Trying!

Today has been a bit of a challenge, and it's not even 3:00 yet. Both H1 and I have had colds for the past few days, and it seems that H3 may be coming down with it too. She's been out of sorts for a couple days now, not as interested in eating, and sleeping more than usual. Also, lots more crying than normal. My happy little baby has disappeared for the last couple days. Today was my first day going all out with cloth diapers. I had been waiting for the rest of them to arrive in the mail before changing over from disposable. I'm still planning to use disposable on trips and overnights (since one disposable will hold her all 10-11 hours of sleep, and I can't seem to get the cloth to work more than 2 hours). I'm still going to have to learn about these things. It hasn't gone so well today, but better than the one that I tried yesterday evening that soaked through the diaper, the vinyl pants, her clothes and her playmat! Today I haven't had that issue again, but we've gone through twice as many cloth as I would normally with disposable. Hurray for washing machines! One other thing I need to find out is if the Snappie I'm using works better than diaper pins or not. It was recommended to me, but I've had some issues trying to get it attached to the diaper. We'll have to see!

Running around

So much to do, but so little time! Saturday we drove 4 hours to see a friend of mine and attend her baby shower. She is due next month and we are eagerly anticipating the arrival of little Natalie. Cate and I used to share a desk back when I first started working at Liberty. We met about a week after I got married. While H1 was gone that summer, we hung out a lot together after work, and continued to do so once H1 came back. In April 2007, she married Shawn and moved an hour west of Lynchburg, but still commuted there for work. I'd moved offices by then, so we didn't see each other as much but still tried to work out having lunch on a regular basis (often just bringing it from home and eating in our respective offices). Now we live about 4 hours apart but still try to keep up via email! She is a dear friend and I miss her.

Last Friday I finally bought tickets for H1, H3 and I to fly out to Washington April 11 - 18 (H1's Spring break). The catalyst behind the trip is my grandmother's health. She's not doing very well, and we're hoping she will still be there when we go. My uncle has let me know that if she is having a good day, she will recognize us, but there is a good possibility she won't know who we are. I haven't seen her in 19 years, and am really regretting having not made this trip sooner. We couldn't really afford it before, but should have found a way. Still, her condition has deteriorated pretty fast, and we couldn't have known it would be that way. Since she is in a nursing home, we'll be staying with Bethany, my former college roommate, who lives in Tacoma. I still need to call the airlines though and ask about some details for traveling with a baby. H3 will be 7 months old then.

Later today I'll be taking Peanut to the vet. About a week ago he started having some back pain, but we had to wait until payday to take him anywhere. He's had some pain before, but it seemed to be manageable. This time, it's come out of nowhere and he is absolutely pathetic. He's having trouble walking and often just sits and shakes. He can't wag his tail or anything because of the pain (I can tell because when he tried, he yelped and started crying). Even just tensing his body starts the crying all over again. By crying I mean an extended yelp that kind of sounds like a moan. It's really sad. Peanut is H1's dog, and he's about 8 years old.

After the vet trip, we'll stop by the middle school basketball game H1 is coaching. I'm hoping we'll be able to arrive at the start of the game, but we'll have to see how long the vet takes. The team has won 4/6 games so far this year. H1 really enjoys coaching, and the kids seem to like him too. I know the school does, since they've commented that's it's been years since they've had such structure for middle school basketball. I'm proud of him...just a little! :o)

On happier notes, Sams Club had blackberries on sale, so I am enjoying those. I'm almost done ordering prefold diapers for H1. I've been needing to finish that up for a while now. We wanted to go the first 3 months with disposables, just to help me adjust to even having a baby in the house, and then transition over to cloth. With everything going on at Christmas, I'm just now getting around to buying them! Now, off to go feed H3 and get her ready to leave....

Long trip, fun trip, but good to be home

We're back! It's been a fun few weeks, but I'm exhausted. On the 19th we set out for NY to see H1's family. We arrived around 2:30am, in the midst of a snow storm. By the end of that day, there was a foot of snow on the ground. We stayed with H1's dad (Pop-pop) through Christmas day. Most of the time was spent chatting, visiting around with other relatives, Christmas shopping, and reading books. It was really relaxing, and a great visit. On Christmas day, his brother's family came to visit, Brad, Rachel, and their 3 boys whose initials together are DNA. DNA got a Wii for Christmas, and spent most of Christmas day playing it, along with Brad, H1, and Nils, a German exchange student living with Pop-pop.

The day after Christmas, we headed to visit Mercy (H1's sister), taking a detour to Rochester on our way to see some of the guys from camp. We met at a restaurant and chatted for a few hours. It was so good to see them, and I hope we'll be able to go back to camp this summer. After that, we continued on to Westfield and spent the night with Patrick, Krista, and Mercy. Mercy, H1, and I stayed up until 3am, laughing over silly videos online and then turning to more serious discussions about jobs and the body of Christ.

On the 27th we left for my parent's house and stayed there until the 30th. It was the best visit we've had with them. My folks are very taken with H3, of course, and enjoyed spending time with their granddaughter. Mom looked a lot better than she had in a while. She was up and walking around quite a bit, and even took a trip with us up to the lake for a walk along the beach. On the way out of town, we stopped by my dad's dealership and got a tour. The shop is a lot nicer than ones he's worked at in the past, so that's a good note.

The trip home was a really long one. We had to make a number of stops to take care of munchkin. I was grateful that the roads were clear though, and there was a relatively low amount of traffic considering the time of year. New Year's Eve was spent celebrating H1's birthday. I made pancakes in the morning and he opened his presents. Then the three of us went to Suffolk and Newport News for the afternoon, stopping at Applebees for lunch, and then headed back home for some Pumpkin Turtle Pie that I'd made earlier. H1 isn't a big fan of birthday cake, so pie is usually the order of the day. We watched the ball drop that night and I called my dad shortly afterward to wish him a happy birthday as well.

Since then, we've spent time cleaning the house and time with friends, trying to enjoy every last moment before H1 goes back to work on Monday. His teaching job is a huge blessing in that he gets a lot of time off. I appreciate it, and I know he loves getting to spend so much time with his daughter. Most families are not as blessed!

We look forward to all that this year holds, good and bad. Our God is always full of surprises and I love to watch His plans unfold.