Don't Litter

Throw your trash in a garbage can, PEOPLE.  It's not that hard!
MIDWAY a Message from the Gyre : a short film by Chris Jordan from Midway on Vimeo.

Vaccinations really aren't that bad

I have been in a pregnancy and parenting group on Facebook since I got pregnant with Mila.  In lots of ways, it has been super handy.  Any time something came up with baby Mila I could post the question in one place and get numerous comments of advice.  I also like being able to pass on my experience for other new moms.  

Lately, that page has been a source of angst.  For some reason, the hot topic of vaccinating your children has come up a lot recently.  The majority of those women are anti-vaccines and it stresses me out to no end.  I think it is sad that so many children have been infected with measles when it is a completely avoidable situation.

I have worked in vaccine research and development for years now, so I have seen many examples as to why this work is done. Thankfully, one mom recently posted this amazing blog post with link after link after link to various sites promoting vaccinations.  It is a GREAT read and I recommend it if you have children or know anyone with children.  Keeping up with your boosters as an adult are key in preventing unvaccinated infants from becoming infected.

There is no way for me to convince someone to take in the CDC with even a modicum of trust when they have already decided they are corrupt.  But I am heartbroken for their children.  The best I can say is luckily for them they live in a country with great medical abilities, so if their children get avoidable diseases their chance of survival is much higher than those who live in countries without these vaccines.  People in third world countries would give anything to receive the vaccines that are so readily available to us.  It's saddening to think so many people throw this concept in the trash.

The Three Frogs

I heard a great metaphor this morning and wanted to share it.  I also wanted to save it for myself so I don't forget.

Three frogs were climbing a pole.  Every day, a man who passed by the pole would say, "You're never going to make it.  It's too high."  Finally, one day, the man was making his regular pass-by and noticed one frog had made it to the top, while the other two were sitting at the bottom.  Amazed, the man wanted to know how he did it, so he asked.  When the frog didn't respond one of the frogs at the bottom replied, "He can't hear you.  He's deaf."

The moral of this story?  Don't listen to the people who are trying to bring you down.  If you try hard enough, you'll make it in whatever you task to do.

Our first loss as a family

It's been FOREVER since I posted, but I wanted this to go up.  I kind of think of this blog as my life diary.  Helps me remember things.  

This weekend, Bella (pronounced "Baya") died.  It was unexpected.  She was our first pet together as a couple.  We got her only a few short months after moving into our first apartment together.  She was our baby kitty and our family. 

Saturday afternoon I noticed Bella was breathing with her mouth open. I had a bad feeling so I called the vet.  They were closing in 10 minutes, so I decided to wait until Sunday to see how she was.  If she was bad we'd go to the emergency vet, if she was okay I'd take her to our regular vet Monday.  Sunday morning she was bad.  She was in respiratory distress. Travis rushed her to the emergency vet and they confirmed she was in critical condition and put her on oxygen.  The doctor had a few hypotheses.  Tumor?  Pneumonia?  We found out it would cost us a small fortune to find out what was wrong with her and even then it might be untreatable.  We opted to euthanize, but she was gone before we could follow through.  She was 11 years old in September.

Poor Travis.  He had to do it all on his own and I feel horrible about that.  I wish I could have been there for him.  I wish I could have been there for Bella.  But I didn't want to bring the kids to that.  I thought it would only stress out Bella more.  Travis was pretty distraught Sunday afternoon.  He tries to act tough, but he has a soft side.  Seeing a guy in distress makes it so much worse, doesn't it?

Even though Bella had her bi-polar moments, she was a good cat to us.  I walked passed her usual roosts last night and felt a pang of sadness.  She will be missed.

Keeping Up

About that lock box I mentioned yesterday...

Travis and I gave in and hired a housekeeper.  For the time being we have her set to come every other week.  If we need to push it out to every three or four weeks we might do that later.  She came yesterday for the first time.  I spent Monday evening in Urgent Care, then last night was T-ball.  I was driving home from practice trying to remember what state our house was in when I remembered she had come earlier.  I had to be very careful with my gas foot because it suddenly got really heavy at the prospect of what was waiting for us.

That woman cleaned things I haven't thought about cleaning since before I had kids.  She dusted the top of our door trim!  She took everything off my nightstand and dusted that! (I usually dust around those items.)  She moved a side table away from the wall in the kitchen to sweep and mop!  She cleaned our microwave.  

Seriously.  This is a big deal.  I don't have time to do many things.  Other items get done once a month or sometimes even longer apart.  The only items I take care of every day or week are my kids, dishes and laundry.  Everything else happens when I have time.  I barely even have time to sit down for dinner.  The longest stretch of time I get to sit with my plate is five minutes.  The rest of the meal is spent feeding Mila, getting Aiden seconds, cleaning up the food or drink someone spilled, etc.  But those five minutes are usually filled with guilt.  That's when I sit still long enough to notice the dust building up on my curtains, or the cobwebs that have formed in the corners.  I always wonder, when will I have time to clean that?  

