Beginning Of The Breakup

I didn't think I would make it until this time. The great break-up is on its way. Temperatures are getting close to forty on several days causing the roads to become huge pools of water. However, it still gets down in the teens overnight, so what thaws during the day usually freezes again overnight. I think I heard that there may be snow flurries on Tuesday. There is still such a long way to go before the snow is gone, but I suppose I can feel confident that the snow will be gone, eventually.

The sun is out for so much longer now. It rises by 7:45am and doesn't set until 8:45pm. I like having so much daylight. I know that I will have much more to deal with in the next few months. I can't begin to imagine what it will be like to try to get Joey to bed! He doesn't go to bed before ten as it is. How difficult will it be to get him to bed by ten (preferably before ten) when there is still four more hours of daylight!?

It will be nice having the sun out so long in the evening, because we will be able to do more outside as a family, even when Nick gets home from work. We still need to find a park nearby that has equipment Joey can play on. I know that seventy degrees will feel warm compared to the winter we've had, but I sure wish it would get a little warmer than that!

It is very quiet in the house right now. Both Nicks are sleeping, Joey is resting on Daddy's lap, and once I am done with the blog, I will go rest in the other recliner while I have the chance. Joey took a short nap earlier, but he is not feeling well, so he doesn't sleep well, causing him to be more lethargic and restful than usual. So, before they all wake up...I will get a few moments of quiet time.

Have an awesome weekend.

Quick Cute Story

At choir last night, Joey was playing with a red plastic ball. I put the ball in his shirt to "hide" it, and he announced to the entire group that his "baby sister is in mine tummy."

Pastor Daryl said, "How 'bout it, Mom?"

I said, "Ask his father!"

Then Joey took the ball out of his shirt and showed everybody, saying, "This is mine baby sister. see mine baby sister?"

Daddy's Coming Home

Nick just called to say he was on his way home! That makes me happy. He is getting a later start than he thought, so he is going to drive straight home with the company van. The nice thing is not having to pack the boys up to go pick him up today. The unfortunate thing is that I will have to pick him up from work tomorrow. Oh well. As long as he is coming home.

The boys did very well last night. I put Joey to bed about 10:00pm (we didn't get home until 9:30pm). After feeding Baby Nick, I was able to get him to sleep by 10:30pm. Just about the time I was laying Baby Nick down, Joey called out to me that a monster scared him. So we prayed again and I laid down with him for about fifteen minutes until he was asleep. Then I came back downstairs and blogged. By the time I went up to bed by 11:45pm I was afraid that either one of the boys would wake up right away. But they surprised me. Baby Nick didn't wake up until 4:00am, and after feeding him, he went right back to sleep. Joey slept all night until about 8:30am. Baby Nick got up again at 7:00am and again fell back asleep after feeding him. Since I was up, I got about 45 minutes of time to myself that I could do my bible study and try to catch up on this week's lessons.

I am trying a couple new recipes for dinner tonight: Dixieland Pork Chops and Cheese Muffins, both by Paula Deen. I am looking forward to dinner. The cheese muffins came out of the oven a little bit ago and smell divine! I will have to warm them up for dinner, but the pork chops will take up the oven for an hour and a half, so I had to make the muffins early. The pork chops are baked in a cheese sauce, so we will have a very cheesy dinner! I LOVE CHEESE. It's about time for me to finish dinner prep, so I should go.

Have a great evening and enjoy the company you are keeping!

Charming Boys

My sons are so wonderful. I can say that now, because they are both currently sleeping. But once either one wakes up, I won't think they are so wonderful then! :) Especially because they will wait until I am finally comfortably snug and warm in bed before getting me back up. But come morning, I will think they are wonderful once again.

I brought both boys to choir with me tonight. Nick is out of town again for the night. We will pick him up at work tomorrow evening. But his day out of town would have to fall on a day that I had choir. They both did really well, I was a proud mama. It also helps that everybody is so easy-going. Whenever I would try to quiet one of them, everybody else would speak up, "Oh they're fine!" It relieves some of the pressure to present a "perfect children" face to the world.

Joey charmed everybody with his dancing to the music and walking around the entire room, stopping by (and nearly stepping on) everybody. He was going NON-STOP. I was exhausted just watching him. But he did make me smile. I love watching how everybody responds to him, as if they realize what I do....he is one of the most precious boys you can ever meet.

