Someday...

We all day dream.  Some of us dream about the future, some dream about the past. 

I am sure at one point or anther we have ALL dreamed of picking the perfect combination of numbers and hitting it big on the lottery.

No, I did not win.

Yet...

It is on my "to-do" list.  I'll get around to it eventually.

Once I do win, you will be able to tell based on a few key changes.

~  I will delete my facebook page.  And the husband's.  No one needs that many "friends" after winning the lottery.

~ Our Church will get a sizable donation.

~ My and Ethan's parents will be taken care of for life.  My parents can both retire and travel from campsite to campsite.  E's will have a great time living in their "winter home" in Las Vegas.

~ I will become a stay-home mom and E will enroll in some photography classes.

~  The lot next to us will become ours with a very nice shop built on it to hold the husband's "toys," which will include his boat, truck, and new Dodge Charger and Challenger (heaven forbid I make him choose between the two...)

~  We will "summer" in the mountains in Colorado in beautiful little cabin next to a lake.  This will of course be located close to Denver so we can make good use of our Rockie's season tickets, and close to a great ski resort for winter trips.

~   Our kids will get a nice little trust fund that will be available for them to use when they turn 18.  It will NOT be enough to live on for the rest of their lives.  Use for college, down payment on a house, a new car.  Their choice, but they will still be responsible for their own lives. 

~  Our yard will get the well, sprinklers, and beautiful fescue sod which will be put down by some very nice paid workers.  The workers from "Magic Mike" will do just fine :o)

~  There will be a very nice vacation taken by the hubby and I to a beautiful tropical location. 

So if you start to notice any of these things, just assume that I finally played the lottery and got very lucky!

Oh to dream...

Random Chatter

 I started this yesterday and just now finished it... I got a little sidetracked

~  Jackie has found her "outside voice" and seems to prefer it to her "inside voice."  I swear her shrieking can be heard down the block.  Ethan says she gets her volume level from me.  It's funny because it's true...

~  I have decided that it is a good thing we moved in to our new house in December.  We didn't get to do much in the Christmas Gift category, but we got all the "moving in to a new home" expenses out of the way before getting to the summer "get your yard in shape" expenses came.  We have decided that it will be much more beneficial for us to pay for a well and sprinkler system than trying to run our very limited water pressure to run sprinklers for HOURS in order to grow some grass.  This coming thankfully after we have had a chance to build up our account some. 

~  I spend a week at the end of June working with my favorite group of history geeks in Hutchinson.  I have been a part of this group for two years now and we have one year left of all working together.  I know that my teaching has benefited from it and will miss it when it's over.

~  Because of the history geek group I mentioned above I get a nice little stipend.  That stipend comes in perfect time for me to do a little "me" shopping before school starts.  This year I'll be spending some of that on a healthy eating challenge I'm going to try (more on that later...) and school clothes! I may find something for little Jackie and the hubby also. :)

~  The 4th annual Mystery Weekend is coming up soon.  I can't wait to find out where we are going, and Ethan is looking forward to some serious Daddy-Baby bonding time :)

~  I am currently going on month 2 without using the oven.  While I love grilling as much as the next person, I love to cook and I start to crave things like lasagna, and pizza, and home-baked cookies.  With the way things seem to be going it could be end of September before I get to use my oven again. 

~  I love that Jackie has found her thumb to suck on.  She hasn't been a big fan of the pacifier and even when she did suck on it for a while it would always fall out.  I know that eventually down the road we will probably have to fight her on the sucking the thumb issue, but for now I'm going to enjoy the extra few hours of sleep it gets me!

~  Oreos should not be kept in our house in the summer.  I have very little will power against Oreos.  And ice cream...

~  Speaking of ice cream, Ethan and I plan on getting an ice cream maker for ourselves.  I want my mother-in-law's recipe for the best home made ice cream I have ever had.  That could be a dangerous but wonderful thing.

If Jackie could talk...

I have found probably the most challenging thing to raising a baby is that they can't talk.  And I know that I will be probably wishing for these days again when she's talking and talking and talking...  BUT when she's upset and I don't know why I would give anything for her to just be able to tell me what she's thinking.

