Smiles at 5:30 a.m.

This kid had an interesting night. He's been really bad about going to bed on his own lately, so we tried to let him cry himself to sleep last night. It took two tries. Eventually though, he did fall asleep. When I went to go and check on him before I crawled into bed, this is how I found him. Laying on his belly on top of his pillow in the middle of his crib. I'm not sure how he managed that one, but I not wanting to start over from square one again, just put covers on him and let him be.

Then he woke up before Aaron left for work this morning. 5:30 is pretty early to be up and at 'em, but he was just pumped to be the only kid awake I think. He acted kind of tired for a while, but then got pretty fired up and began horsing around on my bed and rough housing with his dad before he had to leave. I think it was close to 6:30 when he went back to bed. He was too cute though, so I couldn't resist snapping a few pics of his sleepy smile this morning. :)

McManus Principle #1

I was looking for poetry today for Aaron online, and I came across this funny quote by Patrick McManus.

I thought it pertained to me pretty well, and thought maybe some of you might get a kick out of it as I did. :)

I'm always forgetting what I went to do, and end up doing something else, only to realize a half hour later that I never did what I set out to do in the first place!


McManus Principle #1:
The reason I never get anything done is that I always have to do something else first. But before I do that, I have to do something else. And so on. All my life I have been working backwards. Now I can't even remember what I first set out to do.
Patrick F. McManus

This picture is from Loretta's shower. It is one of the few pictures with Lia actually smiling! The Tervo grandkids! In the next four months there will be five!

Deanna, Missy, Katie, Dianne and I outside of our hotel in Duluth for our sisters weekend.

I never had this many cousins close in age living by me when I was growing up. Katie, Sandra and Eva were my cousins I really knew well, and they lived down state. I think Jenna is so lucky to have so many cousins she calls her friends.

I just like this picture of Travis. He is finally walking now, if I didn't mention that before. Our apt. isn't very big, so he just kind of goes in circles around here because he's so pumped to walk.

I got a chuckle out of a boss at work the other day. I stopped by to pick up my pay check and he said he had a couple of questions for me

This made me a little nervous, as I'd called in the Sat. before and I don't usually do that and always feel so guilty doing it. But anyways, he looked at me and said " I'm assuming you are with child, and am wondering what your plan is for how long you are planning on working."

Seriously, "with child"? haha! Who says that! A guy I guess, and he's only a few years older than me I think! I really got a chuckle. But I'm such a brat and the first thing that came out of my mouth was I laughed, and asked "Is it that obvious?" haha. It still makes me want to laugh. I did answer his questions though and he seemed satisfied, and said nothing about the week before.

Finally Pictures!

Here are some pictures I have been promising! :)

A little story about Travis. I was at Alanna's last night and was going to give Teija a bath. My kids didn't need one and were supposed to just watch. Well I was in the process of washing Teija up when all of a sudden Jenna yells " Travis is in the bathtub!" And sure enough, somehow the little bugger snuck right by me and climbed into the tub with all of his clothes on! He was so pumped and I thought it was too funny to be mad. So I just ran and got my camera instead and took a few pics. He probably played in the tub with his clothes on for five to ten minutes. :) It was funny how he just did not care that he was completly clothed. :0)

Pictures, a New President, and Stockings

I know I promised pictures, but guess what. We left the USB cable and everything else we need to transfer all of our new fun pics from our camera to the computer up north at Pete and Janet's. Bummer. I'll have to remember to grab them the next time I am up there. But I did take some outside today. They aren't as accurate as my description yesterday because the front end loader came through and scraped some of the parking lot where there were no cars parked.

Jenna and I went and played outside today. I probably looked a little bit foolish. I don't have any snow pants, so I borrowed Aaron's hunting pants which are waterproof, and camouflage. He does have plain black carharts, but they are way to big. So, I made do. I stayed dry so I guess that's the most important part. Jenna had a blast. She made snow angels, we climbed a big snow pile and slid down on our bums, and she found a smaller hill to use her snow tube from Kate on.

