A Playdate Gone Astray

The post below was co-authored by Katie from Double the Blessings. Last spring, Katie was the first blog-friend I met in person. How fitting that she is also the first "guest author" on my blog! The events below are what happened yesterday when we tried to meet for our second playdate. I hope you enjoy reading about the circumstances that occurred, as much as I enjoyed the email correspondence we had in order to co-write this post. :)

A Playdate Gone Astray

Alana: It started with a wonderful plan. Katie had two free family passes for a really amazing indoor play center. We were stoked to see each other again, and were thrilled to have something air conditioned and fun to do, as the heat index here has surrounded us with temperatures feeling like 110 degrees. The plan was to meet at the mall at 9:30 a.m., in order to leave my car in the mall parking lot. Em and I would join Katie and her kiddos in their car to carpool to the play center. It was a sunny and beautiful day.

We arrived at the mall. Katie helped transfer Em's booster seat to the center of her car (which Em gets a kick out of, as she gets to sit BETWEEN Katie's 2 kiddos.) We buckled the kids in, popped a movie in the DVD player and Katie started the car.

Katie: So everyone's loaded in the car and we're ready to roll...fun times await! And I look down at the dashboard for some random reason. And my check engine light was on. Ugh. Between May and June I took my car into the shop a total of five (count 'em, FIVE) times because of the check engine light. The problem was fixed in the middle of June, but what could possibly be the issue now?

I looked at Alana and at first I said, "We can probably make it..." but then started thinking about it. If we got stranded 30 minutes away I would feel like a complete goof. Alana offered to follow me to the service shop, which is right down the street from the mall anyway. We could leave my car there for maintenance while we had our grand adventure, then pick my car back up on the way home later in the afternoon. Alana hopped back in her car, intending to follow me to the shop. Much to our surprise...

Alana: When I turned my key in the ignition, there was a clicking noise, but MY car would not start. My immediate thought was that something was wrong with the car battery. However, I was perplexed. As the car had been sitting idly for only 10 minutes, how could the battery have died? After a quick check of all gadgets (paying special attention to the interior dome light Emma sometimes plays with) indicated that nothing was amiss, I held my hands up in a "surrender" to Katie. How could we BOTH be having car problems at the same time? I proceeded to empty my trunk of the back-to-school crate and bags full of supplies, along with Emma's beach play-gear so that I could get out my jumper cables. Meanwhile, Katie sat in the car with three kiddos (Emma age 5 and twins Megan and Jeremy age 4) trying to entertain the kiddos and explain why we were sitting in a parking lot rather than going on the adventure we had promised. After clearing my trunk, I lifted the flap where my spare tire is stowed only to determine that the jumper cables and emergency kit my Dad purchased for me several years ago were not there. (Oops...I seem to remember moving them to the garage when I needed extra trunk space a while ago. Sorry Dad!) Doh! My thoughts of having Katie jump-start my car were dashed. Guess we'd have to move on to Plan C. Wait! What's Plan C?

Katie: Plan C? I was still trying to figure out why Plan B wasn't working out. I am a cop's wife, so you think I'd be smart enough to keep jumper cables in my car. Nope. I had taken them out a while back when we had the car in the shop for repairs. Oops.

We tried to find a mall security guard, then tried asking the maintenance people at Sears about how much a battery would cost for Alana's car. We wound up taking my car to the shop, since it was still in driving condition. They have a kids' playroom there, and we basically vegged out in the waiting room until the service rep came and told me (almost an hour later) that the check engine light was not caused by the same problem as before. It appeared to be the catalytic converter, which "lucky" (and I use this term loosely) for me is still covered under the warranty. Just one problem...the shop we were at used to be an official Saturn dealership, but Saturn went out of business early this year and the shop had become a used car lot with a maintenance bay. To get warranty repairs done, I'd have to take the car to a different dealership that was an "authorized maintenance location." But first, I had to pay $65 to the shop for the diagnostic fee. Ugh. Already out that much and haven't had any actual repair work done.

