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rolling over

Aparently i never informed the blogger world that Lexi is rolling over now (finally) Last Saturday January 20, so rolled for the first time- of course it was when we weren't in the room. Sunday she decided to allow us to see her roll. I have a video but i'm not sure i can figure out how to post it. I will try though. I recorded it on my phone and was talking to her so my voice is really loud though, so if i get it on there you have to turn down or off your volume.

cold or teething or both?

Well, I'm not sure what is going on with Lexi right now, i have a feeling she is teething because she's been pretty fussy. She also has real bad congestion, they say that some babies get cold like symptoms when they teethe though, so I'm not sure which it is. Poor girl can't breath through her nose and was up all night tossing and turning, coughing, sneezing, sniffing whining and crying. Which as you can imagine meant i was up all night too! We had her in our room so she was close, and i was up about every 30 minutes to suck out her nose with the blue sucky thing they gave us in the hospital. which just made her more mad. The poor little girl. The reason i am wondering whether it is a cold or just teething is because Yesterday afternoon she was so fussy (just ask Beth) and i tried everything. Finally Beth in her mighty motherly wisdom said "did you try orajel?" now why didn't i think of that?! so when i put it on her gums she stopped screaming. she eventually started fussing again, but fell asleep finally. the numb mouth entertained her for about 30 minutes! Thanks Beth!

Get to Know the Homemaker in Me!

Stolen from Beth who stole it from Onward and Upward
Aprons – Y/N? If Y, what does your favorite look like? unfortunatly no apron for me. I went looking for one about a month ago and the only place i found them was at Kmart and they were $10. I think that's way too much to pay for something that will just get messy.

Baking – Favorite thing to bake hmm, either cookies or caramel popcorn.

Clothesline – Y/N? not here, we use a dryer! for things that can't go in a dryer we either throw over a chair or pull down the drying rack

Donuts – Have you ever made them? nah, looks like too much work for me, plus we have a dunkin donuts down the road.

Every day – One homemaking thing you do every day i don't know as though there is anything i do every day... i make the bed, oh and i straighten out the couch cover cuz it always gets messed up. and I cook supper...

Freezer – Do you have a separate deep freeze? nope and if we did it would always be empty

Garbage Disposal – Y/N? nope, never had that luxury

Handbook – What is your favorite homemaking resource? for food Allrecipies.com for other things it's either my mom or Beth

Ironing – Love it or hate it? Or hate it but love the results? Who needs an iron when you have a dryer??

Junk drawer – Y/N? Where is it? it's in the kitchen, in the buffet. it has phone books, all our manual for everything, then all the junk

Kitchen – Color and decorating schemeColor? 1970's apartment kitchen...

Love – What is your favorite part of homemaking? has to be the end of the day when the house is clean, and the husband walks through the door and actually notices.

Mop – Y/N? NEVER. i'm a hands and knees scrubber. and that happens about once a month.

Nylons – Wash by hand or in the washing machine? people still wear those?

Oven – Do you use the window or open the oven to check?I dont have a window.

Pizza – What do you put on yours? Cheese.

Quiet – What do you do during the day when you get a quiet moment? I'm addicted to Beth, so i either talk on AIM or if she's not on i call my sis-in-love.

Recipe card box – Y/N? What does it look like? um it's yellow and light blue with a rooster on it.

Style of house – What style is your house? Right side of a duplex, 2 bedroom, 1 bath, 1 kitchen 1 livingroom and a nice laundry room.

Tablecloths and napkins – Y/N? nah, place mats do the job if we ever eat at the table... Under the sink Organized or toxic wasteland? organized

Vacuum – How many times per week?About 2 times

Wash – How many loads of laundry do you do per week? about 5 sometimes 6.

X’s – Do you keep a daily list of things to do that you cross off? nope!

Yard – Y/N? Who does what? we have a nice yard and the landlord does all the work

Zzz’s – What is your last homemaking task for the day before going to bed? straightening up all the rooms. I make sure all the little stuff is put away, the dirty dishes are nicely stacked by the sink, pretty much i make sure everything is in it's place. I hate waking up knowing that i might trip on something, or knowing that the dishes don't just need washed, they need super scrubbed.

Great mystery of the universe has been solved

So Where do your socks go when you do laundry? That has been the question for many years. Today while switching loads I figured out what happens. Have you ever pulled the lint rack out of the dryer and looked down into the deep abyss? Have you seen how the sides are lined with thick dryer lint? That is the missing socks. You see what happens is when you turn on the dryer the socks blow up into tiny TINY pieces of lint, too small for the lint rack to catch. They go in and attach themselves to the inside walls of the dryer to haunt you forever. There you go.. now you know what happened to all those socks that disappeared over the years.

