Mini Vacation

We are going on a mini vacation next week. Since Nick's business trip to Fairbanks was cut short last week, he is required to go back next week. We decided to make it a family journey. There is an apartment above the office that we could stay at. Although it may be difficult to keep the kids entertained and still quiet enough not to disturb business downstairs, we still thought it would be a good way for me to be able to see more of Alaska. Not to mention, I have family up in Fairbanks that I haven't seen in five years!

My dad's brother, Roger, and his wife Barb live in Fairbanks. I emailed them to let them know we would be up there and to see if we could get together sometime while we are there. They have never met Nick or our sons...and I love showing off my boys. I got an email back saying we were welcome to stay with them. It was such a generous offer. It will be so much easier to keep the boys entertained without worrying about disturbing a business. In a further email, they told me they have a trampoline and a play structure out back. Joey will have a blast! It will be so great to see them again, as well.

The one drawback....since we got rid of our cell phones, we will be out of phone contact for a few days! Oh well. I suppose I will live. (It's not like I get a call everyday.)

It's so nice when my boys go to bed easily! I actually have a few sane moments during my evening before going to bed myself. Well, not exactly sane, but at least it is easier to pretend!

Happy Birthday Mom! Hope you have a great day and a wonderful weekend at the beach!

Ladies Night

Saturday night was Ladies Night. Sarah set the whole thing up. We all met over at Shelly's house (a lady I had met a couple times before.) There were six of us ladies there; Shelly, Sarah, Kim, Terry, and Brittany. I had met Kim at the birthday party for Alice, but I hadn't met Terry of Brittany before.

I was the first one there and had a few moments to speak with Shelly. She asked me what I thought about Alaska. Trying to be nice and honest at the same time, I was conservative in my answer. It turns out, her husband is in the Air Force and they had just moved up a month or so before I did. She and I share the same opinion about being here. I felt validated and understood for the first time since being here. We both feel that once we move away, we will happily leave Alaska and never look back. But we also agree that at anytime, God could say to us, "Today you will change your opinion." I just pray that if that day comes, I will be open to listen and not stubborn in my dislike.

When the other ladies showed up, we watched Jane Eyre, based off the novel by Charlotte Bronte. I loved it! I am very interested in reading the book now, which is a classic that I have never chose to pick up before. I am very 'one-track minded' when it comes to books. I don't branch out and read a new book unless I know and like the author, or a book is recommended to me by someone who knows what types of books I like. My Mom is the best person I go to for a new book or author. I trust her opinion and share many of her tastes in books. But I have also always enjoyed stories told (or movies set) in the 19th century, as is Jane Eyre. One of these days I may check it out from the library.

All in all, I had a great time with the ladies and can't wait for the next activity.

Joey is finally starting to feel better, getting rid of his cold. Even when sick, he is still such a sweetheart. When he sees that I am having a hard day, he will give me big hugs and say, "I love you way much, Daddy loves you way much, Nanny loves you way much." It is a sweet reminder.

Baby Nick took his first drink out of a straw tonight! I just wanted to see if he could do it, not really expecting him to be able to. When he got his first sip of slightly watered down soda, he was so surprised. He liked it so much he put a death grip on the cup. He got four or five more sips before I could wrestle it away from him without dumping both him and the soda off my lap!

Baby Nick transitioned exceptionally well to getting himself to sleep. He still screams, sometimes still for half an hour, but I don't think it has ever taken him longer than half an hour. The first couple times I laid him down, just to get a feel for how he would do, it was over an hour of him screaming before I couldn't take anymore. So my surprise was immense when I started again a week later and for every nap (and even at bedtime) Baby Nick decided he would fall asleep after crying for 30 minutes or less. We are starting week two. I have heard that it takes two weeks to make a habit, so hopefully, by the end of this week, Baby Nick will be set in a new routine and expect to get himself to sleep. Eventually, I would love to hear the crying cease all together, but since Bubba still cries for awhile at bedtime (occasionally) I don't think I will hear the end of Baby Nick's crying anytime soon.

For tonight....both boys are asleep! That is a very nice sound. Good night.