Baby Nick also made his contribution to the noise. Lenore, seeing that I was juggling both boys, offered to bring up some toys from the nursery. She brought an Exer-Saucer for Baby Nick, so that I could set him down to play and not be afraid of him scooting down the two sets of stairs. Of course, the Exer-Saucer has lots of fun toys to play with, all of which make a terrible racket. And it also allows the child to jump up and down in (which sets all the toys off to rattling.) So as we are trying to sing, we have the percussion section completely off beat, provided by my son. I kept trying to hold the noisiest toy to mute the sound a bit, without preventing Baby Nick from jumping....but I was told by the others to "just let him dance!"

It will be nice to have Nick home tomorrow night. It is funny how much longer the days seem while he is gone. If he were in town, he would still be working those same hours, but knowing that he won't be coming home at night seems to make the daytime hours stretch on. So even though Nick is only gone overnight, by the time we pick him up, it will feel as if I have spent a week as a single parent. (You would think I would be used to it, having spent three months apart last summer...but I had all my family around, so I was never really alone. Having absolutely NO ONE up here makes a difference.)

I know I haven't had as much to say lately, and I apologize. There is just not that much that goes on each day around here. If I remember, I try to write down the funny things Joey says, so I can blog about them later, but I don't always have the availability to do so. (Imagine that!)

Baby Nick is pulling himself up to a standing position on just about everything, as often as he can. He has even ventured at hinting at moving along the furniture. It may still be awhile before he actually does walk along the furniture, but the time is coming. And you know what that means, don't you? It won't be long after he walks along the furniture before he tries walking around the middle of the room! (And this from a kid who still refuses to crawl and can't bend in the proper way to sit on his own!) I tell ya, I don't think that Baby Nick doesn't crawl because he can't, I think he doesn't crawl because he doesn't want to.

Well, it is way past bed time, and if I stay up much later...I will miss my opportunity to even get comfortable in bed! Sweet Dreams!

Weekend Activities

There is not much that we do on the weekends. We usually do the grocery shopping, laundry, and go to church. Other than that, we sit at home and enjoy each others' company. Occasionally we make plans to do something; a dinner with Randy and Cheryl for example.

Last weekend, we thought we would go up to Hatcher's Pass, but since Nick was stuck on call, that was out of the question. We were hoping to be able to go this weekend, since he is not on call. But once again, outside forces are working against us. It's "spring" here, did you know? That is to say that it warms up enough during the day to turn the stuff on the roads to slush and then freeze again overnight. This of course causes patches of black ice that the snow that falls the following day covers up, causing treacherous driving conditions. Not to mention, if it is snowing, then it is cloudy....and who wants to make a long drive to view the top of the clouds! So once again, our outdoor excursion will be delayed for who knows how long.

On the up side, we have confirmed visitors for the summer. Nick's sister, Angela, will be coming at the end of June. She will be spending a week with us. I can't even begin to express how excited we all are. In the next month or so, I will start the official countdown. Right now, I know that she will be here in three months from last Wednesday. I hope she has fun while she is here.

Three weeks after Ange comes, my parents will be here for another wonderful week. I can't tell you how much I miss my parents. I miss my parents, not only for myself, but for my kids. Joey was blessed to live close to them for two years, but Baby Nick only got two short weeks. I can't believe that Baby Nick will be eleven months old before his Nanny gets to hold him again. That is a travesty beyond measure. After they leave, there is no telling when she will get to hold him again.

Well, I am trying to eat a cold dinner while I type, and I am getting more typing done than eating, so my tepid food is now very cold. Yeah for me! I better go eat.

The First Day Of Spring

The first day of spring....in the past, this actually meant something to me. It meant that the trees would start blossoming, the flowers would start blooming, the air would be crisp and fresh, and there would be a slight warming in the air...a promise of warmer weather to come.

At least one thing is true, the weather is warmer. Instead of temperatures in the mid to low teens, they are in the mid twenties. Wow! What that really means for Alaska...it is snowing again! Yep..snowing. I would much rather temperatures in the upper forties to lower fifties (if I were honest, I would want temperatures in the mid seventies, but let's be semi-realistic in this fantasy!) and the snow and ice dissipate instantaneously. I'm told that the break-up will eventually happen, but I don't really believe it. Right around the time the snow finally fully disappears, it will start snowing again!