34th Anniversary of America's Death

On January 22nd, 1973 America made the stupidest decision ever. They made it legal to kill children. Tomorrow people everywhere will be celebrating their freedom, the freedom that to this day has claimed over 40 MILLION lives. America the land of the brave, the land of the free, the land of the dead. In this country you will go to jail if you kill a spotted Owl, you will go to jail if you kill a Bald Eagle, you will go to jail if you cut down certain trees, you will even be fined if you pick certain flowers. However if you want to have your child brutally murdered- go for it, that's been legal for 34 years now. If you were pregnant and driving to an abortion clinic to have that "fetus" disposed of but as you were walking up to the door someone came and punched you in the stomach killing the baby that person would be charged with the murder of a baby; but had you actually gone in and had the abortion it would have been fine because it's not a child. Does this make sense to you?
So the Fetus is not a baby huh? it's just a clump of tissue? Well what happens if you leave that tissue alone for awhile? we all know what happens if it's left alone for 9 months, Let me clue you in on a couple more facts not everyone might know.
By Day 22- before you know you're pregnant that "clump of Tissue" has a beating functional heart. His heart, brain, spinal column, and nervous system are almost complete and his eyes begin to form.
Week 4: His muscles are developing, and arms and leg buds are visible. His large, distinct head is clearly identifiable, along with the major outlines of brain and eye vesicles, the beginnings of his central nervous system, mouth and pharynx, body cavity, and the basis of his skeleton
Week 6: The brainwaves of this little boy can be recorded. His different muscles begin working together.
Week 9-10: All areas of his body are sensitive to touch. He sucks his thumbs, swallows, squints, frowns and puckers his brow. If his palm is stroked, he will make a tight fist.

That is just a few facts that you might not have known. Today I tried to watch a video of an abortion, I got 3 seconds into it and almost threw up out of anger and it was also VERY gruesome. I was going to put the link on here but it's too much for me, if you have a strong stomach and are prochoice or prodeath as i like to call it I'm asking you to watch one. If you dont have a very strong stomach then I'll write a little more for your knowledge.
Here are some common abortion methods I got these from a website (www.rockforlife.org)

1. Suction Aspiration: This is the procedure most often used in the first trimester of pregnancy (the first three months). The abortionist inserts a suction tube (similar to a vacuum hose with an extremely sharp end) into the mother's womb. The suction and cutting edge dismember the baby while the hose sucks the body parts into a collection bottle.

2. Dilation and Curettage (D & C): In this procedure, the abortionist uses a loop shaped knife to cut the baby into pieces and scrape the uterine wall. The baby's body parts are then removed and checked to make sure that no pieces were left in the mother's womb.

3. Dilation and Evacuation (D & E): This form of abortion is used to kill babies in the second trimester (24+ weeks). The abortionist uses a forceps to grab parts of the baby (arms and legs) and then tears the baby apart. The baby's head must be crushed in order to remove it because the skull bone has hardened by this stage in the baby's growth.

4. Dilation and Extraction (also known as D & X or Partial-Birth Abortion): Used to kill babies well into the third trimester (as late as 32 weeks old), the abortionist reaches into the mother's womb, grabs the baby's feet with a forceps and pulls the baby out of the mother, except for the head. The abortionist then jams a pair of scissors into the back of the baby's head and spreads the scissors apart to make a hole in the baby's skull. The abortionist removes the scissors and sticks a suction tube into the skull to suck the baby's brain out. The forceps are then used to crush the baby's head and the abortionist pulls the baby's body out the rest of the way.

5. Salt Poisoning: This technique is used in the second and third trimester. The abortionist sticks a long needle into the mother's womb. The needle contains salt which is then injected into the amniotic fluid surrounding the baby. The baby breathes in, swallows the salt and dies from salt poisoning, dehydration, brain hemorrhage and convulsions. Taking nearly an hour to die, the baby's skin is completely burned, turns red and deteriorates. The baby is in pain the entire time. The mother goes into labor 24 - 48 hours later and delivers a dead baby.

6. Prostaglandins: Used during the second and third trimester, prostaglandin abortions involve the injection of naturally produced hormones into the amniotic sac, causing violent premature labor. During these convulsions the baby is often crushed to death or is born too early to have any chance of surviving.

7. Hysterotomy: Performed in the third trimester, this is basically an abortive Cesarean section (C-section). The abortionist makes in an incision in the mother's abdomen and removes the baby. The baby is then either placed to the side to die or is killed by the abortionist or nurse.