Happy Birthday, Sarina!

Happy Birthday, Sarina! I am so sorry we are not there to help you celebrate. We are thinking of you every day and missing you so much. You are getting to be such a big girl (not that I would know....your mom hasn't sent me any recent pictures! [hint, hint]).

I just wanted to share with the world some of my favorite pictures of you...let you know how much we love you. I hope you have an exciting birthday and a fabulous year! We can't wait to see you again.

Since Sarina is only two weeks older than Joey, we have lots of 'comparison' pictures.
Here is our 'punk' baby. I love how her hair stood straight out until it grew longer.
Here is the first occasion where Sarina proved she would spend her life picking on Joey; she stole his fireman's hat off his head. You can see how much she enjoyed it, too! :)
Here she is reveling in her conquest.
Sorry to say, Uncle Josh, but she looks completely bored at your birthday party!

For Papa Scott's 50th birthday, we spent the day with him at the park. Sarina enjoyed the swings.

Sarina and Joey were two of Aunt Megan's biggest fans at sporting events.

She seems to enjoy her new hat and gloves. Isn't she the cutest?

Both kids show a strong interest in music. Perhaps this picture is prophetic.

I like a women who knows how to enjoy her cake!

Isn't Nanny the best? Nanny is playing 'Ring Around The Rosey' with Sarina and Joey.

Sarina is such a doll! This was one of the last times Joey got to play with Sarina before leaving for Alaska.

We sure miss you Sarina! Happy Birthday.

Thinking Of Papa Buddy

Today we were thinking of Papa Buddy, missing him, and getting excited for his visit this summer. You can see how much we were thinking of him as evidenced by the fact both boys are wearing Papa pants today!

Both boys are fighting icky colds. There is no shortage of snot running out of those noses. I had to sit up holding Baby Nick all night, because anytime I laid him down, the drainage down the back of his throat would choke him and he would wake up gagging. It was a long, tiring night.

I have been noticing Baby Nick trying to assert his sweet tooth. He will gobble up his fruit and dessert meals in less than five minutes, but when feeding him vegetables or meat dishes (meat dishes are new to his diet) he will fight every bite. He has shown quite a distaste for the meat dishes. It took three separate meals for me to get one jar of food down him. That was, until this point, unheard of.

Joey is showing an affinity for cooking. He loves watching Rachael Ray's 30 Minute Meals on the FoodNetwork. He'll sit on the floor with a whisk in his hand and say, "I'm Rachael Ray. I'm making a meal. Need some garlit (garlic), bar leaf (bay leaf), and bechabulls (vegetables). Wanna taste? Are they yummy carrots, yummy soup? Do want another taste?" It is so cute.

I believe it is about nap time for both boys. Which I'm sure will mean I have to endure twice the screaming! Better get it over with.

Surprise Homecoming

Monday morning, Nick drove up to Fairbanks...a six to seven hour drive. It takes a lot out of a person to drive so long in one stretch (even though it is nothing compared to his and Dad's 48 hour non-stop drive up here with the U-Haul)! We were all prepared to be home alone for three nights.

The first day went well. I started weaning myself off of rocking Baby Nick to sleep. Since he is pretty used to being rocked to sleep, he hasn't shown much interest in trying to get himself to sleep. Last week, when I made a couple half-hearted attempts, he screamed for over an hour, without ever calming down. This week, I decided that for nap times, I would just lay him down and keep in there, no matter how long he screamed. He took three naps, and each time, he took no more than 30 minutes to calm down and go to sleep. Day one was a success. But I was not going to set my expectations that this was going to be the new normal behavior. I had decided that I would still rock him to sleep at night....for both of our sakes. Rocking my babies to sleep is something very special to me. I didn't think I could handle a cold turkey break from it.