I used to keep an immaculate home.  All my free time, when Travis was at work, was spent cleaning.  That free time is now filled with other more important items, so I feel comfortable saying I am happy to have a housekeeper.  She was super nice, though I will never see her.  She comes during the day while we are at work.  Hence the lock box.  We have a key lock box (like realtors use) to let her in while we're away.  This way she doesn't have our key all the time.

It's magical.  Absolutely magical.

Ups and Downs

Working out is tough.  I've never had an injury related to exercise, but I think I might have one.  I'm not exactly sure what's going on, but my ankles hurt.  I've had to stop doing some of the jumping moves.  Instead I do something similar without having to land hard on my ankles.  I need to go buy ankle wraps to see if that helps at all.  Travis doesn't do some of the jump moves either, but for a different reason.  It hurts his lower back.  He's thrown his back out twice, so he's trying to avoid that again.  

I have never been a scale watcher, but ever since I had Mila I've been unable to avoid it.  I lost a pound per week the first two weeks doing Insanity.  But this last week I gained 3 lbs!  I don't know if it's fat converting to muscle, or if I ate too much due to Valentine's Day.  I really hope its the muscle thing.  I feel like my pants are a little looser, but I can't help but feel some disappointment.

I have a work trip next week, which means I'll have to take a week off of exercising PLUS I'll be eating all the horrible food they'll be feeding us.  I'd like to say I will find time to get in some cardio, but I've never been good about that.  The only reason I'm sticking with it at home is because Travis does it with me.  The best I can do is avoid all the sweets (my weakness). 

On the upside, we had our second fit test last week and I saw HUGE improvement.  I kept meaning to post my numbers (because I know you all care so much), but it always slips my mind.  I know the workouts are easier because I can make it through an entire round without having to stop like I used to.  Now the thing that holds me back is muscle weakness by the end.  I can only do so many push-ups and planks before my arms turn to Jello mush.  Overall I feel good about it.  I just need to remember the positives!!

Handheld Killing Machines

Many Americans do not like to hear about gun control since it is a violation of our Second Amendment.  What I don't understand is why people think being able to shoot a gun for fun, whenever they please is more important than the lives of our citizens.  Personally, I have never needed a gun and I don't think there is a big chance of tyranny these days (the reason this Amendment was enacted to start with).  Here are a few articles and papers I've come across recently regarding gun use in America:

• America is a Violent Country
• More Guns = More Homocide
• Senseless gun violence between December 14 and 17
• During the 10 years after the gun reforms (removal of semi-automatic and pump-action shotguns and rifles) in Australia in 1996 (when this paper was written) there were ZERO mass-shootings on the continent.  Read it here.

I hate that we've gotten to the point where this is the norm in our country.  Mass shootings are common.  There have been 16 mass shootings in the US in 2012.  Parents have to fear for their kids' lives every time they leave the house.

The Onion makes fun of gun owners.

Oh and this one made me feel better.  I don't know how many times I've heard many of these arguments against gun control and found them absolutely frustrating.

Ten Arguments Gun Advocates Make and Why They're Wrong

More Training

I had more training all last week.  I learned a lot for my job and I think it has made me more confident. This training was local, though it was still rough to plan out.  The training center is 40 minutes north.  Travis was a trooper and helped me with the kids all week.  He drove them south to Galveston before heading to work north of our house every morning.  Since my class started at 7:30, I was able to get back down there at the end of the day to pick them up right before they closed.  I feel really bad that the kids spent so much time at the daycare last week, but it was only for one week.  Well, I guess there was one day I wasn't able to pick up the kids on time.  Thankfully, my friend Linsey was able to get them for me.  She already has a big kid car seat in her car for her son and we leave Mila's car seat at daycare every day.  I felt bad asking her for that help last minute, but Linsey was totally cool with it.  It worked out that I got home right before Linsey got to the house.  

The training itself was pretty interesting.  It focused on chemical handling and disposal, various safety issues, First Aid and CPR.  I swear, CPR rules change every time I get re-certified.  They're either changing the number of compressions, number of breaths, or taking out giving breaths altogether.  Although it looks like they recommend doing that again. 

It was a big week for Mila.  Her second tooth broke through; right next to the other on the bottom front.  She was a little cranky, nothing extraordinary.  So different than Aiden.  She also has taken to sitting up on her own!  If she has to lean over to reach a toy, she usually topples over, so it's not 100%.  I feel like she is growing up so fast!