The bright side of this part of the story is that the service rep had checked into an issue with the rental car company down the street...they had rented a car for me for one day when my vehicle was being held overnight for service, and somehow the rental agency had charged my card twice the amount of a one-day rental when I wasn't supposed to be charged at all. The rep from the shop told me they had me listed as a three-day rental, not a one-day rental. We ran by the rental place after leaving the shop and Alana stayed in the car while I straightened that mess out. Yay for progress!

Alana: Two things to add before I forget. One: The guy working at the Sears car shop at the mall told me it would be "at least a four-hour wait" AND $120 - $140 to replace my car battery....NO WAY, buddy! Two: Cracked me up when Katie said her kids thought our "big surprise" (intended to be the indoor play center, of course) was just the small play area at the car shop. Are they sweeties, or what? Back to the story...

Next, we went back to the mall parking lot and met up with my AWESOME father-in-law, Craig, who had agreed via phone to come to my rescue. Katie kindly volunteered to take Emma with her and her kiddos to the car dealership so they could play together in the dealership playroom while she had the "check engine" light on her dashboard investigated.

This is where our story separates for a bit. Craig and I stayed in the parking area while I did my womanly best to hold his flashlight while he dug through his tool bags trying to find the correct-size wrench to loosen the cover on my car battery. Katie and the kids...

Katie: After dropping Alana off with Craig, the kids and I made our way to the "authorized maintenance location." I had talked to one of the service reps there about four or five months ago when I was getting quotes on tires for my car, so I felt pretty good since I at least had a name. The kids and I unloaded and walked into the service department to explain our story. I brought juice boxes to distract them (which worked for about 30 seconds before my kids started harassing the service rep and asking him where all the toys were). Long story short...the other service department had switched off the check engine light, clearing the error code, when they ran the diagnostic on my car. And this service place wouldn't even look at my car unless a) I had a check engine light on or b) I was willing to pay for another diagnostic, which wasn't even guaranteed to work since the error code had been cleared by the other guys. Even when the service rep who had helped me with tire pricing came to my rescue, it was obvious that they couldn't do anything to help. I decided to wait and see if the check engine light comes back on in the next week or so. Car maintenance is a necessary evil.

The kids and I piled back into the car and got on the road. We headed for Chick-fil-A near the mall because I figured it would be less crowded than another one close by (wow...I was so wrong). We ordered kids' meals (all four of us...because you get free ice cream if you trade your "toy" in at the counter without opening it) and settled in for our lunch. The kids ran around in the playground at the restaurant for a while, and when Alana called to say she was on her way with Craig we left the playground and went to get our ice cream so we would have a treat while they ate their lunch. It was probably about 2:30 when they got there...and I was anxious to hear how Alana's car was faring...

Alana: When Craig found the correct size wrench to undo the cap on my car battery, we discovered a lot of white/green corrosion. The Amazing Craigster was able to use a pocket knife and screwdriver to clean the majority of the corrosion off. We were then able to jump start my car. (By the way---the jumper cables Craig used were made by DH's Pappaw years ago. Cool, hey?) As with the jumper cables assistance my car started quickly, I was hopeful the battery had died due to age and corrosion, and we'd be able to replace it and my car would be fixed. However, as a precaution, Craig followed me to the mechanic to verify how much "juice" was left in the battery and to verify all was okay with my car.

After running a diagnostic test, the mechanic informed me that the battery appeared to be okay. It had most likely been drained due to the car needing a new alternator. Gulping at the $380 fee, but knowing it was necessary, I "approved" the work order.

Craig kindly drove me to meet Em, and the gang at Chick-fil-A in order to pick Emma up while my car was being repaired.

Katie: Alana and Craig got their lunches and sat with us so we could catch up. Megan and Jeremy took an instant shine to Craig, so now he's got two admirers. If I'd been thinking about it, I would have had a picture taken of the whole group of us to go with this blog post, but I wasn't exactly thinking clearly after such a long and drawn out day. We parted ways right around 3:30 to head home, and I felt pretty foolish driving home and wishing that my check engine light would click back on. It was definitely "the playdate that wasn't," but somehow we weren't too much worse for the wear, and the kids really enjoyed themselves and the time they spent with Emma. Although I feel pretty bad that Alana's car repairs were so expensive, since our intention for the day was to use the free passes I've been holding on to since June and then eat lunch at O'Charley's (since the kids' meals are free). It was such a great plan! We'll definitely have to attempt it on a different day. :)

