2005 - 2008 Blog

Lively Days Blog Posts from 2005 - 2008 www.livelydays.blogspot.com Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2005 TUESDAY, OCTOBER 04, 2005 Introduction About Me... Name: Amy Lively Birthdate: May 17, 1977 (that makes me 28!) Hometown: Coshocton, Ohio (small town 1-1/2 hours east of Columbus) Current Home: Powell, Ohio (suburb of Columbus) Family: My dad, mom & younger sister Julie still live in Coshocton...my husband Leon & I live in Powell...my 11-year-old stepson Andrew & 10-year-old stepdaughter Beth are with us part of the time...we also have a furbaby Goldie (a 5-year-old golden retriever!) Anniversary: October 5, 2002 (married 3 years, but Leon & I have been together for 5 years) Education: Graduated from River View High School in 1995 and from The Ohio State University in 1999, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology Work: Communications Director for a homebuilders association Favorite Colors: Green & Pink Favorite Movies: Forrest Gump, Band of Brothers, anything horror & all chick flicks! Favorite TV Shows: ER, Law & Order SVU, Joey, The Apprentice, Family Guy (past faves that are no longer on include Seinfeld, Friends and Oz) Favorite Actors: All of the Band of Brothers and Oz actors (*smiles*), Colin Farrell, Christopher Meloni Favorite Actresses: Charlize Theron, Kate Winslet, Mariska Hargitay Favorite Music: Hit List-type music...whatever's popular at the moment! Favorite Season: Summer (I HATE cold, wet, rainy, snowy, icy Ohio winters!!) Favorite Holiday: Christmas Favorite Food: Italian (Olive Garden!), Mexican, Chinese Things Not Many People Know About Me... * * * * * I I I I I am a natural brunette with very curly hair...but I straighten my hair and dye it blonde! have a small rose tattoo on my lower back. have been addicted to Blistex for 15 years!! collect anything with angels or golden retrievers on it. believe golden retrievers are angels sent from above to bring joy to their people's lives!!! The Loves of My Life... * My family, my friends, my golden retriever, my health, my home, my job...and all of the blessings in my life that I unintentionally take for granted every day but am ever grateful for anyway!! POSTED BY AMY AT 11:01 AM 1 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2005 TUESDAY, OCTOBER 04, 2005 My Family Even though it was taken over 2 years ago, this is one of my favorite pictures of Andrew, Beth and Goldie. Here is a recent picture of Leon and me at a friend's wedding. POSTED BY AMY AT 12:04 PM MONDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2005 Destination: Las Vegas Last Wednesday, October 5th, was Leon's and my 3rd anniversary. It doesn't seem like it has been 3 years already!! My gift to Leon was a surprise trip to Las Vegas!!!! I have been planning this trip since August, and it has been really hard for me to keep it a secret! Leon was very surprised. He didn't even suspect that I had planned such a trip. We will be in Vegas from January 22-28, 2006. We'll be staying at Circus Circus, which I know isn't the nicest hotel, but at least it's on The Strip (and the rooms are really inexpensive!). Leon has never been to Vegas, and I was there once back in 2000 with my best friend Darlene. I am not a big gambler or anything like that, but just seeing Las Vegas is the coolest thing ever! The lights, the sights, the desert, the mountains...gorgeous!!!! I can't 2 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog wait! 2005 I planned a few other things for us while we're there, including a helicopter tour of The Strip at night, a "Haunted Las Vegas" tour, and a lunch-time horseback ride in the desert. We are both looking forward to the time away! I love traveling and I wish we had the time and money to do it more often. There are so many places I'd love to see. Some of the places I've been in my lifetime aside from Las Vegas include... * Myrtle Beach, South Carolina (My parents took my sister and me there almost every summer growing up) * Niagara Falls, Canada (This is the only time I have ever been out of the country!) * Orlando, Florida (I have been to Disney World twice) * Chicago, Illinois (I have been there twice also) * Washington, D.C. (Leon's brother lives in Maryland so we visited D.C. while we were there) * Los Angeles, California (Leon and I went to Hollywood on our honeymoon) * Pigeon Forge, Tennessee (I went there on a retreat) * Key West, Florida (I got to go there for a work conference and Leon was able to tag along) * And like all Ohioans, I have driven through parts of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky, Michigan and Illinois I hope to visit New York, the East Coast, Texas and Hawaii someday...as well as Europe -- England, France, Germany, Italy, etc. Maybe we'll strike it rich in Vegas so we can do some more traveling in the near future! ;) POSTED BY AMY AT 1:23 PM MONDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2005 My Best Friend Darlene Neff is my best friend. She's like a sister to me. We met in the 7th grade when we were 12 years old and we have been friends ever since. We both played the clarinet in the high school band, we graduated together, we went to the same college and we were roommates up until I moved in with Leon. We have been best friends for over 16 years! We have been through good times and bad times together. Most recently, we have been through some very bad times. In early 2004, Darlene was diagnosed with a type of cancer known as soft tissue sarcoma after a tumor on her leg was found to be malignant. She had the tumor removed, but by that summer the cancer had spread. She had a tumor behind her eye as well as lesions on her lungs and liver. That was such a frightening time. Darlene underwent intense chemotherapy for 8 months, where she had to stay in the hospital for a week at a time, hooked up to an IV with a constant chemo drip. She went through surgery and radiation. She lost all of her hair, but she never lost hope. Darlene remained so positive and determined. The doctors didn't give her a very good prognosis in 2004, but a year later she 3 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog was in remission. 2005 Fast forward to fall 2005. Darlene's latest scans show no cancer. It's truly a miracle. She is back at work full-time and her hair is growing back. She is a survivor. She is stronger than I imagine I could ever be. Here is one of my favorite pictures of Darlene and me, from my wedding on October 5, 2002... POSTED BY AMY AT 1:45 PM WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2005 My Job I have been sooooooo busy at work lately! (Of course, I should be working right now, but I am taking time out of my busy schedule to post this! hehe) For the most part, I really enjoy my job. I've been here over 3 years already (doesn't seem like it's been that long!). I am the communications director for our local homebuilders association here in central Ohio. My "official" responsibilities include making flyers for all of our events; preparing the content for our magazine, newsletter and website; handling a couple different councils and all of their activities; and helping plan our home shows, events, seminars, etc. We have approximately 1,100 members, made up of builders, remodelers, developers, subcontractors, suppliers, and any other companies that do any type of work within the home building industry (such as Realtors, banks, lawyers, marketing/PR firms, etc.). We only have 8 people on our staff though, so all of us do a little bit of everything! Work can be very stressful at times, with all of the deadlines we're under, and the whole month of June (when our Parade of Homes is going on, a show that attracts 40,000 people!) is crazy every year! But I guess it's better to be busy than not...job security, right?? I recently was chosen to lay out our monthly magazine. I am so excited about this because I LOVE layout and graphics! That kind of thing is so much fun!! Of course, this is a huge responsibility and means quite a few extra hours (and since I'm on salary, there's no such thing as overtime!). But I don't mind working a 4 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog lot doing something I enjoy. 2005 Yesterday my boss told me that I can go to the International Builders Show in January, which is being held in Orlando, Florida. How cool is that?! :) I have never been to this show before. Three of my coworkers will also be going. I wish I could bring Leon with me, but we don't get to bring our spouses. It looks like I won't be doing too much work in January! Two weeks after the builders show, I'll be going on vacation to Las Vegas with Leon!! Since January in Ohio is usually cold and dreary, it will be great to be in warmer climates during that time. I went to college to become a psychologist (I have a BA in psychology), but I've been working in communications since I graduated. After college, I found out pretty quickly that I had to have a masters degree or a PhD or at least be a licensed social worker in order to get the type of work I was looking for. I didn't feel like going back to school (and incurring even more debt from student loans!), so I took a job as the communications director for a commercial construction association. I stayed there for almost 3 years (3 years too long! I really hated that job!) and got enough experience to move on to a better communications position (the job I have now). So that's how a psych major ended up working for a bunch of home builders!! ;) My Office My Cubicle POSTED BY AMY AT 12:39 PM 5 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2005 WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2005 My Golden Our golden retriever is so funny. So sweet. I never dreamed that an animal could bring so much joy to a person's life, but she has! If you don't have pets and if you are not an animal lover, then I doubt you will understand what I'm saying. You'll probably think I'm crazy (God knows my parents and my sister do!!). I am 100% serious when I say that I believe golden retrievers are angels sent from above to bring joy into their people's lives. Growing up, we were never allowed to have animals in the house because my dad didn't (and still doesn't) like shedding and he felt (feels) that animals are dirty. It's ironic he feels that way considering he grew up on a farm! But anyway, we always had outside pets. My parents live in the country, so we always had a bunch of cats around. They multiplied pretty quickly...at one time, we had over 20 cats hanging around our house! It was pretty funny actually. When I was 15, I got a dog. His name is Harvey and he is still around 13 years later. He is an outside dog, and he stayed at my parents' house when I went away to college and has been there ever since. When I met Leon, he had a 5-month-old golden retriever named Goldie. His sister, Becky, bought Goldie for him at a pet store in Cleveland as a gift for the kids. Goldie was an EXTREMELY hyper puppy! I mean, she was crazy and out of control!!!! She shredded everything and made huge messes and jumped all over you and was just downright ornery! In fact, I didn't like Goldie at all when first I met her. I wasn't used to having a dog in the house and especially not a puppy who loved to chew everything. (Leon has never let me live it down that I was not a Goldie fan at first!) But it didn't take long for Goldie to win me over. Before long, she had me wrapped around her little paw! ;) I became her mommy and she became my furdaughter. She is absolutely a part of our family! Why do I love her so much? As a golden owner I know I'm biased, but I think golden retrievers are the BEST breed of dogs there are. Goldie is so sweet and kind and gentle. Goldens are wonderful family dogs because they are so easy-going and tolerant of children. Goldie has never once growled at us or tried to bite us out of anger (play-biting is a different story!). She has shown us nothing but love. She tries to climb up into my lap (all 95 pounds of her!) every time I cry and kiss my tears away. She rolls onto her back and puts her paws over her nose and plays "peek-a-boo" to make us laugh. She carries socks and dish towels and oven mitts and shoes around in her mouth to get attention. She knows I am terrified of bugs (I usually scream every time I see a spider or the dreaded silverfish!), and she runs to my side to step on the bug for me! She barks like crazy at the garbage truck (aka the "trash monster") every week! I have sooooooo many golden stories to share (and if you are not a golden/animal lover to start with, I am already boring you to death!), so here are just a few "golden" tales: * Goldie got in the cupboard at our old apartment one day while we were at work (and before we wised up and put child-proof locks on the cupboards) and shredded a whole bag of potatoes! Even though she's no longer a puppy, she still occasionally shreds things if she can get her paws on them. 6 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2005 * When we were still living in our apartment, Goldie woke us up in the middle of the night. She barked and pawed us until we got up. We turned on the TV and it turned out a tornado had been spotted nearby. I guess Goldie sensed the weather change and wanted us to know something wasn't quite right. We called her "Safety Pup" after that. * The day before our wedding, Leon dropped Goldie off at my parents' house for the weekend (even though my dad doesn't like animals in the house, he lets us keep Goldie in my old bedroom as long as she's baby-gated in). Traveling makes Goldie nervous. As soon as Leon pulled into my parents' driveway, Goldie climbed into the front seat of Leon's Explorer and puked in the cup holder!! * When Leon and I were loading up the trunk of my car, getting ready to go to the airport before our trip to Key West, Goldie ran out in the garage and jumped in my trunk!!!! It was the funniest thing ever! She was determined to go with us to Florida (she had to stay home with her Aunt Julie, who reluctantly agreed to stay with her even though she hates dogs). * Since Goldie is so big, she can stand on her back paws and reach whatever happens to be on the kitchen counter. We learned our lesson the hard way to put food out of her reach. She has eaten whole pies, plates of cookies and whole loaves of bread when we weren't looking!! Ok, I'll stop rambling about my golden now. I'm sure you get the picture. She's a wonderful pet and she has truly left paw prints on my heart. :) Here is my favorite picture of Goldie: POSTED BY AMY AT 1:44 PM 7 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2005 2005 More Pictures of My Family Here is my Dad, Joe, and my Mom, Cathy. This is my younger sister, Julie. Here is my Grandma, Laura (my mom's mom). My other grandma died when I was only 4 and both of my grandpas died before I was born, so she has been the only grandparent I've ever known. 8 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2005 This picture is another favorite of mine, Leon with Goldie when she was just a puppy. When I first met the kids, they were this age! Andrew was only 6 and Beth was just 5. And how they've grown! This is what Andrew and Beth look like now. This is Leon's whole family... (Back row, left to right) Leon's younger brother John - John's wife Karen - our sister-in-law Marjorie Marjorie's husband Rob, Leon's older brother - Leon's younger sister Becky - Leon's older sister Tammie (Front row, left to right) Leon - Me - Leon's mom Roberta - Leon's dad Donald - Andrew - our niece Jessica, Tammie's daughter - Beth POSTED BY AMY AT 1:46 PM 9 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog SUNDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2005 2005 In Sickness and In Health A week ago last Thursday, my great uncle Drexel passed away. He was in his late-80's and had been suffering from Alzheimer's for several years now. His wife, my great aunt Arline (my grandma's sister), had been married to Drexel for 11 years. When his Alzheimer's started to get really bad, she could no longer care for him at home so he spent his last years in a care center. Arline visited Drexel every single day though. She was very devoted to him. Even though his death was a blessing in the sense that he is not suffering anymore (he no longer knew Arline or any of his children), there is a definite void in Arline's life now. I went to Coshocton last Monday to go to his funeral. It was a very touching service. Drexel was in WWII so he had a military funeral. I hope that my aunt can find some comfort in the fact that Drexel is in a better place now. ******************** Speaking of sickness, my sister-in-law Becky (Leon's younger sister) was recently diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. This is such a shock and very difficult for Becky and the whole family. The doctor told her that she will most likely be in a wheelchair within 5-10 years. It's so difficult to comprehend this because Becky is so vibrant and active and full of life. I can't imagine her confined to a chair. It is so sad. Leon and Becky's older bother Rob is a doctor in the military, so he is going to take a look at her X-rays and give her his opinion too. She is also seeking medical advice from a specialist in MS. For the time being, there is no cure for this disease. Becky has a golden retriever named Bailey. Goldens are frequently used as service dogs for people in wheelchairs. I hope that Bailey can take care of Becky and bring her comfort when she needs it the most. ******************** Illnesses don't discriminate when it comes to age. My best friend Darlene was just 27 when she was diagnosed with cancer. Becky will be 33 in a couple of weeks. Drexel was in his 80's when he developed Alzheimer's. It's so easy to take your health for granted. I don't pretend to know what it's like to suffer from an illness like any of these. But I imagine that your health is like many other things in life – you don't realize how much it means to you until it's gone. POSTED BY AMY AT 7:01 PM 10 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2005 WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2005 Go Bucks!! I've lived in Ohio my whole life. I always knew I wanted to go to Ohio State after I graduated from high school. I never even applied to any other schools. I am and always will be a Buckeye at heart! Darlene and I went to the Newark campus of Ohio State after high school. We were there for two years, and then our junior year we transferred to the main campus in Columbus. I'm glad I started out small, but I loved the main campus!! Even though it is huge and there are so many students, I really enjoyed my time there. I know I'm biased, but I think Ohio State is a great school. I have never been much of a sports fan, but I still root for the Buckeyes. I have to admit, Columbus is a die-hard football town. It seems like the whole city shuts down when the Buckeyes play, especially if it's a home game. Even though the Buckeyes disappoint us sometimes, we all root for them anyway. Go Bucks! Leon bought us a giant inflatable Brutus to go in our front yard on game days! :) POSTED BY AMY AT 11:03 AM WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2005 Thanks for Reading My "Blawg" (and Other Thoughts on Accents) I was born and raised in a relatively small Ohio town, Coshocton. We lived out in the country, so I guess you can say I'm a country girl. I never thought I had an accent. But my husband, who was raised in the Cleveland area (Medina), has drawn attention to the fact that he thinks I pronounce certain words...well, differently. It seems that we Coshoctonians say words with a short "o" sound kind of strange. We don't say DOG. We say DAWG. Anything you can think of that rhymes with "dog," we pronounce funny – hawg, lawg, frawg, blawg. Apparently, we even say AWGUST (as opposed to August). 11 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2005 Even people from different parts of Ohio seem to talk differently though. My husband and other Clevelanders say their short "a" sounds funny! They don't say CAT. They say CAAAT (think of an "AAACK" sound). Therefore, any words that rhyme with "cat" are pronounced with a drawn-out "a" sound! :) So I guess I'm curious...do people from other parts of the U.S. and other countries think that people from Ohio have accents? Another thing I wonder...you know how when you hear someone who speaks a different language say things in English, they have a noticeable accent in the English language? I don't speak any other languages fluently (hablo un poquito español), so I couldn't judge this for myself. But when other Americans speak in Spanish, for example, do Mexicans (or other native Spanish speakers) think we have an accent speaking their language? Language is an amazing thing. The ability to communicate is really quite incredible. I know how difficult it is to master a second language. So for people who don't speak English fluently, they must be amazed at the speed with which we speak. Just like I'm amazed at how they rattle off a thousand miles a minute in their language! Meanwhile, my husband and kids laugh at ME for having an accent!! Go figure... POSTED BY AMY AT 11:21 AM FRIDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2005 Happy Halloween! Last night, our association had a Halloween party for our members. We held it at an old sanctuary that has since been converted to a community center and is rumored to be haunted! I didn't see any ghosts though, aside from people dressed up as ghosts! There were about 100 people there. We had food and drinks and dancing and prizes. I haven't dressed up in years so it was fun to do that! I was a vampire. Here is a picture of me, black wig, red blood and even red eyes (that part wasn't intentional though!). Happy Halloween!! :) POSTED BY AMY AT 1:11 PM 12 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2005 FRIDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2005 Where To Go From Here? This is very personal and I can't believe I am writing this here! But in my day-to-day life, I am very open with people about this, so why not on here too? I would love to have a baby. I'd love to be a mom more than anything in the world. But so far, that hasn't happened. I have something called polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), which basically means I don't ovulate. Last year, I took a fertility drug called Clomid three different times and I didn't ovulate. I was also on a diabetic drug called Metformin for a year too and I didn't ovulate (I am not diabetic, but Met has been shown to help women with PCOS ovulate). So according to my doctor, my next step would be injectible fertility drugs. I decided at this point in time, I am not ready to take this step yet. The biggest factor is the cost. My insurance doesn't cover anything relating to fertility treatments. We had to pay a little over $1,000 out of our own pockets for the Clomid last year. One round of injectibles costs over $2,000. Unbelievable, huh? One round. So if you don't get pregnant on that round, you have to pay another $2,000 for round #2. And so on. Invitro fertilization costs nearly $10,000. Adoption can cost up to $25,000. Unfortunately, this is out of our price range for the time being. The other reason I'm not ready to move forward with injectibles is simple: I just don't want to. I believe that people know in their hearts what is right for them, in their lives. At this point in time, treatment is not right for me. It is an emotionally, mentally and physically exhausting process. For those people who have never experienced infertility, there is no way for them to ever grasp the ache in your heart when you can't have a baby. Many people who have never experienced infertility always seem to be full of such "helpful" advice for people who can't have a baby too. ;) I know those people who like to give advice feel like they are helping, but they aren't. I've heard it all..."Relax and it will happen"..."Adopt and it will happen"..."Have you tried getting drunk? People seem to conceive when they're drunk"..."Go on vacation! People get pregnant on vacation all the time!" I try not to let these comments bother me. These "well-wishers" never seem to understand that doing any of the above still doesn't guarantee that my ovaries will work like they're supposed to. Infertility is unbelievably painful. But I'm not here to talk about how painful it is. I'm using this blog to talk about my life and infertility has unfortunately been a huge part of my life for over 2 years now. Two years doesn't seem that long. But I can tell you that 730+ days of infertility can seem like a very long time for someone who wants to be a parent and can't. (I know I'm a stepmom and I love my stepkids dearly. But being a stepmom isn't the same thing as being a mom. I am and always will be just Amy to them.) So the big question is, where to go from here? And the answer is, I don't know. But maybe it's ok not to know. Maybe when the time is right, I WILL know. I do know one thing though...if I am ever blessed enough to get the chance to be a mom, I will NEVER take that role for granted. So many women get pregnant with no problems at all, and I wonder if they know just how lucky they are? No one is guaranteed the role of Mom. It's so easy to forget that until you're faced with it. POSTED BY AMY AT 4:38 PM 13 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2005 MONDAY, NOVEMBER 07, 2005 Work, Home and Family Update I haven’t posted in over a week so here’s a quick update… Work: Since I’m laying out our magazine now, I recently got a new Dell computer and a flat-screen monitor. My computer has more memory which is great when I’m working with large files and graphics, and my monitor is much bigger which is ideal for viewing the magazine on my screen. I’m supposed to start laying the magazine out with Adobe InDesign, but I haven’t received this new program yet (I’m still temporarily using Publisher for lay-out). Hopefully, the program gets here this week! I’m also getting the full Adobe Acrobat program, along with Adobe Photoshop. Yay! :) Home: Leon and I are slowly but surely doing some remodeling/updates on our home. Our house was built in the early 80’s, so it’s a little over 20 years old. It had two owners before us, but fortunately it’s been taken very good care of for the most part. The main things we want to accomplish over time are painting all of the rooms, replacing most of the carpet and finishing our basement. We painted Beth’s room a pretty lavender color a while back (her favorite color is purple!), and we finally got around to painting Andrew’s room too (a nice grayish-blue color called “smoke blue”). This past weekend, we painted the baseboards in the kids’ rooms white. We want to replace most of the doors in our house with white doors (right now, we have dark wood doors which Leon thinks looks very 1980-ish!). I'll have to post some pictures of the house soon... Family: Leon and I are probably having Thanksgiving at our house this year. This might change at the last minute, but for the time being that’s the plan. We have the kids for Thanksgiving this year, so I assume most of my family and Leon’s family will come to our place. We had Thanksgiving at our house a couple years ago, and it worked out pretty well. I appreciate when people help out with the cooking though because unfortunately I am not known for my culinary skills! ;) I can’t believe the holidays are almost here!! I haven’t even started to think about Christmas and what to get everyone. I’m sure I’ll wait until the last minute to start my shopping, just like I always do! That’s all for now. Until I post again… :) POSTED BY AMY AT 11:06 AM TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 08, 2005 Perpetually Late! I am always running behind schedule! I don’t even know why. When I was younger, I made sure I was on time (or even early!) to everything. I hated being late and I hated when people made me wait for them. And now the tables have turned and I am the one always running late, making people wait for me! 14 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2005 I’ve never been much of a morning person, but it seems to be getting worse the older I get. I have a terrible time getting out of bed in the morning. I hit snooze one too many times. So I always start off the morning running behind anyway. I have the best intentions every day to leave my house by at least 7:30 a.m. in order to get to work by 8:00 a.m. In reality, my workplace is only about 15-20 minutes from where I live. But with all of the traffic in the morning (we live right by a high school, a middle school and several elementary schools), it actually takes me more like 40 minutes to get to work. Traffic truly is a nightmare in the morning. So as a result, I sneak into work about 10 minutes late almost every day. I am usually pretty good at getting away with it. Some of my co-workers also seem to run behind in the mornings, and our boss has sent us a couple e-mails encouraging timeliness. I guess my New Year’s resolution should be to change my tardy ways! Just another one of those things that is easier said than done though. So if you happen to be reading my blog and wonder why I haven’t posted in a while, it’s probably because I am running behind schedule again! ;) POSTED BY AMY AT 2:47 PM SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2005 Confessions of a Lip Balm and Caffeine Addict + =ADDICTION Hi, my name is Amy and I am addicted to Blistex and coffee. It's true. Let's start with my Blistex addiction, which has been on-going for 15 years now. When I was 13 years old, I got a bad case of chapped lips. I went to the Coshocton County Fair with some of my friends, and it was cold and windy that day. I must have licked my lips a lot or something because they ended up really chapped. My mom bought me a tube of Blistex. And it was all downhill from there! ;) Seriously though, from that time on I have NEVER been without my Blistex. I carry it in my pocket everywhere I go. And if I don't have a pocket, I carry it in my hand. I literally start to panic if I can't find it. And I get somewhat moody if it's missing! ;) I have blamed many people for taking my Blistex over the years, when 99% of the time they hadn't even touched it. I re-apply it every 15-20 minutes. I probably go through at least one tube a week. My lips start to feel terribly dry and uncomfortable if they are not slathered up with a fresh coat of Blistex. I have tried 15 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2005 quitting Blistex, but I couldn't get past the withdrawal symptoms of dry lips and moodiness. ;) I have read that lip balm is not addictive, but I don't believe that. After 15 years, I think it's safe to say that I am addicted. Now for the caffeine addiction. I have always liked pop. But I didn't feel the need to ingest caffeine until I started drinking coffee. I used to hate coffee, but when I was in college I worked in the coffee shop at Kroger and I started drinking it then. I have found that if I don't have my morning coffee, I end up with a terrible headache that nothing will cure and then I'm basically useless for the rest of the day. I love coffee now. I can't drink it black though, I need cream and sugar in it. But it really gets me going in the morning and I continue to drink it so I don't end up with that awful caffeine deprivation headache. That's my story. They don't have any BA (Blistex Anonymous) or CA (Coffee Anonymous) groups that I'm aware of though. So my addictions will continue. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go pour myself another cup of coffee and re-apply my Blistex. POSTED BY AMY AT 1:01 PM SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2005 The Starfish I came across this story a while back, and it brought tears to my eyes when I read it. It's touching because sometimes we think that we don't personally make a difference in this world. But if our life touches even one other person's life in a positive way, that is something. ******************************* While walking along a beach, a man saw someone in the distance leaning down, picking something up and throwing it into the ocean. He came closer and saw thousands of starfish the tide had thrown onto the beach. Unable to return to the ocean during low tide, the starfish were dying. He observed a young woman picking up the starfish one by one and throwing them back into the water. After watching the seemingly futile effort, the observer said, "There must be thousands of starfish on this beach. It would be impossible for you to get to all of them. There are simply too many. You can't possibly save enough to make a difference." The young woman smiled as she continued to pick up another starfish and toss it back into the ocean. "It made a difference to that one," she replied. POSTED BY AMY AT 2:59 PM 16 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2005 THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2005 Winter in Ohio (is it really that time of year again?!) I’ve lived in Ohio my whole life, so I don’t know anything else. But in my 28 years here, I have never learned to like Ohio weather. It’s too unpredictable. We had a really hot, dry summer, but the summer before that was chilly and rainy. Just a few days ago, it was pleasantly warm for November. Sunshine and nearly 70°. Today, it is COLD outside! In the 20’s and snow flurries. I don’t like snow. I have never been skiing so maybe I don’t even know how to appreciate the snow. It was fun to play in when I was little and it can be pretty around Christmas-time. But the rest of the year, I don’t want anything to do with it. I’m just glad I don’t live in northern Ohio! My husband’s family lives in the Cleveland area where they have snow on the ground alllll winter long. At least in Columbus it melts, even if it comes back again the next week. The worst thing is that winter chill. I HATE being cold! I would much rather be too hot than too cold. We have the kind of icy winter wind that chills you to the bone and leaves you shivering for hours afterward. Yuck. :( So I guess what it all comes down to is, I like Ohio itself but I don’t like our climate. Maybe global warming will result in Ohio being tropical someday. ;) Now THAT is something to look forward to! POSTED BY AMY AT 10:23 AM THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2005 I ♥ Scary Movies! I love movies! My husband and I only go to the movies about once a month, but we rent a TON of DVD’s each week! Leon has a Blockbuster movie pass so he can rent 2 movies every day if he wants. I’m a member of Blockbuster Online, which is very cool! You can find all kinds of movies online that aren’t always available in the store. My favorite kind of movies? That’s easy – horror!!!! I have loved scary movies since I was a little girl! I remember being 7 years old and claiming that “Children of the Corn” was my favorite movie. :) Although I’ll watch any cheesy horror flick that comes along, I prefer those movies that are actually scary. Some of the so-called “thrillers” unintentionally wind up being comedies. Just this week, my husband and I watched “Texas Chainsaw Massacre III” and I laughed the whole time. Nothing about that particular film was scary, other than the acting. ;) My favorite horror flick at the moment is “The Grudge.” In my opinion, this movie was really (and I mean REALLY!) scary. That little boy was terrifying! And I nearly had a heart attack toward the end when that 17 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2005 woman came crawling down the stairs!! I know a scary movie is GOOD when I am totally freaked out afterward. :) There is a great series on Showtime right now called “Masters of Horror,” which I highly recommend! You should also check out Upcoming Horror Movies to find out anything and everything you want to know about scary movies. The funny thing is, I hate being scared in real life. I don’t like feeling afraid of things that might happen or are actually happening in my life. But being scared of something that I know isn’t real is such a rush!! POSTED BY AMY AT 1:12 PM THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2005 More On My Blistex Addiction I recently posted about my Blistex (and coffee) addiction. I was searching the Internet for places where you can buy Blistex in bulk (I told Leon last night that a box full of 100+ Blistex’s would make a wonderful Christmas gift...and I was being completely serious when I told him this). But anyway, I came across this website: Lip Balm Anonymous I really can't tell if this site is for real or just a tongue-in-cheek look at lip balm addiction. I like to make a joke out of my own Blistex obsession, but I still believe that I'm addicted to it. I really do become extremely uncomfortable when I can't re-apply it. And I do have fleeting moments of panic when I can't find my current supply. I have tried to stop using it, but my lips become so dry and cracked that I am just miserable. I figure my Blistex addiction isn't hurting anyone. So I don't have plans to quit anytime soon. I did find it reassuring that other people also believe they are addicted to lip balm. At least I can present this as evidence when my family and friends tell me that my Blistex addiction is all in my head. POSTED BY AMY AT 4:46 PM 18 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2005 FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2005 Everybody’s Working For The Weekend… Is it 5:00 p.m. yet?!?! I am SO ready for this week to be over! The past 2 weeks have been very challenging at work. Like I mentioned before, I’m laying out our monthly magazine now. This current issue has caused me all kinds of problems, just one road block after another. I thought I was finally finished with this issue. Our printer came in this morning and looked at it and basically told me that I have to redo the entire thing!! Apparently, the photos, ads and graphics are too large and therefore the whole file is too huge to send to the printer. I’m new to this whole lay-out thing. I was sort of just thrown into it and I think I’m going to enjoy it, but it has been quite a learning curve! I didn’t realize I had to re-size photos, etc. BEFORE I inserted them into my publication. When the printer told me this, I thought I was going to cry! I told my boss that I am so burnt out on this issue and she understands…thankfully, she told me I don’t have to make the corrections until next week. I needed a break from the magazine today so I’m grateful that my boss is sympathetic to the whole situation! I won’t even be in the office on Monday because we have a staff retreat that day. We’ve never done this before. Should be interesting! It’s basically a planning session for 2006. And then we have next Thursday and Friday off for Thanksgiving. So at least it will be a short week! But even with the time off, I still don’t see myself slowing down. I have a busy weekend. I’m part of a volunteer group called TWIG’s (stands for Together With Important Goals), and we do things to raise money for Children’s Hospital. After work tonight, we’re having a meeting at a TWIG lady’s house to plan for our annual holiday bazaar which is this Sunday. So I won’t get home until late tonight. We have the kids this weekend too and that always keeps us busy. And I’ll have to be at the bazaar from 7:00 a.m. until about 3:00 p.m. on Sunday! And then there’s next week. Leon’s family and my family are coming to our house for Thanksgiving. I’m not a world-class cook so the idea of being in the kitchen all day stresses me out anyway! We have the kids over the Thanksgiving holiday and weekend, and they always have so much going on with school and their extracurricular activities. I’m stressed out just thinking about all of this!! There’s no rest for the weary. Well, I better get back to work now! ;) Counting down to the weekend… Can you tell how exhausted I am?!?! POSTED BY AMY AT 3:33 PM 19 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2005 TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2005 Happy Thanksgiving! It's hard to believe that the holidays are here again! We'll have a pretty full house on Thanksgiving: the kids, my parents, my sister and her boyfriend, my grandma, my brother-in-law John and my sister-in-law Karen (and of course Goldie!). Unfortunately, the rest of Leon's family won't be there because they have to work. My mom is making some of the food, which will be a BIG help! But I still have quite a bit to make. I am not much of a cook (I find cooking stressful as opposed to enjoyable), so I'll probably be a basket-case by the time we're actually ready to eat! ;) We get to leave work at noon tomorrow and then we have Thursday and Friday off, so that will be really nice. Speaking of work, I better get back to it! ;) HAPPY THANKSGIVING! POSTED BY AMY AT 10:11 AM MONDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2005 I Fought The Turkey and The Turkey Won Just kidding! ;) I just wanted a catchy title for this post! Thanksgiving actually went pretty well. Leon made the turkey so he gets full credit for that. My mom helped with the cooking too, which was great. Leon’s brother John and his wife Karen weren’t able to come after all, so it was just my family. I think everyone enjoyed themselves though, and we had A LOT 20 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog of food!! 2005 After we ate, I watched “War of The Worlds” with my parents and my grandma. I had seen it at the theatre over summer, but they never had. They seemed bored by it though (they aren’t big movie buffs like I am). Andrew watched “Billy Madison” with my sister Julie and her boyfriend, and Leon and Beth played on the computer. Exciting, right? ;) I’m back at work today. It’s going to be another busy week! I feel like I am getting sick too, probably because I stress myself out so much. My throat is sore, I have a headache, and I’m stuffed up. This is not a good time of year to be sick, I have too much to do! :( The kids gave us their school photos over Thanksgiving break. Andrew is a 6th grader this year, and Beth is in 4th grade. They are really growing up! Andrew is growing his hair longer. I can’t say that I like it too well, but he claims that ALL the boys are doing it. ;) Beth has braces now. They seem to put braces on so young anymore! I didn’t get braces until I was in the 7th grade (I was 12) and then I wore them for two years. Ok, back to the grind. Until I post again… POSTED BY AMY AT 11:09 AM WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2005 Out With The Old (Xbox), In With The New (Xbox 360) My husband got an Xbox 360 yesterday. He is so excited! :) He tried to get one for over a week with no luck (they seem to be sold out everywhere), but one of his friends was nice enough to sell his to Leon. 21 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2005 I’m not really into Xboxes, etc., but Leon and the kids (Andrew more so than Beth) love playing video games. In the early 80’s when I was about 6, my parents got me one of those Atari 2600 systems. In junior high, I got a Nintendo and after that a SUPER Nintendo. I loved playing video games back then. Super Mario Brothers and Donkey Kong Country were so much fun! My sister and I used to fight over whose turn it was to play, and I remember getting so upset when I lost. :) I must be getting too old because I can’t seem to grasp these new video games. They’re all in 3D, and I think it’s very hard to control the characters. I liked it better when Mario or Donkey Kong walked in a straight line, flat against the screen, with none of this 3D stuff! ;) So while Leon and the kids are playing their crazy, newfangled, futuristic games, you’ll find me in front of my computer playing old-fashioned games on MSN. I may not be good at 3D, but I kick butt at Scrabble! ;) POSTED BY AMY AT 4:25 PM WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2005 Is This What 15 Minutes of Fame Looks Like?? Last night, I was surfing the Net and happened to stumble upon the Numa Numa Video. Apparently this video was a big hit earlier in the year, but I never saw it until now. Some teenager from New Jersey, Gary Brolsma, is the star of this video. The song is called "Dragostea Din Tei" by O-Zone, and I believe they are speaking (singing) in Romanian. This reminds me of the Star Wars Kid craze, which was also hilarious. 22 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2005 I'm sure all of this is very old news to some of you. But for those of you, like me, who missed this the first time around - enjoy! POSTED BY AMY AT 9:09 PM SATURDAY, DECEMBER 03, 2005 Golden Pictures I have a few new pictures of Goldie that are too cute not to share! :) Leon took this one last weekend...Beth fell asleep on the floor next to Goldie. I took the next two pictures of Goldie and me. Look at her eyes on the first one...doesn't it look like she is thinking "I love my mommy"?? :) 23 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog She decided to kiss me just as I snapped the next picture! :) 2005 Goldie's not in the next one, but I thought it was cute anyway...Andrew and Beth playing their new Xbox 360. POSTED BY AMY AT 1:54 PM WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 07, 2005 Tis The Season There sure are a lot of parties this time of year! Because most of mine are work-related, I have to at least make an appearance. It actually gets exhausting! ;) We had our annual inaugural ceremony for our board of trustees last Friday. Afterward, we had to go to a party thrown by our incoming president. Yesterday, I had a holiday networking event for one of the councils I’m in charge of. Tonight, we have a holiday party for our staff, board and committee/council chairmen at an Italian restaurant. On Friday, my boss and his wife are having a party at their house. And of course, Leon has a work holiday party coming up too. This is such a stressful time of year! I wish I could enjoy the holidays more, but it’s difficult when there is so much to do. I haven’t even started my Christmas shopping yet. I went to the store one evening after work this week and it was so crowded. I hate how filled the stores are this time of year, it makes it even more difficult to get your shopping accomplished. We haven’t even put up our tree or decorated our house yet either. I’ll try to get that taken care of this weekend. And then there are those Christmas cards that have to be signed and mailed… 24 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2005 Christmas was so much fun when I was a child and could actually enjoy everything that this time of year offers! It’s no fun when you grow up and realize how much work actually goes into this holiday. My sister-in-law is coming over this weekend, and she wants me to help her make Christmas cookies and candy. Hopefully, this will help me get into the Christmas spirit because I am lacking that at the moment! POSTED BY AMY AT 4:04 PM WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 07, 2005 12 Steps… I love golden retrievers! If you know me (or if you even read part of this blog), then you already know this!! I like to collect golden retriever items. I have golden pictures, stickers, calendars, figurines, plates, shirts, etc. etc. In my cubicle at work, I have 17 golden items on display (I know this because I just counted them!). The other day one of our members was at my desk and he said that I needed to be in a 12-step program for my golden obsession. :) That really cracked me up. I don’t think my golden collection (aka obsession?) has gotten out of hand…yet. ;) Goldens are simply too adorable NOT to collect anything and everything golden-related. I am biased of course, but in my opinion there is not a breed more beautiful than a golden retriever. POSTED BY AMY AT 4:29 PM 25 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2005 MONDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2005 It’s Monday Again… Mondays are always difficult. I always have the best intentions to get up and at ‘em and get to work on time, but sadly that rarely happens. I woke up late this morning and snuck into work 10 minutes late (as usual). I was sick all weekend, which sucked. I have been battling a bad cold – headache, sore throat, stuffed up nose, sneezing, coughing, watery eyes – all the fun stuff! I went to bed at about 8:00 p.m. on Saturday and slept until 9:00 a.m. on Sunday. And then I took a 3-hour nap Sunday afternoon and still went to bed at 10:00 p.m. last night. My brother-in-law John and sister-in-law Karen stayed with us this weekend too, so I felt bad I wasn’t more social. I went with Karen to the grocery store on Saturday because she bought ingredients for all of the cookies and candy that she makes every Christmas. She did some baking Saturday evening while I slept. I was supposed to help, but no one wants a sick person getting their germs all over the food! ;) Andrew and Beth are taking tae kwon do. They took a test on Friday night to get their yellow belt, and they both passed! :) Leon watched their test. I didn’t get to see it though because my boss had a Christmas party at his house on Friday night and I felt like I had to make an appearance (you know how office politics are). This Friday, Leon, the kids and I are heading to Medina after work to spend the night with Leon’s mom. On Saturday morning, we are all leaving for D.C. Leon’s older brother Rob, his wife Marjorie, and their kids live in Maryland, right next to D.C. They want to get together before Christmas so we will be spending Saturday and Sunday with them and then heading back home on Monday. It’s a long car trip though…between 7-8 hours. So that part’s not too much fun! We still haven’t put up our Christmas decorations yet. The kids come over on Thursday to spend the evening with us, so I am going to attempt to get them to help me then. I can’t believe Christmas is less than 2 weeks away! And guess who still hasn’t started her Christmas shopping yet? ;) POSTED BY AMY AT 8:55 AM WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2005 Tuesdays Are Rarely This Exciting I have been trying to wrap up the latest issue of our magazine so I worked from 8:00 a.m. until 9:00 p.m. yesterday. After I left work and pulled in our driveway at home, I saw a Christmas tree lit up in the living room window! I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Leon had put up a tree and decorated it!! 26 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2005 He bought a 6-foot tree with fiber optic lights on it. He even bought some new ornaments and a tree skirt. I can’t say I was looking forward to decorating this year (I have been such a scrooge!) so I am thrilled that Leon did it for me! :) Leon rented “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” last night so we watched that. It was absolutely hilarious! I haven’t seen a movie that funny in a long time. Around 11:00 p.m. while we were still watching the movie, the phone rang. We have caller ID so I saw that the call was from my parents’ house. They rarely call that late so my immediate reaction was “What’s wrong??” When I answered the phone, it was my sister and she sounded all giddy. It turns out she got engaged last night to her boyfriend Jamie. Yesterday was their 9-month anniversary and he gave her a ring. They don’t have any wedding plans worked out yet, so we’ll see what evolves. I need to finish up the magazine I mentioned above, so I’ll end this post now. Until next time… POSTED BY AMY AT 9:04 AM WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2005 Traveling, Shopping, Partying (or how I spent my December) On Saturday morning, Leon, his mom Roberta, the kids and I all piled into the Explorer to head to Potomac, Maryland (which is very close to Washington, D.C.) to visit Leon’s older brother Rob and his family. Almost 7 hours later, we were there. Rob’s wife Marjorie is a wonderful cook, so we ate very well while we were there. On Sunday, Rob, Leon and Andrew went to a Washington Redskins game (they played the Dallas Cowboys – Washington won) while Marjorie, Roberta, all 4 kids and I went shopping. My niece Jacqueline is 2 years old and so adorable. She is talking up a storm and into everything! My nephew Joshua is about 10 months old and equally adorable. He was just a newborn the last time we saw him, so it was incredible how much he had grown. We headed back to Ohio on Sunday morning and finally made it back to Columbus around 8:00 p.m. that night. We all agreed that we would rather fly next time. It’s difficult to be in the car for that many hours! I missed work on Monday since we were still traveling, but I was back at work yesterday. I had my endof-the-year review yesterday, in which my boss let me know how much my raise and bonus were. I was pleasantly surprised!! My boss recognized my new responsibility of taking on the magazine. I love laying out the magazine, I am having so much fun working with InDesign, so it’s nice to know that my boss appreciates my efforts! 27 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2005 I did quite a bit of Christmas shopping on my lunch break yesterday and got a lot accomplished. I was a little worried since I hadn’t even started prior to yesterday so it’s good to know I am almost done now! We have Friday off work so I figure I can finish up my shopping that day. I’m taking vacation next week since the kids will be with us. We plan to head to Coshocton on Christmas Eve to spend time with my family. The kids come over at 4:00 p.m. on Christmas Day, so then we’ll head to Medina to spend time with Leon’s family. We don’t have plans for New Year’s yet, but I am almost positive we’ll stay in Columbus (we’re going to be pretty tired of traveling by then!). Leon’s boss is having a Christmas party at his house tonight. This will be the 8th holiday party that I’ve attended this month! I better get back to work now since I’m off next week! ;) Enjoy this crazy time of year. POSTED BY AMY AT 10:03 AM SATURDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2005 Merry Christmas!! Here it is, Christmas Eve again. This year has gone by so fast! My dad has always said that the older you get, the faster the years go by. I'm definitely beginning to think that's true! Leon and I are leaving in a couple of hours to go to Coshocton to visit my family. We're spending the night there and then heading back to Columbus tomorrow. Andrew and Beth will be here at 4:00 p.m. tomorrow and will be with us through New Year's. After the kids open their gifts from Santa tomorrow, we're all going to Medina again to see Leon's family. We'll be spending the night there and coming back to Columbus on Monday. And I am on vacation all next week so I can be home with the kids! :) I managed to get all of my Christmas shopping finished within two days! I waited until about 8:00 p.m. and then hit the stores. They were still busy but not nearly as crowded as they are during the day. I think everyone will be happy with the gifts I got them. ;) 28 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2005 Merry Christmas! Wishing you peace and happiness. POSTED BY AMY AT 10:02 AM TUESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2005 An Unexpected, Unpleasant Christmas Gift We enjoyed our Christmas. It was good to see all of our family, even though we are worn out from all of the traveling. On our way home from Medina last night, I had a message on my cell phone from Anthony, my best friend Darlene's roommate. I called him back and found out that Darlene is back in the hospital. She has been having pain in her legs and lower back recently and was scheduled for an MRI today. But I guess the pain got really bad on Christmas Day, so Darlene's brother took her to the ER. I don't know all of the details yet since I haven't gotten to speak to Darlene. But she ended up being sent back to the James Cancer Hospital here in Columbus and had to have emergency surgery yesterday. They removed a tumor from her lower back, which had been pressing on her nerves and causing her pain. They did not get all of the cancer though. I'm going to visit Darlene in the hospital tonight, and I can find out more then. If you read this, please say a prayer for her. The scans that she had done two months ago showed that she was in remission. The fact that the cancer has returned again so quickly is obviously not a good sign. She will be 29 years old in a couple of weeks. I know cancer doesn't discriminate, but she is so young to have to go through all of this. POSTED BY AMY AT 10:49 AM 29 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2005 FRIDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2005 Vacation Time Always Flies By! This week has gone by so fast! Vacation time always flies by. I'm actually looking forward to going back to work on Tuesday though. I'm ready to start working on the next issue of the magazine. It's a good thing I like my job!! ;) The kids have seemed to have fun this week. We haven't done anything too exciting, just hung out at home mostly. Andrew spent the night with a friend a couple days ago, and Beth is having a friend spend the night at our house tonight. The kids have mostly played with their new Christmas toys. Andrew has been glued to the Xbox 360 all week! He literally plays from the time he wakes up until bedtime. He is going to suffer serious withdrawals next week when he goes back to his mom's house and back to school. I have been trying to clean our house for days now, but I never seem to get very far. Our house is seriously trashed after Christmas. Gifts everywhere. And since it has been raining outside this week, Goldie leaves little muddy pawprints everywhere when she comes back inside after a potty break! My parents are coming over tomorrow to spend the night at our house and celebrate New Year's with us. We will probably just fix some food here and watch Dick Clark (or whoever his replacement is this year) on TV. Nothing too exciting! An update on Darlene...I visited her in the hospital on Tuesday evening. She was doing surprisingly well after having surgery on her back to remove the tumor. She was sitting up in a chair, and we went for a little walk while I was there. She got to go home on Wednesday. She will have to start radiation treatments again after the incision on her back heals. Darlene is keeping a positive attitude thankfully. She has been so strong throughout this entire ordeal, so much stronger than I imagine I would ever be! Well, I need to head to the store now and buy some things for our little New Year's party. Leon is home today so he can stay here with the kids and hold down the fort! ;) POSTED BY AMY AT 12:21 PM 30 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2006 SUNDAY, JANUARY 01, 2006 2006 Has Arrived! HAPPY NEW YEAR! We rang in 2006 at home last night. My parents are spending the weekend with us, and all of us watched the ball drop on TV and then toasted the New Year with champagne at midnight (Andrew and Beth had grape juice in their little champagne glasses). We even poured a little champagne in Goldie's bowl. She really liked it!! :) She drank it quickly and it must have gone straight to her head because she kept shaking her head afterward. It was really funny!! We are having the traditional pork and sauerkraut for lunch today. My mom is actually fixing it though. She offered so I couldn't pass up the opportunity to avoid spending any time in the kitchen. ;) However, my New Year's resolution is to cook more in 2006. Leon said that he will believe this when he sees it. :) (Everyone knows New Year's resolutions are made to be broken though...) I'm off work tomorrow and then back to the grind on Tuesday. Like I said before, I'm looking forward to going back though. I get bored when I spend too much time at home. I may complain about how hectic things can get, but in reality I would much rather be too busy than not busy enough. Well, I better go downstairs and visit with my family now. I hope 2006 brings good things for all of us! POSTED BY AMY AT 11:36 AM WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 04, 2006 I’m 0 for 3 on those New Year’s resolutions! I was looking forward to going back to work (what a glutton for punishment I must be), but yesterday wasn’t all that great. I spent all day preparing for a council meeting and it didn’t end up going so well. Sometimes people don’t seem to appreciate all the work that you do for them behind-the-scenes. I was so drained by the end of the day that I did not feel like going home and cooking dinner for my husband (attempting to feed Leon more than just frozen dinners was my #1 New Year’s resolution). So instead, I took him out to dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant, El Vaquero’s. My #2 resolution was to get to work on time from now on. I woke up at 7:15 this morning (I blame my snooze button for malfunctioning) – that doesn’t work out very well when I have to leave the house by 7:30 to get to work by 8:00. So I was a few minutes late to work again this morning, as usual. 1 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2006 I decided my #3 resolution will be the same as every year – eat healthier and work out more. It’s time for our treadmill to be used for something other than a place to pile our laundry! ;) I’m not sure I’ll have the energy to fire up the treadmill tonight though…I assume I will have to work late since I am on deadline (again) for the next issue of the magazine. Speaking of which, I better get back to work! POSTED BY AMY AT 12:41 PM SATURDAY, JANUARY 07, 2006 It's The Weekend Again This is the first weekend we haven't had the kids in several weeks. Feels strange! I got my hair done this morning (you didn't think I was a natural blonde, did you?!) and then did some shopping. Darlene's 29th birthday was on Thursday and one of her co-workers is having a birthday party for her at his house tonight. So Leon and I are going to that. It scares me because sometimes I let myself think, what if this is the last time we get to celebrate her birthday? I know none of us are guaranteed another day, but with cancer everything about the future is so uncertain. I'm glad that all of Darlene's friends and family are coming to her party tonight. She needs all of the support she can get right now. I only work one day this week and then on Tuesday I am flying to Orlando for the Builders Show. Three of my co-workers are also going. I'll be there through next Saturday. I've never been to this show so I'm looking forward to it. And then the week after next is Leon's and my trip to Las Vegas! I've been planning this since August so it doesn't seem possible that it's almost here already! I have to get ready for Darlene's party now. I'll write again soon! POSTED BY AMY AT 5:27 PM 2 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog SATURDAY, JANUARY 07, 2006 2006 Terminal. I hate that word. We just got home from Darlene's birthday party. It was a very nice get-together. All of her family and friends were there, and Darlene seemed genuinely happy. As soon as we left though, I broke down crying in the car. I talked with Darlene's aunt a long time tonight, and apparently Darlene's prognosis is much worse than she let on to me. Her aunt told me things I wasn't aware of. I can tell that Darlene tries to be vague with me when I bring up her cancer. Her aunt said that Darlene wants to protect me and not let on how bad things really are. The word that struck me the most tonight was when her aunt told me that this cancer is "terminal." When she said that, it's like I held my breath and my heart skipped a beat. I knew things weren't good, but I didn't know that her cancer was terminal. She had been in remission, and I truly believed that she could beat this cancer. Apparently she had known about the tumor in her back for over a month, but she didn't tell anyone because she didn't want to ruin anyone's Christmas. But the pain got so bad that she couldn't ignore it anymore so she had to have surgery. The doctors weren't able to remove all of the cancer. She is going to start radiation again on Tuesday and may do another couple rounds of chemo. But they also want to do some experimental treatment too since they don't know what else to do at this point. Darlene's aunt said that we have to spend as much time with Darlene this year as we can because they don't expect her to live through the year. I wasn't ready to hear all of this. Maybe that's why Darlene never told me in the first place. She knows that she is the strong one, and I am weak. She has been battling this cancer for 2 years now. This news isn't surprising, but it still stings. In fact, it REALLY stings. I have known Darlene since we were 12. I lived with her the entire time we were in college and a couple years afterward. She is like my sister. I love her. I am not sure how I can live in a world with no Darlene. I know all hope is not lost, and miracles do happen. But my heart is still broken. I know that I need to pray for her recovery, but at the same time I need to be realistic and prepare myself for what this year could bring. It takes something like this to happen to make you realize how precious our time in this world really is. POSTED BY AMY AT 10:03 PM 3 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog SUNDAY, JANUARY 15, 2006 2006 Back In Ohio...For Now Well, I'm back from my Orlando trip. My flight actually got in around noon yesterday, and Leon and the kids picked me up at the airport. I got spoiled by the weather in Florida for the 5 days I was there. It was in the mid-70's and mostly sunny...and then I came home to snow flurries and 30-degree weather. Yuck!! I appreciated the opportunity to attend this conference, but I can't say that it was all that exciting. Over 100,000 people attend this show, so it was overwhelming and extremely crowded. The traffic was awful, but we usually got to take the shuttle buses so at least we didn't have to drive in it. The opening ceremony was great. Colin Powell was the guest speaker, and he was awesome to listen to. I had no idea he was so funny, but his speech was really entertaining! I went to a few seminars which were interesting. And we had a cocktail party for our members one evening at Planet Hollywood. One of my co-workers and I stayed at the Disney Port Orleans French Quarter hotel. I thought it was a very nice facility. I wish we had the time to visit one of the Disney parks, like Epcot or the Animal Kingdom, but we really never had much free time to ourselves. I wish I had been able to bring Leon. It's always more fun to travel with him! But he and I will be on our way to Las Vegas at this time next Sunday! :) One funny story that happened at the airport on our way to Orlando... Even though I didn't set off the alarm when I went through security, I guess I was the random person they chose to frisk. I had to stand behind a glass partition while a female security guard completely patted me down. She commented "There's something in your pocket." I said "Yeah, that's my Blistex." If you know me, you know I cannot live without my Blistex so I have to carry it in my pocket! It just cracked me up that she thought my Blistex was a dangerous weapon or something! ;) I know this will be a busy week at work since I'm on vacation the week after. I'll write again when I can! POSTED BY AMY AT 9:51 AM SATURDAY, JANUARY 21, 2006 Viva Las Vegas! It's hard to believe that the vacation I've been planning since last August is finally here! Leon and I leave for Las Vegas at 7:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. Since our flight is so early, I want to get as much packing done today as possible so we don't have to do 4 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2006 much in the morning (neither of us are morning people at all!). We'll be in Vegas for a whole week, until next Saturday. I'll be sure to take pictures and post some on here when we get back. We decided to board Goldie while we're gone. She is going to be staying at a place called the Bed & Biscuit! :) She is such a spoiled baby though, I know she'll be very sad while we're gone. I hope she does alright there and doesn't sulk too much. Viva Las Vegas! I'll post again in a week. POSTED BY AMY AT 11:34 AM SATURDAY, JANUARY 28, 2006 Back To Reality Our vacation flew by, just like I knew it would. It was a jam-packed week with lots of activities and sightseeing. I wish I could say we struck it rich in Vegas, but that's not the case. We mostly played the nickel slot machines, but we still lost our money. The little bit that we did win was put right back into the slots and disappeared quickly. It's amazing how fast you can lose $20 in Vegas! ;) The weather was pleasant while we were there. The temperature was usually in the upper 50's, lower 60's, although it cooled down to the 30's at night. It's strange, but 50 degrees in Las Vegas feels like 6570 degrees in Ohio. So we could walk around with short sleeves and no coats during the day. The sun was out every day too, which was nice to see. We stayed at Circus Circus. The room was fine, nothing too fancy, but I couldn't pass up the $30 a night rates that they offered. We walked up and down the Strip and went in most of the hotels and casinos. We ate at a variety of different restaurants, including the Rainforest Cafe (in the MGM Hotel) which has a very cool atmosphere. One night, we had drinks and listened to a live band at the Starlight Lounge (in the Stardust Hotel) until the wee hours of the morning. Leon and I may or may not have had a little too much to drink that night, but I can tell you that we danced and Leon may have even attempted break dancing (remember the Worm?)...but what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, right? ;) We went on a Haunted Las Vegas Tour while we were there, which was fun. The tour consisted of a bus 5 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2006 ride around the city, where our tour guide pointed out supposedly haunted locations. One evening, we went on a helicopter tour of the Strip at night. We were probably only up in the air for 15-20 minutes, but the view was incredible. We also got suckered into going to one of those time share presentations, but we did get free tickets to 2 different shows (Splash and Crazy Girls) and a free buffet dinner at Circus Circus as a result. On our last day there, we took a horseback ride through the desert. I had never ridden a horse before (I think I rode a pony at the fair when I was little, but that was the extent of my equestrian experience). It was actually a lot of fun! I did get nervous though when my horse, Tex, took off running a couple times, which I was not at all prepared for! But I managed to get him to stop. Tex was feisty too. He acted like he wanted to fight with a couple of the horses on several different occasions, and at one point he got impatient and bumped the horse in front of me! But all in all, it was still a very cool experience. We ate dinner at the Top of the World restaurant at the Stratosphere on our last evening there. The view from this restaurant is beautiful, especially at night. The food is pretty expensive but very good and worth the price. I took a lot of pictures, so I'll try to get them developed and post some on here soon. I do have one picture to share for now. Leon and I found out that Elvis is alive and well in Vegas...at Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum anyway! ;) POSTED BY AMY AT 11:13 PM SUNDAY, JANUARY 29, 2006 It's Good To Be Home Even though we had fun on our vacation, it's always good to be home again. It was nice sleeping in our own bed last night (we have one of those memory foam mattress pads which is very comfy and hard to live without once you're used to it!). We missed the kids and Goldie very much too! Andrew and Beth came over this morning around 11:30 and spent the day with us. I took Beth to her soccer practice around 5:00 p.m., and Leon and Andrew went to pick up Goldie at the Bed & Biscuit (they 6 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2006 only allow you to pick your pet up between 5:00 - 6:00 p.m. on Sunday for some reason). I can tell Goldie is glad to be home! She looks skinnier too!! I know she didn't get nearly as many treats as she does when she's at home (I seriously doubt she got any people food either!). We'll fatten her up again in no time! ;) I have a lot to do around the house this week. I haven't completely unpacked yet and there is a lot of laundry to do and the house needs cleaned too. I imagine I'll have to work late a few nights this week, to get caught up. I'm looking forward to going back to work tomorrow though. I'm going to try and get to work earlier than usual tomorrow morning so I can start my day before other people get in...I'll let you know if I actually accomplish this! ;) I'm going to call Darlene tomorrow too and make plans to get together with her this week. I went to dinner with her one evening before I left for Vegas, and it was difficult. It was the first time we saw each other since I found out the "news" (that the cancer is terminal)...and now she knows that I know. I hugged her and cried for quite a while, and then I felt guilty because I know she needs me to be strong for her. I kept wiping tears away during dinner though, practically every time I looked at her. I hope I can put on a brave face for her the next time I see her. It's just so hard for me to look at her now and know...that she won't be here with me much longer. Here's a picture of the two of us that was taken at her birthday party at the beginning of January (the night her aunt told me Darlene's cancer is terminal). You can see that her hair has grown back (for now anyway, until she starts more chemo), and it's curly now (she used to have very straight hair before all of this). She has birthday candle sunglasses on her head too, in case you're wondering. Well, I need to get ready for bed. I think I'm still on Vegas time so my body thinks it's only 7:30 p.m. right now (instead of 10:30!). I'll write more this week and try to post those Vegas pictures soon too. POSTED BY AMY AT 10:42 PM MONDAY, JANUARY 30, 2006 There's Nothing Like a Burglarization to Start the Week Remember how I said I was going to wake up early this morning so I could get to work before everyone else? Well, that didn't happen (surprise, surprise), and I'm actually glad it didn't! 7 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2006 When I pulled into the parking lot at work this morning, one of my bosses was standing there and told me not to go inside because our office had been broken into! My other boss arrived a minute later, and the three of us went inside to survey the damage. Seven of our eight computers had been stolen, along with the monitors. It doesn't appear that anything else was taken. I just got a new computer and flat-screen monitor back in the fall, so it really sucks that they took these things! The police came to our office and dusted for fingerprints, but they didn't find anything. It appears that our back door was pried open because all of the other doors were still locked and there were no broken windows. The ironic thing is, our alarm system was not set over the weekend because we had arranged to have a carpet cleaning company come in on Saturday. We had given a key to the owner of this company so they could get in, but we decided not to set the alarm because we didn't want to give the company our security code. Even though the person(s) who broke in didn't use the key and pried the door open instead, doesn't it seem convenient that our alarm system didn't happen to be set? If someone from the cleaning company tipped off their friend(s), they may have figured that they could break in without getting caught. At any rate, so much for me getting caught up on my work this week! We ordered new Dell computers and monitors today (just like the ones we had before), but they won't be in until late this week or early next week. Then our computer people will have to come out to our office to reinstall all of our programs and restore all of our files. Thankfully, our server wasn't stolen so our files and e-mails are backed up on there. It's incredible how dependent we are on our computers!! There isn't much our staff can accomplish without using our computers. I spent the day filing, cleaning up my cubicle and answering the phone. I don't know how I am going to get much of anything done this week. It's disgusting that there are people out there who are willing to do things like this. They obviously have no regard for the mess they leave behind or for the people their actions affect. I seriously doubt these particular thieves will get caught this time, but I firmly believe that what goes around comes around. What an interesting way to start the week! The excitement never ends, does it?! POSTED BY AMY AT 8:52 PM 8 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 03, 2006 2006 Ramblings on a Friday Afternoon Another work week is winding down. We finally got our new computers and got all set up with our programs and files yesterday. So at least I was able to get a little work accomplished this week! I never did get our Vegas pictures developed. I think I have about 6 rolls so I’ll try to do that soon! (Don’t hold your breath though...I still haven’t even developed my pictures from Christmas!) We don’t have the kids this weekend. Leon and I are going to our favorite restaurant, El Vaquero’s, for dinner tonight. Afterward, we’re going to go see that new spooky movie (remake) that opened today, “When A Stranger Calls.” Yay! :) Other than that, we don’t really have plans for the weekend. Leon mentioned that we might do some more painting. We’ve started painting all of the bedrooms, but we haven’t totally finished any of them yet. And of course, Sunday is the Super Bowl. I’m not into sports, but I usually watch the Super Bowl anyway. It’s interesting to see the commercials and to watch the half-time performance (I wouldn’t want to miss any incidents involving wardrobe malfunctions). Leon is rooting for the Seahawks because he’s a Cleveland Browns fan...and of course, the Steelers are the Browns’ biggest rival. So he told me he can’t possibly root for the Steelers for this reason. (By the way, I knew that the Steelers were in the Super Bowl, but I just had to check the Internet to see who they were playing...so that gives you an idea of how pathetic I am when it comes to sports!) ;) I could care less who wins or loses. I’m the world’s worst sports fan. I always have been. I know next to nothing about practically every sport that exists. I never played sports, never watched them and I couldn’t speak intelligently about them if I tried. My stepkids are both into sports, and I feel terrible because I make a horrible soccer mom! ;) Oh well... So that’s the latest! Exciting, right?! ;) POSTED BY AMY AT 4:40 PM MONDAY, FEBRUARY 06, 2006 Coshocton Celebrity I talked to my parents over the weekend, and they told me that a girl who I went to high school with has a music video playing on Country Music Television (CMT). The girl’s name is Danielle Peck, and her song is called “I Don’t.” She’s apparently touring with Toby Keith as his opening act. I never knew Danielle very well, but I do remember her from school (River View High School in Warsaw, 9 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2006 Ohio). She lived right down the road from my parents’ house so we rode the same bus. She graduated a couple years after I did so I didn’t have any classes with her. I do recall that she liked to sing, even back then, and she used to perform in our school talent show. I’m not much of a country music fan, but Danielle’s song is nice. She has a pretty voice. It’s always nice to see someone from Coshocton make something of themself. I can’t recall any other celebrities from my hometown so I’m sure this is a big deal back home. I told my husband last night that you don’t usually see too many people from Coshocton on TV unless the show is Cops or Jerry Springer!! ;) hehehehe (sad but true!) POSTED BY AMY AT 11:22 AM MONDAY, FEBRUARY 06, 2006 Fun With Pictures! I was cleaning out my closet over the weekend, and I came across some of my old pictures. I scanned them in so I could share them with you on here! ;) The first one was taken when I was about 7 months old or so, in 1977. I was born in May and I believe this was my Christmas picture from that year. 10 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2006 The next one was taken when I was about 3 or so, probably sometime in 1980. Notice how my mom dressed me like a little hippie! :) The following picture was the portrait I had taken when I was a senior in high school, in 1995. I think I was 17 when this was taken. Do you like my big hair?? ;) As you may recall, it was the style back then to make your hair as poofy as possible! This is actually my natural hair color (brown) and texture (curly). Weird, huh?? Fast forward 10+ years later to 2006...here is a picture of Leon and me that was taken at the Stratosphere restaurant during our recent trip to Las Vegas. POSTED BY AMY AT 3:25 PM 11 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2006 MONDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2006 Must be the Weather... After several weeks of spring-like weather (which is very rare for Ohio this time of year), it seems like winter is back. It’s very cold today, and it’s snowing lightly outside right now. I hate cold weather, but I think the worst part of Ohio winters is the lack of sun. It’s always so dreary this time of year. The dreariness reflects my mood at the moment. You know the phrase “When it rains, it pours”? That’s how I’ve felt lately. Of course, the most upsetting thing in my life right now is Darlene. She was in the hospital again for 4 days last week because she had 2 blood clots in her lungs (pulmonary embolism). She was allergic to the medication the doctors were giving her to treat the clots and she almost died! Her organs began to shut down! Thankfully, the doctors realized she was having an allergic reaction to the medicine and they gave her something different. I spoke to Darlene yesterday and she said that she has so many holes in her arms (from all the blood that was drawn) that she looks like a junkie. Tomorrow, she gets to start chemo again. Happy Valentine’s Day to her, right? Even though other things in my life distract me, the pain of infertility never goes away for me. I can forget about it for a while, but it’s always there. I haven’t cried about it for a long time, but the hurt is still there just below the surface. There’s never a good time to start treatment again. That whole process is so painful (emotionally), I’m not sure I can go through that right now. So all I can do is wait. And I don’t want to go into this story on here, but Leon and I are also having some issues at the moment with his ex-wife. So that just adds to the stress and tension in my life. I hope the sun comes out soon. I miss the days when life was simpler. POSTED BY AMY AT 11:05 AM 12 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2006 2006 Happy Valentine’s Day! POSTED BY AMY AT 8:53 AM WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2006 Goldie's Eyes I’ve been worried about Goldie lately because the pupil of her right eye looks cloudy, with a grayish tint. I just started noticing this within the past couple weeks. So I took her to the vet this afternoon to have her eye checked out. It turns out that she has the beginnings of a cataract in her right eye. Her vision doesn’t seem to be affected yet, but we need to keep an eye on her. The cataract could develop slowly and never require surgery, or it could get worse quickly and require surgery soon. At any rate, we will have the surgery done on her eye if it comes to that. I wouldn’t want her to go blind! She is my furdaughter and I have to take care of her!! Goldie will be 6 in June. Apparently, it’s not uncommon for dogs her age to get cataracts, especially larger breeds like golden retrievers. I just hope that everything is alright with her eye and that her vision doesn’t worsen quickly. Just one more thing to add to my “stress list”...... POSTED BY AMY AT 2:35 PM 13 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2006 SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2006 Weekend, Here Again Darlene is moving in with her dad and step-mom today. They live near Akron, about 2 hours away. She's so upset that she has to move, but she can't afford to live on her own since she isn't working anymore. And her roommate actually asked her to move out, which I think is kind of cruel considering everything that is going on in her life right now. But I think her roommate is just scared...afraid of how sick she'll get and afraid she'll die at home. Darlene's family will still have to bring her to Columbus at least once a week because her doctor is here. So I hope I get to see her when she's in town. I'll make the effort to visit her at her dad's house too. It's just one more thing about cancer that sucks. Now that she's 2 hours away, I get to spend even less time with her. And it's not like time is on our side anyway! I don't know how much longer she'll be with me. Anyway...on a happier note, Leon and I are picking Andrew and Beth up at 1:00 p.m. today and heading up to Medina for the weekend. Leon's brother Rob and his family are in town to celebrate his son's 1st birthday. My nephew and niece are so adorable and we don't get to see them as often as we'd like since they live in Maryland. So it will be good to see everyone for a couple days. Have a good weekend! POSTED BY AMY AT 12:14 PM FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2006 Everything Happens for a Reason (Reading back over my post, I realize it sounds somewhat “preachy.” It’s about religion, a touchy subject. Everyone is free to believe whatever they want, and I am not saying my way is THE WAY. I’m just rambling about my own beliefs. Because these things are what help me get through the hardest times in my own life.) My title says it all. By telling myself this – by believing this – I’m better able to accept the things that happen in this life. So many things happen in our lives, in our world – things we live through or hear about or see on the news. So many bad things. Why? I don’t know. No one knows. I don’t believe we are meant to know the “why’s.” Not while we’re here on this earth anyway. Let me start by saying I believe in God. I have struggled with my beliefs over the years, but the conclusion I came to was this: It’s easier for me to believe that not to believe. 