LA: Day 3

Click to view Day 1 and Day 2

I slept until 715, enjoyed some breakfast at the apartment, and then we all got decked out for the beach. We left around 900 and headed for the Pacific Coast Highway. Oh. My. Goodness. It was so beautiful.

We proceeded to spend all day at the beach at the Santa Monica peer. We played in the water:

Ate our picnic lunch:

Ham, cheese, and lettuce on a croissant, an apple, and some lovely Special K chips, cheese flavored! Thanks Anne!

And played some more. I think we spent an hour and a half in the water after lunch just riding the waves, getting salt water in our mouths and eyes, and generally acting like little kids in the water. We dried out in the sun until 300, packed up, and headed home via the PCH. So gorgeous.

We cleaned up (and nicely, thank you very much) and headed out to the Kodak Theater (where they hold the Academy Awards each year) to see Cirque du Soleil.

This was Anne's gift to us - SO generous and one of my very favorite parts of the trip! It was amazing. There was so much to see that I know I must have missed more than half of what went on. My favorite part was the trapeze and acrobatic acts. Amazing! Thanks, Anne!

Dinner was purchased at the Hollywood Pizzeria (delicious Hawaiian pizza!) and eaten outside on a big deserted terrace near Grauman's Chinese Theater (which is beautiful at night!)

 We couldn't figure out why no one else was up there - it was so nice and the weather was perf.

By now, I was starting to feel seriously uncomfortable. The backs of my legs hurt all through the show and by the time we got back to Anne's, my legs were bright red. I'm talking BRIGHT. It looked like I was wearing hot red leggings that stopped at my swimsuit line. I put sunscreen on my legs, but it was obviously not enough. Not quite the ending I had in mind for my day, but a reminder of our fun at the beach nonetheless. :)

LA: Day 2

Day 1 was exhausting! After waking up early due to the lovely time difference, I waited around for the girls to wake and we headed out to Hollywood Boulevard.

We parked a block over and walked to Grauman's Chinese Theater where the movie stars put their hands in the cement. I got a shot of my beloved Harry Potter cast' complete with their feet and wands:

After that we moseyed down the blvd. We stopped at a fee souvenir shops, including the Disney store where I bought my sweet son a book of his new favorite movie:

  We ate lunch at Mel's Diner, a staple dating back to the days of "old Hollywood."

And they had a Monte Christo on the menu. Knowing we were going to spend the majority of the day on our feet, I was sure I needed to make a different choice, but, as my friends reminded me, this is vacation. So I ordered this:

DE-lish. Of course I didn't eat it all, but it was wonderful all the same!
We headed to the Hollywood museum next...which was alright. They had a big Marilyn Monroe exhibit and I did learn that one of her alleged fathers (apparently they don't know for sure who her father was) had the last name Gifford. So maybe I'm related to Marilyn Monroe. Probably. I'll go with that.

Next was the celebrity homes tour. We rode in an open-topped van and went all over Hollywood and Beverly Hills.

This wasn't our van - ours was fancier - but it was similar.  If you look closely you can see the "Beverly Hills" sign above it!

This was Danny, our tour guide.

We saw more than 40 famous people's pads. Some of those most notable are:
Denzel Washington
Eva Longoria
Justin Timberlake
Tom Cruise
Will & Jada Pinkett-Smith
Jennifer Aniston
Kiefer Sutherland
Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie
Carrie Underwood
Jennifer Lopez
Drew Berrymore
I was the recorder of the group and the other girls were the photographers. Once I get a chance to go through their pictures, I'll post some. But here is one:

Recognize it? It's the Regent Beverly Wilshire from "Pretty Woman." The penthouse on the top floor does not exist, by the way!

It was a blast - much more fun than I expected! We also passed a wedding outside a super cute church, so I snapped a pic of it, too!

We headed to Madame Toussaud's wax museum next, where I got my picture taken with a few of my heroes:

Oh, Robert Downy, Jr., if only I could hug you for reals.

And JT was for my husband :)

Fun fun. We headed back to Anne's place to chill and clean up before heading out for some yummy Mexican (but crappy service!) at Don Cuco's.