Monday night, Baby Nick fell asleep after five or ten minutes of rocking and was down by 10:15pm. I finally got to bed around 12:30am. I knew I was running the risk of Baby Nick waking up right after I went to bed, but a good book will make you stay up longer than you know is sensible. But Baby Nick surprised me. He didn't wake up until 5:15am. It was Joey that gave me trouble. He decided to get a cold, that came on Monday night. He woke up about a quarter to two in the morning and didn't close his eyes again until a quarter to four. The whole time he was crying about needing to go downstairs and rock. I, of course, just wanted to lay down and sleep, having only gone to bed an hour before he woke up. The rest of the night, Joey was in and out of sleep, and because he wasn't feeling well, he was extra whiny. Just what I want to deal with all night.

Tuesday was not as good of a day as Monday was. Joey has a bad cold, a fever that wipes him out, and an attitude that drives his Mommy crazy. He couldn't say anything without whining. He would ask for something and couldn't handle the word 'no'. He would change his mind about what he wanted based on my response. Always whining. I still laid Baby Nick down for naps without rocking him. By his third nap, he realized what was happening when I took him to his room, so he started crying before I even got him into his crib. He fought harder and a little longer than he did on Monday....but he still succumbed each time.

About 11:30am, I get a call from Nick. He said he was coming home. He wasn't supposed to be home until Thursday. Apparently, the accreditation company that was here in February has come back. They showed up at the Wasila branch, which was empty, because the only person who works at that office was in Anchorage covering for Nick being gone. So they showed up at Anchorage and Nick was called to come home. So after driving seven hours up to Fairbanks on Monday, spending half an hour to an hour at the office, he was called the next day to drive seven hours back as he is required to be at the office while they were being audited and tested.

This has really stressed Nick out, fearing what it could mean if they don't pass. Nick drove straight home (since he was driving during all the office hours anyway.) When he got home, he said he had talked to Cliff and the first day went really well. He was encouraged by that. Today is going to be all about Nick's responsibilities...the warehouse, etc. He went into work for an hour or so last night, and then went to work an hour early this morning, just so he could make sure that things at the office were in order when they came in this morning. Of course, that meant he got up at 6am, and today Joey woke up with Nick. Baby Nick also woke up, as a result of Joey being up and loud. So we all got up very early. With Joey still not feeling well, him getting up early does nothing to help his coping abilities. He is extra whiny again today. Currently, while typing this blog, I have put Baby Nick down (fought tooth and nail, but once again, succumbed) and Joey has fallen asleep in Daddy's recliner.

I can't wait for Nick to call me to tell me how his day went. I keep praying for him, that everything goes well with the accreditation company, and that he doesn't have to stress anymore. Hopefully it will all be over by the end of the day. It shouldn't drag out any longer.

Yesterday, I got a call from Sarah. She invited me to a ladies night at Shelly's house. Shelly is kicking her boys out of the house and us ladies will watch Jane Eyre. Sarah says it's a great movie. I have enjoyed other movies based from Jane Austen novels, but surprisingly, I haven't seen this one. It will be so nice to be with other women. Nick has already agreed that I should go and that he would watch both boys! He is so wonderful. It is also very nice to have him home early. For his sake, I'm sorry he had to make the long drive two days in a row, and because of the audit at work, but I am glad he's home.

Goofy Goober

My son is so goofy. I can't imagine where he gets it. In this video, he showed flair for the dramatics. He also tried his hand at being an arobic instructor. I especially enjoy how he puts his 'contacts' in and then shows you that they are in.
Baby Nick made a special appearance on tonights video. He showed off his new crawling skills, although he didn't go very far. He was too intent on standing back up. He sure was interested in watching the baby on the screen. Our camera has a screen that folds out and rotates, so if you are recording yourself, you can still see what you are doing. It comes in handy with the boys though...especially Joey. If I want a performance out of him, and he's feeling a little shy, all I have to do is turn the screen so he can watch himself perform!
Unfortunately, the goofiest thing he did could not be captured on camera...and that was his reaction to watching the playback of the video. He laughed so hard, like he was the most entertaining act in all of creation. It's one thing for me to think that, it's quite another for him to agree! I tell you, he makes me laugh!

50! 50! 50!

I can't believe it!!! I just checked the weather on Yahoo and it says it is fifty degrees in Anchorage right now! There is something about that number that is so exciting to me. For way too long, temperatures have been well below half that.

