A Bumblebee and a Flower

A Bumblebee and a Flower.

by Abby


A Bumblebee and a Flower 

Baby #3 on 12/22/04 (head is on the right) 

an update for the month...

Well, hooray, hooray!! School ended last month for me until next September!! I'm not taking any classes this semester due to the circumstance of pregnancy! Classes end too close to my due date. I was a little worried about my English final. I had to write a five-hundred word essay from memory - no notes or outlines allowed during the final- on one of three controversial topics. The first topic was about anti-Semitism and why Jew-haters hate Jews, which I was not about to even attempt, being that my teacher is Jewish. The second was on the differences between the Protestant and Catholic religions, and the beef between the two groups. The third was about what blacks and whites hate about each other, and the long time battle between the two races. Eesh! I wrote mine on the latter of the three. Anywho, it turns out I was worried over nothing! My grades came in the mail... turns out I got an A in Sociology and an A in English, leaving my current GPA intact at a 4.0!! Hip hip hooray for me! It took alot of studying and neglecting my children for those grades, lol!

Christmas was fun this year! Abby was so much more involved this year, more than any other year and was so excited. We emailed Santa her wishlist, and she even put one together for Georgie! (I know, emailing Santa! Who knew?) Anyway, she got her exercise Care Bear, and many other toys... Georgie got the train set that Abby said he wanted. She left cookies and chocolate milk for Santa, which I'm sure he enjoyed very much... no regular milk at this house!

Georgie is talking more... his current words are: dad(dy), mom(my), Abby, baby, ba-ba, yea!, yeah, no, eat, go, ball, football, yum, hello, bye-bye, and during Sunday's Eagles game, he kept saying: "Go, go Eagles!" (if I think of any more, I will add them in later.)

We had about a foot of snow come down over the weekend, which Abby loved! (Georgie, not so much.) I spent the longest two-and-a-half hours of my life freezing in the cold while she played in the snow, making snow angels, snow pillows to sleep on(?), and she was digging and digging forever. The pictures are on our photo website, if you're interested.


sleeping in the snow?! 


That's all for updating now... I have to make something for dinner. Hopefully the only thing I will be making is a phone call for take-out. I'm too tired to cook!

By the way, here's a picture of the ultrsound we had done three days before x-mas (and no, we still don't know if it's a boy/girl! I'm looking forward to being surprised!)


"Baby #3" (head is on the right) 

M.

chain letters of 2004

GOOD BYE TO 2004!

I want to thank all of you who have taken the time and trouble to send me your chain letters over the past year. Thank you for making me feel safe, secure, blessed, and wealthy.

Because of your concern...

I no longer can drink Coca Cola because it can remove toilet stains.

I no longer drink Pepsi or Dr Pepper since the people who make these products are atheists who refuse to put "Under God" on their cans.

I no longer drink anything out of a can because I will get sick from the rat feces and urine.

I no longer use cancer-causing deodorants even though I smell like a water buffalo on a hot day.

I no longer go to shopping malls because someone will drug me with a perfume sample and rob me.

I no longer answer the phone because someone will ask me to dial a stupid number for which I will get the phone bill from hell with calls to Jamaica, Uganda, Singapore, and Uzbekistan.

I no longer eat KFC because their chickens are actually horrible mutant freaks with no eyes or feathers.

I no longer date the opposite sex because they will take my kidneys and leave me taking a nap in a bathtub full of ice.

I no longer buy expensive cookies from Neiman Marcus since I now have their recipe.

Thanks to you, I have learned that God only answers my prayers if I forward an email to seven of my friends and make a wish within five minutes. (Jeeze, the Bible did *not* mention it works that way!)

I no longer have any savings because I gave it to a sick girl who is about to die in the hospital (for the 1,387,258th time).

I no longer have any money at all, but that will change once I receive the $15,000 that Microsoft and AOL are sending me for participating in their special e-mail program.

Yes, I want to thank all of you soooooooo much for looking out for me!

I will now return the favor. If you don't send this in an e-mail to at least 1200 people in the next 60 seconds, a large bird with diarrhea will crap on your head at 5:00 pm this afternoon and the fleas of a thousand camels will infest your armpits.

I know this will occur because it actually happened to a friend of a friend of a friend's neighbor's cousin twice removed.