Joey has a new phrase: 'yeah, maybe.' Example questions and responses: "Do you love Mommy?" "Yeah, maybe." "Did you throw away the garbage?" "Yeah, maybe." "Did you sleep good?" "Yeah, maybe." You get the picture. Even when the answer would be a definite 'yes', he says 'yeah, maybe.'

Baby Nick just woke up from a nap. Not as long as I had hoped he would take...I wanted to get the blog done and start prepping for dinner. Oh well. Have a great day.

Funny Phraseology

I love that word...'phraseology'! It makes me think of one of my favorite musicals "Music Man." The mayor's daughter always says "Ee gads." And her father, the mayor, says, "Watch your phraseology." It's one of my Dad's (Scott-dad) favorite musicals as well. I have great memories of watching it together.

Anyway...phraseology. The other morning when Joey woke up, he told me, "I have earwax in my eyes! It feels good in my eyes." I can only imagine that he was talking about eye crusties, not earwax, but why he thought it felt good, I'll never know. Later, while he was eating a chocolate muffin for breakfast, he decided that after a few bites, the muffin would be better mashed between his hands and rubbed on his face as a facial cleanser. This, of course, rendered the muffing completely un-eatable, since it was now in millions...no zillions of tiny crumbs. There was no way around it, I had to vacuum the crumbs off the floor, the table, the plate (while I was at it), and off of Joey and the chair. Joey is frightened of the vacuum. Since I was using the hose attachment, I was able to make fun out of it as it 'ate' Joey's shirt. But afterwards, Joey said, "It's too loud. It hurts my feeoolings." What a cutie.

Guess what? After making plans to take us up to Hatcher's Pass, Nick remembered that he was stuck being on call, and Hatcher's Pass would take him out of cell and pager range. Even though he didn't get called or paged at any time on Sunday, he had to remain available. We haven't talked about it yet, but perhaps we can reschedule the plans for this weekend. He shouldn't be on call this weekend, but we will have to wait and see....he wasn't supposed to be on call last weekend either!

The Weekend Is Here

First, I want to update you on Baby Nick's black eye: when he woke up Friday morning, I couldn't hardly even see any mark...so he is no more worse for the wear. The poor child is so determined to spend most of is time upright on his knees, but he is still a bit wobbly and tends to bonk his head several times a day.

Joey is really trying our patience lately, acting like he is a parent rather than a child. He will scowl at us, point his finger, and yell, "Don't yell. Don't say that. Be nice. I'm so sick of this. I'm just so mad." And any variety of things that he hears us say. I'm certainly not proud, knowing that he learned them from us. But I really don't know how to break the cycle of him thinking that he can yell at us as if we were the child.

Nick has had a very frustrating week at work. His driver here in Anchorage called him early Wednesday morning to say that he wouldn't be in because he had fallen in the shower and cracked a rib. Well, that was too bad, so Nick told him to bring a doctor's note saying when he could come back to work. The good news was that he was cleared to come back to work full strength the next day. The bad news, he was on call this week, so Nick had to take over on call for the night. (He was just on call the week before.) Come Thursday morning, Nick is expecting to be able to give the pager back over to Bob, but lo and behold, Bob decided he couldn't make it. Once more, Nick was forced to take over the route for the day (on top of all the regular duties his job requires.) And once again, he had to be on call overnight. He was looking forward to Friday, being able to turn the pager over to Bob for the weekend. He certainly didn't want to be on call for a second weekend in a row. About fifteen minutes into Bob's shift, he still hadn't shown up. Nick called him and found out that he had decided to stay home again. So Nick had to do his route again, missing out on the brunch at work that morning (the one that I had gotten up early to bake some fresh muffins for) and then knew he was stuck being on call over the weekend. To make matters worse, after going to bed about 11:00pm Friday night, once he was completely asleep, he gets a page about half hour later. Because of another employee's mistake, a traveling patient didn't get their oxygen set up, so he was required to go out in the middle of the night to set up the oxygen. He didn't get back home into bed until 1:30am. Hopefully the rest of his weekend will be quiet.