Also, sunrise today was at 6:37am and sunset isn't until 9:25pm. It stays twilight well into the ten o'clock hour. Although I love all that light, it makes it harder to go to bed at a descent hour. You don't feel as tired when the sun is still up, but you sure feel the effects in the morning!

I wanted to share these pictures with you. Baby Nick is very adventurous. Unless I am holding him, or he is strapped down somewhere, I can't keep him from getting hurt. He is constantly hitting his head on something, falling over off of somewhere. Can you say 'boy'?

Here he is climbing up onto the bottom shelf of our microwave cart. Well, it is not being used as a microwave cart right now...we are using it for our printer, since the desk we own is not technically a computer desk and doesn't have the room for all the add-ons to the computer. You can see how much he is enjoying himself! He sure is cute when he is happy. Okay, I guess he's kind of cute even when he's not happy. (He's just not as enjoyable!)

Dinner is ready, so I better serve Joey and I up. Baby Nick is just polishing up his bottle, so he should be good for the next few hours.

Hope you all have an enjoyable evening with the ones you love.

This Week

The weekend seemed to fly by quickly, and seemed to be very busy, but there's not much that we did. On Saturday, I got away for an hour to recharge. I went to Barnes & Noble and just browsed. It was nice not to have kids climbing all over me for a little while. Baby Nick has a real hard time teething, even from the earliest point in the process, so for weeks he is more difficult to deal with. When Baby Nick gave me a hard time on Friday, Nick said I should get away for awhile on Saturday to have some peace and quiet.

When I got home, we ate lunch and then got started on some cleaning. Nick went out to clean out the van. He got it washed and vacuumed and it looks like a new car again! He also replaced the mats to the ones that came with the van instead of the snow mats. That was also a nice change, because it is nice not to need the snow mats anymore. The streets, driveways, sidewalks, and half the lawns are all clear. There are still the big piles around, but for the most part, the snow is gone from the important areas. Parking lots have lines again! It is such a treat to park between the lines. It's funny what little things you miss when they are covered by snow. Joey finally feels comfortable walking outside again. He usually says, "It's not too slick anymore."

After cleaning, we did the grocery shopping. That is always so much fun! (None of my mother's daughters like to shop...like mother, like daughter.) Baby Nick was starving by the time we got home, so I fed him while Nick unloaded the groceries. Then we made dinner, which because of the grocery shopping, wasn't ready until eight o'clock. After dinner, I spent the rest of the night, until almost midnight, making chocolate eclairs. They turned out well, and were easier to make than I thought. I made eclairs because we were going over to Randy and Cheryl's after church.

On Sunday, the boys and I went to church. I brought a few eclairs with me for the office staff, which were very appreciated. I was able to sit and visit with Sarah for a few minutes before church started. She didn't have her husbands schedule with her, so she said she would give me a call and set a date for us to get together for dinner. I can't wait. It will be nice to have another couple, more our age, and Christian, to be friends with. I like Randy and Cheryl, but they are not a couple we have a lot in common with. Nick has more in common with them because they work in the same field. Most talk is about work or the kids. It's fine, but it's not what I would call a friendship, it's more of an acquaintanceship.

After church, we picked Nick up and headed over to Randy and Cheryl's for a barbeque. It was delicious and nice to see them again. They have a spare bedroom at their house where they keep toys for Cheryl's grandson, Jack. Cheryl showed Joey where the toys were and the rest of the day, he kept calling it 'his dreboom.' He would say, "Wanna go to my dreboom and play a me?" Or, "The cat is in mine dreboom." It was quite funny.

This morning, we all got up early to take Nick to work. He has to go to Fairbanks this week. So we dropped him off at work so he could pick up the work van and drive it to Fairbanks. It is a six or seven hour drive, with no cell service for much of the time, no radio signal, no tape or CD player, and no one but himself to talk to. Now if it were me, I'm sure I could fill all that time talking to myself, or at least the people in my head! But Nick is a different story. He won't drive home until Thursday, so we will be by ourselves for most of the week. I just hope that Baby Nick takes it easy this week, or I will be a basket case by the time Nick gets home.

