Even More Changes

A new year is a good time to make changes.

I read a lot of different blogs that manage to stay fairly anonymous while still posting actual pictures of their families. I've been considering doing it for a while, but it wasn't until Pirate Baby was about to be born that I started seriously considering it.

And now that he's here, I owe it to the world to show off his adorableness!

Real Pirate Life is soon to come!

2010: The Year of Change

I'm working on Pirate Baby's birth story for this blog. I'm being very detailed with it, and I'm not sure how far I want to go with it. I apologize in advance for the size of it because I'm mostly writing it for me, and I don't want to forget any details.

Meanwhile, I saw a questionaire on a friend's blog and thought it would be a good thing to do for the most life-changing year I've ever had.

1. What did you do in 2010 that you’d never done before?
Gave birth and moved to North Dakota

2. Did you keep your new years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don't do resolutions. I try to make a regular attempt to improve my life, but I don't do it on a year-to-year scheduled basis.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Lots! This was definitely the year of babies. Just from one side of the family, there were 6 of us cousins who had babies - mine was the only boy. Plus many new friends. I also have several more friends and family members who have babies due in the next couple months.

4. Did anyone close to you die?

No one close to me (at least that I can think of - I'm still dealing with Baby Brain), but a wonderful man who I've always respected and loved died just after Christmas.

5. What countries did you visit?
None. Although Small Town North Dakota does feel like a different world sometimes! LOL

6. What would you like to have in 2011 that you lacked in 2010?

No financial stress.

7. What date from 2010 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
December 22nd. The day my beautiful little boy was born.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Again, the birth of my baby.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Getting my household packed up for the move. I had plenty of time, but I was dealing with first trimester morning sickness and exhaustion. But I still feel bad that I needed more help. I should have done more by myself.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Normal pregnancy-related illnesses. I never really got a cold or flu or anything like that when I was pregnant, but I got a NASTY cold from being in the hospital after he was born.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Our gorgeous house

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
My little family. Surfer Pirate for all his hard work and his support of me, and Pirate Munchkin for putting up with a hormonal mess of a mom who wasn't very patient most of the time.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
My dear friend's former employers. The things they did to her were disgraceful! Technically, their behavior was all from 2009 and earlier, but she is still dealing with the repercussions.

14. Where did most of your money go?

Paying bills, trying to get caught up. This big move and Surfer Pirate's employment changes are going to fix those problems.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Being pregnant and anticipating the birth of my little boy.

16. What song(s) will always remind you of 2010?
Can't Take My Eyes Off of You by Frankie Valli. Years ago, I changed the lyrics a little to make it into a lullaby. I finally got to use it this year!

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

i. Happier or sadder?
Definitely happier. All the financial stress that we've been under is going to be easing up soon, I've finally got the baby I've waited 12 years for, life in our little town is much more peaceful. I could go on and on.

iii. Thinner or fatter?

Pretty much the same. I didn't put much weight on with the pregnancy, so I'm almost back to pre-pregnancy weight now.

v. Richer or poorer?

Basically the same, but we'll be richer pretty soon.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Sorting through all the junk we've got stored in boxes! We got rid of a ton of stuff in the process of the move, but there are still WAY too many boxes in my basement!

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?

Being a big hormonal mess. I had very little patience with my daughter, and that makes me really sad.

20. How did you spend Christmas?

(Edited because the original question was to be answered before Christmas.) We spent Christmas in the hospital. We were all together, but it wasn't a lot of fun. Thankfully, Santa found us and made sure the kids had plenty of gifts this year.

21. How many one-night stands?

Never in my life.

22. What was your favorite TV program

Probably Big Bang Theory. I don't really have favorite shows that I watch all the time, but that one never fails to make me laugh.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
While there are certainly people I don't care for, I don't really hate anyone.

24. What was the best book you read?

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein. Although I didn't actually finish it until today. It was such a great story! I highly recommend it.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?

Not so much a discovery, but my greatest musical experience this year was the concert we went to in October. Surfer Pirate and I are STILL talking about it!

26. What did you want and get?
My baby to arrive safely and in good health.

27. What was your favorite film of this year?
I've seen lots of great movies this year, but I think my favorite was How to Train Your Dragon. So much fun!