14 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2006 Everyone has their own ideas about religion. That seems to be the one thing in this world that no one can ever agree on. I guess what bothers me the most about religion is that people are always doing things – often terrible things – in the name of God. A big example that I can think of is 9/11. The terrorists believed that killing all of those people was their ticket into Heaven. Everyone is free to believe what they want, but if there is a God I can’t imagine He would be ok with killing anyone in His name. When I was in my early 20’s and went through some difficult times in my life, I turned away from God. I was struggling with depression, and my reasons for my so-called Atheism were selfish ones. I thought if there was a God, He would never let me feel as low as I did at that point in my life. He would never allow wars or murder or famine or children dying or any of that. One day a couple years later, I just changed my mind. I don’t really know what happened. Maybe I just wasn’t as angry anymore. I actually got down on my knees that day and prayed, something I hadn’t done in a VERY long time. I asked God to forgive me from turning away from Him. I asked Him to come back into my life. I really felt like the weight of the world had been lifted off my shoulders after that. Growing up, my family rarely went to church. Leon and I don’t go to church now either. I’d like to go, but Leon is always hesitant. He believes in God but he doesn’t believe in “organized religion.” But I do pray and I do believe that everything happens for a reason. I think God has a plan for all of our lives, but we’re not meant to know or understand His plan until our time on this earth is through. I can’t grasp what Heaven must be like, but I think it’s a place where we finally realize what our purpose in life was. Applying these things to my own life helps me cope. Darlene is dying of cancer for a reason. I am unable to have a baby for a reason. It would be so much easier if only we could understand what these reasons are, but I don’t think we’re meant to understand. Life can be so difficult. But life can also be so beautiful. It’s the most precious gift we’ll ever receive. That much must be true. POSTED BY AMY AT 2:26 PM THURSDAY, MARCH 02, 2006 Allergies(?) Strike Again!! I assume I have allergies. I can’t believe I would catch a cold every few weeks. I’ve been to the doctor in the past complaining about my (almost) monthly symptoms and he told me that I most likely have allergies. What kind of allergies? I don’t know. I would have to go to an allergist and have one of those tests where they poke your back with different things to see what exactly I’m allergic to. My best guess would be the weather. Ohio has to be one of the worst places to live if you have allergies because the weather and temperature can be so drastically different every day. It’s always the same thing. Almost once a month, I become stuffed up and my throat gets sore and I 15 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2006 cough and sneeze and get one of those sinus headaches. I don’t feel terribly sick otherwise, but my sinus/nasal symptoms are still a nuisance. I haven’t located a magic cure for this yet either. I’ve tried all kinds of different over-the-counter cold/allergy medications, but nothing ever really helps. I took the "100% satisfaction guaranteed" Airborne pills which are supposed to nip cold symptoms in the bud (or prevent them from even starting), but they didn’t work for me at all. I actually got terrible cold/allergy symptoms AFTER I took an Airborne. It’s like it caused me to get sick. They also taste disgusting! You have to dissolve the pill in water and drink it. I got the orange-flavored pills, and they taste so awful I could hardly get it down without gagging. I’ve tried prescription allergy pills and nasal sprays and humidifiers too. Nothing seems to work. I’m desperate for a magic cure! One of my co-workers said that her son uses a prescription nasal spray called Rhinocort so I left a message with my doctor asking him if he’d call in a prescription for me. I’m still waiting for him to call me back... Being sick all the time gets old. I know it could be much worse, but it’s still not exactly fun. My doctor mentioned once that maybe I’m allergic to Goldie. I just laughed and said that if I was, I’d just have to grin and bear my symptoms. There’s NO WAY I’d give Goldie away even if I was allergic to her! That would be like giving away your child!! And Goldie is most certainly my baby. So...for now, I just have to load up on tissues, cough drops, inhalers and allergy pills that put me in a detached, zombie-like state (or make me extremely sleepy). Either that or pack up my family and move us to Arizona or Nevada or some other state with dry, desert air – and unfortunately, that doesn’t seem like a reasonable plan at the moment. *achoo!* *sniffle* *sniffle* POSTED BY AMY AT 12:54 PM THURSDAY, MARCH 02, 2006 Wedding Bells My sister recently told me that she and Jamie, her fiancé, are planning on going to the Virgin Islands – St. Thomas, to be exact – to get married. They are thinking about going in November, the week of Thanksgiving, and then spend their honeymoon there as well. Julie doesn’t want a big wedding. Jamie has been married once before (he has two small children) so he doesn’t want a big wedding either. They don’t even want to invite anyone to their wedding! But I told Julie that I really want to watch her get married. She’s my only sister and I don’t want to miss it. So I hope that Leon and I can go to St. Thomas for just a few days to be there for the wedding. My parents aren’t even sure that they are going to go though. They’re disappointed that Julie wants to get married in a place so far away. My mom is also afraid to fly so it’s going to take some convincing to get her on a plane. Ideally, I’d love for my parents and Leon and I to all go together. We couldn’t afford to stay long (maybe only 3 days?), but at least we’d be there for Julie. I guess we’ll just wait and see. Julie and Jamie haven’t even picked a date yet, and they tend to change 16 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2006 their minds. A lot. So it’s possible that this wedding will never even happen (did I say that out loud?). But in the case that it does, I hope I can be there. ;) POSTED BY AMY AT 4:26 PM MONDAY, MARCH 13, 2006 Ants are marching... The kids were with us this weekend. Beth had an outdoor soccer game on Saturday, and it poured! She was a muddy mess by the time the game was over. It was funny because she even had mud on her nose! After we got her cleaned up, we took the kids to something called the Pet Expo at the fairgrounds. It wasn’t as interesting as I thought it would be. There were some exhibits, and there were a variety of animals there like dogs, cats, llamas, fish and reptiles. But I guess I thought there would be more exhibits and a lot more animals. The kids seemed to enjoy it though. On Sunday morning, Beth woke me up and told me there were ants in our kitchen! So I went downstairs to survey the situation. There was a trail of ants from underneath the refrigerator and through the hallway all the way to our front door!! I had just swept the floor so I don’t know what they were doing there. It has been warmer lately so that’s probably why they’re back. We have a problem with ants in our kitchen every year when the weather gets warmer. If you know me, you know I have a terrible bug phobia. I just hate bugs, no matter how small. Tiny little ants freak me out and make me very squeamish. So needless to say, seeing all of these ants disturbed me greatly! I woke Leon up and made him come downstairs to take care of it. He grumpily got out the vacuum cleaner and sucked all of the ants up! Of course, later that day the ants crawled back out of the vacuum and were all over the floor again. I cleaned the house from top to bottom last night, but I still noticed some ants here and there. I don’t know how to permanently get rid of them. We can’t put down poison or even use Raid because I wouldn’t want Goldie to get into it. Then, while I was cleaning the house I had the brilliant idea of supergluing this magnet back together that had broken a while back. I had this adorable basket of apples magnet that had fallen off the fridge and the handle on the basket broke off. So I thought I would just glue the handle back on. Well, my great plan didn’t work out so well. The superglue squirted out of the tube and got all over my fingers! Two of my fingers on my left hand were superglued together, and the magnet itself was superglued to one of the fingers on my right hand! :) It was pretty comical. I went upstairs and told Leon that I needed help. I’m sure he thought I was nuts! He poured nail polish remover on my fingers, and I finally got everything unstuck and was able to resume my cleaning. I didn’t get to bed until after 1:00 a.m. though because our house always takes such a long time to clean. I hate cleaning it anyway, so I procrastinate to the point where it’s really dirty and takes even longer than usual to clean. It’s a vicious cycle. When I woke up this morning, my throat was sore. Again! I am so sick of being sick with a cold and/or allergies. I just can’t seem to shake this stuff. I have been using my new prescription nasal spray called Rhinocort, but it can take up to 3 weeks to see any effects from this. So for now, I just have to tough it 17 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2006 out. If this continues, I think I’ll make an appointment with an allergist to try and get to the bottom of these allergies. :( I’m at work right now. The next issue of our magazine is due to the printer by Wednesday so I better get back to that. Hopefully, I can avoid ants and superglue and allergies for the rest of the week. POSTED BY AMY AT 1:48 PM WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15, 2006 My silly husband lost his wallet Leon lost his wallet. How, when, where and why have yet to be answered. He last remembers seeing his wallet on Sunday, but he didn’t discover it was missing until yesterday (Tuesday). I’m not sure how it never occurred to him on Monday that he didn’t have his wallet! ;) But anyway... We looked everywhere for it last night. We got a flashlight out and looked under the car seats, underneath the couch and cushions, in cupboards and drawers, in every pair of pants he owns, etc. I still think it’s just misplaced and it will turn up eventually. But at any rate Leon went ahead and cancelled his credit cards and requested new ones, and he got a new license today. Luckily, there wasn’t any money in his wallet, but it’s a pain to have to replace all of the cards that were in it. Leon told me last night that he thought someone picked his pocket at the Pet Expo on Saturday. The thought of someone taking his wallet at a pet expo is amusing to say the least. :) But I told him that couldn’t be true because he gave me money out of his wallet on Sunday! I was getting ready to take Beth to her soccer practice, and Leon pulled $5 out of his wallet and told me to pick up some Diet Coke while I was out. So somehow, he lost his wallet after this. Who knows?! It’s always something! That’s for sure. POSTED BY AMY AT 2:58 PM MONDAY, MARCH 20, 2006 A Rose By Any Other Name... In honor of the first day of spring, I wanted to talk about my favorite flower – the rose! I LOVE roses. I think they are so beautiful! I carried red roses on my wedding day. I also have a lot of rose collectibles in my house. I even have a rose tattoo!! :) 18 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2006 Ever since I was in high school, I wanted to get a tattoo. I always knew I wanted a red rose tattoo. I used to think I wanted it on my ankle, but I eventually decided to get one on my lower back so I could hide it if I wanted to. It took me over 10 years to get up the courage to finally go through with it though! In June of 2003, when I was 26, I was determined it was time to get one. I knew I wouldn't regret getting a tattoo. Instead, I knew that I would have regrets if I DIDN'T get one. I started researching tattoo parlors and finally decided on a respectable one not too far from where I lived at the time. I found a small red rose design I wanted on the Internet, and I printed it off and took it with me to the tattoo parlor. I went all by myself to get my tattoo! Leon wouldn't go with me because he said that he couldn't stand to watch me being poked with a needle! ;) I felt pretty brave though and didn't really mind going alone. I can't even remember the name of the guy who gave me my tattoo, but he was very nice and professional and made me feel at ease. He was a big guy with lots of tattoos himself and several piercings. He took the design I had printed off the Internet and retraced it onto the right-hand side of my lower back. I didn't want the rose to be much bigger than a 50-cent piece. He had me look in the mirror and make sure that the drawing was where I wanted it. Then he began outlining the rose with black ink. I remember him telling me that the black ink outline would be the most painful part (it wasn’t that bad). After outlining the rose, he filled it in with red ink and the leaves with green ink. He would frequently stop to make sure I was doing alright. I wasn't sure what to expect beforehand, but the pain was not that bad at all. A funny thing I remember while I was getting my tattoo......there was a tiny little black ant crawling around on the wood floor and I concentrated on that ant to get my mind off being poked with the needle! :) Although it did hurt, it wasn't an unbearable pain. It was actually a very cool experience. Almost three years later, I still love my tattoo and I am so glad that I had it done! POSTED BY AMY AT 3:14 PM 19 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog THURSDAY, MARCH 23, 2006 2006 At work... This afternoon at work, we are having a chili cook-off for our members. We had one last year and it was a lot of fun. We have about 15 people entering their chili this year! We have a local chef coming in to taste the chili and choose which one he likes best. This event is basically just an opportunity for our members to get together and network, which is what they enjoy the most. We have over 60 people registered to attend. We host so many events at work! Almost every day there is some kind of meeting, seminar or event taking place. It keeps us all really busy! Our web gal recently put pictures of the staff on our website (click on “Contact Us” which is the button near the bottom left-hand side of the page). Our association president also wrote about the staff in his monthly column, which will appear in the April issue of our magazine. Kind of makes me feel like a celebrity! ;) hehe POSTED BY AMY AT 3:36 PM FRIDAY, MARCH 24, 2006 Snowy Friday It’s spring in Ohio, but it doesn’t seem like it! We had a very mild winter with very little snow to speak of. But all week it has been pretty chilly, and today it’s snowing big fat flakes! It doesn’t look like the snow will stick...but still! It’s just the idea of it. I want the sun and warm weather!!!! I am just not made for Ohio weather. I’ve lived here all my life, but I really hate our weather. It’s just too unpredictable. I want to live somewhere warm where the sun is out most of the time. I told Leon that we should move to Arizona or Nevada someday...someplace dry that would be good for my allergies! But it’s hard to pick up and move so far away when our families are in Ohio and the kids are still in school. Maybe someday we’ll retire in the desert! ;) I’m glad it’s Friday though! We have the kids for the next 3 weekends because their spring break is the first week of April, so they will be with us that whole week. Leon is taking that week off work, and I am going to try and take 2-3 days off. We don’t have anything planned yet, but there are a lot of things to do in Columbus that we can take advantage of. I better get to work now. It’s easy to slack off on Friday because my mind is already in weekend mode! ;) POSTED BY AMY AT 9:19 AM 20 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2006 TUESDAY, MARCH 28, 2006 I am sick AGAIN! Arghhhhh! I must have the world’s worst immune system. If I’m not suffering from allergies, then I’m sick with a cold or the flu. I know I could be a lot worse off (I don’t have cancer after all, so what do I have to complain about?!). But still...being sick is never fun. I woke up yesterday morning with an awful headache and a really sore throat. So I took a sick day. Which is quite unlike me! It takes a lot to get me to call off work. But I just felt awful. I slept most of the day. I just felt achy all over and stuffed up and my throat hurt. I couldn’t get warm and I kept shivering, but I didn’t have a fever. Last night, I was so restless. I tossed and turned all night, and I think I woke up every hour. I finally got up at 3:00 a.m. and turned on the TV. I felt like taking another sick day, but I didn’t. I haven’t felt good all day at work though. I am still cold and my throat feels even sorer. Thank God it’s almost 5:00 p.m.! I’m ready to go home and try to recover. POSTED BY AMY AT 4:12 PM WEDNESDAY, MARCH 29, 2006 So now I have a "virus"...... I ended up going to an Urgent Care center after work yesterday because I felt so awful. The doctor did a throat culture, but he said that I didn’t have strep throat. He said it’s just a virus, but unfortunately it has to run its course. There was nothing he could give me. He just recommended ibuprofen and throat lozenges. This virus can last from 5-7 days though. I do feel better today. My throat is still sore, but I was able to get more sleep than I did the night before. When the doctor took my temperature yesterday, it was 101.5. So that explains why I was so cold yesterday. Andrew was sick with something very similar to this a couple weeks ago. He missed 4 days of school. So maybe I caught what he had. I was planning on visiting Darlene at her dad’s house this weekend, but it looks like that won’t be happening after all. Her immunity is already low from the chemo so I don’t want to expose her to anything. Hopefully I can visit her the following weekend. I miss her! I haven’t seen her in about 3 weeks. 21 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2006 Well, I better get back to work. I was pretty useless yesterday so I hope to get more accomplished today! POSTED BY AMY AT 8:44 AM WEDNESDAY, MARCH 29, 2006 I must still have a fever... ...because this picture that my husband just e-mailed me struck me as really hilarious!! :) POSTED BY AMY AT 10:58 AM THURSDAY, MARCH 30, 2006 I lost my voice! I know the doctor said that this virus has to run its course, but this is getting old! My latest symptom: I have no voice!!!! Of course, Leon is devastated that I’m not able to talk to him!! (insert sarcastic smiley face here!) :) I started sounding really hoarse yesterday afternoon and by the time I went to bed last night, my voice was pretty much gone. I’m at work today, but at least I have an excuse not to help answer the phones! ;) I am seriously contemplating taking another sick day tomorrow. It will be Friday after all, and I wouldn’t be missing much at work. What I need to do is buy some Nyquil or some type of cold medicine that will completely knock me out! Because I haven’t been able to sleep well for 4 nights now. I feel worse when I lay down to sleep. I woke up at 3:00 a.m. again this morning and could not get back to sleep. So I got up 22 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog and watched TV until it was time to get ready for work! 2006 My posts the last few days have been very whiny!! ;) So I apologize to anyone who reads my blog for complaining so much! I am not much of a trooper when I’m sick. That’s why it amazes me that Darlene has been so positive, so upbeat, the entire time she’s had cancer. I think it would be so easy to feel sorry for yourself if you were dealing with an illness like cancer. I guess that’s why I love and admire Dar so much! I only hope I can be more like her when it comes to handling obstacles in life. So anyway...back to the subject of anyone reading my blog. I’m not sure anyone actually does read it. I only know of one person for sure who checks in (HI SARAH!! *smiles*). When I read back through what I’ve written, I’m sure it must not be that interesting to the casual observer. I guess it’s more of a journal for my own purposes. Maybe someday I’ll read back over this and get a kick out of it! Or maybe I’ll just think the whole idea of blogging is really lame and sooooo 00-ish. Is that what we call the early 2000’s? The "00’s"?? I mean, I can refer to the 80’s or the 90’s but what the heck do I call the time period we are living in right now? The "oh-oh’s" sounds stupid! But that’s a topic for another blog entry. ;) I better get back to work now if I’m taking a sick day tomorrow!! :) POSTED BY AMY AT 12:38 PM TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 2006 I'm behind in my blogging! I know I haven’t posted in a while. That virus I had really kicked my butt! I was sick for about a week before finally going to my family doctor. He confirmed that I did have a virus (just like the dr. at Urgent Care told me) as well as a sinus infection. He put me on an antibiotic. A couple days later, my left ear started feeling plugged up. So I called the doctor again and he gave me another prescription for that! It’s been about a week since my ear has been plugged, and it’s still not 100% better. My voice finally came back though, which is nice! Andrew and Beth stayed with us last week since they were on spring break. I felt bad that I was sick for the first part of their vacation. All I did was sleep! I finally felt well enough to hang out with the kids by the middle of last week. We had some nice spring days so we went to the park near our house a few times. I also took them to see a new movie called "The Benchwarmers." It was cute. The kids only wanted to see it because it had Napoleon Dynamite in it! This week is already shaping up to be a hectic one at work. Since I missed 3 days of work when I was sick and then took another 2 days off last week to spend time with the kids, I am really behind! The magazine is due to the printer on Friday, and I am not even half-way done with it! It looks like we are having Easter at our house. Leon’s family is supposed to come down and stay with us 23 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2006 this weekend. I assume my family will be there too. Leon bought us a brand new, stainless steel oven last weekend. It’s really nice! I guess he’ll expect me to cook Easter dinner now, huh?? ;) POSTED BY AMY AT 4:36 PM FRIDAY, APRIL 21, 2006 TGIF! I haven’t had much time to post lately! I have been busier than ever at work. This is an especially busy time of year as we prepare for our big home show in June. We also have two smaller home shows in May and I coordinate one of them so that’s always a lot of work. It’s a good thing I love what I do because it seems like I work all the time!! I’m glad it’s Friday though! We have the kids this weekend. They are always busy with their extracurricular activities too. I know Beth has soccer and a Girl Scouts event at the zoo, and Andrew is the referee for two soccer games this weekend. Leon bought us a new TV this week! It’s the same size as our old TV (55-inch), but it’s not nearly as big and bulky as the old model. It isn’t a plasma screen, but it looks similar to one since it’s flatter. We need to get a stand to put it on though. It’s a very nice TV! Leon is really into the high definition channels, etc., and this TV has an awesome picture. It’s like having our own little movie theatre, which is cool! :) Leon is giving the old TV to his brother John since he has helped us so much with our home improvement projects. The "old" TV is still fine, there’s nothing wrong with it. Leon just wanted a more high-def model and the old one was so large. I’m actually embarrassed to admit this, but we have 6 TV’s in our house! That seems excessive!! Well, it’s almost quitting time and I have to go pick up the kids! Until I blog again... :) POSTED BY AMY AT 4:37 PM TUESDAY, APRIL 25, 2006 Cancer Sucks. Period. I just got off the phone with Darlene. Her doctors have decided to stop doing chemo because her cancer continues to grow and spread in spite of the chemo. I guess the doctors are trying to get her into some 24 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2006 clinical study at the University of Michigan. At this point, experimental treatment is really all that they can offer her. I don’t like the word "experimental" because it makes it sound like Darlene is just some guinea pig that they are going to poke and prod and see if their "experiments" do anything for her. I’m sure that being a part of these experimental treatments is a wonderful and selfless thing to do though. If you’re dying anyway, then why not try something that might help cure cancer in the future? At least that’s what I tell myself to help this all make sense. I know there are always miracles and there is always hope, but at this point I believe it is just a matter of time. Darlene is supposed to stay with me the weekend of May 5th. I haven’t seen her in over a month. I hate that she moved 2 hours away from me. I hate that she is dying at 29. I hate that I am going to have to live the rest of my life without my best friend. I hate everything about this disease. This isn’t the way it was supposed to go. Darlene and I used to talk about how we’d grow up and get married and have kids and our families would spend holidays together and on and on. Instead Darlene is going to die before she even got the chance to get married and have kids. And I got married, but I can’t have kids (other than my stepkids of course). How ironic. Life never seems to go according to plan. Some days we think we have it all figured out. And then something like say, cancer, comes along and we realize that we have nothing figured out. We’re just standing in the middle of this whole mess, thinking ‘Should I laugh or should I cry?’ POSTED BY AMY AT 3:47 PM MONDAY, MAY 01, 2006 This n’ that... I have been keeping so busy lately, so I haven’t had much time to post! Sorry for the lack of updates. At work, we’re getting ready for our big home show in June – the Parade of Homes. It’s a 16-day event, and we typically get about 40,000 people in attendance so it’s a lot of work preparing for it! I’m usually out of the office at the Parade site the whole month of June. Andrew and Beth will be staying with Leon and me the first half of the summer this year. We trade halves of the summer with the kids’ mom every year, but the second half of the summer is more ideal. I’m so busy with the Parade in June, I feel like I don’t get to spend as much time with the kids as I’d like. But what can you do? The kids’ last day of school this year is June 8, and they’ll be with us from then through mid-July. Andrew turned 12 last Wednesday. He will be starting a new school next year as a 7th grader, a middle school. I can’t believe how fast he’s growing up! Although it was 17 years ago, it seems like just yesterday that I was 12 years old! I remember junior high pretty vividly. It certainly doesn’t seem like it’s been 17 years!! It’s hard to comprehend how the time flies. 25 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2006 The weather has been very nice lately! I’m so glad that it’s springtime. It’s just so good to see the sun again! Leon and I went to the movies yesterday to see "Flight 93." It was well-done but obviously very depressing. Not that I wasn’t expecting it to be depressing because the subject matter is just so sad. September 11th was one of those days that you will always remember what you were doing when you heard the news. I suppose when an event is so horrific, so shocking, that it stays forever etched in your mind. Darlene is supposed to come to Columbus and stay with us this weekend. The last time she was supposed to stay, she wasn’t able to after all though. I really hope she can come. I haven’t seen her in over a month and I know in my heart that my time with her is limited. If she can’t come this time, then I am going to make arrangements to visit her at her dad’s house. Well, I better get back to work. I’ll try not to wait so long between posts next time! POSTED BY AMY AT 3:03 PM WEDNESDAY, MAY 03, 2006 Mouse in the house, thanks to Goldie! The funniest thing happened last night! It was about 11:30 p.m., and I let Goldie outside one last time before bed so she could go potty. Since we don’t have our backyard fenced in (yet), we hook Goldie’s collar up to a cable we have tied out behind our house and let her run around on that when she needs to go out. Anyway...Goldie scratched at the door to come back in after a few minutes. I opened the sliding glass door, she stepped inside the house and I reached down to unhook her from the cable. I noticed that she dropped something white on the floor. I thought it was a crumpled-up piece of paper and reached down to pick it up...until I noticed that the "paper" had a tail. That’s when I realized it was a mouse! At first, I thought it was dead. But then it ran toward Goldie. My immediate reaction was to jump up on the couch and start screaming! I can’t remember exactly what I was yelling, but it was something along the lines of "Leon!! Goldie brought a mouse inside!!" Leon ran downstairs and told me he thought there was an ax murderer in the house because I was screaming bloody murder! :) Goldie sat down by the couch, and the mouse ran in front of her and stood still. I remained on top of the couch while Leon grabbed a garbage bag. He told Goldie to "stay" because he was afraid she would chase the mouse and make it run. Leon put the garbage bag over the mouse and carried it back outside and let it go. Even though I was terrified of it, I was glad he didn’t kill it. Afterward, we couldn’t quit laughing! The whole scene was so ridiculous!! We realized the reason the 26 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2006 mouse was so calm was that it may have been someone’s pet. It was a white mouse, and mice in the wild are not white. I think Goldie thought she had made a new friend and she wanted to bring him inside. It was raining last night so Leon said that Goldie wanted to bring the mouse in out of the rain. Goldie is truly a "retriever." She loves to pick things up! I once caught her outside with a baby bunny in her mouth. She didn’t hurt him, she just picked him up and was carrying him...just like she did with the mouse. Goldie is actually very gentle and picks animals up very carefully with her mouth so as not to hurt them. I think she simply wants to play with them. She loves stuffed animals so maybe she thinks they are living stuffed animals! At any rate, even though it was hilarious it totally freaked me out. I hope Goldie doesn’t bring us anymore surprises anytime soon!! ;) POSTED BY AMY AT 9:54 AM WEDNESDAY, MAY 17, 2006 Almost 30! Today is my 29th birthday. It’s hard to believe next year will be the big 3-0. Time flies, that’s for sure! Happy Birthday to me! :) I’ve been so busy lately so I haven’t had much time to post. Leon and I went to Medina over the weekend to visit his family. While we were there, Leon bought his mom a Mother’s Day present and me a birthday present – he gave us both a new Motorola Pink Razr cell phone!! It is so cool! I love it!! :) My new pink Razr – ain’t it cool?! I’m on Verizon and it was time for me to renew my contract anyway, so I upgraded my package. I can now send unlimited pictures and text messages. My previous cell phone didn’t have a camera or text messaging, so I am loving the new features!! I also got some new ring tones, including a couple that 27 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2006 every horror movie buff would appreciate – the theme songs to “Halloween” and “Poltergeist.” :) I’m going to Coshocton this weekend to visit my family. This is our weekend with the kids and they have a very busy weekend with sports and extracurricular activities, so Leon is staying home with them. But my parents wanted to see me for my birthday and I haven’t been home since Christmas I think! So I figured it’s time for a visit. My sister wants me to meet her fiancés family on Saturday. They’re having some kind of a get-together and she wants me to come. Jamie (Julie’s fiancé) has two children, a 7-year-old son and an almost-4-year-old daughter so I’m looking forward to meeting my future niece and nephew. A couple weeks ago, Darlene spent the weekend with us. I hadn’t seen her in over a month so I was nervous to see her. She actually looked really well though! She has never looked as sick as she really is. She doesn’t have any hair, but she was wearing a bandana. Although she doesn’t have much of an appetite, she hasn’t lost that much weight. And she has always been fair-skinned anyway, so she didn’t look overly pale. She wasn’t even using her cane! She walks really slow and with a limp, but she forces herself to walk without her cane or wheelchair. Darlene is such a tough girl! It’s incredible. After everything she has been through, she’s still hanging in there with all of her might. We had a nice visit. She talked quite a bit about her cancer, but she talks about it almost as if it’s happening to someone else – as if she’s just an observer, with little emotion involved. Maybe that’s just the way she copes with it all. She’s trying to get into the experimental treatment clinical study at the University of Michigan. She admits that this treatment is her only hope and if this fails...well, she will die. Her cancer is spreading quickly and the chemo, radiation and surgery weren’t enough to stop it. So all we can do is hope and pray that the experimental treatment will work. Darlene has always wanted to visit Paris so her aunt bought her a plane ticket there. She said that she’s going to go after she finds out what’s going on with the Michigan study and when she can start that treatment. I hope so much that she gets to see Paris! My license expired on my birthday so I went to get it renewed yesterday. Visiting the BMV is always an experience. The people that work there are so unpleasant. They apparently hate their jobs. Not that I blame them, but if you’re in a customer service position would it kill you to be somewhat friendly? Anyway, I hate getting my picture taken so I knew my license photo would come out terrible. And it did. I’m smiling slightly as if I’m confused. And now I have to carry around this God-awful picture until 2010! Oh well! ;) Leon said that he would take me out to dinner tonight for my birthday. We’ll probably go to Olive Garden. That’s my 2nd favorite restaurant next to El Vaquero’s (and we just ate dinner there on Friday night!). At work, we get to choose a cake for our birthday celebration. I picked Boston Cream Pie so we’ll have that this afternoon. :) Well, I better get back to work now. Even though it is my birthday, I should probably try to do a little bit of work! ;) Until I blog again... POSTED BY AMY AT 9:11 AM 28 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2006 FRIDAY, MAY 26, 2006 Busy time of year...so here’s one LONG post to tide you over! My posts are most likely going to be few and far between for the next month. Things start getting really hectic at work this time of year. Our Parade of Homes (which is a huge, 16-day home show with about 40,000 attendees) starts on June 10th. I’m one of the lucky staff that gets to be out at the Parade site pretty much every day in June. ;) I guess it’s nice to be outdoors and out of the office, but it’s such an unbelievable amount of work that I’m always glad when the Parade is over. Which is sad because that means I’m wishing the whole month of June away and summer is my favorite time of year!! :( This year’s Parade site is only about 10 minutes from our office and probably only a half hour from my house, so it won’t take me long to get there at least. It’s a really beautiful site, in a park setting. There are 12 homes this year, and they’re in the $400,000 - $700,000 price range. Click here if you want to find out more about the Parade of Homes! :) My family has all kinds of things going on this time of year too. Andrew and Beth’s last day of school is June 8th, and then they’ll be staying with us from that time through mid-July. Beth is very active with soccer so it seems like she constantly has practices/games. Andrew is playing baseball this summer so he also has practices/games. During the day while we’re at work, the kids will be attending a YMCA summer camp. They went to this camp last summer too, and they seemed to enjoy it. We don’t have any vacations planned for the summer yet, but we’ll probably take some small trips – possibly to Cedar Point or Kings Island or the zoo or something like that. Leon’s 37th birthday is on June 6th. :) The kids will be able to spend the evening with us to celebrate their dad’s birthday. We’ll probably take Leon out to eat and then have a small party for him at our house. Goldie’s birthday is on June 11th! She’ll be 6 years old (or, actually, 42 in doggie years!). We’ll have a mini celebration for her too! :) She’ll get extra treats and a new bone that day, I’m sure!! :) I went to Coshocton last weekend to visit my family. They had a birthday party for me on Saturday night – it was just my parents, my grandma, my sister and her fiancé. We went out to dinner at my favorite local dive there – the Eagles! :) My dad has been a member of the Eagles for years. It’s a pretty rednecklooking place, but they have good food and you can’t beat the prices! I eat there every time I’m in Coshocton. :) Earlier that day, I went with my sister to her fiancé’s son’s birthday party. His son’s name is Andrew too and he just turned 7. Jamie (Julie’s fiancé) also has a 3-year-old daughter named Chloe. I had never met his kids before so I really enjoyed meeting them. They’re adorable! I also got to meet Jamie’s parents, his two brothers and his sister-in-law as well as the 5 dogs that were there! His family seemed very nice. As for Julie and Jamie though, I really think that’s still up in the air. They’re still engaged, but they don’t get along very well at all. Plus, my sister isn’t very fond of his kids so I find it hard to believe she’s prepared to be a stepmom to them. I seriously doubt they’ll get married in the Virgin Islands this Thanksgiving like they talked about. We’ll just have to wait and see... Our bosses are letting us leave work at 3:00 p.m. today and then we have Monday off for Memorial Day. 29 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2006 So it will be a nice long weekend! The kids are with us, so it will still be a busy weekend though. Beth has a soccer tournament both Saturday and Sunday so she has 4 games to play in (she’ll play in a 5th championship game if her team wins the earlier games). Leon and I are going to attend a brand new church on Sunday too! I’ve wanted to get involved in church for a long time now, but Leon has been reluctant. He believes in God, but he has problems with “organized religion.” He’s Lutheran (my family went to a Methodist church when I was younger), so I picked out a local Lutheran church and he seems to be ok with that. I’m excited about attending! The kids are very involved in another local Lutheran church with their mom, so they won’t be going with us to this new church. I feel that I need support from a church family now more than ever. There are so many emotionally exhausting things I have to deal with in my life right now, and I could really use some spiritual guidance to get through it all. Speaking of emotionally exhausting, Darlene is still hanging in there! She was accepted into the clinical study at the University of Michigan, and she’s supposed to begin the program next week. Similar to chemo, she’ll be hooked up to an IV filled with this experimental drug to receive doses of it for 24 hours. I can’t recall the name of the drug and it hasn’t been approved by the FDA yet, but it has shown promise in people with soft tissue sarcoma like she has. She’ll go back to Michigan to receive a dose of this drug every 3 weeks. She’ll be monitored at the local Ohio State University Hospital so the doctors can determine if the drug is shrinking her tumors. Darlene is very enthusiastic about this new treatment, and we are all extremely hopeful that this will save her life!! Another ongoing emotionally draining task is dealing with the kids’ mom. She and I have always gotten along just fine, but lately she has been very difficult (to put it nicely). For the sake of the kids, I want all of us to get along but it’s been extremely hard to grin and bear it recently. I don’t know what’s changed to make her act the way she has been but I don’t have the time, energy or patience to deal with her drama. :( Well...now that I’ve written a novel, I should probably get back to work (only about an hour to go before quitting time!). :) If you’ve read all of this, bless you! And if you haven’t read it all, I don’t blame you!! ;) Until the next installment... POSTED BY AMY AT 1:01 PM TUESDAY, JUNE 13, 2006 Just checking in... I have a day off from the Parade of Homes (actually I’m in the office through Thursday) so I can work on the latest issue of our magazine. But I thought I’d take time out to post the latest. ;) Things have been busy as usual. The Parade seems to be doing well so far. We had a really good turnout opening weekend. Last week was crazy, preparing for the opening, but I survived! I’ll be glad when the whole thing is over though!! 30 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2006 Andrew and Beth are staying with us now. I drop them off at their sports camp at the Y before work, and Leon is usually the one who picks them up after work. They get to play outside and spend time with other kids, so they seem to enjoy it. My sister and Jamie will be in Columbus tonight. The three of us are actually going to a concert. My sister loves Rob Thomas (from Matchbox 20), and he and Jewel are in town tonight. I’m meeting Julie and Jamie at the concert after work. On a completely different subject...I stumbled across my high school’s alumni website this morning. I logged onto MySpace to see if I had any new messages there (I didn’t), and I checked out the MySpace forum for my high school. Someone posted the link for River View’s alumni website. If nothing else, it’s interesting to see where the people I went to school with ended up. Well, I better get back to work. Shhhh, don't tell anyone you saw me here!! ;) POSTED BY AMY AT 3:54 PM TUESDAY, JUNE 20, 2006 We got our picket fence! Isn’t that the American dream?? :) Well, we finally got our backyard fenced in. Leon did computer work for a local nursery, and as a trade they installed a picket fence for us last Friday. Last fall, this nursery installed all new landscaping in our front yard, including a new walk-way to our front porch with brick pavers. It’s very nice. We’ve gotten thousands of dollars of landscaping done free of charge! Of course, Leon has probably put in thousands of hours working on their computers, network, website, etc. so he’s definitely earned it all. Goldie is very happy! She loves being able to run around the entire backyard. We used to tie her to a cable when she had to potty outside, but now she has free reign of the whole backyard. :) I don’t have any pictures of our new fence yet, but here is a cute shot of Goldie "standing guard" on our front porch. She is so vicious! ;) POSTED BY AMY AT 10:21 AM 31 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2006 THURSDAY, JUNE 29, 2006 {sigh of relief} The Parade is over! The Parade of Homes is behind us for another year. I am so relieved! I’ve come to dread this time of year and all of the work associated with getting a Parade site ready for about 40,000 people. I’m always so grateful to have it over with! Next year’s Parade will be in Grove City. We have to begin planning the 2007 event by the end of this summer! Here’s a picture of me at the Parade (in the ticket booth) that someone took last week. I look exhausted, don’t I? Hopefully, things will be calm at work for the rest of the summer. The phones aren’t ringing much, which is a nice change! The kids are only with us for about 2 more weeks, and then they’ll go back to their mom’s. Their half of the summer with us has flown by since we’ve all been so busy! Beth got her braces off yesterday. She’s only 10-1/2 and she wore them for less than a year. Her teeth look beautiful! I’ll have to take a picture of her new smile and post it on here soon. :) I got braces the summer before 7th grade (when I was 12) and didn’t get them off until the summer before 9th grade, when I was 14. Two years vs. less than 12 months! It’s amazing how quickly the kids get their braces on and off now. Andrew and Beth both have colds right now. They are coughing and sneezing up a storm! I’m sure Leon and I will be sick before long too. :( The kids both stayed home from camp today to rest. Andrew has a baseball game tonight so hopefully he feels better by then. Leon’s mom and sister Becky are coming to Columbus tomorrow and will be staying with us through Saturday. Tomorrow night, all of us are going to a concert at Germain Amphitheater – Chicago and Huey Lewis & The News will be performing. Becky is bringing her golden retriever Bailey to Columbus too, so Goldie will be able to play with her cousin while we’re at the concert! Darlene went to Michigan yesterday to get her second treatment of the experimental drug she’s been taking. She’ll have scans done in another week or so to find out if the drug is helping. Unfortunately, this particular drug has made her very sick – it seems to be even worse than the chemo for her. A couple of her friends that she used to work with are holding a golf outing/dinner benefit for her on Saturday, July 15th. Even though none of us play golf, I decided to sign Leon, the kids and myself up for a golf foursome. I’ve never played anything other than miniature golf, but I figured what the heck! It will be fun and the money is all going to help pay for Darlene’s medical bills. I better try to get some work done. I’ll try to post more frequently now that the Parade’s over. And maybe 32 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2006 I’ll finally have time to develop and post those Vegas pictures (from January!) that I promised you! ;) Until next time… POSTED BY AMY AT 11:37 AM WEDNESDAY, JULY 05, 2006 Happy 4th of July! It was nice having a four-day weekend for the Fourth of July! I feel like I was finally able to get rested and recover fully from the Parade of Homes! Leon’s mom and sister Becky came over Friday night, and we all went to Germain Amphitheater to see Huey Lewis & The News and Chicago perform. It was a good concert, although the kids got bored. That obviously isn’t their kind of music! ;) Becky brought her golden retriever Bailey, so Goldie enjoyed playing with him! Both goldens were very well-behaved and had a blast running around our newly-fenced backyard! :) On Sunday, Leon and I took the kids to see the new Superman movie. I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but it was actually a very entertaining movie! On Monday, the four of us went bowling. I hadn’t been bowling in almost 10 years, but I bowled better than I thought I would. We all had a really good time and decided we’ll have to go bowling more often! :) Andrew and Beth were with their mom for the Fourth of July, so Leon and I just stayed at home and relaxed. We watched movies and took naps and pretty much did nothing at all, which was nice for a change! The kids are only with us for a week and a half more, and then they’ll go back to their mom’s for the rest of the summer. I’m going to miss them being around every day! I’ve gotten used to having them there. We have fun together. The kids are very entertaining and are always making me laugh! :) We decided not to play golf in Darlene’s benefit outing after all. It would have been fun, but unfortunately we didn’t have the things we’d need (like clubs and shoes, etc.) since we never play golf. After the golf outing, there will be a dinner which also raises money for Darlene’s medical bills so the four of us will 33 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog attend that instead. That’s all for now! POSTED BY AMY AT 11:57 AM 2006 WEDNESDAY, JULY 05, 2006 So long Harvey! My parents’ dog, Harvey, has been missing for about a month now. Harvey was an outside dog, and he broke his chain and ran away several weeks ago. He had run away in the past but was never gone for this long. My dad said that animals often sense when they are going to die, and they’ll run away to die alone. I hope Harvey is at peace now. He was an old dog and not in very good shape. His back legs shook, and he couldn’t stand or walk for very long (which is why it seems so strange that he would be able to run away very far!). He didn’t seem to be able to hear at all anymore either. Harvey used to be my dog when I still lived at home. Harvey was one of our neighbors’ puppies, born in May of 1992. I got him that summer. He was a Chow/German Shepherd mix. He was short and stocky like a Chow, but if you made his ears stand up, he looked like a German Shepherd! He also had fur like a Shepherd. He was a sweet dog. My dad never allowed us to have animals in the house though, so that’s why Harvey had to stay outside. Even though he had a hard life in the sense that he was outside in the cold, snow, ice, rain and heat over the years, he still lived for 14 years! That’s a pretty decent life span for a dog. My parents said that they miss having Harvey around, but they don’t plan on getting anymore dogs. Here is a recent picture of Harvey that I took with my cell phone, just a couple weeks before he ran away. He will be missed! POSTED BY AMY AT 1:55 PM 34 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog SUNDAY, JULY 16, 2006 2006 Everything feels like it's ending... Yesterday was the golf outing and dinner benefit to raise money for Darlene's medical bills. I didn't golf, but I still went to the golf course around noon yesterday and helped sell 50-50 raffle tickets to raise money. Leon, the kids and my parents met me at the golf club that afternoon, and we had dinner there. There were close to 100 people at the dinner, and the people hosting it said that they raised "thousands of dollars." So although I don't know the exact amount, I know that every little bit helps with Darlene's medical bills. Darlene's first clinical study/experimental treatment made her too sick, so she wasn't able to proceed. It was actually doing more damage to her liver and making her blood counts drop too low. She has to go back to Michigan this week, and they're going to try a different combination of drugs. I hadn't seen her in over a month, so seeing her yesterday was difficult. Since she has been so sick and unable to eat much, she has lost about 30 pounds. She has her hair (it's very short and very fine), but she is so tired and has no energy at all. Since her blood counts are so low, she is very weak and can hardly walk. It is so unbelievably sad to see her like this. I really feel that she doesn't have much time left. Unless the treatment she will be trying in Michigan this week is a miracle drug, it's very apparent that her body is failing her. It breaks my heart and makes me so sick to see her like this. Moving on to another subject...today is our last day with the kids. Our half of the summer with them is already over! They go back to their mom's house at 6:00 p.m. today and will spend the rest of the summer with her. We'll still get to see them every other weekend and one evening a week and alternating holidays like we usually do, but it still makes me sad. We've gotten so used to having the kids around every day, and Leon and I are both going to miss them. So I definitely feel sad today and a sense of loss. It feels like everything is coming to an end. POSTED BY AMY AT 4:40 PM FRIDAY, JULY 21, 2006 Summer is flying by! Things seem to be back to normal at work...and by normal, I mean busy. We had a brief (2 weeks, if that) period of time right after the Parade of Homes ended when we weren’t busy at all. Then things seemed to pick right back up again. We’re back to the usual crazy, hectic schedule of constant meetings and/or events. I’m glad it’s Friday! 35 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2006 We don’t have the kids this weekend. They’re actually going on vacation with their mom next week to West Virginia to visit some family there. Leon and I were hoping to take the kids on a small trip this summer, even if it’s just to Cedar Point or King’s Island or something like that. But the summer’s already half over! It’s hard to believe. This has been the summer of weddings...of course, I haven’t actually been to any of these weddings, I just know a lot of people who got married! My cousin Jenna married her long-time boyfriend in June. They got married somewhere in the Virgin Islands though, so none of our family attended. They’re having a reception in Cincinnati (which is where they live) at the end of August. A friend of my sister and mine who we went to school with (Jimmy) also got married in June. But he lives in Los Angeles now and was married there, so we didn’t get to go to that wedding either. The last wedding we weren’t invited to because it was that of my sister’s ex-boyfriend Craig! He also got married in June to a woman he’s been dating for a couple years or so. Julie and Craig dated on and off for about 4 years, and I thought they’d end up getting married but it didn’t work out for them. I always liked Craig a lot...he was like a brother to me because he was always around! My parents and I really missed him when he and Julie broke up. I actually sent him a card for his wedding, and he sent me a thank you note and said that he would like to visit Leon and me when he’s in Columbus. It would be great to see him again...but shhhh, don’t tell my sister! ;) She doesn’t like anyone in our family talking to him now, although she’s the one who broke up with him! Speaking of my sister, I don’t know if she and Jamie will end up getting married or not. They’re still engaged, but they decided not to get married in the Virgin Islands this Thanksgiving after all. There are no immediate plans for them to get married, which is probably for the best! They fight all the time (but you didn’t hear that from me!). ;) Well, I better get to work and finish up for the day! POSTED BY AMY AT 2:54 PM FRIDAY, JULY 28, 2006 Columbus: #8 Best Big City in the U.S. I thought this was interesting. Money Magazine recently picked the 10 best big cities in the United States, and Columbus, Ohio was ranked #8. It’s nice to know I live in one of the best big cities in the U.S! :) I love Columbus. I’ve lived here for 9 years now. My hometown of Coshocton was so small, but of course I never realized that until I left it. But now that I’ve lived in Columbus for so long, I could never live in a 36 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2006 small town again. I would never be content. I love being close to all kinds of different restaurants and stores and things to do. My parents have lived in Coshocton their whole lives so they don’t really care for the “big city life” that Columbus offers. They think the traffic here is terrible. There is a lot of traffic, but I’ve been to bigger cities (Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles, for example) and our traffic is nothing compared to theirs! Even though Columbus is considered a “big city,” it doesn’t feel that big when you live here. I think it’s because it’s so spread out. Our downtown is really not that large (nothing like New York City or even Cleveland!), but Columbus is made up of so many different suburbs that it appears to be much bigger than it feels. All of the suburbs are like their own little self-contained towns, so I never feel like I’m living in a huge city. Of course, Ohio’s weather is the worst part of living here in my opinion. If we could have weather like Las Vegas (that dry, desert heat is excellent for my allergies!), then I think Columbus would truly be the perfect place to live! :) POSTED BY AMY AT 9:33 AM THURSDAY, AUGUST 03, 2006 Exciting News!!!! We haven’t told everyone about this yet, but I am so excited I want to share the news with as many people as possible! Leon and I have decided to adopt a baby!! We are in the process of adopting a baby girl from Russia. It’s a long process, but hopefully (God willing!) she will be home with us by Christmas 2007. :) :) :) :) I already started a separate blog about our adoption journey. It’s entitled “Our Journey to Elena” because we have decided to name our daughter Elena Marie. We realize that she will already have a Russian name, but we plan to change her name and possibly move her Russian name to her middle name. So more than likely, she’ll end up with two middle names. I won’t go into all of the details here because I’ve already written quite a bit about the whole process on my other blog. But we’re working with a local adoption agency called European Adoption Consultants, Inc. We want to adopt an infant girl, although by the time we bring her home she’ll probably be anywhere from 12-16 months old. We have to travel to Russia twice, and we can bring her home with us on our second trip there. There is A LOT of paperwork involved with the adoption process! I’ve already started to tackle some of it. We’re trying to raise money for the adoption, starting with our upcoming garage sale on August 19 and 20. If you know me (or if you’ve read my previous posts), you know that Leon and I have been trying to have a baby pretty much ever since we got married. I have polycystic ovarian syndrome, which basically means I don’t ovulate. I did some fertility treatments a couple years ago, but it was the most emotionally exhausting process I have ever been through. I decided that I don’t want to pursue further treatments at 37 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2006 this time. But I still want to be a mother more than anything!! And I realized that I don’t need to get pregnant to become a mom. Adoption is an incredible thing and I feel very much like an expectant mother right now! I know my daughter is out there, already born or waiting to be born, and I know we’ll eventually bring her home. :) Leon and I decided to pursue international adoption as opposed to domestic adoption. There’s nothing wrong with the domestic route, but we just don’t feel that it’s right for us. Our concerns about domestic adoption are how long it might take to adopt a baby in the United States (there are obviously MANY people in the U.S. who want to adopt), the need to be “chosen” by the birth mother/parents (what are our chances of being picked over the thousands of others who also want to be chosen?), the birth mother/parents changing their minds after the baby is born (I’m not sure I could stand such a heartbreak!) and the possibility of the birth mother/parents contacting our child (this is just not something we’re comfortable with). Since we’re still in the early stages of the adoption process, we haven’t told many people about this. We haven’t told Andrew and Beth yet. We think they’ll be thrilled, but we’re waiting for the right time to tell them. I told my parents and sister, but we haven’t said anything to Leon’s family yet. His mother is adopted though, so we know his family views adoption in a very positive light. I’ve told a couple of my friends, but we haven’t really made an “official” announcement yet. Although I guess this post is an “official” announcement though, right? :) I can’t really put into words what an incredible feeling it is to know I’ll be a mommy soon!! With infertility, there’s NEVER any certainty that you’ll ever get the chance to be a mom. But with adoption, you KNOW that your baby is waiting for you and it’s only a matter of time until you’re really a mother. I was in the store the other day, and I walked through the baby section and looked at all of the baby things. I kept thinking ‘I can buy this for Elena’ and ‘I want Elena to have one of these,’ etc. Any woman who has ever dealt with infertility knows that you usually avoid the baby section of the store like the plague! There have been times when I couldn’t even LOOK at the baby section without getting teary-eyed. Infertility is so incredibly painful. I can’t even begin to describe the emotions that an infertile woman goes through on an almost daily basis, but I can tell you it’s a physical pain – my heart literally ached. I may still be an infertile woman, but that doesn’t change the fact that I’m going to be a mother now!! I have wanted this for so long, and I thank God every day that He opened my heart to adoption. What an incredible gift Elena will be!! (Ok, I better end this now because I’m making myself cry! I’m so emotional about all of this!) Be sure to visit our adoption blog to find out where we are in the journey! :) POSTED BY AMY AT 12:31 PM 38 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2006 FRIDAY, AUGUST 11, 2006 The weekend is almost here! It’s almost the weekend! It’s incredible how fast the weeks seem to go by. It makes me sad that summer is winding down. I hate the thought of winter being just around the corner. I really need to move somewhere warm! ;) Andrew and Beth start back to school on August 24. They’ve already started practicing their sports for the upcoming season. Andrew will be playing 7th grade football and Beth is on a more advanced soccer team this year. Between the two of them, they’ve had practice every day this week! They’re with us this weekend and I know they have practice on Saturday and Sunday too. Leon has been sick with a really bad cold all week. We went to Medina last weekend to visit his family, and his mom was sick with the same thing. I was hoping neither of us would catch it, but no suck luck! I just hope I can stay healthy. Knock on wood, but my allergies/colds haven’t affected me this summer like they have throughout the other seasons and I’ve enjoyed living without those symptoms for a while! Work hasn’t been as busy for me recently, but I know it will pick up as soon as fall is here. I’ve been contemplating ways to earn more money because we have a lot of expenses coming up in order to keep moving forward with the adoption process. It would be difficult for me to get a second job because sometimes I have to work in the evenings for my current job if the magazine is due or if we have events for our members, etc. I’ve been looking for some kind of legitimate, work-from-home type of jobs that I could use as supplemental income, but it doesn’t appear that many exist. Most websites that claim you can make $1,000 a day working from home, stuffing envelopes or typing, are obviously scams. I started an experimental blog asking for $1 donations for our adoption fund to see if anyone would actually read it and donate! ;) So far, no donors though. It's such a good idea though, right?!?! All I need are 40,000 people to donate one dollar and our adoption would be paid for! :) What a nice thought, as HIGHLY unlikely as it is to actually happen. I hope we have a successful garage sale next weekend. Tomorrow is my "clean out the basement day." We’ve lived in our house for almost 3 years and we’ve managed to let our basement get really cluttered in that short time. So I have a big job ahead of me! But I know there is a lot of stuff down there that I could sell because we’re obviously not using things if they’re just packed away in the basement. And if we don't sell everything at the garage sale, then I'll attempt to sell it on eBay! Well, in 5 minutes the weekend starts so I’ll end this blog for now. Stay tuned for the next ever-soexciting installment, coming soon! ;) POSTED BY AMY AT 5:01 PM 39 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2006 TUESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2006 I jinxed myself... In my last post, I commented that I had not been sick for a while. Over the weekend, I caught Leon’s cold. I’m really stuffed up today! I can hardly breathe out of my nose. Leon is still battling his cold too, over a week later! Needless to say, I spent the weekend resting and I never did get around to cleaning out the basement! So now I have to do that one evening this week after work because our garage sale is this weekend. I talked to our adoption counselor, Cortney, yesterday. She explained some of the paperwork that we need to fill out. The most important form to submit next is the I-600A (immigration form), so I plan to mail this document by the end of the week. I have to submit $685 along with this form. I also need to send copies of Leon’s and my birth certificates, our marriage certificate and Leon’s divorce decree. We’ll need to submit a copy of our home study when it’s complete, which is still several months away from happening. So the I-600A won’t be approved for us for a while yet. I’ve been working on the magazine this week at work. I suppose I better get back to it so I can wrap that up today! POSTED BY AMY AT 11:06 AM TUESDAY, AUGUST 22, 2006 A thing called fate? I posted this on our adoption blog too, but our garage sale wasn’t very successful. We made $200. I suppose that’s better than nothing though! It’s $200 we didn’t have before and we got rid of some things in our house that we didn’t need. I boxed everything up that didn’t sell and I’m going to donate those things to the Kidney Foundation the next time they call. It seems like they contact us about once a month, asking for clothing or household items. The garage sale was a lot of work though! I was exhausted by the end of the weekend. I ended up taking a vacation day yesterday because I was so tired. I slept the whole day! Last night, I went to this Mary Kay facial that I was invited to. It was strange how I ended up getting invited to this. Last Thursday evening after work, I was shopping at the Kroger store near our house. I was in the frozen food section and I noticed this girl who kept staring at me. She was younger than me, maybe in her early 20’s, and I kept wondering if she knew me somehow. She came up to me and said “I’m sorry but I have to ask you this. You’re striking – would you like to be a face model for me?” 40 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2006 At first, I thought she was hitting on me! :) I didn’t understand what she was talking about. Then she pulled out a card and said that she was a Mary Kay representative. She asked for my name and cell phone number, and she said that she would call me about an upcoming event. She called later that night and invited me to last night’s facial. Her name is Monica and I met her at the Mary Kay training center in Worthington last night. She showed me different facial products and let me try on different types of moisturizer, cream, foundation, blush, eye shadow and lipstick. I was the only “consumer” there, and there were about 10 other Mary Kay consultants there too. After I put on the makeup, Monica explained to the other consultants what products I was wearing. So hence, I was the “face model.” :) Of course, I felt like I had to buy something from her so I ended up getting a few of the products that I tried on. The products really are nice though. Before I left, Monica talked to me about becoming a Mary Kay consultant myself. There is a $100 start-up fee, but then you just buy the products as you need them. The idea sounds really tempting. I’ve been thinking about ways to earn some extra money for the adoption and maybe this is it. I’m going to meet Monica again next Monday evening to discuss this further. Of course, this got me thinking... In the past, I never believed in what you might call fate. I assumed we made things happen, and there was really no rhyme or reason to the sequence of events in our lives. But as I’ve gotten older and had to face difficult situations in my life, it suddenly occurred to me that things don’t just happen randomly. The psych major in me says that this feeling of “fate” is just a coping mechanism that I have created in order to make sense of things in my life that otherwise make no sense – and maybe that’s true. But I’d like to believe that everything happens for a reason. I’d like to believe that we may not ever understand those “reasons” in this life, but someday when we die and move onto the next plane of existence, everything will suddenly be made clear to us. Everything will make sense then. I believe in God. I believe that God has a predetermined path set for all of us. I’m not sure that “fate” is the correct word for this path, but I believe that we are all here for a reason. It helps me, in my life, to believe that there is a reason for everything that happens to us, no matter how painful. For example...I believe there is a reason why I can’t get pregnant. I believe that I am meant to adopt my daughter from Russia. I believe that this is the path that I’m meant to take. It’s just a feeling that I have in my heart, and I’ll continue following that feeling until I bring our daughter home. Why am I supposed to travel halfway around the world to get our daughter? I don’t know, but I do know it’s what I’m supposed to do. On a smaller scale...why did Monica from Mary Kay approach a complete stranger in the grocery store and ask her if she wanted to be a consultant? It seems like quite a coincidence when I’ve been contemplating ways to earn extra money for our adoption. So was I meant to meet Monica? And earning a few extra dollars selling Mary Kay is just part of the sequence of events required to bring Elena home from Russia? I’m just thinking out loud here. And I guess this all probably sounds crazy if you don’t believe in this sort of thing! ;) But I’d like to believe that all of our lives are meaningful and we’re all here for a reason. POSTED BY AMY AT 10:57 AM 41 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2006 TUESDAY, AUGUST 22, 2006 Mary Kay®! Well, I did it! I am now an official Mary Kay® beauty consultant!! :) I hope this turns out to be a good way to earn some extra money for our adoption. Please visit my Mary Kay website and feel free to place an order online. It doesn’t matter if you don’t live in Ohio. I can mail orders anywhere within the United States. Thank you for your support! Please visit my official Mary Kay® website: www.marykay.com/amylively Send me an e-mail at my official Mary Kay® e-mail address: amylively@marykay.com POSTED BY AMY AT 3:57 PM MONDAY, AUGUST 28, 2006 Weekend... On Saturday, my parents, Julie and Jamie, my grandma and my great aunt Arline all met at our house so we could drive to Cincinnati for my cousin Jenna's wedding reception. Leon and Andrew came too, but Beth couldn't go with us because she was invited to go horseback riding with her friend. We hadn't even gotten outside of Columbus when we got caught in a traffic jam on the interstate, so we ended up sitting there for about an hour! A semi had overturned and was blocking traffic. Once we got past the accident, the trip wasn't too bad. 42 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2006 Jenna's reception was held at a park next to a lake in Cincinnati, not too far past King's Island. Jenna and her husband Jason went to the Virgin Islands in June and got married there. The reception wasn't anything too fancy. We had picnic-type food and they had a wedding cake. They had a DJ playing music so they did the father-daughter, mother-son and bride-groom dances. It was nice visiting with my aunt and uncle and cousins since we don't get to see them very often. It was so hot and humid that day though! There wasn't anywhere to go to escape from the heat since the reception was held outside. Our digital camera is broken so I took a few pictures that day with my cell phone... Leon (my grandma is in the background) Amy and Leon Andrew was too busy playing with his Play Station to have his picture taken! 