At this point in our lives, Travis and I have begun to lean towards not having any more children.  We aren't throwing out the idea entirely.  At any rate, if we do have another it won't be until Mila starts Kindergarten.  We plan to move to a different home before then.  That means we would have to store all this baby stuff  for five years and move it to a new house.  Meh.  Not worth it to me.  So now we are storing all the things Mila has outgrown (except for the clothes I've been giving to a friend) in bags marked "Garage Sale".  This will be the first garage sale we've done as adults.  I recall my parents having a few, but I was just a wee one with no responsibility.  Honestly, I find the idea a little daunting.  But it should be worth it.  It can't hurt to earn a little cash back on all these items!

Delivery Day

Wow.  So this birthing experience was a complete 180 from the last.  A week ago on Thursday, I went in for my 40-week OB check up.  When I got in there, the doctor said I was dilated 1 centimeter so she would be able to strip my membranes.  It wasn't even really uncomfortable, which was weird since all the previous visits it actually hurt for her to check me for dilation.  After she finished, she told me she had accidentally torn the outer sac of the placenta.  I did not know this, but apparently there are two layers to the placenta.  I suppose the good news is she didn't break both!  

After my appointment I drove back to Galveston to pick up Aiden and we went to Kemah to meet the Ramby's for an outdoor concert and so the boys could run in the water play area.  My contractions were a little stronger that night, but the doctor told me to expect that whether I went into labor or not.  

That night, I went to bed and slept through the night without a hiccup.  When my alarm went off the next morning, I decided to time my contractions all day.  They were stronger than they had been before and I wanted to be sure to keep an eye on it.  I got ready for work, Travis got Aiden ready for daycare and we all left the house.  By the time I got to Aiden's daycare, the contractions had started to get strong enough that I had to breath and focus my way through them.  But they were irregular and far enough apart that I wasn't too concerned.  I decided I would take the day off.  It was supposed to be my last day of work before my maternity leave started.  I knew even if I went in and never went into labor, I would not be able to concentrate with those contractions.

I dropped Aiden off at daycare and drove over to work.  I was responsible for letting a guy into work that morning and I didn't want to leave him hanging.  I took care of that and drove straight over to Ariel and Robert's house.  At this point, my contractions were anywhere between 4 and 10 minutes apart.  Ariel was still asleep, so Robert agreed to drive me home.  I didn't think it was smart to drive any more with that level of contractions.  Robert drove me back in my car so he could drive it back to Galveston.  My dad was on the road to Texas, but wasn't supposed to arrive until around 2pm.  Ariel and Robert said they would pick up Aiden for me, so I had to leave a car with a car seat.

My plan was to go home and wait for the contractions to become regularly spaced.  By the time I got home, the contractions were 2-4 minutes apart.  I decided it would be best to have Travis come home from work since thing seemed to be moving right along.

Travis got home about 30 minutes later and packed his hospital bag.  I tried to get some of the basics done before he got home.  I couldn't stop moving.  I had to keep walking.  Sitting on the birthing ball actually seemed to relieve some of the pressure during the contractions, so I used that a lot.  I was at 2 minutes apart when we got in the truck to go to the hospital.  I was starting to get nervous that I would not make it to the hospital in time to get an epidural.  I know what it's like to push out a kid without an epidural and I really did not want to relive that if at all possible.  

Our hospital has valet parking.  VERY handy when a woman is in labor.  We walked to the elevators inside and sure enough, they weren't working properly.  I was walking in circles trying to focus on my breathing while five other people stood around holding various items that showed they were visiting others (flowers, balloons, teddy bears, fast food bags, etc).  I think they were all a little skeptical about getting on the elevator with me when it finally started working again.  I had flashes of giving birth to my daughter while locked in that tiny compartment with five strangers.  At least Travis would be there.

Thankfully, the elevator got us to the third floor without any further problems.  We walked up to the nurses station at 11 am and they took me to a birthing room right away.  The nurse started checking me in and I told her right off the bat I wanted an epidural.  She checked me first to make sure I was "actually in labor".  Ha.  I was 90% effaced and dilated 4.5 cm.

I was wishing I had come in earlier because the process of getting an epidural is an excruciatingly loooonnnnggg process.  First, I had to be admitted.  This proved to be a trying situation since the second nurse that came in to do that for me was from Africa.  Her accent was so strong that I had trouble understanding her and she had trouble understanding me.  Oh and she had the same problem with all the other nurses that came in periodically.

Second, I had to receive a liter of IV fluids.  An epidural can cause low blood pressure.  To counteract that, they pump you full of fluids.  Third, I had to drink some really nasty antacid crap.  BLECH.  Fourth, I had to sign consent forms for the analgesia.  Fifth, I had to wait for the anesthesiologist to have time for me.  