28. What did you do on your birthday?
I seriously do not remember. That was a loooooong time ago.

29. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2010?
Will this shirt fit over my big belly?

30. What kept you sane?

I have two main things that keep me sane - peace and quiet and time with Surfer Pirate. As long as I get those two things on a regular basis, I'm good.

31. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Meh. Don't really care.

32. What political issue stirred you the most?
Politics - Blech

33. Who did you miss?

My sister. I miss her all the time.

34. Who was the best new person you met?

My fun new friend who says I'm a bad influence on her. She reads my blog and knows who she is.

35. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2010: Moving (especially when pregnant) is horrible. I never, ever want to do it again!

Miracle

It's 5:45 in the morning, and I'm sitting here with my 9 day old baby boy. There were certainly times where I doubted this would ever be able to happen. But it DID finally happen! He's here, he's beautiful, and I couldn't be happier.

This blog is slowly evolving into something more personal. At first, all I did was blog about stupid criminal stories. They were fun, I enjoyed them, but it just seemed like there should be more of me to this. As I have blogged more about my life and the world around me, it's seemed a little empty without pictures that were actually part of that world. It was also very hard to find pictures that actually worked with my topics, and I've worried about copyright issues. If I use my own pictures, that's not an issue.

I've found so many blogs out there where people use actual pictures of their kids, they just don't use their real names. I was still debating the issue when I sort of accidentally posted a picture of the new kitten. I didn't even think about it, and didn't realize what I'd done until a couple hours later.

So consider yourselves lucky that you get to see real pictures of my real family now. :)

And isn't that little tiny person up there just plain adorable??

His birth was quite an adventure:


Pirate Munchkin had gone to bed, and Surfer Pirate and I were standing in the kitchen talking. It was Tuesday, December 21st. I had finished my last shift for the week, and I was really looking forward to the few days I would have to get things done before Christmas. Originally, I was only going to be working up until that week, but we were still so far behind I had promised to work two more days the next week. My house was a mess because I'd been so tired with my job, so I was looking forward to getting the kitchen nice and clean and doing some baking.

Suddenly, everything was very wet. With just a second's thought, I knew I needed to get upstairs to the bathroom to see what was going on. I said to Surfer Pirate "We have a problem", and took off like a bullet up the stairs. The entire way across the main floor and up the stairs, there was more and more. I got into the bathroom, and the flood really started. (Sorry if this is TMI, but I did warn you that this was a birth story!) Being more than 4 weeks early, I was more than a little concerned that my water had just broken! I picked up my cell phone - thankful that I'd had it with me - and called the midwife. She had told me previously that I would most likely know I was in labor before my water broke. But there were no other signs of labor. She told me that sometimes the cervix can open a little and let some fluid out, but then can close up again. We decided together that I would put myself on bedrest and wait and see. I had already set up an appointment with her for Thursday afternoon, so if nothing else happened, at least she would be there soon to see what was going on. In the back of my head, I knew there was too much fluid for it to be something like that, but I didn't want to panic. That was 8:45.

For the next few hours, I laid in bed and watched TV, had a little snack (a big ol' bowl of Malt-O-Meal's Marshmallow Mateys, thank you very much!), and dealt with a VERY stressed husband! He was basically having a panic attack. He was scared to death that he was going to have to deliver this baby by himself. I finally had to call a member of our ND (surrogate) family over to help him calm down. It worked, and Surfer Pirate was able to go to bed next to me and fall asleep.

At 11:45, the contractions started. It was obvious now between the contractions and the fluid that still kept leaking that this baby was ready to come out now! I called the midwife again, and we decided together that with it being so early, it was best that I go to the hospital. I woke up Surfer Pirate and started gathering up anything I could think of that I would need in the hospital for the baby and me. He went right back into panic mode, poor guy. We found someone to be at the house for Pirate Munchkin, loaded up everything in the truck and left town. I had been timing the contractions since they started. While they weren't intense, they were getting closer and closer together. We were only a couple miles out of town when they became pretty steady at 2 minutes apart. We decided to turn around and go back to our local hospital. They don't deliver babies there, but in an emergency, they're sure better than delivering the baby somewhere along the highway in the truck!