43 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2006 Julie and Jamie (my great aunt Arline is in the background) On Sunday, I got to see Darlene. She was in Columbus for the weekend because one of her co-workers had a bridal shower on Saturday. I am AMAZED at how well she is doing!! Compared to when I last saw her for the golf outing fundraiser in July, she looks and acts like a completely different (i.e. HEALTHY!!) person!! In one of my previous posts I mentioned that the first experimental treatment Darlene was involved in made her too sick, so the doctors had to switch the combination of drugs they were giving her. Since then, she has had three rounds of this new combination of drugs at the University of Michigan. She has gotten her energy back and she said that she feels better than she has in months. We had lunch at the Olive Garden and then we went to the mall because she wanted to walk around there. She isn't using her cane and she was walking very well! She didn't even get worn out. At the golf outing, she couldn't even walk up a flight of stairs without being exhausted. She told me that she was so tired a month ago that she was ready to give up. At that time, I truly thought she would die within a matter of weeks because she was so sick. It's almost as if Darlene is taking a miracle drug now. Her hair has grown back and she even has color in her cheeks. She seemed like the old Darlene. It was so wonderful seeing her like that! I didn't realize how much I had missed "girl time" with her. It had been a very long time since we spent a day like that together, without the constant reminders of cancer all around. She was supposed to have more scans done yesterday so the doctors can see if the treatment is stopping and/or slowing the spread of her tumors. I haven't heard from her yet, but I pray that she finds out good results! POSTED BY AMY AT 11:19 AM WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 30, 2006 Stop Reading My Blog and Get Back to Work! I recently read an article in The Columbus Dispatch that listed statistics about how much time people waste at work. The article made me laugh so much that I cut it out and hung it up on our refrigerator. 44 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog Why did I find it so funny? Because it's true! 2006 Everyone who works in an office knows how easy it is to get distracted, surf the Internet, socialize with co-workers, balance your checkbook and generally "space out." Here are some of those statistics that the Dispatch quoted, from the article "Wasted Time At Work Costing Companies Billions" by Dan Malachowski from Salary.com. Top Time-Wasting Activities (%) * Surfing Internet (personal use) = 44.7% * Socializing with co-workers = 23.4% * Conducting personal business = 6.8% * Spacing out = 3.9% * Running errands off-premises = 3.1% * Making personal phone calls = 2.3% * Applying for other jobs = 1.3% * Planning personal events = 1.0% * Arriving late/Leaving early = 1.0% * Other = 12.5% Top Time-Wasting Excuses (%) * Don't have enough work to do = 33.2% * Underpaid for amount of work = 23.4% * Co-workers distract me = 14.7% * Not enough after-work time = 12.0% * Other = 16.7% Time Wasted During an 8-Hour Workday (Number of Hours/Day) * Assumed by HR = 0.94 hrs. * Suspected by HR = 1.60 hrs. * Admitted by Employees = 2.09 hrs. Who Tends to Waste the Most Time at Work? * Men vs. Women: Men and women waste about the same amount of time per day. This, despite the fact that most HR managers surveyed suspected that women wasted more time at work than men. * Youngsters vs. Seniors: As the following statistics show, the older people are, the less time they waste at work (Year of Birth = Time Wasted Per Day): * 1930-1949 = 0.50 hrs. * 1950-1959 = 0.68 hrs. * 1960-1969 = 1.19 hrs. * 1970-1979 = 1.61 hrs. * 1980-1985 = 1.95 hrs. 45 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2006 Top 5 Time-Wasting Industries (Job Category = Time Wasted Per Day) * Insurance = 2.5 hrs. * Public Sector (Non-Education) = 2.4 hrs. * Research & Development = 2.3 hrs. * Education = 2.2 hrs. * Software & Internet = 2.2 hrs. Top 5 Time-Wasting States [State = Time Wasted (hours/day) Salary Dollars Wasted (per year)] * Missouri = 3.2 hrs. = $28.1 billion * Indiana = 2.8 hrs. = $25.1 billion * Kentucky = 2.8 hrs. = $15.4 billion * Wisconsin = 2.8 hrs. = $23.8 billion * Nevada = 2.7 hrs. = $9.8 billion Ohio ranks 25 on the list, with an average of 2.1 hours wasted a day costing the state $28.6 billion in wasted salary dollars. The average yearly American salary is $39,795 per year ($19.13 per hour). If the average worker wastes 1.15 hours more than employers suspect, per 8-hour work day, that adds up to $5,720 per year, per worker in wasted salary dollars. So with the American workforce 132 million (non-farm) employees strong, the total in lost salary dollars adds up to $759 billion per year! One of my favorite movies is the cult classic from 1999, "Office Space." Everything about that movie rings so true if you're familiar with office life and all of the politics that go with it. I love it when Ron Livingston's character Peter Gibbons is talking about his job and he says: "I generally come in at least fifteen minutes late. I use the side door, that way (my boss) can't see me. After that I sorta space out for an hour. I just stare at my desk, but it looks like I'm working. I do that for probably another hour after lunch too. I'd say in a given week I probably only do about fifteen minutes of real, actual work." Speaking of wasting time at work...I should probably quit writing in my blog and get back to my work! ;) POSTED BY AMY AT 10:58 AM 46 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2006 MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2006 God Bless America It’s hard to believe that 5 years have passed since September 11, 2001 – that terrible day when life as we knew it in the United States changed forever. Looking back at the summer of 2001, it seemed like such an idyllic time. I remember the feeling of being carefree and safe that summer. We were certainly blindsided that September morning. Who could have imagined the terror that we watched unfold within a matter of hours? I remember such a feeling of terror that day, wondering if and when the next attack would come. It almost felt like the end of the world was here. Remembering all of this still chokes me up...makes my heart skip a beat...brings tears to my eyes...makes it hard to breathe...makes me sick to my stomach. A year after the attacks, on September 11, 2002, I wrote about my memories of that day on The September 11 Digital Archive. I know that everyone remembers what they were doing when they heard about the attacks. Below is my story. It’s funny how a moment can be permanently etched in your mind. But I will always remember exactly what I was doing the moment I learned about the horrors that occurred on September 11. I was sitting at my desk, talking to one of my co-workers who had come into my office. Our conversation was lighthearted. It was a beautiful September morning in Ohio, and the sun was shining brightly outside. Then, I heard my cell phone ringing. I told my co-worker, "My purse is ringing," and we both laughed as she left my office and I answered my phone. It was my fiancé. He had taken the morning off work and was watching TV. He told me that there was an explosion at the World Trade Center. I remember a feeling of disbelief at his statement. I told him that had happened a long time ago (I was referring to the bombing at the WTC in 1993). He told me that it was happening right now, that two planes had hit the World Trade Center. He had seen the second plane hit on live television. I hung up and wandered out to find some of my other co-workers. By then, a few of them had also heard about it, and we all gathered in the center conference room and turned on the TV. We were horrified when we learned that a plane had also hit the Pentagon. Later, I watched both towers collapse on live TV. It was sickening to witness, knowing that people inside were dying at that very instant. We stayed glued to the TV all morning and afternoon, none of us quite able to grasp how this could happen to us here in America. I called my parents and sister and best friend and talked to them about the events. One thing was clear – every one of us was in shock. 47 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2006 Our boss ended up letting us go home early because none of us could concentrate on working. I remember driving home, listening to the radio, unable to understand how something like this could actually happen. I drove by a flag, which had been lowered to half-mast, and felt all of this emotion well up in my heart. Although I did not know anyone personally who died in the terrorist attacks, I still cried for all of those people who lost their lives that day. September 11 was a terrible day in our nation’s history, one that none of us will ever be able to forget in our lifetimes. Today, September 11, 2002, the one-year anniversary has been a solemn day. No one at my work has laughed much, the phone has not been ringing much, there is a respectful silence in the atmosphere. September 11 is a day that should never be forgotten. I am so proud to be an American! I love my country and I pray for her healing. POSTED BY AMY AT 9:34 AM FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2006 My Friday so far... Thank God it’s Friday! I say that every week, but it’s always true!! ;) I had a rather comical experience on my lunch break today so I thought I’d share. Today is pay day, and Leon and I finally have the funds now ($685) to pay for the I-600A (immigration) form we need to submit for our adoption. I still hadn’t deposited the money that we made at our garage sale so I went to the bank on my lunch break to do that. Leon and I also had a BUNCH of coins in our house so I’ve spent the last couple weeks counting all the coins and putting them in coin wrappers. I had $80 worth of coins to deposit (mostly pennies), and I had them in two big Ziploc bags. When I got out of my car at the bank, one of the bags ripped and one of my penny wrappers fell to the ground. Thank God I only dropped one roll! So I had to spend time gathering up the pennies and putting them back in the roll. When I finally went inside the bank, the teller looked at me like I was crazy. She said “We have a coin counter here” – so technically, I wouldn’t have had to count all the coins myself. I didn’t realize that my bank had one of these. I’ve seen the coin counting machines at grocery stores, but they always charge a fee and I wasn’t about to part with any of the $80 worth of change Leon and I have saved up over the years! ;) The teller ended up taking the rolls from me even after I offered to use the coin counter instead. But she made a point of acting very annoyed about the whole situation! Afterward, I went to Kroger to get some frozen lunches for work (since I usually don’t go out on my lunch break – I eat in the office instead). I went up to the customer service counter after I paid for my groceries because I needed to get money orders to send in with the immigration form (they won’t accept a personal 48 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2006 check). After telling the woman at the counter what I needed, I took out my check card to pay and she informed me that you have to purchase money orders with cash. I must have appeared very stupid, but I didn’t know that! So I apologized and said I’d have to come back later with cash. I decided I couldn’t go back to the bank and face the mean teller again (and I don’t believe you can withdraw more than $500 from an ATM machine). So now I’ll have to go to the bank tomorrow before they close and get cash out...and then go buy the money orders then. I have to buy three separate money orders. I need to submit $545 for the I-600A form, and the woman at the grocery store told me today that money orders only go up to $500. So I have to get a $45 money order too, and we’re required to submit a separate money order for the fingerprinting fee ($140, or $70 for me and $70 for Leon). I need to send the form/money orders through FedEx, so I have to make sure there is a FedEx pick-up on Saturday...and find out where a FedEx drop box is in my area. Whew!! It’s been a lot of work to submit just this one form!! Leon and I don’t have the kids this weekend. We’re actually going to Coshocton tomorrow afternoon and having dinner with my parents. My mom’s birthday is on Sunday so I wanted to see her this weekend. I also got to see my parents and my sister and her fiancé last Sunday too. I had a Mary Kay party at my house. My team leader Monica actually held the party for me because it was supposed to be like a “debut” since I’m a new Mary Kay consultant. Anyway, my mom and sister and one of my friends Debbie were able to come. Leon entertained my dad and Jamie while the girls tried on make-up! After the party, I had cake and ice cream for my sister because her birthday was on Tuesday. My friend Debbie (who was actually Leon’s friend first which is how I know her!) is coming over to our house this Sunday afternoon to watch the Browns game. I’m not a football fan, but I’ll still watch it with them so I can visit with Debbie too. So far, I’ve only sold Mary Kay products to three people – obviously, my mom, my sister and Debbie. My mother-in-law also told me she wanted to buy something from me. I hope I sell more soon because I placed a small inventory order so I’ll have a lot of make-up in my house if no one buys anything from me! ;) Only an hour and a half left in my workday until quitting time! Leon and I are going to dinner at a Japanese steakhouse tonight, where they cook your dinner at your table in front of you. We love that place, but we haven’t been there in months. I thought it would be a nice change since we go to El Vaquero’s almost every week. :) POSTED BY AMY AT 3:27 PM 49 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2006 2006 Latest News... I posted an update on our adoption blog yesterday, but I finally submitted our I-600A form and payment last week. Leon and I are scheduled to have our fingerprints taken this Friday at 1:00 p.m. at the Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) office in downtown Columbus. After we complete our homestudy (which probably won't be until next spring/summer), we’ll need to submit a copy of this to the USCIS office and then our application will be considered complete. I believe we'll need to fill out more paperwork for USCIS once we're approved and after we bring Elena home as well. Leon and I are heading to Coshocton on Sunday because the Coshocton County Fair will be going on. I always enjoy going to the fair, although it seems to be pretty much the same year after year. But as far as I know, I've gone to the fair every year since I was born. So I guess this will be my 30th fair! The food at the fair is worth the trip alone! There's nothing like fried cheese on a stick or fried vegetables dipped in cheese sauce or corndogs or greasy French fries...all of the heart-attack-waiting-to-happen types of food! ;) My parents are going with us to the fair on Sunday. We don't have the kids this weekend, which is too bad because they always enjoy the fair. I talked to Darlene yesterday and there is a possibility that she may go with us to the fair too, if she's not busy. She mentioned that she may have some family things going on this weekend though. She sounded well when I talked to her yesterday. She did mention that the experimental treatment she's been taking at the University of Michigan is hurting her liver again though, so another combination of drugs will need to be used instead. I continue to pray that Darlene will make it through all of this!! She amazes me every day with her will to fight. I can't imagine ever being as strong as she has been. Tonight is our last Intro to Adoption class in the four-week series Leon and I have been taking at Children's Hospital. I've really enjoyed these classes. They have been very informative! Tonight's class will feature a panel of adoptive parents and their children so that will be fun to see. Our next four-week series focusing on International Adoption starts on October 30. My Mary Kay sales haven't been too impressive. So far, I've made four sales to my mom, my sister, my mother-in-law and one of my friends. It's much harder to get a new business like this off the ground than I originally thought! I was hopeful that I'd earn some extra money for our adoption by selling Mary Kay, but it doesn't look like I'm going to get rich from this business any time soon. I did buy some of the new Fall/Holiday Mary Kay catalogs and I plan to deliver them to some of my neighbors and see if any of them are interested in buying anything. With Mary Kay, you're supposed to give regular skin care classes or facials and that's really how you make your money. But to be honest, I don't really have the time or the desire to do any of these classes. I'd rather sell products through my website or through the Mary Kay catalog. I suppose this route won't earn me as much money though. I have to admit (and I swear I am not saying this just because I sell it!), I really do love the Mary Kay products. I've bought almost one of everything to try for myself and I really like all of them. They are more pricey than something you'd buy at the store, but I really can tell that the Mary Kay products are 50 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2006 high-quality and worth the money. I would recommend them! I may be the only customer I have though!! ;) Next Thursday, October 5, is Leon's and my 4th anniversary. It's hard to believe it's been almost four years! We don't have anything special planned. The kids come over on Thursday evenings, so maybe we'll all go out to dinner or something. Last year, I surprised Leon with the trip to Las Vegas! That was a lot of fun. :) I don't have a gift like that for him this year though since all of our money is going toward the adoption. Speaking of anniversaries, I started this blog and posted my first entry on October 4, 2005. So my oneyear blogging anniversary will be next week too! :) I wanted to share a dream that I had a couple nights ago. It was so weird and more like a nightmare I suppose...but it was something right out of a horror movie (and since I love horror movies so much, I can't say that I was too scared by this dream!). I dreamt that I was in a huge house with a bunch of people...and outside the house were hundreds of brain-eating zombies, just like the ones in the "Night of the Living Dead" movies! The zombies kept trying to get in the house and they finally did, and then they started biting people and turning everyone into zombies. I got bit on the arm toward the end of my dream, but I woke up before I had the chance to turn into a zombie! Crazy huh?! Speaking of horror movies, there are some new ones coming out in October that I want to see like "Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning" on October 6, "The Grudge 2" on October 13 and "Saw 3" on October 27. Upcoming Horror Movies is a great website to find out anything and everything about scary movies! Well, I really should get back to work. Until I blog again... POSTED BY AMY AT 4:59 PM MONDAY, OCTOBER 02, 2006 If it wasn’t for bad luck... My dad’s younger brother, my Uncle Jim, always used to say “If it wasn’t for bad luck, I wouldn’t have any luck at all!” He died of cancer in 1993 in his early 40’s...so I guess luck certainly wasn’t on his side. I took Jim’s catchphrase to heart and have thought of it often in the years since he died. Maybe luck has nothing to do with it, but it certainly appears that some people are “luckier” in life than others. When things go wrong in my life, I try to remind myself that I could have it so much worse though...and when I look at it that way, I realize that I don’t have it so bad after all. However, this morning was one of those mornings when Jim’s phrase popped into my brain. I overslept and didn’t leave the house until 7:55 a.m. – which really isn’t great considering I’m supposed to start work at 8:00. I was driving down the street, just a few miles from my home, when I got pulled over by a cop. He pulled the car in front of me over too and told us both that although he wasn’t going to give us a ticket, we were speeding in a school zone. It wasn’t a friendly reminder either...he was very rude about 51 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog the whole thing. 2006 To be honest, I don’t even know how fast I was going. It couldn’t have been much more than 35 but considering the school zone speed limit is 20, I was still going too fast. I was just following the car in front of me though and wasn’t paying attention like I should have been. Thank God he didn’t give me a ticket though! I’ve gotten two speeding tickets in the past four years and I did not want to add another one to my collection!! When I finally got to work, I found out that there was a water pressure problem in the city I work in – so everyone is supposed to boil their water before they drink it. Since we don’t have a place to boil water, that means no coffee! I don’t do well without coffee in the morning. Last week was not a good week at work anyway...and so far, this week isn’t starting off much better. I can only hope things improve as the day goes on. POSTED BY AMY AT 9:48 AM WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 04, 2006 Happy Bloggiversary to me! One year ago today, I wrote my first entry in this blog. It’s interesting to read back over everything I’ve written the past year. It seems really hard to believe that it’s been a whole year since my first post! I just wanted to share this milestone with anyone who reads my blog today! :) POSTED BY AMY AT 1:35 PM 52 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2006 THURSDAY, OCTOBER 05, 2006 Another Fundraising Idea!! I wanted to start by mentioning that today is my anniversary! Four years ago today, Leon and I got married in my hometown. We were married in the same church that my parents and my grandparents were also married in. We don't have anything overly exciting planned for our anniversary, but we're going to take Andrew and Beth with us to our favorite Mexican restaurant tonight, El Vaquero's. Unfortunately, I don't have any surprises for Leon this year...last year, I surprised him with a trip for the two of us to Las Vegas. :) I came across a very cool "business opportunity" on a message board (aka infertility support group) that I'm a member of. It's called Stuff A Friend, where you can buy a stuffed animal and "stuff it" yourself at home. It's similar to the Build-A-Bear concept. We have several Build-A-Bear Workshops at malls here in Columbus. Anyway, one of my friends in the support group has a Stuff A Friend business so I decided to join her team. Unlike my Mary Kay business, there are no start-up fees. You join for free and can earn up to 30% commissions on sales. You also earn 10% commissions on any team members that you have. You even get your own personalized Stuff A Friend website when you sign up! Want to join my team? Please go to my Stuff A Friend website for more information. Who knows? Between my job at the BIA, my Mary Kay business and now my Stuff A Friend business, maybe I'll earn that $40,000 to bring Elena home yet! ;) POSTED BY AMY AT 2:11 PM 53 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog FRIDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2006 2006 Mary Kay Inventory: Products For Sale! Below is a list of Mary Kay products that were included in my initial inventory order...and I'd love to sell them! I've included the name of the product, the price and how many of each item I have in stock. For more information about any of these products and to see pictures of each item, please visit my Mary Kay website. If you live near me, I'll deliver your order to you. And if you live far away, I'll mail your order to you free of charge. Since I live in Ohio, a 6.75% sales tax will be added onto your total. For the mathematicallyimpaired such as myself, here is what I mean . . . If you order comes to $20, you will multiply 20 by .0675. This gives you 1.35 which means you add $1.35 tax to your $20 order, which would be a total of $21.35. :) If your order comes to $40 or more, you also receive a free gift! Even if you don't see any items of interest to you on the list below, please visit my Mary Kay website to see all of the other products available. **TimeWise® Products** TimeWise® Miracle Set (for Combination to Oily Skin) - Includes 3-In-1 Cleanser, Age-Fighting Moisturizer, Day Solution, Night Solution and Foundation Price: $104 * 1 in stock TimeWise® 3-In-1 Cleanser (for Normal to Dry Skin) Price: $18 * 1 in stock TimeWise® Age-Fighting Moisturizer (for Normal to Dry Skin) Price: $18 * 1 in stock TimeWise® Day Solution Sunscreen SPF 25 Price: $30 * 1 in stock TimeWise® Night Solution Price: $30 * 1 in stock TimeWise® Microdermabrasian Step 1: Refine Price: $30 * 3 in stock 54 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog TimeWise® Microdermabrasian Step 2: Replenish Price: $25 * 3 in stock TimeWise® Age-Fighting Lip Primer Price: $22 * 1 in stock TimeWise® Even Complexion Essence Price: $35 * 1 in stock TimeWise® Visibly Fit Body Lotion Price: $22 * 1 in stock 2006 **Facial Creams and Gels** Intense Moisturizing Cream (for Combination to Oily Skin) Price: $30 * 1 in stock Oil-Free Hydrating Gel (for Normal to Dry Skin) Price: $30 * 1 in stock **Foundation** Medium-Coverage Foundation - Ivory 100 Price: $14 * 2 in stock Medium-Coverage Foundation - Ivory 200 Price: $14 * 2 in stock Medium-Coverage Foundation - Ivory 202 Price: $14 * 1 in stock Medium-Coverage Foundation - Ivory 204 Price: $14 * 2 in stock Medium-Coverage Foundation - Beige 300 Price: $14 * 2 in stock 55 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog Medium-Coverage Foundation - Beige 302 Price: $14 * 1 in stock Medium-Coverage Foundation - Beige 304 Price: $14 * 2 in stock Medium-Coverage Foundation - Beige 400 Price: $14 * 2 in stock Medium-Coverage Foundation - Beige 402 Price: $14 * 1 in stock Medium-Coverage Foundation - Beige 404 Price: $14 * 2 in stock Medium-Coverage Foundation - Bronze 500 Price: $14 * 1 in stock Medium-Coverage Foundation - Bronze 607 Price: $14 * 1 in stock Medium-Coverage Foundation - Bronze 708 Price: $14 * 1 in stock 2006 **Pressed Powder** Dual-Coverage Powder Foundation - Ivory 104 Price: $14 * 3 in stock Dual-Coverage Powder Foundation - Ivory 200 Price: $14 * 2 in stock Dual-Coverage Powder Foundation - Beige 300 Price: $14 * 1 in stock Dual-Coverage Powder Foundation - Beige 304 Price: $14 * 1 in stock 56 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog Dual-Coverage Powder Foundation - Beige 400 Price: $14 * 1 in stock Signature™ Bronze Highlighting Powder Price: $16 * 1 in stock 2006 * Please note, the following items to be used with the pressed powder are sold separately: Foundation Compact (re-usable) Price: $9 Cosmetic sponges (powder puffs) Price: $2 (pack of 2) **Loose Powder** Signature™ Loose Powder - Ivory 2 Price: $14 * 1 in stock Signature™ Loose Powder - Beige 1 Price: $14 * 1 in stock Signature™ Loose Powder - Beige 2 Price: $14 * 1 in stock * Please note, the following items to be used with the loose powder are sold separately: Round Powder Brush (re-usable) Price: $4 Retractable Powder Brush (re-usable) Price: $10 **Concealer and Highlighting Pen** Signature™ Concealer - Light Ivory Price: $9.50 * 1 in stock Signature™ Concealer - Ivory Price: $9.50 * 1 in stock 57 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog Signature™ Concealer - Beige Price: $9.50 * 1 in stock Signature™ Facial Highlighting Pen - Shade 1 Price: $18 * 1 in stock 2006 **Mascara** Ultimate Mascara™ Price: $15 * 1 in stock Signature™ Waterproof Mascara Price: $10 * 1 in stock **Lip Products** Signature™ Creme Lipstick - Sweet Nectar Price: $13 * 1 in stock Signature™ Creme Lipstick - Apricot Glaze Price: $13 * 1 in stock Signature™ Creme Lipstick - Raisinberry Price: $13 * 1 in stock Signature™ Creme Lipstick - Toffee Price: $13 * 1 in stock Signature™ Lip Gloss - Pink Diamonds Price: $13 * 1 in stock Signature™ Lip Gloss - Pink Allure Price: $13 * 1 in stock Signature™ Lip Gloss - Cranberry Price: $13 * 1 in stock 58 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog Signature™ Lip Gloss - Tiger Lily Price: $13 * 2 in stock Signature™ Lip Gloss - Watermelon Price: $13 * 1 in stock Signature™ Lip Gloss - Cream & Sugar Price: $13 * 2 in stock Signature™ Lip Gloss - Beach Bronze Price: $13 * 1 in stock Signature™ Lip Gloss - Cocoa Creme Price: $13 * 1 in stock Signature™ Lip Gloss - Natural Price: $13 * 1 in stock Signature™ Lip Liner - Dusty Pink Price: $9.50 * 1 in stock Signature™ Lip Liner - Chocolate Price: $9.50 * 1 in stock Signature™ Lip Liner - Neutral Price: $9.50 * 2 in stock Satin Lips® Lip Mask Price: $9.50 * 2 in stock Satin Lips® Lip Balm Price: $9.50 * 2 in stock 2006 **Eye Products** Signature™ Eye Color - Lucky Penny Price: $6.50 * 1 in stock 59 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog Signature™ Eye Color - Vintage Gold Price: $6.50 * 1 in stock Signature™ Eye Color - Copper Beach Price: $6.50 * 1 in stock Signature™ Eye Color - Hazelnut Price: $6.50 * 2 in stock Signature™ Eyeliner - Bronze Price: $9.50 * 2 in stock Signature™ Eyeliner - Charcoal Price: $9.50 * 1 in stock Signature™ Eye Primer Price: $12 * 2 in stock 2006 * Please note, the following items to be used with the eyeshadow are sold separately: Color Compact (re-usable, holds two eyeshadows) Price: $8 Dual-End Eye Applicator (sponge tip on one end, brush on the other end) Price: $2.50 **Blush** Signature™ Cheek Color - Island Spice Price: $10 * 1 in stock Signature™ Cheek Color - Sunny Spice Price: $10 * 1 in stock * Please note, the following items to be used with the blush are sold separately: Color Compact (re-usable, holds one blush) Price: $8 Cheek Color Brush Price: $2.50 60 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog **Skin Care** 2006 Satin Hands® Pampering Set - Includes Extra Emollient Night Cream, Satin Smoothie™ Hand Scrub and Hand Cream Price: $30 * 1 in stock Velocity® Facial Cleanser Price: $10 * 1 in stock Velocity® Lightweight Moisturizer Price: $12 * 1 in stock If you've read other posts in my blog, you know that I'm trying to raise money for our adoption. By purchasing Mary Kay products from me, you're contributing to our adoption fund! :) Log on anytime – www.marykay.com/amylively/ Thank you for your support! POSTED BY AMY AT 5:15 PM MONDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2006 No new news really... I know I haven’t posted for a while. I’ve been pretty busy with work. I had a consumer remodeling show to prepare for last Thursday, but hopefully things calm down now that it’s over. I’ve also been really stressed out over some recent events at work. I don’t want to elaborate on here...if you want to know, ask me and I’ll tell you. A few other things that have happened since my last post... Beth turned 11 on October 20. Leon’s mom and his brother John and John’s wife Karen came over that weekend to celebrate with us. Leon and I painted our bedroom a chocolate color. It’s very pretty! You know how Leon is such a huge Beach Boys/Brian Wilson fan? Well, Leon wanted to attend Brian’s concert in New York City on November 21 (which is the week of Thanksgiving). We plan to make a quick trip to NYC that week. I imagine we’ll fly in on Monday and fly back out on Wednesday. It would be nice to 61 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2006 stay an extra day (Thursday) to see the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, but we both feel obligated to come back home to spend Thanksgiving with our family. Leon and I start our next series of adoption classes at Children’s Hospital tonight. The courses take place on Monday evenings for the next four weeks and focus on international adoption. I still hope to start our homestudy by the end of the year, but other than that nothing at all has happened on the adoption front lately. Well, that’s really it for now. Stay tuned for my next, ever-so-exciting post... POSTED BY AMY AT 4:03 PM WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 01, 2006 Happy Belated Halloween! I meant to post yesterday, but I forgot! Happy Halloween, one day late! We didn’t get as many trick or treaters last night as we have in years past. I think the weather may have kept them away. I usually sit on the front porch to pass out candy, but I decided to stay inside since it was damp and chilly. Goldie barked every time children came onto our porch though, so I didn’t miss any trick or treaters by staying inside. Goldie made sure of that! Since I haven’t posted very much lately, I forgot to share a few pictures that I took recently... About a month ago, I was driving into the parking lot at work when I saw a double rainbow! It was so beautiful. I took a couple pictures of it with my cell phone, although only one rainbow is apparent in the pictures. 62 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2006 I also took a picture of the flowers that Leon gave me for our 4th anniversary on October 5 – a dozen multi-color roses. They were so beautiful and they lived longer than roses usually do. Speaking of cell phone pictures, the camera on my phone stopped working. I don’t know what’s wrong with it. I need to take it in to see if it can be repaired. My phone should still be under warranty since I just got it in May. My car is also in need of repair. It’s a 2001 Ford Escort ZX2 and I’ve had it since November of 2000. It was brand new when I bought it and it’s held up fairly well over the years. I finally got it paid off last spring. Although I would ideally love to trade it in and get a four-door (it’s going to be difficult to get baby Elena in and out of the backseat of a two-door!), I decided to hold off for a while yet. It’s great not having car payments and we need all of the extra money that we can get at the moment for our adoption. I think my muffler needs replaced because my car is so loud. It also vibrates and makes a funny sound when I drive at slower speeds. I had the brakes repaired back in the spring and new tires put on over summer, so I’m trying to fix some things along the way. I’ll probably try to take it in for repair this weekend...I can only imagine how much it’s going to cost! But I guess it’s cheaper than buying a new car (that’s what my dad keeps telling me anyway!!). My dad’s 65th birthday is tomorrow, November 2. My mom’s 58th birthday was on September 17 and 63 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2006 Julie’s 25th birthday was on September 12. Since I didn’t post then, Happy Belated Birthday to my mom and sister! And Happy Birthday to my dad! Well, it's almost lunch time and I need to run to the store on my break. Until I post again... POSTED BY AMY AT 9:18 AM MONDAY, NOVEMBER 06, 2006 It's Monday again We had a busy weekend. The kids were over, and Beth had a soccer tournament and had four games this weekend! We even had to be at one of her games on Sunday at 7:00 a.m. Ouch! Both kids had friends spend the night on Saturday so we had a full house. Andrew recently received his school pictures (Beth didn’t get her pictures back yet). I thought his photo turned out very well! He looks so handsome. It’s hard to imagine he’s in middle school now. He acts more like a teenager every day. Leon and I have our second international adoption class at Children’s Hospital tonight. We have one more next Monday evening, but we’ll miss the last class in the series the following Monday because we’ll be in New York City. I hope we can do some more remodeling on our home this weekend. We’ve been in our home for three years now and there are so many thing that we’ve meant to do but never gotten around to it. We painted three of our four bedrooms upstairs, but we never actually completed any of the jobs. We need to touch up the paint, finish painting the baseboards, replace the doors and carpet, etc. I really feel motivated to complete some of these jobs, especially since we’ll probably be starting our homestudy after the first of the year...and I’d like our house to look good for the social worker! Everyone tells us that we don’t need to go all out to make our home look perfect for our homestudy, but it gives me an excuse to get some work done! ;) 64 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2006 I still never took my car in to have it looked at. I probably really should try to do that this weekend too because for all I know, I’m making the problem worse by continuing to drive it! POSTED BY AMY AT 10:34 AM TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 07, 2006 MyThoughts on MySpace... I'm sure almost everyone on the planet has heard of – and probably even has a profile – on MySpace. I joined MySpace almost one year ago, on November 12, 2005. I actually joined because I had a celebrity crush of sorts on Jonathan Tucker at the time, after seeing him in an episode of the Showtime series "Masters of Horror" called "Dance of The Dead." I read on an IMDb message board that Jonathan had a MySpace page and I wanted to send him a message, so I created a page for myself too. (And just so you know, Jonathan actually did reply to the message that I sent him and he seemed like a genuinely nice person!) You have to admit, he's kind of adorable right?!?! (On a side note, Leon knows about my celebrity crushes...he doesn't care because he has crushes on celebrities too! But anyway, I also sent Jonathan a fan letter and he sent me an autographed picture in return. I showed the picture to Leon and his response was "Who the hell is Jonathan Tucker?" I guess Leon is not a fan...) As a result of MySpace, I've gotten back in touch with some people that I went to high school with. And MySpace can be addictive...it's fun to log on and see if anyone sent me a message or a friend request. But the more time I spend on the site, the more annoyed I often become. The site can be very, very slow, and the majority of the time you can't even view certain pages because you get a message saying "Sorry! an unexpected error has occurred. This error has been forwarded to MySpace's technical group." I sent a message to MySpace just the other day commenting on how slow the site is and how many errors 65 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog seem to occur on all of the pages. This is the response I received: From: MySpace Contact1 [mailto:contact@myspace.com] Sent: Monday, November 06, 2006 6:24 PM To: Amy Lively Subject: MySpace - Error on Site Hello, That issue is currently being resolved. Please be patient. Thank you, MySpace.com 2006 Patience, huh? The errors have been happening for the past 365 days that I've been a member of the site, but I suppose I'm not being patient enough. ;) If you have a MySpace page, then you know that Tom Anderson is the very first "friend" you make on the site. Tom is the president and co-founder of MySpace (although the site has since been purchased by Rupert Murdoch). It doesn't take long for most people to delete Tom from their Friends list though. I quickly became annoyed with Tom as well. I know he isn’t personally responsible for all of the “technical errors” that occur on the site, but it’s nice to have someone to blame for it. ;) I found a great website dedicated to the antiTom movement. Leon also has a profile on MySpace, and even Andrew has jumped on the MySpace bandwagon. He claims that all of his friends at his school have MySpace pages, although Leon and I both keep a close eye on Andrew’s page. MySpace does seem to have an abundance of teenagers. What really cracks me up are the people who post all of these party pictures on their pages as if to say “Look how cool I am! I have so many friends and I live a fabulous, fun-filled existence.” Sure you do…but you still seem to have quite a bit of free time on your hands in order to create that ultra-cool profile page with hundreds of pictures and colors and music and videos and links!? ;) When I logged onto MySpace this morning, I discovered that my profile has been viewed 999 times. I'm almost up to 1,000 views and it's only taken me one year to get there! I can't even believe how popular I am!! (And yes, I am being 100% sarcastic.) Ok, so MySpace is lame. But I’ll continue to log on just out of curiosity, to see if anyone sent me a message or wants to be my friend. We could all use more friends, right? And I currently only have 83 friends on MySpace so I have a long way to go . . . . . . POSTED BY AMY AT 9:29 AM 66 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2006 MONDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2006 I ♥ New York? (yeah, maybe not so much) I know I haven’t posted in a while! Leon and I were traveling all last week. We flew to New York last Monday morning, flew back to Columbus Wednesday afternoon, drove to Cleveland for Thanksgiving on Thursday morning and came back to Columbus Saturday night. Whew! As for our New York trip, I really can’t say that I was very impressed. I had always wanted to see New York and I’m glad that I got to, but I don’t know that I’d go back anytime soon. I think you build something up in your mind so much and then when you actually see it, you’re disappointed. New York always looks so cool and glamorous on TV, but in reality it’s no different than any other big city...crowded, chaotic and dirty. We flew into JFK, which is not a very nice airport. It didn’t appear very clean anyway, but I guess that’s why it was the cheapest location to fly into near New York. We stayed with Leon’s friends, Carol and John, in Palisades, New York. They recommended that we rent a car because it would have been very expensive for a taxi since you sit in traffic for so long. We got a cute little red PT Cruiser, and Leon was brave enough to drive in NY! After we left the airport on Monday, we decided not to go into the city that day because we wanted to wait and get directions from Carol and John. So we found a mall not too far from where they live and walked around there for a while. We ate in an Outback Steakhouse in the mall because everyone knows there is a shortage of Outbacks in Columbus. *wink wink* On Tuesday morning, we drove into the city. We parked in a garage near the Beacon Theater, where the Brian Wilson concert was being held that night, and then took the subway and walked to the places we wanted to see. We saw Times Square, which was interesting. We saw the Empire State Building from the outside, but we didn’t go inside because there was an hour wait to see it. We saw the Statue of Liberty from afar, but we didn’t have time to actually go over there. We also went to the site of the World Trade Center. It was very sad and emotional to see it. There was a fence around the entire site since they are rebuilding there, but they had pictures from 9/11 hung up all around the fence as well as a timeline of events from that day and a list of everyone who died there. I know property is worth a lot in NY, but it seems so wrong for them to rebuild there (in my humble opinion). I would have much rather seen the site turned into a memorial park. So many people died there, so that site is essentially their cemetery, their graves, so putting another building on top of that just doesn’t seem right. The subways were confusing to us as well. We took the wrong subway and ended up in Queensboro (wherever that is). We were riding an escalator up to the next level to get on the correct subway to take us back downtown (or uptown or whatever you call the location where the theater is). As we were riding up, this group of black people was riding down. One of the black guys in the group screamed at Leon and me. He said that we were going to die because we were British Imperialist slave owners. Okkkkkkkkk...... Leon just said “Peace brother” and we ignored him, but it made us feel uncomfortable!! I know my judgment may be tainted by that experience, but overall we did not find New Yorkers to be very friendly at all. The Brian Wilson concert was good though. Afterward we were standing outside the theater waiting for 67 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2006 Leon’s friends, and we saw Kevin Bacon walk out! He must have been at the concert. Leon yelled “Kevin!” but he didn’t hear him (or pretended not to). Similar to seeing NY in person, seeing Kevin Bacon in person is also a bit of a let-down. ;) He looks larger than life on the screen, but in reality he is short (shorter than me anyway and I’m 5’7) and very skinny!! I was like, ‘That scrawny little man was in Footloose?!?!’ :) I haven’t gotten all the photos from our trip off the digital camera, but here is one that Leon took and sent to me. He approached these two (really cute!) NY cops and asked if I could have my picture taken with them! :) Our Thanksgiving was uneventful. Andrew and Beth weren’t with us for Thanksgiving this year. We went to Leon’s mom’s house in Medina and his whole family (except his older brother who lives in Maryland) was there. We ate a lot and then just relaxed. We stayed in Medina through Saturday. The next couple of weeks at work are busy, but hopefully it slows down after that (until after New Year’s anyway!). I’ll try to post more frequently in the meantime! POSTED BY AMY AT 11:46 AM MONDAY, DECEMBER 04, 2006 Awwww! Goldie loves her teddy bear! I just had to share this picture today. :) POSTED BY AMY AT 2:53 PM 68 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2006 WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 06, 2006 Pulse Last night, Leon rented Pulse. We try to watch every horror film that comes along, so of course we had to see what this one was all about. It wasn’t a terrible movie, but obviously it’s no Oscar contender either. The funny thing about Pulse is that it’s supposed to take place in Columbus, Ohio...but it’s unlike any part of Columbus I’ve ever seen and I’ve lived here for 10 years! ;) Maybe it was supposed to be a futuristic Columbus, I don’t know. At any rate, if you watch this movie and you’ve never actually been to Columbus you will believe the following things: * * * * Columbus Columbus Columbus Columbus is a has has has real dump – trash and graffiti everywhere an abundance of deserted skyscrapers a subway system mountains Those were the really noticeable things that struck me. Funny stuff!! :) Maybe as a result of this movie, I had a really strange dream last night! I dreamt that aliens tried to land on earth (in Columbus?) and I watched their space shuttles in the sky. But someone (our military?) shot them down before they could actually land. As a result, someone set off a nuclear bomb and I was stuck in this room with a bunch of other people and animals and bugs! We tried to tape up all of the windows and doors so the radiation didn’t get in the room. I tried to go outside, but it was raining and the rain burned. Weird huh?? I better get back to work. I have quite a bit to do! Until next time... POSTED BY AMY AT 3:51 PM TUESDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2006 He's bringing sexy back... Christmas is almost here. So this morning, I bought myself a gift – tickets to see Justin Timberlake in concert! :) I think Justin is such a cutie! ;) And his music isn’t bad either. :) 69 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2006 I Tivo’d (or DVR’d or however you say it) Saturday Night Live from this past Saturday because Justin was the host and musical guest. Last night I watched it. (He was too adorable in it, by the way!) During the show, I saw a commercial advertising his concert at the Schottenstein Center here in Columbus on February 19. I bought a ticket for myself and my sister on Ticketmaster this morning. I haven’t been this excited about a concert in a long time, and I’ve been to a lot of concerts over the years! (Leon asked why I would want to go watch Justin lip-synch on stage. I don’t think he lip-synchs. Leon is not supportive of my taste in music. hehe) ;) Anyway...I finished my Christmas shopping after work last night. Now I have to wrap everything. I decided not to send Christmas cards this year because postage is so expensive, and we’re trying to save our money for adoption expenses. So if you wondered why you didn’t get a card from me this year, that’s why! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!! :) Leon and I both get Friday through next Tuesday off work for Christmas. The kids will be with us until about noon on Christmas Day. We’re all going to Medina on Friday and staying until Sunday, so we can celebrate Christmas with Leon’s family. After the kids go to their mom’s on Monday, Leon and I will head to Coshocton to see my family and stay there until Tuesday. We always have a lot of traveling to do at the holidays! I suppose I should get back to work. I just wanted to share my Justin excitement with someone! ;) POSTED BY AMY AT 12:03 PM 70 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2006 THURSDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2006 As the year comes to an end... This week is a short work week, which is great! We got Monday and Tuesday off for Christmas, and we also get Friday and next Monday off for New Year’s. Our Christmas was nice. It’s too bad everyone doesn’t live closer though. We spent the weekend in Medina with Leon’s family. We came back to Columbus on Christmas Eve because the kids had to go back to their mom’s at 1:00 p.m. on Christmas Day. After they left, Leon and I went to Coshocton to see my family and spent the night there. Goldie ate so many treats and people food over the weekend that she ended up puking when she got home on Tuesday night! We have a bunch of family coming to our house this Saturday too! My mom’s sister and her family live in Cincinnati, so they’re all meeting at our house on Saturday to celebrate Christmas. My mom, dad, sister, grandma and great-aunt will be there too of course. I think we’ll have 17 people in our house! I don’t think any of them are spending the night though, so Leon and I don’t have any plans yet for New Year’s Eve. Darlene called me last night with some very sad news. She has decided to stop her cancer treatment because it’s not working. She told me that it’s a matter of pain management now because the tumors are pressing on nerves in her pelvis and spine. I don’t want her to be in pain...I just hope the pain meds make her comfortable. She’s leaving for Las Vegas on January 2 and she’ll be there through the 6th. I think she told me that 19 of her family members are going to Vegas with her. Her 30th birthday is on January 5th. I’m so happy that she’s getting to take this trip and celebrate her 30th birthday. Darlene has been battling cancer for almost 3 years now. I knew this day was coming, when treatment would no longer be an option for her, but that doesn’t make the news any easier to hear. My heart is broken. I don’t even know what else to say about it. POSTED BY AMY AT 11:25 AM 71 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 03, 2007 First post of the new year Well, it’s a new year. With that comes the hope that this year will be better than the last. We’ll see... While there are things I’d like to do better or differently or change about my life in 2007, I decided not to make any “official” resolutions. Because it’s just way too hard to keep them! Leon and I didn’t do anything exciting for New Year’s Eve. We went out to dinner at a pub near our house called Old Bag of Nails. Then we came back home and watched Borat on DVD. I thought Borat was hilarious. I haven’t laughed that hard at a movie in a long time! I know there is a lot of controversy about this movie and how offensive it supposedly is. In my opinion, this movie is an equal-opportunity offender. Anyone and everyone could possibly be offended by something in this movie...but you can’t take it seriously. Two of my favorite scenes were the bed and breakfast one, where the “roaches” are shape shifters and Borat throws money at them, and the car dealership scene, where Borat asks if a certain type of “magnet” could be installed. :) If you’ve seen this movie, then you know what I’m talking about! Speaking of movies, Leon rented another one last night – Snakes on a Plane. I know this was supposed to be an action/drama-type of movie, but I couldn’t stop laughing! So many of the scenes were unintentionally funny. It was just really far-fetched and ridiculous, but what can you expect from a movie about snakes on a plane? It made an entertaining comedy anyway. ;) Well, I should get back to work. It’s hard to get back to the grind after having so many days off for the holidays! POSTED BY AMY AT 8:47 AM MONDAY, JANUARY 15, 2007 Rain and Muddy Pawprints I know I haven’t posted much lately. There really hasn’t been anything overly exciting going on to blog about! I wish it would stop raining. It’s rained every day for at least the past week, maybe two – I’ve lost track. It just seems like it’s been a long time since we’ve seen the sun. I prefer rain over snow, but a little sunshine would still be nice. We’ve had such a strange winter so far. We’ve had a few dustings of snow, but it’s been so much warmer than it usually is this time of year. It’s almost spring-like weather. We’ll probably get punished later on in the season with a blizzard in April! 1 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 The kids were with us over the weekend. Yesterday we met Leon’s mom and his sister Becky in Mansfield for lunch at the Cracker Barrel (Mansfield is the halfway point for both of us, between Columbus and Medina). The real reason of the visit was that Becky wants us to watch her golden retriever for a while. She has 5 dogs at home – Bailey the golden, Beethoven the German shepherd, Lassie the collie, and Sydney and Zoie the jack russell terriers. She also recently started fostering animals too, so she has a German shepherd mix at her house as well! Six dogs is a lot of work for a healthy person but for someone like Becky who has MS, I imagine it’s even more challenging at times. Even so, she absolutely adores dogs and I think she feels it’s her duty to save as many as she can. Three of her dogs (and of course the foster dog) are rescues. Bailey is the biggest dog Becky has. Male goldens are obviously larger than females. Bailey weighs about 115! (And we thought Goldie was a big girl at about 95 pounds!) Leon thinks that Becky may want us to keep Bailey indefinitely because he may be too much for her to handle anymore. He’s so strong, and unfortunately Becky isn’t as strong as she once was. I imagine it’s more difficult for her to walk Bailey and take care of such a large dog. If Becky asks us to keep Bailey, then of course we would. He’s her baby and we want him to stay with the family. But nothing has been decided yet – Bailey may only be with us a couple weeks, we just don’t know right now. I always wanted more than one golden, but now that we have two of them in the house I see it will take some getting used to! Bailey is about 4 years old, so he’s house broken and past the puppy stage. He still shreds stuffed animals or paper on occasion, but so does Goldie! I’m not sure goldens ever outgrow that. Goldie and Bailey get along well too. They both follow us around all the time though! Last night as I walked upstairs, I had Goldie on one side and Bailey on the other – and it’s not an easy task walking up the stairs with two big dogs on either side of you! Now that we have two dogs, I REALLY wish it would stop raining! It was bad enough with four muddy pawprints tracked across the carpet! Now we have eight pawprints to clean up after!! POSTED BY AMY AT 9:52 AM FRIDAY, JANUARY 19, 2007 Nothing good to say I haven’t had much energy lately. I know I’m just depressed about everything. I’ve been having a very difficult time dealing with Darlene’s cancer. She called me last night. She’ll be in Columbus on Monday because she’s getting radiation on the tumors in her pelvis. Hopefully they’ll shrink some, so she can be more comfortable. I’m going to see her after work on Monday. It will be the first time I’ve seen her in over two months. And I can’t help but think...will the next time I see her also be the last? The thought is so devastating to me. Darlene also asked me if I wanted anything of hers. She said that she is giving her things away and 2 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 getting everything in order. Which makes me think that she must sense there isn’t much time left. I told her I’d like the video we made when we were in Las Vegas back in 2000. She and I sang “Faith” in one of those karaoke booths and we bought a video of our performance. It was so funny. I couldn’t think of anything else when she asked me, but I e-mailed her this morning and said I would like one more thing – like a picture frame or something. I don’t care what exactly but I just want something to keep, something that is hers. I was talking to Leon about all of this, and I told him that I feel like a part of me is dying too. Because aside from my parents and my sister, Darlene is the only link to my past. I’ve known her since we were 12 – almost 18 years now. She’s the only person I’ve stayed in touch with from school. When she’s gone, I won’t have anyone to reminisce with about the past. She was with me in junior high and in high school and in college. All those memories...it seems like they will die with her. Because no one else will remember them but me. I’ve been very blessed in that I’ve never lost anyone really close to me, not since I’ve grown up anyway. My grandma died when I was 4, and I lost an uncle when I was 12 and another one when I was 15. But I’ve never had to deal with death on an adult level, when you can finally grasp the finality of it and how it will affect your life. I know it eventually happens to all of us. We can’t go through life without death being a part of it too. At any rate, you can see why I haven’t felt like posting much lately. I haven’t felt like doing much of anything lately, to be honest. We finally got the funds together to start our homestudy, but I still haven’t gotten all of the documents in order. I had hoped to send everything in to our agency at the first of January, and here it is almost a month later and I’m still not ready. I haven’t been able to concentrate enough to get things in order. Hopefully within the next week, I’ll finally be able to send everything in. So that’s what’s been going on in my life lately. I’m sure it’s very depressing to read, but unfortunately there isn’t anything happy to write about at the moment. POSTED BY AMY AT 9:32 AM FRIDAY, JANUARY 26, 2007 Winter found us This is going to be a long post. Just ramblings and musings on my part. You’ve been warned... ;) Winter finally made its way to Ohio. We’d had such a mild winter so far and I was loving it because I despise the cold. But the past couple weeks have been really chilly and we now have some snow on the ground that’s probably here to stay for a while. I knew we couldn’t be lucky enough to have spring-like weather all winter. Oh well. I scanned a few pictures of the kids in a while back and am just now getting around to posting them. The first one is Beth’s school picture from this year. The next two are pictures that the kids’ mom had taken of 3 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 them around Christmas. They look so grown up, don’t they? It’s hard for me to believe that Andrew will be a teenager in April! And Beth will be 12 this year! I met them when they were 5 and 6 so they’ve grown so much in the time that I’ve known them. Becky’s golden is still staying with us. It was hard to get used to two goldens in the house at first, but now I’m really enjoying it. Both dogs are so sweet and always want to be near us. I’ll have to take a picture of Bailey and Goldie and post it on here soon. We still don’t know for sure if Becky wants us to keep Bailey long-term. Right now it’s just a temporary situation. I saw Darlene on Monday evening. She was in Columbus because she had radiation earlier in the day to try and shrink the tumors in her pelvis. She wanted to go to dinner with all of these people she used to work with, so I met her at a Japanese steak house not far from where I live. I was pleasantly surprised that she felt well enough to go out to dinner. There were 11 other people there! So it was hard to talk to 4 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 Darlene about anything too personal. I sat beside her so I got to visit with her for a while. The whole time she’s had cancer, she’s never really looked sick. It’s no different now. She’s skinnier than I’ve ever seen her though. She said that she’s lost 50 pounds. She can’t walk long distances, but she was able to walk in the restaurant with a cane. Her spirits are still really good. She was laughing and joking around. I don’t know how she does it. Darlene said that her doctor doesn’t want to give up on her just yet. There’s a clinical trial at Ohio State that he wants her to try. He said he would get her information about this trial as soon as possible. Her doctor told her if this doesn’t work, then they could talk about hospice. That being said, Darlene is very realistic about all of this. Her doctor told her there is no cure for her type of cancer. At this time, it’s just a matter of prolonging her life. She’s had cancer for almost 3 years now. When her cancer spread in 2004, we weren’t sure she’d live through the year. She not only lived through 2004 but she lived through 2005 and 2006. When she stopped her experimental treatment, I wasn’t sure she’d make it through the beginning of 2007. But it’s almost the end of January and she’s still with us. That’s why it’s so hard for me to accept this sometimes...because just looking at her, you still wouldn’t know she has terminal cancer. I feel more encouraged after seeing her. I’m not expecting any miracles. To be honest, I’m not sure I believe in such a thing. But I think she’ll be with us longer than any of us expected and that’s a blessing. Speaking of miracles and all of that...I have to admit, I still struggle with my faith. I’ve struggled with it for years now. I want to believe in God. I want to believe there is someone there listening to our prayers, even if He doesn’t answer them in the way we expect. I want to believe there is some reason for all of this, that our lives are somehow meaningful and have purpose. I’d hate to think this is all just one big random mess and when we die, that’s it. On that cheerful note, I’ll end this and get back to work. ;) POSTED BY AMY AT 8:47 AM TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 06, 2007 Why does it have to be so cold?! Well, it looks like Bailey is going home after all. We’ve had him with us for about a month, and I’ve gotten really used to having two goldens around! It’s been great. Bailey is just as sweet as Goldie, and it’s been a lot of fun having him around. We’re meeting Becky and Leon’s mom on Sunday to give Bailey back to her. I’m really going to miss him! But I know Bailey needs to go back home to his mama. She misses him too. Leon took this picture of Bailey with his cell phone. He is such a cute boy! 5 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 Andrew and Beth have had the past two days off school because it’s been so cold. With the wind chill, it’s below zero. I despise this type of weather. You think I’d be used to it after 30 years, but I’m not. I’ve always said, I’d much rather be too hot than too cold! In case you’re wondering how the adoption process is going, well it’s temporarily on hold. Leon and I decided not to proceed with our homestudy until we can get more money saved up. We don’t want to get through our homestudy and then not be able to proceed to the next step or the next step after that just because we can’t afford to. It makes me sad to say that our goal of having Elena home by the end of this year was just wishful thinking. That’s not realistic for us financially. At this point, I don’t know the time frame. It's hard for me to be patient because patience is definitely not one of my virtues. This was a very difficult decision to make, but one we thought about very carefully. This just makes the most sense for us right now. I talked to Darlene last week. She was in the hospital again because she had hives. Her doctor assumed she was having an allergic reaction to one of her medications. She hasn't gotten any more information on that clinical study at OSU yet. Her voice sounded really good on the phone though. It amazes me that she always manages to stay so upbeat. I should get back to work! My bosses are in Orlando at a builders show this week, but I still have work to do. ;) POSTED BY AMY AT 12:27 PM FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2007 TGIF! I’ve been a very bad blogger lately! I’ve just been really busy and haven’t had much time to post. Work has been non-stop the past couple of weeks. We missed half a day of work on Tuesday and Wednesday because of the weather. We got several inches of snow those days, with ice on top of that. It was a mess. The highways/interstates/main roads have been cleared, but some of the side streets are still in bad shape. It’s not supposed to get any warmer, so I don’t think the snow will be melting anytime soon. 6 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog I am so ready for spring! 2007 My work has an exhibit in the upcoming Home & Garden Show, which runs from February 24 – March 4. I’ve been creating signs for that. I’m also accepting entries for our remodeling show, which takes place May 5-6, so I’ve had to coordinate all of that. And the magazine was due this week too. Our largest home show, the Parade of Homes, is in June so things will probably be crazy at work from now until the Parade is over! At any rate, I’m glad it’s Friday. The kids aren’t with us this weekend. I’m going to try and catch up on all of the TV shows that I record! We have a DVR, and I record shows almost every night of the week. I rarely watch them when they’re actually on. I watch them later so I can skip all of the commercials! The only shows I usually watch in “real time” are the Sunday evening shows that I watch with Leon – The Simpsons, Family Guy and American Dad. Here is the rest of my TV schedule: Monday: How I Met Your Mother, The Class, Heroes, What About Brian Tuesday: Law & Order SVU, Dirt Wednesday: (I can’t think of any shows I watch on this day!) Thursday: My Name Is Earl, The Office, 30 Rock, ER Friday: Las Vegas Saturday: Saturday Night Live I know of at least one more show I’m going to start watching. It premieres this Monday and it’s called The Black Donnellys. It’s easy to watch series when you can skip through all of the commercials! :) Leon and I are supposed to go to some birthday party for one of his clients tonight. I don’t even know the guy but oh well! Free food, right? ;) I wanted to do some more painting this weekend too. Our home needs so much remodeling done and it’s a constant work-in-progress! My sister and her fiancé are coming to Columbus on Monday because Julie is going to the Justin Timberlake concert with me! I can’t wait. :) I’m going to be so exhausted the day after the concert because it doesn’t start until 8:00 p.m. which means I probably won’t get home until after midnight. The next day at work we have a big trade show for our members, so I’ll have to work from like 8:00 a.m. – 10:00 p.m. :( Well, I better get back to work and wrap up my Friday. POSTED BY AMY AT 1:50 PM SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2007 Concert recap The weekends always go by so fast! Back to the grind tomorrow. I'm glad last week is over...it was so stressful! 7 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 The Justin Timberlake concert last Monday was fun but really long! Our seats were up high in the "nosebleed" section so the performers looked really small. Pink opened for Justin and played for about an hour. She was fun to watch. Justin came on maybe a half-hour after that and played for about an hour. Then he took a half-hour break, while Timbaland did something (I'm not exactly sure what you'd call it – he did "DJ type" things while videos played on a screen). Anyway, Justin finally came back out and performed for another hour. Julie and I thought he was finished, so we started to leave and then he came back on! We stood in the aisle and watched one more song and then left because we hoped to beat the traffic (that didn't happen). Justin is a good performer, but it was almost a sensory overload experience. He had his band and back-up singers and dancers on stage with him, along with screens and videos and a light show. It was difficult to actually find him on stage at times because there were so many people surrounding him. But I'm glad I got to see him. I still think he's a cutie! :) Julie and I didn't get back to my house until about 12:30 a.m. Her fiancé Jamie brought her to Columbus and stayed at our house with Leon while we went to the concert. They drove back to Coshocton afterward and didn't get home until about 2:00 a.m. (and Jamie had to go to work at 7:00 a.m!). Julie told me that she and Jamie have their wedding planned. They've already booked their flight and scheduled the wedding for Saturday, April 21 at St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands. It will just be the two of them. No one from my family or Jamie's family will be able to be there with them. It makes me sad because she's my only sister and I don't even get to be a part of her wedding. My mom is very upset about it. We just all wish they could get married somewhere closer so we could all be there for them. They plan to have a reception for family and friends once they get back home. Well, it's almost lunch time so I better go feed Andrew and Beth! POSTED BY AMY AT 12:35 PM THURSDAY, MARCH 01, 2007 Rainy, sleepy afternoon... I’ve been battling a cold the past couple of days. Leon was sick with this last week. I jinxed myself because I just stated that I hadn’t been sick all winter (knock on wood)...and less than a week later, I have a cold! I’ve been popping cold medicine and that stuff always makes me feel loopy. My brain feels fuzzy, like I can’t think straight, and it makes me sleepy even when I take the daytime formula. Oh well! I got a flu shot last fall, but I guess that doesn’t protect me from colds. I have an appointment with my hairdresser tonight. I go to see her every couple of months. Leon doesn’t 8 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 understand why I don’t go to a beauty salon where I can get a $9.99 haircut, but he doesn’t understand the relationship a woman has with her hairdresser! ;) It’s so hard to find a good one so when you do find one, you have to hold onto her! My gal’s name is Melody and I’ve been going to her for about 5 years now. I always get my hair highlighted because (gasp!) I’m not a natural blonde. ;) I’m thinking I may get a different haircut, one where I can leave my hair curly. As everyone probably knows by now, my hair is naturally curly and I despise it! I’ve been straightening it for about 8 years now. But it’s such a hassle to do that. And the slightest bit of dampness, rain, snow, humidity, heat, etc. sends my hair right back to its curly state. I don’t even know why I bother. I always wanted pin-straight hair, but I suppose we always want what we don’t have. My parents are planning to come to Columbus on Saturday and spend the night. I was hoping that my sister and Jamie and Leon’s brother John and his wife Karen could all come too, but they can’t. We’re trying to get a group of people to help us do some remodeling work on our upstairs hallway. We want to replace the door frames, doors and baseboards with modern-looking white wood as opposed to the Godawful 1980’s woodwork we have now. But it’s too much work to tackle that job unless everyone can be there. So we’ll have to try it again another weekend. I’ve wanted to do some remodeling forever, but it seems there is never enough time or money to get it done. I talked to Darlene today. I was worried about her because she hasn’t been returning my calls or responding to my e-mails. I finally got her to pick up the phone, and she sounded really out of it. I can only assume that she’s taking pain medication because she was slurring her words and not making much sense. I could tell from her voice how exhausted she is. She mentioned that the clinical trial her doctor had been trying to get her into at OSU had been cancelled. I didn’t talk to Darlene for very long because I wasn’t sure what to say. It’s so hard for me to talk about normal, everyday things with her because I feel guilty. I don’t want to tell her about something I have planned next month or this summer, etc. because who knows if she’ll be here then. I don’t want to seem insensitive. I better find some more caffeine before I fall asleep at my desk! Until next time... POSTED BY AMY AT 4:14 PM TUESDAY, MARCH 06, 2007 Time for hospice for Darlene I went out to dinner with Leon last night and when I got back home, there was a message on our answering machine from one of Darlene’s friends Sherri. I started shaking because I was sure she was calling to tell me that Darlene was gone – I have been expecting a call like this for so long now. I called Sherri back and found out that Darlene is in the hospital again because her pain has been so bad. The doctors have also decided that it’s time for hospice. Darlene might get to go back home today, and I 9 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 imagine hospice will start immediately so they can keep her comfortable. A couple hours later, Darlene called me herself. I could tell she was drugged up because she wasn’t making a lot of sense. She told me she was in the hospital. Then she told me that she hoped she gets to go home soon because she doesn’t want to die in the hospital. She said something about “It won’t be much longer.” I was speechless. I just have absolutely no idea what to say to something like that. Darlene was diagnosed with cancer in February of 2004 so she has fought long and hard for 3 years. She is in so much pain anymore and I don’t want to see her suffer like that. I only pray that hospice can make these final days/weeks as comfortable as possible for her. POSTED BY AMY AT 8:29 AM WEDNESDAY, MARCH 07, 2007 Visiting Darlene I saw Darlene last night. Her stepmom called me yesterday afternoon and said that I better come see her because they don't think it will be long now...probably within the next few days. I walked into her room and her dad, stepmom, brother, his wife and her friend Sherri were there. They were all crying. That really got to me. I'm not used to seeing men cry. I've only seen my dad cry a handful of times in my whole life and I've never seen Leon cry once in the entire 7 years I've known him. So to see Darlene's big, tough dad and brother cry, that really pierced my heart. It was very difficult seeing Darlene. She is heavily medicated and I'm not sure she even knew any of us were there. Her stepmom told me that Darlene has been in a lot of pain, particularly in her lower back and pelvis where the tumors are pressing on nerves. Her stomach and back are very swollen. She hasn't eaten for the past week and she no longer has control of her bladder. Since the tumors are pressing on nerves, her legs are numb and she can't walk anymore either. The tumors continue to spread and there is also one pressing on her heart now. Watching Darlene lying in the hospital bed last night, she was so restless. I wish she was able to relax. Her body kept jerking. You know how you're about to fall asleep and you suddenly startle yourself awake? That's what Darlene kept doing. She also kept pointing at the air and talking, but the things she said did not make sense. I know the meds she's on are making her brain foggy. She would open her eyes and look at us, but I don't know if she really saw any of us. She said things about making a cheesecake and a gun going "boom boom," and at one point she looked right at me and said "It's snowing out" (it wasn't). It was as if she was dreaming and talking in her sleep. She also winced quite a bit and would cry out. I hope the meds are strong enough to stop her pain. I don't 10 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 want her to suffer anymore. It's been 3 long years and I just want her to be at peace. Her dad and stepmom plan to take her home this afternoon and hospice will meet them there. I only hope they can keep her comfortable. For some reason, I keep thinking about 1997...where we were 10 years ago. In March of 1997, Darlene and I were living in our tiny, dorm-like apartment at the Newark campus of Ohio State. We were both in college then and Darlene worked at Pizza Hut. I keep thinking, we never dreamed that so much would change in 10 years...that Darlene would be dying in March of 2007. It's so heartbreaking. I have so many wonderful memories of Darlene. We've been best friends for almost 18 years, which is more than half of my life. We met in our 7th grade art class when we were 12 years old. She had just moved to our school and we rode the same bus. We both played the clarinet in band and we became inseparable by 9th grade. We had so much fun in band when we were in high school, going to football games on Friday nights and band competitions on the weekend. We ended up going to the same college and were roommates from the time we were 18 until I moved in with Leon when I was 24. We've been through so much together. I'm just so glad that I have all of those memories to hold onto. I know that other friends will come and go in my lifetime, but I can't imagine ever having another best friend. POSTED BY AMY AT 9:15 AM WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14, 2007 I saw Darlene again Leon, my parents and I went to see Darlene at her dad and stepmom’s house on Monday evening. Leon and I left work early and went to Coshocton to pick up my parents first. We didn’t get to Tim and Maureena’s house until almost 7:00 p.m. I’d never been to Freeport before. It’s a very small town, the kind where you blink and you miss it. It’s almost 3 hours east of Columbus, so it was a long trip for us. 11 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 Darlene was more conscious than she was when I saw her in the hospital. She woke up when we came in her room and asked how we were. She said “What’s new with you guys?” Then she fell back asleep. I just sat in her room and watched her sleep for a couple hours. She was restless and her body jerked a lot. She cried out a few times and her stepmom pushed a button that administers medication. She’s hooked up to an IV that provides a constant drip of pain medication, but there is also a button that Darlene or her family can push every 10 minutes to provide even more medication if the pain gets really bad. Hospice comes in the morning to clean her up and check on her meds. They try to position her in the bed so that she’s comfortable. She can’t sit up at all. She hasn’t eaten for almost a week and a half. She just lies in her bed and sleeps most of the time. When I was sitting with her in her room, I just wanted to shake her and say “No Darlene! Don’t leave us!” As if I have the power to convince her to stay. But I don’t want her to stay if she’s in such pain. I want her suffering to end so she can finally be at peace. We talked to Darlene’s family for a while before we left. Her brother Tim and his wife Jaclyn were also there as well as her stepbrother Jake and her mom Susan. Her dad told us that it will probably be 2-3 more days. When I kissed Darlene’s forehead and told her we were leaving, she said “Thanks for coming. Have a safe trip.” It was hard leaving because I knew that was very likely the last time I would see her while she’s still here. I keep my cell phone with me at all times because I’m constantly expecting to receive the call I’ve been dreading for three years now. I’ll post an update when I hear anything from her family. POSTED BY AMY AT 9:28 AM THURSDAY, MARCH 15, 2007 Is it spring or winter? I can't tell! I don’t have any news to report on Darlene right now. I haven’t heard from her family, so she is obviously still hanging in there. I just hope that her suffering ends soon. I wanted to comment on the weather. Tuesday was like spring! It was sunny and at least 70. Just a beautiful day. Yesterday it rained, but it was still warm. Today it’s much colder and right now it’s snowing! We have the craziest weather. I hope spring and more sunshine will be here soon because I hate dreary days. In case you’ve been wondering, I removed my adoption blog and fundraising blog from my profile for now. These blogs are still out in cyberspace and can still be viewed, but I feel almost guilty having them out there considering our adoption plans are on hold right now. There’s nothing new to report unfortunately. 