winky". It has a great ring to it...."Winky is watching!"

Winky didn't come into our home until just a few days before Christmas so he took more than one magical flight to the North Pole each day. Thomas was also quite sure that his eyes and legs sometimes moved. Winky was quite effective and I was sad to see him go.

Until later,

Emily

Naughtiness is the Three-Year Old Living in my House!

2010-01-15T17:00:00.000-05:00

I have had a baby gate to keep Toby out of the kitchen. Really, it's the lazy way of "baby-proofing". Last week, I decided it was time to start "trusting" him and take it down. The first couple of days I found myself chasing him out of the kitchen quite a bit but then the novelty of this new room seemed to wear off and he wasn't all that interested.

Today, Toby & I stayed home. I cleaned and did a lot of laundry. I have not done laundry in 11 days--so I had a lot to do. I had folded three loads and had taken them upstairs to put them away. And that's when I smelled the smell and new instantly that my little stinker had gone into the kitchen and turned on the burners or the oven, I wasn't sure which but I knew something was burning or melting that shouldn't be.

I came downstairs to find that Toby had turned on not one, not two, but three of the burners on the stove top! Unfortunately, I had set my nice (plastic) cupcake holder on top of the stove top just an hour before so that it could dry the rest of the way (I had just washed it). For a split second I thought maybe I had arrived before the damage was horrible. But then I lifted the lid and the whole middle of the lid stayed on my stove top. It is ruined. I loved my cupcake holder and hope they still sell the same kind at Real, where I bought it last year.

After scolding him (no reaction), and spanking him (barely a flinch) I put him in his room, in his crib to be exact (he hasn't tried to climb out and I am avoiding buying him a real bed until we move back to the States). This is when he said "I sorry, I be a good boy, I be a good boy."

He eventually fell asleep. Right after that, I decided to pull back my curtains in my bedroom to let in some natural light. That's when I noticed that my heavy, insulated curtains now have "fringe" down one side of them. Yep, he found my fabric scissors and wasn't afraid to use them. The sad thing is, I'm pretty sure he did it right under my nose this morning and I didn't realize it. I thought he was playing with cars along the ledge of my window sill, not giving my curtains a new, updated look! (The scissors are now WAY up, I found that he pushed the step-stool in the bathroom to my bedroom where they were so that her could reach them).

Tonight, at dinner, I gave James the full report. When James turned to Toby to ask him about all of his naughtiness, he admitted to everything in a "very matter-of-factly" manner, there was no shame, no remorse. The more I get to know Toby, the more I think he will be our little "free-spirit"...but he's so deceptive because I think he often times looks like he's so sweet. Believe me, he is NOT!

Until later,

Emily