The doctor came in to the little ER exam room and checked me out. He didn't believe me that I was in labor! He kept talking about making sure my water really did break, and he checked to see if the baby was in position for delivery. He was pushing so hard on my stomach with that part that I almost punched him! But then the frosting on the cake was when he checked my cervix! If you've never had that done, you're missing out on one of the most painful experiences ever! Only the heaviest contractions equaled that amount of pain! He declared that I was dilated to less than 1 centimeter, and I would be safe to make the 1 hour drive to the nearest hospital that delivers.

Meanwhile, Surfer Pirate was so stressed and freaked out about the whole thing that he started hiccuping and didn't stop for over an hour!

Back in the truck and back on the highway. The snow was drifting all over the road. There was fog so thick that you couldn't even see the side of the highway. Surfer Pirate was doing his best to drive safely, hiccuping the whole time, while I said silent prayers through the contractions that we would arrive safely at the hospital before the baby was born. I kept my mother updated via text message. She and Dad were scared and worried, and feeling very helpless that they were so far away. Thankfully, the only animals were saw on the road were staying out of the way. We saw four HUGE snowshoe rabbits, and my mom was amused that even in during labor and a very stressful drive I managed to inform her about the bunnies. I saw one deer as he was leaping off the highway, but Surfer Pirate saw a large herd of deer in one of the places where the fog was lighter. Luckily, this drive is one I do to get to church every week, so I am very familiar with the drive. I was able to keep Surfer Pirate (and the parents via text) how many more miles we had to go.

Finally, the lights of the city were in view! We got into town and found our way to the hospital. (Previously, we didn't even know where it was, so they printed us a map at our little local hospital.) While it was tricky to find the emergency room door, we were thrilled to get there in time. We got inside, answered what questions we needed to to get me admitted, and they brought me a wheelchair. (Thank goodness! That was a LONG hallway to the maternity ward!) I was taken to a very nice, modern birthing suite and introduced to Laura - world's greatest nurse. She told me she actually worked full-time in the bigger hospital 90 miles away. She filled in part-time at this hospital. The doctor checked my cervix (OW! OW! OW!), had me sign a bunch of paperwork, and then he left the room. Surfer Pirate went out to our truck to see if he could take a little nap. When the doctor came back, he told me that after checking my delivery date, I was only 35 1/2 weeks, meaning my baby definitely qualified as a preemie. They didn't have a NICU unit in their hospital, so they would need to send me via ambulance 90 miles away to the other hospital! I was pretty upset about that, but I knew it was for the best. Laura told me she would be working the next night there and would see me then.

For the record, if I had known this hospital didn't have a NICU, I would have gone to the other hospital in the first place!

Surfer Pirate decided that he would go home first so Pirate Munchkin would find out from him what was going on. He was going to see her off to school and bring back the baby's car seat since we'd forgotten it in the rush to leave the house.

I was strapped onto the ambulance gurney and loaded up. The car lover in me was very interested in the hydraulics on the gurney and how it smoothly loaded into the ambulance with very little jostling of the patient. By now, it was REALLY early in the morning and I had been awake for almost 24 hours. The contractions were exhausting, and they were just getting more and more intense. The EMT kept talking to me throughout the ride, keeping my mind moving as much as he could while timing the contractions. I was so tired that I even dozed off between contractions while we were still talking. Let me tell you, contractions and bumpy, snowy, rural North Dakota roads in the dark of the early morning are not a good mix. Most of the hard labor happened on the ambulance ride.

We finally arrived, and I was hurried down the hall and into an elevator. Through the pain, I was still able to see the humor in the people who were waiting to get on, but chose not to climb into the elevator with the woman in labor! Smart thinking on their part because I had a contraction start right as we got on and spent most of the ride screaming. I was brought into a much more industrial-looking delivery room, but it didn't matter because the exhaustion and the contraction pain made it almost impossible to open my eyes. Tammy (a great nurse, but not as great as Laura) told me that all the screaming and moaning weren't helping my labor along and I needed to focus on just breathing through the contractions. She was my cheerleader and my coach through the contractions, and she was there waiting with a spoonful of ice as soon as the contraction ended. When I got there, I was dilated to a 6, and it didn't take long until I was up to a 9 - about 10 or 15 minutes, I think. At one point, the nurse had just given me my ice when the next contraction started. She told me to breathe, but I couldn't because of the ice. I finally just spit the whole mouthful out onto the bed.