Well, I better get Joey lunch pretty soon. I'm hoping to put him down for a nap a little earlier since he was up early this morning, and didn't have a nap yesterday. I will keep you posted on how the week is going.

My, How Time Flies

Today, my youngest turns eight months old! How can it be, when just yesterday I was holding him in the hospital? In a very short four months, Baby Nick will be one year old. We have to start thinking of something to call him other than 'Baby Nick.' In my opinion, 'Nick' is still too old of a name, not to mention confusing when my husband is home. 'Bug' still works, but we don't call him by his nickname as often as we call Joey, 'Bubba'.
Here's my big boy...look at those teeth! I believe he is working on cutting more teeth, but they are still far enough away that they could take awhile. With as difficult as teething is on Baby Nick, we are in for a long, rough patch of time with him. It has started already. He fights more, especially when it is time to sleep, and once he finally falls asleep, he doesn't stay asleep as long.

He is starting to crawl more often, although his primary mode of transportation is still scooting. As you have seen by previous videos, he is fairly proficient at climbing the stairs, but it does take him several minutes. The one thing he hasn't done, accept less often than occasionally, that I think he should be doing by now, is sitting on his own unassisted. He sits fine in the highchair and bouncer, and anywhere else where he is buckled in or being held, but it is if his body won't even let him bend the way needed to sit on the floor unassisted. I'm sure he will one day, but I know he would have more fun playing on the floor if he wasn't always having to lay on his tummy, or hold one to something when he is up on his knees.

Here is another adorable picture of Baby Nick's favorite hobby, spitting! He has started spitting while he eats, so I have to be careful when I give him a bite. If I don't time it right, I may be covered with more than just saliva! :)
Here is a picture of Joey at eight months old. Cute as a button! They both have such personality in their faces. I think they have a similar shape to their noses, but Baby Nick's seems to be slightly wider at the base. I also think their smiles are similar, though you can't tell very well with my finger in Joey's mouth in the picture above.
I wanted to include this picture of Joey at eight months, just because the look on his face seems to say to me, "Not another picture, Mom!" That, and Sarina is so very, preciously cute, playing with her cousin. At least here she is not stealing a hat, knocking him on his back, or hitting him in the head with a hammer!!

It always amazes how quickly time flies in hindsight. Now that Baby Nick is eight months old, it means I have been in Alaska for seven and a half months. Looking back, it seems like so much time had gone by quickly. But at the same time, it feels as if more than one life time has passes since I have seen my family, since I've been able to get together with them and sing around the piano, watch the kids play together, or watch my Mom enjoy loving on her grandkids. I miss being close to them so much. The pain of separation is still so fresh and real...I feel just like I did the day I left. I can't imagine getting into that car again, having no control of it driving away, leaving my Mom and Aubrey standing on the front porch waving, all of us crying.

I'm getting of course...I was not intending to reminisce leaving my family. I simply wanted to commemorate the eight month anniversary of Baby Nick's birth. The subject of this post is getting very tired, so I should attend to him.

Climbing All The Stairs

This is just for Papa Buddy...but everybody can enjoy it too. He said he was disappointed that the last video of Baby Nick climbing the stairs only showed him climb 'one measly step.' So I got a video of him climbing the entire flight...12 steps, plus the first two to the landing...but that didn't get captured on video. By the time I got the camera set up, Baby Nick was already four or five steps up and I had to bring him back down to start over, so the entire climb could be showcased on the video. Quite amazing, if I do say so myself!

Interesting Tidbit

I left out an interesting tidbit about my time at the restaraunt with the ladies of the church last Saturday....

As the group was breaking up and getting ready to leave, there was some buzz around us about a 'someone famous' being at the restaraunt. There, just a few feet away from us, was Alan Thicke. He is most well known as being the father on the TV series Growing Pains for those of you who know of that show. Apparently, they are opening a new Boys & Girls Club and he was here fundraising. He may not be an A-lister, but he's the most 'famous' person I have ever been in the vicinity with. It was kind of exciting.