8. Chemical abortion:
a. RU-486: RU-486 blocks the hormone that helps develop the lining of the uterus during pregnancy (progesterone). This lining is the source of nutrition and protection for the developing baby. The tiny boy or girl is starved to death and then a second drug, misoprostol, causes contractions so that the dead baby is expelled from the womb.

b. Methotrexate: Highly toxic, this chemical directly attacks and breaks down the baby's fast-growing cells. It also attacks the life-support systems the baby needs to survive. When the systems fail, the baby dies. Misoprostol is then used to cause contractions and push the dead baby out of the womb.

c. Abortifacient birth control (the Pill, Depo-Provera, Norplant, the IUD, Emergency Contraception). These abortion-causing chemicals and devices can act to kill preborn children in the earliest days of life. It is well known that abortifacient methods of birth control may act to inhibit ovulation and prevent conception. However, most women don't know they also act to alter the lining of the womb so that the implantation of a newly conceived child cannot occur. If the child cannot implant in the lining of the womb to receive nourishment, he or she dies.

I bolded this last one because many people do not even know that this is how the pill works. If you are taking birth control I suggest that you read up on the type you are taking, ask your doctor how it works or look on www.rockforlife.org it has a section about contraceptives.

If you have had an abortion I thank you for reading this. I also want to tell you that your life is not over, God can and will still use you. The great thing about God is that he's a forgiving God, he's also a healing God and will help you get through. God can use you to help other women who may be thinking about abortion. We all do things wrong and to God wrong is wrong whether you lied, had an abortion, live a homosexual lifestyle, or disobeyed your parents. So do not get discouraged friend, you are forgiven and free.

To those of you who had an unwanted pregnancy and decided to let the baby live- THANK YOU. I know it took a lot and was the hard thing to do, but it was the right thing. I admire you.

So as I bring this long blog to an end I want to encourage you to take a stand. If all of us stood up and held our ground I believe this law would be reversed. As my pastor said this morning there are three things we can do Pray, Protest (peacefully) and present our faith.

Lexi

raising her eyebrows and flaring her nostrils... isn't she so tallented? Thats my girl


This is Lexi in the dress Beth and Josh got her for Christmas, it's much more cute in person, but oh well!


a whole lot of nothing

So aside from cleaning the house i haven't been doing too much- which explains my lack of posting. Yesterday i woke up early, took my shower and started cleaning the house i washed, dryed folded and put away about 4 loads of laundry, cleaned out the desk, went though a bunch of our junk and threw away 3 garbage bags full of stuff, did the dishes, made peanutbutter cookies, washed the dishes again, cleaned the kitchen, vacuumed, went through Lexi's clothes and put up what she had outgrown, changed the sheets on my bed and Lexi's crib, washed the sheets, did my hair and makeup, made supper, played with Lexi a lot... and went to church. sounds fun huh? :) well it was! Today i haven't been quite as productive, i did the dishes, cooked lunch, and well i think that's it. aside from playing with and taking care of lexi.
I should probably post some new pictures of Lexi cuz she's getting big. oh i know what ones i can post....

um.. i slacked off again

i disappeared for awhile, sorry. The holidays were good. Christmas we went over to Jim and Kathy's house and hung out. we ate a big breakfast, then nibbled on junk food all day. For New Years we did what we've been doing for 3 years now. We went up to PA to visit Eugene's friend Cory and his family. it was fun, we got to visit a lot of Eugene's old friends from up there, and a couple of his cousins (both of which are named Ashley). Lexi is 5 months old now and she still doesn't roll over. She is getting VERY close though, and she has had a breakthrough with holding herself up on her arms. Today she almost completely rolled over, but her arms got in the way.
We looked at these very nice new duplexes/townhouses today, but they are $750 a month... we only pay $405 right now, and for $750 a month we could be making house payments to OWN a house, so yah... even though they are beautiful and nice and new and pretty and have huge walk in closets in all 3 bedrooms plus a huge walk in closet under the stairs... and we couldn't afford them anyway.... we're gonna stay here a while longer i guess.
Today was Lexi's first day in cloth diapers. We have put her in them before, but never for a whole day. but today she only had 2 disposable diapers on, one when we were at church and one first thing this AM when i knew she was gonna go back to sleep for a while.
my back of hip or something is out of wack and my hip, knee and ankle are killing me.
Now I am going to see what my husband and baby are doing!