Then came time to push. With each contraction, I was to push 3 times. Then, rest. I did that several times. Then at one point, I could hear Tammy telling me to push, and I realized I'd blacked out. A few more pushes, and another blackout. I kept listening to the conversation the doctor was having with the nurses. They kept saying how well I was doing, and how this was a perfect birth. That was really nice to hear because they weren't talking to me, so I knew they meant it and weren't just trying to cheer me on. I got to the point when I could feel the head and I knew we were almost done. Tammy told me to rest, and I said no. She told me it was okay, that if I felt the need to keep going, I should keep going. I pushed 3 more times, and the head was out! One last push, and the baby was all the way out! The little cry was immediate! It was the greatest sound in the world! I sat up and looked at my gorgeous baby. My first feeling was recognition - that I'd seen him before. Someone said "He looks great", but no one had announced if it was a boy or a girl. There were so many hands around him that I couldn't see for sure. I asked if it was a boy, and someone made the announcement official. I had a son!

Pirate Baby was born at 8:59am, weighing 5 pounds, 15 ounces. He was 20 1/2 inches long, but they didn't actually measure his length until the next day.

From there, everything was a blur. H was taken to be cleaned up and evaluated. I kept watching him and all the action around him. I got to hold my baby. I kissed him and talked to him. He was kind of gray, and he kept grunting. They said he was struggling to breathe and took him back from me. I was disappointed, but I knew his health was more important than my need to hold him. The doctor told me I needed to push again because the placenta was coming. He said I had a small tear and would need a few stitches. Stitches were done (OW! OW! OW!). The doctor kept saying "Everything we do down here is painful." I was cleaned up and was able to sit up. I sat there eating my ice with a spoon and watching everything going on around me. The nurse asked me what his name was, and I spelled it for her so she could put it in the computer.

Meanwhile, poor Surfer Pirate was trying to get to the hospital on nasty roads while functioning on no sleep. He had checked in with his job, made arrangements for the dogs and our daughter, got Pirate Munchkin up and off to school, grabbed the car seat and was on his way. He was about a third of the way there when I called him and told him we had a son. He didn't process what I said at first because he was distracted by hearing Pirate Baby crying in the background. It still brings tears to my eyes thinking about how he choked up when he realized what was going on. I filled him in on what details I could and encouraged him to pull over if he needed a minute to regroup before finishing the drive (he didn't). Next, I called my mom and told her about her new grandson.

Eventually, Pirate Baby was taken to the NICU, and I was taken to my regular room.


*There is much more to the story, since we were in the hospital for 5 days - over Christmas. I'm not sure yet how much detail to include, so Part 2 will continue sometime in the future.

December, the Month of Family Additions

It's official!!! The stork has arrived!

Our baby boy arrived 4 1/2 weeks early on December 22nd, 5 pounds, 15 ounces and 20 1/2 inches. He had a little fluid on his lungs, but otherwise, he's healthy and wonderful! I'll fill in his very interesting birth story sometime when I'm not half asleep.


I'm also thinking I may change how I do things on this blog. More to come.


Oh, and update on the newest furbaby. After 5 days in the hospital with Pirate Baby, we came home to a happy and very healthy kitten! Her breastbone and shoulder blades are still sticking out more than they should, but her little spine has a nice little layer of fat around it. She is one cute little girl!

Our Newest Family Member

Yesterday, we went out to the farm to let the dogs run around in the snow. Since we don't have a fenced yard and our town has strict leash laws, I don't like to let them run around too much in our yard. They do have a tendency to try to check out the whole neighborhood.

While we were out there, we needed to make sure the barn cats had been fed. Surfer Pirate fed the kitties and whistled for his favorite kitten.

We've been told that usually the friendliest kittens don't make it through the winter on the farm, so we were already a little prepared for what we found.