Nick was talking about taking us up to Hatcher's Pass tomorrow. Hatcher's Pass is on top of one of the mountains overlooking the MatSu Valley. If it is clear, you can look down over all of Anchorage and the rest of the valley. It is suppose to be a real nice view. If it is clear, we'll go after church tomorrow. That would be a nice change of scenery, something other than the inside of our house. I'll let you know if we do go. I will post pictures if I can get any good ones.

Black Eye

I went to choir last night, which was enjoyable as always. There were only a handful of us there last night, so Pastor gave us each a microphone to sing with! It was the first time we had ever sung a regular choir rehearsal with mics, especially, each having his own! Needless to say, it helped us figure out where we needed the most work! :)

Imagine my surprise when I get home to find my son had a black eye! What could he have been doing with Daddy that would have given him a black eye! Poor thing, he is trying to get up onto everything now, and as he was up on the potty training potty (which isn't anchored down to the floor) it slipped away from him and he hit his face on the foot of the computer chair.
In this picture, it looks like the bruise goes all the way up the side of his eye, but I think that it was just the way the light him him. But aren't his eyes absolutely gorgeous here?!?!
In this picture, it's almost too small to see, but it is a small mark under his eye. He recovered quickly, and was climbing up on the unstable items in our house again soon afterward.

Five More Months

Yep...that's right. Only five more months before Baby Nick celebrates his first birthday! Today he is seven months old. As I always do, I have taken some pictures to show you the monthly update. This first picture is just to show you what happens when he doesn't like what he is eating. Usually he eats hungrily and cleanly, but today, he didn't like the vegetables I fed him. After every bite, he shuddered and rubbed his hands over his face, as if trying to get the taste out of his mouth. This of course, smeared food all over. But isn't he still so cute!
What a big boy he is becoming. I find it hysterical how all his one piece outfits look like high-waters on him. I should get the 12 month clothes out for any overall type outfits to see if they fit better, or if they would be too huge. Nick tried on a new outfit we got him, 9month size and it was absolutely huge, couldn't even keep the pants from falling off of him. But that is because it was a separate shirt and pants. Why can't clothes manufacturers make clothes that are the same size fit the same way?
What a goofy boy! He saw that I had the camera out and kept scooting over closer to me, to ensure that I was in fact taking a picture of him.
And for comparison, here is a picture of Joey at seven months. He sure was a cutie-patootie! They still look so much alike to me, yet with their own unique differences.
Nick is going to have to drive down to Soldotna again tomorrow, but it will be a day trip. A very long day trip. I think it is about a three hour drive. So he will drive three hours there, do two stops, and drive three hours back. That will be a long day for him. It always makes him sleepy spending so much time in the car.

I can't wait until Thursday...I really enjoy singing in the choir. I don't sing enough while I am at home, except all those kiddie songs that get stuck in your head forever, and I love to sing, so Thursdays are good days for me. It gives me something fun to look forward to. Other than that, we don't have anything planned for this week.

Singing In Church

Here it is...the song I sang in church today. Please forgive the camera operator (aka Nick) he thought the camera was recording and it wasn't. So I apologize that you only get from the second verse on. At least it is something.
I sang on the worship team today, and was feeling fine. But then halfway through worship, I remembered that I was going to sing by myself and I about panicked. I tried running through the words to my song in my head while singing different words for worship! That didn't work very well. I was so afraid that I would forget the words, but once the music started, I settled down inside a bit.
Love to everyone!

In Disbelief

I'll start by sharing this adorable picture of our little Eskimo! This snow suit was a very thoughtful gift from a family friend, after Baby Nick was born. It is a 12 month size, and looks huge, so I didn't think it would fit him, being not quite seven months. But I also wasn't figuring he would be so tall. The size chart shows that the 12 month size fits babies of a height between 27.5 inches and 29 inches. Well, Baby Nick measured 29 inches at his six month check-up. Sure enough....he fit lengthwise just fine. The arms are quite a bit too long, though. He won't be able to wear it much longer if he keeps growing at such a fast rate.

