I've been busy...!

I realized that I haven’t checked on my blog for a couple weeks and, when I finally did so this morning, realized I haven’t written in about 4…  So, what have we been up to?  Well...

Several weeks ago, I was approached by a friend of a friend about gathering resources for a high school health class on the topic of sex ed.  Without going into detail (because it would just take way too long!), I gathered such resources and gave a lecture to mostly 16-year-olds on the nature of STDs (sexually-transmitted diseases).  It was an eye-opening experience – not only did I learn a little something more on the subject, but I also learned how insufficient the knowledge base was for these teenagers (1/3 of whom, according to statistics, are recently sexually active).  I might go in to more detail on a later post.

Around the same time, I was approached by another friend to give a “primer” on Theology of the Body for women, with the aim of increasing understanding to better educate one’s daughters.  The high points included the dignity of the human person, the beauty of how we are each designed, the purpose of our fertility, the wounds of being used and/or using others, modesty, purity, and chastity.  We plan to do a follow-up with the daughters next month, and I pray it will make an appropriate impact.

Then, we had the *big* ultrasound – yeah!  I will post a pic of the little one just as soon as I scan all 18 of the photos onto my computer. ;-)  Yes, we did find out the sex of the baby!  But, we also learned that there are “choroid plexus cysts” in the brain. This is a finding which is typically incidental (meaning it doesn’t mean anything) so long as there isn’t anything else untoward found on the ultrasound (there wasn’t).  However, it’s always a little disconcerting when things don’t look exactly as expected.  We will be getting a repeat ultrasound, though I don’t know when.  I’m hopeful that all is well with this baby, but also trust that God’s plan is greater than ours, and I know we will love this child no matter what may come.

Another week later, I got a call from a local doctor whom I’ve had the privilege of knowing since my college days (seems like eons ago!).  We got together for dinner and, lo and behold, I will be going to work for her in August.  We are optimistic that this will be a blessing for us in a number of ways, not the least of which includes me keeping my clinical skills current (yay!).  I’ll be very part-time (one day per week), with some time off once little one arrives, and will have the potential for increasing over time if it appears to be good for the clinic.  It’s in dermatology – a little different from my past experience (all primary care) – but I feel confident that I’ll have good training with her and learn a lot.

Finally, my oldest started swim lessons last week, which has taken a chunk out of our mornings every day – in a good way!  I cannot believe how much she loves going!  We recently showed her a video on YouTube of synchronized swimming (dancing + swimming = the best!) and she has now told me that she can’t wait until I can watch her do that on T.V.  Wow – is this the same child???  It’s been fun, and has also boosted her confidence, I think.  She also had her first “group” violin lesson of the summer last week and – shocking! – was the first to volunteer to perform a solo for the group.  She did great, loved it, can’t wait to do it again.  (For those who don’t know, this is in stark contrast to her meltdown at the time of her end-of-year recital last month.)

I suppose I should also mention that the flood waters out here have finally receded (no more flood warnings) and, just in time for the 1^st day of summer, we had our first summer-like day.  Hooray!!!  Sunny, mid-70’s, pleasant with continued such weather for the next several days.  Perhaps we can all go outside a little and ward off that pasty-gray tone that has settled in our skin.  (That’s what happens when one is cooped up indoors for 8+ months!)

Yeah, I guess we’ve been busy… ;-)

7 Quick Takes Friday (vol. 128)

(hosted by Conversion Diary)

– 1 –

I’ve been up since 4:15 this morning.  I am tired and feel like facing the rest of the day is a daunting task, despite having a (small) cozy cup of coffee by the roaring fire this morning – while both kids were still sleeping.  So why have I been up so long?  Well, as I posted yesterday, we lost our power for half the day.  The power came back on without a problem, but DS woke up at 4-ish cold and wet.  And I was cold, too.  After getting him all nice and dry and snuggling up, he fell back asleep.  I thought I would do the same, but when I came out to check our thermostat, I realized the furnace had been (unsuccessfully) trying to turn on since our power returned yesterday.  And while you wouldn’t think one would need much heat at the end of May, it was only in the low-40’s last night and only about 60 inside our home.  Plan B: turn on the gas fireplace (which is the whole reason we have it!).  Only, the batteries for our remote starter were low.  We only had one more battery in stock and hoped it would give the starter enough juice to turn on the fireplace.  In the meantime, we tried to figure out how to manually start the fireplace (there’s a way to do that somehow…).  Fortunately, changing one battery was enough and the place started to warm up a bit.  An hour later, we called the furnace guy and he advised to check our breaker – problem solved!  So, hooray, our house is warm again.  But I’m still tired.