It was 930 by the time we left the restaurant, so I headed back to Anne's to crash while she and Alicia headed out to the Universal Studios city walk. I was kind of bummed about missing it, but I slept from the moment my head hit the pillow to 715 the next morning! This pregnant body was in serious need of some sleep!

LA: Day 1

We arrived in Orange County at 930 local time after boarding a 630 flight in MCI and a 730 flight in Denver. Anne picked us up for the trek back to her house in LA complete with fresh Krispy Kreme donuts, our favorite drinks (mine being Pepsi, of course), and gift bags full of snacks for all the time we are going to spend in the car on this trip which, thanks to California traffic, is a LOT.

It took us a while to get back to Anne's apartment but I didn't mind - it was fun to see the palm trees and storefronts that lined the roads. We were going to take the Pacific Coast Highway, but we had to be at Leno at two and needed to freshen up a bit after our long flight.  Once we arrived at the apartment, cleaned up an ate a delicious lunch of croissant sandwiches, crackers, and fresh fruit (thanks Anne!), we headed to the studio. We had reservations but when we got there we were told ( by an NBC page - yes, an actual NBC page, like Kevin from 30 Rock...ah!) that 1) no cameras were allowed, even outside (which is why I have no picture to post) and 2) there was no guarantee we would get in. The studio housed 384 seats...and it looked like there were at least that many in line. After waiting for about an hour and a half, it turned out there were EXACTLY that many people in line...in front of us. We were literally numbers 385, 386, and 387. Guess we weren't supposed to see Betty White, Jeremy Renner, and Joss Stone after all.  We, and the 30 or so people behind us (including a couple who drove four hours from Vegas) were turned away, though as compensation the did offer us guaranteed seating at our choice of three tapings in August. :(

But no matter! We were heading to IKEA next! I. Love. Ikea. I've only been to the one in Dallas, but it was amazing! This one was considerably smaller, but it's such a fun store to just mosy through. I found this dresser that I would absolutely love to have in Lucy's room:

 But it's expensive, even for Ikea.  I just live the color and that it has so much storage!


By this time, it was 430.  We decided to head up to the famous Hollywood sign and get some pics!

Look closely and you an see the Hollywood sign!

Then we drove up to the Griffith Observatory, which I wasn't all that excited about until I got there and realized how awesome it was! It's a beautiful building perched on the side of a mountain that overlooks the entire city...and it's a BIG city!

The Griffith Observatory

One of the views from the observation deck!

It also houses two working telescopes and holds public observation hours. There's also an enormous pendulum in the center that stays on a steady swing somehow while the earth shifts around it. My husband would have liked that part!

By this time, Alicia and I were pretty beat, having traveled all morning and feeling like it was 800 instead of 600. We were also very hungry, so we decided to grab an In and Out burger (which we were told we had to do) and head back to Anne's to watch the Olympic opening ceremonies. People back home were already facebooking about how awesome it was, so we thought it would make a relaxing end to our evening. It did, but it took us nearly an hour and a half to get to the restaurant and back to Anne's apartment, which would have been a mere 6 minute drive if it hadn't been for traffic. The restaurant was true to its name - we spent almost no time there - but by the time we did arrive back it was nearly 730. Just enough time to eat, change in to PJs, and fall asleep somewhere between Australia and Austria.

BUT THE MOST EXCITING EVENT OF THE DAY WAS THE ARRIVAL OF MY NIECE IN OKLAHOMA CITY!  It deserves it's own post and will get it once I get back to see her, but I will say that mommy and baby are doing well, thank the Lord!

Traveling!

I will be a bit absent from the cyber-waves this week.  We just returned from a trip to see my brother in Oklahoma yesterday and I am leaving tonight for a girls trip to California.  I am super stoked - I have only been to California once and it was an overnight layover for our trip to China.  I basically saw the airport, the inside of our hotel, and the Burger King (YUCK!) at which we ate.  This is an actual trip where we will do actual things.  Some of the items on our agenda:

• Be in the studio audience of the Jay Leno Show (is that what it's called?)
• Go whale-watching
• See Cirque du Soleil
• Check out the beach!
• Eat at In-and-Out Burger
• Purchase a City Pass...and all it includes!