my nativity animals

This is my Cow... cute huh?
This is the cartoon donkey Eugene drew and painted

This is my cartoon sheep i drew and painted for Kidstuf





tig's job

well, the whole TN log homes thing didn't go through, i guess they decided they didn't want Eugene's boss after all! however, they are keeping Bird's Drafting (the company tig works for) very busy. His boss said that if they keep them busy then he will give Eugene a pay raise. I'm a little dissappointed, because i already had my heart set on benefits, a higher pay and most importantly... moving. LOL. I just love change SO MUCH. But really this is the better deal, because Eugene still has his freedom, he's not tied down to big company rules. And his boss kicks but. and hopefully he'll have a raise coming soon. so we can all pray for that right?
I might get personal now... maybe...
So i've been feeling crappy lately- about my role as wife/mom/housekeeper and most importantly CHRISTIAN. for some reason being married totally screwed up my personal time with God that I had down pat after 10 years or being single and four years later i still havn't gotten it back where it needs to be. Which is affecting the whole rest of my life including my closeness with Eugene. Last night I got a kick in the butt from God (he kinda used Beth's life to help) and I'm feeling motivated again to take care of 1st- my God walk, 2nd my family 3rd myself and 4th my house. Hopefully I wont get lazy again and slack off after a week. I like to see quick results with EVERYTHING, Tig says I'm impatient. Normally when i don't see my body changing after a week of exercise and diet i quit. and if my life is not changing after a week of steady devotions- i quit. and if keeping my house clean doesn't get easier and Eugene doesn't start helping after a week- yup y ou guessed it- i quit. Then two weeks or so later I start feeling crappy about everything and get motivated and do the whole thing over again.... stupid cycle. I guess that means i am not disciplined. So yah, I got personal. deal with it. :)

Head and Shoulders

the first thing that amuzed Lexi... again, the quality of the video isn't good, and she got distracted by the camera, but it's still cute.

Lexi Laughs

The first time we got Lexi Laughing on tape, i know it's not good picture, but it was the sound i wanted not the video

Thanksgiving

Well, we had a good November so far! we've celebrated Tig's birthday, my birthday, Thanksgiving and tomorrow is our anniversary! I can't believe we've been married for four years! it's flown by!! Thanksgiving was fun, we drove up to VA to visit Tig's family. we spent two nights at one of his sister's house and two nights at his other sister's house. It was so fun, but did not last long enough. Today Lexi got four shots... i feel so bad for that little girl. It's weird to me that a body as small as her can handle having four different viruses in her body at the same time- in addition to the cold that she has.
Our house is a mess from being gone for a few days then coming home and getting right back into the swing of things with Eugene working and me working mon-wed. I'm sure Thursday I'll be busy cleaning the house.
I have some exciting news about Tig's job! awhile back the head architect from TN log homes came in and asked Jeff (Eugene's boss) if they would be willing to draw up some plans for some log homes. Jeff said yes and they were working on some contract type thing, well in the mist of it they asked Jeff to come work for them and be in charge of a new department. Jeff said yes, so that means Eugene and Jeff will be working for TN log homes soon! This is exciting!! it means moving to Athens, TN- which is about 30-40 minutes away and it means a higher pay, benefits and paid vacation!!! It's awesome! Plus Eugene will still be working for the same guy. We're very excited. We're not too sure of the details like when all this will be happening, but I think it will be in the next couple months. WOO HOO! we're very excited. I love change- especially the change of a new apartment or maybe even rental house!! WOO HOO!

Colds

well, Lexi is coming down with her secnd cold. the poor girl caughs and sneezes all day long. I'm so excited for Thanksgiving! We're going to VA to visit Eugene's family- i'm looking forward to it. When we come home I am going to try to find enough money to buy a Christmas tree so we can put it up and have our house all Christmasy!!! I love decorating trees! I think we might try to buy a fake one this year, i always hated fake trees but them make them so much nicer than they used to, they actually look real now. Although we don't have $200 to get one of the really good ones, we'll probably end up with a $30 one. oh well! Lexi is asleep right now, I should be showering not posting a random blog. yah, I'll go shower.

bad news...

well, it turns out that the guy the police caught was not the same guy who broke into my neighbors house. Not even close. kinda scary that there were TWO burglars in my town yesterday! Here I thought we lived in a safe town! Anyway, the guy they caught was white, and the guy I saw yesterday was very much black. The white guy was very scary looking, I think I would have had to throw rocks at him if I saw him in my neighbors house. The black guy actually looked trust worthy. not like I would trust a complete stranger, but if I had to take my choice between trusting the guy i saw and the guy the cops caught, I would trust the guy I saw. Anyway, just pray they catch the guy!