– 2 –

We’ve got a 3-day weekend coming up!  Yeah!  So, what will we do with this extra gift of time?  Probably nothing.  The forecast is for gloom and rain (sheesh, it’s like being in Seattle again!), possibly even a skiff of snow tonight.  Blah!  We might take some time to work in the yard, though my contribution can only be very limited.  You know, that whole “you can’t do any gardening while pregnant” thing.  In a different venue, I might not take that so seriously.  Unfortunately, our neighbor’s cat has decided our flower bed is a litter box.  I was overjoyed yesterday when I saw that some of our Hostas were finally starting to sprout.  This was immediately followed by utter disgust as I realized one of them had a nice “present” right next to it.  Ugh.  (And cat excrement is a major danger to pregnant mommas.)  Look, I was always a cat person growing up, but seriously… KEEP YOUR CATS IN YOUR OWN HOUSE.  Nothing drives me more bonkers than other people’s pets using our yard as a toilet (dogs, too, which happens a lot in our neighborhood).

– 3 –

It’s high school graduation this weekend for three of our nieces and nephews.  We’re proud of all of them, of course, and wish we could join in on the festivities.  Alas, a downside to living far away from extended family.  I thought about all the things I wish I had known when I graduated high school, and was going to do a post on that earlier this week.  Then I realized that I am really not qualified to be handing out advice under the guise of “wisdom” because I am utterly clueless.  But if I could pick one thing about venturing into college I wish I had known, it would be this: don’t fret about grades so much; they aren’t that important in the grand scheme of things.  Just do your best! ;-)

– 4 –

Speaking of high school graduation, I am now starting to fell old.  Not physically, mind you, but definitely in an I’m-totally-out-of-touch-with-these-kids-today manner.  I was recently visiting with a high school teacher and asking about the format of lectures nowadays.  The answer is, of course, with PowerPoint.  Hah!  I’m pretty sure PowerPoint wasn’t even invented when I was in high school.  We had classes where the teacher wrote notes on the blackboard with chalk or used one of those overhead projector thingies with the markers that needed water to wipe off clean.  Anyone else remember that???

– 5 –

Summer is fast approaching, which means that our life as we know it will be in absolute upheaval very soon.  I’m pretty sure that summer will appear to end as soon as it starts because these next 3 months will be pretty busy.  And then (*sniff, sniff*), my DD will be in school.  All day.  Every day.  And about 6 weeks after that (just enough time for me to get my emotions together), our baby is due.  And then it’ll be the holiday season.  So, really, I figure that once July hits, I won’t really have any memory of the day-to-day stuff of family life until about New Year’s.  Oh well.  At least I should be able to enjoy a bit of wine by then…!

– 6 –

In other news, I think we’ve finally decided where we’re going to put everyone once the baby arrives.  For now (and this changes frequently), we’ve decided to simply keep the status quo.  The older two will stay in their bedroom, though DS will (hopefully) move to a big boy bed this summer.  We’ll have to move the dresser out (probably to our room, along with the crib) because it won’t fit with another bed in there.  Then, we’ll keep the baby in the room with us for 6-8 months, depending on how everyone’s sleeping.  After that – possibly to coincide with the end of the school year – we’ll move the older two downstairs, where they’ll share the biggest room, and put the baby in the upstairs bedroom.  That should work, right?  ….right???

– 7 –

We have the big ultrasound in 11 days.  I’m not seeing that there are too many people casting their votes for whether they think little one is a boy or a girl, so maybe no one wants to know?  Maybe we’ll find out the sex of the baby keep it to ourselves. ;-)  It just might be a bit of fun we can have to knowingly withhold that kind of information and see what happens. mmmWHAHAHAHAHAhahaha!   Have a great weekend!

7 Quick Takes

(hosted at conversiondiary.com)
1.