After I got the epidural, it took about 10 minutes for it to start working.  The nurse checked me again while we waited for the epidural to work it's magic.  I was 7 cm dilated.  As soon as the anesthesiologist left, the nurse realized the baby's heart monitor had lost it's signal.  Instead of readjusting the band, she started having me flip from side to side.  It was really difficult to move quickly during the contractions.  I was still feeling the pain, not to mention it was just difficult to move with that giant belly.  Travis had to leave while I got the epidural.  A nurse came in at that point to see if Travis could come back in the room.  My nurse (who I had lost any confidence in) said "no not yet" and asked that nurse for help.  She walked up to me, readjusted the heart monitor and it was fine.  

I am pretty sure that Idiot Nurse had no idea what she was doing.  She had me flipping all over the place just because she couldn't find Mila's heartbeat.  I was really annoyed when she made me stay lying on my right side.  She thought that was why the nurse was able to find her heart beat again.  So that meant my right leg was completely non-functional.  The epidural pools with gravity.  Weirdest feeling ever.

They let Travis back into the room and I sent him back out to get me more ice chips.  I was SO THIRSTY. At 1:45, while he and the nurse were out of the room, my water broke.  I couldn't reach the nurse's call button because it was on the left side of the bed.  I just waited for Travis to get back and he pressed the button for me.  

At 2:20, the doctor came in to check me.  I was a little bummed my doctor was not working that weekend, but this doctor turned out to be just as great.  After he checked me, he asked if I was having the urge to push at all.  I told him I didn't think so.  He said I was complete (10 cm) and the head had started to come down into the birth canal, but he wanted me to feel that urge before we got the show on the road.  He had the nurses hook me up to Pitocin.

By 2:45 I was having a severe urge to push.  It was so intense that I actually had Travis check me to see if the head was already coming out.  The Idiot Nurse came over to check me at that point.  She had me push as she checked and said I was ready.  I was hungry and worried about hours of pushing on an empty stomach, so she ran to grab me a Popsicle.  

She gave it to me and then asked me to push again.  While I was holding the Popsicle.  Soooo I grabbed my left leg with one hand, held onto the Popsicle with the other hand and pushed.  

The nurse yells, "Stop, stop, stop!"  So I stopped.  She was doing something so I went back to eating the Popsicle.  

Then the nurse mumbles something in her hard-to-understand accent that sounded like push again.  But then she seemed to stop paying attention to me.  

I said, "Push?  Right now?"  When she didn't respond, I just said, "Eh," and went back to eating the Popsicle.  

Travis started laughing so hard.  So then I started laughing.  This whole thing was totally different than our last experience.  

I finally finished the Popsicle and the nurse asked me to push one more time.  "Stop, stop, stop!" she said again.  "I don't want you to have this baby before the doctor comes in here.  Better safe than sorry!"  Ugh, she was the worst.

The doctor came in and all the nurses set up their stations (one for me, one for Mila).  The doctor gave me some tips on pushing and then we gave it a go.  I pushed three times in a row, then I rested until the next contraction.  I pushed again and then on the fifth push, out came Mila's head!  No pain.  Just pressure.  It was perfect.  The doctor suctioned then asked me to push again, out came the rest of Mila!  The doctor held her up, pronounced her a girl and laid her on my belly.  Travis and I were both crying.  Then Travis got to cut the cord.  I was so excited he got to do that since he didn't get to with Aiden (umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck twice).  

Travis went over to the warmer with Mila while I took care of the afterbirth.  I had instant relief once the placenta was out.  I felt like I could breathe again.  The doctor held it up for me to see as he inspected it. So funny.  Then he goes, "Hey Dad!  Get over here and take a picture of this."  Oh man the look on Travis's face.  "Really?" he asked.  He so did not want to get near that thing.  I told Travis to just come over and take a picture of it really quick.  That way I could look at it afterward.  I think it's interesting.

When I had Aiden I had to get a local anesthetic to numb the area for stitching afterward.  The epidural was still in full force this time around so I didn't need anything for the stitching.

After I was finished and cleaned up I got to hold Mila.  I attempted nursing her for the first time and it went really well.  She was wide awake.

Mila's first photo

When they brought in my dinner, Travis took her.  Soon after that my family arrived with Aiden (Dad, Ariel and Robert).

Aiden meets Mila for the first time

Mila gave her big brother a gift when he arrived.  He LOVES his Hulk action figure.  Aiden did so good with her.  He was really sweet and gentle.  He was also REALLY excited to have all his favorite people together.

As soon as my epidural had begun to wear off, they took Mila to the transitional nursery, my family went out for dinner and they wheeled me to the room I would be staying in for the weekend.  

I was super stoked when they brought in another tray of food for me.  I was insanely hungry.  My family came back after dinner to visit a little more.  

I will try to blog more soon.  I'm working on figuring out how to take care of two kids right now, so I am not sure when the blogging will happen.  Travis was off all week and he goes back to work Tuesday.  My dad has been here all week and he will be for another week.  So I've had lots of help.  It's still been a learning process!

Once

Learning about Christmas

We were at Ariel's for dinner. Aiden was looking at her manger when he points at the baby Jesus, "Baby?"