my encounter with the thief

Yesterday morning was quite exciting here. I got up early because my friend was supposed to pick me up at 8:45 and we were going to head down to Chattanooga. Well, Lexi's eating schedule conflicted with that so we decided to wait an hour and she'd pick me up at 9:45 instead. I had this very strong feeling that God was saving us from something, I assumed it was a car accident. Around 9:20 the doorbell rang, i ignored it- something I have never done my entire life. it rang again, so I thought "well, maybe the neighbor's fiance is over there and she needs something" so, since I was nursing Lexi I yelled "who is it?" and a man's voice answered back "Do you know who owns the apartments up on the hill?" I just said "no, sorry." thinking nothing about it since people had stopped before to ask that same question. curiousity got the best of me so I looked out the window to see if I could see the guy, i couldn't but I did notice a strange car in my neighbor's driveway. I was hearing things in his apartment (we live in a duplex) so I decided to call the landlord to get my neighbor's number to see if his fiance was at his house. Well, he didn't answer his cell phone, so i left a message. a few minutes later i looked out and saw the car was gone, but i thought i was still hearing things in his apartment, i called Eugene several times and he just kept telling me "if you think someone is over there, call the cops!" but me being the very trusting person that I am just thought his fiance was there, and I didn't want to call the cops on her. My neighbor calls back and tells me that he doesn't know that car and no one should be in his apartment. This is when I started thinking "oh my gosh... i think there's someone over there!" So i decide to be brave and peak out the back door to see if i see that car. sure enough I look around the corner and there is a black guy walking out of my neighbor's house! I said "Hey, what are you doing?" (i would have just gone inside and called the cops but he was already looking at me.) he mumbled something about checking the apartment and then my motherly instincts took over and I ran inside and locked the door and called the police. Of course as I was on the phone i started realizing all the things that should have happened had I done what I normally do.... i normally answer the door, he could have attacked me and hurt me and lexi, if I hadn't answered the second time, he probably would have broken in my apartment too. And if I had left at 8:45 like I was supposed to, our apartment would have been robbed too. The scarriest thought was that on any other day I would have been in the shower at that time, which means not only would he have broken in, he could have taken Lexi. I also started thinking "oh gosh, that guy saw me, he knows where i live, what if he comes back to hurt me?!" Anyway, after telling the police everything I could my neighbor came home (i called him and told him everything) and the police showed up and my friend came over. We left for the day- i was too scared to stay in the apartment alone.
Well, last night at 11 my friend calls me, she lives a mile away. She told me that the SWAT team was all over her neighbor hood with big spot lights and everything looking for someone, and she had called her friend who is a police officer and his wife told her that some guy broke into a house down the street from her and they caught him had him in the cop car, and he broke out the window and got away so they were searching for him. They found him not too long after he got out. I'm 95% sure it was the same guy, but I missed the news this morning and I'm waiting to see what they say. My husband's boss's wife said the thief told the cops he talked to someone threw a door.... WOO HOO, i made the news. LOL.

I was playing photographer











it's been a while

okay, maybe it's been too long! it's November 12th! There hasn't been too much exciting stuff going on here, friday was Eugene's birthday. He turned 27. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TIG! Today I got a job. Mon-Wed I'll be picking up two girls from school and staying with them until their mom gets home at 6:15 or so. It's not much, but it's a little extra money which will help since Christmas is just 6 weeks away. It will help make me feel like I do something during the week too. Stacy's birthday is soon. so is mine. so is my four year anniversary. scary. Anyway, I'm going to go to bed now. night!

blow ups slide horror story

it was a dark windy evening outside the local YMCA where a small church was meeting together for a fall festival. Among the activities were games, food, fellowship and a big blow up slide. Shortly after the breaking of bread, i mean chili and hot dogs, they went inside for an annual youth vs adults basketball game. a few people stayed outside to help clean up the terrifying mess that 200 people can leave. Also remaining outside were some children enjoying their time on the slide. Suddenly it happened, i don't know if it was a cause of too many children, some rough housing, a malfunction in the tie downs or just a slight breeze... but before anyone could do anything the huge blow up slide fell over sending kids falling all over each other and one poor girl falling off the top of the 20ft slide. Luckily a doctor stood close by and ran over to check on the children. The girl who had fallen from the top of the slide suffered a broken arm, the remaining children suffered from only bumps and bruises and the scare of their life. Yes this really did happen... scarey huh?

doctor

Well, I took Lexi to have her weighed and she weighs 11lbs 4 oz now. The health department was WAY off a month ago when they told us she weighed 12lbs. oh well! she's in the 40th percentile for her weight- i'm not sure what that means though.