Alana: Emma fell asleep in Craig's backseat as he drove us to pick up my car from the mechanic. Thus, I asked him if he would mind if I followed him to his house to allow Emma more "nap" time. He kindly agreed. I paid the mechanic, waved at Craig that my bill was taken care of, and walked to my car. Just as I saw Craig turn out of the parking lot, I tried turning the ignition on in my car. Guess what? It was the same clicking noise that had occurred at the mall. ACK! Though annoyed, I was relieved that if my car was not going to function, at least it "chose" to break at the car mechanic's.

I returned to the inside of the mechanic shop. The guy was aghast that the car wouldn't start. "We turned your car off and re-started it several times before calling you for pick-up." They had replaced the alternator, thinking that the battery would be fine with a new alternator. However, turns out the battery was also fried.

I called Craig...who I had inadvertently pawned Emma off on. He said I could just pick her up at his house whenever my car was done. $70 bucks (battery cost, no charge for labor) and 40 minutes later my car was finally "done."

What a day! Despite the financial and logistical burdens of my day, I had two HUGE blessings: Katie and Craig. Both stepped in, helping with my car woes and childcare without prior notice. I don't know what I would have done without them! And while car issues are always a hassle, I'm also grateful that the alternator/battery issues occurred during the summer instead of when I'm back to work in 2 weeks.

I have to smile at the odds....what is the likelihood of BOTH cars having issues at the exact same time? Katie reported that her check engine light did not come back on during her 20-minute drive home. As for me, I can't wait for our next playdate...maybe DH will let me borrow his car next time, just in case! :)

Life Update

A.C.: YES, after 10 days of staying with the in-laws (thank goodness!) our A.C. was repaired. I believe it was just in time, as I think the weather has been in the 90's each day since the repair.

False Hope: The week before Father's Day I took a HPT and had a positive (2 line) result. I was ecstatic, but tried to remain cautious. As it was still extremely early, my plan was to take further tests closer to Father's Day in order to surprise DH. Sighs. Two days later when I took both a two-liner and digital a HPT they were both negative within a minute. Of course AF arrived within a few additional days. Drat.

--I recently saw a billboard that says, "Letting go and giving up are not the same thing." I've been really, really working on letting go...it isn't working yet.

School: Two former students helped me move all of my work belongings into my AWESOME new classroom. Nothing will be unpacked or settled until the end of summer, but I am relieved to not have to worry about my stuff over the summer.

--Still awaiting the FCAT scores from this spring's test. Anxious to see how my students fared.

Books: I've been reading up a storm. (How I love summer!) Current favorites include the "Kingdom Keepers" series by Ridley Pearson. These youth/teen books are up my alley as they are suspense novels which take place at the Disney World theme parks...WAY cool! Also the new Rick Riordan book, "The Red Pyramid" was a great read. I love how he incorporates history (ancient Egyptian in this case) into his plot development.

Vacation: We'll be leaving this week for a 2-week vacation in Ohio. I look forward to time with my family!

Eclipse: The latest "Twilight" film comes out this week! My father-in-law has graciously agreed to babysit Emma for 2 hours (until DH can pick her up after work.) This will enable me to attend a triple feature with 2 of my friends from work. We'll be seeing "Twilight," "New Moon," and then the midnight premiere of "Eclipse." My bum will be SO tired, but it will be SO worth it! :)

Playdates: Em and I have been keeping pretty busy this summer. A new teacher at my school has a daughter who is 6. We've been on 2 playdates with them...Em and her daughter get along great. In addition, we've been on 2 playdates with a friend we met via Emma's pre-school. The mom used to work at the front desk where parents sign in at the school. I made a new friend! Yay! We graduated from high school the same year, both majored in social work/psychology areas which we are no longer working in, both love movies, etc. Anyway, Em and the school gal's son play together wonderfully. (Though he is a year and 3 months older than Em, he is a sweetie whom Emma described as "gentle." Awww!)