"Yep, that's a baby."

He points at the Virgin Mary, "Mommy?"

"Yep, that's a mommy."

Then he throws his hands up in the air, "Where's Daddy?!"

Uhhhhhh. That's a little tricky.

I Remember

10 years ago on September 11th, I had just started my second year at the community college near my home in Illinois.  I was getting ready for work when my mom called and told me to turn on the TV.  A plane had run into one of the World Trade Center towers.  I turned on the TV and watched the footage of the burning building.  I couldn't believe that had happened.  How could that happen?  That's a little low for a plane to be flying around a city.  Maybe something was wrong with the pilot?

I called my dad to see if he had seen the news.  He hadn't.  As I stood there pondering over what could have gone wrong with my dad, the second plane ran into the second tower.  Wah??  Did someone manage to get video of the plane running into the tower and they were just playing it over?  No that can't be it.  I can see the first tower on fire behind the second.  The SECOND tower got hit??  I'm so confused.  What the hell?

My first class that day was calculus and the teacher was this really angry woman that I didn't feel like testing.  I thought about not going into school. I didn't know what was going on.  But then I thought about that teacher and her irrational anger at the world.  I made the choice to go in.  I left the TV on while I got ready and it was so horrible.  People were jumping out of the building.  I could only imagine the fear these people were facing.  

While I was driving into school, I heard that the Pentagon had either been hit by a plane or a bomb.  Not sure which.  Still confused.

When I got to class, only half the students had shown up.  The teacher asked the remaining students if they would be up for a lesson.  We all said no, so she let us go early.  I went to the lobby area of the school where they had set up a bunch of TV's all set to different news channels so I could watch the events unfold. 

I could not believe my eyes when the first tower fell.  All I could think about were all the people in that building.  My second thought was about all the people on the street that they showed staring up at the burning buildings.  The dust in the air was tremendous.  The the second tower fell.  Insantiy.

Then I heard about the fourth crash into the field in Pennsylvania.  By this point, I wasn't sure what was true and was rumor.  I walked around in complete disbelief for the majority of that day.  I wasn't close with anyone living in New York, but I was still numb about the whole situation.  How could something like this happen in the United States?  Don't we have excellent safeguards against stuff like this?  Come to think of it, how could the US prevent other stuff like this from happening?  We can't be everywhere at every time of the day to 100% guard US soil.

Suddenly I was afraid for my family in and around Chicago.  What if there was another big attack?  Oh the stress that surrounded that whole situation and I didn't even know anyone who was there.  It just struck me as so intense that an attack had occured on US soil.  Is this what people in 3rd world countries feel like every day?  At any moment, their village could be attacked and they wouldn't have any police to run to.  Hell, it might be their very own government that's doing the pilaging.

Life is scary.  We've got to make the best of it.

I thought this 9/11 timeline at Wikipedia was really interesting if anyone wants to look it over.

The Poop Debacle

The Sagira debacle has had further development this weekend. Last week I put out a plea on Facebook, hoping that SOMEONE would be interested in taking on our charity case of a cat. Thankfully, we had two bites. The second bite overlapped the first, so I told her to wait it out and see what happened with the first. Unfortunately the first bite never got back with me, so second bite won out.

We brought Sagira to her new home Sunday morning. Her new house is twice as big as ours, with only ONE other cat. There is a dog, but he spends most of his time in the backyard. There are temporarily two extra people and two extra dogs (also in the backyard), but that is only until they get an apartment (daughter is home from college, with her boyfriend).

When the new owner saw Sagira, she was in love with her and HAD to have her. I hope she still feels the same way after living with the Poop Machine for a week. It took Sagira a week to start pooping at Ariel's house. Hopefully she doesn't even start it up in this new house. She has a cat house to climb in, a clean litter box and wet food everyday. That part was especially alluring to me since Sagira has lost some weight recently. I'm hoping it is just stress and that she will get over it soon.

The new owner knows that we will take Sagira back, should the pooping be overwhelming, or in the event that she does not get along with their other cat. They hissed at each other a little bit, but that is to be expected.

CROSSING MY FINGER THAT THIS ONE STICKS!!

Sagira

Well, Sagira's back. She crapped on every pillow in Ariel and Robert's house on Saturday night, then again Sunday morning. So she came back Sunday afternoon. It was worth a try! I have to admit, I'm bummed she's back. I was enjoying the lack of work in her absence. Cleaned the litter box less often, refilled the food and water less often, never cleaned poop off the beds or anything else for that matter (including the floor around the litter box). But now we're back to needy Sagira.