Today is the feast of Our Lady of Fatima.  This apparition is one that totally fascinates me, and I would love to learn more about it.  We recently watched the film “The 13^th Day” and loved it, though it literally put a bit of the fear of God in me.  The take-home message I got out of it: Pray, pray, pray.  Then pray some more, and pray for the conversion of sinners.  Whoa, do I have a lot of work to do.

2.

The weather is *finally* warming up here in the Rocky Mountains.  We actually got to near-70 degrees yesterday!  It has been wonderful to enjoy the sunshine and mild breezes.  We’ve spent a few minutes wandering around our yard and marveling at all the tiny plants sprouting and getting ready to bloom.  It’s amazing how these plants manage to survive winters that routinely hit -10 to -20!  (Even more amazing is that they’re at my house…!)

3.

My DH’s birthday is fast approaching, and I have absolutely no idea what to get him.  He has requested that I make chili for his birthday dinner – again! – which I have no problem doing because I love him and I love to make recipes that are out of the usual line-up.  (Eating chili, on the other hand, is a different subject.  My mother can attest to the fact that I never consumed more than 3.6 bites of chili during my entire childhood.)  But alas, I still don’t know how else to make his day special.  I’d love to give him a round of golf (meaningful because it gets him out of the house, away from the grind of housework and minding children and a nagging wife), but he’d need to actually accept the gift to make it work.  Ideas welcome.

4.

I just watched my toddler boy rip a paper napkin into a thousand tiny pieces.  One by one, he’d shred a piece off, and then hand it to me.  It was a great little project for him to work on, though I really don’t understand the fascination.  Maybe it’s a “boy” thing?  At least he gave me all the pieces, rather than eating them… or distributing them around the living room… or feeding them to the dog.

5.

Speaking of the kids, and the great weather, I’m (unsuccessfully) trying to deal with the fact that both the kids are sick.  Again.  Sick enough that we can’t go outside and enjoy the weather in much of any capacity – a tough spot to be in, given that we’ve been imprisoned indoors since September.  I know that the warmth will outlast the viruses – well, I think it will – but come on!  Fevers to 103 and coughing when it’s sunny and warm is *not* my idea of a good time.  Not to mention the inconveniences that accompany nasty colds, like having to reschedule violin lessons or missing out on rosary group (again!) or sleep-deprivation for the entire household.  Prayers welcome.

6.

The baby is getting more active each day – joy!  It’s quite a relief to be (mostly) done with the morning sickness and 1^st trimester blahs.  It’s great to (finally) have a little boost in energy.  But the best (as most of you can attest to) is feeling the tiny hands and feet inside.  So great!  So incredible!  We’re to about 17 weeks in this pregnancy, and will have the *big* ultrasound at 20 weeks.  We’ll probably find out the gender, though the other day, I had a thought that it *might* just be fun to be surprised again.  So now I’m having second thoughts… We’ll see which side wins out, here, because I would really like to know what clothes to take out of the storage bin for the new little one.  I’ll keep you posted.

7.

Speaking of baby #3, we’re revisiting the dilemma of “where do we put everyone?”  Initially, we agreed that we should probably all move downstairs together (2 bedrooms, including the master, upstairs; 3 down).  Then we agreed that we could *probably* fit all three kids in the upstairs bedroom.  Then we started talking about where to put the clothes (my solution to the absence of a dresser is installing a closet organizer), and are, once again, going round and round on this one.  Well, we have about 4 ½ months to solve this problem.  Any of you type-A, super-organizers out there with any good ideas?  (A note: I’m opposed to bunk beds.  Too many injury hazards for my liking.)

Whew!  My first “7” – have a blessed weekend!

First Post

Well, I've done it.  At the prompting of a good friend, I finally decided to start a blog.  Granted, I have a hard time believing that many will be all that interested in the random ramblings I display, but oh well!  I may try to keep myself organized by limiting my comments to a certain "theme" each day, but then... that's probably just the "type A" in me trying to rear its ugly head.  :-)

So, I welcome comments and discussion, so long as everyone "plays nice."  (I have little tolerance for nastiness and malice; the world needs a bit of civility, I think.)  I'm sure many will disagree with my opinions, and that's fine -- but regardless of what you think, we should strive to remain respectful and kind at all times.

***No guarantees that I won't rant and rave every once in awhile, though!***

We'll see where things lead from here... Enjoy!