The poor baby was sick, shivering and WAY too skinny!

It didn't take long to decide the baby would be coming home with us. I bundled the kitten up in my coat and we headed home.

Back in this baby's early, early kittenhood, Surfer Pirate had checked for gender and settled on Boy. But after a bath to remove the musty barn smells and renew soft fluffy kitten fur, I discovered our new little one was indeed a Girl.

She's eaten two cans of soft cat food and some dry cat food in the 24 hours or so that she's been here, had a bath (well, technically 3 baths, but I'll get to that in a minute), used her litter box, and has spent lots of time sleeping and snuggling. She's very affectionate. I love the way animals react when they know they've been rescued. We figure she wouldn't have made it through the night if we'd left her at the farm.

She's so very skinny. You can't tell with all the fur, but I could probably count her vertebrae if I wanted to. And her little shoulder blades and breast bone stick out much too far. Poor little thing.

She did have a little adventure earlier today. I took a bath, and had her in the bathroom with me because that's where the litter box is right now. She seemed very disturbed at not being able to snuggle with me and kept pacing and meowing. At one point, she was standing on the edge of the tub staring at what I THOUGHT was the doorknob on the cabinet above the tub. Before I could even react, she jumped over my head and onto the shelf above the cabinet. She landed halfway into the wicker basket that holds all my hair things (bands, barrettes, hair brush, etc). It is a rounded basket and couldn't hold her, so down she came - along with the basket and all its contents, AND my hair dryer! (Bath #2.) She scrambled out of the tub, and while I scooped all the stuff out of the water, she decided that the best place to dry herself off was in the litter box. Yeah. So, once I was done with MY bath, I had to give her ANOTHER bath to get all the wet kitty litter off her lower half. (Bath #3.) Hopefully she won't try that trick again.


Meanwhile, Pirate Baby is due in 37 days! That also means only 39 days until my mom is here!

Regrets

There's that little game that people play. If you could go back in time in your life and change something, what would you do differently?

For years, my answer was always "Nothing." Every choice I have made in my life - even the bad choices - have taught me something. Everything I've done, good or bad, has shaped who I am.

But I started to realize in the last few years that there is just one thing I would change if I could.

Danny.

I would have been friends with Danny.

When I was growing up, there was a family who lived just down the street from us. They had 2 kids - a son who was a year or two older than me, and a daughter who was a year younger. Danny was the son, and he had Down Syndrome.

Sometimes, Danny would go for walks around the neighborhood and would find me playing in our yard. He wouldn't really talk to me, but he would try to play with me. I was afraid of him because he was different and would go in the house. Leaving him outside alone.

That breaks my heart now.

I never gave him a chance. It wasn't until we were in high school that I realized how amazing he was.

Danny is a trouper. He is always happy, always smiling. He wants to be friends with the whole world! He told me once that he was going to be an actor, and I had no doubt that he would be great at it. I swear, he could do anything he sets his mind to. I'm so happy to know that even though the life span for someone with Down Syndrome is fairly short, Danny is still spreading his wonderful spirit to the people he meets. He's in his mid 30's now, and I hope he sticks around for a long, long time.

I haven't had a lot of opportunity to spend with him since high school. I moved back to our old neighborhood, but he was gone for a long time. I was happy to see him riding in his dad's car a few weeks before we moved away.

So that's my one big regret in life. I should have been Danny's friend. I should have learned at a really young age how amazing he is.

I was thinking about him again today. There is a group of kids with Down Syndrome who work at the gas station near my house. Thanks to Danny, I have an immediate love for anyone who has that magic extra chromosome. I make a point to talk to those wonderful kids when I see them, and I hope I'll have a chance to get to know them individually as time goes on. (Kelle Hampton - who's beautiful baby girl is in the picture I posted above - can teach you a thing or two about how special Down Syndrome children are. If you're not already a fan of her blog, I highly recommend it!)

So to Danny - I'm so sorry I didn't give you a chance when we were kids, but know that I love you and I'm a better person for having known you!

Funny Dog Story

The snow has finally arrived in Northern Middle of Nowhere, ND!