Blog: It seems as though I've been on hiatus lately. I started this blog as an online scrapbook and journal for myself. Due to my TTC issues, it became more personal and baby-longing focused than I originally intended. Thus, sometimes I don't want to write because I feel like a downer. I feel like I am going in circles....like my heart's desires are going around and around a track, yet they continue to prefer to veer to a new path one day. It is such a conundrum. My heart longing for a second child. My mind trying to rationalize that I need to "let go" and move on and STOP STRESSING and see what happens. I don't write much, sadly...because there doesn't seem to be anything new to write.

Haircut Girls: Em and I both got haircuts. Short for summer. :)

Help: Meta Tags??

Ack! Sooooo frustrated! Just wrote a post explaining some exciting things that have been going on with my job. However, when I try to post I get an error message which states,

Your HTML cannot be accepted: Tag is not allowed: META


Anyone know how the frack I can fix this?

Limerick Contest

Check out Weebles annual Limerick Contest HERE. This is a contest that is right up my alley! I'm over half Irish, have always longed to visit Ireland, love writing silly poems, and always look for opportunity to thank others who have helped provide friendship/support to me! So here goes...

A limerick for my Hobbit Pal
by: Alana Feb. 2010

In this world of IF I've been dumped,
Despite my husband having humped.
Gals like Mrs. Gamgee pull me through,
We still hope one day it will be true...
That our stomachs will be baby bumped.

Click the link on the left sidebar to VOTE FOR ME! :)

Vacation Ramblings

Wow....I am sooooooo longing to create a super-lengthy post, but sadly I don't have time. I'll have to do some quick news blurbs:

Blogoversary: Today marks the one year mark since I began blogging. What began as a journal and "outlet" turned into the formation of online friendships and a wonderful support group. How I *HEART* YOU, dear readers! XOXOX!

Vacation: We're still at my parent's house. DH leaves tomorrow to fly back to Florida, where he returns to work on Monday. (Poor DH!) Em and I will be here for a while yet... This coming Friday, I leave for a 4-day reunion/girl's weekend in NYC with my college girlfriends. (Em will stay with my parents during my get away.)

Cool Stuff:
--My older sister and Em finally met for the first time. They hit it off quite well. :)
--I was able to have a fun sisters-day-out in which my older sis Michelle, younger sis Laurel, and I went out for lunch and then had massages. Ahhhh!
--Em completed beginner swimming lessons (or as DH said, "more like water acclimation classes")
--DH won a T-shirt by eating a ginormous sandwich called "The Dagwood" at the Ohio Deli in 19 minutes. (He wanted to try this feat he had seen on the Food Network "Man Versus Food" show.)
--I brought the Wii on vacation and continued my A.ctive 30-day challenge. But I'm at a current weight loss stand-still due to eating my Mom's home cooking, and going to the restaurants we "miss" when we're in Florida. (M.ontgomery Inn ribs or S.kyline Cincinnati style chili, anyone? Yummy!)
--I don't feel (current) guilt about eating at restaurants because I spent 3 hours weeding my Mom's flower garden...and I'm still sore 2 days later!
--Laurel, DH and I went to see the "Harry Potter and the Halfblood Prince" movie. While I enjoyed the film, it was definitely a "connector" movie between 5 and 7. And I was disappointed by some things that were left out (a rather abrupt ending, unlike the book, for example; and only one measly line explaining the identity of the "half-blood prince") and by some things that were added (example--I'm half way through re-reading the book now and there were NO house fires in the book thus far!)
--My Mom checked out 2 "Pippi Longstocking" movies from the library. Emma LOVES them. And of course, the rest of us detest them, because they've been watched over and over and over again. Not to mention, they were filmed in Germany (I think) and the English voices are very poorly dubbed over the actor's actual voices. Cue music: "I am Pippi Longstocking, if you say it fast it's funny..."

School Stuff: I have done ZERO school work since I've been here. I had planned to do a lot of lesson planning and preparation of ideas. Thus far I've done zilch. Nada. And I really am not regretting this decision...(yet.)

Emmaisms:
--7/25/09 To her Grandpa regarding the bald patch on his head: "You're starting to look like Daddy Warbucks." (I thought this was hilarious, as my Dad still has quite a bit of hair, and is NOT bald like the dad in the "Annie" movie.)