Pilling her Prozac was horrible. She scratches and freaks out. If anything, that stressed her out even more. I've been reading up on Bengal cats. Apparently they get bored easily. So that's probably what her problem is. I don't feel like turning my entire house into a kitty playground, so we're debating letting her outside. Travis is all for it. I'm terrified. There are big, scary dogs in our neighborhood and Sagira doesn't have any practice running away from dogs. If anything, she has always tried to play with the dogs that have come into our house. That spells disaster for a cat who has lived her life indoors. We also live on a fairly busy street. Again, Sagira does not have much experience with motorized vehicles.

I'm kind of hoping we can let her out in the back yard in the evening and then let her back inside before dark. I don't know how well that will work though. She'll probably leave the yard, or hide under the house.

UGH. I dunno.

Two Different Choices in an Instant

You're going 30 mph down a road in town. You are three car lengths from the light when it turns yellow. Do you gas it? Or brake?

I gassed it. The other guy braked.

I don't know why it struck me as so strange. On the way into work, I was driving along side another car going the same speed. We saw the same thing and had completely opposite reactions in the same moment. I guess that's what makes us human.

Sort of like the Great Wall of China...

... this is the wall that never ends. I've lost track of what days we did what. But I do know the order. First we set the poles:

Then my dad and Travis built the concrete brick wall.


We have been working on this wall every single day since I can remember. Will it never end? It took them 24 hours of labor over the course of 3 days to complete the brick wall.

Right now, we can see just over this brick wall (see the following photo). But we are making it taller with wood from here. This portion of the wall, which will surround the grill, will be about 8' tall. There is a short portion of 5'-wall that will be on either side of this tall wall. The rest of it will only be about 4' tall. This tall brick wall will give Travis some privacy while he stands at the grill. We didn't want to do the entire wall really high because we still want to see the neighbor's trees and it would be nice to maintain a breeze within the yard. If we go too high, the wind won't be able to reach us.

I'm sure the preceding paragraph does not do our plan justice. I will post photos later so you can see what I mean.

After completing the brick wall, Travis started on the wooden, 4'-wall. He had it framed and half of it covered in plywood in one afternoon (Sunday).

We made a giant size Jenga game out of the post leftovers.

My dad has offered to take Callaway home with him. He knows how much all the animals have been stressing me out lately and I think he has secretely wanted another dog ever since his elderly dog passed a little over a year ago. Cody was a black lab mix who was about 30 pounds lighter than Callaway. I think that Callaway would be a good match for my dad. Callaway is needy and my dad needs someone to take care of now that all his kids are out of the house.

I am not sure if we will be sending Callaway home with my dad yet. Callaway is Travis' dog and he gets to make the decision. I know he doesn't want to give up his dog, but at the same time, we have had some serious issues with him lately and I've run out of ideas on how to handle it. We found out this weekend that our creepy neighbor two doors down has been shooting his pellet gun in his backyard. Callaway goes absolutely bezerk, inside or outside, when that gun starts going off. And I swear, Creeper goes out 20 times a day. Sometimes he just opens his back door and stands inside, with the gun hanging out the door, just to pop off a few rounds. I don't get it. It's annoying, but not illegal, so there is nothing we can do about it. We could go over as nice little neighbors, but I'm worried that will just make it worse.

This is probably why Callaway so frantically escaped his kennel a few weeks ago, and destroyed all the plants on my back porch, and escapes from the yard EVERY OTHER DAY. Last week he escaped from the yard and it took an hour of searching to find and catch him. My only other option would be to buy a metal frame kennel to keep Callaway in on the inside of the house. If we leave him loose in the house, he'll go nuts every time that guy shoots the gun. I feel bad for Callaway. I know there could always be something that might scare him, but right now this one is in our face.

My dad is planning to head back home Wednesday, which means Travis has until tonight to make his choice. This could be very sad...

Mr and Mrs

Five years ago today, Travis and I were married in the middle of a cornfield in Illinois. It's crazy to realize how much we've done since then. Whenever I get to milestones like this, I look back on that day and think about how I had no idea what life would be like today. Now, when we start something new like when I got pregnant, I wonder what life will be like in one year, two years, 10 years.

Aiden is turning two in less than a month. When I tell people this, they can't believe it's been two years since I was pregnant. Time FLIES when you're having fun. =)

We were hoping to do something extravagant to celebrate our milestone anniversary this year, but we have to postpone our big plans for (hopefully) later this summer. Due to the fact that Travis hasn't had a paycheck in two weeks and we don't expect one for another week. Instead, we're going to drop Aiden off at Auntie Ariel's tomorrow and go out for dinner and a movie. Sometimes simple things can be just as fun. There's a whole lot less planning going into this, which in turn means less stress.

I was a little over a month pregnant in the photo of us above, taken in 2008. We had just found out a few weeks prior and weren't ready to tell anyone yet. We had plans to go to a Halloween party at a friend's house in Houston. I didn't drink any alcohol at the party and blamed it on being the designated driver. People were very concerned about my lack of drinking. "Just one Jello shot," they would say. "No biggie." HA. It all made sense to them when I announced the pregnancy after the New Year.