Montana winters are not always pretty - at least not where I'm from. We would get snow. And then it would all melt away. And then it would snow again. And all melt away. Etc. Etc. Etc. It's a frustrating cycle, and quite often leads to a Brown Christmas. Blah.

I have been told that here, when we get snow? It's there. Always - until spring.

But then we got snow in October. That melted. And a light snow again a few weeks ago - that melted before the day was even over. So once we really started to get snow, I've been pretty darn excited about it! It's thick and fluffy and beautiful!

It's also VERY cold.

Which leads to my funny dog story that happened a couple days ago.

Pirate Puppy is an Akita/Aussie/Rottie mix. His fur is thick and warm, and if he really does have enough Akita in him, it's also possibly waterproof. The snow doesn't phase him at all. He loves to charge around it, dig his nose in it, scoop it up in his mouth like a plow. If dogs have favorite seasons, I think winter must be his because he has so much fun playing in the snow.

Pirate Wench Puppy*, on the other hand, has very short fur, so she gets cold very easily. Usually, when I let her outside, she goes right to the end of the porch, does her thing as quickly as possible, and races back inside. But for whatever reason, she decided to take off with Pirate Puppy across the yard the other day. I tried to call her back, knowing what was coming, but she wouldn't listen. She then proceeded to have her own attempt at the World's Longest Pee Competition. (I would swear that Pirate Dog and Pirate Puppy were both competing for some world championship that I don't know about. They would be out there, in one spot, with one leg in the air FOREVER!) As I knew would happen, she came hobbling back to the porch, completely frozen. When she got there, her poor little legs were so cold she couldn't even raise a foot above the first step. So I had to rescue her. As I got to the base of the stairs, Pirate Puppy was racing back and forth in the snow, having a lovely time. I put my hands under Pirate Wench Puppy's belly and helped her get up the stairs (at 60+ pounds, carrying her up the stairs was out of the question in my current condition). She was quite happy to get inside the warm house.

And then I turned around.

Pirate Puppy was sitting in the snow just past the porch. His front left foot was raised in the air like it was injured, completely covered in snow. He had the saddest, most forlorn expression on his face. "Me too, Mom. I need help too." I laughed at him, and went to help him. (He weighs over 90 pounds, so you can imagine how difficult that could be for my big ol' pregnant butt!) As soon as I had my hands under his belly to assist him, he took off like a rocket straight up the stairs into the house! The big stinker!! He was jealous that she got the extra attention and was ACTING so he could get some attention, too! Then he enjoyed his little prank he played on me!

We have a tendancy around here to talk about him being dumb as a post. I think he's a lot smarter than he likes to let on.



* If you've been reading my blog for very long, you might be surprised to hear that Pirate Wench Puppy is back with us. It's a long story, and we're not really sure what needs to happen next. I may devote another posting to it, but then again, I may not. It's all pretty painful. Meanwhile, we're happy to have her home and we're enjoying all the love and snuggles we can get out of our sweet, affectionate girl.

Thanksgiving means.....

PINE CONE TURKEYS!!!!

This little beauty came home from school yesterday.

Seriously. Is there anything cuter than the yearly standard pine cone turkey?? This one is especially precious with it's baby-sized pine cone and funky feathers.

I've heard the project for tomorrow is turkey hats. I can't wait to see what that is going to look like!

You've got to love elementary holiday handicrafts. :)

Noises

The house we moved from in Montana was in my family for three generations. I lived there off and on for about 25 years. I knew where the creaky places were in the hallway. I knew the sound of the furnace right before it turned on. I knew which door in the house had just been closed from anywhere else in the house. I knew all the noises. I didn't have to question where what sounds came from.

And then I moved.

To a house built in 1903.

Let me tell you, this house has a lot of noises.

There's a ticking that seems to be coming from the living room wall at night. Is it really coming from the wall, or is it echoing off the wall from somewhere else? Is there a bomb in my wall?

I keep finding new creaky spaces on the floor in different rooms. One of them, I'm happy to report is directly under the rocking chair in the nursery. That's a really good thing because my dad refinished my rocking chair for me several months ago, and in the process, it lost the lovely creak it had that was so good at soothing babies that didn't want to go to sleep.