--7/17/09 Regarding Jack and Annie from "The Magic Tree House:"
Em: "They can go through the secret massage."
Me: "Do you mean secret passage?"
Em: "Umm. No, I think it's just a path way."

--7/7/09 On Biblical Figures:
Em: "Who was that guy that went overboard?"
Me: "What?"
Em: "You know! Was it Noah? The guy that went overboard and got eaten by the whale."
Me: "That was Jonah. Jonah was swallowed by the whale. But Jonah was not on the boat with Noah."
Em: "Yes he was! He went overboard and that's how the whale got him!"
(Sadly, her logic totally makes sense....she still thinks Noah and Jonah were boating buddies. I'm going to have to work on this one.)

I miss you, Blog Buddies! I'll be back in 2 weeks! :)

Yippee!

What rhymes with 'geek?' GREEK! As in goddess! Visit Geek by Marriage 's blog sometime when you get a chance. She always has interesting things to view/read. And being the blogging guru that she is...SHE SAVED MY BLOG! Did you notice the lovely 3-column design? I'd love to claim credit....I got it half way there and then repeatedly botched the whole thing up! Geek fixed it all for me. I am SOOOOO happy!

Tomorrow I'll arrange my sidebar columns. But for now, I'm thrilled to have a 3-column layout. YIPPEE!

Off to rest now...

THANKS, Heather. You are wonderful!

CONSTRUCTION

This site is under construction. Thanks to Jaymee over at Our Surrogacy Adventure and some miscellaneous help from the Internet I was able to at last create a 3-column blog. Hooray!

However, I still have a long way to go....

Ideally I'd like my blog posts to be in the center with a left and right sidebar. As you can see right now, I am stuck with two right sidebars. For some reason I am unable to drag the "Blog Post" box when I try to edit my layout.

Any help or suggestions would be much appreciated!

Until I figure it all out, this site will remain under construction...

Wiped Out

My blahs have lead to a case of being wiped out. I am soooo tired. Whew! I am definitely chalking this up to being the end of 3rd quarter. This morning I didn't get out of bed until 8:10. Oops! Usually I am showered, dressed and packing my lunch by 8:10, and out the door by 8:30 at the latest. I'm having one of those I've-showered-but-not-hair-washed-and-makeup-free days. Sighs.

School: The bad--We've started a new grading program at school, which I detest. It is an online grading program. I love that my students and their parents are able to access their grades from home. However, I HATE the way teachers have to input grades. For one class with 24 students, I have 4 separate rosters... Though the students are in the SAME class, the system separates the ESE and ESOL students from the general ed students. Thus, I don't have all of my students together on one roster, which makes grading much more time consuming. (Yes, I can "copy" assignments from one roster to another, but I still have to click on each separate class to actually enter the grades.) In addition, the classes aren't labeled in a logical way, such as "3rd period," instead they all say "M/J Language Arts" or "M/J Intensive Reading" and I have to sort through them to determine which group of students are on the particular roster. And though you'd think they'd be in numerical order, my second period class is at the bottom of the list. ARGH! It is SO frustrating! I don't know what kind of total moron computer guru created this system, but I am guessing s/he is not a teacher! UGH!

School: The good-- The past 3 weeks I've been working on a Holocaust unit with my students. Today I found an amazing video in our school Media Center. It is a documentary called "One Survivor Remembers." The video chronicles the accounts of a Holocaust survivor, Gerda Weissmann Klein and includes her recollections of: the war, the last time she saw her family members, when she was taken to a work camp and when she was eventually forced to participate in a Death March. It ends with her description of when she was finally liberated by a German-American soldier (whom she eventually married!) I was thrilled that my students were really into the video, and honored it with seriousness. (I was worried they might not grasp the horror of the situation.) Included in the video kit were wonderful copies and replicas of artifacts to display to students: photos of the survivor and her family members, copies of Gerda's government certificate, maps showing the distance/routes of the many death marches, postcards between family members, a poster depicting the symbols that Jews and others were forced to wear (Jewish stars, triangles, etc.) My students seemed to really identify with Ms. Klein after seeing items from her real life and learning that she was their age when WWII started.