Washed In The Blood

I debated whether or not I should post this video, but my Mom said she was waiting for it..so here it is.
Please forgive the sometimes shaky recording. Poor Nick, the program was about an hour long...and we don't have a tripod. So he had to hold his arm up the whole time. My solo came in after 40 long minutes. Plus, they were passing out the communion emblems, so he was trying to balance the camera and the emblems.
I'm working on putting the whole thing on the computer so I can make a DVD and send it to Mom.
I am also working on the next installment to the family DVD, so I will get a copy out in the next couple weeks.
Have a pleasant evening.

Saturday

I forgot to post about Saturday. I guess with Easter coming so quickly after Saturday, it sort of slipped my mind. Saturday, we had a surprise birthday party for Alice, our pastor's wife. There were almost thirty ladies at the restaurant waiting for Alice to be brought in, and she was completely surprised!

I brought Baby Nick with me and another lady, Rachel, came with her four month old daughter, Tirzah. (She was one of the ladies we had the baby shower for in February.) Rachel is also a stay at home mom, and since Tirzah is her first, she spends most of the day holding her daughter. So while several ladies passed Baby Nick around (all thinking that he was so cute and his eyes were gorgeous) I held Tirzah for Rachel. She really enjoyed the break. Then everybody got their food, so I held both babies so Rachel could eat. Baby Nick was so fun to watch, because he had his first awareness of another baby, another little person. He was fascinated. His eyes were big and round, and he kept reaching out to touch her. Sure, he tried to pull her hair (not that she has much) and scratch her eyes out...but we are working with him on the concept of 'being gentle.'

It was nice to spend some time with the ladies of the church. I got to visit with some that I hadn't met before. Even though I had Baby Nick with me, it was still a chance to get away, be with other adults. I look forward to the next chance I get to be with the women of the church.

Happy Easter!!

Christ is risen!! He is risen indeed!!

If that is not a reason to celebrate, I don't know what is. We had a wonderful time in church this morning. The choir sung, and the Spirit moved. The boys enjoyed their time in the nursery. I think Baby Nick had a harder time today...he's teething again, I think.

Now that we are home and fed, all three boys are "digesting." Which is to say that they are napping. I don't mind...it's nice to have a few minutes of peace and quiet to my self. Pretty soon I will have to get the roast in the oven. With the roast, we will have garlic mashed potatoes, garlic bread, and some kind of veggie. (I haven't decided on the veggie yet.)

Here are my very handsome men, dressed for Easter. You can't see it, but Baby Nick is wearing a tie! (It is the same outfit Jesse wore to Nick's and my wedding!)

I just had to throw this picture in...The other night, Joey was so tired, he fell asleep on my lap as I was rocking Baby Nick. After Nick took him up to bed, he woke up a called down to me. When I went to see what he needed, he was hold my pajama shirt and said he needed to wear it. So I buttoned him in, rolled up the sleeves about a hundred times and tucked him back in. He was asleep before I left the room. The next morning, he woke up and said, "I'm wearing ors (your) shirt!" I don't think he remembered waking up requesting to wear it. He looked way to cute, I had to get his picture.

It's time to get the roast in. I hope you all have a wonderful Easter.

"I Don't Like To Want To"

Joey is really good at telling us what he does and doesn't want to do. He just adds more words than necessary.

"It's time to go to bed, Joey." "I don't like to want to go to bed."

"Do you want to eat your corndog?" "I do like to want to eat my torndog."

Baby Nick has found new 'pacifier'. The door handle on the hutch door does not make a very comfortable teether. He usually cries after putting his mouth on it, but he keeps putting his mouth back on it. What a boy!

Our Little Spitter

I know I mentioned it before, how Baby Nick is a spitter. I showed you a picture of him spitting, but now that I have a video camera, I can let you hear it. I can not stop laughing when he is spitting. Something about it makes me giggle, he's so cute! It's a good thing he goes to the nursery at church now, I would be quite distracted during the service if he started spitting during the sermon!