12 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog I’ll certainly post an update if we ever have one. 2007 I’m working on a blog for someone else now too! One of Leon’s clients that he does computer consulting for has asked me to help her create a blog. She writes a column for one of our local newspapers and wants the blog to contain links to her articles. I started her blog yesterday and am actually going to her house tonight to discuss it with her and make any changes/additions that she wants. Here is her blog in case you’re interested: Balancing Act. POSTED BY AMY AT 11:56 AM SUNDAY, MARCH 18, 2007 Lazy Sunday On Friday, I got an e-mail from Darlene's stepmom Maureena, giving me an update. This is what she had to say: "She is about the same. Low body temp and blood pressure. Dr. was here today, she has a high heart rate. She has been able to rest most of the day. That is good for her. Lots of people are supposed to be here over the weekend. She gets tired easily." She ended by saying "We'll call you if anything happens." I haven't heard from anyone. I am just so surprised. I guess this is just typical Darlene though. She has hung in there so much longer than any of us ever expected. At the same time, it breaks my heart that she's still in pain. I have to admit, I feel guilty going about my daily life knowing what she's going through. Leon and I went out to dinner and a movie yesterday, and the whole time we were out I felt uncomfortable...as if I shouldn’t be doing these things, going about my life as if nothing is wrong. I feel that way when I laugh at something too...I’ll start to laugh at what someone says or something I see on TV, and it immediately occurs to me that I shouldn’t be laughing. I suppose maybe this is a common feeling that people have when a loved one dies or is dying. Leon and I went to see 300 yesterday. I’d heard so much hype about it and wanted to see if the movie lived up to it. We liked it. It was very graphic, but I guess I’m used to that kind of thing considering how much I love horror movies. Afterward we went to eat at Asian Star, which is a Chinese buffet. Now it’s Sunday and I don’t have anything planned for the day. We obviously don’t have the kids this weekend. I really need to clean the house since we have two dogs. I guess I forgot to mention that we’re doggysitting Bailey again. We went to Medina last weekend to celebrate Leon’s mom’s and his brother John’s birthdays. We took Bailey back with us again because Becky is working so much and has 6 other dogs to take care of. I don’t know how long he’s staying this time. He’s acting differently than he did the last time he stayed with us though. I don’t know if he misses his 13 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 mommy or what, but he seems sad. He goes into a room by himself and lies around and doesn’t seem to want to be around us. Maybe he’s just enjoying the peace and quiet since he’s used to being surrounded by 6 other dogs. The only downside is that it’s muddy outside right now, so Goldie and Bailey keep tracking in muddy pawprints! POSTED BY AMY AT 12:19 PM TUESDAY, MARCH 20, 2007 Nothing ever stays the same, does it? I’m still at work, killing some time, because I have a Twigs dinner to go to at 7:00 p.m. I’ve been reading back over my previous posts, and it amazes me how much things change in even a few months time. Just a few short months ago, I was talking about all of our adoption plans – and now it doesn’t seem like it will ever move forward. It’s indefinitely on hold for now anyway. In one of my posts from late last summer, I talked about meeting Darlene for lunch and going to the mall with her. She seemed healthy then, almost like the Darlene I used to know. Now she keeps hanging on and on. Who knows how long someone’s body can hold out? Last Monday, they said she’d be gone in 2-3 days. A week later, she’s still here. I wish I could find a happy place in this life and stay there forever. It’s too painful to move forward sometimes...especially when moving forward means leaving things behind. I’m in a depressed mood today obviously. Hopefully my Twigs dinner will cheer me up! We’re going to the new Bonefish Grill restaurant at Polaris. I better end this now, so I’m not late! POSTED BY AMY AT 6:29 PM THURSDAY, MARCH 22, 2007 Another rainy day I sent Darlene's stepmom another e-mail and this was her reply: 14 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 She has gotten a little worse every day. Yesterday she was actually saying little things all day. We now have a nurse here 24/7, and they are like the gestapo. Limiting the # and time visitors are here. They think she needs quiet to pass on. Thank god for them. She ended her e-mail by saying that she'd keep me posted. I'm torn about whether I should try to get back to see her again. I didn't think she'd be here more than a few days the last time I visited her. Part of me just wants to remember her how she was and not see her again, suffering like she is now. That's the hardest part for me, seeing her broken body lying there, but maybe that sounds selfish... The weather has gotten warmer, which is a nice change. Although it's thundering and lightening and raining here right now! I'd much rather see the sun. One of my co-workers who vacations in Seattle, Washington said that she heard that Ohio has more rainy days than Seattle! I don't know if that's true or not, but it does rain in Ohio way too much. I think my personality is much better suited for a dry, desert climate like Nevada or Arizona. Maybe I can retire in a place like that! We're having a chili cook-off at work this afternoon. Our members can submit their chili recipes and we have judges come in for a taste-test. This is the third one of these we've had, and we usually get about 100 of our members here. It really is a lot of fun, tasting all the different chili's. My boss said that he would be passing out Beano to everyone who attends this event! :) POSTED BY AMY AT 11:10 AM FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 2007 Darlene has passed Darlene's stepmom Maureena called me around 5:45 a.m. The phone ringing woke us up. We have caller ID so I could tell by the look on Leon's face who it was. Maureena took a deep breath when I answered and said "This is hard." I knew what she meant...hard to finally tell me what I've been expecting to hear for a long time now. Darlene passed around 4:30 a.m. Maureena didn't elaborate, but she said it was "easy." So hopefully that means that Darlene finally drifted away peacefully. Maureena said that she'd call me when they know the funeral arrangements. I haven't even cried yet since hearing the news. It's so strange, but I feel kind of like I'm in shock. I don't know how else to describe it. I called off work today. My co-workers all know about this so they'll obviously understand if I can't concentrate on work today. I imagine I'll be off Monday too if the funeral is then. I'm sure it will all hit me full-force later. POSTED BY AMY AT 6:25 AM 15 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 2007 Darlene Marie Neff I found out that Darlene's family will be holding visitation services and a memorial service this Monday at a funeral home in Cambridge. I went to the funeral home's website for the address and directions, and I noticed that they have Darlene's obituary there. I called my mom and she asked me to read it to her (she doesn't have a computer at home). I cried the whole time I was reading it. It's so difficult to see these words written about Darlene. My mom called Maureena to find out more information. Maureena said that Darlene was alone with the nurse when she passed away this morning. Apparently, Maureena and Tim were sleeping. Darlene had been having difficulty breathing yesterday. The nurse said that she passed peacefully. It was Darlene's wishes to have a memorial service as opposed to a funeral. As an Ohio State graduate, she was a big Buckeyes fan so she wanted to have a Buckeye memorial service. Here is the link to her obituary online, but this is what it says: Darlene Marie Neff (January 5, 1977 - March 23, 2007) Darlene Marie "Angel" Neff, 30, of Freeport, died Friday (March 23, 2007) at her home after a courageous three-year battle with cancer. She was born January 5, 1977 in Cambridge, daughter of Susan (Adams) Neff and Tim Neff. Miss Neff was a Radiology Technician for The Ohio State University Medical Center of Columbus. Miss Neff was a 1995 graduate of River View High School. She was a 1999 graduate of The Ohio State University, where she received a Bachelor’s Degree in Allied Health Services. She was an avid Ohio State Buckeyes fan and a major promoter of the Buckeyes Football Boosters. She enjoyed scrapbooking and spending time with her family. She loved her pet cat, Tay-Tay, dearly. Miss Neff was preceded in death by her maternal and paternal grandmothers. She leaves her mother, Susan (Adams) Neff of Tallmadge OH; her father and step-mother, Tim and Maureena Neff of Freeport OH; three brothers, Tim (& Jaclyn) Neff Jr. of Uhrichsville OH, Jacob Phillips of the home and Sam Neff of Cambridge; a sister, Jenny (& Scott) Hickman of Cambridge; her paternal grandfather, Harold A. "Pete" Neff of Freeport OH; her maternal grandfather, Jerry Adams of Akron OH; and numerous nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles and cousins. Family and friends may call on Monday (March 26, 2007) from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Thorn-Black Funeral Home, 139 S 9th Street, Cambridge. A memorial service conducted by her family and friends will follow on Monday at 7:30 p.m. Everyone is encouraged to wear the “Scarlet and Gray” of The Ohio State Buckeyes to the memorial service. Memorial contributions may be made to: Valley Hospice, 380 Summit Avenue, Steubenville OH 43952. POSTED BY AMY AT 8:55 PM 16 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 SATURDAY, MARCH 24, 2007 Comforting dream I dreamed about Darlene last night. I dreamed that I was lying in my bed, half awake/half asleep, and she was sitting on the floor beside the bed, holding my hand and talking to me. I remember thinking how healthy she looked and that her long, straight brown hair was back (her pretty hair was never the same after chemo). I woke up and my first thought was how much I'm going to miss talking to her. I don't remember what she said to me in my dream, but I was comforted by her presence. I just called my parents' house and I talked to my sister. Julie said that she heard that people who pass away come to you in your dreams to let you know they're ok. This thought made me cry so much. I don't know if I believe in dreams and all of that, but it's still such a nice thought...that maybe Darlene IS trying to tell me she's in a better place now and she is healthy again. Today's been a very hard day for me. I've cried much more than I did yesterday. I've received such nice e-mails and messages and calls from people, and I really appreciate everyone's support. It means so much to me. Thank you. Andrew and Beth are with us this weekend. Unfortunately, they never got the chance to know Darlene very well. It makes me sad that they have to watch me go through this though. I keep crying at unexpected times, and they'll hug me and try to cheer me up. I just feel bad because you hate to have your kids witness the bad things in life...you want to try and protect them for as long as possible. I just hope that Darlene's family is able to find some comfort. Even though Darlene was my closest friend, I still didn't get to see her and talk to her every day. Her family was with her every single day, and now there's going to be a huge void making it much more difficult for them to go on with their day-to-day lives. POSTED BY AMY AT 2:27 PM TUESDAY, MARCH 27, 2007 Darlene's memorial service was beautiful Ever since finding out that Darlene's cancer was terminal, one of my biggest fears had been seeing her in her casket. For some reason, the thought of that just about paralyzed me with fear. I thought I was going to have a panic attack before leaving our house for her memorial service yesterday. I was so scared to see her, and I was shaking and felt like I couldn't breathe. I'm so thankful for Leon's 17 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 support. He calmed me down and got Goldie and Bailey to give me kisses, which always makes me laugh no matter how sad I am. Darlene's service ended up being beautiful. She had wanted an Ohio State memorial, so almost everyone was wearing OSU clothing and/or scarlet and gray. Darlene looked absolutely lovely. Her cheeks were pink and she had some lipstick on, and she was wearing a lavender gown with a gray scarf. She also had dragonfly jewelry on since she loved dragonflies. She looked so peaceful. I touched her hand and she was very cold. That was the only thing that really bothered me about seeing her. Otherwise, she was beautiful. Darlene’s stepmom asked me if I wanted to say something during the service, but I declined. I told her I just didn’t think I’d be able to do that. It’s very hard for me to talk about her without crying right now. A few of her co-workers, some family friends, her cousin and her brother said some things about her. Some of the things people said made us laugh and others made us cry pretty hard. It was a very emotional service. I know Darlene would have loved it though. I could almost imagine her sitting there laughing and crying at everything people said. It was the perfect celebration of her life. She is being cremated today. She wanted her ashes spread somewhere in Clearwater, Florida. Darlene went to Clearwater for a vacation with her brother and his wife back in the fall of 2005, when she was in a brief remission from her cancer. She loved it there, so that’s where she wanted her ashes spread. I'm back at work today. It's been busy which is good because I could use the distraction. I've done pretty well today. One of my co-workers gave me a sympathy card and a little figurine with two angels. That made me cry. But other than that, I'm trying very hard to stay strong because I know that's what Darlene would want for her family and friends. POSTED BY AMY AT 1:38 PM WEDNESDAY, MARCH 28, 2007 In memory of Darlene Darlene collected dragonflies. I'm not sure when she started doing this, but I think it was before she got sick. It got to the point where she had too many dragonflies because people kept buying things for her! She had dragonfly picture frames, jewelry, lamps, posters, pillows, etc. etc. etc. So of course, when I see a dragonfly I think of Darlene. Yesterday, I ordered a very pretty framed print from art.com. When I get this picture, I plan to hang it in our bedroom. It makes me smile. 18 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 POSTED BY AMY AT 10:00 AM WEDNESDAY, APRIL 04, 2007 Not an exciting post It’s been almost two weeks since she’s been gone. It still doesn’t feel real most days. Nothing overly exciting to report really. We had beautiful spring weather the past week, and now it’s cold again today! The kids are on spring break this week. They went to Texas with their mom. They’re supposed to be back tomorrow. We don’t get to see them this weekend though because their mom gets to spend Easter with them this year. Leon and I are heading to Medina on Saturday and we’ll be there for Easter. We’ll drop Bailey off at Becky’s again. I think Goldie is ready for him to leave! She is very grumpy with him and growls and snarls a lot. It’s so funny because she’s the biggest baby in the world around people, but I guess she just doesn’t like other dogs. She’s too spoiled! My sister is still planning on getting married on April 21. She and Jamie have their flight, hotel and wedding ceremony all booked in St. Thomas. I wish I could be there with them. They are thinking about holding a small wedding ceremony when they get back home so that our families can watch them exchange their vows. They’re also planning on having a reception once they get back. Julie and Jamie found an apartment. They’re supposed to move in April 15. It sounds cute, although Julie said it’s pretty small (only 1 bedroom and 1 bath). It’s in Roscoe Village and the price is really reasonable. It’s only about 2 minutes from my parents’ house! Leon and I rent movies on a regular basis and usually watch several a week. We watched one on Sunday called Children of Men. I know this movie was critically acclaimed and Oscar-nominated, but I thought it 19 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 was the most depressing movie I’ve ever seen! Maybe I’m just not hip enough to get it. At any rate, I would not recommend it to anyone. POSTED BY AMY AT 4:27 PM THURSDAY, APRIL 05, 2007 Easter Humor POSTED BY AMY AT 3:09 PM WEDNESDAY, APRIL 11, 2007 Dreary days...will they never end? We visited Leon’s family up north for Easter and it was snowing there! It seems crazy to have snow on Easter. It’s still cold this week and rainy too. I’m ready for warm weather and sunshine again! We’re going to Coshocton to visit my parents and sister this weekend. I want to see Julie’s new apartment. I told her and Jamie that we’ll buy them something for their apartment as a wedding gift. They don’t really have anything so they’re starting from scratch! 20 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 This Friday will be 3 weeks. It still doesn’t feel real...it just seems like I haven’t talked to her in a while. I dream about her quite often. I’m not ready to "delete" her from my life – I still have her e-mail address in my contact list, her Yahoo ID on my Messenger list and her phone number in my cell phone. It stings every time I see her name, but I can’t bring myself to erase any of those things. POSTED BY AMY AT 4:55 PM MONDAY, APRIL 16, 2007 One sick puppy! Last Thursday evening, I came home from work to find a mess in our house! (*tmi ahead – you’ve been warned*) Goldie had diarrhea in several places in our living room and family room, and she had thrown up in the upstairs hallway! I know she couldn’t help it, but what a terrible mess! We still haven’t been able to get the stains completely out. Thursday night/Friday morning while we were trying to sleep, Goldie literally woke us up every hour crying because she had to go outside to go potty. By Friday morning, I was extremely worried about her! I know there’s been the recent pet food recall, but Goldie only eats Iams dry food and that hasn’t been recalled...and her treats don’t contain wheat gluten. She was such a sick girl though and I was worried she was going to get dehydrated! Leon took her to the vet on Friday and thankfully it was nothing serious. She had gastronitis (spelling??), and the vet prescribed her special food and pills. She’s eaten all her special food, but she has to continue taking her pills for another week. She kept spitting them out, so we finally put the pills on a spoon and covered them with peanut butter! That worked like a charm!! :) Her tummy has since gotten better, but she certainly gave her mommy a scare! I kept thinking ‘I’ve already lost one best friend, I can’t lose another!’ I know people who don’t own pets (like my parents) could never understand, but Goldie is literally a member of our family. I love her more than I ever thought I could love an animal! I like to say that Goldie is my first born. :) Leon and I truly think of her as our baby. Sometimes the thought of losing her scares me so much because I am so attached to her! She’ll be 7 years old this June. I only pray that she stays healthy and is with us for many more years! Leon and I went to Coshocton on Saturday and spent the night. We went to dinner at a restaurant in Roscoe Village on Saturday night. Afterward, we went to Julie and Jamie’s new apartment. It’s very nice even though it’s so small. But it will make a nice home for them to start out in. On Sunday, I took them shopping to buy them their wedding gift! They picked out a coffee table, an end table and three lamps. My parents are buying them a washer and dryer, and Jamie’s parents are buying them a couch. I’ll buy them something else (or just give them money) when they have their wedding reception this summer. Julie and Jamie leave this Friday for the Virgin Islands. My parents are driving them to the airport here in Columbus. Their flight leaves around 6:30 a.m. and they get to St. Thomas at about 1:30 p.m. (they’re in 21 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 the same time zone as us). They’re getting married Saturday afternoon on the beach. I’m sure it will be so beautiful. It makes me very sad that no one can be there with them. They’ll come home the following Friday. My mom is most likely going to have a reception for them in June, although she hasn’t set a date yet. POSTED BY AMY AT 2:21 PM TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2007 Russia curtails American adoptions I was reading some posts on the message board of an infertility support group and there was a post about Russia stopping American adoptions for now! Here is the link to the article from USA Today: Russia curtails American adoptions It has been one stumbling block after another. I am very sorry to say that international adoption no longer appears to be the path for us. My heart goes out to all of those families waiting to adopt their children from Russia...and to all of the children in orphanages who deserve to be in loving homes! POSTED BY AMY AT 4:23 PM WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 2007 Our agency says "Russian adoptions are still open" This is what our adoption agency has posted on their website about Russian adoptions: 04/11/07 - Russian Adoptions Are Still Open! There have been several reports regarding adverse effects on international adoptions from the country of Russia - possible closures. EAC would like to stress that these confusing reports are simply pointing out the last of the agencies with accreditation have expired. As of today, there are no agencies with a current accreditation completing adoptions in Russia. The April accreditation expiration for these few agencies has no affect on the total overall Russian adoption process. EAC remains optimistic that we will receive our accreditation shortly. Please feel free to contact your consultant should you have any additional questions. Independent adoptions are still proceeding as before. So it appears that there will be a delay in the process, but hopefully the adoptions will proceed again 22 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 within a few months. I certainly hope so! I'd hate to think that people's options are limited when it comes to providing a child with a forever home. Every child deserves a family! POSTED BY AMY AT 9:00 AM THURSDAY, APRIL 19, 2007 Virginia Tech I am so terribly disturbed by the Virginia Tech situation. I can’t stop thinking about it. My heart goes out to all of the victims’ families and those people who were injured and traumatized by this horrible event. I watched the news last night and seeing those pictures and videos that Cho Seung-Hui sent to NBC was absolutely chilling. He was obviously a very disturbed young man, and it’s a shame someone didn’t get him the help he needed. I think the scariest thing about this situation is that it could happen anywhere. I went to Ohio State, which is a huge campus, and there isn’t a lot of security around (at least there wasn’t in the late 90’s when I was there). Someone could have so easily slipped into a building and started shooting just like Cho did. It doesn’t make you feel very safe! In one of the videos, they said that Cho called the Columbine killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold "martyrs." It seems to me that Cho felt invisible in his everyday life and wanted the sick recognition and notoriety that this has gotten him. It bothers me that some other disturbed individual is going to see these videos and pictures and decide that they want to be "famous" like Cho. They might even look up to him and consider him a "hero" in their twisted mind. There are so many horrible, senseless things happening everyday in this world! POSTED BY AMY AT 9:16 AM MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2007 Spring has sprung! One month ago today, Darlene passed away. It doesn’t seem possible that it’s already been a month. The weather has finally gotten nicer. We had a beautiful weekend. The kids were with us and they had all 23 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 kinds of things going on. Beth had a game night at her school on Friday, and Andrew had a friend spend the night. On Saturday afternoon, Beth had a soccer game. The kids had a musical at their church on Sunday. And Andrew had to referee two soccer games on Sunday afternoon. I also went to a candle party at my co-worker’s house on Saturday before Beth’s game. I cleaned the house on Sunday while Leon did yard work. We also went to Lowe’s yesterday and Beth picked out some flowers that she wanted to plant. Leon grilled hamburgers last night, and we ate dinner on our back deck. My sister and Jamie got married on Saturday. Julie Kirker is now Julie Bryan. She called me on Saturday night to tell me about it. They got married on the beach. It had rained earlier, but thankfully it stopped for their ceremony. It was just the two of them, the woman officiating the ceremony and another woman they found on the beach and asked to be their witness. Julie said that they didn’t video tape it, but their witness did take pictures. I wish we could have been there with them. Julie didn’t sound overly enthused with St. Thomas though. She said it isn’t as nice as it looks in pictures. The hotel they are staying in is older and a bit run-down. She said that overall, it appears to be a poor community. She also said that things are very expensive there (gas is $1 more than it is back home!). Everyone seems to be very friendly though and the ocean is beautiful. I can’t wait to see all of their pictures. Their flight comes in Friday night around 10:00 p.m. Andrew’s 13th birthday is this Thursday. I can’t believe I’ll have a teenage stepson! It makes me feel old! ;) (Although technically, if I had given birth to him I would have only been 16!) He’s hard to buy gifts for, so we let him pick out his own present on Saturday. He got a basketball video game for Xbox. POSTED BY AMY AT 10:00 AM FRIDAY, MAY 04, 2007 Yay for Fridays! It’s a beautiful spring day outside! I am so happy to finally have warm, sunny days again. The long, cold, wet winter months are so depressing. I haven’t posted much lately because I’ve been so busy at work. We have a condo tour going on now and a remodeling tour this weekend. And then the Parade of Homes starts on June 9th and runs through the 24th. It’s at a golf course community called Pinnacle in Grove City this year. Grove City is about a halfhour drive from work or from home, so I’ll be doing quite a bit of driving this year. Thank God my work reimburses us for gas mileage because gas is $3.19 a gallon right now! The kids are with us this weekend. They have another busy schedule. Andrew will be refereeing 3 soccer games on Saturday morning, and Beth has soccer games on Saturday and Sunday. Andrew is growing up so fast! He asked his mom if he could date. She said only group dates for now because after all, he’s only 13. When I picked Andrew up last night he told me that there’s a girl in his class that he wants to ask out! :) 24 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 A remodeler is coming out to our house tomorrow afternoon to look at some jobs we have and to give us an estimate. For the longest time, we were going to do these jobs ourselves but we’ve been in our house for almost 4 years already and still haven’t had the time to get the work done. We want to replace all of the baseboards, door frames and doors in our house with white wood. We have this dated, 1980ishlooking dark wood now and I hate it. We also need some painting and wallpapering done. We eventually want to get new carpet too. I still haven’t gotten the stains out of the carpet from Goldie’s accident a few weeks back! Leon and I went with my parents to the airport last Friday night to pick up Julie and Jamie. Their flight was delayed and they didn’t end up getting in until about 11:00 p.m. They were both a nervous wreck because apparently they’d flown through some bad weather and had a really bumpy ride. Sadly, they didn’t really have a very nice time on their honeymoon. They obviously stayed in a lessexpensive part of St. Thomas, and they said that they never felt safe the entire time they were there. They had this fear of being mugged. They said everything was run-down and poor-looking, and the only thing they really enjoyed was the ocean. They said it was a very pretty blue color. I still haven’t seen any pictures from their wedding yet. I think my mom is going to have a reception for them in June, although no one has picked a date yet. Well, I better get back to work. TGIF! POSTED BY AMY AT 10:22 AM THURSDAY, MAY 17, 2007 The Big 3-0 Today is my 30th birthday, and I had an interesting start to my day – I was in an accident on the way to work! I was on I-270, not too far from the exit I need to take to get to work, and everyone slammed on their brakes for some reason. It was raining, but I still don’t know what caused everyone to stop fast. I managed to stop, but the guy three cars behind me didn’t and he hit the guy in front of him causing a chain reaction. There were four of us involved in this accident, although someone a few cars in front of me also hit the person in front of him. So there were a total of six cars damaged as a result of everyone slamming on their brakes! It took about an hour for the police to get there. Two ambulances came, but thankfully no one was seriously injured. The back of my head hurts a little from hitting it on my head rest and my lower back aches some, probably just from the impact. Thank God for seat belts! I always wear mine and I know I would have been hurt worse if I hadn't been wearing it. All of the drivers involved had to fill out paperwork. The cop told me I’d receive an accident report in the mail in a couple days, so I can find out who the other drivers were. I already called my insurance company. I decided I’ll deal with the insurance company of the guy who hit me in order to get my car fixed. I can still drive my car. My bumper on the left-hand side is pretty damaged and has a hole in it. I’ll 25 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 have to wait until I get the paperwork in the mail to find out who I need to contact to get my car fixed. It’s ironic because I was in a similar chain reaction on 270 on May 18, 2004! There must be something about 270 and my birthday. I wasn’t cited then and I wasn’t cited for this accident either since I didn’t hit anyone. It’s still going to be a pain to have to get a rental car and wait for my car to be fixed and all of that. I’m just very glad that no one was hurt because cars drive fast on 270! But since we were near an exit ramp, most of the traffic in the lane I was in had slowed down. Anyway, I was obviously late for work. We always get cake on our birthday at work. One of my co-workers went to pick up my cake, and we’ll have a little celebration in about an hour. I picked out a Boston cream pie. We’re not going to celebrate my birthday at home until tomorrow night because the kids are so busy tonight. Beth has a soccer game, and Andrew has an event at his church. We’ll probably go to dinner at our favorite restaurant, El Vaquero’s, tomorrow night. My parents, sister, her husband and my grandma are all coming to our house on Sunday, and we’re having a cook-out then to celebrate my birthday too. I’ve been so busy at work lately that I haven’t been a very good blogger. We have our big home show in June, so everything is pretty crazy right now. I’m always glad when June is over. It’s not that I feel old...but turning 30 bothers me a little. I think it’s because I’m not where I wanted to be in life at age 30. I always imagined I’d be a mom by now, so it definitely stings that I’m still not. And I’ve really been missing Darlene the past few days. I wish she was here to celebrate with me. We always took each other out to dinner to celebrate our birthdays. I think about her all the time. There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t wish I could go back in time and be with her while she was still well. I wish I could warn her to get checked for cancer long before she ever knew she had it...I wish I could have prevented it and saved her. Well, I suppose I should get back to work now. I need to grab some lunch and get ready for my Boston cream pie! POSTED BY AMY AT 12:08 PM MONDAY, MAY 21, 2007 Starting another work week We had such a busy weekend. Beth had a soccer tournament so she had four games, two on Saturday and two on Sunday. Andrew had to referee three games on Saturday morning, and he had a band concert on Sunday. My family came to visit yesterday to celebrate my birthday. We grilled hamburgers and ate on our deck. Although it rained off and on, it warmed up. It was very chilly yesterday morning when we went to Beth’s first game. It’s a little cool outside today, but the sun is out. I was at a golf course this morning helping with check-in because we have a membership golf outing going on today. I’m back at the office now though. I’ll be in 26 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 the office for a couple more weeks, and then I’ll be out at the Parade of Homes almost every day during the month of June. I cleaned the house on Saturday. I despise cleaning. I’m a terrible procrastinator when it comes to doing this. There’s always something I’d rather be doing! If I tidied up a little bit every day, it would be so much easier. Instead I let things pile up and when it finally comes time to clean, it’s an overwhelming task. I wish we made enough money to hire a cleaning person! Maybe someday. Leon’s brother John and his wife Karen are planning to stay with us this weekend. Leon said that he and John would finish drywalling the garage, a project they started about two years ago. We have so many half-finished remodeling projects in our house. John took the wallpaper down in our half bathroom six months ago, and we’ve never gotten new wallpaper hung yet. It drives me crazy. I hope we can get some of this unfinished work done soon! When I was in the accident last Thursday, the police officer told me that I’d receive paperwork in the mail with the names of the people involved in the accident, including the people who were cited so I could contact their insurance company. I still haven’t received anything. It’s frustrating! I don’t know how to find out who hit me. The accident report is not posted online yet. I’d like to get my car fixed as soon as possible. I hate driving around with a smashed bumper. I ended up going to my family doctor last Friday to make sure everything was ok. My back, from my waist all the way up into my shoulders, started getting really sore later in the day on Thursday. I wanted to be sure I had any injuries documented for insurance purposes. My doctor told me I have a mild case of whiplash. He just told me to take ibuprofen and come back in two weeks if the pain is still there. I’m sure I’ll be fine though. I don’t feel nearly as sore as I did last week. POSTED BY AMY AT 12:38 PM TUESDAY, MAY 22, 2007 Change of plans I haven’t shared this with many people, but Leon and I have decided not to pursue adoption at this time. It wasn’t an easy decision for us by any means, but things were not progressing for us. We ran into some financial problems because our agency increased the foreign program fee by $2,000. In order to continue the process, we would have to switch agencies and find one that charges less. But then we found out that Russian adoption is currently closed for Americans. I hope this is only a temporary situation. My heart breaks for all of the children in orphanages over there who have to wait while their government makes up their mind about re-opening adoptions for Americans. At any rate, Russia was the only place we really had our heart set on for adoption right now. We truly believed we were on the right path, but things happen for a reason and all signs were showing us that this may not be the path for us. International adoption seems a little scary right now. From what I’ve heard, China has approximately a two-year wait to receive a referral. And Guatemala is not currently complying with something called the Hague Convention which could affect future adoptions for Americans from that 27 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog country. 2007 I realize that there are children in the United States who need adopted. But for our own personal reasons, Leon and I never felt comfortable with domestic adoption. I’m still a very strong supporter of adoption and I think it’s a beautiful way to grow your family. I hope that someday we’ll get the chance to follow the original path we set out on. But for the time being, we have decided to start fertility treatment again...because I still want to be a mom more than anything in the world and treatment is the only way for us to make that a reality right now. I was so reluctant to start treatment again. I did three rounds of Clomid back in 2004 and was so emotionally drained afterward that I vowed not to continue. It took three years and dashed adoption dreams for us to start treatment again. We’re going to the same reproductive endocrinologist (RE) that we went to back in ‘04. He had me do a round of Clomid in March, and I didn’t ovulate on it this time either. From the research I’ve done, women with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) are often resistant to Clomid. In April, I did my first round of injectible fertility drugs called Gonal-F. Miraculously, I ovulated on Gonal-F – which may be the first time I’ve ever ovulated in my life! So I’m thankful for that, but unfortunately I didn’t get pregnant on that round. That was a difficult month for me emotionally because I truly had convinced myself that I was pregnant. I did a second round of Gonal-F this month. I had my first IUI (intra-uterine insemination) on Saturday morning. I have to have my blood drawn on Friday to find out if I ovulated. I sure hope I did because the IUI cost $326! I have insurance through my work and through Leon’s work. Although my insurance pays nothing for fertility treatment, Leon’s has paid on some of the appointments where I had to have ultrasounds and bloodwork. Neither insurance pays for fertility drugs, but our clinic referred us to Freedom Drug which offers discounted meds. So...long story short, all we can do now is wait. And hope that one of these treatments works for us. POSTED BY AMY AT 4:59 PM WEDNESDAY, MAY 23, 2007 My car may be getting fixed soon! I finally talked to the insurance company of one of the people involved in the accident. This company represented the third car in the pile-up (I’m considered #1). The man I spoke with on the phone said he was investigating the accident and he took my statement. He’s coming to my work tomorrow morning to take a look at my car. He couldn’t verify whether his company would pay for the damages to my car or whether #2 or #4 would be responsible. I hope these insurance companies figure out what they’re doing quickly because I want to get my car fixed! 28 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 I must have had ten messages on the answering machine at home this week as a result of the accident! People like lawyers, doctors, chiropractors and body shops have been calling me. I also got four letters in the mail yesterday from lawyers. Each one of them included a copy of my accident report in their letters so at least I finally have a copy of this! I have to admit, I’ve been very paranoid driving since the accident – especially on 270 where the accident happened. I drive really slowly when I’m trying to exit and I leave a lot of space in front of me. I keep looking in my rearview mirror and I get scared because I think the person behind me is too close and will hit me if I have to stop quickly! I hope this paranoia passes because I don’t like being scared to drive. I’ll have to take a picture of my bumper and post it on here. Leon gave me a brand new pink digital camera for Christmas, but I’ve rarely used it because it didn’t have very much memory. So Leon and the kids gave me a memory card for my birthday, so now my camera will hold hundreds of pictures. I’ve been playing around with it, taking all kinds of pictures around the house. The weather has been really warm this week. Leon turned on the air conditioner in our house. He said he wants to keep Goldie cool during the day since she has a fur coat! I’m just happy that our summer weather finally seems to be sticking around. Andrew has a band concert at his school tonight, so Leon and I are going to that. The kids are almost finished with school – their last day is June 6 (which also happens to be Leon’s 38th birthday!). The kids’ mom hasn’t verified yet, but I believe they’ll be staying with us the second half of the summer this year. I think they come to stay with us sometime after the Fourth of July. Leon’s brother John and his wife Karen are coming over on Friday and staying with us through Monday. We haven’t seen them since Easter so it will be nice to visit with them. They’re really nice people and a lot of fun to be around. I always say I’m very lucky because I actually love my in-laws! Leon’s family has always been good to me. POSTED BY AMY AT 2:06 PM THURSDAY, MAY 24, 2007 My bumper I took a picture of my bumper this morning. Here it is: 29 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 A representative from the insurance company of car #3 met me at work this morning around 8:00 a.m. and looked at my car. He told me that he thinks they will be responsible for paying for my car, although they’re still trying to figure out if car #4 will need to reimburse them for any of the damages. The rep told me to take my car to a body shop to get an estimate and have them fax the estimate to him. Then they’ll issue a check to pay for the damages and will also pay for me to have a rental car. I plan to take my car to the same shop I did last time I got hit. Hopefully I can drop off my car sometime tomorrow or on Saturday if they’re open. I hope it doesn’t take too long to get this taken care of! By the way, here is what my pink digital camera looks like: POSTED BY AMY AT 9:13 AM SATURDAY, JUNE 02, 2007 Weekend I was very busy at work this past week, even though it was only a four-day work week! The Parade of Homes starts on June 9, so the phones were ringing off the hook. I'll be out at the Parade site every day next week helping with set up. The Parade is in Grove City this year which is about 20-30 minutes from my side of town. I heard it's supposed to cool down some next week, which will be good since I have to be outdoors the whole time. I just hope it doesn't rain! I can't tell you how many Parades I've had to work where it has poured on me! We were very busy last weekend too with John and Karen in town. Leon and John got a lot of work done in our garage. They started drywalling our garage about two years ago, but never finished it. Last weekend, 30 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 they sanded and primed the walls. It's looking really good. John is supposed to come back next weekend to help finish sanding, do a second coat of primer and then paint the walls. Leon's sister Tammie is planning on coming with him, and she's going to hang some wallpaper in a couple of our rooms. The kids are with us this weekend. For once, they actually don't have any events going on! They both got to sleep in which is quite a change for them. Their last day of school is this Wednesday. It's hard to believe that Andrew will be in 8th grade next year and Beth will be in 6th. Beth had to try out for the soccer team she was on for next season. She just found out this morning that she made the team, so she's really happy about that. One of her friends is coming over this afternoon, and they want to go swimming. I'll probably have to take them because Leon has to drive Andrew to the movie theater....he's supposed to have his first date today! It's scary to think these kids are getting old enough to go on dates! I still haven't gotten my car fixed. I got an estimate done on it last Friday, and the repair shop faxed the estimate to the insurance company. But when I tried contacting the insurance rep this week, his messages said he was out of the office until Monday. If this is anything like the last time I got hit and had to get my car fixed, this won't be a quick process. I talked to my mom this week, and she wants to have Julie and Jamie's reception on Saturday, July 21. We'll see if that pans out. POSTED BY AMY AT 11:29 AM SUNDAY, JUNE 10, 2007 Too busy to post much I know I haven't gotten the chance to post much lately. This past week was non-stop at work. I've been at the Parade site every day for the past 7 days. The week before the Parade opens is crazy. There's so much to do to get the site ready for the public. We had a preview party on Friday night, and then the Parade officially opened yesterday and runs through June 24. I get to be in the office every day this week because I have to work on the magazine. I'm so happy about that because I get really burnt out being at the Parade all the time. To be honest, I can't wait until June is over. This is definitely my least favorite time of year at work. Leon's birthday was last Wednesday. He's 38 now. The kids and I took him out to eat dinner at a Chinese buffet. Our favorite restaurant, El Vaquero's, is currently closed. The sign says they are remodeling their kitchen and are supposed to open in a week, but Leon thinks they got shut down for immigration reasons. Whatever the reason, I sure hope they get it sorted out and re-open soon! Leon's brother and sister were supposed to come over this weekend, but that didn't end up happening. I was at the Parade until about 6:00 p.m. last night, and then Leon and I went to eat at Outback for dinner. I had to work at the Parade until 4:30 p.m. today. Leon and I went to the movies when I got home and 31 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog we saw Hostel: Part II. We didn't like it as much as the first one. 2007 I have to drop my car off at the repair shop in the morning before work. The insurance guy finally coordinated my repairs and rental car. Hopefully it only takes 2-3 days to fix my bumper. I'm just glad I'm finally getting it fixed. It's embarrassing to drive around with a smashed bumper. POSTED BY AMY AT 8:10 PM MONDAY, JUNE 18, 2007 Hot summer days I get to be in the office this week until Friday, and then I have to close the Parade that night. I’ll probably have to work there this weekend too since it’s the last weekend and will probably be very busy. Thank goodness it’s almost over for another year! ;) John and Karen and Leon’s sister Tammie came over this weekend. John and Karen worked more on our garage, and it looks great. The only thing left to do is paint the walls. The drywall is up and everything has been sanded and primed. Tammie hung wallpaper in our half bathroom. She did a great job! It’s so wonderful to finally have that bathroom finished after being torn up for 6 months! Tammie said that she’ll come back soon and do some painting for us. We decided we’ll probably try to get our family members to help us do our remodeling jobs around the house. We had a remodeler give us an estimate on the work we wanted done, but it’s a little higher than we’re willing to pay. We could do the work ourselves so much cheaper if we can only find enough family members to help! The kids were over this weekend too. June is a quiet month for them, which is a relief after months of activities and crazy schedules! They’ll be coming to stay with us for the second half of the summer in a couple more weeks. Beth and I took Goldie for a walk around our neighborhood yesterday. We walked much further than we originally intended to! We were worn out when we got back home. It was so hot out yesterday. Poor Goldie panted and panted in order to get cooled off. I finally turned on the fan and had her sit in front of that to cool her down. It’s probably not a great idea to take your dog for a walk in 90-degree weather! We’ve certainly had hot, dry weather so far this summer. I love it! I hate the cold and I hate the rain, so this is my kind of weather. Although the grass is really dry and the flowers aren’t doing too well in this kind of weather. It seems like it’s much hotter than usual for June. This is typically the type of weather we have in July. I didn’t get to see my dad for Father’s Day. I called him though. I haven’t seen my family in a few weeks. Hopefully we can get together with them soon. Mom is still planning to have Julie’s reception on July 21, 32 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog although they still haven’t picked a place to hold it yet! 2007 I got my car back on Friday. I’m glad to have it back. My rental car was a Saturn Aura, and I wasn’t really too impressed by it. The seats in the back sat much higher than I’m used to so it made it hard for me to see out the back window. I felt like I constantly had a blind spot and that bothered me. Even though I’ve always liked my car, if I had more money I’d buy a new one. It would be great to have four doors. Two doors is just not practical. But my car has been paid off for over a year, and I love not having car payments. My car is a 2001 model, so it’s almost 7 years old. It’s hard to believe I’ve had it that long already. Speaking of 7 years, Leon and I met 7 years ago in May. It’s also hard for me to believe that we’ve known each other that long already! Those 7 years have really flown by. Our 5-year wedding anniversary will be this October. I’m struggling over whether I should just let my Mary Kay status expire. Unfortunately, I learned that I’m not a good salesperson. I haven’t sold hardly anything over the past year. I’ve sold the most products to myself! ;) I really do like Mary Kay and that 50% discount I get is great. But I have to buy $400 (which turns out to be $200 with my discount) worth of products every 3 months in order to keep that 50% discount. My discount expired in May, and I haven’t placed another $200 order yet. I might place one more big order in July and stock up on the things that I like. And after that, I’ll close shop. I tried and I failed. Oh well. ;) POSTED BY AMY AT 11:23 AM WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2007 Almost three months... This Saturday will be three months since Darlene has been gone. Some days it feels like that time has passed very quickly. Other days it feels like the time has gone by so slowly. Three months is a long time not being able to see her or talk to her. I still think about her every day. I imagine I always will. Just the other night, I cried because I was missing her so much. Some days are still harder than others. Certain things will stab me in the heart and catch me off guard. Someone mentioned recently how they were going out to a movie with their best friend, and that stung. I miss going to the movies with Darlene and having dinner with her and just hanging out with her. I miss having a best friend. I try to take it one day at a time. It’s hard to explain, but if I tell myself I won’t be seeing Darlene today it makes it easier to accept. But I can’t tell myself that I’ll never see Darlene again in my lifetime because then it becomes overwhelming and much harder to deal with. I still try to make sense of her life and death, but I don’t think I’ll ever be able to do that. I was telling Leon the other night about an incident in college. Darlene was working at Target and apparently one of 33 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 her co-workers began to choke while they were eating in the break room. Darlene already had medical training by then since she was studying to be an x-ray tech. She gave this woman the Heimlich maneuver and saved her life. I hadn’t thought about that story in quite a while, but for some reason it popped into my mind the other night. I have no idea who the woman even was that Darlene saved. But I wondered...was one of Darlene’s purposes in life to save this woman? Is this woman someone important? But Darlene was someone very important to all of us too and she’s still gone. Talking about her is making me very emotional and I’m at work, so I better end this post now. I hope she knows how much she was loved by everyone whose life she touched. POSTED BY AMY AT 11:25 AM TUESDAY, JUNE 26, 2007 Finally sharing our news… I am so grateful to finally be able to say I'm pregnant. The round of treatment that we did in May worked. You may remember from a previous post that I took injections called Gonal-F as well as a shot of hcg. On May 19, I had an IUI. This is most likely the day that we conceived. My doctor told me that if I hadn't started my period by June 5, I should take a home pregnancy test. I thought about testing the morning of June 5, before I went to work, but I was absolutely terrified. I just wasn't sure my heart could handle seeing another negative test – aka one line. I went to work and decided I would test that evening if my period still hadn't started. I got home around 5:30. Leon told me he wouldn't be home until almost 6:30. I couldn't take the suspense any longer. I went in the bathroom, took the test, and then went into our bedroom to lie down and wait the dreaded 3 minutes for the results. I decided to wait 4 minutes for good measure. It was exactly 5:55 when the 4 minutes were up. While I was lying on the bed, I had to try and calm myself down. I actually felt like I was having a mini panic attack. My heart was racing in my chest and I felt like I was hyperventilating. I forced myself to go into the bathroom at 5:55 and look at the test, which I had laid on the side of bathtub. I actually fell to my knees when I saw two lines and I started saying "Oh my God." I know I must have said this several times because Goldie came into the bathroom to find out what was wrong with me. I instantly started shaking and crying. My head was in a fog...I just couldn’t believe that this was finally real. I called Leon right away. He initially thought something was wrong with me because I was crying. He claimed he wasn't all that surprised...our numbers had been really good for this cycle, and he had faith all 34 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 along that this would work. Afterward, I called my parents and I told my mom. She started crying too. I talked to my dad, and then I called my sister. My family was absolutely thrilled. I went down into the living room (of course I took the test with me!) and I sat on the couch and waited for Leon to get home. I couldn’t stop staring at the two lines! I looked at that test all night. Before bed, I took another test just to be sure I would see two lines again. Sure enough...two lines. I had my blood drawn the morning of June 7 to check my hcg levels. My doctor's assistant called me that afternoon and confirmed my pregnancy. My levels were 250 that day. She scheduled a repeat beta for June 11 to make sure my levels were rising. When you're pregnant, your hcg levels are supposed to double every 2-3 days (these levels eventually taper off in later pregnancy). My numbers on June 11 were 1,091, which means my levels were rising just like they were supposed to. Once my pregnancy was confirmed by the doctor, we told Leon's family. We also told Andrew and Beth a couple weekends ago. I think it's going to take some time to sink in for the kids. It probably came as quite a shock to them since they had no idea we were even trying to have a baby all these years. So far, I haven't had any morning sickness at all which surprises me! I've been very tired though and I fall asleep pretty early every night. Sometimes I get so sleepy during the day at work I don't know how I’m going to survive until 5:00. I also have to pee quite a bit! I wake up at least 3 times a night (if not more) because I have to go to the bathroom. I haven't had any food aversions, but I've craved certain foods since almost day one. Everything from pink lemonade to mashed potatoes to cottage cheese to Chinese food (Panda Express chow mein has become a weekly staple!). Overall, I feel really good though. My first ultrasound was today. Everything looked perfect. We could see the baby's heart beating on the screen. I started to cry when I saw this. It was the most beautiful thing that I have ever seen in my life. The doctor was even able to let us listen to the baby's heart beating! It was so incredible. I am still in awe. I found out that I'm currently 7 weeks 2 days pregnant, and my due date is February 12. I'm just so unbelievably thankful and grateful for this pregnancy. I cried so many times over the years, praying for the day I could finally be a mommy. I can't give enough thanks for this little one. Here is one of his/her first baby pictures... POSTED BY AMY AT 4:12 PM 35 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 THURSDAY, JUNE 28, 2007 I Would Die For That Someone in the infertility support group I’m a member of posted a link to a song called "I Would Die For That." The song has a country sound, which I’m normally not a fan of. But the subject matter of this song is so moving that all I could do was cry as I watched the video. It’s by an artist named Kellie Coffey. Anyone who has gone through infertility or losses will be so touched by this song. And even if you haven’t suffered from those things but you know how much it means to be a mom, then I’m sure you will still be deeply moved by this song. Here’s the link on YouTube if you’d like to watch the video: I Would Die For That POSTED BY AMY AT 1:04 PM MONDAY, JULY 02, 2007 July is here It’s funny because now that it’s July, we’ve been having much cooler weather! Actually the last week has been quite a bit cooler. We haven’t had any of those 90-degree days we had in June! I hope it warms up again soon because I just love the heat. We get tomorrow and the Fourth of July off work. It will be nice having two extra days to sleep in! We don’t have any plans yet. The kids were with us over the weekend. Beth left on Sunday afternoon to go to church camp. She’ll be there all week. After she left, Leon and I took Andrew to the movies to see Live Free or Die Hard. We really liked it. I think Justin Long ("Hi, I’m a Mac") is so adorable, but Leon thinks he’s goofy. ;) Speaking of movies, we took the kids to see Evan Almighty a couple weeks ago. That was also a great movie! Just a really positive message and a great family movie. Since my RE (reproductive endocrinologist) no longer needs to see me, he referred me to my regular ob/gyn. I made an appointment with her for Friday, July 13. I can’t wait to have another ultrasound! I could stare at that image of my baby’s heart beating all day long!! It is the most wonderful sight in the world. I have been feeling really good! I’ve never had any morning sickness. I still tend to get tired, but I don’t sleep well. I wake up several times a night (usually because I have to go to the bathroom), and then I 36 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 can’t get back to sleep. My mouth has also been really dry and it seems like I can’t drink enough water. I also get dizzy if I stand up too quickly. And although I'm sure no one could tell I was pregnant just by looking at me yet, I already feel my pants getting a little tighter around the belly. But I’m not complaining! I always said, I would take every pregnancy symptom in the book if only I could have a baby. I’m loving every minute of this pregnancy! Thank you God. I am so excited about this pregnancy! There’s obviously so much we have to do to get ready before February gets here. We’ll need to completely remodel our computer room and turn it into a nursery. We’ll wait until the fall to start this project though so we can find out whether we’re having a girl or a boy first. I figure we won’t be able to find out the sex of the baby until late September/early October. I don’t have a strong feeling one way or another. All I truly want is a healthy baby, so I’ll be thankful whether I have a boy or a girl! The Chinese gender chart looks at the mother’s age (30) and the month of conception (May). According to this, I’m having a girl. We'll have to wait a few more months to find out if this chart is accurate! We've had 4+ years to decide on a name, so we already have girl and boy names picked out. If we have a girl, she'll be Elena Marie (which is what we had planned to name our adopted baby girl). I think Elena is a beautiful name, and Marie was Darlene's middle name. If we have a boy, he'll be Alexander Joseph (Joseph is my dad's name) and we'll call him Alex. :) POSTED BY AMY AT 1:34 PM THURSDAY, JULY 05, 2007 MySpace is a weird place! We didn’t do anything exciting over the Fourth. My brother-in-law and sister-in-law, John and Karen, came over yesterday and are staying with us through Sunday. They are so great to have around because they actually enjoy working on the odd jobs we have around the house! Leon is paying them to do some work for us. There is so much we want to get done around the house before the baby is born. It was hard going back to work today after having two days off...but at least tomorrow is Friday already! My mom is on vacation this week, so she and my dad came to Columbus to do some shopping. They met me for lunch. We went to Smokey Bones at Polaris. It was really good. Andrew and Beth will be staying with us in about another week (I still don’t know the exact date). They’ll be with us for the rest of the summer. Beth has some camps to go to in July, and then both kids will be very busy with sports in August. I have a profile on MySpace. I decided to set it to "private" because in the past few weeks, I’ve gotten about 4 messages from men (most of them married) looking for a "friend"! What is that all about?! If they looked at my profile, they’d see I’m married and pregnant! I think it’s incredibly rude to send messages like that! Now that I set it to private, hopefully the weirdos will stay away!! POSTED BY AMY AT 4:18 PM 37 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 WEDNESDAY, JULY 11, 2007 A new car! I wasn't expecting to get a new car over the weekend, but I ended up getting one! On Saturday, we were driving around in John and Karen's Ford Escape. Leon made a comment that he thought this kind of car would be good for me to have since we have a baby on the way. My other car was a 7-year-old, two-door Ford Escort. I had been worrying how I was going to get a baby in and out of the small backseat. We didn't think that type of car was going to be very safe or family friendly. The car had been paid off for the past year so it was nice not having car payments for a while. We stopped at the car dealership where Leon got his Ford Explorer back in January. I've driven his car a few times and it always scares me. It's just so much bigger than I'm used to. But while the Ford Escape looks like a mini Explorer, it's not nearly as big or scary for me to drive! They had a good sale on their 2007 models. They only had two left and one of them was red...so I had to go with the red one. It has that new car smell of course and drives so smoothly. I am really excited! Of course, the excitement will wear off once I have to start making car payments again every month. ;) But it really will be a much better car to drive a baby around in. Here's a picture of it... POSTED BY AMY AT 2:42 PM FRIDAY, JULY 13, 2007 People's assumptions My RE (reproductive endocrinologist) didn’t need to see me any more, so he referred me back to my regular OB/GYN. I had an appointment with an OB coordinator today (my doctor makes you see the coordinator before your first "official" appointment). The coordinator just went over my medical history 38 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 and talked about what I should be eating, what medications to avoid, where I’ll deliver, etc. Then I had to give blood/urine samples because they do a Quad Screen and an HIV test. My first appointment with my OB/GYN is scheduled for July 25. Something that kind of cracks me up (but can also be annoying if I’m in the wrong mood) is how many times I’ve been asked if we’re having multiples. I only get these questions from people who know we did fertility treatment. Some people must assume that treatment always results in multiples! While it’s definitely true that there are higher rates of multiples in women who do fertility treatment, it’s certainly not always the case (as is evidenced by someone like me who is only having one baby!). I looked up percentages online, and it appears that 25% to 30% of pregnancies from ART (assisted reproductive technology) are twins, 5% are triplets, and less than 1% are quadruplets or more. I know you hear about these stories on the news where people have 4 or more babies as a result of fertility treatment, but the incidence of this is so rare! To be honest, I’m not sure how this can even happen. Any good fertility doctor is going to monitor patients extremely closely so that this doesn’t happen. When I was taking injectables, I had to have ultrasounds every other day in order to monitor my follicle development. If I had 4 or more viable follicles, my doctor would have cancelled the treatment cycle so that I didn’t conceive 4+ babies! I only had at most 2 viable follicles each cycle because I was on such a low dose of injectables. Anyway…I’ll stop my rambling now! I just wanted to share my amusement (and semi-annoyance) at people’s assumptions about fertility treatment. POSTED BY AMY AT 2:49 PM MONDAY, JULY 16, 2007 Our summer with the kids has begun Andrew and Beth are now with us until the end of the summer. On Saturday, we took them to Dave & Buster’s for dinner and then let them play games. On Sunday, Beth was riding her bike near our house and found a park just down the street. We’ve lived in our neighborhood for almost 4 years and we never knew this park was there! It has some picnic tables, a basketball court and a small playground. Beth wanted to have a picnic there for dinner last night, so we did that. Leon planned a last-minute vacation for us to take with the kids. August is out since the kids have sports activities practically every day next month. So we planned a mini-vacation for next Wednesday through Friday. I have a doctor’s appointment next Wednesday at 1:00 p.m., but afterward we’ll head to Cleveland and we’re going to an Indians game that night. We’re staying with Leon’s mom in Medina after the game. On Thursday, we’ll go to Geauga Lake water park and spend the night at a hotel near there. On Friday, we’ll go to Geauga Lake amusement park and then spend the night at Leon’s mom’s house again. I know I 39 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 won’t be able to do much at Geauga Lake, but the kids will enjoy themselves. We’ll head out on Saturday morning and probably go straight to Coshocton because my sister’s wedding reception is that Saturday. So we’ll be doing lots of driving! I’m 10 weeks pregnant this week. Only 30 weeks to go! :) I’m still feeling pretty good, although I don’t sleep very well. My pants are starting to feel a little tight, although you still would never know I’m pregnant just by looking at me. I can’t wait until my belly pops out! I really want to look pregnant. POSTED BY AMY AT 1:52 PM TUESDAY, JULY 17, 2007 What a morning! When I bought my new car, Leon talked them into putting back-up sensors on it at no extra cost just like he has on his Explorer. There are also a couple of scratches on my car that they were going to fix. So I made arrangements to drop my car off at the dealership at 9:00 a.m. this morning. I called them yesterday and asked if I could get a rental car there. They told me that they could call Enterprise for me, but it may take a while and I’d have to wait for them to bring me a car. So I called Enterprise and told them my situation, and they told me to stop by in the morning. They failed to tell me I needed an "official" reservation. I get there this morning and they said they wouldn’t have rental cars until 12:00 or 1:00. I even went to a second Enterprise location near there and they didn’t have any cars available either. I know it’s not that big of a deal, but my emotions are running high since I’m pregnant! I got back in the car (Leon had come with me) and I started to cry. By this time, I was already an hour late for work. We decided I’d just have to drop my car off at the dealership and Leon would have to take me to work. We went to the dealership and discovered that they had a rental car ready for me! Why they failed to mention this to me on the phone yesterday, I have no idea. I wasted an hour running around to Enterprise locations looking for a rental. At any rate, I left my car there and it’s supposed to be finished by 5:00 p.m. tonight. I’m an emotional person anyway, but I have found that I’m even moreso than usual lately. I’m sure it’s all these pregnancy hormones. I’ve been missing Darlene a lot lately. Sometimes I think I’m doing fine, and then other times it seems harder than ever. I keep thinking of all the things that have changed in the almost 4 months since she’s been gone. I wish she was here so I could tell her about them. POSTED BY AMY AT 10:55 AM 40 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 THURSDAY, JULY 19, 2007 Chili cheese dogs I know pregnant women need to be careful when eating foods like hot dogs because of listeriosis. We had hot dogs for dinner one night last week, and I made sure that we boiled them and they were steaming before I ate them. Well, we decided to have chili cheese dogs...and I never dreamed that I’d have to worry about the chili sauce being contaminated! I heard on the news this morning that certain brands of chili sauce, including the Kroger brand which was what we ate last week, have been recalled after making several people sick. The best-by dates on the contaminated cans were April 30 – May 22, 2009. We bought two cans from Kroger and only ate one, so when I get home from work tonight I need to check the can we have left. It’s possible the date is different on the can we ate. None of us got sick after eating our chili dogs last week, so I suppose I shouldn’t be worried. I try to be so careful about what I eat while pregnant. It’s upsetting to me that we have to worry about foods we buy in the store and assume are safe to eat! POSTED BY AMY AT 1:08 PM FRIDAY, JULY 20, 2007 I wasn't food poisoned after all! I’m such a dork! I worried all day yesterday that I possibly ate contaminated chili sauce and harmed the baby. I went home after work and looked in the cupboard to check the sell-by date (we bought two cans of chili sauce and ate only one). It turns out we didn't eat Kroger-brand after all! We always shop there so I just assumed that's what we ate. But last week, Leon bought groceries at Super Wal-Mart instead so he bought Great Value chili sauce. So that's what we ate! I had to laugh after seeing the can. I worried all day yesterday for nothing! :) John and Karen are staying with us again this weekend. They got to our house yesterday afternoon. They plan to do some more work around our house. The last time they stayed with us, they were talking about how much they like Japanese food. So Leon and I decided that we’ll take them to the Japanese steak house for dinner tonight or tomorrow night. The kids are with their mom this weekend. We’re taking them to a Crew soccer game on Sunday evening. I need to go shopping tomorrow. I have to buy a bathing suit for next week when we go to the water park. I also need to buy a dress or a skirt for my sister’s wedding reception. 41 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog I better get some work done now. TGIF! POSTED BY AMY AT 9:01 AM 2007 TUESDAY, JULY 24, 2007 Vacation Week It turns out that Great Value was among the recalled brands that may cause botulism, although it appears that the only Great Value brands affected were sold in Canada. At any rate, we threw out our remaining hot dog chili sauce can. I’ll think twice about eating it in the future, even though I love it! We took the kids to a Crew game on Sunday evening. It was fun. The Crew played Toronto and won 2-0. Our seats were high up, but we were able to see the whole field so it was ok. It was very hot that night though! I have my first "official" appointment with my ob/gyn tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. I can’t wait! I hope she does an ultrasound so I can see our little one again! Leon is coming with me. After my appointment, we’re leaving for our little vacation. We need to stop in Medina first so we can drop Goldie off at Leon’s sister’s house. Then we’ll head into Cleveland for the Indians game. We’re going to wait and see what the weather is like on Thursday before we decide which park to visit that day. If it rains, we’ll go to the water park (since we’ll get wet anyway) and if it’s sunny we’ll go to the amusement park. We’ll head to Coshocton on Saturday. My sister’s wedding reception starts at 5:00 p.m. that day. My mom told me that about 50 people will be there. The reception is at the Elk’s in Coshocton, and we’ll have a buffet dinner. There will also be a DJ there playing music. I’ll get to see some family and friends that I haven’t seen in a while, so that will be nice. We’re spending the night in Coshocton, and then we’ll head back home on Sunday. Beth has an adventure camp to go to next week. And then in August, the kids pretty much have sports practices every day so it will be a busy month. On August 7, I’ll finally be able to get my hair highlighted again! I asked my doctor about it (the RE that I saw) and he said that he didn’t think hair color was unsafe for pregnant women, but he still recommends waiting until your first trimester is over. I’ll be in my 13th week on August 7, so I’m getting my highlights then. I’ve gotten blonde highlights in my hair for the past 8 years, so my dark roots are showing really badly right about now! I better finish up my work here. I’m glad it’s a short work week for me! POSTED BY AMY AT 9:42 AM 42 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 MONDAY, JULY 30, 2007 Back from vacation I’m back at work after three days off last week. We had a nice vacation, even though it was short. The Indians game was fun on Wednesday night. They beat the Boston Red Sox 1-0. On Thursday, we went to the amusement park side of Geauga Lake. They weren’t busy at all, which was nice because the kids didn’t have to wait in long lines. Leon and the kids rode all kinds of rides. Since pregnant women can’t go on too many things, I pretty much sat the whole time but I didn’t mind! I did get to ride the merry-go-round and these little antique cars that you drive on a track. On Friday, we went to the water park but unfortunately it was overcast and rainy that day so it was cold when you weren’t in the water. Leon and the kids went on some water slides. I was able to go in the wave pool and the lazy river with them. I hadn’t been swimming for a long time so I enjoyed being in the water. We didn’t stay at the park too long because it was so chilly though. Here is a picture of us at Geauga Lake on Thursday... We headed back Medina on Friday afternoon. We picked up Leon’s mom and went to see the new Simpsons movie. We really liked it. Our family is a big fan of the Simpsons. I wasn’t sure what to expect from the movie since it’s often difficult to move from the small screen to the big one. But they really pulled it off. On Saturday, we went to Coshocton. My sister’s wedding reception was that evening. I was wearing a tighter-fitting shirt and everyone kept coming up to me and patting my belly and commenting on my "baby bump"! :) Depending on the clothes I wear I look a little more pregnant at times than others. In my opinion though, I’m still at that stage where I just look like I’ve gained some weight in my stomach. I can’t wait until I actually pop! :) 43 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog Here is a picture of Jamie and Julie from the reception... 