Tomorrow we are reading an excerpt from the "Life is Beautiful" screenplay, which is included in the 8th grade language arts book. Then on Thursday we'll watch the "Life is Beautiful" film. SUCH an amazing movie, I highly recommend it! I am ecstatic that my students are responding to this unit in a positive and appropriate way!

Home: The bad-- DH, whom I love and adore, had the stupidest idea ever a really bad idea. He was trying to be kind to our sweet dog, Viggo. His intent was great. The outcome was not. He let Viggo lick the dinner remnants off his plate. (Disposable plate, for anyone who is grossed out.) However, DH's dinner was SPICY THAI food. Can you predict what happened? Yup...I woke up to 5 doggie diarrhea piles splooshes on the living room carpet. "Resolved" them as best as I could. DEFINITELY having a professional carpet cleaner come to the house next week on spring break. Gross!

Home: The good-- In January during the few short weeks I was pregnant, I began to freak out about space. We live in a small 3-bedroom house. Our "extra" bedroom contains: a Gazelle (exercise machine, NOT animal!), all of my scrapbooks and scrapbooking materials, my acoustic guitar, DH's bass and electric guitars, and many, many books. Most of the items in the room are items I am not willing to depart with. We planned to move Emma into the "extra" room, as her current bedroom still has Baby-oriented wallpaper border...thus her current room would be the Baby room when #2 came along. Though no longer PG, we've started the process of moving Em to the other room. Part of me has been gently trying to nudge DH to consider moving to a larger house. For now, I agreed to wait until we find out what kind of home buying programs will be available once President Obama's "bailout" ideas are entirely in place.

Anyway, the "good" is that I'm moving on. I am staying (mostly) optimistic. Having Emma in the "extra" room will be ideal if I become pregnant again. We still haven't figured out where we'll store all of the stuff that's in the extra room. The Gazelle will go to the garage. The guitars and scrapbooking stuff will probably be stuffed into closets throughout the house. I'm looking at clearing the space as a positive move, whether it ends up being for a Baby, or to eventually sell the house. Yea, me!

The Blog: On a final note, I finally learned how to use the "strike through" feature. How silly fun! Now I can write my crazy and loony thoughts but censor them in an attempt to be humorous. HEHEHEHE! :)

New Look

The Blog: I LOVE scrapbooking, but haven't done many layouts since Emma was born (due to time and space constraints---I used to scrap in what is now Emma's bedroom.) Part of why I enjoy blogging is it provides an opportunity for me to journal and create an online "scrapbook" of sorts. I have been wanting to create a "scrapbooky" type layout for my blog for a while, but didn't have the time to devote to changing my layout. This weekend, I spent a few hours adding "embellishments" to my sidebar, changing my background and color scheme. Yes, I know I have a daughter (who favors pink and purple) whom is much of what I blog about, but as green and blue are MY favorite colors, and this is MY blog, I went with a layout/color scheme for ME. :)

The World: Barack Obama was sworn in as our 44th president last week. Hooray! I am ecstatic about this and believe that with time he will lead our country through many positive changes.

School: My yearly observation by my principal is scheduled for this Wednesday. I am not nervous. I know I perform my job adequately. Though this is my first observation at this school and by this principal, I anticipate that I will do well. What I am feeling a little crumby about is that between my miscarriage and a horrible headcold, I am still not at 100%, which means I'm not giving 100% at school...I hate that. As a mother, I love knowing my daughter goes to school each day with a teacher who is fair, loving, and who challenges her. I hate that I am not back at that level for my students yet. I am getting there...and it's not like I'm slacking and doing nothing. I just know that my heart hasn't been "in it" the past few weeks, and I haven't been giving as much as I usually do. Sighs... I'm working on it

I'm still struggling as I try to decide whether or not I want to remain at my current school next year. Pros: 1. I like my principal and the faculty a lot 2. The students are MUCH better behaved than those at my prior school 3. Distance to/from home and to/from Em's school/daycare is a 20-min or less commute 4. I have access to much more supplies than I did at my prior school Cons: 1. I hate my classroom. It doesn't have windows and is a dreary blue/gray/green color. 2. I still hate that I am teaching reading AND language arts (and an elective.) Yes, I am certified as both a language arts and reading teacher. But I spent the past 3 years taking courses so that I could teach reading. Last year for the first time, I finally felt passionate about my subject matter (READING) instead of just being passionate about helping my students. Sighs. This year with my school combining language arts and reading...I am not happy. I do not feel I have adequate time to differentiate instruction for my low level readers. The time I used to spend on more specific instruction is now devoted to planning for language arts... So that's it. The pros outweigh the cons. But my main con is a biggie. So I am still contemplating.