And I'm sure much more.  I am so excited to go on this trip.  Having been home with both my husband and child all summer long, I think it will be nice to get away for a few days.  That's not to say I haven't loved every single minute of time with them this summer.  It has been a wonderful gift to be a family almost 24/7 and something I wouldn't trade for the world.  But we each need some space and I am looking forward to getting some on this trip.  My husband has been so awesome about helping me get ready.  He has done all the laundry and volunteered to do the grocery shopping so I don't have to mess with it between trips.

I'll post pics when I return!

The Boy Who Dared

The Boy Who Dared by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

Length: 162 pages (not including afterward)

Format: Paperback
Price: Got for free at a garage sale
Author Website: www.scbartoletti.com (photo credit)

Basic Premise: This is the true story of Helmuth Hubener, a young boy who grew up with Hitler and his rise to power in Germany.  Despite the intensely loyal roots of his German family, his slanted education, and the propoganda-filled news, Helmuth begins to recognize the truth about what's really going on in Germany and determines to do something about it.

My Take: 8 out of 10 (scale here)
I have a small obsession with YAL Holocaust literature.  Though I have only reviewed one on this blog, over the last ten years I have read just about every one I have been able to get my hands on.  This one, while not directly dealing with the Holocaust, was a nice, alternate perspective on German society and culture during the war.  Helmuth was a noble protagonist with deep conviction stemming from his Mormon faith (which was interesting - I had no idea, but it turns out the Mormon church has been active in Germany since the mid-1800s) and his strong sense of integrity and courage.  As with many Holocaust novels, there is an afterward by the author explaining more about the true story and the events which followed, which are fascinating.  I don't wonder why my kids like this book.

Accidental New Look

Confession: I really don't know that much about the technical side of blogging.

I've been up since 4 AM and have been blog-surfing.  In a fit of cool blog-design envy, I started trying new layouts, not realizing that I didn't know how to change it back to the original layout.  After 20 minutes or so of trying, I have still not figured it out and it's time to start getting ready for church.  I'll have to tackle this later.  So watch for a new design in the near future!

Thank You 4: Mother's Day

My husband surprised me with my mother's day gift yesterday.  Mother's Day fell on graduation weekend and we had so much going on that we knew Mother's Day was going to get pushed to the back burner, at least until the summer.  But it had been so long I thought he had forgotten about it.

Nope.

We had finally gotten our son down for a nap after a very eventful day at the North pool and were simply taking some time for ourselves.  He asked me if I wanted my mother's day present now (honestly, are there people who say no to this type of question?) and went downstairs to retrieve it.

A bit of back story while he's downstairs: 95% of the time I'm okay with being cheap.  But there's this one tiny little thing that I do to pamper myself, and it's get my eyebrows shaped.  It's not exactly pampering - it doesn't feel great - but it is definitely something I don't need.  I don't spend money on this luxury - instead I ask for gift cards at Christmas and use them every few months until they are out.  I have been known to spend 3 eyebrow shapings worth on a pedicure (the ULTIMATE luxury!), but, as those are SO expensive and unnecessary, it doesn't happen often.

He comes back upstairs and gives me a gift card worth enough to do WHATEVER I want!  I could get a pedicure AND a manicure AND get my eyebrows shaped.  I could get my eyebrows shaped several times.  I could get a pedicure twice with money to spare.  When I asked him why it was so much, he said he wanted me to do whatever I wanted before my trip.

I'm going on a girls trip without him.  I'm spending money.  I'm leaving him in complete charge of our son.  I'm going to be having fun doing things I know he would love to be doing while he's at home.  I'm going to get to spend time with adults.  I'm going to get to eat at fun restaurants and see fun shows while he's watching Super Why and making PB & J.  And throughout the conceiving and planning of this entire trip, he has said "Go.  Don't worry about us, don't worry about the money, just go - we will be fine."  Not one mention of all the work this creates for him.