2007 I’m 12 weeks this week. I’m so glad that I’m almost out of the first trimester! I had my first appointment with my ob/gyn last Wednesday and all was well. I didn’t get to have an ultrasound (my next one won’t be until 20-22 weeks to determine the sex), but we listened to the baby’s heartbeat. The heart rate was 170 bpm, which the doctor said was normal at this stage. Apparently, the rate goes down to 120-160 later in pregnancy. My parents think I’m having a girl because of the heart rate. I personally think that’s just an old wives tale. I still feel like I’m having a boy. We’ll see who’s right at the end of September! My next appointment is on August 20. POSTED BY AMY AT 12:56 PM TUESDAY, JULY 31, 2007 Our Guardian Angel I find this to be very ironic and more than just a little coincidental. Including me, three of Darlene’s close friends are now expecting! Sherri is due in December, Leslie is due in February and I’m due in February. If you read this post, Sherri and Leslie, I wish you all the best! Sherri had some early losses and Darlene told me at one time that Leslie had some trouble conceiving. So it’s truly amazing that all three of us are finally going to have our babies. It really makes me think that Darlene is watching over us – our guardian angel. I’ve always heard people say that when there’s a death, there’s new life. That certainly seems to be the case among Darlene’s friends. I just wanted to share this story today. POSTED BY AMY AT 10:58 AM 44 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 01, 2007 Unbelievable I sent a message to Leslie congratulating her on her pregnancy. She told me that another one of Darlene’s good friends, Megan, is pregnant and due at the end of January. I am blown away. Four of Darlene’s close friends, all pregnant, and due within weeks of each other. It truly is amazing. Thank you for watching over us all, Darlene. POSTED BY AMY AT 9:06 AM THURSDAY, AUGUST 02, 2007 Some pregnancy ramblings... I need to have Leon take a belly shot so I can post it on here. To me, my belly doesn’t look big yet but it might to someone who hasn’t seen me in a while. I’m still wearing my regular clothes, but I’ve noticed that especially after I eat my belly pops out and I have to unbutton my pants! I think I’m still at that stage where I don’t really look pregnant, I just look like I’ve gained weight in my stomach. Ever since finding out I was pregnant, time has moved so s-l-o-w-l-y. It seems like years since I had a positive pregnancy test back in June! And it’s only been two months. It’s the strangest thing because I always used to think time went by so quickly! I’m still feeling well. I’ve been sleeping a little better and I don’t have to get up and use the bathroom quite as much as I did in the beginning. Everyone tells me I should be grateful for never having morning sickness, but I have to admit this scared me at first. I thought something must be wrong with me if I didn’t get sick and I heard all these horror stories about women who don’t have morning sickness are more likely to miscarry. I always said I would take any and every pregnancy symptom in the book if it meant I could have a baby, and that’s still true. I wouldn’t have minded the sickness as long as I got the chance to be a mom. Some women also have food/smell aversions, and I’ve never noticed this either. But maybe that’s tied to the morning sickness. Sometimes I think I’m craving certain foods, but I have yet to be turned off by any foods or smells. I was surprised at how easy it was to give up caffeine! I used to love my coffee in the morning and then I’d drink Diet Coke all day long. Before I was pregnant and I deprived myself of caffeine, I’d get the worst headaches. But that hasn’t happened since I’ve been pregnant. I’ve cut out as much caffeine as I can. I no longer drink coffee or pop (other than an occasional Sprite), although I do have chocolate once in a while. For the most part, I only drink water and milk. I never stop being grateful for this pregnancy. I wanted this for so long and am just so thankful to finally 45 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 get the chance to be a mom. I am enjoying every minute of this pregnancy! I can’t wait until the end of September/beginning of October when we can find out if this baby is a boy or a girl. I’m still calling him a he when I talk about him, but only time will tell! POSTED BY AMY AT 3:51 PM TUESDAY, AUGUST 07, 2007 Humid summer days My parents came over on Saturday and Leon and I took them to a concert at the Ohio State Fair. My dad is a big fan of old country music, so we went to a Merle Haggard/George Jones concert. We had a nice time. I was surprised that the concert seemed to be sold out! I guess I didn’t realize that Merle and George still had that much of a draw. But there were a lot of people there my dad’s age who are probably also fans of old country. We didn’t actually tour the fair though. My dad has trouble with his legs and can’t walk very far. Leon and I thought about taking the kids to the fair, but they don’t have any free time. They have sports practice every evening this week and they’re with their mom this weekend. We’ll just have to wait until the fall and we can go to the Coshocton County Fair. It’s been so hot this past week anyway! It’s so humid that it’s uncomfortable to be outside for long periods of time. I wish we had this kind of weather when we went to the water park! This would have been ideal. I’m finally getting my hair highlighted tonight. I can’t wait! My roots look horrible. I haven’t had my hair done since before I was pregnant, which must have been late April/early May so I am in desperate need of a touch-up! After the baby is born, I’d like to have something done to my hair called Japanese hair straightening. There’s a salon in Columbus that specializes in this. They put some kind of solution on your hair and use a flat iron to straighten it. But unlike traditional straightening methods, it’s supposed to leave your hair smooth and shiny and can last anywhere from 6 months to a year. Of course it’s expensive. I’ve read it can cost approximately $500 depending on the length of your hair. My hair is not that long, so I don’t think it would cost quite that much. Some people might think I’m crazy for wanting this done, but anyone with curly hair who is sick and tired of battling their curls can understand this. My naturally curly hair is completely unruly and I despise it. I’ve had curls all my life and have never learned to love them. I’ve straightened my hair (using a flat iron every day) for the past 8 years. This is extremely time-consuming (if I wash my hair and then have to dry and straighten it, it can take me an hour). Once the baby is born, I’m not going to have that kind of time to spend on my hair. That being said, there is NO WAY I would leave it curly. It’s horrible! So I think this Japanese hair straightening would be ideal and make my life so much easier! 46 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 I better get back to work. I have a council meeting this afternoon and I have to write the minutes from our last meeting. I hate writing minutes, so I always procrastinate on this until the last possible second! POSTED BY AMY AT 10:07 AM TUESDAY, AUGUST 14, 2007 Already sleep-deprived and the baby isn't even here yet! To all my avid readers (haha), sorry I’ve been such a bad blogger lately. There really hasn’t been anything terribly exciting going on. Like I mentioned before, time moves soooooo slowly for me now that I’m pregnant! It seems like it should be February by now!!!! ;) I am so impressed by my friend Sarah. She has three young children, a husband, pets and a house to take care of, and she still manages to blog every day! Good for you Sarah!! I wish I had your motivation! :) I feel like we haven’t been able to do much with the kids since they’ve been with us this summer. I hardly get to see them. I get home from work and they’re already at their sports practices. They don’t get home until about 8:00 p.m., we feed them a quick dinner, and then Beth usually goes to bed (she is so disciplined and goes to bed early even in the summer!) and Andrew goes into his room to play Xbox. They’re with us one more week after this, and then they go back to their mom’s because school starts on August 28. I was looking forward to last weekend. We didn’t have the kids and for the first time in a month, we didn’t have company and we didn’t have to travel anywhere. I was hoping to just sleep in and take naps and get caught up on my sleep. While I didn’t end up going anywhere over the weekend, I still wasn’t able to get rested. For whatever reason, I’m having so much trouble sleeping now that I’m pregnant. I’m sure it’s a combination of a bunch of different things, but I toss and turn all night. I probably wake up once an hour. If I can’t get comfortable and my belly is still small, then I’m sure I’ll get no sleep once my belly is actually big! Maybe this is nature’s way of preparing me for the sleep-deprived nights I’ll have once the baby is born. I try to relax, but my brain never shuts off. I think of all the things we have to do to get our home ready before the baby is born. I’ve also been worrying about child care once the baby is here. I don’t feel confident that we can pay our bills on one salary, so I plan to keep working. Last week, we went to the KinderCare where Andrew and Beth went when they were babies. I had sticker shock after learning that they charge $960 a month to care for an infant! I knew it would be expensive, but I didn’t realize it would be THAT much. I’ve contacted a few other local day care centers and found all of them charge very similar rates – close to $1,000 a month for an infant. I wish I could somehow work from home. I’m researching all my options to see what I can do. At any rate, these kinds of things keep me up at night! POSTED BY AMY AT 10:56 AM 47 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 MONDAY, AUGUST 20, 2007 Music to my ears I had an appointment with my OB/GYN this morning. It was a quick appointment. She just measured my belly and listened to the baby’s heartbeat. She found the heartbeat right away. It’s such a beautiful sound – such music to my ears! The heart rate was 160 beats per minute, which according to my mom means the baby must be a girl. ;) We’ll find out soon enough! My next appointment is on September 17, which happens to be my mom’s birthday. I thought this would be the appointment where we could find out the sex of the baby (I’ll be 19 weeks at that time). But my doctor told me that she’ll schedule me for an ultrasound for that purpose sometime between weeks 20-22. So most likely, we won’t get to find out if this little one is a boy or a girl until the beginning of October. The kids were with their mom over the weekend, but Beth had a soccer tournament so she had four games that we went to. Her team ended up winning and all of the girls received trophies. They were very proud. I spent hours yesterday (from about 4:00 - 10:30 p.m.) cleaning the house – and I only got the downstairs cleaned! I have to clean the upstairs tonight. I tend to procrastinate on house cleaning to the point where things get so dirty that it takes me hours to clean. If I did a little bit of tidying every day, the job wouldn’t be so overwhelming. But I did some extra things yesterday like clean baseboards and clean out cupboards, so I think that’s why it took me such a long time. Since Andrew and Beth are staying with us all the time right now, the house gets even messier than usual. I better get used to it though since I’ll have a child in the house full-time very soon! Goldie also sheds terribly. I adore golden retrievers, but one of the downfalls of the breed is definitely their shedding. I actually made a vet appointment for Goldie tomorrow morning. Her skin is so dry and she scratches it constantly! She has her belly bloody and scabbed from itching so much. She literally pulls out the fur on her stomach and I’ve been finding huge clumps of fur all around the house. Her stomach looks bald from all of her itching. I know she doesn’t have fleas because we give her flea medicine. When I called the vet, the woman I talked to on the phone wasn’t surprised at all. She said that pet allergies are very common this time of year and they’ve seen lots of pets with problems like Goldie’s. Goldie also needs to get caught up on some of her vaccinations so we’ll have the vet do that tomorrow too. I feel sad for Goldie though. She is a 90-pound baby! She gets so scared at the vet’s. This is the last week that the kids are staying with us. They go back to their mom’s house next week and they start back to school next Tuesday. POSTED BY AMY AT 10:01 AM 48 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 TUESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2007 Allergies and Ghosts I took Goldie to the vet this morning. The vet said that Goldie wasn’t having typical seasonal allergies, but an allergic reaction to something. He was quite shocked at how bad Goldie’s belly and legs are. I felt like a bad fur mama for not getting Goldie into the vet sooner. I didn’t realize how serious it was until I noticed her bloody belly a couple days ago. The only thing I’ve done differently lately is that I’ve been mopping the kitchen floor with Pine Sol. Goldie lays on the kitchen floor all the time, so maybe that has irritated her belly. At any rate, I’ll switch cleaners and see if that helps her. I feel so sorry for her. The vet said that she must be miserable and in a lot of pain. She hasn’t eaten very much the past couple days and she threw up twice within the past 24 hours. The vet said that this allergic reaction was also affecting her ears and her eyes. He put a cone on Goldie’s head because he said she can’t itch herself anymore. She has to wear it for 3-4 days and she hates it. He also gave her two antibiotics, pain pills, eye drops and ear drops. So she has to take a lot of meds for the next week! The vet wants to see her in a week. If she’s doing better at that time, she can get caught up on her other vaccinations. He didn’t want to give those to her today because she has to take so many other meds right now. He did give her a steroid shot which should hopefully bring some immediate relief to her itching. Here’s a picture of poor Goldie with her cone... Moving onto a different subject – I talked to my sister last night and she thinks her apartment is haunted! Julie and Jamie have been living in this apartment since they got married in April. It’s not a very old apartment, but it’s down the street from a cemetery. My sister isn’t afraid though. She senses that the spirits in her apartment are just trying to communicate with her and not cause her harm. I know a lot of people will say there’s no way this is possible. Although I’ve never experienced anything like this myself, I am completely open to the possibility that ghosts may exist. Julie thinks that some people’s minds may be more open to seeing spirits or communicating with them, and I think that could be true. Julie senses that there are spirits around her when she wakes up (so a lot of people will say that she’s just dreaming). But she’s woken up more than once and seen the spirit of a man standing in the corner of her room. She woke up yesterday and sensed there were three spirits around her, and she saw one of them 49 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 run out of the room. She said that the spirits don’t look like humans – they look more like shadows, but she can sense whether they’re male or female. She sees shadows crossing in front of their bedroom door at night, and this freaked her out at first so she started leaving the hall light on. But she said she is no longer scared. Jamie hasn’t witnessed any spirits, but he was there with Julie a couple weeks ago when one of their lights went on and off five times! He said there must be a short in the light and he unplugged it. Julie also feels that she is receiving messages from the spirits in her dreams. She had a very vivid dream and message the other night. I don’t want to go into details here because I’m not sure who reads this blog – but if you want to know about this particular dream, just send me an e-mail and I’ll tell you. I was personally comforted by this because it makes me think that people don’t just die – they live on, maybe in another plane of existence. Anyway, I’m sure some people will laugh at all of this and say Julie and I are both crazy for even considering this may be a possibility. But I’d like to think this could be true! POSTED BY AMY AT 10:25 AM WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 22, 2007 Missing her I don’t talk a lot about her to anyone anymore (or even on here), but not a day goes by that I don’t think about Darlene. Tomorrow will be 5 months since she passed. I miss her so much. Sometimes it feels like it’s even harder as time goes by because I get further and further away from the last time I talked to her and saw her. I miss girl time so much. Darlene and I would get together for dinner and/or a movie almost every week. I don’t have anyone to go to chick flicks with anymore. Last week, Leon went to Red Lobster with me because I was craving it. He hates seafood (he ordered steak there) so it’s rare that he’ll go there with me. I used to go with Darlene and we’d order the stuffed mushrooms (Leon won’t eat them because they have seafood in them). Things like that make me miss her a lot. I even started to cry when we were at Red Lobster last week because I mentioned to Leon how Darlene used to go with me there. I hear a song or see a TV show or a movie and something triggers a memory of her. I know it’s good to remember her. Not that I could ever forget her anyway. But I just wish she was here now. I wish she could see my baby when he/she is born in February. I know she’d have made such a great Aunt Darlene. I’m just sad today thinking about her and missing her a lot. POSTED BY AMY AT 1:38 PM 50 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 MONDAY, AUGUST 27, 2007 My Mary Kay Business is Closing This Friday, August 31, my Mary Kay business will be officially closed. Part of me is kind of sad that it didn’t work out, but to be honest I didn’t put very much effort into making it work. I am not meant for sales. I give up too easily when someone says "No." I hate to push people into something they don’t want because I know how much I hate when someone tries to pressure me into buying something. I really do love Mary Kay products, so I’m going to miss my 50% discount! I still plan to buy some of the products in the future because I really like their TimeWise collection. I still have some samples to give away, although I gave the majority of my inventory to my mom, sister and mother-in-law. But the bottom line was that I was investing more into the business than I was getting out of it. I had to place a $400 order (actually $200 with my discount) every 3 months in order to maintain my 50% discount and keep my "active" status. I don’t personally use $400 worth of product every 3 months and no one else was really buying from me. It would have been nice if it worked out though because I could have been a stay-at-home mom if I was successful with it. Some of those Mary Kay consultants do VERY well for themselves, but unfortunately I was not one of them. Changing subjects, the kids went back to their mom’s house last night. Our summer with them is over. I cried after they left. It always makes me sad to see them go because I get so used to having them around all the time. Of course we’ll still get to see them every other weekend and at their games, but it’s not the same as having them with us every day. They start back to school tomorrow. Andrew will be in 8th grade and Beth will be in 6th grade. This is their last year at their current schools. Andrew will start high school next year and Beth will be in middle school. It’s hard to believe how fast they’re growing up! Andrew will graduate in 2012 and Beth in 2014. Our baby will start school in 2013. I told Leon he’ll have his two oldest children out of school and will be starting all over again with his youngest! Beth wanted to build her own cornhole game, so we went to Lowe’s and got supplies for that over the weekend. Beth found instructions on how to build your own game on the Internet. She and Leon worked on this on Saturday and Sunday. They built two boards. They still need to paint them and we need to either make or buy the beanbags. They did such a good job though! Beth was so proud of their creation. Goldie seems to be doing better. We’re not making her wear the cone anymore because she doesn’t seem to be scratching nearly as much as she was a week ago. Her belly is no longer bleeding and looks much better. Now that she’s healing, it’s apparent how much fur she ripped out though! She is nearly bald on her left side, near her tail. It looks so strange! She still probably has another two weeks worth of antibiotics to take. She has wised up to the peanut butter trick and tends to spit her pills back out after eating the peanut butter! So we alternate foods and hide her pills in cheese sometimes too. She has to go back to the vet’s tomorrow morning for a follow-up appointment and to get caught up on her vaccinations. POSTED BY AMY AT 9:22 AM 51 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 29, 2007 My burning heart :) I’ve been having really bad heartburn/indigestion lately! It usually starts right after I eat and the Tums are not helping. I avoided morning sickness, but it looks like I’m not going to be able to avoid this! ;) I’ve tried eating smaller portions. My stomach feels uncomfortably full if I eat too much in one sitting. But even by eating less, I still can’t seem to escape this heartburn. People’s suggestions to help with the heartburn include drinking water, milk or Boost, or eating ice cream or an apple. I’m at work right now and only have access to water and Tums, and I can tell you those aren’t doing the trick at the moment. Oh well. Small price to pay for this little one! I was hoping to get some input from any moms who read my blog though. If you dealt with heartburn in pregnancy, what helped you? Thank you! :) POSTED BY AMY AT 3:16 PM FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2007 I think I may be feeling the baby move! For the past week, I’ve been feeling strange sensations in my stomach. I’m still not 100% certain that I'm feeling the baby, but that’s always my first thought! Everyone told me I would feel butterflies or bubbles. It’s actually very hard for me to describe what I’m feeling. To me it feels like my stomach is getting ready to growl but it doesn’t, and then there’s a bubbly sensation. Of course I keep telling myself it’s probably just gas bubbles, but it feels different from anything I’ve felt before. This morning I had a little more proof that maybe it IS the baby I'm feeling! I very rarely have caffeine now that I'm pregnant. But I stopped at UDF this morning before work and got a small French vanilla cappuccino. After drinking it, those bubble sensations in my tummy were extremely noticeable! I think it was the baby responding to the caffeine that mommy gave him/her! At least I’d like to believe that anyway. I had the biggest smile on my face as I sat at my desk this morning and felt those bubbles. Even if I’m still only imagining things, it was so cool to think my baby may be moving all around inside me and kicking his/her mama! I am so in love with this little one. We get a three-day weekend since Labor Day is on Monday. Leon’s mom is coming down tomorrow and spending the weekend with us. She rarely gets to visit us at home (we usually always go there), so we’re 52 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 happy to have her. Leon wants to take us to the Japanese restaurant for dinner tomorrow night. They always have the best food, so that will be fun! POSTED BY AMY AT 10:13 AM THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 06, 2007 I wish I looked pregnant! I’ve still been feeling some flutters. I’m pretty sure I’m feeling the baby, but I can’t wait until these feelings become more prominent so I know for sure. My heartburn hasn’t been as bad lately either. I still don’t sleep well. My stomach muscles have been feeling kind of sore and stretched out lately. I’m sure it’s because my belly is growing. I keep meaning for Leon to take some belly shots of me, but we never get around to it! I’ll try to do that soon. I don’t think I look very big for 17 weeks! People who don’t know I’m pregnant would have no idea. I think it just looks like I’ve gained a little weight in my stomach. I don’t have a recognizable baby bump yet. I lost weight (about 20 pounds – yay for me!) before I got pregnant so my regular clothes still fit me. I’d love to buy maternity clothes, but I have no use for them yet. I haven’t weighed myself lately, so I don’t even know how much weight I’ve gained. I know I only gained 2-3 pounds in my first trimester. I suppose I should be happy – I’ll have less weight to lose after the baby is born. But for someone who has wanted to be pregnant for soooo long, I am very impatient to start looking pregnant! I go back to my OB on September 17, when I’m 19 weeks. She said she’ll schedule an ultrasound sometime between weeks 20-22. I wish time would speed up! It is going way too slowly. I want to find out if this baby is a boy or a girl! I’m still thinking boy, but almost everyone else says girl. We’ll see if they prove me wrong. ;) POSTED BY AMY AT 10:46 AM FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 07, 2007 TGIF again TGIF! It’s always nice to have short work weeks. 53 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 I weighed myself this morning and I’ve gained 7 pounds so far, which is pretty good and right on track. My doctor said I should only gain about 25-30 pounds total. So far, I haven’t felt hungrier than usual. I’m probably getting the extra 300 calories a day I need since I don’t eat perfectly anyway. I’ve been trying to eat more healthy things, but it’s been a challenge for me because I’m not a fan of fruits or vegetables. I take my prenatal vitamins every day though (actually I’ve been taking those for years!). Leon has been having back problems all summer. I think his back started hurting back in June or early July. He thought he pulled a muscle, but the pain didn’t go away. He went to the doctor and was told he had a pinched nerve. But here it is over a month later and he is still in terrible pain. He went back to the doctor this week and had to have x-rays taken yesterday. He’ll get the results in 2-3 days. I hope it’s nothing serious, but there’s a possibility he may need surgery. I just want his pain to go away. It makes me so sad to see him like this! He can hardly move without wincing in pain. He’s been taking pain pills, but all those do are cover up the pain and make him extremely tired. They don’t solve the problem. POSTED BY AMY AT 8:55 AM SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 08, 2007 Belly Shots As promised, here are a couple shots of my almost 18-week belly. (You should be able to click on these to make them larger.) Leon took these for me today. I told you I wasn't very big yet! :) 54 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 POSTED BY AMY AT 5:59 PM TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2007 Remembering 9-11 It’s hard to believe that it’s been 6 years already since 9-11. It seems like yesterday when I think about it. I remember that day so clearly, as I’m sure everyone who lived through it does. I had to get up earlier than usual this morning and be at work by 7:30 because we had an 8:00 a.m. class to get ready for. I had to be here to make coffee, set up the breakfast, etc. Now I’m very tired. I would like to get some coffee and get a little bit of caffeine in me, but the classroom with 80+ people is right next to our kitchen and I don’t want to disturb them by making myself coffee. So I’ll have to wait... It would also be nice to get some warm liquid for my throat. I woke up this morning with a sore throat. I also have a headache and I’m kind of stuffed up. I feel like I could be getting a cold. I’ve done so well this past year, with hardly any colds or allergies, and I credit that with the flu shot I got last fall. I plan to get another flu shot as soon as I can. I know they actually recommend that pregnant women get a shot if they’ll be in flu season during their second and third trimesters. I don’t want to take any medications for a cold so I’ll probably try to grin and bear it. The only "meds" I’ve allowed myself to take while pregnant are Tums. I have a list of medications that my doctor told me are safe during pregnancy for all kinds of different ailments. But I really want to avoid taking anything if at all possible. Leon found out yesterday that his back x-rays were normal. I’m relieved, but finding this out still doesn’t change the fact that Leon’s in pain. His doctor recommended going to a chiropractor, so he’s going to one tomorrow. The doctor thinks he just needs time to heal and that he has a pinched nerve, although we don’t know how he hurt his back to start with. I toured a day care center yesterday and was very impressed. It’s about $100 a month cheaper than KinderCare and seems like a very nice facility. I’m going to tour another day care center on my lunch break today. This place is even a little less expensive than the place I went to yesterday. Depending on which place I like better, I’m going to get our registration and deposit in by the end of the week. This will 55 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 assure that we have a spot in their infant program next spring. When I called around to different day care centers, I was surprised that some of them have up to a year and a half waiting list! Luckily, these two centers I’m looking at have openings for next spring if I reserve a spot now. POSTED BY AMY AT 8:31 AM WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2007 Leon’s back problems Leon’s doctor said everything was fine with his back. Well today, Leon went to the chiropractor recommended by his doctor. This guy said that Leon has no reflex response below his right knee. He seems to think this is something very serious and that there is nerve damage. He ordered an immediate MRI because he is concerned there is either a "bulging disc" or "something else occupying the space" in his back. What?! I am really confused. Leon had the MRI, but won’t get the results for 24-48 hours. Now he’s really worried and I am too. Apparently, this chiropractor hinted at the "C" word. I’m mad, to be honest. Why would this guy get Leon all upset and make us worry after his doctor said everything was fine? I told Leon he needed to call his doctor immediately and let him know what this chiropractor said. Leon left a message about all of this with his doctor, but hasn’t heard back from him yet. I’m just having trouble understanding how two medical professionals can be on completely different pages about Leon’s back! His doctor saw no need for concern and said his x-rays showed no abnormalities. And then the chiropractor claims that immediate action needs to be taken for something as serious as this. All I need is one more thing to worry about! It’s always something. On a different subject, I decided that I liked the day care center I visited on Monday the best. This place is $40 a month higher than the other place I visited, but overall it just seems a little more modern and very similar to KinderCare. Both of the places I visited this week were the cheapest day care centers I was able to find for infant care. I’m going to stop by in the morning to drop off my application and deposit so I can reserve our spot for next spring. I’m relieved that we have a place lined up. Ideally, I would love it if I could be a stay-at-home mom. And maybe something will change (we’ll win the lottery!) before next spring and I’ll be able to do that. At this point in time though, it just doesn’t seem like that possibility is going to work out for us. I know many people who tell me they’ve been able to live on one income, but it’s extremely difficult (in fact, it’s impossible) for us because of certain circumstances which I won’t get into on here (but people who know me know what I’m talking about – and if you don’t and are really curious, just send me an e-mail! I’m always happy to share my "rants"). ;) POSTED BY AMY AT 4:43 PM 56 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2007 Almost the weekend Leon got the results from his MRI this morning. He has benign "blood tumors" called spinal hemangiomas. He also has a bulging disc. Both of these things are causing his pain. The chiropractor will work on Leon’s back three times and if it’s not better, he’ll be sent back to his medical doctor and will probably have to have surgery. The good news is that it seems that spinal hemangiomas are always benign (so there shouldn't be any cause to worry that they'll suddenly turn malignant). We're discouraged that surgery may end up being the best option though. My cold is pretty much full-blown now, which sucks. I was hoping it would get better before it got worse. I just hope it doesn’t last too long. I’m heading to Coshocton after work tonight to spend the weekend. Leon is staying home with Goldie so he can rest his back. He has trouble driving very far right now because of his pain. The reason I wanted to get home is because my sister’s birthday was on Wednesday and my mom’s birthday is on Monday. I think we’re having a little celebration for both of them tomorrow. My parents are taking me to the local Eagle’s lodge for dinner tonight. I love their food! I try to eat there every time I go home. I have a doctor’s appointment on Monday morning. I’ll be 19 weeks. I wish she would do my ultrasound at this appointment, but she won’t. I don’t even think she does them...I imagine an ultrasound tech does them for her. Hopefully, she’ll schedule my ultrasound for the following week although it could be up to 3 more weeks before I get to have one (she said anytime between 20-22 weeks). I am getting really impatient, wondering if there’s a little boy or a little girl in there!! POSTED BY AMY AT 12:46 PM MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2007 One more week until we find out...boy or girl! I had an appointment with my doctor this morning. The baby’s heart rate was the same as last time, right around 160. I also had to get my blood drawn so they can do a quad screen. I was a little bummed because I was under the mistaken assumption that I already had this test done. When I saw the OB coordinator when I was about 9 weeks, I filled out paperwork for the quad screen that day and had to have my blood drawn then. But my doctor told me that was just standard prenatal bloodwork. They can’t do the quad screen test until between weeks 16-19. I could have refused the test, but my doctor said it’s standard for her patients. I just don’t like that this test apparently has a lot of false positives. And I wouldn’t do anything even if the tests showed something was wrong with my baby. I don’t believe in abortion and wouldn’t dream of killing my child no matter 57 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 what. My doctor said that she’ll get the results in 10 days, but will only call if something shows up abnormal...so I hope I don’t hear from her! The good news is, I scheduled my "big" ultrasound for next Wednesday, September 26! So if the baby is cooperative, we should get to find out next week whether this baby is a boy or a girl. I’m so excited! I can’t wait to start buying pink or blue as soon as I know. POSTED BY AMY AT 11:02 AM THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2007 It's always something... I purposely drank a cup of coffee this morning so I could feel the baby move! I feel those flutters quite a bit when I drink caffeine. The feelings are still very soft though. I’m really looking forward to the day when the baby is big enough to give me a good kick and really let me know that he/she is in there! I’m sure these movements will become much more prominent in the next few weeks because the baby is supposed to be growing pretty rapidly right now. I know the feelings are different for every woman, but from the day I first started noticing the baby moving it has always felt kind of like my stomach is getting ready to growl. It’s really hard to describe, but it’s kind of like a gurgling/bubbly feeling – although my stomach never growls when I have this feeling, so that’s how I know it’s something different. My mom told me it would feel like butterflies, but I wouldn’t describe it as butterflies personally. I think my stomach is starting to pop out a little more. I think I definitely look bigger than I did just a couple weeks ago. At my doctor’s appointment on Monday, they weighed me and I’ve gained 8 pounds. People still probably think I’m just chubby as opposed to pregnant though. My pants are tighter, especially after I eat because I have to unbutton them then. But I still don’t think I’m big enough to invest in any maternity clothes just yet. I need to get Leon to take some more belly shots of me soon. I’ve also noticed lately that my stomach is very hard when I touch it. I’d heard that your stomach becomes harder in pregnancy, but up until now it had still been squishy. I still don’t sleep well and I get heartburn pretty frequently. My latest thing has been my sense of urgency when I have to pee! I’m afraid I’m going to pee my pants at some point because I really can’t hold it anymore. Leon thinks I need to start wearing diapers so I don’t have any accidents. ;) Speaking of Leon, he’s not doing any better. He took the whole week off work because he’s in so much pain. He’s been to the chiropractor twice this week and has one more appointment tomorrow. The chiropractor told him if the appointments don’t help him this week, he’ll have to go back to his medical doctor. Leon dreads having surgery, but it looks like that might be his only option. I’m bummed about my new car. I’ve already had two things happen to it! When I was heading to Coshocton Friday night, a rock flew up and hit my windshield. I now have a noticeable crack. It’s pretty 58 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 small, but will still need to be fixed. I haven’t called my insurance company, but Leon thinks that windshield damage is not covered because it’s such a common thing – and even if it is covered, we have a $500 deductible so it might just be cheaper to get my windshield fixed without dealing with my insurance company! And at the beginning of this week, a warning light came on in my car and said I have low tire pressure. Leon checked all my tires and said he sees nothing wrong with them, so we think it may be a faulty sensor. My car is leased so a faulty sensor would be covered, but if there is actually something wrong with my tires that wouldn’t be covered. On top of all of this, our car insurance went up $71 a month because Leon and I both have brand new cars! Ouch!! I think I might have to start shopping around with different insurance companies and see if I can get better rates elsewhere. Leon broke a mirror a couple weeks ago, and although I’ve never believed in superstitions I told him I think he may have caused us to have 7 years of bad luck! Like my Uncle Jim always used to say, if it wasn’t for bad luck I wouldn’t have any luck at all. I feel like that sometimes. It certainly does seem like it’s always something! Everyone tells me "That’s life," but it still sucks when you’re in the middle of all of it. POSTED BY AMY AT 11:30 AM MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2007 Counting down to Wednesday! Several people told me that they thought my insurance WOULD pay for windshield damage (thanks for the advice Sarah and Lauren!). So I called my insurance company today and found out that they will pay for the whole thing IF it can be fixed without replacing my entire windshield. If my windshield would need to be replaced, I have to pay a $250 deductible. A glass company is going to come to my work tomorrow and fix my windshield right in the parking lot. On Friday, that low tire pressure warning light in my car went out. It hasn’t come back on yet. I don’t know what that was all about, but I’m just glad it seems to have gone away for now! Leon’s chiropractor thinks he is making some progress, so he wants to see Leon three more times this week. Leon thought he felt a little better over the weekend. I just hope he continues to improve, so he doesn’t have to resort to surgery. We had the kids over the weekend. Andrew invited some friends over to watch the Buckeyes game on Saturday. Beth and I aren’t football fans, so we went to Michael’s during the game and bought some crafts to work on. A few weeks ago, Beth and Leon made a cornhole game, but they haven’t painted it yet. So we bought paint for the cornhole game (although she never got around to painting this weekend). Beth also bought a wooden tray, some stained glass panels and some ribbon. She spent most of Saturday gluing the panels and ribbon on the tray. It turned out very cute! She wants to use it as a tray you eat on, kind of like a breakfast-in-bed tray. 59 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 I am getting so anxious for our Wednesday ultrasound! The other night I told Leon that I feel like a kid at Christmas...so excited to unwrap my present on Wednesday and find out what it is! I just hope our little one cooperates. I plan to drink some orange juice and eat a candy bar (what a combo, right?!) before I go. I heard you should eat or drink something beforehand to get the baby moving. POSTED BY AMY AT 2:17 PM TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2007 One more day until our ultrasound! The glass company referred to me by my insurance company came out to my work this morning and repaired my windshield. It only took about 10 minutes. The guy from the glass company didn’t feel that my whole windshield needed to be replaced so he just filled the crack. The crack is guaranteed not to spread further for the life of the vehicle. I didn’t have to pay for the repair, so that was nice! But unfortunately, you can still see the crack – the glass guy told me this is what happens when you fill a crack. I told him it was a leased vehicle, and he said he has filled cracks on leases before and there was never a problem. However, I think Ford will probably charge me for it when I trade the car in since my windshield no longer looks perfect. Oh well...I have three more years before I need to worry about trading my car in anyway. I weighed myself this morning and I have now gained 11 pounds. My doctor told me she would be fine if I gained one pound a week in my second and third trimesters. Since I have 20 more weeks to go, it looks like I’ll have no problems gaining the 25-30 pounds she said I should gain. I thought I wasn’t gaining enough weight so I think I’ve been eating a little too well lately! Leon has sleep apnea so he takes Ambien to help him sleep. He just recently started taking this and I’ve noticed it makes him act really, really strange! It’s fine if he takes it and goes to sleep immediately. But if he tries to stay awake, he says and does bizarre things. He also seems to have no coordination after taking it. He’ll drop things and he has trouble walking. Last night, he was watching TV in bed and he started snoring, so I told him to turn off the TV. He dropped the remote on the floor and when he tried to pick it up, he fell out of bed! He hit his head and chest on the nightstand. This morning, he didn’t have any memory of this happening! I’m sure falling out of bed was really helpful for his back. Leon and I are going to Coshocton this weekend because the Coshocton County Fair will be going on. I think I’ve been there every year since I was about a year old. It’s always the same old, same old – nothing too exciting. But I always enjoy eating that greasy fair food! We’ll head to Coshocton on Saturday and spend the night. We’re planning on going to the fair with my parents on Saturday afternoon. My sister won’t go because she claims she doesn’t like fairs! Less than 24 hours until our ultrasound! I’ll certainly post tomorrow and let you know whether we’re having a girl or a boy! POSTED BY AMY AT 1:18 PM 60 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2007 So now we know... Leon and I got to our OB’s office this morning for our 11:20 a.m. ultrasound, and when I checked in the receptionist told me there was a "very sick person" in the ultrasound room and I couldn’t go in there. It must have been an emergency of some type, but of course I was upset. They could have at least called me ahead of time so I didn’t drive a half hour to the OB’s office! They were able to reschedule my appointment for 1:40 p.m. this afternoon. When I got into the parking lot, I started to cry. I was just so disappointed. Granted I only had to wait about 2 hours more, but my pregnancy hormones are in full swing! I ended up taking the rest of the day off work as a personal day because it seemed silly to drive all the way back to work only to leave again for my afternoon appointment. At any rate, Leon and I went back at 1:40 and thank God we were able to get into the ultrasound room this time. And the part you’ve been waiting for…we found out we’re having a GIRL!! I am so thrilled. It was so surreal to have the ultrasound and see our baby daughter. She was sleeping at first (I ate my candy bar and drank my orange juice before my morning appointment, but the effects must have worn off by the afternoon) and one of her feet was between her legs so we couldn’t see anything. But the ultrasound tech wiggled my stomach and she moved her foot, and we could clearly see that she’s a girl! We saw her arms and legs and face and profile. At one point, her hand was up to her mouth and it looked like she was sucking her thumb. It was just so cool. The tech said that she was measuring right on target and all looked well. Her head was on my bladder so the tech said it’s no wonder I have to pee all the time! Her feet are right by my belly button, which is where I always feel flutters. I assumed that was where she was kicking me. The tech gave us about 10 pictures. I’ll scan them in at work tomorrow and post them on my blog (I don’t have a scanner at home). So now we know…we’re having an Elena Marie. All this time, I felt sure I was having a boy but it looks like the old wives’ tales about heart rates was true when it came to our situation. It somehow feels even more real now that we got to see her and we know she’s a girl. We can finally start working on her room! And I’ll be able to decorate it in butterflies just like I had planned when I thought we were adopting a little girl. POSTED BY AMY AT 3:46 PM 61 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2007 Elena's Pictures Below are 6 of the 10 ultrasound pictures. The tech labeled most of the pictures. I’ll admit, I always thought it was hard to tell what part you’re looking at when you view an ultrasound picture. But I guess these pictures are easy for me to distinguish because we saw the live-action shots on the screen yesterday! When we came out of the OB’s office after the ultrasound, unfortunately it was raining. So most of my pictures have small smudges on them. I just didn’t want you to think I had some strange markings in my womb! These are actually dried water marks. I have an album that I’m going to put these pictures in. They are so cool to have! Elena’s little feet are kicking me a lot today! I have felt constant flutters since almost the moment I got up this morning. But I love the feeling. Everyone tells me to just wait until she gets bigger and then those kicks won’t feel so nice! 62 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 POSTED BY AMY AT 11:15 AM 63 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2007 Her name I had to post one more time today about Elena’s name. It’s funny because now that we’re able to tell people we’re having a girl, they ask what her name is. And when I say "Elena Marie," most of them say "How do you spell that?" I can understand their curiosity. I have seen it spelled with an "A" also. A few people who have seen her name in print have already asked me how we’ll be pronouncing it. It’s ELLAY-NUH. Not Ellen-Uh. Poor Elena. She’s not even born yet and people don’t know how to spell or say her name! But I think Elena is such a beautiful, elegant name. It’s unique too. I don’t know any Elena’s in real life. As most people already know, her middle name is the same as Darlene’s. When Elena is old enough, I can tell her where her middle name came from and let her know all about Darlene. Another thing I was thinking about...I think I may have actually come up with the name Elena because I used to jokingly call Darlene "Darlena" (dar-lay-nuh) – among other things! That girl had a million nicknames from her friends and her family. I guess I kind of liked the way Darlena sounded, so I changed it up to Elena instead. POSTED BY AMY AT 2:30 PM TUESDAY, OCTOBER 02, 2007 Fair weekend Leon and I went to the fair with my parents on Saturday. Nothing about the fair ever changes, but I still enjoy going every year. And I got to eat all my favorite fair food like corn dog, fries, cheese on a stick and fried vegetables. The weather was really nice too...sunny and warm. My parents went back to the fair last night because Bucky Covington was performing. I’m not a country fan personally, but I know Bucky was on American Idol a season or two ago (I don’t watch American Idol either so I couldn’t tell you for sure). My dad is a big Bucky fan. I called him this morning and he said that they really enjoyed the concert. My pants are really tight. I went to Super Wal-mart last night, but I couldn’t find any maternity clothes there. I’m going to have to go to a place like Mimi Maternity. My shirts are still fine, but I could really use a couple pairs of maternity pants. While I was in Wal-mart, I looked at all of the baby things. I bought some baby clothes hangers, a stuffed 64 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 butterfly that lights up and plays music, and a cute Halloween book about a dog. I’m trying not to buy too many of the major baby items we’ll need because we’ll (hopefully) get things for our baby shower. My mom and sister are already planning the shower. They want to hold it at my house on Saturday, January 12. I hope we can get started on Elena’s room soon. We need to pick a weekend when my dad, my sister’s husband and Leon’s brother John can come help us. Even though the room isn’t very big, it has built-in’s that will need torn out, the wallpaper needs to come down, and it needs painted. We’ll probably also replace the baseboards, the closet door and the bedroom door. POSTED BY AMY AT 8:57 AM WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 03, 2007 Baby Registry I’m so anxious to start picking out everything we need for the baby! Leon and I went to Wal-mart last night and selected items for our baby registry. I want to register at Target soon too. I know our shower is still over 3 months away, but I’m just so excited! You don’t realize how much a baby needs until you start looking at all of the things in the store! Most of the items we picked out last night were things Elena will use, but we didn’t really pick out any clothes for her yet. I couldn’t resist buying something else for her last night. It’s a pink bouncer. It’s so adorable! They didn't have the crib bedding set I wanted in Wal-mart, so I ordered it online. It has pastel colors and butterflies and flowers on it. It looks so pretty! I was able to get free shipping on it because they’ll deliver it directly to the Wal-mart closest to us and I’ll pick it up there. It should be in within 7-10 days. 65 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 Now I’m more anxious than ever to start working on her room. Even though time seems to be going slowly for me, February really isn’t all that far away. And there’s so much we need to do yet! POSTED BY AMY AT 10:36 AM WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 03, 2007 Winnie the Pooh I wanted to share one more thing about our baby registry. We wanted to get neutral baby items for things we can re-use in case our next child is a boy. We picked out this adorable Winnie the Pooh set. The items are all sold separately, but they include a stroller with a removable car seat/carrier, a second car seat/carrier (since we have two cars), a high chair, a swing, and a pack ‘n play playard. You can see the items here, but I also pasted a picture below. I can’t help but oooh-ing and aaah-ing over everything! They have the most adorable baby items available! POSTED BY AMY AT 2:04 PM 66 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 THURSDAY, OCTOBER 04, 2007 Happy Bloggiversary and Anniversary to me... Two years ago today, I started this blog. Seems hard to believe it’s been two years already! So much has changed in that time period. Tomorrow is Leon’s and my fifth wedding anniversary. Those five years really have flown by. I think our marriage gets even better as the years go by. It’s so cool because Leon and I can look at each other and know what the other one is thinking. I love having that connection with him. We have the kids this weekend. We’ll probably try to go out to dinner to El Vaquero’s tomorrow night with the kids to celebrate our anniversary. Beth is at sixth grade camp this week. She gets home tomorrow. She has a soccer game on Saturday. Andrew has a football game tonight and he has to referee three soccer games on Saturday morning. The kids keep very busy. I’m having a company come to our house tomorrow afternoon to give us an estimate on painting our downstairs rooms. I hope it’s reasonable. All of our rooms downstairs need the paint touched up, but we never have the time to do it ourselves. I hate painting and don’t really want to breathe in paint fumes while pregnant anyway. And Leon isn’t able to do much with his back problems. We had a company come to our house a few months ago to give us an estimate on various remodeling jobs throughout our house. Even though we still want all of those things done, we didn’t have the money to do it all at once like that. If we can do one job at a time, maybe we can afford it better. It drives me crazy because we’ve been in our house for four years now and we’ve been saying we’re going to do this and fix that, etc. from day one and none of it is done yet. Leon’s back isn’t much better. The chiropractor doesn’t want to give up on him, so he sees him 2-3 times a week. Leon thinks maybe he is slowly starting to feel better, but he’s still in a lot of pain some days. I know he wants to avoid surgery if at all possible though. Leon’s sister Becky has been in the hospital this week. She has MS and is prone to infections. She had a kidney infection and her fever went up to 103.5. I haven’t heard any updates, but I know she was still in the hospital as of yesterday. My heart breaks for her. It makes no sense why people have to suffer from debilitating diseases. POSTED BY AMY AT 9:05 AM 67 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 TUESDAY, OCTOBER 09, 2007 Fear of Bugs I have a fear of bugs. I looked up the name of this phobia and it’s called either Acarophobia or Entomophobia or Insectophobia. At any rate, I know it’s a phobia because my fear is completely irrational. I know that most bugs won’t hurt me, but they freak me out so bad that they cause me to become overly anxious. I got to thinking about this today because there was a cricket in my cubicle when I came to work this morning. A couple of my co-workers told me it’s bad luck to kill a cricket. One of them eventually scooped him up and put him outside. But I was so uneasy. I hate it when bugs hide after I spot them, and that’s exactly what he did for a while. If I can keep an eye on them (or better yet, have someone kill them for me), then I don’t feel so uncomfortable. Otherwise, I’m convinced that the bug has somehow managed to get on me and is crawling on me. Just last week, Leon opened the door to let Goldie outside and he let a huge mosquito in. It’s comical when I think back on it, but at the time I thought I was going to have a heart attack. The mosquito flew at me several times and I ran from room to room screaming because I thought he was chasing me. I couldn’t relax all night because we never did catch him. Every time I spotted him, Leon was slow to respond and he flew away again. We found him dead in the dining room a couple days later. We also have these God-awful creatures in our basement. I thought they were silverfish, but I looked them up and they’re actually called house centipedes. They are so disgusting. They’re huge and they run so fast you can never kill them. I would die if one of them crawled on me! We also tend to get ants in our kitchen in the spring, and even a tiny ant is enough to make me ill. Maybe my phobia started as a child. I remember my parents telling a story about how I wouldn’t go outside for an entire summer because I was afraid a bug would land on me (I must have been really young because I don’t recall this). My parents also used to get cockroaches in their house because they live in a damp area. Several roaches have crawled on me over the years (one even managed to get inside my coat once), so these experiences traumatized me. Aside from an occasional bee sting (thankfully I’m not allergic to them), I’ve never been harmed by a bug. My fear might seem more legitimate if a bug had actually hurt me somehow. Leon thinks my fear is ridiculous. He was not amused by the drama I caused over the mosquito last week! People probably think I’m strange when they see how I react to bugs. But for whatever reason, that is one thing I just cannot deal with. POSTED BY AMY AT 11:30 AM 68 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2007 2007 Shopping for clothes I think 22 weeks is when my belly finally "popped." I still don’t have a huge pregnant belly or anything, but my regular pants still fit me last week. This week, none of them will button! On Monday and Tuesday, I wore dress pants to work and realized how tight they were. I had to walk around with my pants unbuttoned all day (I untucked my shirt to cover up the fact that they weren’t buttoned). The pants I have on today will still button if I pull them really low, underneath my belly. People probably wonder why my pants are hanging so low today though! I need to buy maternity pants asap! And some maternity shirts too. I can still wear most of my regular shirts, but some of them appear to be too short and don’t cover my belly fully. I’ve been very reluctant to buy any clothes this far. I don’t even like buying clothes when I’m not pregnant! I’m just not a clothesloving type of girl. I really have no choice at this time though – I have to have some things that will fit! I work with a woman who seems like she wears a different outfit every day of the year. I recycle the same pants and shirts weekly. Luckily, I work in a "business casual" office so I don’t need suits or skirts or dresses, unless we have some fancy event going on (which isn’t very often). I currently own only one pair of jeans! I wear these every Friday since we can "dress down" that day. I wonder if my co-workers have noticed by now that I always wear the same jeans? I would much rather spend my money on things for our home. I love shopping, I just don’t love shopping for clothes. If money was no object, I’m sure I’d be much more likely to go on a clothes shopping spree. But as the case may be, I don’t mind only owning a few outfits. In my opinion, there are more important things in life than what we wear! POSTED BY AMY AT 8:55 AM WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2007 Busy week I thought I’d take a few minutes to post an update. I’ve been so busy at work this week. The magazine was due on Monday and I finally finished it up this morning – it was a very challenging issue layout-wise so I was late getting everything together. Our association also has a remodeling trade show tomorrow night that I’ve been coordinating. There are always so many last-minute details with this event. I’ll probably have to stay late tonight to get everything ready for tomorrow. I’ll be glad when this week is over! I had an appointment with my OB on Monday. The baby’s heartbeat was the same as it always is, 160. My doctor said that everything looked good on the ultrasound I had a few weeks ago and my quad screen came back normal. I’m so grateful. My next appointment is on November 12 and I have to have the 69 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog glucose test at that time to check for gestational diabetes. 2007 My doctor wants me to get a flu shot this month. She doesn’t give them, so I had to make an appointment with my family doctor. I’m scheduled to get a flu shot on Friday morning. I’m still feeling pretty good, except my heartburn never seems to get any better. I forgot to ask my doctor about this on Monday! I still take Tums every day, but they don’t do much. My heartburn seems like it lasts all day. I actually think it’s worse when I’m at work because I sit all day. If I can be up moving around and not slumped over in a chair I feel better. I think when I sit, my insides get all compressed and squished and that just makes the heartburn worse. That’s my theory anyway! I went to Target and Meijer last week to look for maternity clothes. I wasn’t very impressed with either store’s selection, but I did end up buying three pairs of pants and four shirts. I need to go to an actual maternity store like Mimi Maternity and get some more things. I really need shirts. None of my regular shirts fit me right anymore...they tend to ride up and not cover my belly completely! Leon and I didn’t get much accomplished on the baby’s room last weekend. I managed to get some of the junk cleared out of the room, but there is still so much more to do! I bought an adorable ceiling fan for her room this week. It’s pastel with flowers and butterflies on it. The crib bedding set I ordered from Walmart also came in this week, so I picked that up. Leon’s mom and his brother John and John’s wife Karen are staying with us this weekend. We have the kids, and Beth’s birthday is on Saturday. She’ll be 12. We plan to have a party for her on Saturday. She has a soccer game on Sunday. It will probably be another busy weekend. POSTED BY AMY AT 10:11 AM FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2007 I'm thrilled it's Friday! I’m so glad it’s Friday! I’m especially glad that the remodeling show is over! Last night’s event went pretty smoothly overall. It would have been nice to see more consumers there, but the exhibitors seemed content for the most part so I was relieved. I tried to sit when I could, but I was on my feet a lot last night. I didn’t get home until about 10:00 p.m. and I noticed my feet and ankles were swollen. They look better this morning though. Quite a few people noticed I’m pregnant last night, which was cool! Up until now, people either couldn’t tell or didn’t dare ask in case I was just gaining weight and not pregnant. I had several people rub my belly. People love touching pregnant women, don’t they? I had to get a flu shot this morning. I was literally in the doctor’s office for two minutes! I checked in, I sat down, the nurse gave me the shot and I left! My arm is a little sore and red, but it was no big deal. I’ve had plenty of flu shots in the past, so I have no reason to believe I’d have a negative reaction this time either. 70 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 I doubt I’ll get to relax much this weekend since we’ll have family in town for Beth’s birthday. I think next week will be less stressful at work though, so that’s good. POSTED BY AMY AT 11:42 AM MONDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2007 Pink eye? When my eye doctor’s office opens at 9:00 a.m. this morning, I’m going to call in and try to make an appointment for today. My left eye looks really scary. The white part is all bloodshot and red. I hope I don’t have pink eye! Last Wednesday I noticed that my eye was bloodshot, but I figured it was because I’d been doing so much computer work and was stressed getting ready for the remodeling show. Unfortunately, my eye looked worse over the weekend. It doesn’t really hurt, although it feels a little scratchy. I’m still wearing my contacts which I’m sure is a bad idea if I do have an eye infection. We’ll see... I think Beth had a nice birthday. Leon took all of us to that Japanese restaurant where they cook your food in front of you for dinner. Afterward, we came back to the house and Beth opened her presents. Leon and I got her an iPod Nano, which she had been wanting. She also got some crafts, a stuffed animal, a few toys and the DVD "Evan Almighty." We watched this movie and then had some cake and ice cream. Leon’s mom, John and Karen left after lunch yesterday. Beth had a soccer game at 4:00 p.m. The weather was nice this weekend...sunny and mild. It’s supposed to get colder this week though. I suppose we can’t expect the mild weather to last forever since it’s the end of October now. Leon watched his Cleveland Indians last night and had to turn off the game before it was over because he was so depressed. They really blew it. We had such high hopes for them this year. I’m 24 weeks today. I feel Elena moving every day. She’s usually the most active after I eat. Sometimes I wake up during the night and feel her moving then too. She continues to give her mama bad heartburn though. That part never seems to get any better. POSTED BY AMY AT 8:50 AM 71 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 MONDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2007 No pink eye, only allergies I just got back from the eye doctor. I don’t have pink eye. My doctor thinks it’s just a superficial irritation caused by allergies. He also said that I have four small hair follicles in the corner of my left eye and these tiny hairs are turned inward and poking my eye, further causing irritation. He recommended that I try to pluck these hairs myself at home. I’ll try it tonight, but the thought of plucking hairs so close to my eye kind of creeps me out! I was due for my regular eye exam, so he went ahead and checked everything else while I was there. My eyes are healthy and my contact prescription hadn’t changed any from last year, so I ordered another years’ worth of contacts. I told him I was pregnant and the only part of my exam he didn’t do is dilate my pupils. He said if he gave me the eye drops to dilate my pupils, this would cause the baby’s eyes to dilate too! POSTED BY AMY AT 3:38 PM THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2007 Ramblings of a first-time mom This week hasn’t been as busy at work, which is nice. I’m glad tomorrow is Friday. The weeks seem to be going by faster now, so I hope the rest of my pregnancy goes by just as quickly. The summer and my whole first trimester seemed to go so slowly and it drove me crazy! Even though this isn’t our weekend with the kids, Andrew is staying with us because Beth has an out-oftown soccer tournament. Andrew would rather stay home, so he’ll come over on Saturday morning and stay through Sunday. It would be nice if Leon and I could get a little bit accomplished on the baby’s room. John said he would come over soon to help us. Elena must be lying on my bladder because I have to go to the bathroom almost every hour! I wake up so many times a night for this reason. I have such an overwhelming sense of urgency. I used to be able to hold it, but not anymore! I’m convinced I’ll pee my pants one of these days soon. My heartburn is still really awful. I’m trying to hold out until my November 12 appointment and I’ll ask my doctor then. I can’t believe I forgot to ask her about this last time! I’m sure there are some over-thecounter remedies (aside from Tums) that I could take, but I’ve been very stubborn about taking anything. I’ve let myself suffer instead of taking any medications. It’s just a personal choice, although I’m sure it would be perfectly safe to take certain meds. I try not to complain about any of these things though. None of my symptoms have ever been that bad. I 72 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 am just so thankful for this pregnancy. I count my blessings every day for this because I honestly thought it would never happen for me. Everyone acts like I’m crazy when I say this...but I am looking forward to labor and delivery so much! Leon tells me I won’t feel this way once the contractions start. I guess we’ll see. But I’m certainly not dreading labor or even scared of it. Maybe it’s because I’ve wanted this for so long. So many women have told me what they consider their "horror stories" about how many hours they were in labor and how awful the pain was. I don’t know if they’re trying to scare me or prepare me? At any rate, it’s not working so far! ;) I’m just as excited as ever. I’m strangely curious to find out what contractions will feel like and what the whole experience will be like. I’m not opposed to having an epidural. In fact, I probably will end up having one. But I’d like to see how long I can go "natural" before resorting to an epidural. Maybe all of these things are just the ramblings of a naïve first-time mom. I personally think this is a great attitude to have though! I think everything would be much more difficult if I was dreading labor or scared of it. Our childbirth classes start on November 11 and run for four weeks. I believe each class is 3 hours. I’m looking forward to these classes too! POSTED BY AMY AT 2:46 PM MONDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2007 Weekend wrap-up I ate a Toaster Strudel for breakfast and drank some decaf coffee, and now I have terrible heartburn. It sure doesn’t take much to make my heartburn act up! Another thing I noticed since being pregnant – my nails grow so fast! It’s unbelievable. I cut them and by the following week, they’re long again. It’s really incredible. I guess I’d be happy about this if I was the type of person who loves having long fingernails. But since my job requires me to sit at a computer typing all day long, it’s better for me to keep them short. It’s funny when I think back on how I was worried that I wasn’t gaining weight and didn’t look pregnant for so long. Well, now I finally have a little belly – and I’m concerned that I’ve gained too much weight! I’ve gained 17 pounds. I have another 15 weeks to go, so that means I’ll probably gain at least another 15 pounds. Oh well. I love that my belly pops out now! I keep meaning for Leon to take some more belly shots. I’ll see if he can do that this week. I didn’t accomplish nearly as much as I wanted to this weekend. I always have such high hopes for the weekend since it’s really my only free time. But when it finally gets here, I’m so tired and all I want to do is relax and be lazy. I think I’m more tired than usual because it gets harder to stay asleep the further along I get in this pregnancy. I have to wake up several times a night to pee. But I toss and turn all night. Doctors tell you 73 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 that it’s preferable to sleep on your left side when you’re pregnant. I’ve always been a back sleeper, so it’s been a difficult adjustment for me. It seems like I flip back and forth from my left side to my right side all night long. I can never get comfortable. Leon and I went to the movies on Friday night and saw "Saw 4." It was pretty gruesome. It wasn’t bad, although some of the scenes toward the end didn’t make sense to me. Since Halloween is on Wednesday, several of the TV channels were playing horror movies this weekend. So I spent a lot of time just lying on the couch watching scary movies. It’s no wonder I didn’t get any housework accomplished! Beggars’ night is on Halloween this year. I haven’t bought any candy yet, so I need to do that today. I should have gotten candy earlier...I’m sure it’s picked over by now. We usually get quite a few trick or treaters in our neighborhood. I read that daylight savings time ends at 2:00 a.m. on Sunday, November 4. I woke up Sunday morning and thought it was supposed to end then. It’s a good thing I researched this before moving all the clocks in our house back an hour on Sunday! POSTED BY AMY AT 10:07 AM WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2007 Happy Halloween! Happy Halloween! Our boss is letting us leave at 3:00 p.m. today so we can beat traffic and get home in time for the trick or treaters (which starts at 6:00). I bought candy yesterday so I’m all ready to go. I put all the candy in a big Halloween bowl that I have and set it on the counter. Goldie jumped up last night (she’s big enough to stand up and reach the counter so nothing is safe!) and stole a Tootsie Roll out of the bowl! She carried it around to make sure we saw her. She’s so funny. She’s always stealing things like clothing, shoes, dish towels, oven mitts, etc., and then she parades around the house with them in her mouth until we see her. She loves the attention she gets when we discover what she’s done! She never destroys the things she carries – she just seems to do it because she wants to be noticed. 74 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 I told Leon I’d make dinner tonight. I feel guilty because I know I should cook more for him. He does the majority of the cooking in our house. I’ve never especially loved to cook. I’m no gourmet chef by any stretch of the imagination. But especially since I’m going to have a child now, I want to cook more. Growing up, my mom always made such great dinners for us and to this day I love her cooking. I want my child(ren) to feel the same way. I finished cleaning the house last night. I cleaned the downstairs Monday night and the upstairs last night. If only I cleaned a little bit every day, the job wouldn’t become so overwhelming. I’m the world’s worst procrastinator when it comes to cleaning though! I really need to vacuum much more than I do. Goldie must be shedding her summer coat because she has been shedding terribly lately. I always say that I find enough golden fur in the house to form a second dog! I adore goldens, but shedding is definitely a downfall of the breed. She also tends to get seasonal allergies and she gets very itchy. Then she rubs up against the couch to scratch herself and gets fur all over the couch! I have one of those magnetic fur removers that works very well on furniture though – it kind of looks like a squeegee and it takes the fur right off furniture and carpet. POSTED BY AMY AT 9:30 AM TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 06, 2007 More Belly Shots I asked Leon to take more belly shots of me last night. He was tired so the pictures aren’t great. In the first one, he must have been holding the camera crooked...because I swear the picture on our wall is actually hanging straight! Here are two shots of my belly at 26 weeks. 75 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 The flutters I was so used to feeling have turned into thumps. Elena probably weighs around 2 pounds now, so her kicks and punches are stronger. I wasn’t even sure what I was feeling at first. It almost feels like a muscle spasm in my stomach at times. But since I feel it so often, I can only assume I’m feeling the baby. My next appointment with my OB is on Monday, November 12. I have to take the one-hour glucose test at that time too. I’m not really looking forward to this. I had to take this once before a couple years ago – my RE was testing me for all kinds of things since I have PCOS, including diabetes. I remember a couple hours after taking the test, I crashed so hard! I felt dizzy and sick and disoriented and I was sure I was going to pass out. It was awful. I plan to eat and drink something afterward this time so hopefully my sugar levels don’t come crashing down so quickly like they did before. POSTED BY AMY AT 8:56 AM WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 07, 2007 The holidays can be hard One of our local radio stations has already started to play some Christmas music. I know once Halloween is over, the Christmas season seems to be in full swing. The stores are all decorated and selling Christmas things before Thanksgiving is even here yet! It seems kind of crazy. All of this has made me think about how difficult the holidays can be. Christmas is so focused on the family and children in particular. While I was in the midst of infertility, I can’t tell you how many times I just wanted to sleep through the whole holiday season and wake up once it was all over. It’s so heartbreaking to face Christmas with empty arms. As the year ends, it’s just another painful reminder that you’re still not a mom. Just because I’m pregnant doesn’t mean I forget what that feels like. I still have friends from my infertility message boards who have to face another holiday season childless. My heart breaks for every one of them. They are so deserving of children. Why can’t they be mommies too? It seems so unfair. 76 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 I’ve also been thinking about Darlene’s family. I know how hard it will be for them to get through their first holiday season without Darlene. The holidays are often a painful reminder of loss and what we don’t have. I’m thinking of all of you who are hurting this holiday season. My thoughts and prayers are with you. POSTED BY AMY AT 9:00 AM WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 07, 2007 Numbers and Directions I had to post again today about something that I consider mildly amusing. I’m trying to update some of my work’s forms and flyers for 2008 now, since I’ll be on maternity leave for half of February and probably most of March. I’ve been working on our magazine ad rate sheet and for some reason, the ad sizes are confusing me terribly. In the past, I just copied off an old ad rate sheet that we have. But my boss realized the ad sizes on this form aren’t actually correct, so I need to figure out how to revise them. It’s blowing my mind trying to figure out what a 3/4-page ad is in inches, for example. Math is not my friend. Which made me realize how terrible I am at math. I’ve always said I think I’m missing the part of my brain that comprehends numbers. I was never great at math in school. I almost failed Geometry in high school (I think I ended up getting a D average for the year). Thank God I never actually use any complex math in my daily life. I don’t know why numbers confuse me so. I imagine numbers appear to me as letters might appear to a dyslexic person. They just look like a foreign jumble that I can’t make heads or tails of. I can’t add, subtract, multiply or divide anything complex in my head. Thank God for calculators. And you should see me trying to figure out tips in restaurants! Leon’s ex-wife is an accountant. I can’t imagine having a job where I would be responsible for numbers. I think I’d go insane. I still use "touch points" when I add or subtract. This is a trick I learned in the third grade. I don’t even know if they teach it anymore, although I was able to find some information about it on the Internet. This seems to help me somewhat. I can only assume that my math deficiency is somehow related to how "directionally challenged" I am. I get lost so easily when driving anywhere. Someone once told me that I couldn’t find my way out of a paper bag, and that’s true. I have a notebook in my car with printed directions to all the places I have to go. Of course I know how to get to places if I’ve driven there enough. But if I don’t go to certain places on a regular basis, I can’t remember how to get there. I hate when people tell me to go north, south, east or west. I have absolutely no clue what that means. I have to be told to go left or right. I despise driving in downtown Columbus. No matter how many times I go down there, I get lost. There are too many one-way streets. Leon works down there and it amazes me 77 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 that he is able to find his way (he has no problem with directions though – or math for that matter). It’s comical when I think about how many times I’ve been lost. At the time there was nothing funny about it, but I can look back on all of those times and laugh now. I rely heavily on programs like Yahoo Maps or Mapquest when I have to go anywhere. I really need to buy a GPS for my car. Leon has one and I’ve borrowed it on occasion. It’s really helpful to have someone tell me to turn left or right and how many miles I need to drive. We all have our strengths and weaknesses. It’s always been apparent that math and directions are NOT my strengths. I just hope Elena doesn’t inherit her mother’s terrible math skills and sense of direction. I also hope for her sake that she doesn’t get my God-awful curly hair. I wouldn’t mind if she inherited my dimples though! POSTED BY AMY AT 11:11 AM FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 09, 2007 I love that I look pregnant now! The girls at work commented on how my belly has really seemed to pop out over the last couple weeks. I actually look pregnant now and I love it! I spend quite a bit of time admiring my pregnant belly. You can’t tell I’m pregnant by looking at me from behind. I’m carrying all my baby weight in the front. I have a definite need for more maternity shirts. Unless my regular shirts are really long, I can no longer wear them because they don’t cover my belly. I bought two new maternity shirts at Target this week that are really cute. I need to buy some maternity jeans also. I’ve had this weird craving for ice lately. I read that this is actually a form of pica, which seems strange because ice isn’t inedible. But craving ice could mean that I have an iron deficiency or even anemia. I’ll tell my doctor about my weird craving when I see her on Monday. I’ll sit at my desk at work and eat ice all day long. Even if this is considered pica, I don’t have any dangerous cravings for non-food items. We don’t have the kids this weekend, and I REALLY want to get some work done on the baby’s room. I’m getting so impatient! There is so much to do in there and I’d hate to leave it until the last minute. We can’t seem to get any family members to help us right now, so it looks like we’ll be doing most of it ourselves. I’d just feel better if we at least got started on it. That being said, Leon isn’t much help with anything right now because his back and leg are hurting him so much. He still sees his chiropractor, although he only goes every 2 weeks or so. He thought it would be a good idea to have a massage this week, so he got one on Tuesday night. He woke up on Wednesday feeling even worse than he has been. I’m sure the massage worked his muscles and maybe aggravated the condition. He took Wednesday and Thursday off work and basically laid around all day and popped muscle relaxants. I’m afraid his best bet to end this pain would be to have surgery, but he doesn’t even want to talk about that option right now. He can’t go on indefinitely in the condition he’s in though! 