Happy Memorial Day. I hope everyone has taken a moment to remember those who have gone before us, including those who have given their lives for the freedom of others. I also want to remind everyone to remember those who are still living and working every day in the military. Despite our disagreement with the premises of the current wars being waged in the Middle East, our family fully supports those troops who have been there, are there now, and who are heading there soon. To our family and friends who are there or are on their way and are reading this, we love you dearly, we thank you for your sacrifices to your families and yourselves and pray that you stay safe! I most especially want to single out Lindsey "Little One" Bruns- my wonderfully special, exciting and turn-to-for-anything-when-I-need-to-talk baby sister (U.S. Coast Guard), Erik Bruns, my fantastic, fun cousin (U.S. Army) & Aaron Kriekel, the love of my baby sister's life whom I am DYING to meet (U.S. Army).
Okay. On to baby stuff and things less serious.
In baby's development this week... We are a Banana... I know, I know.. We went from cantaloupe to Banana!?!? Well, I guess that they're measuring LENGTH, not overall size. As a banana, baby is now 10.5 inches long (we're measuring head-to-toe now instead of head-to-rump! Big step!) and weighs 12.7oz. Apparently, baby is now swallowing the amniotic fluids, and learns various tastes though the fluids. It says on thenestbaby.com, that they now have tastebuds that actually work and that babies will be most interested in tastes they learn while in the womb! So, the caramel corn that I'm eating right now is entering the amniotic fluids and baby is tasting them. Weird. My uterus is now above my belly button and I have been getting the WORST heartburn. Nothing seems to help. I just have to live with it.
This week is our big ultrasound!!!!! 4 days left! Yeah! We'll hopefully know the sex at that point. Anyone have any guesses? I had an interesting couple and their daughter all put their hands on my belly, and all said they were getting girl vibes. We'll have to see if their right. Greg and I both think its a girl, too, so we'll see! Evan is convinced that it is a boy, but I think that feeling a biased based on his desire to have a brother, and not a yucky girl. Sami feels the same way, apparently, because she told Emily that she hopes its a boy because she wants to be Grandma's only girl. I think that all the adult boys in my life are hoping for a girl so that she can have them wrapped around their little fingers. BUT, we'll take whichever and love them dearly. I'm kindof dreading the idea of it being a boy, because I know that Emily will pile boxes upon boxes of boys clothing that she has from Cole and all of her friend's boy clothing. I guess looking on the bright side, I'll never have to buy any clothes! lol! So, we'll see what happens.
Mom went shopping with me this week. I bought more new clothes-- I was wearing the same 6 outfits every week, and it was getting REALLY, REALLY old. We found a shop called "The clothes mentor" that sells name-brand, gently used clothes for women. They have a HUGE section of maternity clothes. Sweet! Bought a dress, jeans and a few other things there. Also went to Target and Elder-Beerman and bought a few things there. Thanks for going with me, Mom! It was fun, and very needed!
We've had a fun, long weekend with Evan. Friday was a little rough. Evan had a REALLY bad day at school-- He was on Red! That's as bad as it gets there. I guess he had a hard time listening all day, and then a girl accused him of hitting her with a block. Evan says he hit her with his sleeve.. So, who knows. SO, when he got home, he had to stand in the corner for 4.5 minutes. If he could do it without talking or having a meltdown, that part of the punishment would be done. If he couldn't, the 4.5 minutes would start over. Well, he did the 4.5 minutes without any sort of issue. I think he actually went longer because the alarm didn't go off. Whoops. While he was doing that, G & I had a little pow-wow about what the rest of the punishment would be-- we did this away from E, of course. Our decision was that he would change plans for Saturday-- they were supposed to go fishing. We also took away anything that has to do with sports--baseball (horrors!), basketball, football, etc. The icing on this nasty cake was that we took away baseball hats. That actually brought him almost to tears, but he understood why.
After that, it was already getting late and we hadn't had dinner! SO, I called and ordered a pizza and ran out to pick it up, along with a couple of storage boxes. Evan and Greg went through his geotrax trains and paired it down to about 1/3 of what he has. The rest went into storage boxes to go to the rental on Saturday. They also went through his stuffed animals (known as his friends) and decided to pick which ones would he would be willing to share with children who didn't have any friends. They took those to Goodwill on Saturday.
Saturday, G & I went our seperate ways in the morning. I hit some garage sales (no luck!) and G ran the rental & Goodwill errands. After that, we all had lunch together. After that, I honestly cannot remember what we did the rest of the day! Crazy. I know we did something... Oh, I planted flowers. I did much of this while Evan was sleeping. Greg did yard work. I bought WAAAAAAAY too many flowers this year. opps. I ended up getting 6 pots from Mom's house and then we BOUGHT 4 more. 3 of those don't count, though, because they were for Greg's mosquito plants. They all turned out so nice, although I wish I'd bought more trailing plants.