Translation: more evidence of what I have known since that summer at camp when we were 16.  This is the most caring, loving, giving man I could have ever found.  He is the true manifestation of what it means to put others first.  He serves faithfully and without question.  And the older we have gotten, and the more responsibilities we've taken on, the more fiercely committed he has become to the things he loves.  I count myself so blessed to be one of those for the rest of my life. 

So thanks, Babe - not just for the gift, but for you.

My Week

Fair warning - this is not a typical post.

I normally don't post about day to day happenings, mainly because nothing that interesting happens in my day-to-day life.  But I feel like this week is blog-post worthy.  Mainly because I have survived it.  I'll just hit the highlights:

• Monday - Day of terror with child.  Zoo in the AM with friends, had to leave early due to refusal to mind (and it was stinking hot!). Fits at home, numerous time outs.  Left the pool after 15 minutes because he was not behaving.  Would not nap.  Finally fell asleep but we had to wake to get to Lawrence in time to visit friends for dinner.  Would not eat dinner at friend's house.  Lost track of all the timeouts at friend's house.  Left early from friend's house.  Fight at bedtime.
• Tuesday - Another day of terror with child.  Woke up cranky.  Had a friend's daughter come play with him so we could clean out basement.  Was a pain for her.  Went swimming and again had to leave early because of fits.  Another fight at nap time.  Would not eat dinner.  Fight at bedtime.
• Wednesday - A third day of terror with child.  Would not eat breakfast.  In time out all morning.  Left him with husband over lunch to meet a friend (sweet, blessed relief) and returned to a relatively tame child who went down for nap without a fight.  Threw a fit during dinner.  Watched a movie. Went to bed pretty easily, probably because he was so tired from fit-throwing.

I joked with the friend I met for lunch on Wednesday that I was ready to give him away.  Seriously, he usually has one or two of these during a day.  But a day full of them - or three days in a row full of them - makes me want to pull my hair out.  I'm providing consequences.  I'm not letting him get away with things.  I'm being consistent.  But so is he - and his behavior has been horrendous.

But then today, my sweet, precious little boy returned from wherever he had gone.  I went to get him at 8:00.

"Hi, Mommy!" he squealed from his big boy bed.  "Want to snuggle?" And on it went.  We got dressed without a fit, ate breakfast without a fit, read books, played puzzles, no fits, no crying, no wailing, nothing.  He was blissful all morning.  I arrived at Bible study at 9:20 (he didn't want to go in, but he did so without complaint) and Daddy and I picked him up at 11:35.  They said he did great.  We went to Kohl's without a stroller (recipe for disaster) but he listened when we told him to come with us or not to touch.  We went to Pizza Hut and he ate his lunch and quietly watched the cars out the huge window.  We went to the Discovery Center and he played like a champ, even letting kids get in line in front of him to play the games.  He wasn't happy when we left, but by the time we were at the car he was talking about going home and getting in his big boy bed.  Which he did.  Without a fight.  He woke up and we snuggled and read books again.  We went to Gigi and Pepa's.  And he was great.

What happened?  I have no idea.  But I do know that this morning, I felt like I could not survive another day like the last three.  But what if it had been like the last three?  Would my reserve have held?  Or would I have been like those parents who just give into their kids because it's easier?  I definitely see the short-term appeal of that approach.  But I also see the products of that approach in my classroom every year, and I shake my head and wonder "What were those parents thinking?"  And I think to myself, "That will NEVER be me."

This is what I start to think about when I feel like giving in.  So if today had been like the last three, I would have been disheartened, but I would not have let up, because if it takes my dying breath, my son will NOT turn out like those kids.  He will not have the world handed to him, he will not have a constant attitude of entitlement, and he will certainly not be spoiled.  I realize you should never say never, and that my own track record with saying never is against me, but this is for real.  If today had been like the last three, I may have let him watch a little too much TV, but he would not have gotten away with any more than he would on a normal day.  This alien behavior is NOT going to get the best of him. Or me.

Exhale.  I'm done.

My Former Self

I have spent some time in the last few days mourning my former self.  Does anyone else do this?  Here's an example of what I mean:

Take a good look at this picture.  This is my degree program plan. Yes - it is color coded.  With post-it notes.  This used to be my life.  My notes in college were immaculate.  Every piece of mail that came through my house was sorted, labeled, and filed.  I kept a detailed log of when my bills were due and when I sent them out.  My checkbook was balanced, checked, and highlighted when transactions were processed (yellow for outgoing, orange for incoming).  I never lost ANYTHING.