Here comes the part that I am in disbelief about. Baby Nick will be seven months on Monday, so technically he is not yet seven months. Yet here is proof that he has managed to pull himself to a standing position.
Here he is, up on his knees, reaching into the toy box. This in and of itself is quite an amazing feat for his age. (At least, I think so. But remember, the only other personal experience I have had is watching Joey grow, and he always took his time mastering new skills.)
Can you believe it?!?!?!?!
Here's the proof! I am sure you can all speculate that I posed him in such a position, but I assure you, I was almost too shocked to even get a picture of it. I thought about grabbing the video camera, so you could see him in action, but by the time I could have gotten it set up, he might have been done. I will try to get a video next time, for any of you doubters!

As for the rest of the week, there is not too much to say. It has been a relatively normal week. We did have one day of snow where we got about three or four inches. It hasn't snowed in about a month. But by this time, as pretty as it is to watch fall, I am so sick of the cold and the snow. I was watching the forecast on the news, and temperatures are staying in the mid-teens. Apparently, temperatures for this time of year are usually closer to thirty...so we are far below average. It makes me fear that spring will never come, and I will have to live out the rest of my days in perpetual winter.

I went to choir on Thursday. This was the first time they had seen my hair down after it had been cut, and the first time they had seen me wearing contacts instead of my glasses. Only one person didn't recognize me, and he was incredibly embarrassed. I suppose I could understand, seeing as how he is the Associate Pastor! He kept looking at me funny, and looking over at Tina with a look that said, "Aren't you going to introduce me?" So she looks back at him and says, "Darrel, have you met Trinity?" Oh, he felt so bad! I assured him that it was no big deal. I suppose the thing that threw him off the most, was that I didn't have a kid hanging on me! :)

Practice was very nice on Thursday. I was asked to sing one of the solos in the production! That was a nice surprise. It was the one I wanted if I were to be given a solo. After practice, as we were leaving, one of the ladies, Jo, said to me, "Oh, your song is going to be so pretty. I'm so glad you're here. We could use 45 more of you." It was such sweet acceptance. Pastor Gary also caught me afterwards to make sure I was still going to sing on Sunday. I told him I was planning on it, if he still wanted me too, so he said to show up for worship practice and I could sing with the worship team as well. So if you think about it, please pray for me on Sunday morning. My prayer is that I will touch the Father's heart first and foremost.

I hear Baby Nick struggling to stay asleep, so I better go catch him before he wakes up too much.

You Are My Sunshine

This is too precious for words. I am almost speechless when listening to him sing. All I can do is squeal in absolute delight. It speaks for itself. Enjoy!

Hearing Monsters

Joey hears monsters in every sound. The walls are very thin, and the family living in the unit next to us are VERY loud. Not with music, but with thumping, bumping, and slamming. This occurs late into the night as well. With every sound they make, Joey anxiously announces that there is a monster. Also, we live fairly close to the airport (only a fifteen minute drive), so there are planes flying overhead ALL DAY long. And every time a plane goes by, or a snowplow (or any other truck that rumbles) he calls out that there is a monster. I don't know what has caused this reaction in him. I have to remind him that it is next door, or a plane, or a big truck. After reminding him, the rest of the day he will say, "It's not a monster, it's a plane." But still, he makes the connection to a monster. He loves to watch Monsters, Inc., so I would think that he wouldn't be scared of monsters.

The other night, I was singing him to sleep. I don't usually do this, but he wanted to hear his current favorite song, "You Are My Sunshine". (I love that this is his favorite right now, because it was one of my favorites when I was his age.) So I was laying in bed with him, all snuggled up at the foot of the bed, and sang the song. He says, "Do it again." I must have sang it 40 or 50 times! He never fell asleep while I was singing, but he was calmed down and fell asleep so afterwards. The funny thing is, a couple times while singing, I woke up! Which means I sang myself to sleep!

Baby Nick is proving to be very tall. He fits very nicely in the 6-9 month size clothes, however, if it is a pair of overalls, they are high waters on him! But the pants that are separate are way big on him, both around the waist and length. I guess it's a good thing I don't care if he looks like a nerd. Just kidding.

The goofy boy, he still isn't crawling, just scooting on his belly. But that doesn't seem to slow him down at all. He even is working on pulling himself up to a standing position, on very short things. For example, a briefcase laying flat on the floor. He is very good at standing in his crib, but I have to stand him up and put his hands on the rail...but he will stand there awhile before collapsing, or leaning so far over he would fall (if I weren't there to catch him.) He may decide to skip crawling all together and go from scooting to walking. We'll just have to wait and see.