So, if Jackie could talk, here's what I think she would say about her life these last few weeks.

~  I have mastered the skill of screaming as loud as I can in order to get anything I want.  Sometimes mom tries to do many things before she figures out what I want, but I eventually get it.  I hope this continues!

~  My dad makes silly faces and weird noises just to get me to smile.  Doesn't he realize that all I need is a good fart :)

~  In recent weeks I have discovered that if I swing my legs over I can actually end up on my tummy.  Interesting...

~  Not so interesting... being on my tummy.  Again screeching at the top of my lungs sends mom and dad over to turn me over to the correct side.  Sometimes I roll right back over just to have them come over again.  It's a fun game.

~  Mom finally stopped strapping my arms down at bedtime!  Ahhhh the freedom to MOVE.

~  Daddy knows how to hold me best.  He also can get me to fall asleep so easily when he pats me on my back.  I love spending time with daddy.

~  I heard daddy say the other day that he's going to have "Spoil Jackie" days and that we will get to go to Dairy Queen.  When that day finally comes I'm going to make sure he invites mom too!

~  I have FEET and TOES.  They are the coolest thing E.V.E.R.

~  Sometimes on a hot day mom will take me outside into this big blue thing filled with water.  It's fun to kick my legs. 

~  Daddy takes me to see my puppies, my real puppies.  They are big and their noses are wet.

~  I have something going on inside my mouth.  I have tons of spit and my mouth hurts. I try to make it feel better by pressing anything in my mouth and gnawing on it.  Sometimes that helps, but sometimes I need that purple stuff shot in my mouth before it stops hurting. 

~  Mom took me to see the doctor yesterday because I have been coughing more.  He was funny, but now mom tries to make me drink this pink stuff.  The doctor said that I would like it because it is bubble gum flavor.  Haha.  Jokes on him.  I don't know what bubble gum tastes like, but I do know that I don't like that pink stuff.  I spit as much of it out as I can!

~  Bath time is my favorite!

~  I met some of my cousins this week.  They are so much fun!  I just love it when so many people play with me. 

~  Another interesting thing this week.  Thumbs.  They fit just perfectly in my mouth and I love to suck on them when I am sleeping.  I might keep this up for a long time.

~  I still love my swing.  Mom doesn't let me sit in it as much as she used to.  Sometimes I hate change.

~  My favorite song is Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

~  Once a week mom and dad take me to church.  I used to sleep through it, but I have found it is much more fun to talk through it.  Especially when no one else is talking.

~  Grandpas make the funniest noises! 

~  Grandmas actually know the words to the nursery rhymes.  Mom and dad just guess. 

~  I like to be naked.  I try to poop as much as I can just so mom will change my diaper and I get to be naked for a little while.

~  Mom and dad play music so I will dance with them.  I just watch them and hope they never do that in public when I get bigger.

~  I can't wait to crawl or walk.  I just want to MOVE!  As soon as I am strong enough I will be on the go Go GO!

Tonight

Little Miss is 3+ months old.  Something within the last two weeks has changed.  I know she's gotten bigger, more aware of the things around her, learned to roll over, and found her feet.  Boy she loves those feet!  But something has changed that hasn't been for the better, for either of us.  Her sleeping habits.  I swear she slept better as a one-month-old than she does at three.  She would sleep 6+ hours wake up to eat and go right back to sleep.  Now I'm lucky if she sleeps 3 or 4 hours and MAYBE will go back to sleep...but not likely.  I thought babies were supposed to get better at sleeping as they got older...

Anyway...I have been painstakingly trying to figure out what might be the cause.  My husband knows this all too well.  I have been running through the different possibilities over and over each night as I lay awake in bed.  Each night I think I come to a different conclusion...

Teething...

Too hot...

Rolling on her belly...

Not liking the swaddle...

Too much sleep during the day...

Not enough sleep during the day...

Hungry/growth spurt...

More aware of what's going on and not wanting to miss ANYTHING (even when there's nothing going on at 4 AM)...

or ALL OF THE ABOVE!