All in all, it's been a good life thus far.

The Working History of Travis

Travis' first week at the new job is going great. He likes the guy he's riding around with this week, but he hasn't had much of a chance to get to know the other guys (aside from the one he already knew). I really hope this week is a glance at his future with this job. He has worked so hard for many years, he deserves a job with a little slower pace of work. Because they service such a wide area, he spent more time driving than he ever did at the last electrical company.

He already has his own truck that he is in charge of inspecting, although he won't be driving around on his own for a few more weeks. He came home Wednesday night, excited about getting to arrange the truck how he wants. The guy he's driving with right now had some great ideas on how to set up the bed of the truck, so I have a feeling Travis will be doing some of that to his own truck.

When we first moved to Galveston, Travis got a job immediately working for Quizno's, since that's who he'd worked for in Illinois. He worked there for a few months before hearing about a job at a plant east of Houston. It was a horribly long drive, especially during rush hour. He had an hour and a half commute each way. That was in addition to a 10-hour work shift. We barely saw each other while he worked there. I hated it.

Soon after I started my first semester at Texas A&M, I made some friends. We hung out at their apartment frequently and got to know their neighbors, Cristin and Kai. They had a baby who I think was around 1 year old at the time. Kai was in the middle of building a house on the west end of the island. He had contracted out all the big work, but was getting ready to get his own hands dirty to do all the smaller jobs. Since Travis had some construction experience from when he worked for my dad during the summers in Illinois, Kai hired him to help.

Travis spent the entire summer helping Kai finish up the house, along with a occasional help from another friend of ours. The work Travis did for Kai was hard labor, but Kai was a good boss. It probably helped that we were friends. While Travis was working there, he got to know one of the guys Kai had contracted out to do the interior work. His name was Patrick. When the guys had finished the work at that house, Patrick took Travis on as his first full time employee.

After a couple months, Patrick hired another guy to work along side Travis. He did general construction for Patrick as well - trim, painting, installing appliances, windows and door knobs. He even took a stab at a little electrical, helping out some of the other contracted workers. Eventually, Patrick's health declined as he lost his battle with Hodgkin's Lymphoma (hopefully I'm recalling that correctly). Patrick was unable to stay as busy with work as he wanted to and had to let Travis go.

While working with Patrick, Travis got to know his last boss, Guy. Guy quickly agreed to hire him on with his small company. Travis had always shown interest in the electrical side of construction and was looking forward to learning more. He immediately got his Apprentice license and began learning the trade. After a few years, he tested for his Journeyman's license and has kept that active ever since.

Working for Guy was hard work. They worked long hours during the week and every Saturday. The work itself was grueling and fast paced. A lot of what electricians do involves houses and businesses without the electricity turned on. That means no air conditioning, which in southeast Texas is a pretty big deal. Add to that a lot of work in attics and you've got one tired employee by the end of the day.

Travis also worked at an oil refinery plant as an electrician for about a year in the middle of his time with Guy. Needless to say, Travis has been working his butt off for years. I'd say that he is overdue for a job that is a little more laid back and I think this new position is just the thing he needs.

So far this morning...

Aiden and I got out the door about 15 minutes late this morning. That quickly turned into an hour late.

As I was pulling my car out of the garage, I noticed that I had to press on the gas more than normal to get the car rolling into reverse. I didn't think too much about it and got on the interstate. I was getting up to speed with the rest of traffic and realized I was having some trouble controlling the car. It was raining so hard and the wind was so crazy, that I was unsure if it was the weather or my car acting up. After a couple miles, I bright yellow pick-up truck pulled up next to me, honking. I looked at him and he yelled something about my tire, so I quickly got off at the next exit.

Down here around Houston, we have these roads that line most interstates called feeders. I decided I would take the time to get onto a feeder in case my tire needed to be changed. There are much less cars driving on the feeders than there are on the actual interstate.

I hopped out of the car to check the damage, and sure enough, I had a flat tire. The rear driver's side tire was completely flat. It didn't explode or come apart. It was just flat. I called Travis to see if he could help me. I understand the basics of changing a car tire, but I don't have the confidence that I could get the lug nuts back on tight enough to drive on. That scares the crapola out of me.

Thankfully, Travis was able to come put on the spare for me. Unfortunately, the sky completely blacked over and was in the middle of a torrential down pour when he arrived. Of course that means the rain was flying almost horizontal to the ground, because Galveston never has a normal, light rainstorm. It's always the equivalent to a monsoon.

When Travis finally go to us, I got out of the car again to show him which tire it was and help him get the spare tire out. I was hoping to lessen the amount of time spent in the rain. He yelled to me over the rain to get back in the car so I wouldn't get too wet. It was too late. My butt was already soaked from the minute I spent out in the rain.