We don't have any plans this week, like usual. I will have to take Nick to work tomorrow, because I have a five-minute follow up appointment for my eyes, to make sure the contacts are fitting fine and to order my supply. (That should be a waste of time!) Then there is choir Thursday night, looking forward to that. Hopefully, I can go without any kids this week.

Have a wonderful day!

Goofy Pictures

March has begun. It is amazing how fast the time has passes when looking back. Joey will be three years old, two months from tomorrow! And Baby Nick will be seven months, one week from tomorrow.

The other night, we had tater tots with dinner. So I gave Joey his tater tots and a bowl with some ranch to dip. (Joey loves to dip any food in any dip, particularly ranch!) He held his bowl with tater tots up for me to see that he was all done....then he showed me the bowl with the ranch, and this is what I found! The little sneak!
This picture was not meant to flatter Baby Nick, but to show you the fairly clear "sleepy mark" on his cheek. On his right cheek, you see a very good impression of his pacifier!
This is an outfit we got from LaVonna, a friend of my Mom's, when Baby Nick was born. She thought he needed something to fit in up here in Alaska. He sure is cute.
He looks like he is all ready to go hunting. (Hopefully, he doesn't think he can hunt the moose that feed in our back yard!)
Here is a very goofy Bubba, looking through his 'nocalersl.
It has been awhile since he has fallen asleep in an awkward place or position. But here he is. And yes, he actually fell asleep like this, he was not falling out of the chair after being asleep! Once I took the picture, I set him on the chair all the way and covered him up so that he wouldn't fall over. I can't imagine falling asleep in such a position, even being as exhausted as I am!

Speaking of sleep, it sounds like Baby Nick is ready to join his brother and father in taking a nap!

Silent Too Long

I know it has been a few days since I blogged. It's not that nothing has happened, just not much.

Yesterday I had an eye appointment. Not for any reason in particular, just that it had been 3 1/2 YEARS since my last exam. So, now I am in contacts again. That makes it easier on me since Baby Nick likes to rip my glasses off my face (and none too gently, either.) Luckily, my prescription did not change a whole lot in those three and a half years.

Nick is out of town for the next two days. He had to go down to Soldotna to cover the route down there. There is only one employee at that office, so there is no one to cover him if he gets sick. That is what has happened. To my understanding, he has an enlarged heart, making it difficult (or impossible) for him to do the strenuous work required of a driver.

So the boys and I are alone overnight. We survived a week once, we can survive one night. Being Thursday, I was looking forward to choir. I wasn't sure how I would handle having both boys with me and still being able to sing without distracting everyone, but I was going to give is a try anyway. Then I got a call this afternoon from Alice, the pastor's wife. Choir is cancelled for tonight due to the Native American Convocation going on at the church this week. They were going to try to have choir at the same time, but I guess its pretty 'hopping' at the church and would make trying to concentrate on choir very difficult. That works out for me since I was going to have the bring the boys. Then she said that they are have the North Pole Master's Commission do the service on Sunday, so asked if I would wait to sing until the following week. That also is fine with me...the more time to practice the better!

It is absolutely frigid outside today! The official temperature right now is 14 degrees, feeling like 6 below with the windchill. That is at least better than earlier, when it was 9 degrees, feeling like 10 below. But at those temperatures, a whopping four degrees does not feel much different! The wind is blowing very strong today! There are about two inches of snow on our shoveled walkway, just from the wind blowing it around from the trees, roofs, and ground. When I went out to mail cards (with precious baby pictures in them) I could hardly walk the wind was so strong. Imagine, trying to stay upright in extreme wind that is pushing along a very icy surface. I hardly had to lift my feet, just let the wind blow me where it willed. However, I'm sure I wouldn't have made it to the mailbox, which was my goal, so I had to put extra effort to staying on course. Then, trying to walk back, against the wind! It was like being a kid at the beach again, with winds so strong, you could lean into it and not fall over. Only this was neither warm nor soft sand blowing at me....it was beyond freezing and very sharp, tiny ice pieces. I suppose it will be nice not to have to take the boys out in it again.

Dinner is about ready, so I should go get ready to serve it. (It sure is hard to cook for 1 1/2 people!)