Health: My OB's office left a message on Friday saying that my Beta levels were at 3 with the bloodwork I had drawn on Tuesday 1/20. This means I am not in any danger zone. Peanut miscarried fully and as anticipated, I will not have to have a D&C. This Tuesday I go for a follow up appointment during which time I should learn whether or not we have the go ahead to "try again," or if other recommendations will be made.

I'm starting to move on emotionally...though sometimes things still tug at my heartstrings. Our garage is full of baby items that we are storing for use with Kid#2...a highchair, baby swing, infant carseat, Rubbermaid containers filled with Emma's old baby and little girl clothes, etc. When I went out to the garage this week it was a sad reminder that Peanut is gone. But mostly, I have been able to keep my chin up and hope that things advance quickly and that I am given the go-ahead to try to become pregnant again.

And though optimistic, I hate that I know if I become pregnant again it won't be happy and blissful like my pregnancy with Emma. It will be a time of joy, but also of great worry. Miscarriage will always be at the back of my mind now. I pray that I don't second-guess myself and my decisions throughout my pregnancy if I become pregnant again. I know I need to wait to cross the bridge when I get there, but I am concerned about how I will feel...especially in those critical early weeks.

DH: DH got a promotion at work which will go into effect next month. He'll be in a supervisory role over a team of workers who does sales/support phone calls like he does now. He seems excited about it, and I'm happy for him.

Emma: My little sweetie continues to be a bundle of joy. Without knowing about Peanut, her smile, hugs, and "arts and craps" have helped me immensely in the past few weeks. Yesterday we went to a birthday party for one of her schoolmates. It was held at a local skating rink. It was the first time I have rollerskated...I think since high school. Emma and I were wobbling and holding hands. We had only made it halfway around the rink when they cleared the floor for a game of "Red Light-Green Light." Doh! We watched the game. Emma commented that we weren't able to skate as fast as the people playing the RLGL game. Then she took off her skates so she could play in the playyard area instead. We never skated again. Bummer. I was actually looking forward to it!

Emmaisms: I've been in a funk, so haven't been writing Emmaisms as I usually do. Here are a few that I did write down:

1/25/09: On urinating: "My pee just sounded like a shower! I went potty and there was a lot and it sounded like the shower was on!"

1/24/09: On adulthood: "Mommy, someday when you and Daddy move, can I live in this house until I have a baby and a husband?"

1/5/09: On Christmas Gifts for the Future: "Do you know what I want more than anything for Christmas next year? Perfume! Like a skunk!"

Found this oldie but goodie while tidying up our computer desk. 10/30/08 On happiness: While watching The Sound of Music, "Mommy, sometimes when people sing, my heart feels happy!"

Welcome to the Blog World

So here it is...

I've thought about blogging for awhile, but kept putting it off. Why? Partly because I don't feel my life is exciting enough to share in cyberspace. Partly because I don't feel I compare to the blogs I frequent (Moms who have lost children, Moms of multiples, moms who have adopted and/or combined families and now have large broods...)

However, I have decided to blog for ME. I love scrapbooking, but haven't scrapped since I was on maternity leave 4 years ago. I am not avid about handwritten journaling. My hope is that by typing my thoughts, ideas, and memories...I may one day combine them with photos and create scrapbooks of days gone by. And if not, at the bear minimum I will have created a virtual scrapbook, and a place to help jog my memory when I try to recall things.

Add to this the fact the majority of my family and close friends live out of state, so a blog will be a quick and easy way for them to access current photos and up-to-date information about my exciting (sometimes yes and sometimes no) life.

I'll be back soon with vacation pics and some recent Emma updates. Thanks for reading...