Turns out, I had a screw in my tire. Travis kept my tire so he can take it to get plugged today. Travis is saturated from the waist down and on his right arm (the side the wind was blowing into).

I had to stop at McDonald's and buy Aiden a crappy breakfast since he missed breakfast at the daycare. Then when I finally got into work, I forgot my umbrella and my delicious lunch that I was really excited about (chicken and hummus pita). I park five blocks from work, so it's not worth going back for. It wasn't raining by the time I got to work, so that's why I didn't think about the umbrella. Hopefully it's not raining when I get off this evening. I guess the lunch thing sort of works out since I am planning to meet Jenna for lunch at the cafeteria.

When I got on the elevator at work, another man got on the elevator with me. After the doors closed, there was a good 20-second pause before the elevator lurched upward. We both looked at each other, a little panicked, wondering if we were going to be one of the "lucky" ones to get stuck on this particular elevator. Thankfully, it moved on and I didn't have to add another catastrophe to my day.

These elevators still have not been repaired or replaced since the hurricane. The university got funding last year to do the necessary work, but for some reason it still hasn't happened. The guy on the elevator said something that helped brighten my day.

"Since the hurricane, my wife and I have conceived a baby, delivered the baby and now he can talk. And they still haven't fixed the broken elevators on campus?"

Thank you for cheering me up, Stranger.

When 1 second becomes 1,000

A typical weekday morning for me:

I'm in the bathroom, trying to decide if I have enough time to do my hair before work. Aiden's in his bedroom drinking his morning cup of milk. All of a sudden, Aiden starts crying from his room.

I have a moment to decipher his cries. Are they the fervent cries of pain? No, but I'm still not sure what is offending him. A dilemma runs through my head: I do not want to just run in there in an attempt to fix whatever is wrong. We used to do that and it has taught him that we come running when he cries. We want him to start using words or show us what is wrong, so we can help more efficiently. I have faith that he is capable of this.

This is when the stress of him crying sets in. I cannot go in there to make him stop crying, so I have to sit there and take it in the bathroom. If I were already in the room with him, I would have asked him what was wrong. I would have asked him if he could use his words, or show me the problem. Since I was not in the room, I stood my ground.

I grimace with the renewed wailing. My neck stiffens and the tension runs up into the back of my head. It's similar to having a bee buzzing around your ears while you attempt to drink a Coke outside on a warm, sunny day. It's stressful, but you want to continue with your day, so you endure it.

The tension runs to my shoulders and I finally realize I'm squinting my eyes against the sound of his cries. I open my eyes and pull my shoulders back. I roll my head around once to loosen things up a bit and chase off the headache that is threatening to start my day off wrong.

FINALLY, the buzzing bee stumbles into the bathroom to stare at me, bawling from the doorway, until I fix it. I ask Aiden, "What's wrong? Can you show me what you need?"

He stops crying, hiccups a time or two before, "Uh, uh, uh, uh..." and then starts playing with the door (open, shut, open, shut...), completely oblivious to the stress he has just caused me.

Thankfully, his bouts of happiness and laughter balance out moments like these. Some days more than others. Otherwise, I don't know how anyone would ever procreate again.

On Schedule

Almost every morning, I pass a man on the walk from my car into work. He is a nice, chatty guy. We joke, in passing, about how we need to switch parking spots.

Before I pass Chatty Guy, I pass a number of people walking on the Seawall. There is a woman walking who, no matter the weather, always wears jogging shorts. That is a feat in itself, since there are usually gale force winds coming off the Gulf - with or without chilly temperatures.

There is also a man, who walks briskly with his German Shepherd. He is an older gentleman with a mustache and a buzz cut that never seems to grow longer than a couple inches.

In the evening, on the days when I pick Aiden up from daycare, I pass a large bearded man riding his bicycle down the same stretch of road.

We have a routine. There are a few variations on the routine, but for the most part, our weekdays are each the same. Aiden thrives on that routine.

Sunday afternoon, we went over to Ariel and Robert's. Travis went with them to their softball game, so they were gone for a couple hours before coming back for pizza. Aiden had already eaten his dinner, but he sat in my lap and ate an entire piece by himself before heading to bed.

After Aiden was down, we proceeded to put up Christmas decorations. We had wine and the Christmas music was playing. It was a nice, relaxing evening.

We made plans to be there past Aiden's bedtime, so we decided to stay the night. Ariel lives close to my work and since Travis would be passing the daycare to get to work, he brought Aiden in the morning. 99.99% of the time, I take him to daycare. Travis has to be to work an hour earlier than I do, so unfortunately, that meant Aiden had to wake up 45 minutes earlier than normal.

For Aiden, that equates to a morning full of crankiness. His teachers informed me at the end of the day, that he had cried inconsolably all morning. He had three bite attempts, two successful. He went into timeout four times that day.

Needless to say, Aiden needs his schedule and he needs his sleep.