I watched our new president get sworn in today. It made me really think that I am glad I am not him right now. He's got a lot of work cut out for him. I wish him all the luck and courage he may need to get the job done right. When the navy choir sang the national anthem it gave me goosebumps. We truly are lucky to be an American.

So I have varicose veins. hooray. They showed up last week and they HURT. So far it is only on my left leg, my right doesn't bother me at all. But they really hurt and I don't even have very many! The one little bulging vein was causing a throbbing and burning sensation and making my whole leg really achy. So I called the hospital and the Dr faxed a prescription to the pharmacy for what they call maternity stockings. Basically they are Ted hose nylons that come up over my belly. They aren't as bad as I thought they would be, and they really do help give relief from the pain. I'm hoping I get used to them and that soon I won't think anything of them. I am also hoping they go away after my pregnancy. I doubt it, but I can hope right?

Wonderful

It was wonderful. Exactly what I needed to boost the spirits a bit. I went to Duluth with all but one of my sister in laws and had a great time. I'm glad I got to go. It was iffy for a bit if I were able to go, but it worked out in the end. We got some shopping in and some quality time together. There were laughs and good deals, and even Olive Garden for supper. We had a late night ( 4am) and some heart to heart talks. I am so lucky to have such wonderful sister in laws.

A couple of them are older than I, and it's like they are my own big sisters. Which is always something I wanted growing up as I am the oldest. I just had to wait til I was married to get it. :) It was definitely a treat to go for a night without the kids. Even better, I found out they were great for their dad when I was gone. Maybe I can sneak in one more quick weekend with my hubby just the two of us before this baby comes. As of now I am 23 weeks, and counting. :) Loretta only has six left. Lucky her. :) But she has put her time in and is ready to be done. I'm hoping the rest of her pregnancy goes well and goes by fast.

It's late, and I am still trying to catch up from a night of almost no sleep, so I'll be back later! Happy Monday! It's snowing here.... again. I think we'll be surprised when it isn't snowing. I think today we got about ten inches of snow here today. It just keeps coming and coming and coming! We had to park in a no parking spot because the parking lot here is a joke. They aren' t planning on plowing it good til this Sat, and you have to drive over banks up to my knees to get into a normal spot. Aaron said if they try to ticket him, he's going to complain that he couldn't park anywhere else without getting stuck. I'll take a picture tomorrow morning and post it for all to see. I got my new camera so I'll start adding pics this week.

-3 and Needing Heet

The morning started out rather doubtfully..... the van WOULD NOT START. Not even with the help of Dan and his van and jumper cables. It was just too cold. Aaron was supposed to go and donate plasma this a.m, and thats when we found out the van was having and issue with the -3 temp. It took a good hour to get the van up and running. The boys had to run to the gas station and get some Heet to put in the gas tank. Aaron figured it was either a bad battery that just can't handle the cold, or a frozen gas line, or a little bit of both. Either way, we were this close to not making it up here tonight, and then on his last attempt before he gave up, it started. Yea for cold weather...... not. The whole campus was closed again today due to cold temps. It just doesn't seem to warm up!

Our camera came in today! I was so excited to get it. Just in time for my Duluth getaway with all of my sister in laws ( minus Kate as she couldn't make it cause of work ) tomorrow. So, I have the rest of today to play around with it and figure out how to take pictures with it and monkey with all of the different settings. Should be fun and I'm looking forward to it. I am also looking forward to a whole day to myself in Duluth with my sister in laws. I don't get to see any of them nearly enough since we moved, and Katie only a few times a year as she and Brian live in MN. It should be a great time.

I met the family renting our house today. I mentioned before that they are from southern Texas ( near Corpus Christi). Well I talked to them a bit today and found out that they LOVE our winter weather! Go figure. :) They also love our house and think it's big. Good thing though because they are having another baby soon ( I think this is either number six or seven). Which is another good thing since they are living there. Maybe they'll like it so much they will want to rent it. They seem like really nice people. I was glad to finally put a face to our renters. It was weird to not know who was living in my house. It was a little bit strange to be the visitor to my house instead of the other way around. Also, talking to them they really like the area. But who doesn't? It's a great place to raise a family. Someday we hope to get back there... we'll see where the wind blows us when Aars is done with school.