Sunday, we did a day of visiting/parties. First, we went to the usual Sunday morning breakfast. Sami and Evan FEED off of each other when they're together. Em would get after Sami and Evan would chime in "Yeah Sami" and vice versa. It was a little obnoxious. I had to get after Evan at one point because he carried it a little too far.
We went home from breakfast and Evan went straight down for his nap. He claimed he wasn't sleepy, so we told him that when his clock said 1pm he could get up. He passed out about 15 minutes later and didn't wake up until 3:30.
I had a nice long chat with Grandma Refsell on the phone once Evan was down for his nap. For whatever reason, her emails haven't been getting through to us. But, she seems to be doing really well. We talked a LOT about her eBay stuff, and then visited for a while. I always love talking and visiting with my grandparents. I'm so lucky to have such great women in my life!
I went and visited Grandpa & Grandma at the nursing home and had a nice visit with Grandma. Grandpa continues to be doing about the same, though I think he's becoming more and more depressed the longer he is in there. That worries me, because he's not working at his therapy like he should be. Grandma is wondering if it wouldn't be better if she just takes him home. We talked about that for a while, and what it would cost if we brought him home with services from my company. I explained that it wouldn't be cheaper than the nursing home if it were 24hr care. It'll be more expensive. I gave her a few options with it, though. I think that he would probably thrive better if he were in his own environment. We also talked to her about the importance of taking care of herself and not burning herself out. Thankfully, she's continuing her painting, even lugging a box in with her to the nursing home! She's also continuing to teach her painting classes! Go Grandma!!
After Evan got up from his nap, Greg got into a fight with our swing. Its leaking a watery-rusty substance that gets all over the swing cushions and even G's shirt. Grrrrr. SO, he decided he was going to seal the holes shut once the water was drained out that the water was coming out of. He went to get the caulk out and I think all of the caulk, including the new ones, had gone bad. Our neighbors came over to visit and see what we were doing and helped us out. (That the nice thing about here-- we have nice neighbors-- they drive us crazy sometimes, but all-in-all, they're good people.) So, we chatted while Greg fought the caulk. lol!
FINALLY, he finished up, changed and we were able to get going to our other parties. The first party was at Steve and Donna's (Greg's uncle & aunt) We were an hour late, but we managed to get there right as food was ready. The food was SO good. His cousin was visiting from Idaho and another uncle from D.C., so it was a nice time. There were kids there that are Evan's age, so it was good-- he had kids to play with.
After we wrapped that party up, we headed back to BG for ANOTHER party. Greg's brother, Lance, was having an FJ Cruise-in (FJ Cruisers) at his house. We got there right after they had eaten dinner. There was a little girl, Harmony, about Evan's age there, and they had fun playing together. About 8:30, Harmony decided she wanted to "go swimming" in the hot tub. SO, I ran home and grabbed Evan's suit and PJs. They swam for quite a while. G & I got to visit with Harmony's mom, Marissa. She, Harmony and her husband, Kip, are the ones who say its a girl. It was a lovely evening, and we had a ton of fun. We even managed to get home at a semi-reasonable hour-- 11.
Today, Monday, we all slept in. Then, Greg and Evan went Fishing-- We decided punishment was going to last only through the weekend, and Monday was not included in the punishment. We both think it'll be good for the two of them to go fishing together. Boys trip! Sometimes, you just need to spend time with dad without those pesky girls around. I should sneak over there and take a few pictures. Oh well. I'll get it next time.
Work continues to be fantastic. I love it more and more every day. There is nothing better than spending time visiting with senior citizens and learning about them and their lives, plus knowing that we, as an organization, are making their lives better. I'm proud to work for Home Instead Senior Care. I know that we give excellent care and that I can feel proud about what I, and my company have done at the end of the day. Its SUCH a great feeling.
Busy, short week! Today, of course, is a holiday. We have Evan all day. Wheee! I think I'll see if they want to go to the park after naptime. Work on Tuesday and Wednesday. Wednesday night, Evan stays the night with us! Greg took Thursday off work. I work in the morning, and then Thursday at noon is the big ultrasound! Yeah!!!! We go to Karate Thursday night and then on Friday, Evan flies to Florida for a week! He'll have a great time, I'm sure.
Have a fantastic week! Sorry this is so long! It was a crazy, busy weekend with lots to share! I'll post again on Thursday after the ultrasound with pictures to let everyone know what we're having!!!!
Love, jenn