Oh, the days.

Now, mail sits unopened in a heap on the table inside the door until company drives us to shove it in a pile in a back room where it may sit unopened for days, weeks, even months.  Pieces of important documentation are tossed into a milk crate to be filed some day in the far future.  Bills that aren't on auto-pay are paid when I finally have time to sit down and pay them.

Inspired by my friend Chelsea, my husband and I set out to do something about the cluttered state of our paper lives.  We began clearing out his office (paper stash central) and our basement.  We bought storage bins (retail, folks - that's how serious this is!) have begun scouring, sorting, shredding, and trashing.

And it feels good.

For the moment, however, I would like to take this time to formally kiss my former self good-bye.  Life was far easier and more comfortable then, when I could spend several hours a week organizing and labeling, but with a full-time job, a house, a husband in school, a son and a daughter on the way, church, friends, and so many other things, I simply cannot keep up that standard of organized.  Instead, I'm working on shortcuts that accomplish the same thing in less time.

More to come as I get that all figured out.

Insane Blessings, Part 2:

Continued from Insane Blessings, Part 1:

Now in the full knowledge that my husband would indeed have a position at KU for the fall, we began to look toward what that meant for us financially next year.  There are some things we really want to do - like pay off my car and put our son in part-time daycare - but since we are paycheck to paycheck people with a very strict budget, we weren't sure how we were going to do this.  We both believe our son needs to be in regular contact with kids his age (and that our awesome moms could use a little break), but daycare is expensive!  We knew the GTA came with a stipend, but we weren't sure what to expect.  We were hoping it would be enough to cover the cost of daycare.

The morning after we found out about the GTA position, my husband received an email requesting that he go to campus to sign his contract.  He set up an appointment the following day and almost the second he was out the door of the office, I got a phone call.  Return to the jumping up and down version of my husband I described in the last post.  As it turns out, the stipend was nearly five times what we were hoping for.  He was giddy.  I was giddy.  We prayed together as soon as he got home, thanking God for this blessing and overwhelmed at His providence.  You can imagine what this meant for us!

But it wasn't over yet.

Later that same afternoon, my husband received ANOTHER email - this one from the Dean of Graduate Studies - thanking him for accepting the GTA and guaranteeing him a significant scholarship for both the fall and spring in addition to his free schooling and stipend.

WHAT?

I was seriously ready for Publisher's Clearing House to knock on our door.  This seemed like such an impossible blessing - we couldn't believe it.  Extra money?

I don't want to portray the idea that we have been destitute, or even that we don't have things we want due to our current income.  We do, and God has blessed us immeasurably with the ability to pay our bills, buy necessities, and keep our debt low.  We have been able to live fairly comfortably for the last four years even on a one to one-and-a-quarter income level.  But there are many things we would like to be doing - getting our cars paid off, saving for our son's college, saving for retirement - in short, things that are financially smart, that we have been unable to do in our present circumstance.  In the next few days, we are planning to revisit our budget with this new information in mind and begin possibly meeting some of our financial goals and setting some new ones.

We are so grateful to God for this new development and are trusting Him for strength in the coming year.  It's going to be a tough year for my husband - his toughest yet, in fact.  Thinking about all this and the fact that we are adding another family member makes my blood pressure rise, but I am confident this is the right thing and that we can make it through.  It's just one year, after all!

Project: Framed Letter

I had originally planned for this project to be a decoration, however, when it turned out so big (and cute, I might add), I decided to keep it and give it to her at the church shower as a gift instead.  She has a thing for initials, so I came up with this:

I didn't have a picture or a plan to follow.  Instead, I had what I wanted in my mind and I went from there.  This is normally a recipe for disaster (and it nearly was a few times), but I'm pleased with the way it turned out!