HOPE YOU'RE HAVING A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

finals... ugh

Studying for my sociology final has me exausted. I think I'm done for the night. George and I went to see our three houses yesterday (with Abby and Georgie, since we couldn't find a babysitter) and I found my dream house!! George said if he talks to ketler tomorrow, and all goes well with the conversation, then he will call and put an offer in on the house!!!!! I hope so, because I really love it. I'll let you know how my final goes tomorrow, if I'm not too busy studying for my English final for Tuesday!

busiest time of the year

It was George and my anniversary yesterday. We spent last night looking at a house and afterwards we headed over to Denise's for Sean's birthday. G is at his company party tonight, and tomorrow we might go out for dinner - as long as Denise and Annie are still volunteering to watch the kids! My mom gave us a gift certificate for Villa Barone, so we may eat there for a post-anniversary celebration. George will not be home on Friday - he has another Xmas party, and Saturday we are looking at more houses! Possibly on Sunday, George is going to help Gary move some of his stuff into his new house. Busy, busy. I have to squeeze in studying and shopping somewhere too. My finals are coming up in a few days, and I have not even opened my notes yet! I am only done the kids shopping, and I still have to finish everyone else on my list. I will be happy when Christmas is over, and I can just sit back and relax for a day or two before I start getting this house ready to sell, and some of our stuff organized to move!

George loved the house we looked at yesterday, and I really liked it too... It's in our price range, and we loved the family room: it's 24' x 24'!! It's a huge room. We're going to look at a couple more houses, and we'll decide from there. Tune in again for more updates!!

M.

wiggles and squirms

I am now 18 weeks along, which means in 2 weeks I will be halfway done - baby is medium rare! Anyway, the little one I am harboring is a live wire in the middle of the night ~ rolling from one side of my belly to the other in record time, and tiny feet stretching as faaaar as they will. Only another month or so before it gets too cramped for that nonsense, lol. I am really loving pregnancy again, and I am really trying more than ever to cherish the good, bad and ugly of this one since it is definitely my last time. I have to schedule my ultrasound for next week!!!

George and I think we may have found the perfect house for our growing family - only a mile from my mom's house!! I'm excited to look at it next week. The house has 4 bedrooms, kitchen, dining rm, living rm, family rm, 2 fireplaces, wood stove, jacuzzi(!!), basement, deck, sunroom, etc... It is poifect, so far (without seeing it, of course). We shall see, and I will update as soon as I know more.

We have a busy week ahead... christmas shopping and house cleaning tomorrow, Lucia on Sunday, Monday I have class, Tuesday is George and my anniversary and Sean's bday gathering, Wednesday is George's (other) company xmas party, Thursday or Friday we look at the house, and then it's the weekend again!! Where does the time go?

M.

Yea!!

Yea!!! I am moving on to the fun stages of pregnancy!! No more feeling sick, and I'm getting my energy back! More cravings too. Along with the old cravings, I am also having yearnings for: sushi, belgian fries, pizza from Pietro's & jello. It shouldn't be long now before I feel the baby move. Since I am feeling better I am getting really excited about having another baby.

George and I are getting the house ready to sell. We looked at a house this weekend, but we more than likely won't be buying it. A few reasons contribute:
1. we were hoping to sell this house before we even started to look for a new one.
2. I would love to move out of the city
3. George and I weren't sure about the neighborhood.

When we buy our new house, I want it to be the same house my children come home from college to visit me in. I can't see myself over in this area for that long. We saw a few houses near my mom for very decent prices. I would love to move back closer to "home." The taxes are a little higher, but it all evens out when we wouldn't have to pay for Catholic school over there. I have a lot of ideas about what I want in the new house. George has set his standards too, so together we will not compromise on what we both want. Until next time...

M.

number 3 

Baby #3 (the head is on the left) 

Raise Your Voice

I went out tonight with Nat. We went to the Olive Garden to eat soup, salad & calamari, and we then headed to the movies. By the time we got there, it was 9:30. We wound up seeing "Raise Your Voice," which, by the previews, looked a little corny, but Natalie and I can make any movie Oscar worty by our terms - especially when we are the only two in the theater. We laughed from the previews all the way through to final credits, and the movie wasn't all that funny, nor was it supposed to be. But, all-in-all it wound up being a pretty cute movie. I just got home and settled in, and I'm about ready for a long nap. Talk to you manana. Nighty-nite!