78 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 We have our first childbirth class on Sunday. We have to bring pillows...I assume we’ll be sitting on the floor to do breathing exercises. This course kind of covers everything – breathing techniques, pain management options, breastfeeding, newborn care, a tour of the hospital maternity ward, etc. POSTED BY AMY AT 11:06 AM MONDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2007 One more week until my third trimester begins! I had a pretty productive weekend. I got a lot of things cleared out of the baby’s room on Saturday, so I feel better about things. I still need to put things down in the basement (and organize the basement). We’ll see if I can accomplish that after work this week – although by the time I get home from work, I’m usually feeling pretty unmotivated and just want to relax. We had our first childbirth class yesterday. It was good. There were about 10 couples in the class, including us. The instructor is very nice. She showed us pictures and videos and we did some practice breathing exercises. We have three more classes to take the next three Sundays. I wish I could say Leon was doing better, but he’s in terrible shape. I don’t know if the massage was what triggered all of this, but he certainly got worse right afterward. He went to the doctor on Saturday morning. His doctor recommended another chiropractor who has some kind of special machine that presses on your back. Leon is supposed to make an appointment with him today. The doctor also gave Leon Tylenol with codeine to help with the pain, but unfortunately that hasn’t helped him at all. He is in terrible pain. He can barely get out of bed and can hardly walk (he’s actually been crawling around the house!). It’s a miracle he was able to come to the class with me yesterday, although he was in so much pain toward the end he had to sit on the floor (which worked out fine because we did our breathing exercises on the floor). His doctor also told him that he could have an epidural, which would offer temporary pain relief. I never heard of men getting epidurals. Leon was going to call about having that done today. Either that or he planned to find out if he could get stronger pain medication since the Tylenol isn’t helping. I’m really worried about him. I can’t have him laid up when the baby gets here! I really hope he’s able to get some help soon and start to heal before February – even if that means resorting to surgery. Luckily Leon’s work has been very understanding about his back problems. He’s able to work from home most of the time anyway, although he still usually goes into the office every day if he can. He may have to see about getting on disability if he ends up having back surgery though. I don’t know how all of that works. I had an appointment with my OB this morning. I had to take the one-hour glucose test first. The orange stuff they make you drink isn’t that terrible – it kind of tastes like flat orange pop. But they make you drink it pretty fast, so it kind of made my stomach feel queasy. I had to get my blood drawn an hour after I drank it. They said they’d only call me if the test comes back abnormal, so hopefully I don’t hear from them. After my appointment, I drank orange juice and ate some mini donuts in my car on the way to work. I was hoping this would help keep my blood sugar stable so it doesn’t drop so drastically like it did 79 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog the last time I took the glucose test. So far I feel ok. 2007 My doctor measured my stomach and listened to the baby’s heartbeat (it was 154 today). All was well. She wrote me a prescription for Zantac after I told her how bad my heartburn is. Even though she said it’s safe to take during pregnancy (she told me there is no reason to suffer), I’m reluctant to get the prescription filled. I know I’m probably being ridiculous, but the "hardest" thing I’ve taken so far during my pregnancy has been Tums! We’ll see if I change my mind... Since I’ll be in my third trimester starting next Monday (I’m 27 weeks today!), my doctor now wants to see me every 3 weeks instead of 4. So my next appointment with her is on Monday, December 3. I’m so excited to be starting my third trimester soon! It doesn’t seem possible that I’m finally here. The baby’s movements are much harder now. I especially feel them when I lay down at night to sleep. It’s the coolest feeling ever! Leon hasn’t been able to feel her move yet. Every time he puts his hand on my stomach, she stops moving! It’s like she knows he’s trying to feel her and she won’t perform on command. At times, you can actually see my stomach moving though! Leon did witness this on Saturday night. I just lay in bed at night and stare at my belly to see if it will move. It’s so much fun! POSTED BY AMY AT 10:29 AM TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2007 Skyline Chili I went grocery shopping last night after work and saw some frozen Skyline Chili dip. My aunt made this last Christmas and the homemade version is so wonderful! I bought the frozen version and we had this with tortilla chips last night. The frozen version was surprisingly good. Here is the recipe for the homemade version if you’re interested: Our Famous Skyline Chili Dip Ingredients: One 12 oz. package softened cream cheese One 13 oz. frozen Skyline Chili thawed OR one 15 oz. can of Skyline Chili 1/4 cup diced onions (optional) 12 oz. shredded mild cheddar cheese Spread softened cream cheese evenly on bottom of 9 x 13 microwaveable casserole dish. Heat chili according to package directions. Pour heated Skyline Chili over cream cheese. Sprinkle diced onions (optional) on top of chili. Cover with shredded mild cheddar cheese. Conventional oven: Heat at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until cheese is completely melted. Microwave oven: Heat on high for 2 minutes or until cheese is completely melted. 80 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 Let stand 5-10 minutes before serving. Serve with nacho or corn chips. Maybe it’s just an Ohio thing, but I love Skyline chili! There’s one near my work and I go there every so often for their 3-way chili and cheese coney. I just might have to get this for lunch today – I’m starting to crave it now! Leon’s back seemed to be a little bit better last night. He went back to work yesterday and he was no longer crawling. He didn’t end up getting an epidural or more pain medication, but he made an appointment with the new chiropractor on Thursday. I hope he can hold out until then! The chiropractor he’s going to is actually the dad of one of Beth’s soccer teammates. I didn’t get any work done on the basement last night like I hoped. Maybe I’ll try to do that tonight. I’ve been so tired in the evenings lately. I think it’s because I’ve been sleeping worse than ever. I can never get comfortable. I toss and turn all night and just when I get comfortable, I have to get up and go to the bathroom! I’ve also been having some weird, vivid dreams. Last night, I dreamed that Leon got fired from his job because he missed so much time due to his back problems! I was so upset since we have a baby on the way that we need to support. Then my dream changed into working on the baby’s room. There were all these people helping and I have no idea who most of them were. The end result was something I wasn’t too happy with – the room was painted in all of these crazy colors and there were 1970’s posters on the ceiling like Charlie’s Angels and stuff! Then I dreamed that I was riding my bike on the road near my parents’ house. I lost control of my bike and it started to go over a cliff. I managed to grab onto a tree branch and pull myself back onto the road so I didn’t go over the cliff, although the bike crashed below. I remember thinking what a close call that was! Strange stuff. I can’t believe Thanksgiving is next week! Our boss is letting us leave at noon on Wednesday and we get Thursday and Friday off. The kids are with us this year, so we’re heading to Medina to spend time with Leon’s family. I’m not sure what we’ll do for Christmas yet. Our families live just far enough apart that we can’t visit both of them in one day. So we have to alternate holidays with them, which gets tough – I don’t want to upset anyone! The kids come over around noon on Christmas Day and then they’ll be with us through New Year’s. Our boss told us yesterday that he’s giving us December 24, 25 and 26 off, as well as December 31 and January 1. At our staff meeting yesterday, we tried to talk him into letting us have December 27 and 28 off too so that would give us the whole week off (actually, that would be 11 days in a row off!). He didn’t agree to that though, but maybe he’ll change his mind in the next month! POSTED BY AMY AT 10:14 AM 81 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2007 Basement Organization I am so proud of myself! I managed to clean and organize a decent portion of our basement last night. I was feeling very tired at work all day yesterday (I slept worse than usual the other night), so I planned to just go home last night and relax. But once I got home, my energy seemed to return. I had to do laundry anyway, so I figured I might as well do some cleaning while I was down in the basement. I’m pleased with the way it turned out. I didn’t lift anything very heavy. If I had to move a box, I pushed it or kicked it across the floor instead of picking it up. We still have an awful lot of "junk," but I put a lot of things in boxes and piled it up – so it looks like organized junk now. The large majority of stuff in our basement belongs to Leon! He is so messy. He uses the basement as his computer work area. He has an unbelievable amount of computer parts and pieces. He also has a lot of electronic equipment...old VCRs and DVD players and cable boxes and wires. I didn’t know what to do with all of his things, so I just put everything in boxes. He can sort through everything when he feels better. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to help me at all last night – his back was still hurting, so he laid on the couch most of the evening. I still have quite a bit to do in the basement. I basically got one corner accomplished, so I have three more corners to go! But I feel much better about things. Since we’ve been using the baby’s room as storage, almost everything in there will have to be moved to the basement soon – so at least we’ll have room to put things now. It’s incredible how one family can have so much stuff! I only screamed one time while I was in the basement last night! I picked something up and thought there was a bug on it so I screamed. It turned out that it wasn’t a bug after all. Leon didn’t even respond when I yelled – he must be used to false alarms when it comes to my bug sightings. I’m feeling a little sore today from my basement cleaning though. I mostly feel it in my legs and thighs, probably since I used my legs to kick boxes around. I’m sure all pregnant women experience this, but it’s amazing how difficult it is to stand up when you’re in a sitting or lying position. It takes so much energy for me to lift myself up. It probably has something to do with the extra weight I’m carrying, although I read that your stomach muscles don’t function as well when you’re pregnant. POSTED BY AMY AT 9:41 AM MONDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2007 So sleepy today! I’m so tired today. I haven’t been sleeping well and Goldie kept me up all night because I heard her scratching herself! We have to get her into the vet in the next couple days. Her allergies are so bad. She’s 82 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 chewed her elbows or knees (or whatever you call the part of the dog’s leg that bends) on her front two legs raw. She’s also limping, but I think it’s because it probably hurts for her to bend her legs. At least she doesn’t have her stomach chewed raw like she did a few months ago. It just seems to be her legs this time. I’m also sore from my basement cleaning on Saturday. I cleaned the other three corners of our basement. It took me hours, but I got it all done. It still looks like we have too much stuff in our basement, but at least I was able to pile everything up so it doesn’t appeared so cluttered. Now I just need to work on clearing everything else out of the baby’s room and putting it down in the basement. I met my TWIG group for breakfast at Bob Evans yesterday morning, and then we went to the TWIG Bazaar. We usually have a table of crafts in this event, but none of us were able to get any crafts together this year. So we decided we’d support the event by shopping there. The only thing I ended up buying was a dog ornament that I got Goldie’s name on. We had another childbirth class yesterday afternoon. I really enjoy these classes. They are so informative! We watched an actual birth video yesterday. We also watched a video of women in labor and their reactions to the contractions. And we learned about the different pain medications available during labor. We also did more relaxation and breathing exercises. Even though I’m still so excited about giving birth, after watching those videos the reality kind of set in and I started thinking "Oh yeah...this probably WILL hurt...A LOT." I know plans can change completely the moment you start having contractions, but my plan is to go as long as possible without an epidural. I don’t want any other kind of pain medications, but I’m not opposed to an epidural. Our instructor said that ideally women shouldn’t have an epidural until they’re dilated at least 5 cm. I’ve heard some women say they got one earlier than that though. I don’t want to be confined to my bed for a long period of time though. I’d like to be able to move around for a while because I know it can take hours before you’re dilated to 10 cm. If I could be brave and not have an epidural at all, I would do it. But I guess I’ll just have to wait and see how I feel about everything when I’m in labor! I’m 28 weeks today, so that means I’m finally in my third trimester. Only 12 more weeks or 84 days until my due date! I haven’t heard from anyone at my doctor’s office about my glucose test, so I hope that means I passed it. POSTED BY AMY AT 11:32 AM WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2007 Happy Thanksgiving! We’re heading to Medina in the morning to spend Thanksgiving with Leon’s family. Everyone except Leon’s older brother and his family should be there. I’m not sure what time Leon’s mom is serving dinner. I want to leave Columbus early because traffic is usually really heavy when heading up north on Thanksgiving Day. My corn casserole has been requested, so I have to get up there early enough to bake it! 83 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 Aside from the corn casserole, I thought I’d make that Skyline Chili dip and I was planning on baking some cookies tonight too. I’m sure we’ll have plenty of food. I have to go to the store later to get all the ingredients for everything. Leon hasn’t decided whether we’ll stay in Medina through Friday or Saturday. We have to come home before Sunday because the kids have to go to church with their mom on Sunday morning and we have our childbirth class (and tour of the maternity ward!) on Sunday afternoon. Leon’s mom’s boyfriend recently found out that he has leukemia. This is very shocking. I don’t know what his symptoms have been, but he must not have realized that anything serious was wrong – they discovered the leukemia is pretty advanced so he’s obviously had this for a while. The doctors told him that this is terminal. I don’t know what treatment options he’ll choose to go with. Leon’s sister Becky asked if we’d take her golden retriever Bailey home with us and keep him through Christmas. She needs a break from him (I think she still has about 5 other dogs – she did give at least a couple of them away). Bailey is so fat that he doesn’t (can’t?) jump and he’s pretty calm. But the last time he stayed with us, he peed in the house quite a bit which I don’t like. Goldie also gets so upset when he’s around, so I hope both dogs behave this time. I saw an article on Yahoo this morning about the discovery of ancient bug fossils. Apparently, there used to be a scorpion that was 8 feet long! The article said that scorpions, millipedes, cockroaches and dragonflies used to be huge. I can’t even imagine. Thank God the huge versions of these bugs are now extinct. I don’t think my heart could handle the discovery of an 8-foot bug in our basement! Have a Happy Thanksgiving! POSTED BY AMY AT 9:52 AM MONDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2007 Thanksgiving recap We didn’t leave Columbus until about noon on Thanksgiving Day, so we had to sit in traffic for a long time. It normally takes us two hours to get to Medina, and it took us three instead. For some reason, 71 North is a parking lot on Thanksgiving Day – it’s literally stop and go traffic for miles. We had a nice time in Medina. All of Leon’s family (except Rob and his family) was there. Leon’s mom cooked a lot of food. I made my Skyline dip and corn casserole, and I also brought cookies I baked the night before. As usual, I ate way too much but somehow still made room for pumpkin pie for dessert. On Friday, Leon and I took the kids to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Andrew and Beth had never been there before. Leon wanted to go because they have a special Beach Boys exhibit right now. I’ve been there three times now. It never really changes much, so if you’ve seen it once that’s plenty. We had to walk quite a distance from the parking lot to the museum. I was so cold! I didn’t dress 84 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 appropriately for Cleveland weather. I was wearing my lightweight fall jacket. I never seem to remember how cold Cleveland gets this time of year! Even though Columbus has cold winters, it just doesn’t get as cold as it does up north when you’re off the lake. Leon’s sister Becky works at a steakhouse that’s located in an old Victorian house in downtown Medina. Leon’s mom took us there for dinner on Friday night. The house was built in the 1800’s and it’s supposedly haunted. We had a good meal, but we didn’t see any ghosts. On Saturday for lunch, we went to the new Italian restaurant where Leon’s other sister Tammie works. The restaurant didn’t officially open until today, so they were doing a practice run over the weekend. Tammie gave us tickets to get in, so we got a free lunch. We certainly ate well while in Medina! We came back home Saturday afternoon. We brought Becky’s golden retriever Bailey home with us. Goldie doesn’t like him. She’s growled at him and snapped at him a couple times now. It’s funny because Goldie is so sweet around humans, but she doesn’t seem to like other dogs very much. We’re keeping Bailey through Christmas. I think he’s sad though – he just lies in the same spot and keeps to himself. I’m sure he misses his mom and Goldie probably makes him nervous because she’s so mean to him. We had our third childbirth class yesterday afternoon. At the end of the class, we got to take a tour of the maternity ward. It’s very nice. The labor and recovery rooms are both private. Unless there is some kind of complication, the baby can stay in your room the whole time if you want – they don’t even have to go to the nursery. The hospital we’re delivering at requires that you stay for 48 hours (unless you have a csection and then you stay for 4 days). I figured we’d be kicked out sooner than that! I just assumed we’d have the baby and they’d send us on our way, but it’s nice they allow you to stay and recover. POSTED BY AMY AT 10:38 AM TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2007 Physical Therapy for Leon Leon finally got some reassuring news about his back yesterday. His family doctor referred him to an orthopedic surgeon, and Leon had a consultation with him yesterday afternoon. The surgeon said that he has been able to help 80-90% of his patients (who have disc issues similar to Leon’s) with physical therapy alone, without having to resort to surgery. Leon will begin physical therapy next week. The doctor told Leon that if physical therapy doesn’t help him, an epidural would be the next step and surgery would be the last resort. The doctor also put him on a medication designed for people who have seizures, although it’s been shown to be helpful to people with disc problems/pain too. This is such good news! Leon has been in pain for 24/7 the last several weeks, ever since having that massage. And he was in pain off and on for months before that too. His mom gave him some Vicodin over the weekend that she had from when she fell and hurt her shoulder. I told Leon I don’t like him taking pain meds like that because I know how easily people get addicted to them. The strongest thing his family doctor would prescribe him is Tylenol with codeine. But thankfully there are only a few Vicodin pills and no refills, so he shouldn’t become dependent on them. I think it would be very easy to become addicted to something like Vicodin. I took it a few years ago when I had my wisdom teeth removed, and it does make 85 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 you feel very relaxed and mellow – it’s a nice feeling, which is actually a scary thing! I’m just so thankful that after months of seeing our family doctor and two different chiropractors, Leon is finally seeing someone who has a plan for him. He’s gone downhill so much over the past few months and he is too young to be living with constant pain like this! It breaks my heart. He walks with a limp now, and it’s possible that this won’t ever go away completely because the doctor said that some of the nerve damage may be permanent. He can’t run. And he can’t stay in one position, whether it’s sitting or walking, for too long because the pain gets so bad. I’m just looking forward to having him recover as much as possible because he’s going to have a baby girl to take care of (and eventually chase after!) in about 11 weeks! Speaking of the baby, she entertains me so much! She is such a wiggle worm, always squirming around in my belly. I wish I had a window to her world to see what she’s doing in there. She kicks and punches me all the time. It never hurts – it’s actually an amazing feeling that I can’t even put into words. I love lying in bed at night and watching my belly move. It’s so funny to see my whole belly shake from her movements! POSTED BY AMY AT 8:40 AM WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2007 Fabric Softener A while back, Leon bought a fabric softener called Suavitel. The scent is called "Morning Sun" and it’s so wonderful! I just did laundry last night which made me think of it. All of our clothes have this fresh smell that lingers even while you wear them. I just now smelled my sleeve and sure enough, it smells like "Morning Sun!" I actually enjoy going into our basement, even to do laundry, now that it’s so clean. I admire my work every time I’m down there! John and Karen are coming over Friday night to spend the weekend with us. They plan to help us start on the baby’s room. I called my mom last night and asked if she and my dad could come over on Saturday too. It would be nice if my sister and her husband could come with them, but I don’t know what their plans are for the weekend. If we can get a bunch of people together on Saturday, we might actually get a lot accomplished! (Famous last words.) Leon also wants John to help rake the leaves in our yard. Our neighbors must hate us because our yard is so cluttered with leaves. Leon hasn’t been able to do any yard work lately because of his back. And I have an excuse because I’m pregnant. Leon was in a lot of pain last night. He started taking his new medication yesterday and was disappointed because it didn’t seem to be working. I told him he should give it a few days to kick in before he gives up on it. POSTED BY AMY AT 9:52 AM 86 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 MONDAY, DECEMBER 03, 2007 30 weeks and counting I had an appointment with my OB this morning. I passed my glucose test from a few weeks ago. I think my level was 92 or 93, which she said was good. The baby’s heart sounded good – her heart rate was in the 130’s today, so she was probably sleeping (the level tends to be near 160 when she’s awake). I told my doctor my inner thighs have been sore for the past few weeks, almost like a muscle soreness. I notice it most often when I’m up walking around. She said that it’s probably the extra weight I’m carrying or the way the baby is positioned. She said the only way she’d be concerned is if I was also bleeding, which thank God I’m not. Apparently this type of soreness can be a sign of pre-term labor, which is kind of scary! But since I’ve been sore like this for at least a month and have no other "signs" of labor, my doctor is not concerned. I’m 30 weeks today. My OB wants to start seeing me every 2 weeks now. It’s hard to believe I’m getting so close! John and Karen and my parents came over this weekend. We got a decent amount accomplished on the baby’s room. We ripped out all of the built-in’s and took the wallpaper off. John repaired the holes in the walls and sanded them. He said he still needs to make a few more repairs on the walls before we paint them. He plans to come back either next weekend or the weekend after that to do more work. Our bedroom is currently a mess though. We cleared everything out of the baby’s room and put it in our bedroom. So we have a lot to sort through and then carry to the basement. My nice clean basement is already starting to get cluttered again since John put some things down there. I guess I couldn’t expect it to stay nice forever. I really need to clean the whole house, but it’s been hard for me to do too much because I’ve been feeling so sore. I know I need to take it easy, but it’s difficult to relax since Leon has been laid up with his back problems. I know he can’t help it, but he hasn’t been able to help me do much of anything around the house lately. He had his first physical therapy session this morning – I really hope this helps him! POSTED BY AMY AT 10:48 AM WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 05, 2007 First snow of the season We got our first real snowfall of the season this morning. They had already been on the roads by the time I drove to work, so the roads didn’t seem to be slippery. But people drive so slowly when it snows – especially the first snow of the season. I can usually get to work in 15-20 minutes, but it took me about 87 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 45 minutes this morning. 2007 The snow does look pretty and it’s nice to see around Christmas time. But that doesn’t make me like it any better. It’s a pain to drive in and I hate how cold it gets. I really need to retire some place warm. Leon had another physical therapy session this morning. I hope they start to help him. He’s still in constant pain. That’s an awful way to live. I know it will take time, but he can’t go on like this forever. We haven’t put up our Christmas tree yet. Maybe we’ll try this weekend. There’s been so much going on, I haven’t been in a rush to decorate. Christmas will be a lot more fun next year when Elena’s here, and by then she’ll be old enough to enjoy Christmas. Although she’ll probably be more interested in the wrapping paper and boxes next year than the actual gifts! I’m ready to give Bailey back to Becky. He’s supposed to stay with us until Christmas, but I don’t know if I can last that long. He’s not being very well-behaved this time. The first time he stayed with us, he was an angel! The last time, he peed in the house. This time, he’s also been peeing in the house. It’s very frustrating. I don’t know what’s gotten into him or how to make him stop. He’s obviously marking his territory, but I’m tired of finding pee stains in the dining room and living room. He’s 5 years old, which is too old to be peeing in the house! I’m sure I’m biased toward Goldie because she’s our dog, but she’s so much better behaved than Bailey! She never pees in the house, unless she’s sick and has an accident. She’s long since outgrown her puppy phase, so she rarely makes messes for us anymore. She’s also very well-mannered when we eat. She’ll stare at us and hope that we’ll give her some of our food, but Bailey actually tries to take our food from us! He’s terrible about begging. I’m sure his behavior is the result of the environment he grew up in and lives in now with Becky. She has about 6 other dogs (I lost count – I think she may have given one or two away at some point), so Bailey is used to competing for his food and being aggressive and marking his territory. I feel sorry for him because he’s not a bad dog. He just needs some behavioral training and I have no idea how to do that! At any rate, I feel like I have way too many other things going on and I don’t need one more thing to worry about! So I hope we can send Bailey back to Medina soon. I got an e-mail from Sherri’s husband this morning. You might remember me mentioning Sherri – she was one of Darlene’s friends and she was also pregnant. She had a baby boy last night, Aaron Michael. Congratulations Sherri and Roger! POSTED BY AMY AT 10:49 AM 88 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 THURSDAY, DECEMBER 06, 2007 Sleepy afternoon I’m so sleepy today! I think the fatigue has seemed to come back now that I’m in my third trimester. If I lay down on the couch to watch TV at night, forget it! I fall asleep and miss my shows. Thank goodness we have a DVR and I record everything anyway. I think I’m more tired than usual today because Bailey kept me up last night. He was very restless. He paced around our bedroom. He’s so big that when he shakes his tail, it hits everything. So I heard his tail hitting the walls and the door. And he kept shaking his head so his collar would jingle and make a loud noise. Then he bit his nails! Goldie has this bad habit too. It’s funny to think dogs would chew their nails, but both goldens do this on a pretty regular basis. And then there’s poor Leon – he snores really loudly. He has sleep apnea, so I know he can’t help it. Even when I shake him or shush him, he usually keeps right on snoring. This never really used to bother me because once I fell asleep, I stayed asleep. But since I’ve been pregnant, I wake up constantly and then I can’t get back to sleep if he’s snoring too loudly. (He says that I snore sometimes too, so I have no room to talk!) Last night between his snoring and Bailey’s antics, I decided to try and sleep in Beth’s bed. I fell asleep there for a couple hours, but it’s really hard to get a good night’s sleep in a bed other than your own. I think I’ve had some Braxton Hicks contractions recently. I can’t say for certain that’s what I’m feeling, but all I know is that my stomach seems to get really hard. It’s like a tightening sensation in my belly. I don’t have them on a regular basis and they never seem to hurt. I’ll tell my doctor about it the next time I see her, but I have a feeling that they’re probably Braxton Hicks. My heartburn has been better lately. I still have it on occasion, but I don’t seem to have that every day, after every meal heartburn that I was having. I never did get the Zantac prescription filled that my doctor gave me. My co-worker’s daughter had a baby this morning. She had a little girl, Keira Madelaine. My co-worker is still at work! If I were her, I’d be really anxious and want to be at the hospital so I could see my new granddaughter! I know my parents plan to come to the hospital when they find out I’m in labor. They live an hour and a half away, but they’re going to want to see their new little granddaughter as soon as they can. I know they are so excited. That’s all they talk about! There’s a possibility that John and Karen might come back down this weekend, but they may wait until the following weekend. I know John wants to finish repairing the wall in the baby’s room before we start painting. I need to get the boxes that were in the baby’s room out of our room, so I’ll attempt to do that this weekend. I think Leon will be able to help me. He’s been trying to carry a few things this week and he organized some of his computer equipment in the basement, although he’s still hurting pretty bad. He told me it’s a 24/7 kind of pain, but some days the pain is more tolerable than others. POSTED BY AMY AT 2:54 PM 89 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 FRIDAY, DECEMBER 07, 2007 More snow... It snowed again this morning. To me it doesn’t look like much snow, but it was somehow enough to cause schools to be cancelled and delayed. I wondered why my ride into work was so easy! There was no school traffic. The main roads are in good shape. I was actually the first one into work this morning, even though I was about 10 minutes late! The dogs love the snow. They run around in it and chase each other. It’s so cute! They came inside last night after one of their potty breaks and their faces were covered with snow. Speaking of dogs, you remember yesterday I mentioned my co-worker’s daughter had a baby. My coworker and her husband were watching their daughter’s dog while she’s in the hospital. Somehow the dog got off their back porch yesterday afternoon and ran away. My co-worker left me a voice mail this morning saying she was taking the day off to find the dog. She was crying on the phone – she’s obviously very upset. That’s totally understandable. I’d be devastated if Goldie ran away! I feel so bad for all of them. It should be such a joyous time for them with the birth of a new baby. I hope they find the dog soon. John and Karen aren’t coming down this weekend, but they plan on coming down next weekend. We don’t have the kids this weekend either, so this will be the first weekend in several weeks where we haven’t had anything going on! It will be a nice change of pace. I hope we get some things accomplished around the house though. I’m proud of Leon because he’s been helping organize his computer equipment in the basement and it doesn’t look as cluttered as it did before. I hate clutter. That’s one thing that bothers me so much! Since our computer room is being transformed into the baby’s room, Leon decided to move all of his computer equipment down to the basement. I’m going to put my computer on the vanity table in our bedroom. Leon also has a laptop that he works on a lot, so he won’t have to go to the basement every time he wants to get online. Most of the TV shows I watch are repeats until the holidays are over. The last "Heroes" until January was on Monday night. I recorded it on our DVR and watched it the other night. It was really good! I love that show. That’s probably my favorite show right now. You have to watch every episode or you’ll get confused though – there are so many characters to follow. POSTED BY AMY AT 9:38 AM 90 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2007 2007 Relaxing weekend We have a holiday party after work tonight. Our Board of Trustees and Committee and Council members are invited too. I didn’t have any holiday-looking maternity shirts so I bought something at Target last night. It’s a simple red dress shirt, but it’s actually too tight! Target only had one decent red shirt and it was smaller than my normal size, but I was desperate. I need to wear it one more time after this – Leon’s boss has a holiday party at his house next Thursday. So hopefully I can get through a few hours in a tootight maternity shirt! It’s funny how people assume it’s ok to say anything they want about a pregnant woman’s weight. I went to Kroger on my lunch break yesterday and when I walked by the guy ringing the Salvation Army bell, he asked "Are we talking twins or triplets here?" I told him I’m only having one. And then we had a meeting at work this morning and one of our members commented how I’m really gaining weight and I need to lay off the beer! I realize these people were joking, but can you imagine how offensive those comments would be if I weren’t pregnant? I don’t think I look too big. I’m rather proud of how I’m carrying my baby weight. I’ve gained almost 30 pounds (how did that happen?!), but all of my weight seems to be in my stomach. I’ll have to post another belly shot soon and you can tell me if you think I look fat! ;) I didn’t have one Braxton Hicks contraction over the weekend because I basically did nothing. I did have some yesterday though. So they’re obviously triggered by doing a lot of activity. It was a nice change of pace to do nothing this past weekend! I slept in until about 1:00 p.m., but considering I wake up every 12 hours during the night it didn’t seem that late to me. Then I laid on the couch and watched TV for hours. I just felt like I needed to rest. I did clean the downstairs Sunday night, but that was the extent of my work. I let the dogs out at 6:00 a.m. yesterday morning and I discovered that one of them (my money is on Bailey) pooped twice in the dining room! What a mess. I don’t know what gets into Bailey. I really hope John takes him back home when he comes down this weekend. As far as I know, John and Karen are coming back down to help with the baby’s room on Saturday. They should be able to finish repairing the wall and then paint. We’ll see if they can get new baseboards in the room too (they already ripped out the old ones). I’d love to get the room done so I can see about ordering new carpet, and then we can finally buy the baby’s furniture. My parents are being so generous. They’ve offered to buy the crib, dresser, changing table, bookcase and rocking chair! Since she is their first (biological) grandchild, I think they’re really going to spoil her. POSTED BY AMY AT 12:07 PM 91 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2007 Tired and Sore I’m tired (again) today. I had to stay at work until 9:00 p.m. last night to help clean up after our holiday party was over. I was feeling very sore afterward. I never want to seem like I’m complaining because I am so grateful for this pregnancy and this baby. But I never realized how uncomfortable your body gets as you near the end of your pregnancy. Some days it feels like everything is sore. This morning as I was putting on my socks, I thought about how difficult it is to perform simple tasks like this when you’re pregnant. I can’t reach my feet very well because my belly gets in the way! I was thinking about painting my toenails, but I can only imagine how hard that would be. It’s also extremely difficult to shave your legs when you’re pregnant! And if you drop something on the floor? Forget about it. It’s too difficult to reach down and pick it up. Last night at our party, another member commented on how "fat" I am. He said something about how I better stop eating because my belly is getting too big. It’s amazing how many times I’ve been "insulted" about my weight this week! Maybe I’m bigger than I actually believe myself to be! Leon put up our Christmas tree a couple nights ago. The past couple of years, we’ve just been using a small, fiber optic tree. Other than hanging stockings, we don’t decorate our house very much. I plan to get a nicer fake tree next year and decorate more. Next Christmas will be so much fun since Elena will be about 10 months old. This year though, I feel like there’s too much else going on to really worry about decorating for Christmas. I still haven’t started my Christmas shopping. I plan to do that next week. There’s nothing like waiting until the last minute! I don’t really have too much to buy, so hopefully I can get it all finished in one shopping trip. I just realized I have two vacation days I have to use up before the end of the year or I’ll lose them. So I decided to take December 27 and 28 off. That means I’ll have December 22 through January 1 off work – 11 days! And we only have to work half a day on December 21 because we have our staff holiday lunch that day and we always get to go home afterward. I have 5 additional days of vacation left, but I can carry them over to 2008. That will give me 3 weeks of vacation next year, and I plan to use it during my maternity leave. That way, I’ll receive 3 weeks of my 6week leave at my full salary. My boss said that I can have 50% of my salary for the other 3 weeks, which I thought was very generous. I originally thought that my maternity leave would be a 6-week unpaid leave. It would be nice if I could have more time off, but unfortunately the Family Medical Leave Act doesn’t apply to my company because we only have 8 employees. If I worked for a place that had at least 50 employees, I could have 12 weeks off – although that would also be an unpaid leave and I’m not sure we could survive 12 weeks without an additional salary anyway. Leon had another physical therapy session this morning. After this week, he has one more week of three sessions and then his doctor will re-evaluate his condition. So far Leon hasn’t felt much (if any) relief, but it would be wonderful if that changed within the next week. POSTED BY AMY AT 9:52 AM 92 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 THURSDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2007 So stressed out... I hate to complain and seem ungrateful because I’m not at all. I think my lack of sleep is catching up with me though. I’m feeling so overwhelmed and in such a bad mood today. I don’t think I slept one full hour last night. Some nights it’s impossible for me to sleep. I know the kids and even Leon are enjoying having Bailey around, but I need him to go back home asap. I just can’t handle one more thing to take care of right now. When I let him and Goldie out at 7:00 a.m., he tracked mud everywhere! I know it wasn’t Goldie because I checked her paws. He ran through the family room, kitchen, dining room and living room with his muddy paws before I could stop him. I managed to wipe off his paws and clean up the kitchen floor, but the carpet in the other rooms are a muddy mess. I told Leon he would have to clean it. I just can’t bring myself to do it. I’m the one who always has to clean up after him and I can’t take it anymore. Leon told me last night that John has to work on Saturday, so he and Karen might not be able to come down after all. I start to feel panicked because the baby’s room needs to get finished! Everyone tells me to relax because the baby won’t care whether her room is finished or not once she’s born. But I care and it’s driving me crazy that it’s not done. I wish we had done the whole project earlier because now I’m so sore and tired that I can’t help much at all. We still need to paint the walls, put down new baseboards, get new carpet, buy and assemble her furniture, and decorate her room. I had originally hoped to have all of that done by January 12 because that’s when my baby shower is, but I just don’t see that happening now. Our bedroom is a mess and has been for the past 2+ weeks. We still have all those boxes from the baby’s room piled everywhere. They need to be carried to the basement and I can’t do it by myself and Leon can’t help. I’m so overwhelmed with taking care of the whole house with no help from Leon. I know he can’t help it, but it’s really getting me down. The upstairs hasn’t been cleaned for probably a month and it’s hard to do with boxes piled everywhere. Work has also been stressful. There’s always some kind of drama to contend with and it’s hard for me to focus because I’m so tired. I haven’t done any Christmas shopping and I know I’m running out of time. I have two holiday events to go to next week (a Christmas dinner for my Twig group on Tuesday night and Leon’s work holiday party on Thursday night), so that limits the time I have to shop. One positive thing is that Leon’s back is feeling better from physical therapy. One of the therapists helped align his back at his session yesterday, and Leon felt almost instant relief. His leg is still really bothering him, but it’s great that his back is feeling better. Of course the therapist can’t guarantee the pain will stay away. She said like with any major injury he has to give himself time to heal, which of course means no lifting or doing anything that will aggravate the condition. Thanks for reading my rant. I know I just need to take a deep breath and try to relax, but my brain is racing a million miles a minute with everything I need to get done before the baby gets here. POSTED BY AMY AT 9:30 AM 93 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 MONDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2007 UTI? I saw my OB this morning. She thinks I might have a urinary tract infection! She said pregnant women don’t often have the traditional symptoms of a UTI, so they may not even know they have one. This is true for me. I have to pee all the time, but I assumed that was because the baby is pressing on my bladder. I’ve had UTI’s in the past (before I was pregnant) and I was absolutely miserable with them. My doctor wrote me a prescription for Marcobid and I have to start taking it today. I have to call the office on Wednesday to find out my test results. If I don’t have a UTI I can stop taking the antibiotic, but if I do have one I need to take it for 7 days. My doctor didn’t seem concerned, so I guess I shouldn’t be either. Other than that, my appointment was fine. My blood pressure was good. The doctor didn’t tell me the baby’s exact heart rate, but Elena was very active when she listened to her heart. She could tell she was moving all around and kicking. She also felt my stomach and said that she thinks the baby is already in the head-down position, which is great! That (hopefully) means she’ll stay in that position until I give birth, so I shouldn’t have to worry about her being breech. The doctor said her knees and thighs appear to be up my belly button, which is where I feel the strongest movements and where my belly seems to move around the most. The kids helped carry the boxes from our bedroom into the basement yesterday. It’s nice to have the boxes out of our room and to be able to see the floor again. Tonight I need to clean our bedroom and the rest of the upstairs because I haven’t done so in about a month! Of course, now the downstairs is dirty again too. I can never keep up with the house work. Goldie started limping on Saturday. I feel so sorry for her. We determined it’s her left front paw that seems to be hurting her, although it doesn’t appear to be broken and there are no marks on it. Hopefully it’s just a sprain. We got some snow and freezing rain on Saturday, and Goldie and Bailey played outside for a while so she may have hurt it then. We took Bailey to Petsmart yesterday to get his picture taken with Santa. Becky does this every year, so we wanted to get the picture taken for her. Andrew and Beth were in the picture too. It turned out cute. Bailey was very good while he was out. We didn’t take Goldie because she gets so nervous when she travels anywhere. We figured she’d completely flip out if we tried to get her to pose with Santa! We’re hoping we can get some family members to come over the weekend before New Year’s and help finish the baby’s room. Everyone told me my feelings of panic are normal because I want my "nest" to be perfect for the baby. I have to believe that we’ll get everything finished in time! POSTED BY AMY AT 10:38 AM 94 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog FRIDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2007 2007 Family drama My sister’s husband Jamie is in the hospital. He had been having trouble swallowing and he had a procedure done on Monday where they tried to widen his esophagus. Afterward he was having a lot of pain, but the doctor told him this was normal since his esophagus would be irritated for a few days. He passed out at work yesterday and they took him to the hospital in Coshocton. It turns out that he has a tear in his esophagus as a result of the procedure and a serious infection could form as a result. They took him by ambulance to OSU Hospital in Columbus yesterday afternoon. Since Julie and Jamie’s "good" car broke down, all they have is my sister’s old car. She can’t drive it very far, so my parents had to bring her to Columbus yesterday. She spent most of the day with Jamie in the hospital, but my parents brought her over to our house to spend the night around 10:00 p.m. I had to take her back to the hospital this morning before I went to work. Jamie signed waivers before having the procedure done on Monday because apparently there was a risk they could tear his esophagus. It’s unfortunate though because they think the doctor knew he tore it, but was hoping it would heal on its own so he didn’t tell Jamie. The doctor at OSU said that it appears that this doctor tried to repair his esophagus after tearing it. I don’t really understand everything that’s happened, but the tear leads to his stomach so there was concern that an infection could form and affect his other organs. It appears that they caught it in time though, so he should hopefully recover with no problems. If all is well, he’ll get to go home tomorrow (and his birthday happens to be tomorrow too!). My sister is obviously very scared and upset. I’m afraid she’s going to pass out because she has barely eaten in the past 24 hours and I don’t think she slept at all last night. She plans to stay with Jamie in the hospital all day. Leon and I have another Christmas dinner to go to tonight so we won’t be able to pick her up until around 10:00 p.m. Leon and I went to his work holiday party last night. I had my Twig Christmas dinner on Tuesday night. And today at work, we have a staff holiday lunch. We get to go home afterward and then I have the next 11 days off work! I’m looking forward to the break. I need to go shopping after lunch today since I’ve barely done any Christmas shopping. I hope to finish everything up tomorrow. It will just be Leon and me (and the dogs!) on Christmas Eve. I plan to make dinner for us. We originally wanted to have Christmas at our house, but no one in our families is able to come home. So we decided we’ll go to my parents’ house for dinner on Christmas Day. It will be a quick trip though. The kids don’t come over until about 2:00 p.m. that day. We won’t spend the night so that way we don’t have to bring the dogs with us. My parents (especially my dad) are not dog lovers, so I know they wouldn’t appreciate two dogs in their home. We don’t have any New Year’s plans yet. I was still hoping some family members could come over next Saturday and help with the baby’s room, but after everything that’s happened with Jamie this week, he and Julie probably won’t be able to come over. As promised, here is a belly shot that Leon took of me before his work party last night. I’m 32 weeks, 4 days in the picture. Do I look as fat as everyone tells me? ;) 95 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2007 Here is the Christmas shot of the kids and Bailey that we had taken on Sunday. Bailey wouldn’t keep his eyes open for the picture! POSTED BY AMY AT 9:08 AM 96 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 02, 2008 My grandma My grandma had a heart attack this morning! She was taken to the hospital in Coshocton and they were going to transport her to the hospital in Zanesville. My parents were heading to Zanesville to be with her. Grandma was alert and responsive, so that’s good news. I don’t know many details at the moment, but the doctor thinks this is her second heart attack in a week! Apparently she didn’t realize she had the first one. Once she’s in Zanesville, she’ll have a catheter put in (I think this is what they call the procedure) to determine where the blockage is and how to proceed. She also has a blood clot in one of her lungs that they’re concerned about. My parents will keep me posted. We went to my parents’ house for Christmas and I saw my grandma then. She’s 86 years old and not in the best health. Mom has been worried about her lately because Grandma has been breathing very heavily and hasn’t been feeling well. Grandma has diabetes, high blood pressure and cholesterol, etc. She takes a variety of medications for her health problems, but unfortunately she doesn’t always remember to take her meds. She doesn’t think as clearly as she once did and gets confused easily. She lives alone in a two-story house (she’s lived there for years and refuses to move). We all worry about her because it’s the worst possible place for someone her age to live. Grandma has arthritis and bad knees and can hardly get up and down her stairs. We’re always worried she’ll fall. My mom said Grandma’s house is so dirty because she’s unable to clean it. But she’s so stubborn and won’t listen to anyone when they try to tell her what’s best for her. She’s my only living grandparent (my mom’s mom). My mom’s dad died when she was only 15 and my dad’s parents died a long time (my dad’s dad died the year before I was born and my dad’s mom died when I was 4). I just pray she’s strong enough to get through surgery if she requires it. I was off work the past 11 days and didn’t bother getting online much at home, so that’s why I haven’t posted lately. Andrew and Beth have been with us since Christmas Day (they go back to their mom’s tonight). We had a nice Christmas. We went to my parents’ house for dinner and to exchange gifts. We didn’t spend the night because we didn’t want to bring two dogs with us (since my parents don’t really like dogs). I felt like I was at a baby shower though! Everyone gave me baby gifts for Christmas. I got so many nice things! We didn’t do anything overly exciting with the kids over Christmas break. We took them to the movies and bowling and out to eat. Other than that, we just relaxed – stayed up late, slept in and watched a lot of movies at home. We went to El Vaquero’s for dinner on New Year’s Eve and then just came home and watched the ball drop on TV. Beth got out pots and pans for us to bang on at midnight, and we had a champagne (Sprite for the kids) toast. We also gave Goldie and Bailey some champagne to drink. It was funny to watch their reactions! The champagne must have gone straight to their heads because they acted like they were drunk for a while, which was quite entertaining. It was hard to come back to work this morning after having all those days off! I had an appointment with my OB this morning too (I’m 34 weeks now – hard to believe!). All is well. My blood pressure was good and my urine was clear this time. I didn’t have a UTI last time after all, even though they had me take an antibiotic as a precaution. I still have to pee all the time, but the doctor thinks it’s the way the baby is lying. Her position is also making it hard to breathe! I’ve been feeling very breathless lately, but my doctor said this is normal. I go back to my OB in another two weeks (January 14) and then I start going to see her every week. Once I’m 36 weeks, they’ll be checking to see if I’m dilated. It’s very exciting! I can’t 1 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog believe how close I’m getting! 2008 My sister’s husband is doing much better. He thankfully didn’t have an infection and was able to go home after spending a couple days in the hospital for observation. John and Karen couldn’t come down last weekend but are supposed to come over this weekend instead. We’ll see. We haven’t done any work on the baby’s room since the last time John and Karen came over. My goal was to have her room ready by the day of my baby shower (which is on January 12), but I seriously doubt that will happen now. Oh well. The shower is at my house and I just know people will ask to see her room – but there won’t be anything to see yet! We still have Bailey. We didn’t make it to Medina to see Leon’s family over Christmas. We were supposed to meet Becky for lunch on New Year’s Day, but unfortunately Becky has been sick so we didn’t get to see her. Bailey has been much better lately (no more marking or accidents in the house or tracking mud inside!), but I still hope we can send him home before the baby is born because it’s a lot to handle two big dogs and prepare for a baby too! POSTED BY AMY AT 12:26 PM THURSDAY, JANUARY 03, 2008 Update on my grandma I talked to my mom and got an update on my grandma's condition. She apparently had a heart attack within the last week and didn't realize she had one. But she didn't have a second one yesterday, like they originally thought. She was having pain in her chest because she has fluid around her heart. She unfortunately has congestive heart failure, which is what her mother/my great grandma died from (which is scary to think that it's hereditary!). The doctors were not able to use a catheter to see where the blockage in her heart is. They found out that her kidneys are not working properly and if they had performed the procedure, her kidneys would probably have shut down and she would have needed dialysis. I’m glad they caught this in time. She has diabetes so they think that’s why her kidneys aren’t functioning properly, although they seem to be working better today than they were yesterday. They’re giving her medication to try and break up the blockage in her heart. Her lungs look good (they thought she might have a blood clot in them, but that turned out not to be true). She was vomiting blood yesterday, which was most likely from the blood thinners they had to give her to transport her from Coshocton to Zanesville. They looked at her stomach through a scope today and didn’t see any blood, so that’s also a good sign. At this time, we don’t know how long she’ll be in the hospital. But the news overall seems more encouraging today, which is a relief. My parents have a very difficult decision to make now about what to do when Grandma gets out of the hospital though. She’ll most likely have to live with my parents, but she’s very stubborn – I can see her putting up a fight about having to leave her home. POSTED BY AMY AT 5:02 PM 2 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 FRIDAY, JANUARY 04, 2008 I wish I had better news I talked to my mom again. My grandma isn’t going to make it. Her heart is too weak and her kidneys are shutting down. The doctor said that she will pass away within 10 days since her kidneys are failing. I guess I’m in shock. This all happened so fast. I knew she hadn’t been in the best health the past few years, but she has gone downhill so fast since Christmas. Her heart attack was very unexpected. There’s never a good time to be sick or die – but I keep wondering why now? Why does there have to be death in order for there to be a new life? It makes me so sad that Elena will never get the chance to meet her great-grandma. My mom will keep me posted. At this point, I’m going to try and go to the hospital tomorrow to see Grandma. She’s in a hospital about an hour and half away from Columbus. She’s still in ICU, so her visitors and visiting hours are limited. But they’re planning to move her into another room within the next day so that people can see her. POSTED BY AMY AT 12:41 PM SATURDAY, JANUARY 05, 2008 Status keeps changing Yesterday afternoon my mom spoke to a different doctor at the hospital who told her death was not necessarily imminent for my grandma. They’ve been giving her medication to help her kidneys and it appears to be working. Her kidneys started functioning better yesterday. Her vital signs continue to remain stable. We’re trying not to get our hopes up, but we don’t know what to think. Yesterday we thought we’d be planning a funeral within a week and now all of a sudden it doesn’t appear that’s the case. It’s all very confusing. I think the fact is that even the doctors can’t predict how long my grandma will live. My mom is now hopeful that Grandma will get out of the hospital soon. The doctors said that my grandma will have to live in a nursing home though since she will require regular medical care. There’s no way she can go back to her home and live by herself. The doctors also don’t recommend that Grandma live with my parents because she requires more than just a home health care provider. I’m very thankful that Grandma seems to be improving. All we can do is wait and see what the next few days bring. Changing the subject…today is Darlene’s birthday. She would have been 31. I miss you, Darlene. POSTED BY AMY AT 3:18 PM 3 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 MONDAY, JANUARY 07, 2008 Latest news on my grandma My grandma is no longer expected to die within 10 days like they told us on Friday! The doctors started giving her medication on Friday to help her kidneys and they began to function again. My family is so thankful for this improvement in her health. I visited her in the hospital yesterday and she was acting like the grandma I know and love! She is very alert and talkative and aware of her surroundings. They’re actually releasing her from the hospital today and she’ll go to an extended care unit at the hospital in Coshocton. Then she’ll have to go to a nursing home. Unfortunately it’s extremely unlikely that she’ll get to go to her home again, so she’s pretty upset about that. But she needs quite a bit of care right now and she could never get that home alone, even if a nurse came to her home every day. She hasn’t been up walking around since she was admitted to the hospital last Wednesday so she’ll need some physical therapy to get her walking again. She also won’t eat much at all, so that’s a concern. The doctors won’t let her have water right now. She hasn’t been swallowing as well as she should, so they’re afraid she’ll choke on water and get it in her lungs. They give her something they call thickened water, but she hates that. Of course, they’re feeding her through her veins but she asks for water constantly. They’ll let her have ice chips though, so my mom and aunt were feeding her those yesterday. She looks really good. I was afraid to see her yesterday because I thought she might look really sick, but her color was great and she looks very much like her normal self. I can’t tell you how relieved I feel after seeing her yesterday and hearing about the improvement in her status. John and Karen came over on Friday night and didn’t leave until after 10:00 p.m. last night. They worked all weekend on the baby’s room. Her room is in such great shape! I feel much better about that. The walls are painted a pretty light green color called Limonata. We have new white baseboards in the room. Leon still needs to paint the baseboards this week. We decided not to replace the closet doors or her main bedroom door at this time. They pulled up her old carpet, so we’re going to order new carpet and hopefully have that installed within the next week. And then we just need to buy her furniture and decorate her room. We just might have the room ready before she’s born after all! I’m feeling so tired lately. I sleep worse than ever, which I didn’t think was possible. I don’t think I sleep for even one hour at a time. I’m not kidding when I say I get up every hour to use the bathroom. There is no such thing as a comfortable sleeping position, so I toss and turn all night. I’ve also been getting acid reflux really bad lately, so my throat seems to burn every time I lie down to sleep. I guess you reach a point in late pregnancy when sleeping is just not a possibility. I suppose I better get used to this no sleeping thing since I’ll have a newborn very soon! It really doesn’t seem possible that I’m 35 weeks now. The baby will be considered full-term when I reach 37 weeks, so I could literally have her at any time now. Of course, I could also be a week or due overdue, so I might still have another 7 weeks to go! I tell people that I feel like a beached whale. I suppose I don’t look that big, but I feel huge. It’s hilarious that there was a time when I worried about not gaining any weight. Let’s just say I’ve gained more than the recommended 25-30 pounds and leave it at that! ;) 4 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 I never stop being grateful for this pregnancy, even though it may sound like I’m complaining right now. I thank God every day for this baby. POSTED BY AMY AT 9:42 AM THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2008 Getting ready for the shower My grandma was finally released from the hospital yesterday. She was supposed to be released on Monday, but her blood sugar has been extremely high and they needed to get that under control first. She has diabetes but has always been able to keep her sugar levels pretty stable. Her levels should be between 70-110 and a couple days ago her level was at 575! That’s very scary. She was finally taken to a nursing home in Coshocton last night. She was supposed to go to an extended care unit first, but there was no room for her there so she went directly to the nursing home. I talked to my mom last night, and she is still very worried about Grandma. She has so many different health problems and it’s unlikely she’ll make a full recovery at her age. In all reality, it’s probably just a matter of time. Of course, no one can give us a time frame. It’s just a day-by-day thing. I know this has really taken a toll on my mom though. I wish there was something I could say or do to make things better, but there never is when it comes to something like this. We’re still planning on having my baby shower at my house on Saturday. I told Mom we could postpone it until after the baby is born, but she wanted to go ahead with it. I had the carpet and furniture in our downstairs rooms professionally cleaned yesterday and I am so impressed with the results! We’ve been in our house for over 4 years now and have never had anything professionally cleaned. The company recommends that pet owners get their carpet and furniture cleaned once a year and I can understand why. There really is a big difference afterward. I’m so paranoid about the dog smell in our house. Leon and I are used to it, but I know when people come to our house they probably notice it. I hope the cleaning took the smell out for now! The carpet looks almost new. The dogs have been pretty hard on the furniture, especially in the living room, so they couldn’t get all the spots out – but it still looks better than it did. You’ll notice I said "dogs." We still have Bailey. He’s been with us almost 3 weeks longer than he was supposed to be! We didn’t go to Medina for Christmas, so we haven’t been able to return him yet. The new plan is that we’ll meet Becky halfway between Columbus and Medina on Sunday and return him at that time. I know Goldie will be glad to see him go. She is so grumpy with him all the time! I need to clean the house tonight since I’ll have about 20 people in my house for the shower on Saturday. I wanted to clean last night, but the carpet and furniture were still damp from being cleaned. We didn’t want to move everything back into the rooms we had cleaned until the carpet is completely dry. I’m a member of an online infertility support group and some of the girls from this group planned an "online baby shower" for me. It’s tomorrow night. We’ll chat in our online chat room while I open the gifts 5 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 they sent me. I’m so unbelievably touched by their kind gesture. It means so much to me that they would do this. We picked out carpet for the baby’s room on Monday. They’re coming over tomorrow morning to install it. We’re hoping to look at furniture on Saturday after my baby shower when my parents are in town. My parents have generously offered to buy the baby’s furniture for us and we’re so grateful for that! I can tell that my parents are really going to spoil this baby since she’ll be their first grandchild. I really can’t believe how close I’m getting to D-Day (Delivery Day)! I need to get my hospital bag packed. I still haven’t done that yet. I’ve been trying to wrap up things at work before my maternity leave. Technically I could go into labor any time, so I really should be prepared! POSTED BY AMY AT 8:50 AM TUESDAY, JANUARY 15, 2008 Shower weekend I’ve been so busy the past few days. I cleaned my house for what seemed like hours on Thursday and Friday and even Saturday morning! Everything is much cleaner than it has been in a long time anyway. Of course after the shower was over, my house was dirty again! So I spent some time Saturday night tidying up again. My shower was very nice. I think there were around 20 people there. My mom brought over a meat and cheese tray, a vegetable tray, chips and dip and a beautiful cake. After we ate, we played a few games. Then I opened all of my gifts. I got so many nice things. I meant to take a picture of all of my gifts, but I haven’t gotten around to it yet. After everyone left, my parents took me to Babies R Us and bought us a crib and a changing table. We’re having the furniture delivered on Saturday. We even paid extra to have the delivery people assemble the crib for us. We haven’t found a dresser or bookcase yet, but we plan to look for these this weekend. I also need to wash the baby’s clothes and put everything away in her room once we get the furniture in there. And of course, I haven’t decorated her room yet. We had the new carpet installed on Friday and it looks very nice. It’s a light tan color and it goes very well with the green walls. I’ll have to take pictures of her room once we get everything in place. I had my 36-week appointment with my OB yesterday. I’m dilated 1 cm. I know you can walk around for weeks being dilated 1-2 cm, so that doesn’t really mean anything. But at least it’s a start! The baby is also head down, so at least she is in position to be born. I wasn’t expecting the cervix check to be painful, but it hurt more than I realized! When I got to work after my doctor appointment yesterday morning, my computer was dead! I kept getting a blue screen that said something about a "boot error." Our computer guy came in and was thankfully able to fix it. I was so worried for a while because I had some files on there that weren’t backed up to our server. It took several hours, but he got me up and running again – and then I saved all of my 6 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 files to the server in case the computer crashes again! But I didn’t get much accomplished yesterday at work. Leon and I met his mom and his sister Becky in Mansfield on Sunday. We had lunch at the Cracker Barrel and returned Bailey to Becky. I think he was happy to see his mama. Even though Goldie acted like she didn’t like Bailey, she has been sulking since he left! So maybe she actually did enjoy having him around. POSTED BY AMY AT 8:41 AM MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 2008 Finally full-term My mom called me this morning. My grandma is back in the hospital. She has a pneumonia. The situation is just not very good. She has fluid around her heart because of the congestive heart failure, and her heart is weak. The doctor said that her kidneys still aren’t functioning properly either. They also think she had a stroke at some point because her speech is very impaired now. Mom is afraid that Grandma is suffering. She was crying when I talked to her on the phone this morning. I know how hard this is on my mom. I wish there was something I could say or do to make this better, but there never is. I’d like to go back to Coshocton to visit my grandma, but I’ve been trying not to travel very far since I’m so close to my due date now. It’s so hard. All we can do is pray for Grandma to get well again, although the doctors tell us that a full recovery is unlikely at her age. She keeps asking my mom when she can go home because she doesn’t like the nursing home she’s in. The crib and changing table were delivered on Saturday morning. On Sunday, Leon and I bought a white four-drawer chest that we’ll pick up on Tuesday. We couldn’t find a white bookcase, so I ordered one from Wal-mart online. It will be ready for pick-up in about a week. Leon put together all of the items that needed assembled like her bassinet, high chair, walker, swing and car seat. We still need to buy a few other things for the baby that we didn’t get from the shower. I realized that she needs a winter coat! It’s been so bitterly cold lately, and I don’t feel like I have warm enough clothes for her. I haven’t decorated her room yet. I was waiting until we got all of the furniture in place. I still need to wash all of her laundry too. I feel like I have so much to do yet to get ready for her and I’m running out of time! I’m 37 weeks today, so she is officially full-term now. I haven’t even packed my hospital bag yet! I suppose I better do that soon. I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow morning. My doctor is on vacation this week, so I have to see a different OB. I’m not looking forward to my cervix check! Ouch! But it would be nice to hear that I’m dilated another centimeter or so. I’ve been trying to wrap up all the loose ends at work before my maternity leave begins. Since I only get six weeks off, I plan to work up until I go into labor! I’d rather have the time off once the baby is here as opposed to beforehand. My boss is letting me change my hours after I get back from maternity leave. I’ll 7 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 be working from 7:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. instead of 8:00 – 5:00. And since Leon doesn’t usually go into work until 10:00 or 11:00, he can drop the baby off at day care at that time and I can pick her up around 3:45. I know it’s going to be really hard for me to leave her in day care. Leon and I went to dinner at El Vaquero’s on Saturday night, and we ran into Darlene’s friend Sherri. She was eating in the booth behind us with her husband, her parents and her son. Aaron was born at the beginning of December. He is so precious. It was nice to see Sherri. I think the last time I saw her was at Darlene’s funeral. POSTED BY AMY AT 10:06 AM TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2008 Baby is probably staying put for a while That’s what the doctor told me this morning. My OB is on vacation this week, so I had to see a different doctor. My doctor is a female and the doctor I saw this morning was a male, but he was so much gentler than my doctor is. When he checked my cervix this morning, it hardly hurt at all! I really appreciated that. Unfortunately, he told me that he thought my doctor was being kind when she said I was dilated 1 cm. He thought I was dilated a "fingertip" – whatever that measurement means! He said the baby’s head is engaged, but he thinks she’s staying put for a while yet. Her heartbeat sounded good (157 bpm this morning), my blood pressure was good and my weight has tapered off finally (yay!). I had to have one of those group b strep tests last week and that thankfully came back negative. I’m a little bummed there’s no change in my cervix since last week, but it’s not really a surprise. For all I know, I could be a week or more overdue. I’m just starting to get really impatient now. I’m so ready to meet this little one! I called my mom this morning to let her know how my appointment went and she said that my grandma was doing better yesterday. She’s still in the hospital, but she told my mom that she felt much better last night. She was sitting up in bed and was very alert. Her condition changes every day, so it’s very difficult to predict how she’ll recover. POSTED BY AMY AT 11:12 AM 8 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2008 New Pictures of Andrew and Beth We recently received some new pictures of Andrew and Beth that I'm just now getting around to posting. When I look at these pictures, I can't believe how grown up they look! Andrew - 8th grade Beth - 6th grade Andrew - 8th grade football 9 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 Andrew & Beth - Christmas 2007 POSTED BY AMY AT 12:36 PM FRIDAY, JANUARY 25, 2008 My grandma passed away My sister called me around 7:30 a.m. this morning. Grandma passed away around 7:01. I’ve since talked to my mom, and she said that the hospital called her around 6:30 and told her to get there. Grandma’s heart was beating very irregularly. She had already passed away by the time my mom got there. Mom said that Grandma looked very peaceful. It looks like her calling hours will be Monday afternoon/evening, and her funeral will be on Tuesday morning. I have a doctor’s appointment on Monday morning, and then I plan to work half a day. Leon and I will head to Coshocton Monday afternoon for her calling hours and stay the night so we can be there for her funeral on Tuesday. I didn’t go into work today. My family was all aware that this day would probably come very soon. Grandma’s health has gone downhill quickly after her heart attack on January 2. But of course you can never completely prepare yourself for someone’s death. We’re all very sad, and she will be missed very, very much. POSTED BY AMY AT 2:39 PM 10 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 MONDAY, JANUARY 28, 2008 Laura Anne Silverthorn My grandma’s obituary appears on the funeral home’s website and also on the local newspaper’s website. This is what the obituary says: Laura Anne Silverthorn Laura Anne Silverthorn, 86, of Coshocton passed away at Coshocton County Memorial Hospital on Friday, January 25, 2008. Laura was born to the late Arthur D. and Flora L. (Bible) Howe in Coshocton on June 30, 1921. She was retired from Pretty Products in 1986 and was a lifelong member of Central Christian Church. Survived by her two daughters Cathy (Joe) Kirker of Coshocton, Ohio and Ellen (Jeff) Howe of Fairfield, Ohio; grandchildren Amy (Leon) Lively, Julie (Jamie) Bryan, Kacey (Nicholas) Jansing, Jenna (Jason) Schaller, J.T. Howe and Whitney Howe; great grandchildren Cameron and Tylar Jansing; four step great grandchildren; three sisters Arline Scott of Coshocton, Thelma (Walter) Knapp of Stow, Ohio and Marjorie Clark of Coshocton; several nieces and nephews. Along with her parents, she is preceded in death by her husband Charles E. Silverthorn, to whom she married June 5, 1943 and passed away September 29, 1963; two brothers George and Donald. Friends may call at Given-Dawson Funeral Home, Monday, January 28, 2008 from 5-7 PM where funeral services will be held Tuesday at 10 AM with Rev. Philip Hunt officiating. Interment will follow in South Lawn Cemetery. Memorial contributions may be directed to the Central Christian Church, envelopes will be available at the funeral home. Here is a picture of my grandma that was taken a few years ago. POSTED BY AMY AT 8:32 AM 11 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 30, 2008 2008 Grandma's service It’s so difficult to say goodbye to a loved one, but my grandma’s funeral yesterday morning was such a wonderful celebration of her life. The minister did a nice job during her service, offering words of comfort and telling stories about her life. She looked so beautiful and so peaceful. Before the funeral began, my aunt wanted the song "I Can Only Imagine" (sung by Mercy Me) sang. It made me cry so hard, but that