Materials:

• Shadow Box Frame - Hobby Lobby, $29.99, marked 50% off = $15.00
• 3/8ths of a yard of Burlap -  Hobby Lobby, $1.50
• 1 yard Printed Fabric - JoAnn's, $3.99, but I only used about a square foot of it for this project - the rest will be used on other projects for the shower, so really about $1.00
• Wooden "E" - Hobby Lobby, $1.99

So the total for this project  - $19.50

Step 1: Backing
I cut the burlap into two squares - one fitted exactly to the back of the shadow box, and the other slightly larger so I could fold it around the sides.  I did two layers to help cover the black velvet backing.  I used pins to secure the fitted square and hot glue to secure the overlap square.

Step 2: Letter

This part was quite tricky.  I used regular scissors instead of shears (I don't know where they are and decided it wasn't worth it to look for them), so cutting the material was kind of torturous.  I tried to cut with a centimeter or so on both sides, and then I hot-glued the overlapping material to the back. I had to be particularly careful with the corners, as they tended either get frayed with stray strings if I cut the material too close or bunched up if I left it too long.

This was the longest and most tedious step, by far.

Step 3: Putting It Together

I centered the E on the burlap and used hot glue to secure it into place, taking care to place it in the same direction as the hooks on the back so it would be displayed right-side-up.  Once that was done and I was satisfied that it wasn't going to simply fall off, I pressed it into the frame.

As you can see, I had to trim some of the burlap back so that the little hooks on the back would reach the frame to keep it in place without being held back by the burlap.

And viola!

Take Aways:

• This was a fun project.  It would be fun to do the baby's whole name, but it would be time consuming and expensive.
• I really like this material.  It's girly, but sophisticated.  It doesn't scream baby, or even little girl.
• I love love LOVE the burlap and I never would have thought of it if it hadn't been for Caroline! Thanks for the tip! :)

Insane Blessings, Part 1

My husband graduated in May.

And there was much rejoicing.

Last January we made the decision to continue for another year to get his masters contingent on his receiving a Graduate Teaching Assistantship for the fall.  This would provide him with a free education plus a small stipend, provided he proctor classes, grade homework, hold office hours, and teach occasionally.  His professor was quite confident that this would be approved but we would not know for sure until after July 1st.

On July 2nd, my husband sent an email to his professor to confirm that funding had come through for his position.  The professor very kindly responded that no, the funding had not come through, but he hoped my husband would continue his studies anyway.

I'm not sure what caused us to not consider this possibility.  I'd love to say it was my stout and unwavering faith that God was going to take care of us that caused me not to worry, but if I'm being honest, I think I had put my faith in the system.  There would be funding because it's the University of Kansas, he'd been told there would almost certainly be funding, and he is a very dedicated, talented, and gifted engineer.  Who wouldn't bend over backwards to give him a free education? 

When we got the email, our son was blessedly engrossed in a puzzle on the floor, giving us a few moments together to share our shock, sorrow, and utter disappointment.  What now?  If you've read any of my money-saving posts, you know that we are paycheck to paycheck folks with 1.25 incomes who use any extra money to grow our emergency fund.  We don't have an extra $15,000 to shell out for grad school.  So we began praying with this new information in mind.  Was there a way for us to get him through grad school that we hadn't thought about?  Were scholarships available this late in the game?  Were there any other professors who needed at GTA this close to the start of the semester?  I honestly thought graduate school was a closed door.  But if it was, my husband needed a job - and he needed to have secured it three months ago.

I think it's fair to say that my husband was devastated.  It is not a word I (or anyone else who knows him) would normally think to describe him.  He is almost never shaken by circumstance, but this was difficult.  As the days went on and we tried desperately to think of alternatives, I saw his disappointment become more and more evident.  He really wanted to do this.  But there didn't seem to be any way.

So we prayed.  God, give us wisdom.  Give us direction.  Help us to know what to do.

We did not ask for a miracle, but that is exactly what we got.