The furnace always startles me if it kicks on when I'm in the upstairs bathroom. It just sounds so weird up there.

I heard a door slam this afternoon and it took me almost an hour to figure out where the sound came from. I had been trying to figure out whether we had a bad draft somewhere, or if maybe Captain Kitty had managed to shut a door. (After a long day at work, I was exhausted and those 16 stairs to the upper floor are really daunting at times! Most of the doors in the house are upstairs.) I finally realized that it was the screen door right on the other side of the wall where I was sitting. It hadn't been shut fully and was blowing back and forth in the wind. I felt pretty silly when I figured that one out.

And the stairs! They're pretty darn creaky when you're on them, but they're NOTHING compared to how loud they sound when you're in the kitchen and someone is coming down them!

This morning, I heard a really strange sound (while I was in the upstairs bathroom), and I was trying to figure out why the furnace was being extra noisy. Turns out, my neighbor had just started his snow blower! I'm so not used to my house's noises that I can't even recognize a sound coming from outside!

We plan on being in this house forever. This little town is our home from now on, and this house will be a part of us as long as we can (we're hoping our kids will keep it in the family after we're gone). I know I'll eventually get used to the sounds here, and they'll be second nature just like in my old house. But for now, they sure can be a mystery when I'm the only one awake in the house!

Tuna Sandwiches, Water and Furry Beasties

My stomach was growling. Baby Pirate and I were apparently hungry. But it just so happened that I had some tuna already made up in the fridge.

Sandwich time!

It was yummy.

And not at all surprising, Captain Kitty had to come investigate the good fishy smell.

So he was curled up on my lap and we were having a lovely time snuggling while I read my blogs and tried to decide if I should go back to bed yet.

As usual, I am accompanied by my constant companion - my water bottle.

As I took a drink out of it, it was apparently the most fascinating thing on the planet to Captain Kitty! His eyes went super-wide as he watched me pick up the bottle, put it to my mouth, take a big drink and put it back on the computer desk.

Huh. I never thought water was that interesting.

But then again, I'm not a cat.

Pandora is Letting Me Down

In general, I love Pandora radio. It's very nice to be able to either find or set up my very own station with the kinds of music I want to listen to at any given time. I have a couple of stations that I truly, truly enjoy.

But then there's my Love Song station. I set it up one day when I was feeling all romantic about my upcoming wedding. I wanted to be surrounded all day at work by the mushy lovey-dovey stuff I was feeling at home.

It started out well. I gave Pandora THIRTY-THREE song seeds! I'm not kidding! Thirty three! From there, I thumbed-up fifty two songs that played on there. (Yes, I really just went in there and counted all of them.) Should be pretty simple, right?

Love songs. Easy. Just play the little things that couples who are sickeningly in love want to slow dance to.

Except Pandora is completely lost tonight apparently.

It's 4:00 in the morning. I went to bed WAY too early tonight, and was wide awake by 1:30. So I decided to come downstairs, catch up on some blogs and listen to music (mostly because I had a really annoying country song in my head that wouldn't die - and no, I won't say what it was because it will weasel its annoying self back in there). But this is not the time of night that I want loud dance music. I wanted soft, soothing love songs.

Tonight, Pandora thinks I want to listen to a million Beatles, George Michael and Air Supply songs. Okay, yeah. So some of their songs are romantic and mushy, but not all of them.

And don't even get me STARTED on "Take It On the Run" by REO Speedwagon! I HATE that song with a passion!!! The guy hears through the rumor mill that his girl is cheating on him. Then he goes on and on about how he knows rumors are crap and he doesn't believe it. But then he turns back around and says that he knows she's lying and she's on her way out. Huh?? Make up your mind, dude! That's the kind of mind-game garbage that makes me want to punch people! AAAAAARRRRGHHH!!

Ahem...

Sorry. Little ex-husband flashback there.

Anyway.

Pandora. I love you. Now figure out what you're doing so I don't have to hurt you. Killing Me Softly is a nice try, but the word "killing" in the title doesn't exactly scream mushy love song.

There's Somebody in There!