It comes down to one very scary thing to me.  I have to get her out of that swaddle because no matter which one of the above options it is, that swaddle seems to be giving her fits.  I have been avoiding this because she slept SO GOOD for the longest time in her swaddle, and on a now rare good night when she sleeps 6+ hours in a row she is swaddled.  However, this cannot last.  She (and I) must eventually break free. 

Unfortunately breaking free is going to involve some nights that are worse.  But this HAS TO HAPPEN before school starts up again.  I can go on only a few hours of sleep when I don't have to go teach middle schoolers the next day. 

So, training starts tonight.

Two Down and Lifetime to go!

My parents met Ethan for the first time over the 4th of July holiday weekend.  They were up camping at Cheney Lake and Ethan and I had made plans to go out on his boat.  After spending the day out on the lake we went back to the campsite for dinner and s'mores.  I thought the first meeting went very well, considering this was the very first time I had ever introduced anyone to my parents.

I later came to find out that after that very first encounter my dad would go on to say "I'd pay for a wedding for that guy..."

Famous last words.

Dad did pay for a wedding for that guy.  (partially...we did help)

And here we are 4 years from that initial meeting and celebrating our 2nd year as husband and wife.

What a 2nd year it has been!

Sometimes I look back on this last year and all that has happened and think of how wonderfully blessed we are.  Everything we prayed for this year, God granted to us.  We sold one house and built another.  Packed, moved, and somewhere in all of that still found time to celebrate birthdays and holidays.

Throughout the Grace of God, three months ago we went from just being husband and wife to daddy and mommy.  Our roles in life are forever changed again, and I know that's why God put us together in the first place.  We had good lives on our own, but together we are able to live out His purpose for us.  Husband and Wife.  Mother and Father.

I am not so nieve to think that marriage will forever go as easily as these last two years has, but it is in the imperfections that we grow stronger together.  In the end the goal isn't 10 years, it isn't 20 or even 50.  It's a lifetime.

Nope. Not yet. Probably never.

For the last two years I have had pretty much the same thing for breakfast everyday...peanut butter toast or bagel.  (Other than the occasional special breakfast here or there). 

My point is peanut butter. 

I love peanut butter.  Jiff peanut butter.

Tonight in an attempt to try to begin to make some small changes in order to eat a little healthier, I picked up a jar of Natural Peanut Butter.  My mom ensured me that, yes, it is a different taste and will take a while to get used to it, but she was confident that I would eventually like it.

She had more confidence than I.

I don't know if it was stairing at the jar as we walked through Walmart, the ugly separation of the paste-like-substance from the oil, or just the thought of spreading it on my beloved morning toast that had me second guessing my mother's suggestion.

In the end I couldn't do it.

I put it down...somewhere in the men's underwear section I think.

I am just not in the right mind frame to give up my Jiff.

And I'm not sure if I will ever be.

Because quite frankly the thought of spreading that on my morning toast makes me gag.

Pool Days!

We attempted our first swim on Thrusday. I have been waiting for this day for a long time.  The perfect mixture of a warm day plus very little wind.  Those days can be hard to come by in Kansas, but we finally had it.  I promptly filled up our recently bought little kiddie pool with water in the morning, so it would have a chance to warm up.

After our afternoon feeding I started the proces of getting Jackie all ready for her big experience in the pool.  (This process, I would later realize, will take longer than the actual time spent in the pool...).

Lotion over every part of the body (including head) - Check.

Diaper changed - Check

Swimsuit on - Check

Sunglasses - Check

Hat - Check

Pre-pool picture - Check

We then made our way outside.  The water so pretty and blue, just ready and waiting.  Jackie, having no idea that some of her most fun summer memories would some day come from swimming in the pool.  All starting out like this...

But we soon got the hang of things.  Blowing bubbles

And posing like a little starlet! 

I hope that Jackie eventually loves the water as much as I did growing up.  Because if there's one thing I've learned from my mother (and there were many...) its that nothing helps get babies ready for a nap like an hour or two at the pool!