still here

I'm still here. Sorry for the lack of communication!!! I'll try to get you up to date:

Starting with a little test I took. About two weeks ago I peed on a little "magic wand" and after 3 minutes: two blue lines appeared!! Much to my surprise: we're having another baby! I was a little taken-aback, so I didn't tell George right away... he got the news just a few days ago. When I finally got around to telling him, he was really excited! I didn't doubt that he would be, but I knew we were definitely not planning on baby #3 for quite some time. But he reassured me, "I love being a dad, and I love the two we have already, so why wouldn't I be excited?"
I went for an ultrasound yesterday. and have the pictures to prove it. I won't find out my exact due date until November 10th, when I return to the doctor.

Cravings so far: orange juice, calamari, avocados, nachos w/ extra extra artificial cheese product, frosted mini-wheats, bean soup and I have the urge to put mayonaisse on everything. As with all my pregnancies I also have a hankering for lemonade... but not just any lemonade - I am dying for an icy cup of boardwalk lemonade! I guess George will be driving me to the shore during the very off-season to buy me my treat!!

I've been feeling pretty nauseous to the point where I can't eat my first meal until about 4 o'clock in the afternoon... thus the life of an incubator. But I'm starting to wonder if the whole 'morning sickness' bit was all in my head. I've been fairly stressed about this pregnancy so far... especially since the doctor handed me the script for an ultrasound. But since I have seen my healthy little one, the morning sickness has vanished - literally overnight!! I have come to the conclusion that it was mostly related to stress. Once you have gone for an ultrasound and they don't find the baby's heartbeat, you panic that they won't find a heartbeat for the next baby, and the next, and the next. It's such a sickening feeling. Luckily, we are so blessed that in yesterday's U/S, the heart rate was present, and beating at a perfect pace. The size of the fetus showed that I am 11 weeks along... only 29 weeks to go! Eek! According to BabyCenter, the little one is a teeny-tiny 1 and 1/2 inches long - the size of a "fig."


Baby #3 (the head is on the left)


number 3

Abby came with us to see "her baby" yesterday. We passed time in the waiting room looking at pictures of the development of babies in-utero, from one of the magazines they give you with your "welcome to pregnancy" care-package at the OB office. She loved looking at the baby develop month after month, and when I showed her the picture of what our baby looks like at this point, she laughed. "It looks like a fish!" she exclaimed. She's right.

We went on vacation with my parents from September 25 - October 2. We drove to the Outer Banks and stayed in a posh, yet child friendly, 6 bedroom house right off the beach. Abby and Georgie had a great time, though we didn't do very much once we unpacked our bags... the perfect vacation, I say. But by the end of the week, we did venture out - far out. Lol. We went on a wild horse hunt... lucky for the SUV because, to find the horses, we had to drive 8 miles on the beach. Once you get off the beach at this point, the roads are all unpaved, sand roads... so needless to say, not for the 4-wheel-driveless. Abby was in her glory!!! She made a friend almost immediately. She named him "Spirit" from her favorite movie. He was an uncommonly friendly horse (according to the locals, anyway), who really took an immediate liking to Abby. Actually, one local said that in all the years he had been on the island he had never seen a horse come that close to a human. But this horse followed Abby everywhere she went. He must have sensed her love of horses. We have a bazillion pictures. Here are just a few:






I swear, in none of the above photos does Abby have anything in her hands to eat... I don't know what it was about her, but that horse was hooked! We all said it must have been the "Herbal Essences" shampoo she used in her hair that morning.

The ride home was long and grueling. It took us 10 hrs to drive what normally should only take about 7 hrs. Needless to say, Georgie was a mess. He cried - screamed - the entire ride! I completely understood his pain - like I said, it was a long, long ride.

she wee hello!

Abby and I are listening to her new favorite song: She Will Be Loved, by Maroon 5. I didn't even know she knew this song until we were driving home from the store tonight and it started playing on the radio. Low and behold, she started to sing along. I love her interpretations of the lyrics! She thinks Adam is singing "she wee hello!" when the words are actually "she will be loved!" Hehe! She's cute!