What Wonderful Weather

The weather is really starting to warm up! It feels like Oregon in December. It no longer hurts to breath when you walk out in the cold air. When I stand on the front step, it sounds like there is a bubbling brook nearby, from all the ice and snow melting off the roofs. The forecast on the Yahoo weather page says there may be rain showers later this week! As long as it doesn't freeze again, I say "Bring on the rain." There is a lot of roads clearing up. I even saw what is left of the lines in the parking lot when I was at choir last night! (Not that anybody was actually parked between them, yet.)

Much of the world to the sides of the road is still buried under very dirty snow....but progress is being made. Perhaps we may even see the end of the majority of the snow by Joey's birthday after all.

We are looking forward to this weekend. Easter is such a special day to celebrate. The choir is just about ready for Sunday. The program we are singing has such an anointing on it. We sang one piece from it last Sunday and got a taste of how God will move next week. After church, we will have a mini egg hunt for Joey at home. It will, of course, be inside...but we can still make it fun.

Last week, after the choir did a sound check and before service started, I ran into to Pastor Daryl's wife Sarah and we stood and talked for awhile. Pastor Daryl joined us after a few minutes and we had a real good time. They are really neat people. Sarah said that after Easter, we will get our calenders together and pick a time when we can get together for dinner. At choir last night, I was told by Tina and Daryl that Sarah insisted that they convince me to go somewhere on this weekend. (I can't give out details now, not that anyone from the church reads my blog, but just in case...I will have to wait to tell you where I went.) But it was very nice to know that I was wanted.

Well, from clear across the room I can smell that Baby Nick needs me ;) so I better go clear the air!

He Finally Did It

Baby Nick finally crawled tonight!!! Ten days from being eight months old, and he crawled. It was hysterical how it happened, though. He was asleep in my arms, and just before I stood up to take him to his bed, he started throwing a mild fit in his sleep. This mild fit quickly turned into a massive fit...quickly dissolving my ability to cope! So I put him down on the floor, and as he threw one of the biggest fits of his life, he started crawling towards one of Joey's toys. Both Nick and I started laughing, restoring my ability to cope. So I picked Baby Nick up and held him for a minute. Then I put him back on the floor to see if he would crawl again. No such luck....he went back to scooting.

But at least I can mark this day, April 2nd 2007 as the day Baby Nick officially began to crawl. When Joey started crawling, he chose to scoot for a couple more weeks until he began to crawl as primary mode of transportation. So it is only a matter of time before Baby Nick chooses to crawl as primary mode of transportation.

Wow...two huge 'firsts' in as many days. Climbing up stairs and crawling. How much growing can one kid do in such a short time?

Climbing Stairs

This is no April Fool's Day joke! Here is undeniable proof, that before he is even eight months old, he has started climbing up stairs! He is just too much a "mover and shaker" for my heart to handle. If this activity becomes a favorite of his, I will have to try to figure out a way to "gate" the stairs off.
Just a couple days ago, when Baby Nick pulled himself up to his knees on the first step, I told Bubba that he would be fine, he wouldn't be able to get up the stair. Boy was I wrong!

Big Full Names

We are working with Joey on learning his big, full name. Not only is he learning his own name, he is learning the rest of the family's as well.

This is what he knows so far:

His own big, full name is Jofis Jofis Chrishan Looty
His baby brother's name is Nicholas Danull Looty
Mommy's name is Trininee Rose Looty
Daddy's name is Nicholas Pickle Looty

I suppose I should offer up an explanation for that last one. Nick's childhood nickname that his mom called him was Nickle Pickle. (It is not his preference that I share this, but I convinced him he really dind't have much choice ! :) I was trying to explain nicknames to Joey, because he keeps saying his name is Bubba. Of course it is. But, it is only his nickname. So Joey says, "I'm not Nicholas Danull!" So I told him what Daddy's nickname was to try to give him an understanding of nicknames. Keep in mind, also, that having a Nicholas Michael and a Nicholas Daniel would be confusing enough. Instead, Daddy is Nicholas Pickle, Nickle Nickle, or Pickle Pickle!

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!)