Small rabbit chase before the rest of the story: this is the second of two very poignant two times in my life where I have listed all the possibilities out to God, trying to seek His guidance in which path to take, and he has knocked me on my knees before Him with a miracle.  The first was nearly three years ago, when I was pregnant with my son.  Here is an excerpt from a blog post explaining what happened:

At our last doctor's appointment, the doctor told us our baby had a rare condition in which the umbilical cord, usually comprised of three vessels, was missing a vessel and therefore only contained two. This condition can mean lots of things (premature birth, cardiac problems, chromosomal abnormalities, death, etc.), so we were pretty freaked out. This condition affects around 1-2% of pregnancies, and of these, 75% are born with no problems. The doctor recommended we go see a specialist in Kansas City who would do a level 2 ultrasound and check the major organs to be sure everything was functioning normally. She said we'd probably be seeing him once a month and her, our regular doctor, once a month, so an appointment every two weeks and sonograms at least once a month. Needless to say, we were pretty freaked when we headed to Kansas City today. We prayed that God would help us handle whatever came next, but mostly that he would keep our boy safe.

All my thoughts had been about how to deal with the circumstance.  I had not once considered that God - the same one who created the heavens and the earth - might elimiate the circumstance entirely, but that's what happened.  At that appointment, the doctor declared our son perfect in every way.  I had never considered this possibility.  In my mind, a miracle was impossible.  Oh, how I should have known better.

Okay, back to the story: this Wednesday, nearly a week after the email that threw everything into chaos, we received an email that confirmed there was indeed a GTA position, and was he still interested.  And just as it is rare to see my husband down in the dumps, it is also rare to see him jumping up and down in excitement.  But that's exactly what happened.  He responded with a resounding "YES!" and the three of us immediately got on our knees and thanked our God for taking care of us in this way that only He could have orchestrated.

But it gets better.  To be continued.... 

Big Boy Bed

I now have a 30-month-old.  That's two-and-a-half.  And he is the best sleeper known to man - at least three hours during the day and at least ten (though usually more like eleven or twelve) at night.  Taking away his binky threw a kink in his sleeping patterns for a week or so, but we eventually reestablished his rock star sleep status.  So what did we do? We decided it was time for a big boy bed.  But before I get too into that, can we have a moment for his nursery?

So sweet.  But it was time.  We began to check around about getting a bed and found that a friend who lives a few streets over had an extra twin bed that she would happily give us.  It is super nice and barely used and we were THRILLED to get it!  So the frame, box springs, and mattress (deep pocket pillow top...nicer than ours!), were free!  We did purchase a plastic mattress cover and a mattress pad.

I had a set of sheets and a comforter from our old house in Lawrence that just happen to match perfectly, so the only other thing was figuring out how to make the room safe for our son while we weren't in it with him.  He has never played in his room - it's always been for sleeping.  So we made some changes.  We decided to leave the crib in the room temporarily and push it up against his bed, so that it and the walls provided protection if he were to roll around.  We also removed the book shelf and placed his books and toys in crates on the floor.

We also bought a gate for the doorway, so that if he happens to wake up before me in the morning (not likely), or if he were to get up in the middle of the night, he can't accidentally trip down the stairs.  So our total cost for converting our nursery into a big-boy bedroom was $30 for the mattress cover, mattress pad, and gate!  But the really good news is that he loves it.  We haven't quite figured naps out yet, but last night he climbed up into his big boy bed, got his covers, his froggy, his teddy bear, his fox, and his binky (he still says it's broken and still likes to hold it, but that's fine by us!), and we prayed and he said "Night night Mommy.  Night night Daddy. I love you."  And that was it.  I figured we be up there at least a few more times, but nope!  I got home at 7:45 this morning to find him sitting in his bed reading some books.

I love this kid!

iPhone

I broke down and got an iPhone.  I know I am the last one to the iPhone party, but I really was content not having one.  I'm not someone who needs to check my email or Facebook constantly, and I really have no need for the Internet while I'm in my car.  But my phone had to go.  It had quit storing text messages, it would frequently give me an error message when I tried to send texts out, and the back cover had fallen off.  Oh yeah - and it wouldn't charge.  It was time.

I got the kind with the curvy back (my husband says it's a 3GS) - it was $.99.  I literally paid for it with the change at the bottom of my purse.  There is an added data charge, of course, but we made some cuts elsewhere to compensate.  So far my favorite part has been picture mail!  Just last night my husband sent me a picture of my son while I was gone!