I'm researching online where to find some tapes my grandmom used to have for me when I was a kid that I think Abby would really like. I found out that they are all out of print, but I can buy them through an out-of-print Christian record company. The tapes are full of really cute stories for kids to teach them about God. I'll check with my grandmom first to see if she happens to still have them. I'd love it if she did, but if not I'll have to pay $20 for a cassette!! lol

I'm just about finished my essay for English class on Tuesday. Hooray! Tomorrow night I have Sociology class so I guess I should get my assigned reading done!

M.

Georgie's big mess!

I rented '13 Going On 30' from On Demand, and now I'm just hanging out with Me, Myself and I! Georgie went to bed at 7 and Abby's in my bed, so it's turned out to be a quiet evening. A well deserved quiet evening, it was a busy day and I was here to deal with the kids alone. George is at State College this weekend for football. (It was pouring there this morning, but by game time, the weather cleared up, and Penn State won 37-13.)

Anyway, back to explaining why I deserve a little peace. Georgie gave me quite a scare today. I was in the kitchen, cleaning up from dinner, and I heard him start to cry. I was about halfway down the stairs when I noticed that his whole face and shirt, his hands and his arms were covered with what looked like blood, and he was screaming. As I got closer, I could see it running out of his nose and mouth, and in front of him was a a very large reddish-brown puddle on the carpet. I started to panic, and asked Abby if she knew what happened.
"Did he fall?" I asked her with a sense of urgency.
"I don't know," was her only reply.
Just as I was about to pick up the phone to call someone, anyone, I noticed something in Georgie's mouth. I gave him a quick sweep with my finger, and pulled out a wad of paper. I looked at the soggy little ball closely and realized it was a crayon wrapper. It turns out that the originator of this disaster was a chewed up, slobbery crayon. What I thought was a massive amount of blood was really only a melted burnt-orange blob of wax mixed with tears and snot. It took me a good half-hour to clean Georgie and another hour to remove the mess deeply imbedded into the rug downstairs. Lol. Such is the life of a mom! Things always seems to get especially crazy when George is away!!

Gotta keep working on my homework, so I'll add more later! Plus, Owl, Zebra and Monkey are sleeping over tonight, so Abby asked me to make popcorn for her slumber party friends! Tata!


These pictures are after I cleaned his face up a bit! 


I guess I should have looked at his teeth before I panicked!  


Talk about "wax teeth!"


M.

pacemakers and fire alarms

It's been a while since I updated last! Been keeping busy! Last month we all went to the shore with Jay, Lisa and the kids for a long weekend. It was a great trip. The kids had so much fun together, and the weather held out nicely for us. On our last day there, we got a call from home saying that George's dad was in the hospital, having a pacemaker "installed." Apparently his heart stopped a few times, and they had to put the paddles on him to reboot. It's pretty much the same thing that happened to my dad a few years ago, when Abby was a baby. Everyone was very scared, as you can imagine. But everything went very well. So well that the next week, even though I worried Al was not going to be ready for such a trip, we headed down to the boat with Al and Dot for our annual cruise. Actually, not all of us went. Denise took Georgie for the weekend, since he doesn't bunk well on the boat. We dropped him off on Friday, and George and Abby and I enjoyed a couple days at home alone before we headed to the boat on Sunday night. ETA 11pm. This year Al was told not go any further than the canal with the boat. The jerking of the waves in the bay was enough to pull the wires of the pacemaker out of their stratigically placed points in his heart. Late Monday morning, maybe early afternoon, we scooted out of the marina towards the canal, but when we hit the bay, it was so calm that Al dismissed all doctor's orders and he and George kept right on going... to Chesapeake City, where we stayed for two nights.

I started back to class last week. My first day of English was the 7th. I've already had 2 quizzes, written 2 short essays, and I have a big essay due on Tuesday. Sociology just started this Monday, the 13th. So far I think I'm going to love both classes, but they're going to be alot of homework and studying. Sociology class was a bit of a waste on Monday. Someone pulled the fire alarm during the first half-hour of class, and we had to stand outside for 45 minutes until they got everything sorted out. But somehow we still managed to squeeze in 4 pages of notes and a pop quiz on the 20's by the end of the night.

Georgie has been walking everywhere!! He finally got the hang of it. We think Jayme taught him how. He does not like the whole concept of shoes yet. Everytime I put them on his feet, he either crawls, or he'll walk (actually, it's almost an exagerrated march) raising his feet as high as he can lift them, probably hoping the shoes will fall off mid-stride! I guess he'll get used to them, I don't remember if Abby had this problem or not.

M.