First of all, I have to show off my favorite t-shirt. It came from the same website the Rock Baby shirt came from. Surfer Pirate and I both love tools and working with our hands, so the first time I saw this shirt over a year ago, I knew I had to have it!


Anyway

We're in the 7th month now.

It's hard to believe that I've been pregnant for well over half a year! It's certainly been an adventure. I haven't enjoyed it as much as I always thought I would. The hormonal issues are driving me insane. My pelvis has been separated for weeks now, and it's quite painful. I've had pretty much non-stop heartburn for about 4 months now.

Pregnancy is definitely not a picnic.

But the one thing I wouldn't trade for anything in the world is getting to feel this little baby moving around in there.

I don't think this kid has STOPPED moving all day today! Rolling, kicking, punching. I've got little elbows and knees and feet roaming around all over in there! Quite often, I'll get a good solid lump on one side or the other of my stomach and I'll have to announce to the family "Baby Butt!!" Up until the last few days, this little one and I have had a little game going. The Little Pirate likes to kick my hand! If I move my hand away to watch the rolling and kicking, everything stops. I put my hand back on the belly... kick, kick, kick. But I guess we're getting to the point now where things are pretty crowded in there because the last couple days, I've had the chance to watch quite a bit of movement. It's really fun!

It's my newest source of entertainment.

Dear, Sweet Technology

I went to church today. In my living room. While wearing my slippers.

That is the blessing of technology.

Periodically, throughout the year, we have different conferences where our smaller congregations get together in one bigger congregation. We call it conference. In my case, it would be a 3 hour drive to get there. Since it starts at 10am, that means I would have to be out the door no later than 7am. Which means, to get myself and Pirate Munchkin ready for church, we would have to be up by 5-5:30am.

That's really early.

Not to mention all the gas it would take to get there and back.

And I'm now 7 months pregnant and road trips are getting harder to do.

But thanks to the wonderful internet, they've started running live-streaming video of our conferences for those of us who can't make it. Aside from a moment about halfway through when the live feed froze, it went just fine.


However.

There was another issue.


Apparently they either didn't give the "When you sit directly behind the speaker, sit very still because you are on camera" speech, or one particular teenage boy in the choir didn't take that advice seriously.

So those of us got to watch his lovely antics during the conference. He yawned and stretched, scratched his head, fidgeted, rubbed his face and talked to himself. But that had nothing on the multiple times he picked his nose while sitting up there. On camera. For half a state to see.

He wiped it on his pants.

His poor mother.

Wow! Another Food Post!!

I have already mentioned my food issues lately.

So when I come across a food that makes me blissfully happy, I try to make sure I keep it on hand.

(Peanut butter, how I love thee!!)


Okay, seriously?? Has anyone else tried these pies??? As my sister would say, they are THE YUM!!

I picked these little babies up on a sale at my local grocery store for a dollar apiece. 4 minutes in the microwave for perfect peachy pie-ness. They come out gold and flaky and wonderful!! I have to eat them with a spoon so I make sure not to miss any of the sauce.

Maybe one day I'll get around to trying them with ice cream. But for now, when I pull one of these bundles of deliciousness out of the microwave I can't be bothered by things like getting the ice cream out of the freezer and grabbing the ice cream scoop. The peachiness calls to me!

Thankfully, I've discovered the regular price is only $1.09 at my little store.


So okay, Banquet people? You're more than welcome to pay me for this lovely commercial I've written for you. And I would totally be okay with you paying me in pie!

Ow

I have a headache.

It hurts, and it feels yucky.

It's caused by florescent lighting and staring at bad handwriting for 5 hours.


Because I have a job.


It was all pretty quick. Two days ago, Surfer Pirate told me his boss wants to hire me. They have paperwork overtaking their office, and they need some help. Since I have lots of office work experience, they need me.

The best part is since they need ME, not the other way around, I get to make my own hours!

That's kind of cool.

So I'm working 20 hours a week, and the plan at this point is I'll do this for about 2 months.

Today, I got the exciting job of trying to decipher various people's handwriting. Not fun.

But I accomplished something today while still sitting in basically one spot. That was nice since I don't have much energy these days. I spend big chunks of time sitting in one spot while accomplishing nothing, so today was an improvement.