song has such a powerful message. At the graveside service, the funeral director released a dove which was so touching. My grandma is buried beside my grandfather, who died in 1963. It’s so hard to leave your loved one behind in the cemetery, but I know it’s only her body – her spirit has moved on to a much better place. Her calling hours on Monday evening were nice as well. It’s unfortunate that the only time I get to see certain family members is when someone dies. But I did get to see a lot of family that I haven’t seen in years. After the calling hours, people came back to my parents’ house for dinner. My mom’s work sent her all kinds of food so we had plenty to eat. After her funeral yesterday, we went to her church for a lunch prepared by some of the women in the church. My mom is holding up as well as she can. I know she’s trying to be strong, but this is obviously a very difficult time for her. She saw and spoke to my grandma almost every day. I keep thinking back to memories I have of my grandma when I was a child. My sister and I stayed with her during the summers while our parents were at work. We were always so close to her and I know I’m blessed that I had her in my life for the past 30 years. I also know that she will live on through Elena since there will obviously be part of my grandma in her. Leon and I came back home last night. We had to go on a tour of the hospital we’ll be delivering at. It just opened on January 8 and it’s so nice! I’m thrilled to be delivering in such a modern hospital. I had an appointment with my OB on Monday morning. She said that I’m still dilated only 1 cm, but that the baby’s head is "right there" and I could technically deliver at any time now. That’s very exciting news! I’m very anxious to get this show on the road, as I like to say! POSTED BY AMY AT 10:36 AM MONDAY, FEBRUARY 04, 2008 Yay for dilation! I’m feeling so excited right now – at my appointment this morning, my OB told me that I’m now dilated to 3 cm! This is a nice change, considering I’ve been at 1 cm for the past three weeks! Everything else looked good. My cervix is very thinned out and the doctor could feel the baby's head. 12 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 I have another appointment scheduled for next Monday. My doctor said she wouldn't be surprised if I held out until next week, but she also wouldn't be surprised if I went into labor this week. She said she wouldn't let me go past 41 weeks and will induce if I don't have the baby by next week. She estimated the baby weighs between 7-1/2 to 8 pounds. My doctor actually doesn’t seem to mind inductions. She asked me if I wanted to be induced now! I said that I would prefer to go into labor on my own and only be induced if medically necessary. I’ve heard that contractions hurt worse when you’re induced since they come on harder and faster than if you had the gradual build-up of natural labor. I told my doctor I haven’t noticed any contractions – not the kind where your stomach tightens up. I feel cramps on a pretty regular basis and I feel a lot of pelvic pressure since the baby is pushing downward. I’m just thrilled to have reached 3 cm of dilation without even feeling it yet! We accomplished a lot on the baby’s room over the weekend. Leon still needs to put together her bookcase, but everything else is pretty much finished. I washed all of her laundry and put everything away. We went shopping on Saturday and bought most of the things we still needed. I need to try and clean the house tonight. I haven’t really cleaned it since before my shower. I get sore so easily now so I don’t feel like I can do much physical labor. We’ll see how much I can accomplish tonight. POSTED BY AMY AT 12:25 PM TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 05, 2008 Still here, waiting... I woke up during the night with some cramps and got excited, but they didn’t last long. I’ve definitely noticed that I have stronger cramps lately, but so far they don’t happen in regular intervals. Some of them are strong enough to take my breath away though! I cleaned the downstairs last night, but it was almost 10:00 p.m. by the time I was finished so I didn’t have time to start the upstairs. That’s my goal tonight. I get so sore when I do any type of physical labor though – my legs, back and hips get so stiff that I can barely walk! But I still feel the need to clean. Leon offers to help, but he never cleans up to my standards! Leon put together the bookcase in the baby’s room last night and hung the new window blinds we bought. I still need to hang some pictures on her walls. I’ll have to buy her some curtains at a later time. I bought some a while back, but now I decided that I don’t like them. They don’t really match the color of her walls and they’re too heavy. I need to take some pictures of her nursery and post them. The room turned out pretty cute, even though it was very stressful (on me!) to get it finished. I talked to my mom yesterday. She’s hanging in there. She’s back at work and she’s trying to keep busy. I think this helps her keep her mind off things. She and my aunt need to sort through all the things in 13 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 Grandma’s house eventually, but since Grandma owned her house there’s no big hurry to get everything moved out of there. I told Mom I’d help her after the baby is here. I know it’s going to be difficult to sort through all of Grandma’s belongings because there are memories attached to everything. We have my favorite wedding picture hanging on our family room wall. It’s a photo of Leon and me coming down the stairs of the church after we got married and everyone is blowing bubbles. My grandma and Darlene are in the picture. It makes me sad to look at it and know that two people I love very much are now gone. So much has changed in the 5-1/2 years since we got married. My sister made a comment about how much has changed in the past year alone – Darlene passed away, Julie got married, I got pregnant, my grandma passed away, and now I’m getting ready to have a baby. POSTED BY AMY AT 10:57 AM THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 07, 2008 No, I haven’t had the baby yet When you’re close to your due date, everyone is so anxious to find out if the baby is here yet. I know I’m not due until Tuesday, but any pregnant woman knows how impatient you get toward the end! Nothing new to report. I haven’t noticed any contractions and I don’t feel like I’m about to go into labor. I am really uncomfortable though. My huge belly makes sleeping almost impossible. I think I slept a total of two hours last night. I eventually got up and watched TV downstairs because it was driving me crazy to just lie in bed awake. Goldie whined a lot last night too so she kept me up. She must have had an upset belly because she threw up in the (recently cleaned) upstairs hallway. I haven’t had an overwhelming urge to "nest" recently. I managed to clean the downstairs earlier this week, but I never did get the upstairs cleaned yet. I’ve been so tired that it’s hard to accomplish much when I get home from work at night. So my lack of nesting means that it’s not quite time yet I guess. I’m just paranoid about being induced. I haven’t heard very many positive things about induction and the thought of having to be induced scares me. My doctor talked like she will want to schedule an induction date for the week of February 17 if I haven’t gone into labor yet by my appointment on Monday. Of course, I could still go into labor any day next week. I understand that they don’t want you to go past 42 weeks because that can pose a risk for the baby, but I won’t be in my 42nd week until February 25. Oh well. There’s no predicting when Elena will be here! All I can do is wait and see. POSTED BY AMY AT 1:30 PM 14 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 08, 2008 The real deal? I can’t be 100% certain of course, but I think I might be in the early stages of labor! I’ve been having what feel like menstrual cramps since about 3:30 a.m. this morning. The pain resonates into my hips. I tried to go back to sleep, but it seemed like every time I laid down the cramps would start again. I haven’t been officially timing them, but I’d say I’m having them every 10-15 minutes. They only last about 10-15 seconds each though. I went ahead and came into work. I don’t know if I’ll be able to stay all day though. It’s very hard for me to concentrate. And every time I have the cramps (which I guess are actually contractions!), I have to get up and walk around. They’re even more uncomfortable if I try to remain seated when I have them. The cramps are uncomfortable, even this early in the game. Which most likely means I will be asking for that epidural! I know it could be hours or even a day or more before the baby is here. I’m sure I have a long road ahead of me. But it certainly seems like something is starting to happen! **TMI ahead – you’ve been warned** And this is gross I know, but I think I’ve been losing my mucous plug since Wednesday. I noticed more this morning, so I guess labor can’t be too far off now. This is exciting! We’ll see what the day brings... POSTED BY AMY AT 9:48 AM SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2008 Elena's Birth Story I wanted to write Elena’s birth story while it’s still fresh in my mind (and while Elena is sleeping!). This is a very long story! I wanted to write down as many details as I could so I can always remember that day. But first I’ll give you the short version in case you don’t want to read my novel. Elena Marie was born on Saturday, February 9, 2008 at 12:33 a.m. She weighed 6 pounds, 11 ounces and was 21 inches long. She has brown hair and I think she looks a lot like her dad! I started having contractions around 3:30 a.m. on Friday morning and didn’t deliver her until after midnight. I only pushed for about one hour before she was born. I ended up having an epidural, which I was glad I did! Overall, I felt the labor and delivery went very smoothly. We stayed in the hospital until Sunday afternoon. Elena and I are both doing well, and I am feeling very blessed! Now onto the long version of the story...I woke up around 3:30 a.m. on Friday morning with what felt like menstrual cramps. They were different than other cramps I’ve experienced because the pain also 15 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 resonated into my hips, lower back and down my legs. I got up and watched TV. I tried to go back to sleep, but every time I Iaid down the cramps started back up. It was very difficult for me to sit or lie down when I was having contractions – I had to get up and walk around. I went into work at 8:00 a.m. as usual. I kept thinking I was having false labor, but the contractions continued. They were irregular for most of the morning and early afternoon, coming anywhere from every 10-20 minutes. Most of them seemed to last about 10-15 seconds each. By 3:00 p.m., I could no longer concentrate on work! I’m surprised I lasted that long! I went home. Leon had taken the day off just in case because I’d told him that morning I thought I was having contractions. By the time I got home, the contractions were much stronger. I started to time them more regularly. My doctor told me that I shouldn’t go to the hospital until I was having contractions every 5 minutes for the past hour or two. I didn’t want to go to the hospital too early and be sent home. I wanted to stay at home as long as I could. I tried to watch TV, I ate a Hot Pocket because I was hungry and hadn’t eaten much that day, and I sat on my exercise (birthing) ball because they told us in our childbirth class that this ball is supposed to help when you’re having contractions (I’m not sure it helped me all that much). By 5:00 p.m., I couldn’t take it much longer. My contractions were coming every 5-9 minutes and some of them were lasting about 60 seconds. At that time, I knew I wanted to get some pain relief! I packed the rest of my things and we left for the hospital around 5:30 p.m. Even though it probably took us 15 minutes to get to the hospital, it was a difficult car ride for me! There was a lot of traffic since it was Friday night. I had some really strong contractions in the car and it hurt to sit through them. We got to the hospital and were in the maternity ward by 6:00 p.m. A nurse checked my cervix and found that I was dilated 6 cm. They moved me to the delivery room after that. It was probably another hour before I could finally get an epidural. I had to breathe through the contractions, but it was difficult to get through them because I was lying in bed hooked up to monitors by that point. They were coming every 2-3 minutes by then and were lasting at least 60 seconds each. I didn’t think the epidural procedure was bad at all – not compared to the contractions I was having anyway! It was hard to sit still while they put the needle in place though because I kept having contractions. I felt almost immediate relief once the epidural was in place. My lower body felt warm and I could finally relax. I could still move my legs, although they wouldn’t let me get up and walk around or anything like that. My parents arrived at the hospital around 9:00 p.m. and Leon’s mom, John and Karen got there shortly after. Everyone was able to sit with me in the delivery room for a couple hours. I was feeling pretty sleepy and I couldn’t stop shaking. They said the shakiness was a side effect of the epidural, and it also made me feel itchy. But at least I wasn’t feeling any pain. It was amazing because I could feel my stomach tightening really hard and I knew I was having a contraction, but thankfully I couldn’t feel it. They were measuring the strength of my contractions on a monitor, along with the baby’s heartbeat, my heartbeat and my blood pressure. I was amazed at how strong my contractions were measuring – they were well over 100. My blood pressure was high at first, but after I got an epidural it came down. All the family except Leon left the room around 11:00 p.m. By then I was finally dilated to 10 and feeling a very strong urge to push. They tried to tell me not to push at first, but it got harder and harder not to! They finally allowed me to push when I had a contraction. They don’t call it labor for nothing! I had no idea how much work it is to push a baby into this world! I was so exhausted by that point that I almost fell 16 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 asleep between pushes. But the doctor, the two nurses and Leon were all very encouraging, telling me I was doing great and they eventually told me they could see the baby’s head and she had dark hair. After about an hour of pushing, Elena was born at 12:33 a.m! Even though I had an epidural, I was also surprised to find out how much it burns when you push that baby out! They suctioned her mouth and nose and she started to scream. They showed her to me and then they took her to a warming table to get her cleaned up while the doctor stitched me up. **TMI warning** I didn’t have to have an episiotomy, but I did tear some so I’m feeling pretty sore now. They gave Elena back to me and tried to get her to breastfeed. Finally, they allowed our family to come back in the room and see her. We were moved to the recovery room sometime between 2:00-3:00 a.m. I lost track of time by then. I know they gave Elena a sponge bath once we were in the recovery room. Leon hadn’t eaten dinner and was starving, so he ran out to McDonald’s. He brought me back some French fries. I didn’t get to sleep until around 5:00 a.m. so I’d been up for over 24 hours by then. I only slept for about two hours because I was awake by 7:00 a.m., trying to breastfeed Elena again. Unfortunately, the breastfeeding isn’t working out as well as I’d hoped. So far, I haven’t been producing much of anything to feed Elena. I’ve been giving her Similac in bottles to supplement her diet. I continue to try and breastfeed her too, but no luck yet. We’ll see if my milk comes in soon. They discharged us from the hospital on Sunday afternoon. It was absolutely freezing outside when we went home! The wind chill was below zero. We had to bundle Elena heavily. Elena is keeping me up all night right now. I’m definitely getting a first-hand crash course in newborn care! I haven’t been able to get much sleep, that’s for sure! Leon is off work this week, and it’s great to have him home with me although he is just as sleep-deprived as I am. My parents plan to stay with us next week and I know I’ll appreciate their help. It’s so hard for me to believe that I’m really a mommy! I look at my beautiful girl and can hardly believe she’s really mine. John took this picture of Elena. I'll upload more as soon as I can. Her hospital pictures turned out really cute too and once I get those, I'll post them on here. POSTED BY AMY AT 6:22 PM 17 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2008 Our first week This week has obviously been very crazy. The days and nights seem to run together. People told me that you never know the definition of "sleep deprivation" until you have a newborn and I think that's true! My parents and sister are coming over tonight to spend the week with us. Leon was off work this past week, so it was nice having him home with us too. Elena is doing well, although she has no real sleep schedule yet and probably won't for some time. She slept for about 4 hours in a row last night, and I was very grateful for the rest! The best advice I've received is to sleep when the baby sleeps. The pictures that we had taken at the hospital are available on a webpage now: Elena's Page. I doubt I'll be able to post much for the next few days/weeks. It's hard to get much free time when you have a little one! POSTED BY AMY AT 11:18 AM TUESDAY, MARCH 04, 2008 Busy days I apologize for my lack of updates lately, but Elena keeps me so busy! She’s sleeping right now so I thought I’d get online for a little while. It’s hard to believe she’ll be a month old this Sunday! She’s been sleeping pretty well at night. Sometimes she sleeps for 4-5 hours in a row at night. I know that’s really good for a newborn. Breastfeeding didn’t work out for us, so I’m bottle feeding her. I usually feed her every 3-4 hours, but I’ll let her go a little longer during the night if she doesn’t wake up on her own. Her doctor suggested that I switch her to a soy-based formula because she wasn’t having regular bowel movements on the milk-based formula. (I never realized how much I’d worry about poop! Motherhood brings a whole new set of things to worry about!) Most days I don’t even find time for myself to take a shower until 3:00 or 4:00 in the afternoon. And it’s inevitable that every time I try to eat a meal, she’ll start crying! I guess that’s a good way to lose the extra baby weight. Elena’s been to the doctor twice now, and she has her one-month check-up next Wednesday. The doctor told me not to take her out of the house much right now so that she doesn’t get exposed to the flu (I guess this has been a really bad season for the flu). It’s also been so cold and I don’t want her out in that kind of weather. Aside from the doctor visits, the only other place I took her is to my work last week so my co-workers could meet her. 18 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 We had such a nice visit with my parents and my sister when they stayed with us a couple weeks ago. I really enjoyed having them here. They held the baby all the time and they took care of her so I could get some sleep. My mom also cooked for us, which was great! I can tell that Elena is really going to get spoiled since she’s the first grandchild. My time off with Elena is going too fast though. I only have three more weeks off – I have to go back to work on March 24. Elena is so adorable, if I do say so myself! ;) She makes the cutest little faces. She loves to play "Rocket Baby" with Daddy – Leon lifts her up and acts like she’s blasting off into space and she always gets the cutest look on her face when he does this. She seems to really enjoy it. She also loves her swing. If she’s crying, I can put her in her swing and she’ll stop. She loves her pacifier. When she cries, she sometimes makes these "e-e-e" sounds which are pretty funny! And she definitely has a set of lungs on her – she can scream loud when she’s upset! Here’s a picture of her in her swing... She’s awake now so I have to go! POSTED BY AMY AT 5:34 PM SATURDAY, MARCH 08, 2008 Some Pictures Elena will be one month old tomorrow. It doesn't seem possible! Here are some pictures I wanted to share. 19 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog Elena in her new outfit 2008 Daddy and Elena Mommy and Elena Big brother Andrew and Elena 20 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog Big sister Beth and Elena 2008 I thought this picture was funny – Leon took it a couple hours before we headed to the hospital. I was having contractions and walking around the house every time I had one. I can’t believe how big my belly was! Leon took this one when we first got to the exam room in the hospital, before they transferred me to the delivery room. This was before I got my epidural and I was pacing around the room every time I had a contraction. POSTED BY AMY AT 4:55 PM 21 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 MONDAY, MARCH 10, 2008 More Pictures... I wanted to do a baby photo shoot today, but my digital camera batteries died after only a few shots! It's so much fun to dress Elena up though! Go Bucks! "Mom dressed me up like a bunny..." "Mommy likes to pose me and take pictures!" POSTED BY AMY AT 2:48 PM 22 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2008 My baby is now 8 pounds Elena had her one-month check-up yesterday. She now weighs 8 pounds! My baby is already growing up so fast! I can’t believe she is almost 5 weeks old now. She had to get her second Hepatitis B shot. I felt so sad for her because she cried so hard when she got the shot. At her two-month appointment in April, she has to have four shots since they’ll be starting her immunizations at that time. The doctor said that she might be fussy after having the shot yesterday so he recommended we give her some Infant Motrin. I didn’t think she was going to need it, but last night around 8:00 she started getting really fussy and wouldn’t stop crying. So we finally gave her some Motrin and she calmed down and finally went to sleep. I talked to the doctor about her birthmark. She has a reddish/purplish circle which is about the size of a quarter on the palm of her right hand. I noticed it when she was born, but it’s become much more noticeable over the past few weeks. The doctor said that this is because the blood has finally come into it. I think he called it a vascular birthmark. He thinks it will fade over time, but if not we can have laser therapy to remove it someday. I just feel bad because I know she will be self-conscious about it when she gets older. I’m thankful it’s on the palm of her hand though and not somewhere on her body which is more obvious. I’ve heard the term "mother’s guilt" and I’ve already experienced this more than once! I feel as if I did something wrong to give my baby a birthmark. I’ve felt very guilty that breastfeeding didn’t work out for us – especially when her formula was causing her to have irregular bowel movements. I also felt sad when I found out she only weighed 6 pounds, 11 ounces at birth – not that this is a bad size, but I thought 'Oh, I must have done something wrong to make her small.' I try hard to be a good mommy and I only want the best for my baby! POSTED BY AMY AT 7:54 PM MONDAY, MARCH 24, 2008 Back to work Today is my first day back at work. It was so hard for me to come back! I feel completely out of the loop, but everyone has been really nice to me as I get reacquainted with everything going on here. Since my new work hours are 7:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m., I had to get up at 5:00 and leave the house by 6:30. It was still dark out when I left so that was strange, but there was hardly any traffic which was 23 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 great! It only took me 15 minutes to get to work. Elena was still sleeping when I left – she looked so cute! She’s been sleeping really well at night. I usually give her a bottle anywhere from 10:00 – 11:00 at night and then put her down and she’ll sleep until about 7:00. Sometimes it takes her an hour to drink her bottle though. I wasn’t able to get her to sleep until around midnight last night, so it was hard for me to get up at 5:00! Leon dropped Elena off at day care around 10:30 this morning. I’m glad he dropped her off instead of me because I think I would have cried! It’s very hard for me to be away from her all day. She’s pretty much all I can think about! I keep wondering what she’s doing, if she’s crying, if she’s sleeping, if she’s eating. I’m going to make myself cry thinking about these things! I feel like I’m going to miss out on things and it makes me very sad. I wish I could stay home with her, but unfortunately we just can’t afford for me to do this. Maybe someday... I think Elena may have colic. She’s been a pretty fussy baby since she was born, but I thought maybe that’s how all newborns are. But it seems like it’s gotten worse in the past couple weeks. Some days she cries all day, and it’s almost impossible to calm her down or find a way to comfort her. I switched her back to the milk-based formula a couple days ago and that seems to have helped somewhat. I think the soy formula may have been upsetting her stomach. Even though she has irregular bowel movements on the milk-based formula, she didn’t used to cry as much when she was on that. I’ve also been giving her Mylicon Drops to see if that helps. I know if she has colic, there’s not a whole lot you can do to help – you pretty much have to wait for it to pass! Apparently most infants with colic start to calm down around 3 months of age. She has another doctor appointment on April 11. My parents, sister, her husband, my great-aunt, Leon’s mom and John’s wife all came to our house for Easter yesterday. Andrew and Beth are also staying with us this week since they’re on spring break. My mom and I made the food, and we all had a nice time. Everyone loved holding the baby. My parents bought a rocking chair for us and brought it over yesterday. Elena is going to love being rocked! One year ago yesterday Darlene died. It’s strange that the date fell on Easter this year. It’s really hard to believe that it’s been a whole year. And tomorrow it will have been two months since my grandma died. I think about Darlene and my grandma all the time – I wish they were here to see Elena. POSTED BY AMY AT 12:17 PM WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26, 2008 Elena's first day of school Elena is doing well in day care. The past two days, her caregivers told me that she’s been in a pretty good mood and hasn’t cried much during the day. I’m thankful for that because she tends to get very fussy at night and will sometimes cry for a long period of time. So I’d hate to think that she was crying inconsolably all day at day care too. On her first day of "school" (as we call it) she did some painting! It’s so funny to think of a 6-week-old doing this! But the caregivers put her hand in yellow paint and put her handprint on paper and then put a 24 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 green stem and leaves below it, making it into a flower. It was the cutest painting I’ve ever seen! They also read books to her every day. When I pick Elena up each afternoon, the caregivers give me a sheet telling me about everything that Elena did that day including the times of her diaper changes, feedings and naps. So far, we are really pleased with her day care. Elena had a good night last night. She didn’t cry as much as the night before. I gave her a bottle and then laid her down to sleep around midnight. Even though I try to wake up around 5:00 or 5:30, that still gives me about 5 hours of sleep – which really isn’t that much when you think about it, but it’s 5 uninterrupted hours which is nice! Because when Elena was first born, it seemed like I was waking up every hour or two to tend to her because she would cry. So she’s doing very well sleeping for longer periods of time. Although I have to admit, I still wake up almost every hour just to check on her! She sleeps in a bassinet next to my side of the bed, so all I have to do is lean over to look at her. But I’m always touching her or putting my ear next to her face, etc. to make sure she’s breathing. I’m very paranoid about SIDS. I may have written about this before, but Leon had a baby brother die of SIDS back in 1970. And Leon has sleep apnea, which is also a condition where he doesn’t breathe normally when he sleeps, so I’m just afraid these things may run in the family. I’ve been talking to some of my friends and family members who have children and discovered something kind of funny – most of us can’t remember how painful childbirth was. I actually remember feeling this way the day after I had Elena. I know the contractions hurt and I remember thinking I didn’t know if I could do this and I was so grateful to get an epidural – but at the same time, I can’t remember just how painful the contractions were if that makes any sense! Maybe it’s a defense mechanism and a reason that women can go on to have more than one child. But it just seems so funny that my mind would so quickly forget how much the contractions hurt. I’m sure not all women feel this way – but I’ve talked to many women who told me that you quickly forget how painful childbirth is. And of course, every ounce of pain is worth it once you hold your child in your arms. POSTED BY AMY AT 9:49 AM FRIDAY, MARCH 28, 2008 Survived my first week back at work I have the picture of Elena in her Ohio State cheerleading outfit on my computer desktop at work, so I get to look at her picture all day. I know everyone thinks their own children are beautiful – so of course, I think Elena is absolutely adorable! I survived my first week back at work. It really hasn’t been too bad. I like my new hours – I don’t have to battle traffic in the morning and it’s great to be able to leave early. By leaving at 3:30, I usually get to Elena’s day care around 4:00. She’s done pretty well this week. One of the caregivers said that she was crying for a while yesterday afternoon, but she calmed down after they gave her a bottle. She was asleep when I picked her up 25 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 yesterday, and she didn’t wake up until about 7:00 p.m. I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to get her to sleep last night, but she did well. I put her down around 11:00. I heard her stirring around 1:30, but she fell back asleep. She woke up and was crying around 5:30, so I changed her and gave her a quick bottle before getting ready for work. Hopefully she went back to sleep for Leon this morning after I left. I’m not breastfeeding at all anymore since I went back to work, so I’ve been drinking caffeine again. I’ve already had 3 cups of coffee this morning! I need caffeine in my system since I get up so early though. I also had a rum and Diet Coke a couple nights ago. I hadn’t had any alcohol for almost a year probably! We were doing fertility treatment last year at this time, so I wasn’t allowed to drink back then either. Andrew and Beth are on spring break this week, so they’ve been staying with us. I feel bad that I had to go back to work the week they stayed with us. They’ve just been hanging around the house, watching TV and playing video games. Unfortunately, we haven’t done anything exciting with them. POSTED BY AMY AT 10:37 AM THURSDAY, APRIL 03, 2008 Not getting much sleep Leon and I have been feeling sick the past few days – sore throats, headaches, congestion. I noticed Elena has had a slightly runny nose the past couple days too. She doesn’t have a fever and hasn’t been crying more than usual, so hopefully she isn’t going to get a full-blown cold or flu. Since she’s around so many kids in day care, I think she’ll probably be bringing home a lot of germs unfortunately. I’m wondering if she infected us instead of the other way around! Elena is still doing well in day care. She’s usually taking a nap when I pick her up every afternoon. She does cute little activities every day, like "playing" with color ribbons and toy cars. Most likely the caregivers put these items in her hands and let her feel them because she’s still too young to hold onto items and actually play with them like an older baby would. They also read to her and sing her songs. Here is a copy of the "painting" that she made on her first day of school! Her handprint is the yellow flower and her arm is the stem. 26 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 She hasn’t been crying as much in the evenings lately. She still has her fussy times, but she hasn’t had any of those inconsolable crying spells that she was having a couple weeks ago. If she does have colic, maybe she’s past the worst of it. It’s amazing how much she’s already seemed to change since she was born. She’s much more alert now than when she was first born. She even looks like she smiles on occasion, which is so wonderful to see! And she makes little noises. She seems to like making vowel sounds like "e" and "o." It’s adorable. Some nights she sleeps better than others. A couple nights ago, she woke up at 3:00 a.m. and again at 6:00 a.m. Those middle-of-the-night wakings are tough. The later we give her the last bottle of the night, the later she tends to sleep. Of course, it’s hard for me to feed her at midnight and then wake up at 5:00. So I’ve been trying to feed her earlier, around 10:00 or 11:00, but then she doesn’t always sleep through the night when I do this. I’ve been sleeping worse than ever since I went back to work for some reason. Ever since Elena was born, I’ve woken up several times a night to check on her and make sure she’s breathing. But the past week or so, I wake up almost every hour and sit up in bed and ask Leon "Where’s the baby?" You know when you wake up from a dream and you’re disoriented? That’s what it’s like. Even though we always put the baby to sleep in her bassinet before we go to sleep, I wake up thinking that she’s in bed with us – and that we rolled on her or dropped her – and I’m in a panic. I hate that I keep doing that! It takes me a few seconds to realize that she’s sleeping in her bassinet and all is well. It’s really disruptive to keep waking up like this. Maybe it’s the stress from work and knowing I have to wake up at 5:00 a.m. that’s causing this – but I wish it would stop! POSTED BY AMY AT 1:36 PM MONDAY, APRIL 07, 2008 Those first smiles In the past week, Elena has really started to smile at people. To see a baby smile is such a beautiful thing! She also tries to imitate the faces we make. Leon and I will stick our tongue out at her, and she’ll stick her tongue back out at us. It’s so funny! I’ve also noticed that she really seems to know who her mommy is! If other people are holding her, she turns her head to find me and will watch me. When I picked her up from day care on Friday, one of her caregivers was changing her diaper and she turned her head so she could look back at me. Yesterday, Elena and I went to Coshocton to visit my family. It was my parents’ 39th anniversary. My mom made lunch, and Julie, Jamie and my great aunt Arline came over. Leon stayed home with Andrew and Beth because they had church activities. It was nice visiting my family. This was Elena’s first trip to Coshocton. She slept the entire time she was in the car, both ways! I didn’t hear a peep out of her. She has her two-month doctor appointment on Friday. She has to get 4 shots that day so I imagine she will be really out of sorts afterward. Her nose has been running, so I’ll have the doctor check that out 27 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 (Leon and I are still sick too – my cold seems to have gotten worse). I also think she might have thrush – she has white patches on her lips, tongue and inside her mouth. From what I’ve read, thrush isn’t really serious and can often clear up on its own. She loves her "binky" and she has several different ones, but I wonder if this has caused the thrush. I need to do a better job of cleaning her binkies since she constantly has one in her mouth. She took a bottle around 8:00 p.m. last night and fell asleep. I let her sleep and didn’t wake her up for an 11:00 bottle like I usually do. But then she woke up at 3:00 a.m. crying! So even though it’s nice to have her fall asleep earlier, I guess I still need to feed her later so she’ll sleep longer. I’m really tired now from having to wake up at 3:00 to feed her! On the plus side, I've been sleeping a little better the past few days. I haven’t been waking up in a panic like I was before. I'm sure I’ll calm down and feel less anxious the older Elena gets. Everything is new for me right now, and there are still so many days where I wish Elena came with an instruction manual! POSTED BY AMY AT 11:01 AM FRIDAY, APRIL 11, 2008 Two-month check-up today I have to leave work early today because Elena has her two-month check-up at the doctor’s this afternoon. She has to get four shots today since they’ll be starting her immunizations. I’m sure she’ll be very fussy tonight as a result. The doctor recommended that I give her Infant Motrin before and after her appointment to help her. I’m anxious to see what she weighs now! My tiny little baby who was only 6.11 at birth is really filling out. She has chubby cheeks and a chubby milk belly. Sometimes I worry that I’m feeding her too much – I’ll see what the doctor says. She usually drinks 4 ounces every 3 hours, although she’ll go anywhere from 57 hours during the night while she sleeps without eating. She seems so hungry though. She often gulps down her bottle in 10 minutes! That’s a big change from when she was first born and it would take her over an hour to drink her bottle. I’ve been reading Elena books at night. My friend Sarah and her family bought Elena a book called "Love You Forever" and I read it to her for the first time last night. I was so touched by this book! I ended up reading it to her twice because I thought it was so beautiful. I actually cried as I read the book – that’s how much it touched my heart! The mother in the book sings "I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living, my baby you'll be." The end of the book made me think of my grandma – the mother becomes too old and sick to sing the song, so her son sings it to her instead. Thank you Sarah for buying Elena such a beautiful book! After reading Elena the book, she fell asleep so I decided to try and trim her fingernails and toenails. I’ve only attempted this once since she was born, and I only did one hand and gave up! But her nails are getting longer and she’s been scratching her face lately. I managed to trim her two big toenails, and I was on the second fingernail of her right hand when I cut her! I trimmed a piece of skin off the top of her 28 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 finger. Of course she woke up and cried and her finger bled. I felt like the world’s worst mom! She didn’t cry for long so she couldn’t have been in too much pain I suppose. I don’t know how people manage to trim such tiny nails! I didn’t attempt to trim her nails anymore after that incident. Leon and I gave Elena her first bath in her baby bathtub last night. Up until this point, I’ve still been giving her sponge baths. She hates bath time and usually screams the entire time I’m washing her. But she actually enjoyed her time in the baby bathtub last night! She kicked her legs and she was even smiling. It was so cute! Leon took some pictures, and I’ll have to post them here when he sends them to me. Here is a picture Leon took with his cell phone earlier in the week – he managed to catch Elena smiling. POSTED BY AMY AT 8:31 AM FRIDAY, APRIL 11, 2008 Bath time! Splish splash, Elena was taking a bath... 29 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 POSTED BY AMY AT 12:18 PM MONDAY, APRIL 14, 2008 My growing girl Elena weighs 9 pounds, 9 ounces now and is 22-1/4 inches long! My baby is getting so big. 30 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 Three nurses were in the room when she got her vaccinations. One nurse held her legs and they had me hold her arms. The other two nurses gave her two shots at a time, one in each thigh. She had to have a total of four shots and she also had to drink one of the vaccinations (they used a dropper to put it in her mouth). She turned red and screamed when they gave her the shots – it made my mommy heart break! Elena was pretty fussy the whole weekend. She had a fever of 101 Friday night and Saturday morning. The nurse told me to call if her fever was over 100, so I called first thing Saturday morning. The nurse talked to the doctor, and he said it’s common for babies to get fevers after having their vaccinations. He just told me to keep an eye on her and make sure her fever didn’t go any higher. He also recommended that I give her Infant Motrin every 6 hours. By Sunday, her fever had gone down and she seemed to be feeling better. My parents brought lunch over to our house yesterday and spent the day at our house. Ever since Elena was born, we make an effort to get together almost every weekend. It’s so important to me that Elena has a close relationship with her grandparents. My grandfathers both died before I was born, so I never knew what it was like to have a grandpa. I was always very close with my one grandma (my mom’s mom – my dad’s mom died when I was only 4), and I’m so happy to have spent so much time with her growing up. I want Elena to have great memories with her grandparents too. Elena has also spent a lot of time with her Aunt Julie. My sister has been wonderful with Elena. She takes such good care of her. I wish Leon’s family got to spend more time with the baby. Unfortunately, we don’t get to see them as often as we see my family. I’m hoping we can get up to Medina one weekend soon because Leon’s two sisters still haven’t seen the baby yet. I’ll get to see my mom and sister again this Saturday because I’m having a candle party at my house. I really didn’t want to host this party, but the consultant kept calling me and insisting that I said I’d have a party (apparently I told her this when I attended a candle party hosted by one of my co-workers last summer, even though I have no memory of ever saying I’d have a party). At any rate, I got tired of this consultant calling me so I gave in and said I’d have a party. I have a terrible time saying no to people. I get suckered into things like this all the time, much to Leon’s dismay. POSTED BY AMY AT 9:16 AM 31 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 2008 $$$$ Grandparents love to spoil their grandchildren and Elena's are no different! Grandpa slipped this $20 in her hand while she was sleeping on Sunday and Leon managed to take a picture of it. I'm sure she'll blow it on diapers and formula. POSTED BY AMY AT 7:19 AM TUESDAY, APRIL 22, 2008 Diaper genies are dangerous Before Elena was born, I got my hand stuck in the top of her Diaper Genie as I was setting it up. I was trying to put the bags in there and I pressed down too far and couldn’t get my hand out. I was getting ready to yell for Leon so he could help me get un-stuck, but I finally managed to pull my hand free. I continue to injure myself on the Diaper Genie. It seems like every time I put a diaper in there, I push down too far and end up scraping my hand. I actually cut myself on it and bled the other day! Leon said he has the same problem. So even though the Diaper Genie is a rather dangerous contraption, we still love it. It’s amazing that it traps the odor so well. We never smell Elena’s diapers. It compresses the diapers in a way that you can fit a lot of them in there! I probably only empty it once a week, although by that time the bag of diapers is pretty heavy. The only downside is that the bag refills are expensive – almost $6 a container. My candle party on Saturday was lame. My mom and sister were the only ones who were able to attend. 32 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 I’m glad to have it over with. I need to remember to say NO the next time someone asks me to host a party like this. After the party on Saturday, my parents, sister, Leon, Andrew, Beth, Elena and I all went to Johnny Rocket’s at Lennox to eat dinner. I hadn’t been there in several years. My sister had been wanting to go. We all enjoyed ourselves and Elena was very good during dinner. This weekend, Leon’s mom and John and Karen are staying with us. Andrew’s 14th birthday is on Saturday and his confirmation at church is on Sunday. Afterward, his mom invited everyone to Hoggy’s for lunch in celebration of his birthday and confirmation. I just hope Elena is good during the church service! That part makes me a little nervous. I still haven’t been brave enough to take Elena into a store with me yet. I always leave her with Leon if I need to go shopping. She’s been out to two restaurants so far and she was good both times. But I have a fear she’ll become very fussy and inconsolable while we’re out in public. She definitely still has her fussy moments, although if she did have colic she seems to be doing much better overall. I can’t really complain about her sleeping because she’ll sleep for 5-6 hours during the night, which I know is good for a baby her age. Last night I put her to bed around 9:00 p.m. and she slept until 3:30 a.m. No matter what time I put her to bed, she always wakes up sometime between 3:00 – 5:00 a.m. I change her and feed her at that time, and she’ll usually fall back asleep afterward although she’s always up for good by 7:00 a.m. She’s ready to start her day at that hour! Leon has been really good about waking up with her, despite his sleeping problems, since I’m already at work by that time. Elena takes 2-3 naps a day while at daycare, sometimes sleeping for 2 hours at a time. On the weekends, she won’t take long naps for me though. She takes little 15-20 minute catnaps throughout the day. She must not want to miss out on time with her mom and dad on the weekends! I’m just thankful that she’s almost always in a happy mood when I pick her up from daycare. She seems to be enjoying herself there, which makes me feel better about leaving her during the day. POSTED BY AMY AT 9:08 AM 33 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 23, 2008 Elena Picture of the Day My sister took this picture of Elena on Saturday. Even though she looks like her dad, everyone tells me that she has my big eyes! POSTED BY AMY AT 8:13 AM MONDAY, APRIL 28, 2008 Binky Bear Isn’t it funny how quickly you come up with nicknames for your child after they’re born? Leon started calling Elena "Binky Bear" in the hospital, just hours after she was born – because she loved her pacifier from the start! We call her a variety of names stemming from Binky Bear – Binks, Bink-A-Bink, Binksters. It cracks me up. We had a busy weekend. Leon’s mom, his sister Tammie, his brother John and John’s wife Karen came down on Saturday and spent the night. Andrew’s 14th birthday was on Saturday. Even though it wasn’t our weekend with the kids, their mom let us take Andrew and Beth out to lunch at the Japanese steakhouse. They have the best food! Elena was very good in the restaurant. She slept the majority of the time we were there. Andrew’s confirmation at his church was on Sunday. His mom invited about 25 people from her side of the family and from Leon’s. Andrew had to get up and speak, and he did a great job. He looked so grown-up standing up there speaking! It was a very nice ceremony – but a long one. It lasted almost two hours. Thankfully, Elena was very good through most of the service. She started fussing at the very end, when communion started. Leon took her out to the lobby, and church ended about 10 minutes later. 34 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 Afterward, everyone went to lunch at Hoggy’s. We celebrated Andrew’s birthday and his confirmation. I was a little nervous about the lunch because the kids’ mom and her family and friends were there too. And of course that makes it somewhat awkward since Leon is divorced from her. But it was fine. I know I have to do things like this sometimes for Andrew and Beth. Elena was very tired after her big day out yesterday. She went to sleep around 9:30 p.m. and slept until 4:00 a.m. Leon is working from home today, so Elena stayed home with him instead of going to daycare. I’m jealous – I wish I could be home with her too! But this will give me the chance to stop at the store on my way home from work. I can actually cook a "real" meal for Leon tonight instead of the frozen things I usually resort to. POSTED BY AMY AT 11:33 AM WEDNESDAY, APRIL 30, 2008 Feeling emotional Darlene’s stepmom sent an e-mail the other day to let people know that Darlene (or Angel as her family called her) was finally at rest. I wanted to share what her e-mail said: "Just wanted to let you all know that on Saturday, April 26, at sunset we scattered Angel's ashes about a mile off the coast of Anclote Key, near Tarpon Springs, Florida, where she wanted to be. There were dolphins jumping around in the area, and there is a lighthouse on the key. It was absolutely beautiful. She would have loved the location. Let me say it was very hard to leave her there, but that is what she wanted. Tim (Darlene’s dad) and I will definitely go back there every couple of years and leave flowers. I just thought everyone would like to know." I’m glad that Darlene is where she wanted to be. Maybe someday I can visit her there. I miss her so much. I suppose you never stop missing someone you lose – you just get used to living without them. I’ve been thinking a lot about my grandma too. I wish she had gotten the chance to meet Elena, even though I know she lives on in my daughter. My parents, my Aunt Ellen and my cousin Kacey worked on Grandma’s house last weekend. Aside from her basement, her house is pretty much empty now. I haven’t been to my grandma’s house since probably last fall – it’s strange for me to imagine it empty. I’ve been feeling very emotional about Mother’s Day too. It will be my first one as a mom – I cry just thinking about that. I am so blessed to have Elena. I thank God every day for her. I remember all too well the pain that Mother’s Day caused me when I was in the midst of infertility and aching so badly to have a child of my own. I know that Mother’s Day will be very hard for my mom this year – she will really feel my grandma’s absence that day. I told Leon that he and I should have a little celebration on May 19 – that was the day we had our IUI in 2007 and conceived Elena! It’s hard to believe that it’s been almost a year already since I first found out I was pregnant. Time goes by so fast. POSTED BY AMY AT 2:19 PM 35 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 THURSDAY, MAY 01, 2008 Elena found her voice Elena found her voice yesterday. Leon said that she started making all these sounds yesterday morning, like she was trying to talk. I got to hear her do this last night. She was crying at one point and it’s like she heard herself crying and realized she had a voice – because she stopped crying and started cooing and making all kinds of sounds. It was so adorable! Up until this point she’s only said "eeee" or "oooo" here and there, but she hasn’t said several different sounds in a row like she’s doing now. She was doing this again this morning while I was getting ready for work. She was lying in her bassinet and she started to cry – and then she stopped and started talking. It was just the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard! It’s so much fun having a little one and watching their "firsts." They change so much, so fast, when they’re this young. POSTED BY AMY AT 8:02 AM THURSDAY, MAY 08, 2008 Another cold I think Elena must have caught another cold in daycare, and she passed it to me. Her nose has been running the past few days and she’s been coughing. Her left eye is red and has more matter in it than usual, so the cold must have settled in her eye too. I woke up this morning all stuffed up with a sore throat. I’m so tired today too. I didn’t sleep well last night. I never sleep soundly anymore, but some nights are better than others. Last night was one of those nights where I woke up every hour to check on Elena. I hate the paranoia that I have. Even though her bassinet is right beside my side of the bed, I always lean over and listen to make sure she’s breathing or I touch her chest. I’m probably overly obsessive when it comes to this, but it’s hard not to be knowing that Leon’s brother died of SIDS and Leon has sleep apnea. I’ve heard that the SIDS risk goes down when babies are around 6 months old, so maybe I can finally rest a little easier when Elena gets older. Elena has been pretty grumpy in the evening the past few days. I assume it’s because she’s not feeling very well. She still sleeps pretty well at night. I know some people whose babies wake up every hour or two at night, so I know I can’t complain since Elena usually sleeps 5-7 hours straight at night. Elena has lost so much hair since she was born! I know this is normal, but she was born with quite a bit of dark hair. She still has some hair in the back, but she’s almost completely bald on top. When I compare her newborn pictures with what she looks like now, it’s very noticeable how much hair she’s lost. My sister and I were bald babies, so I guess Elena took after my side of the family. When I finally did get hair 36 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 (probably around a year old or so), it was very blonde. I don’t think Elena is going to be quite as blonde as I was when I was little – she’ll probably have darker hair like Leon. Leon, Elena and I are going to Coshocton this weekend. Leon and I plan to help clean out my grandma’s basement. My sister is going to watch Elena while we work. It will also be nice to see my mom for Mother’s Day and hopefully help take her mind off the fact that my grandma isn’t here. I feel bad for Goldie. She was my "baby" for so many years before Elena was born. But after having Elena, I feel like I don’t have much time for Goldie anymore. I try to talk to her and pet her, but I admit there are some days when I hardly pay her any attention. It’s so tough when Elena demands my full attention most of the time I’m at home. She isn’t the type of baby who’s content being by herself. If I put her down for too long, she starts to cry. She wants to be held almost constantly. I hope Goldie doesn’t feel too neglected. When Elena gets a little older, I’m sure she’ll be really interested in playing with Goldie. POSTED BY AMY AT 8:45 AM WEDNESDAY, MAY 21, 2008 Still sick... I know I haven’t updated my blog in a while. I’ve been so busy at work during the day. We just finished up a remodeling tour last weekend and our Parade of Homes home show is coming up in June. And of course, it’s rare that I get online at home during the evening. Elena keeps me so busy. She doesn’t like to entertain herself for too long! She gets bored easily and wants someone to hold her. Elena and I are still sick. It’s been two weeks now! Leon took her to the doctor a week ago on Monday, and he said that she just had a cold. He gave her some eye ointment because the cold settled in her eyes and made them all red and gunky. She continued to cough all last week, so I took her to the doctor again on Monday. He said her chest sounded better than it did a week ago, but if she wasn’t better by this Friday to start her on an antibiotic. She also developed a rash on Sunday and it freaked me out – my first thought was chicken pox! But the doctor said that sometimes colds manifest themselves as rashes. Her rash is already starting to fade. She can’t seem to stop coughing though. She has these coughing fits where she coughs for minutes at a time and she sounds like she’s choking. She’s given me heart failure so many times over the past week with her coughing and choking episodes! I always seem to lose my voice when I have a cold, so I didn’t even have a voice last week. I started to feel better and then last night, it’s like I felt sick all over again! I don’t have a fever, but I was so cold last night. I was shaking and couldn’t get warm. My throat is sore again, my body feels achy and my left ear is hurting really badly. I wish I could have taken a sick day, but I already took Monday off to take Elena to the doctor and I have a lunch meeting today and another meeting at 6:30 tonight. All I want to do is go home and sleep! Even though I feel awful, I still don’t sleep well. I suppose I should try to go to the doctor too and see what’s wrong with me. Leon, Elena and I went to Coshocton on Mother’s Day weekend. We sorted through things in my Grandma’s house. Her house is pretty much empty now. I couldn’t stop crying while I was in her house. It 37 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 was the first time I’d been there since she passed away, and it made me so sad to see all of her things gone. I took a few things that had sentimental value to me. There were these three plastic wise men Christmas decorations. When my sister and I were little, we used to help Grandma decorate her house for Christmas. I remember setting the three wise men out every year. A few of the legs are broken off the camels, but we still set the wise men out every year anyway! We went to the cemetery and saw my Grandma’s grave. My mom put a Mother’s Day wreath on her stone. We were upset because they spelled my grandma’s name wrong on her stone! They spelled it Laura Anna, when her middle name was actually Anne. My mom contacted the funeral home, and they said they had to send the stone away to correct it. This upset my mom too because that stone had been there for 45 years, ever since my grandfather passed away in 1963. I hope they take good care of it and get her name fixed. Last Saturday, my parents, Julie and Jamie came to Columbus because it was my 31st birthday. We grilled hamburgers and had birthday cake. It was nice. I let Elena try a tiny bit of icing from the cake. I put it on my finger and put it in her mouth – she smacked her lips! It was so cute. Leon got me a really nice digital camera for my Mother’s Day/birthday gift. It’s one of those Nikon Coolpix cameras that Ashton Kutcher advertises on TV. Mine is red. It’s so much nicer than the Kodak digital camera I had. That one took really bad pictures. My new camera takes excellent quality pictures. I’ve already taken so many pictures of Elena! I’ll have to post some of the new pictures on here soon. It’s hard to believe Elena is almost 15 weeks old. I see so many changes in her. She babbles all the time. She holds her head up really well. She’s very alert and smiles when we talk to her. It’s so much fun watching her grow and learn things. She’s been sleeping really well at night. I usually put her to bed around 10:00 p.m., and she’s been sleeping until 6:00 a.m. most days. She hasn’t been waking at 3:30 or 4:30 like she was for a while. She’s so good about falling asleep. I give her a bottle at night and then lay her in her bassinet, and she falls asleep on her own. I still let her sleep in her bassinet by my side of the bed. It’s reassuring that I can look in on her at night. Although this does tend to drive me somewhat crazy! I wake up every hour or so to check her. I don’t sleep well, but I’m still too paranoid to have her sleep alone in her room in her crib. I’ll probably have her sleep in our room until she’s 6 months old or so. Although she’s getting so big and looks like she could outgrow her bassinet before that time! At her last doctor appointment, she weighed 11.15 pounds. POSTED BY AMY AT 9:05 AM TUESDAY, MAY 27, 2008 Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease – sounds scary! I ended up leaving work early last Wednesday and going to Urgent Care because I felt so awful. The nurse practitioner I saw there thought I had a virus and gave me an antibiotic. On Thursday, I noticed that I had a rash just like Elena had – it seemed to be mainly on my hands and my feet. My throat was also very 38 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog sore. 2008 I made an appointment with my doctor on Friday. He told me I had something called hand, foot and mouth disease. It causes a fever and a rash mainly on the hands, feet and mouth. That’s why my throat was sore – I had the rash in my throat and inside my mouth. The rash on my hands was really painful. There was nothing that could be done for it – it just had to run its course. This was obviously what Elena had and she passed it on to me. It’s very common in children, especially those in daycare. It’s rarer in adults, but I managed to get it anyway! So far, Leon has managed to stay healthy. We had a three-day weekend because of Memorial Day. I stayed home the whole weekend to recover. I feel much better now, although my rash hasn’t completely faded yet. The doctor said it will eventually peel, and now my hands have all this gross, peeling skin on them! Elena’s rash is almost gone. She still has her cough though. She’s taking an antibiotic so I hope this helps her. I just want us to be well again! We’ve both been sick for too long. Andrew and Beth were with us over the weekend. Leon took the kids to see the new Indiana Jones movie yesterday. They liked it. I stayed home with Elena because I can’t imagine her sitting through a movie. She was pretty fussy all weekend. She probably still doesn’t feel that well, and I thought maybe the antibiotic was upsetting her tummy. Elena hasn’t laughed yet, but she does this thing now where she squeals. It’s so cute. It sounds like a squeal of delight. I figure it’s only a matter of time before she laughs. She babbles up a storm! I put her in her bassinet last night, and she must have laid there talking for at least 10 minutes before she finally fell asleep. It was so funny! POSTED BY AMY AT 8:52 AM THURSDAY, JUNE 05, 2008 It's been a year... I’ve been feeling very sentimental lately. One year ago today I took a pregnancy test and found out I was pregnant with Elena. It seems so hard to believe that a whole year has passed. I remember that day so clearly, like it was yesterday. I saved that pregnancy test (it was the first positive I ever had!) and I got it out to look at it last night. It still makes me smile. I remember thinking that time was passing by so slowly and Elena would never be here. And now she’s almost 4 months old already. Time goes by way too fast, that’s for sure. Before I had Elena, people used to tell me that you’ll never realize how much love you can have for someone until you have children. I know now how true that is. I have so much love for Elena that sometimes my heart feels like it will actually burst! I would do anything for her. She’s the best thing that has ever happened to me by far. 39 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 I heard a song on the radio this morning called "Safe In My Arms" by Plumb. It was written by a woman after she had children. It’s such a beautiful song with such sweet lyrics. You can listen to it here. I think Elena must have inherited my allergies. She’s still coughing and her nose is running. I’m the same way right now though! I can’t quit coughing and my nose is stuffed up. I think it’s the weather and changing seasons. She has her four-month doctor appointment next Wednesday, so I can talk to the doctor about this at that time. She has to get more shots at this appointment – poor baby. Leon’s 39th birthday is on Friday. One more year til the big 4-0! Andrew and Beth will be with us to celebrate that night. Their last day of school is on Friday and then they’ll be staying with us for the first half of the summer. Even though they’ll be at our house, Elena will still be going to daycare during the day. It would be too much responsibility for Andrew and Beth to look after her, especially since she needs attention every waking moment! Beth’s 6th grade graduation is this afternoon. I’m leaving work early so I can go. And then tonight is Andrew’s 8th grade graduation. It’s so hard to believe that Andrew will be in high school next year and Beth will be in middle school! Today is supposed to be our first 90-degree day of the summer (well, I guess technically it’s still spring). It’s been so humid lately and has also been stormy the past couple days. It’s great to see the sunshine today. Summer is my favorite time of year – I’m so happy that warm weather is back again! POSTED BY AMY AT 8:04 AM MONDAY, JUNE 09, 2008 Hot & humid weekend My parents came over on Saturday and spent the night. We had a really nice visit. We took Elena shopping with us on Saturday. I’ve been nervous about taking Elena into a store by myself, but I figured I’d try it this weekend since my parents were with me. Elena did really well! She quietly rode in the cart (in her carrier) most of the time. She got fussy a couple times, but she was fine if I picked her up. We went to Babies R Us and bought quite a few things for Elena. I got her a Bumbo seat so she can sit up on her own. She seems to like it. My mom bought her a little swimming pool and a pink bikini. She looks so cute in her bikini! Unfortunately, she hates her pool though. I tried to put her in it yesterday and the moment her feet hit the water she screamed. I figured she’d like it because she seems to enjoy her baths. Oh well. I’m sure she’ll like her pool when she gets a little older. Elena has her four-month check-up on Wednesday. She has to get more shots at that time. She’ll probably be really out of sorts afterward and develop a fever like last time. I’m planning to bring her into work with me that day! There is hardly anyone in our office right now since our Parade of Homes starts on Saturday. So it’s the perfect time to bring Elena to work with me. That way, I can take her to her appointment straight from the office without having to stop at her daycare first to get her. 40 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 It was so hot outside this weekend! It was in the 90’s. It seems really early in the season to be having weather this warm. I love the hot weather, but I could do without the humidity. POSTED BY AMY AT 8:52 AM MONDAY, JUNE 09, 2008 Hangin’ tough...after all these years Back in the late 80’s and early 90’s, I was a HUGE fan of New Kids On The Block. I was in junior high at the time (about 12 or 13 years old) and I adored them like I had never adored a band before and have never adored a band since. My room was plastered with posters of them that I would get out of the teenybopper magazines they had at the time like 16 and Tiger Beat. I had NKOTB shirts, buttons, bed sheets, dolls, jewelry, etc. My sister and I would watch their videos over and over again, and we knew every word of their songs. My favorite New Kids were Donnie and Joe. My parents took us to two of their concerts, and it was incredible to witness all of those pre-teen girls going absolutely crazy for them. I actually met my friend Sarah through the NKOTB fan club! We were pen pals and finally met in person when I was in college (she lives in the Columbus area too). Almost twenty years later, NKOTB have reunited and are performing together again! When Sarah told me that NKOTB is coming to Cleveland in October, I knew I had to go see them. Sarah, her sister, her friend, my sister and I are all going to see them on October 3. I am so excited! I feel like a junior high kid all over again. Leon thinks I’m a huge dork, but I can’t help it! NKOTB rule!! ;) POSTED BY AMY AT 9:37 AM 41 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 THURSDAY, JUNE 12, 2008 Elena in Action I just realized I can post videos on my blog (I don't know why I never noticed this before), so I decided to let you see Elena in action! My new digital camera takes videos. I recorded this clip this past weekend. Leon taught Elena to say "Hi" recently. I think it actually sounds like she's saying it. POSTED BY AMY AT 7:55 AM FRIDAY, JUNE 20, 2008 TGIF I guess I haven’t posted about Elena’s 4-month check-up last week. All is well. My little girl who weighed only 6.11 at birth is now up to 13.45! She’s 24 inches long now (up from 21 inches at birth). She cried so hard when she got her vaccinations, but she calmed down quickly and thankfully this time she didn’t get a fever afterward. The doctor said we can start her on rice cereal when she’s 5 months old and at her 6month check-up we’ll talk about starting her on baby food. That will be exciting! We changed her feeding schedule. She’s now drinking 6 ounces at a time, but she’s fed every 4 hours (as opposed to every 3). She was fussy the first few days as she adjusted to her new schedule, but she seems to be doing better now. She still sleeps so well at night. I usually put her to bed between 9:30 – 10:00 and she doesn’t wake up until 6:00 – 7:00. 42 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 John and Karen came over last night and are staying with us this weekend. I always enjoy their visits. I’ve been a member of an online infertility support group called Hannah’s Prayer since January 2004. I still visit their discussion boards almost every day. One of the members there has a little boy named Emerson who is not quite a year old. It was recently discovered that he has a brain tumor and it appears to be malignant. You can follow his story at the Caring Bridge website created for him. Even though I don’t personally know this family, I am just heartsick over this news. I can’t comprehend why a child would get cancer. It seems so terribly unfair. Cancer is such a terrible disease. I wish desperately that they had a cure for it. Hearing about something so awful happening to a child makes me hug Elena that much tighter and thank God for her health. I’m praying for Emerson and his family. If you get a minute to check out his website, won’t you please say a prayer for him too? POSTED BY AMY AT 8:13 AM MONDAY, JUNE 23, 2008 Kind of freaky?! What can you expect when you have a public blog, right? Your "diary" is online for everyone to see. I imagined that most people who read my blog were friends or family or somehow stumbled across my blog when they found a link to it somewhere. I recently put a feature on my blog from Feedjit that allows me to see a "Live Traffic Feed" – it tells me how people arrive on my blog and their location. I thought this was a cool feature, but then I started noticing that people are somehow arriving on my blog from a Google image search. I assume they must be searching for a dragonfly picture and somehow my blog comes up since I have a dragonfly picture in the sidebar. But for whatever reason, the post that comes up in their search is the one I did in October 2005 where I talk about infertility. I’ve been getting some recent feedback and comments as a result of that post I did over 2 years ago. Some people have been sending me messages telling me they hope I get to have a baby. Of course, if they paid attention to the date on the post they’d see that’s not the most recent entry and I do have a baby now. But it’s the thought that counts, I guess. At any rate, I thought it was bizarre that my blog is coming up on an image search! Now I think I have "blog stalkers." But that’s ok. I enjoy reading other people’s blogs a lot too. Sometimes I get so absorbed in the blogs I come across. I find it really interesting to read about other people’s lives. POSTED BY AMY AT 11:38 AM 43 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 TUESDAY, JUNE 24, 2008 Worth the wait POSTED BY AMY AT 12:19 PM TUESDAY, JULY 01, 2008 My baby is almost 5 months old My grandma’s birthday was yesterday. She would have been 87. Grandma’s house finally sold and the new owner took possession of it last week. The owner plans to do a lot of remodeling on the house – it definitely needs it. Grandma’s house is very old and not in good shape at all. Maybe someday I can see the house again after she remodels it. My mom is on vacation this week, so she, Dad and Julie are coming to Columbus tomorrow morning to spend the day with Elena. Unfortunately, Leon and I still have to work. Leon gets Thursday and Friday off this week, and I get Friday off for the Fourth of July. We’re planning on going to Medina this weekend to visit Leon’s family. We had planned to go last weekend, but Andrew and Beth ended up having too many activities and we couldn’t get away. Elena will be 5 months old on July 9, and her doctor said we can start her on rice cereal at that time. I actually bought some rice cereal yesterday and plan to start her on it this week. I wanted to feed her last night, but Leon had to work late and I wanted him to be home to see her first feeding with a spoon! Hopefully we can start her on it tonight. We also increased her bottles to 7 ounces because I read that a 14-pound baby should be drinking 37 ounces a day and Elena was only drinking 30. Sometimes I put food (like icing) on my finger and let Elena have a tiny taste. On Saturday, Beth and I 44 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 made "puppy chow" (Chex cereal coated with chocolate and powdered sugar). I put some powdered sugar on my finger and let Elena have a taste. She loved it! She kept licking her lips – it was so cute. I can tell she’s going to have a sweet tooth. It’s probably because I ate so much chocolate when I was pregnant with her! Elena is so much fun! Since she’s older now, she is so much more interactive. She smiles all the time and seems so happy. She reaches for everything. She’s getting so big – she’s almost too tall for her bassinet. I know I’ll have to start putting her in her crib at night soon. I was hoping to hold out until 6 months, but she may outgrow her bassinet before then. I’m going to miss having her in her bassinet next to my bed at night! I enjoy having her so close to me. Elena is the best thing that has ever happened to me. I can’t even put into words how much I love her. She means the world to me. I thank God every day that I finally got to be a mom. POSTED BY AMY AT 9:23 AM WEDNESDAY, JULY 02, 2008 Adventures with Rice Cereal Well, we gave Elena about a tablespoon of rice cereal last night. I think she only ended up eating 4 bites and I’m not even sure she swallowed any of it. She kept turning her head away, gagging, spitting it out (and on me!) and crying. She didn’t like eating with a spoon at all. I tasted some of the rice cereal and it’s so bland – I can see why she didn’t like it! We’ll try again tonight. She’s supposed to be eating rice cereal twice a day now. I read that it takes as many as 10 times of trying a new food before a baby will accept it. I realize this is all new to Elena and she doesn’t know how to eat from a spoon yet. Hopefully it all comes easier to her soon and she starts to eat the rice cereal. It was hilarious witnessing this though! I took pictures of course. I told Leon I’ll show her friends these pictures when she’s a teenager to embarrass her! :) 45 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 POSTED BY AMY AT 7:28 AM MONDAY, JULY 07, 2008 E-l-e-n-a I guess I have cursed my child with a name no one will ever be able to spell. I have already seen her name misspelled so many times in the five months since she was born. People usually spell it Elana or Alana or Alena. Oh well. I think her name is beautiful and I like the traditional spelling we chose for it. Leon, Elena and I went to Medina over the holiday weekend to spend time with Leon’s family. We had a nice visit. We hadn’t been there since Thanksgiving! Elena did really well on the two-hour car trip, although she started to get fussy right toward the end. Andrew and Beth’s half of the summer with us is almost over. It went really fast. They go back to their mom’s tomorrow night. On Wednesday, they leave for a two-week Alaskan cruise! We decided that we’ll wait another week or two before giving Elena rice cereal again. She threw such a fit when we tried to feed it to her, so we feel she’s just not ready for it. Maybe she’ll never like it. I don’t blame her – it tasted pretty awful, like eating paste. Her doctor said that we can talk about feeding her baby food at her six-month check-up in August. For now, she’s perfectly happy with her formula. Sometimes she chugs it! She drinks really fast, and then she ends up spitting up. Some message boards that I visit have really strong opinions about starting babies on food. I had posted 46 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 a question about rice cereal and some moms read me the riot act! I’ve read studies that babies develop fewer food allergies if you wait and start them on baby food at six months. Elena is almost five months old though (she will be on Wednesday), and her doctor just wanted us to get her familiar with eating off a spoon which is why we tried rice cereal. Some women on the board accused me of force-feeding my child and said that rice cereal is nothing but junk anyway and how dare I feed my baby this. Crazy stuff. Everyone has opinions on how to raise their children, but I hate when people act like I’m trying to harm my baby! Why on earth would I do anything to hurt her?! I had the same reactions when I posted that I formula-fed my baby. Some women are absolutely outraged that I’d feed my child anything other than breastmilk. But breastfeeding doesn’t work out for everyone. It broke my heart that I wasn’t able to breastfeed Elena and I spent so many hours crying over my failure to do this. But if I could go back in time, I’d tell myself not to beat myself up over this so much! I was a formula-fed baby and I turned out just fine. I realize that breastmilk is best, but formula isn’t terrible. Elena is growing and developing just fine on it. At any rate, everyone has their own opinions and there’s no use arguing with people over things like this. That’s why I rarely post my opinions about certain issues on my blog. I’m not going to change anyone’s mind and other people aren’t going to change my mind. My dad always says you can’t argue with people about religion or politics – and I think we should add raising your child to that list too. POSTED BY AMY AT 10:38 AM THURSDAY, JULY 17, 2008 Busy lately I’ve been really busy at work the past couple of weeks and haven’t found any time to post. Leon had to pick Elena up at daycare yesterday because I had to work until about 7:00. I hate late nights at work – luckily, I don’t have many anymore since I changed my hours. I would much rather be at home with Elena than working late! Last Wednesday, Elena turned 5 months old. That night, we put her to sleep in her "big girl bed" – the crib in her room. I wanted to keep her in her bassinet in our room for another month, but she just got too big for it. She’s been sleeping great in her crib. She sleeps through the night and she has so much more room to move around. She’s so silly – every time I check on her, she’s sleeping in a different position! She likes to sleep on her side, but sometimes she turns around sideways and sticks her feet out the side of her crib. Here’s how I found her sleeping one morning this week: 47 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 I actually cried the first night we put her to sleep in her crib! I’ve gotten so used to having my baby sleep beside my bed in her bassinet and I miss having her so close! She’s just growing up so fast and it makes me sad how quickly the time flies. We have an Angelcare Monitor for Elena, and I love it! It was pretty expensive (close to $100), but it’s so great because it monitors Elena’s breathing and movement. I worry so much about SIDS, but if Elena would stop breathing an alarm will sound after 20 seconds of no movement. There is a sensor pad that goes under her mattress and it detects even the slightest movement. We’ve had quite a few false alarms – if Elena moves too close to the edge of the crib and away from the sensor pad, the alarm will go off. It also tends to go off sometimes if she’s on her side because I don’t think the sensor detects her breathing as well in that position. But I’ve never panicked at the alarm (yet) because I figured Elena just moved away from the sensor. It gives me peace of mind during the night at any rate. Elena is finally getting more hair! She looks so cute (I know, I know, what parent doesn’t think their own kids are the cutest things ever?!). It’s so amazing to look at her and know that she is a part of Leon and a part of me. It’s such a miracle, having a child. I think she looks a lot like her daddy, but she has my big eyes and she also has my hands! I love looking at her little fingers and thumbs and seeing my own hands reflected in her. Andrew and Beth will be back home on Sunday. They’ve been on an Alaskan cruise with their mom, her boyfriend and his two daughters for the past week and a half. Leon, Elena and I are going to a Columbus Crew soccer game tonight. Leon got free tickets from one of his co-workers. We probably won’t stay that late though because it will be past Elena’s bedtime! POSTED BY AMY AT 9:40 AM MONDAY, JULY 21, 2008 Humidity and Poofy Hair It’s been so hot lately. Leon and I didn’t end up going to the Crew game last Thursday night because we didn’t want to have Elena out in the heat for too long. I love warm weather, but I could do without the humidity. Since I have naturally curly hair, my hair gets all poofy when the humidity is high! It doesn’t even do me any good to straighten it, although I still try. 48 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 Leon and I went to Target on Saturday and bought Elena some new clothes. She’s growing so fast, and most of her clothes were getting too small for her. Target had some great sales on their baby clothes since they’re probably trying to get rid of their summer items. The most expensive thing we bought was $4.98! Yesterday I boxed up all of Elena’s newborn and 0-3 months clothing items to make room for her new clothes. It made me sad to put these things away since it’s a reminder of how fast the time is going. She didn’t even get the chance to wear some of these clothes! I’m going to save these things in case our next baby is a girl. Andrew and Beth got back from their Alaskan trip yesterday. Beth showed us pictures. They saw some beautiful sights. We took them out to dinner at Molly Woo’s. Elena is so funny in restaurants. She doesn’t want to sit in her carrier, she wants to be held! Leon and I usually take turns holding her while we eat. She reaches for everything now and tries to touch the food on our plates. We saw a couple in the restaurant with a newborn baby – he was so tiny! It’s hard for me to believe that Elena was once that small, although she only weighed 6.11 at birth. Everyone told me how fast kids grow, but it seems hard to believe until you actually have them and realize that the time really does fly by. I’m so proud of myself – I managed to clean the whole house, upstairs and downstairs, last week. Of course it won’t stay clean for long, but it’s still a good feeling when I can actually get something like that accomplished. Since Elena was born, I’ve neglected the house big time. I’m too embarrassed to admit how long I’d go between cleanings! It would be nice to be able to clean every week (or even every other week!). We’ll see. I really want to lose weight. Elena is about 5-1/2 months old, so the excuse of carrying extra baby weight is hard to get away with anymore. I’m still 20 pounds heavier than my pre-pregnancy weight, and I wasn’t as skinny as I wanted to be when I got pregnant anyway. I’d be thrilled if I could lose about 40 pounds! I love food – I wish I didn’t enjoy eating so much! I need to eat better. I told Leon I wanted to start cooking healthier meals for us. It’s so difficult for me to get motivated to exercise – I’ve always been terrible about working out. I know walking is pretty good exercise and I actually enjoy it, so I thought I could start taking Elena for stroller rides around the neighborhood in the evenings. Remember how I posted that Elena and I had hand, foot and mouth disease a couple months ago? I haven’t been back to the doctor since then, but I can only assume that this resulted in my fingernails developing some kind of "fungus" afterward (I don’t even know what to call it). All of the nails on my left hand and three of the nails on my right hand got a yellowish-white line through them and split. Thankfully new nails are growing underneath and the gross parts are almost to the top so I can cut them off. But I think I’m going to lose the top part of my nails once they reach the top. It’s hard to describe – maybe I’ll take a picture. But it looks so disgusting and it’s embarrassing! I’ve never had anything like this happen to my nails before. POSTED BY AMY AT 8:53 AM 49 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 THURSDAY, JULY 24, 2008 Elena Sits Up (for a few seconds anyway!) Elena can sit up on her own for a few seconds at a time before tumbling over. It’s so cute to watch! Of course she cries when she topples over. I took the video clip below last night. I think it’s hilarious! Elena was crying because she had just toppled over, but I sat her up again and filmed it. Even though she tumbles over at the end, I promise that no babies were harmed in the making of this video! ;) POSTED BY AMY AT 8:25 AM THURSDAY, JULY 24, 2008 It was time for a change! You'll notice I changed the look of my blog. I was tired of the same old, same old so I made some changes. I lost some of the elements I had on my other template so I'll have to add things back in. It's fun but time-consuming to get caught up in editing a blog! I've been playing around on my blog for quite a while tonight while Elena naps. It's after 8:00 p.m., so I better wake her up and give her a bottle soon or else she'll want to stay up all night! Until next time... POSTED BY AMY AT 8:03 PM 50 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 FRIDAY, JULY 25, 2008 Our Home I’ve been blogging for almost 3 years and I’ve never yet given you a tour of our house! Since I love my new digital camera so much, I played photographer a couple days ago and went around taking pictures of all the rooms in our house. Our house is about 25 years old and needs some updating, but for the most part we do like it. It’s home! Front of our house Back yard Koi pond (We have about 20 goldfish in there!) 51 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog Living room 2008 Dining room Kitchen Half-bath (off the kitchen) 52 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog Family room 2008 Stairs Upstairs hallway (Pay no attention to the awful wallpaper - I hate it!) Our bedroom 53 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog Andrew's room 2008 Beth's room Elena's room Upstairs bathroom (my bathroom) 54 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog Master bathroom (Leon's bathroom) 2008 Basement (Remember when I cleaned it in the fall? It didn't stay clean for long.) Security provided by golden retriever! POSTED BY AMY AT 7:44 AM TUESDAY, JULY 29, 2008 Topics of the Day: Church and Cigarettes Leon, Elena and I went to a new church on Sunday. We attended a Lutheran church not too far from our home. I found this church a couple years ago and wanted to start going then, but it’s taken me this long to talk Leon into it! 55 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 Leon was raised Lutheran and went to church for years, but he had some negative experiences within the church and became disillusioned with it. I can understand where he’s coming from – I’ve witnessed the hypocrisy of some people who profess to be "holier than thou." Leon and I both feel that you don’t need to attend church to believe in God. But ever since Elena was born, it’s become very important to me that she has the opportunity to experience church and religion. I want to have her baptized as well. I was baptized Methodist when I was a baby, but my family only went to church on holidays like Christmas and Easter. I don’t fault my parents for not taking my sister and me to church. They raised us the best way that they knew how. But I’ve struggled with my faith a lot over the years, probably as a result of not having a very strong foundation in church or religion. My hope is that Elena won’t have to question her faith when she’s older because she’ll have a better understanding of religion than I ever did. Leon wants Elena to be a Lutheran. I have no problem with this. In my experience, most branches of Christianity are similar. We really enjoyed the service at the church on Sunday. The pastor and the people we met were very nice and welcomed us. Elena slept through most of the service, so she didn’t make one peep! We plan to attend their service again this Sunday. I posted last week about how I planned to start a diet. Well, I didn’t end up eating well or exercising last week. So I started fresh this week! I ate well yesterday and have eaten well so far today. Yesterday evening, I took Elena for an hour-long stroller ride around our neighborhood. I really enjoyed the walk and plan to take Elena for another stroller ride tonight after work. I’d be happy if I lost 30 pounds, but I’d be THRILLED if I lost 50 pounds! I’d love to be as thin as I was in my early 20’s. Of course, back then I was smoking cigarettes and I truly believe that smoking must somehow boost your metabolism and keep your weight down (I think that’s why a lot of Hollywood starlets smoke). Not many people even know I used to smoke. I was a "closet smoker" I guess! I rarely smoked in public – just at home, by myself. I smoked about half a pack of Marlboro Lights a day. I knew even back then how horrible cigarettes are for you, but I quickly became addicted. I’m not even sure why I started – maybe to fit in with the crowd I was hanging out with at that time. I regretted ever starting because I had a horrible time quitting. I only smoked for about 2 years and was finally able to quit with the help of a nicotine patch. I’ve been smoke-free since November 2000, so it’s been almost 8 years now! I’m proud I’ve stayed off cigarettes that long because I know how challenging it is, even 8 years later. There are still occasions when I wish I could have a cigarette. I know I can’t allow myself even one though because I’d be right back in the habit again. I never plan to start again because I want to be healthy and I wouldn’t want my daughter to see me smoke. I hope that she never picks up the habit. My dad also deserves kudos. He started smoking when he was 14 and smoked for about 50 years! He finally quit cold turkey almost 2 years ago and hasn’t smoked since. POSTED BY AMY AT 1:08 PM 56 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 TUESDAY, JULY 29, 2008 Who Are You? According to my blog counter, I’ve had 6,774 visitors. I wonder how many of those hits were me? I’d venture to say at least 6,000 of them. ;) haha Since putting Feedjit on my blog, I see that many people arrive here by doing an image search for a dragonfly picture. I seem to get a lot of hits when people search for basement organization because I had a post entitled this. (Sadly, if they come here looking for advice on how to organize their basement I won’t be of any help. My basement is in sad shape right now, although it looked rather fabulous when I cleaned it last fall.) People also arrive on my blog when searching for random words like third trimester – hand, foot and mouth disease – first day back at work – etc. I’m curious who reads my blog. I know who some of you are. But who are those anonymous readers? Let me know who you are – how you found me – and include a link to your own blog, if you have one. I love reading blogs and am always looking for new ones to check out. Until next time... POSTED BY AMY AT 6:28 PM WEDNESDAY, JULY 30, 2008 Enter to Win! (Bloggy Giveaways Carnival) I got this idea after reading Melody’s blog (one of my Hannah’s Prayer friends). There is something called a Bloggy Giveaways Carnival going on. I’m jumping on the bandwagon a little late since the contest started on July 28, but it runs until August 1. 57 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 All you have to do is leave me a comment on this post, and I will randomly select a winner on Saturday, August 2. You have to leave a comment on July 30, July 31 or August 1 (before midnight EST) in order to be eligible to win. You don’t have to leave your real name or have a blog to post a comment – but please leave your e-mail address so I can get in touch with you if you win. I plan to print off the comments, cut them out, put them in a basket and have my almost 6-month-old daughter Elena pull one out! :) She loves to grab paper. So you can thank Elena if you win! (In case anyone is concerned about the amount of paper that would be used by printing off all the comments I receive, please don't worry. I'm going to copy and paste all of the names on one sheet of paper and cut them out from there. I'm trying to be "green" so minimal paper will be used in this drawing!) Oh and you’d probably like to know the prize I’m giving away? As you may or may not know, I used to sell Mary Kay. I still have A LOT of samples left over, especially trial-size lotions such as MK’s Satin Hands. I will mail you a gift bag with MK samples, free of charge. There is no catch! I just thought this giveaway carnival sounded like fun. And I’ve wanted to give my MK samples to someone who can use them. They’re not doing anyone any good just sitting in my closet. Post a comment now! I’ll contact you sometime on Saturday, August 2 if you win. Good luck and thank you for posting a comment on my blog! POSTED BY AMY AT 9:30 AM MONDAY, AUGUST 04, 2008 And the winner is... Congratulations to Victoria Nemecek (torinem)! She was the randomly selected winner of the Mary Kay samples I was giving away. I really enjoyed participating in the Bloggy Giveaways Carnival. It was so much fun and I got the chance to check out lots of new blogs. I received 112 comments (which was a lot more than I thought I'd receive!). I printed them, cut them out, folded them up and placed them in a basket. (In case anyone was concerned about the amount of paper that would be used by printing off all the comments I received, please don't worry. I copied and pasted all of the names on one sheet of paper and cut them out from there. I tried to be "green" so minimal paper was used in this drawing!) 58 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 My almost 6-month-old daughter Elena pulled one of the comments out of the basket. Here’s a picture of Elena with the winning comment... And here’s a picture of Elena with the Mary Kay gift bag... I thought I’d list the blog/website links of the people who entered (some people didn’t post a link to their blog when they left a comment). Check out their sites – I’m sure they’d appreciate it! 11th Love 2 Kids & Tired Cooks All Grown Up? Another Day In Paradise Audra's Little Scraps The Bender House Big Blueberry Eyes Birth 2 Remember Doula Services Bishies are Bringing Sexyback Blueberries & Peanut Butter Christian Momma Christina's Take On Everything 59 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog Classless & Lovin' It Comfort Joy Designs Conrad Creations Conversing With Crystal A Day In The Life Of Bella Flute Mom God Gave Me You The Good Stuff Grammy Janet's Place The Green Yak 2008 Journeys: Autism, Teaching & Trying To Be An Open Minded Woman Just So Millie Katrina's Creations The Kitchen Counter Life As I Know It Life From The Toaster Me & My Sister Meant To Be Mending Her Broken Heart Mike & Tanya's Corner Of The World MLK Assignment Modern Mama's Fabulous Favorites Mom Of 2 Dancers Mom Two Ways Mommy Minded Mommy's Got Green 60 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog Natalie's Sentiments The Nebeker Family No I Can't Wiggle My Nose One Servant's Journey Parenting Tips & Ideas Parker Family The Paulsen Pages Planet Misty Polygenerosity Quilly Silly's Vintage Boutique Richelle's Reflections Roach Chronicles Samsakara She Became A Butterfly She Scribes Smiling Sally Starlight Cakes Stepping Off the Spaceship Tales From O'Toole Three Different Directions Thunderclouds & A Furrowed Brow Uniquely Yours The Wicked Life Of...Meeeeee With The Fruit Of Her Hands WSMFP 2008 61 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog Yankee Mom 2008 Thanks to everyone who left a comment and entered the giveaway. ♥ POSTED BY AMY AT 7:30 AM FRIDAY, AUGUST 08, 2008 TGIF! I’ve been really busy at work the past couple weeks. Which I suppose is better than not being busy at all. I don’t mind. I’d rather have too much work than too little. There’s nothing worse than being bored at work. One of my co-workers is getting married tonight. She wanted to get married on 8-8-08 at 8:08 p.m. Leon and I are going to the wedding. My parents are coming over to spend the night so they can stay with Elena. Even though children are welcome at the wedding, I have a feeling Elena may have been disruptive if we brought her with us. She loves to "talk" and sometimes she babbles really loudly! I cleaned the house the past two nights after work (it usually takes me one evening to clean the upstairs and one evening to clean the downstairs). I’ve been so good about keeping my house clean lately and staying on top of chores such as laundry and dishes. I’m proud of myself! I think becoming a mom has caused me to use my time more wisely when it comes to getting things done around the house. And I’ve found if I do a little bit every day, things don’t become overwhelming when it’s time to clean. I used to have the tendency to let things pile up and become cluttered, and then it would literally take me hours to clean the house. I’ve also done really well with my diet the past two weeks. I’ve only lost 4 pounds so far, but it’s a start. I’ve eaten really well, and I've walked every evening except for the past two nights (cleaning the house was my "exercise"). I usually bring Elena along on my walks in her stroller, and she seems to enjoy herself. Sometimes she falls asleep. Elena will be 6 months old tomorrow. She has her six-month check-up on Tuesday. I want to ask the doctor about her spitting up. Sometimes I think she spits up more now than when she was first born. Maybe the 7 ounces I feed her at a time is just too much for her little tummy. She’s been rather fussy the past few nights and I wonder if she’s teething. I haven’t noticed any teeth in her mouth yet, but maybe the doctor will see something that I don’t. I better get back to work. Until next time... POSTED BY AMY AT 11:40 AM 62 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 13, 2008 Six months Elena had her 6-month check-up yesterday. She’s doing well. She weighs 15 pounds, 13 ounces and is 26-1/2 inches long. She had to get 3 shots and 1 oral vaccine. She was supposed to get 4 shots, but they were out of one of them so we have to go back within the next month when they get more of this vaccine in. She cried when the nurses gave her the shots, and she bled quite a bit from one of the needle sticks. I felt so sorry for her. But she recovered quickly. Since I had to leave work early to take her to the doctor, I brought Elena back to work with me afterward so I could make up the time. Elena enjoys being at mommy’s work! Here’s a picture of her sitting on my desk. The doctor said that we can start Elena on baby food now. He said we’ll work our way up to 3 times a day, but to start we’ll give her baby food once or twice a day. He said to give her orange foods like squash and carrots for a couple days, and then make sure she doesn’t have any reaction to them, and then move on to green foods like green beans and peas. He said to give her vegetables first and start fruit after that. I told him she didn’t like rice cereal at all, so I’m hopeful that she’ll enjoy the baby foods. Elena has been babbling for quite a while now, but she recently started saying things that sound like real words. She says "mom-mom-mom" and "daa-daa" and "baa-baa." It’s so cute. She talks all the time and sometimes she’s really loud! She was talking loudly in the doctor’s office yesterday. I thought it was funny, but I’m not sure how much the other people in the waiting room enjoyed it. The pastor from our new church came to our house last night to talk to Leon and me. He’s very nice. We’re really enjoying this new church. We want to have Elena baptized soon, and the pastor said we can do this within the next month. We just need to pick a Sunday when all of our family can be there. We’d like to become members of this church and in order to do so, we have to take a series of classes. Leon was confirmed as a Lutheran when he was a teenager, so it will be like a reaffirmation for him. But I have to actually be confirmed as a Lutheran since I was baptized Methodist. It’s important to Leon that Elena be raised as a Lutheran, and I don’t have a problem with this. I so rarely went to church as a child anyway, so I have no real background in the Methodist church as it is. I’m just excited to finally be involved with a church. I’ve wanted to get involved in a church for a long time, but it 63 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 just took me a while to talk Leon into it. Now that he’s been going to this new church, I can tell he enjoys it too. Andrew and Beth start back to school next week (I believe next Wednesday). Andrew will be a freshman in high school, and Beth will be starting middle school. So hard to believe! The kids’ sports have started up again. Andrew has had football practice almost every day for the past couple of weeks, and Beth has her first soccer games this weekend. I started feeling sick last night. I can’t believe I would have caught something at the doctor’s office and gotten sick that fast, but you never know. I had a really bad headache, my throat was sore and I felt like I was going to throw up (which thankfully I didn’t). I laid down for a while and felt somewhat better afterward. But I still don’t feel that great today. My throat is still sore and my head hurts. I hope I’m not having a relapse of hand, foot and mouth disease because this is how I felt when I was coming down with that. I’m sure I’ll be sick a lot over the next year or two. I know Elena brings home every germ she comes into contact with at daycare. POSTED BY AMY AT 7:34 AM THURSDAY, AUGUST 21, 2008 Elena likes her veggies We started Elena on baby food on Sunday. So far we’ve fed her carrots and sweet potatoes, and she loved both. She seemed to do fine with the orange foods, so we’re moving onto green foods tonight. It’s amazing how messy it is to feed a baby! Elena gets her food everywhere. Here’s a picture of her after eating carrots (she was so proud of herself!)... 64 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 Last night I had a mint chocolate chip ice cream cone from UDF and I let Elena have a lick. She obviously loves sweets! Here’s another picture of her with ice cream on her chin... I’ve been really busy at work lately. Tonight I have to work until about 7:00 p.m. because we have a barbeque/networking event for our members. Leon will have to pick Elena up from daycare. Elena really seems to enjoy her "school." She does art projects everyday. I have a "portfolio" with all of Elena’s work. It’s so adorable! Most of the projects consist of finger painting, and then the teachers turn the painting into something like a turtle, frog, cloud, leaf, etc. We still haven’t picked a date to have Elena baptized. We want to make sure that all of our family can be there. Hopefully we can decide on a date really soon because I’d love to have her baptized within the next month. I thought Andrew and Beth started back to school yesterday, but they don’t actually start until next Wednesday. On Saturday night, Beth’s mom is taking her to a Jonas Brothers concert. She loves them. It reminds me of my obsession with New Kids On The Block when I was her age. I’m so excited about going to their concert in October! Speaking of New Kids, my sister said that she read on the Internet yesterday that Jonathan Knight is gay! POSTED BY AMY AT 9:51 AM THURSDAY, AUGUST 28, 2008 Long post (to make up for not posting in a week) I’ve been busy at work again this week, so I haven’t been able to post much lately. Andrew and Beth started back to school yesterday. We talked to them last night, and they got along fine in their new schools. Andrew is now officially a freshman in high school and Beth is a 7th grader in middle school. Last Saturday, we met Leon’s mom, John and Karen in Mansfield (which is the half-way point for them and for us). We ate dinner at Steak n Shake. They hadn’t seen Elena since the Fourth of July, so they were surprised at how much she’s grown. 65 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 On Sunday, Leon, Andrew, Beth, Elena and I went to the Ohio Railway Museum in Worthington. I’d never been there before. There’s not really much to it. There is a one-room museum, and then you can look through old train cars and take a very short (as in, about 5 minutes) train ride. It was so hot that day though. Of course there was no air conditioning on the train or in the train cars on display, so it was stifling inside. We didn’t stay long. Here are a few pictures from the museum... Elena waving hello on the train Daddy & Elena on the train Beth, Amy, Elena & Andrew Beth, Elena, Leon & Andrew 66 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog Elena & Mommy inside the museum 2008 I didn’t want to have Elena out in the sun for long at the museum on Sunday. Her doctor said that babies under a year old shouldn’t wear sunscreen because the chemicals seep into their skin. I’d heard that babies 6 months and older can wear sunscreen, but I decided to listen to her doctor. That’s why we haven’t done many outdoor activities with Elena this summer – we don’t want her skin to burn! Next summer we can do outings to the zoo and the fair, etc. Elena is really enjoying her baby food. So far, she’s eaten carrots, sweet potatoes, green beans, peas, applesauce, bananas, peaches and pears. She’s eaten all of them with no problems. I started her on halfa-jar a day, but I’m now giving her a full jar every evening at dinner time. Next week, I’d like her to have baby food twice a day. Her daycare will give her baby food at lunch time, and they even provide the food which is nice. I’m so pleased with Elena’s daycare. It makes me feel so much less guilty about being a working mom when I see how she’s blossoming there. She’s always in a good mood when I pick her up, and she does so many activities there. She even plays with the other babies. When I picked her up yesterday, she and my friend Sherri’s son Aaron (who also goes to Elena’s daycare) were playing with the same toy. Aaron was holding one end and Elena was holding the other – it was so cute! Elena babbles non-stop. She waves and says "hi" (she drags it out so it’s more like "hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii") and "bye-bye" (sounds like "buh-buh"). She also says "mom-mom," "da-da" and "ba-ba." She isn’t crawling yet, but she rolls and scoots. She moves all the time, so I have to keep a close eye on her! I don’t want her rolling or scooting off the bed or couch, etc. If I have to put her down to do something, I only feel safe if she’s in her crib or her playpen. She can now scoot out of her carrier and she flips around in her bouncy seat and rocks back and forth in her Bumbo seat! I’m afraid she’ll tip over if I leave her in any of those things. She is such a little ham though. She cracks me up all the time. I absolutely love being Elena’s mom. It’s my favorite thing in the world! We had trouble picking a date for Elena’s baptism that didn’t interfere with family members’ activities, but it looks like Sunday, November 9 will work for everyone. I’d hoped to schedule it sooner, but our church only does baptisms on the second and fourth Sundays of the month, and our families had something going on those days in September and October. But November 9 is a good date because Elena will be 9 months old that day. My friend Sarah recently posted on her blog about how she had what I call an "eye spell" on her vacation. She saw a black spot in front of her eye and part of her vision was obstructed. I knew just what she was talking about because back when I was in college in 1997, I had a problem with my eyes just like that. I was sitting in class and I started seeing a black spot as if I had looked into a bright light. I sat in class and tried not to panic, but it scared me so bad. I thought I was going blind! Afterward, I got a terrible headache. I think the eye spell only lasted about a half-hour, but it was terrifying for me. The only thing that kept me from completely losing it was that I knew my mom experienced these same spells. For 67 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog years, she’s had this exact same thing happen to her. 2008 I asked my eye doctor about it at the time, and he said this is a common symptom of a migraine and can also be brought on by stress. It’s so ironic that Sarah just posted about this because I had another "eye spell" last night while we were eating dinner. It wasn’t as bad as the one I remember having in '97, but it was still unpleasant. I saw that black spot as if I had looked at the sun and then I saw wavy lines around the edges of my vision. It went away within a half-hour, but it sucks that I went 11 years without having one and now I had one again. I hope I don’t have another spell anytime soon. I had a headache all day yesterday and I don’t know how to NOT be stressed, so it’s no wonder I had an eye spell I suppose. I think my parents are coming over to visit this Saturday. Leon and I have Monday off for Labor Day, so the three-day weekend will be nice. Alright, I've rambled enough for one day. By the way, my co-worker sent me this picture of Leon and me from her wedding on 8-8-08... POSTED BY AMY AT 7:49 AM WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 03, 2008 Bad day for a 7-month-old Poor Elena had a tough day yesterday. Leon had a staff meeting at work, so Elena had to go to daycare earlier than usual. She got there about 7:30 a.m. And then I had a council meeting at work, so I had to stay until 5:00 p.m. and couldn’t pick Elena up until about 5:30. So she was at daycare much longer than usual. When I picked her up, one of her caregivers told me that there had been an "incident" that morning. Elena was in a bouncy seat and one of the little boys fell on her and hit his teeth on her forehead. Thankfully he didn’t break the skin – Elena just has a red mark on her forehead. Yesterday was the first day that daycare started giving her baby food. She had bananas and sweet potatoes. She was a mess when I picked her up! She got food all over her onesie and her shorts. 68 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 When I got her home, I decided to give her some peaches since her doctor said she could start having baby food three times a day. Well, apparently three different types of baby food in one day was too much. Later that night (after she’d already had a bath), I noticed the back of her onesie was stained – she had diarrhea and it was all over her! I had to give her another bath. When I finally laid her in her crib at bedtime, I noticed the pacifier she was sucking on was not hers! She has a green binky with a fish on it, but it also has her name on it. A binky that looked exactly like this (except it didn’t have her name on it) was in her basket at daycare so I took it home. I rinsed it off with hot water, but I didn’t boil it. It didn’t even occur to me that this was not her pacifier. When I put her to bed, I noticed her green pacifier in her crib – so I have no idea whose binky she had been sucking on all evening! I know that’s not sanitary at all. Now I feel bad for not realizing this wasn’t even her binky. Thankfully this other binky looks brand new so I’d like to think another baby had not been using it yet. I’ll see what I can find out when I pick her up from daycare this afternoon. I hope Elena has a better day today! On a happier note, she is getting her first tooth! Leon and I felt a bump on her gum, and when I looked in her mouth I saw a little white bud poking through her gum – the left front tooth on the bottom. She hasn’t been overly fussy (yet), although she drools all the time and is always chewing on her fingers so we thought for some time that she was teething. POSTED BY AMY AT 8:16 AM THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 04, 2008 Elena’s first homework assignment How funny is it that a 7-month-old has homework?! Elena's daycare providers gave us a poster board last week and said that we had to create a poster about our child's life. I worked on it last night, while Elena sat beside me and watched (she was preoccupied with her toys and didn’t pay much attention to her homework!). I’m going to hand in her poster when I pick her up this afternoon. I took a picture of it – I’m proud of the way it turned out! (Elena better get an A!) ;) POSTED BY AMY AT 8:20 AM 69 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 05, 2008 Elena will be crawling soon! Elena won’t let me look in her mouth (she sticks her tongue out and licks me when I put my fingers in her mouth – silly girl!). But I think her bottom right front tooth is also coming through. I can see a white bump on the left bottom, but I also felt something on the right side last night. I think she’s in pain because she was very fussy last night. It broke my heart. I wish I could take the pain for her! I put Orajel on her gums and let her chew on a cold teething ring, but it didn’t seem to do much good. She is usually such a good sleeper. All I have to do is lay her in her crib and she falls asleep. But she kept crying when I laid her down last night, so Leon and I brought her into our bedroom and held her for a while and she finally fell asleep. Elena is going to be crawling in no time! She tries so hard. She gets up on her hands and knees and shakes her little butt – it’s so cute. I took a video clip of her attempt to crawl last night. (Please disregard my voice – it always sounds so shrill on video!) Since Elena was born, I have so many digital photos of her. I’ve been looking for a way to organize them so I can keep them in an electronic photo album. I recently discovered a free program that you can download called Picasa. I have no idea why I didn’t know about this before since this is the program Blogger uses when you upload photos to your blog. I made a web album of Elena’s photos from birth until now. I actually have a lot more photos, but I wanted the album to contain what I consider the best shots. Here’s a LINK if you’d like to view 100+ photos of Elena! Leon recently gave me New Kids On The Block’s latest CD "The Block." I’ve been listening to it in my car this week. It’s not bad – it has quite a few catchy songs. But it’s so different from the bubblegum pop they made in the late 80’s/early 90’s. Their new songs are very much hip-hop. It’s kind of funny. I still love them though. Once a New Kids fan, always a New Kids fan I guess. I’ll be glad when November gets here so we can get this election over with. I’m so tired of all the political ads. I try not to talk about politics on my blog because I know that’s one subject people can never agree 70 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 on. I will say that I consider myself a bit more "middle of the road" – I personally have problems with people who lean too far to the left or the right. I do feel that the media has a bias toward the left and doesn’t always give the right a fair chance. It makes me sad to see our country so terribly divided. The worst part is seeing the hatefulness of some people who feel very strongly about one side or the other. I don't see how our country can move forward productively with this kind of attitude from either side. Alright, I’ll get off my political soapbox now. POSTED BY AMY AT 8:33 AM WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2008 How To Tell If You Need To Pray At Work... One of my co-workers sent me this e-mail this morning, and it’s so funny that I just had to share it. For anyone who works in an office, I’m sure you can relate to the following things... (You might have to click on the images to make them larger so you can read them.) 71 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 72 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 POSTED BY AMY AT 9:17 AM THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2008 I remember... It’s hard to believe 7 years have passed since September 11, 2001. Thinking of everyone affected by that awful day. Elena and I are heading to Coshocton this weekend. My sister’s birthday is on Friday and my mom’s birthday is on September 17 so we’ll be celebrating birthdays this weekend. Leon has to work so he and Goldie can’t come with us. Elena likes to pull herself up on her knees by grabbing onto the side of her crib. I happened to catch her doing this the other day so of course I had to grab my camera! 73 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 POSTED BY AMY AT 8:05 AM MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2008 Wind Storm! I’ve never seen a hurricane affect Ohio, but Hurricane Ike did! We had 60+ mph winds Sunday afternoon. Trees and limbs are down all over the city. Our neighbors across the street lost the tree in their front yard. We lost our power at home around 3:30 p.m. yesterday and it’s still out. Apparently over 300,000 central Ohioans are without power. I had to take a shower by candlelight this morning! Luckily the power is on at work, so I came in early so I could do my hair and makeup there. Leon stayed home with Elena because there is no power at her daycare either. If it’s still out tomorrow, I’ll probably bring Elena to work with me. I heard that it could take up to 7 days to restore power in some areas. What a pain! It’s incredible how dependent we are on electricity. Leon has a battery-powered radio, and he listened to the Browns game on that last night. Elena and I sat around in the dark. She finally fell asleep around 8:00 p.m. and I went to bed too since there was nothing else to do! Elena and I went to Coshocton on Friday night and spent the weekend there (Leon stayed home since he had to work). My sister’s birthday was on Friday, and her husband had a surprise party for her at my parents’ house that night. My mom’s birthday is this Wednesday so we celebrated her birthday too. We 74 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog had a nice visit. 2008 Elena and I left Coshocton around 4:30 p.m. yesterday, and my parents’ electricity had just gone out (they’re still without it today as well). It was a scary drive home because it was so windy! I could feel the wind pushing my car, and it felt like I could drift off the road. I was very glad to get home. I really hope our power comes back on at home soon! I took some pictures of the damage around our house so I’ll have to post them within the next few days. POSTED BY AMY AT 10:08 AM TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2008 We have power again Our electricity came back on around 4:00 p.m. yesterday. Thank God! I know a lot of people are still without power though. My parents still don’t have any so they spent the night at a motel. Leon cleaned up our yard last night. All of our neighbors were out raking up limbs and sawing trees that had fallen. I took a few pictures of the "Great Wind Storm of '08" on Sunday after the wind died down... 75 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 Here are a couple pictures of Elena from our weekend in Coshocton. She liked playing with the balloons from Aunt Julie’s birthday party. And Grandpa Kirker took her for a ride on his mower and she really enjoyed it! POSTED BY AMY AT 8:25 AM MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2008 TV Shows My parents were still without power as of yesterday. I haven’t talked to them yet today to find out if the power is back on. Seven days without electricity! That is just painful. I’m thankful our power was only out for about 24 hours. 76 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 Elena almost has crawling down. She finally figured out she has to move her knees too. She only takes a couple steps on her knees and then she drops down to her belly and scoots. She scoots rather quickly! I left her in the middle of the living room last night and went out to the kitchen to get something. I was gone about 60 seconds and she managed to scoot into the dining room while I was gone. I have to keep a close eye on her because she’s already into everything! Even though Elena is only 7-1/2 months old, she has a favorite cartoon! She loves the Wonder Pets on Noggin. She actually dances to the songs the Wonder Pets sing. It’s so adorable! The show is really cute. We sing the songs all the time. ♫ The phone – the phone is ringing! The phone – we’ll be right there! There’s an animal in trouble – an animal in trouble – an animal in trouble somewhere. ♫ ♫ Linny – Tuck – and Ming-Ming too! We’re Wonder Pets and we’ll help you! ♫ ♫ What’s gonna work? Team work! What’s gonna work? Team work! ♫ ♫ Wonder Pets, Wonder Pets, we found a way – to save a baby (animal) and save the day! We’re not too big and we’re not too tough, but when we work together we’ve got the right stuff! ♫ I was happy to see that they sell quite a few Wonder Pets toys. They will make great Christmas gifts! I already bought her a Wonder Pets flyboat on Friday. It plays the Wonder Pets songs and Elena really seems to like it. She lost her balance and fell face first on her new toy yesterday! Now she has a bruise on her cheek from the Wonder Pets flyboat. Speaking of shows, my new favorite show is a soap opera – The Young & The Restless. I used to watch Y&R when I was in high school, but I quit watching it once I was in college since I was so busy. My mom has watched it for years and she got me hooked on it again when she stayed with me after Elena was born. Since I work during the day, I record Y&R on our DVR and watch it in the evenings. Sometimes I get behind though – I had a whole week’s worth of episodes to watch over the weekend. It’s a very addictive show and easy to get hooked on. I actually watch too many TV shows, although I rarely watch them when they’re actually on. I record them on the DVR and watch them after Elena is asleep. The new fall season starts this week. I’m looking forward to Heroes, How I Met Your Mother, Two and a Half Men, Law & Order SVU, My Name Is Earl, The Office, 30 Rock and ER. I’m not sure I’ll be able to keep up with all these shows this year though since I have a baby now! Leon just renewed our DirecTV and they gave us three free months of Showtime too. Yay! I love DirecTV. POSTED BY AMY AT 9:07 AM 77 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2008 2008 Sick again? I feel like I’m getting sick...again! A few weeks ago, Leon, Elena and I all had a stomach bug for a couple days. Then Elena and I got colds a couple weeks ago. Last night, I started feeling achy and hot and my throat is sore. I didn’t sleep well at all last night. I woke up every hour or so because I was so uncomfortable. Elena’s nose is still running too and she’s coughing. We just can’t stay well! I’m sure it has a lot to do with the fact that Elena comes into contact with so many germs at daycare. Elena and I are heading to Coshocton tomorrow because we’re going to the Coshocton County Fair with my parents. Leon is staying home with Andrew and Beth since they have sports activities that they can’t miss. I think I’ve been to the fair every year since I was born. I always enjoy going home for it, even though it never really changes. We’ll probably spend the night in Coshocton because I don’t like to drive after dark. Next Friday, we’re heading to Cleveland since I’m going to the New Kids On The Block concert. Leon, Elena and I will spend the weekend in Medina at Leon’s mom’s house – even though we just found out that she won’t be home that weekend! She’s going on vacation, and she didn’t realize we were coming to visit that weekend. Elena is doing so well with her crawling. She finally got the hang of it and she moves her little legs too. She can also stand if I prop her up next to something, like the couch. She smiles and looks so proud of herself when she’s standing! She also has the most adorable smile since her little tooth came through on the bottom left. So far, that’s the only tooth she has. Speaking of teeth, I had to go to the dentist yesterday to get two fillings. It seems like I’m always getting cavities and it drives me crazy! I try to take such good care of my teeth, and I brush them at least 3 times a day. My dentist told me that cavities can also be hereditary – which would explain a lot. My parents always had problems with their teeth, and they both ended up with false teeth. Thankfully there is no reason to believe I will end up with false teeth too. I just unfortunately get a lot of cavities. And then there’s Leon who has never had a cavity in his life! I hope Elena takes after him. People often make comments on how white my teeth are, and it makes me happy when they notice! A few years ago, my dentist took an impression of my teeth and created trays for me. I think it cost somewhere around $250 - $300, but the trays last for years. I have to buy the bleach for the trays, but that only costs around $20 for 4 syringes of bleach. Once you do the initial bleaching, which is over a 2-week period, you just need to do touch-ups from then on – which means you wear the trays for about an hour a couple days in a row. The results are long-lasting. I only do touch-ups twice a year if that, and my teeth have stayed really white even though I drink a lot of coffee and Diet Coke. I’m very pleased with the results. POSTED BY AMY AT 9:21 AM 78 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 MONDAY, OCTOBER 06, 2008 Happy Anniversary and Blog-o-versary to me... My sister and I met my friend Sarah, her sister and a couple of her friends at the New Kids On The Block concert in Cleveland on Friday night. It was an absolute blast! I had such a great time. I have not had that much fun at a concert in a long time. NKOTB sang all their old hits as well as some of the songs off their new CD. Even though they’re 20 years older, they still put on a really great show. The concert was at the Quicken Loans Arena (formerly the Gund Arena) in downtown Cleveland. I was surprised that NKOTB can still fill an arena after all this time! There were so many people there, and it was really loud. Most of the people there were women my age who were most likely fans of NKOTB when they were popular in the late 80’s/early 90’s. I would definitely go see them again if they’re in concert nearby! My sister went back home after the concert, but Leon, Elena and I spent the weekend at Leon’s mom’s house in Medina. Even though Leon’s mom was on vacation, we got to visit with his sisters and brother. Leon’s and my sixth anniversary was yesterday. It’s hard to believe we have been married for 6 years already. We may try to go out to dinner one night this week. We drove home from Medina yesterday and ate Arby’s in the car on the way home, so we didn’t get the chance to really celebrate our anniversary. We both agree that Elena is the best anniversary gift we could ever hope for! Speaking of anniversaries, my 3-year blog-o-versary was on Saturday. So much has happened over the past 3 years. And my blog has had nearly 8,000 readers in that time! (Of course, there’s a very good possibility that at least half of those hits were me!) Leon and I are finally getting over our colds. We were sick for a couple weeks. Elena is better now too, thankfully. I’m sure it’s just a matter of time before we’re all sick again though. I’m going to get a flu shot this year and I think Elena may be able to get one too (if she’s old enough, that is – I don’t know the minimum age for a flu shot). Elena is into everything now! She crawls pretty fast and instead of playing with the 20 toys I lay out for her, she prefers to play with knick knacks or the remote or open cupboard doors or pull on Goldie’s tail, etc. She is definitely going to be keeping her mama busy! But I wouldn’t have it any other way. Being Elena’s mom is my favorite thing in the world. POSTED BY AMY AT 7:50 AM 79 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog FRIDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2008 2008 Elena likes to pull herself up TGIF again! The weekends always go by so fast though. My parents are coming to visit tomorrow. They’re remodeling their kitchen and want to look for a ceiling fan at Andersons (they love that store). Andrew is staying with us since his mom and Beth are in Washington, D.C. Beth has a soccer tournament in D.C. this weekend. Homecoming at Andrew’s school is this weekend too. He plans to go to the football game tonight, and then he’s taking a girl (who he says is just a friend) to the homecoming dance tomorrow night. Elena was 8 months old yesterday. She has made so much progress in the past few weeks. She is a pro at crawling now, and she is able to pull herself up to stand. I took a few pictures of her last night. As you can tell, she is so proud of her ability to stand! In the third picture (where she’s smiling so big), you can kind of see her tooth on the bottom. Her smile reminds me so much of myself! Even though she looks a lot like her daddy, I can definitely see my features in her too. 80 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 My new favorite store is Babies R Us. They have so many great things, and most of the items are reasonably priced. I bought Elena a Halloween outfit there. She’s obviously too young to trick or treat, but I still want to dress her up. I bought her this cute jogging suit that looks like a pumpkin and has a stem on the hood. I’ll definitely take pictures of her in it! I also got her this adorable onesie and a pair of socks that say "My First Thanksgiving" as well as a headband with a turkey on it. It seems so surreal to me at times that I get the chance to enjoy a store like Babies R Us. There was a time, when I was dealing with the pain of infertility, that I’d avoid that kind of store like the plaque. I remember I used to walk by the baby section in stores as fast as I could, trying so hard to not even glance at it. Sometimes I hold Elena close to me and say "Thank you God for giving me this beautiful baby." I am so grateful to be a mom. Ok, I better end this post now before I make myself cry! POSTED BY AMY AT 8:12 AM FRIDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2008 Missing them... I think about Darlene and my grandma a lot. They show up in my dreams quite often. I miss them both very much. When I first moved to Columbus back in the summer of 1997, Darlene and I lived in Grandview. There will always be a special place in my heart for Grandview. We had some good times there. I don’t get over there very often anymore, but I always feel a tug at my heart strings when I drive through that area. Just reminiscing a little today. I know I don’t write much about Darlene or my grandma in my blog anymore, but there’s not a day that goes by that they don’t cross my mind. POSTED BY AMY AT 10:24 AM 81 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 TUESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2008 Checking in... I haven’t been a very good blogger lately. It seems like the weeks just fly by. Elena is keeping me busier than ever! She crawls everywhere and is into everything. We still have some babyproofing to do, and we really need to do it soon because nothing is safe anymore! Andrew and Beth were with us over the weekend. We celebrated Beth’s birthday, which was yesterday. She is 13 now – officially a teenager! She and Andrew both look so grown-up anymore. Even at 8 months, I can tell that Elena looks up to her big brother and sister. Her face just lights up when they come in the room, and she smiles at them all the time. It’s so cute. A few weeks ago, Elena got her picture taken at school. They did three different poses. I was so happy with the way the pictures turned out. She’s actually smiling in them. I bought the whole package and plan to give some of the pictures to our family as Christmas gifts. I know this post is short and sweet, but I need to get back to work. And other than chasing Elena all over the house, I don’t have anything else terribly exciting to blog about. Until next time... POSTED BY AMY AT 8:33 AM WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2008 A few pictures... I installed the baby gate at the top of our stairs all by myself last night. I’m usually not so handy, so I was proud of myself. Here is a picture of Elena in her "prison." I also wanted to post a couple pictures of Andrew and Beth so you can see how grown-up they look now. I took the picture of Beth when we celebrated her birthday on Sunday, and the picture of Andrew was taken before the homecoming dance at his school a couple weeks ago. (You can click on the pictures for a larger 82 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog view.) 2008 Here is another picture of Elena playing with an envelope from one of Beth’s birthday cards. POSTED BY AMY AT 12:02 PM 83 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog MONDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2008 2008 Facebook Lately I’ve been obsessed with Facebook. It’s funny because I joined there back in 2006, but I only recently created a profile. My stepson told me that MySpace is out and Facebook is the "place to be." I still think I prefer MySpace, but I’m getting a kick out of Facebook anyway. I’ve found a bunch of old friends from school that I haven’t talked to in years. I believe you have to be my "friend" to view my profile, but here is the link if you want to befriend me: Amy’s Facebook Page. I only have time for a short post today. I’m at work and we’re getting ready to celebrate a co-worker’s birthday with some chocolate cake! POSTED BY AMY AT 1:21 PM TUESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2008 My little pumpkin As promised, here are a couple pictures of Elena in her Halloween costume. I dressed her up last night and took some pictures. She kept pulling at the hood – I don’t think she liked that part of her outfit! In the second picture where she’s smiling so big, you can see her two bottom teeth. 84 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 Elena gets to dress up at school on Friday too. The kids are going to parade around in their Halloween costumes – even the babies! Tonight Elena and I are meeting up with Sherri and Leslie and their babies. Sherri’s son Aaron is also in Elena’s class at school. He’s a couple months older than her. Leslie’s daughter Keira is a few days older than Elena. My dad’s birthday is this Sunday. We’re planning on meeting my parents in Newark (the halfway point) for lunch. Next Sunday, November 9, is Elena’s baptism. I still need to buy her a dress! My parents, my sister and Jamie, my great aunt, Leon’s mom, and John and Karen will all be there for her baptism. We also agreed to have Thanksgiving at our house this year. I don’t mind. I’m happy that both families can come together at our house to share Elena’s first Thanksgiving. I can’t believe that Thanksgiving is only a month away! Remember how I mentioned that Elena is such a good sleeper? Lately she’s been having trouble going to sleep at night. I used to be able to lay her in her crib and she’d fall asleep on her own. But now when I lay her down, she cries. I’ll stand there and rub her head to try and make her sleepy – but when I try to tiptoe away, she notices I’m leaving and starts to cry again. She’ll also wake up after she’s fallen asleep and cry. It’s as if she wakes up and notices she’s alone in her room. Maybe she gets scared. I think she’s experiencing some separation anxiety at night. I read that this is normal at her age. POSTED BY AMY AT 9:19 AM TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 04, 2008 Election Day 2008 I’ve been busy with work and chasing after Elena, so I know I haven’t been posting on a very regular basis lately. I just wanted to say that I voted today! I got to the polls when they opened at 6:30 a.m. and I was out of there by 7:30 a.m. I was happy I only had to stand in line for an hour. I think I had to stand in line for at least two hours back in 2004. If you know me, you know who I voted for. But I don’t like to talk about politics on my blog because I know that’s something people can never agree on. People feel very strongly about one side or the other, 85 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog and we all have reasons for voting the way that we do. 2008 At any rate, it will be interesting to watch TV tonight as the results of the polls come in. POSTED BY AMY AT 8:12 AM THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2008 Behind in blogging When I came into work on Friday, my computer screen was blue (what one of my co-workers refers to as the "blue screen of death"). I tried to re-start it repeatedly, but I kept getting that same blue screen with an error message that said "Inmountable Boot Error." This same thing happened to my computer at work last fall, so I knew it meant the hard drive had died. Thankfully, all of my files are backed up to the server so I didn’t lose anything. But it’s still a huge inconvenience to be without a computer! Our computer guy ordered me a new hard drive and re-installed my programs, so I was up and running again yesterday. But I spent the whole day trying to get my computer back to where it had been before (re-arranging my desktop, installing fonts that I used to have, restoring my e-mail, etc.). I’ve basically lost a whole week at work, so I’m really behind. This is magazine week too! The magazine is due on Friday, but I haven’t even started on this issue. The only time I find to get online is usually at work, so I haven’t been able to post any new blog entries lately. We had a really busy weekend. Elena’s baptism was on Sunday so we had family in town. Her baptism went really well. I’ll tell you all about it and post pictures too very soon. But for now, I need to get back to work and get this magazine started! POSTED BY AMY AT 8:01 AM TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2008 Getting caught up... I know I’ve been a bad blogger lately so I thought I’d take a few minutes to get caught up on my blogging before getting back to work! Thanks to my computer dying, I’m still about a week behind on my work. I tend to get stressed out when 86 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 I feel overwhelmed. I know stress lowers your immune system, so I got a flu shot yesterday. Leon’s work gives them for free to employees and their spouses. I usually get one every year anyway, but I thought it was an especially good idea this year since Elena brings home so many germs from daycare. Her nose is running right now so I think she might be getting a cold. She had her 9-month check-up last Monday. She weighs 17 pounds, 12 ounces and is 28 inches long. Her appointment went well. She had to get two shots – one for Hib and one for the flu. She has to go back on December 19 to get a second flu shot. I guess they only give half the dosage to babies at one time, so they need to get two shots. As you know, Elena was a pumpkin for Halloween. The weather was unseasonably warm that night, so it was perfect for the trick or treaters. Elena sat on the front porch with me for a while and helped me pass out candy, but she started getting very fussy so I had to take her inside. Here’s a picture of Elena and Daddy before she turned into a grumpy pumpkin... Elena's baptism on November 9 went very well. My parents, Julie and Jamie, Leon’s mom, John and Karen, my great aunt Arline, and Andrew and Beth were all at the baptism too. The pastor baptized Elena at the beginning of the church service. Leon and I went up front with her, and Leon let me hold her. Elena started to get fussy because she wanted to reach down and touch the water in the font! But once I leaned her back so the pastor could put water on her head, she was calm. She didn’t seem to mind the water on her head at all. When I held her upright again, she reached up and touched the pastor's hand – it was so sweet! The congregation had a beautiful cake that said "God Bless You Elena" after the church service. Our families came back to our house afterward for lunch. Here are some pictures from that day... Elena's cake 87 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog Beth, Elena & Andrew 2008 Mommy & Elena Aunt Julie & Uncle Jamie with Elena My friend Sherri (who was a friend of Darlene’s and whose son is in Elena’s class at daycare) had a gettogether at her house on Saturday night. Darlene’s dad, stepmom, brother and some of her friends were there. It was so nice seeing everyone. Counting Elena, there were four babies there (there were four of us who got pregnant after Darlene died and had babies around the same time). It was so much fun watching Elena play with the other babies. Sherri and Darlene’s stepmom gave me some pictures and some other personal items that they had from Darlene. After I got home, I looked through the pictures. Some of them were from high school. I cried as I looked through everything because it made me miss her. It still seems so surreal sometimes that Darlene isn’t here with us. She would have been such a great "Aunt Darlene" to Elena and all of her friends’ babies. I’m a member of a TWIG group (that raises money for Children’s Hospital). Our TWIG group hasn’t been very active this year, so we didn’t participate in the annual holiday bazaar. The bazaar was on Sunday, so I took Elena and met up with Linda (one of my co-workers who’s also in my TWIG group). Santa was there, so Elena had her picture taken with him! She wasn’t scared of him at all. She had on a bunny coat (that Linda gave her) so I put her hood up for the picture. 88 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog "Easter Bunny" Elena with Santa 2008 Elena loves bath time. I still put her in her baby bathtub and then I put that in the big bathtub. She’s actually too big for her tub, but I need to buy something to fit around her for the big tub so she doesn’t fall over. I took this picture of her playing with her rubber duckies last night. I’ve been depressed about my weight. Nine months later, I’m still 30 pounds heavier than I was before I had Elena. So I decided to start taking Alli. Even though I’m not sure I’d recommend it because it’s VERY hard on your stomach, I have to admit it’s working. I’ve lost 8 pounds in two weeks. Of course, I’ve been eating much better over the past two weeks so that might have something to do with it too. But I do think Alli helps you lose weight faster than just dieting alone. I haven’t started any kind of exercise plan yet, but I know I need to do that soon. Ideally, I’d like to keep taking Alli until I reach my goal weight and then (hopefully!) keep the weight off by diet and exercise. I’m not sure I could take Alli long-term because of the "treatment effects" if you eat too much fat! That part is not fun. But I was feeling desperate because I really want to at least be at the weight I was before I had Elena. Stay tuned to see if I can lose more weight! Well, I’ve written enough and I really need to get back to work now! Until next time... POSTED BY AMY AT 8:58 AM 89 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2008 My sick baby Poor Elena has the flu and threw up all day yesterday. Leon said she threw up a couple times yesterday morning, but he still dropped her off at daycare. Around noon, I got a call from her daycare telling me to come get her. She had thrown up twice more there. I took her back to work with me. I figured she could sleep in my cubicle. I’m still behind at work and I had to get the magazine finished. But I should have just taken Elena home! The poor thing had dry heaves all afternoon at my work. She cried every time she threw up. My heart just broke for her. She hasn’t thrown up since about 4:00 p.m. yesterday afternoon. I talked to her doctor and he told me not to give her formula last night, but to try and get her to drink Pedialyte or water instead. I picked up some apple-flavored Pedialyte and she did drink some of that last night. She also ate some Gerber puffs. She slept all night and was just waking up as I was leaving for work this morning. Leon sent me an e-mail and said he thinks he may stay home with her today because she’s still pretty fussy and she felt warm (she didn’t have a fever yesterday). When Elena was really little, she used to spit up all the time. But once she started eating baby food (around 6 months), she stopped spitting up. This is the first time she’s had the flu, so this was also my first experience with a baby vomiting. It’s so sad to see your child sick! I hope she’s back to her happy self very soon. I also hope no one else in the family catches her stomach bug! It’s amazing the things you do when you’re a mom – things I used to think would gross me out, but don’t bother me at all now that I have to deal with them! Before Elena was born, I was sure I’d gag over poopy diapers, but they don’t even faze me. And yesterday, I put my hand up to Elena’s mouth a couple times to catch her vomit so it wouldn’t go on the floor! Gross, right? ;) Not that these are my favorite things to do, but I’ve found that being a mom is often a very messy job! POSTED BY AMY AT 10:07 AM TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2008 Thanksgiving Time Leon and I caught whatever Elena had. We were sick on Friday and Saturday, with all the same symptoms. We were better by Sunday, but yuck! That was no fun. Elena’s mood is better, but she still had diarrhea as of this morning. I stayed home with her yesterday and called the doctor again. He said that as long as Elena’s other symptoms have subsided (vomiting, fever, etc.), she is most likely fine. It can take up to a week or more for a baby’s stool to become firm again after having a stomach bug like she had. 90 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 Elena had so many "blowouts" (as we call them) the past few days – I’ve never done so much laundry in my life! Ok, enough poop talk. ;) (Sorry to get so graphic!) I get off work at noon tomorrow and I’m off Thursday and Friday. Leon’s mom, John and Karen are coming over tomorrow night and will be staying with us through Friday. My parents, my great aunt, Julie and Jamie are coming over on Thanksgiving Day. Andrew and Beth are with their mom for Thanksgiving this year. I have so much to do to get ready for Thanksgiving. I had planned to do things over the weekend, but I didn’t feel well enough. I’m working until 5:00 tonight, but I need to go home and clean the house – which any mom knows is no easy task when you have a baby! Leon has to work late tonight so he won’t be able to hang out with Elena while I clean. So we’ll see how much I get accomplished. I haven’t bought any groceries for our Thanksgiving meal yet. I plan to go shopping when I get off work tomorrow. Karen said she’ll help me cook and Leon usually does the turkey. My mom is also bringing some food, so it shouldn’t be too overwhelming. We plan to fix a lot of food though! So far, our menu consists of turkey, ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn casserole, green bean casserole, macaroni & cheese, pumpkin pie and apple pie. I’m sure I’m forgetting something... Leon’s family probably won’t get to Columbus until late tomorrow night. Leon, Elena and I plan to go to a 7:00 p.m. service at our church tomorrow night too. I’ve never been to a Thanksgiving church service, so I really wanted to take Elena. Well, I better get back to work now. I’m still behind from when my computer died a couple weeks ago. If I don’t post again beforehand...Have a Happy Thanksgiving! POSTED BY AMY AT 10:28 AM TUESDAY, DECEMBER 02, 2008 Hope of My Heart I apologize for being such a bad blogger lately. I was busy all weekend with family visiting and work has been busy lately too. I took some pictures of Elena’s first Thanksgiving, but I haven’t downloaded them off my camera yet. I’ll try to post them later this week. To be honest, I was kind of glad when Thanksgiving was over! It was a lot of work. My sister-in-law and I did the majority of the cooking...and everyone knows I’m not a chef! Cooking tends to stress me out. At any rate, the meal turned out well. We had a lot of leftovers though. Elena was fussy on her first Thanksgiving! She still had diarrhea that day so that probably contributed to her grumpiness. We gave her some turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, corn casserole, and macaroni and cheese...all of which ended up in her hair! She also had a blowout in her adorable "My First Thanksgiving" onesie, so she didn’t get to wear that for too long. I think she went through four outfits that day because of her diarrhea. It took a week, but her tummy is finally better thank goodness! 91 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 I feel so guilty though because we infected everyone with the flu! Elena had it first (she obviously picked up the bug at daycare). Then I had it...then Leon...then Beth...then Beth’s mom...then Beth’s mom’s boyfriend...then Beth’s mom’s boyfriend’s two daughters...then Andrew...and then my parents and John caught it! Although Elena still had diarrhea on Thanksgiving, we assumed the germs were gone by then. But my parents and John got sick a couple days later. My great aunt, sister-in-law and mother-in-law were also at our house on Thanksgiving, so I pray they stay healthy! The point of this post though is that I wanted to rave about the jewelry that one of my friends from Hannah’s Prayer, Melody York, makes! It’s called Hope of My Heart Designs, and her jewelry is absolutely beautiful. Another HP friend sent me a bracelet that Melody made shortly after Elena was born. It has pink beads and one of the beads has an "E" on it. It's so pretty. I recently purchased a "Priscilla" bracelet, which is a sterling silver mother's birthstone bracelet. Mine has amethyst beads on it, which is Elena's birthstone. It's gorgeous! I encourage you to check out Melody's website. You will not be disappointed. If you're reading this Melody – thank you for making such wonderful jewelry! POSTED BY AMY AT 9:52 AM WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 03, 2008 Thanksgiving Pictures Here are a few pictures from Thanksgiving... This is the only picture I got of Elena in her "My First Thanksgiving" onesie and turkey headband before she had her "blowout" and had to have her outfit changed. 92 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog Elena tries her first taste of Thanksgiving foods. 2008 Messy Baby, Part 2 Not the best picture of the fam, but from left to right: My dad, my sister-in-law Karen, my brother-in law John, my mother-in-law, Leon, my great aunt Arline, Elena (hidden in the corner), and my mom POSTED BY AMY AT 7:27 AM 93 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2008 Busy...busy...busy... Maybe it’s just this time of year that makes me crazy, but I feel completely overwhelmed right now. It’s December 15 and I haven’t even started my Christmas shopping. We don’t even have our tree up! My job has been keeping me very busy lately. I know this is a good thing – job security, right? But I used to feel like I accomplished things at work, and lately I feel like I can never finish a task. I start one project and then get sidetracked by another project, etc. etc. I know millions of women work and raise families, so I have no right to complain. And not to take away ANYTHING from stay-at-home moms because I remember thinking what a tough job that was when I was on maternity leave! That being said, I do think it’s difficult having a job outside the home too. I have trouble getting much accomplished around the house as far as cooking, cleaning or laundry goes. Elena is such a funny little girl. I’m amazed at how she seems to learn something new everyday. She has always liked looking at ceiling fans and we have them in almost every room of our house. We’ll ask Elena "Where’s the fan?" and she’ll point up at the ceiling. We’ll also ask her "What does the doggie say?" and she’ll reply "Ooof, ooof, ooof." It’s so cute! She isn’t walking yet, but she can stand on her own for a few seconds before toppling over. She pulls herself up on everything and then side-steps whatever she’s holding onto. She’s eating more and more table food. I’ve been giving her little pieces of what we eat and she seems to be enjoying the new foods. I gave her some spaghetti noodles last week (no red sauce though!) and she gobbled it up. Here’s a picture... She scared me last week. I gave her some pieces of bread and even though the pieces were small, she stuffed a bunch of them in her mouth at once! I was putting dishes away and I noticed her face was red. I ran over to her and put my finger in her mouth to scoop out the bread that was in there. She started crying which was a relief because I knew she could breathe. I realized I can’t put very much food on her tray at once because she is bad about putting more than one piece in her mouth at a time. Elena was so ornery in church yesterday! Leon stayed home because he wasn’t feeling well, so I decided to take Elena by myself. She squirms and cries when you hold her because she wants to get down and crawl around. I let her sit on the floor, but then she kept trying to crawl under the pews! She pulled herself up and side-stepped across the pew we were in, but she fell backwards (twice!) and then cried. I finally took her out into the narthex until the sermon was over because she was being so disruptive. I really enjoy our church, but it’s not easy to listen to the sermon when I’m so preoccupied with keeping 94 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog Elena quiet! 2008 We have December 24-26 off work for Christmas, so I’m taking next Monday and Tuesday off too so I can be home the whole week. Andrew and Beth are with us until 1:00 p.m. on Christmas Day, so I’ll be able to stay home with them and Elena next week. I can always do some shopping next week if all else fails. Nothing like waiting until the last minute! After the kids’ mom picks them up on Christmas Day, Leon, Elena and I are heading to Coshocton to spend Christmas with my family. We plan to go to Medina on New Year’s Eve to spend time with Leon’s family. It’s almost quitting time at work, so I need to end this post. I’ll write again when I have some free time (so you may not hear from me again until 2009!). ;) Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! POSTED BY AMY AT 3:23 PM MONDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2008 Elena's First Christmas I’m back at work today after being off for 9 days. It was nice being home with Elena. Andrew and Beth were with us the first half of their Christmas break. We were very busy during my time off. When I picked Elena up from school on Friday the 19th, there was a sign posted that one of the infants had pink eye. Elena’s teachers told me that her eye had been oozing that day as well. I had to take Elena to the doctor’s office that afternoon anyway so she could get her flu booster, so the doctor was able to see her. He said that she had pink eye in her left eye, and he gave me an ointment to use on her eye for 5 days. I ended up using it on both eyes because the right one started to look red too. Thankfully, her eyes started looking better within 24 hours and no one else in the family caught it! Elena has had a cold too – her nose has been running and she’s been coughing. I think I caught her cold. My chest feels very congested – it actually feels sore. I think that might be because I pulled a muscle lifting Christmas gifts – or from holding Elena. At her doctor appointment on the 19th, the nurse weighed her and measured her – she is 18 pounds, 7.5 ounces and 28 inches long. So it gets pretty heavy carrying around an almost 20-pound baby! I waited until the last minute to start my Christmas shopping, but I did very well anyway. I went shopping the Friday night before Christmas and got most of my shopping done at that time. The next day Elena and I went to the mall and I finished up my shopping then. We went to a Christmas Eve service at our church on the 24th which was very nice. Afterward, Beth and I baked cookies and cupcakes and watched "A Christmas Story" (since TBS was playing it for 24 hours on Christmas Eve). Elena slept in until about 8:30 a.m. on Christmas Day, so we didn’t go downstairs to open presents until after 9:00 a.m. It was so much fun watching Elena experience her first Christmas! Santa Claus was very 95 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 good to her. She made out like a bandit. Andrew and Beth didn’t have as many gifts to open as Elena, but they know that Santa spends more money on their gifts! ;) Elena didn’t understand the concept of unwrapping her gifts, but we helped her. She seemed in awe of everything – it was so cute! She ended up playing with the wrapping paper and boxes more than her actual gifts though, and she was very interested in everyone else’s presents. After Andrew and Beth’s mom picked them up on Christmas Day, Leon, Elena, Goldie and I headed to Coshocton. My parents and my sister really spoiled Elena! She got so many gifts there. Leon left on Friday because he had to get back home to do a few computer side jobs. Elena and I stayed in Coshocton through Sunday. Leon and I have to work until noon on New Year’s Eve and then we’re heading to Medina to spend New Year’s with his family. At least it’s another short work week! I took about a hundred pictures on Christmas, but I’ll only share some of my favorites below. Happy New Year! ~~~~~~~~~~~ Our Christmas tree Elena's first look at the gifts under the tree 96 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog Elena checks out her card from Mommy & Daddy 2008 So many presents to unwrap! Elena examines some of her gifts Playing with her new xylophone 97 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog A talking purse from Grandma Dunning 2008 Dancing to the Wonder Pets theme song, sung by Ming-Ming Presents from Grandma D. Andrew tries out his Guitar Hero hand-held game 98 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog Beth helps Goldie unwrap gifts 2008 Elena looks at the Santa on Grandma & Grandpa Kirker's coffee table Mommy & Elena The first of many gifts to unwrap at Grandma & Grandpa K's 99 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog Elena's first baby doll 2008 Elena touches her other baby doll's hair Grandma K. shows Elena another gift Crawl & Cruise Musical Jungle 100 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog Walker Wagon 2008 Rock & Play Piano Grandpa K. makes Elena laugh My "famous" baby girl 101 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog Elena is going to have curly hair just like her Mommy 2008 Playing with the food in the cupboard at home - who needs Christmas presents when you have canned goods to play with?! POSTED BY AMY AT 8:22 AM 102