Another New Baby!

Congrats to cousin Michelle and her husband Dewey on the birth of their son: Cayden Andrew, born Tuesday evening.

Cameron now has TWO cousins close to his age to play with!

Sara, Michelle, and I are all close to the same age and grew up together. Sara was born in January of '74, Michelle in November, and me the following March. We were the Three Musketeers.

Now, how ironic is it that we all have our kids and they are all BOYS, at the same time? Jesse born in January of '05, Cameron in January of '06, and now Cayden in April.

The circle of life continues.

Spring!

We've been taking advantage of the nice weather and walking frequently. Cameron fell asleep in the stroller last night and Madison pulled Mike around as fast as she could. Then we came home where both our 'kids' crashed for the night. :)

Again, it's been awhile since I've posted. I'm back to work, Cameron is in daycare. It's hard to let him go each day, but I know that he is in a good place. I still worry each day, with Monday's being the hardest. I did, however, adjust my schedule to allow me to have every other Friday off so that I can spend one more day with him. Mike has the opposite Fridays, so at least he is only in daycare 4 days a week.

Work is still an adjustment. I'm tired a lot. I don't get much done at home. I would say that if money was not an issue, I would elect to work part-time. I think I would need to do something outside the home at least a few days a week for a few hours, but otherwise I would figure out stuff to do at home. I was suprised to find that I kept pretty busy at home most days with Cameron. In some ways too, I also feel like my career is in the toilet. Being an office manager is not what I thought I would be doing at my age.

We are heading to Babbitt this weekend to visit the grandparents. They've only seen Cameron once, so they will be looking forward to seeing how much he has grown. madison will enjoy the opportunity to run around in the wide open. The ice is out on the lake too, which means it will be a joy to see open water. It also makes letting Madison out at 5 am a lot easier when I can just stand out the back door with her on the leash and watch the sun come up. Imagine doing that at 5 am in February, no sun, below zero, holding a leash out the door while you tell her to hurry the hell up!

I'm having surgery next week for an ovarian cyst. Wednesday-Friday I may be out of commission. I've never had to have any kind of surgery, even this outpatient kind, so I'm a bit nervous. Well, I guess I had my wisdom teeth out, but that's about it. This is done with a laser and 3 incisions in my abdomen. Freaky! I will be very happy to have it out after all the probs it has caused.

I will try to post more. My life is pretty basic. Cameron takes up most of my time and energy, all well spent. He has grown so much, I am continually amazed. Right now he enjoys 'talking' and it's getting louder as he learns that he likes the sound of it!! He also is in the early stages of the belly laugh when we make faces at him up close in the swing. Nothing makes your day more then when you can get your kid to laugh at you!

Goodbye, Kirby.

Today, my childhood idol died. Since 1985, Kirby Puckett was baseball to me. I had gotten a hold of one of his baseball cards some how and he was the only Minnesota Twin in the pack. I remember showing it to my Uncle Charlie and he told me that this kid was supposed to really good.

I guess that's all it took.

He became my favorite. This guy was 'it' for me. On August 2, 1986 he was signing autographs in the Twin Cities at a book store. Pam and Charlie took me to see him for the first time. I remember that I was so nervous. After waiting in line for over an hour, we made it up to him. I didn't know what to say. I put my items to be signed down in front of him and he just glanced up and smiled and began to sign. Then, Charlie put his arm around me and said, "Kirby, big fan of yours here." Kirby smiled back and said, "Oh yeah? Thanks!"

The next time I saw him was in February of 1987. Pam had taken a picture of me the day I met Kirby as he signed his baseball card and photo for me. So, I took the 8x10 of this photo and had Kirby sign it at the Twins Fest dinner in Rochester. He asked where it had been taken and commented that it was 'cool'.

Kirby made me dream big. He made me love the game of baseball because he had such exhuberance for it. I used to think maybe I could be the first woman to play Major League ball! Eventually, I decided I wanted to be in Broadcast. And what was my goal? To interview Kirby some day.

In 1995, I came close. My journalism teacher at college wangled a deal that got me and a classmate on to the field at the Dome with press passes. I was so excited. I kept thinking that I wasn't even out out in the big time yet and I was already going to accomplish my goal! But, it was wishful thinking. Kirby was in the process of being diagnosed with glaucoma and was seeing a specialist out of state. I spoke with Paul Molitor and Chuck Knoblauch that day instead, which was cool. But it just wasn't the same. And even they expressed the love they had for Kirby that day and how much they missed him when he wasn't on the field with them.

When he retired, I was so sad. But, he was Kirby. He would be okay. And, Charlie & I vowed, along with my brother Pat, that we would go to Cooperstown when he made the Hall of Fame.

And we did.

It was the longest, hottest day in the sun I can ever remember, but well worth the wait. I remember that this family that sat in front of us had t-shirts made that had the Jack Buck comment from the 1991 World Series: "And we'll see you...tomorrow night!" That, of course, from when Kirby hit his famous home run in Game 6 that sent them on to win the series. And Charlie had his picture taken wearing his Kirby t-shirt by a Star Tribune photographer and it made the paper! That made that day even more special.

I kept thinking after he retired that it would never be the same going to a Twins game without hearing Bob Casey saying KIRRRRBBBBYYYY Puckett ever again. And you know what? It never was the same. Baseball lost some of its luster for me when he left.

In the last few years, allegations arose of his misconduct in his marriage and other areas. Frank DeFord of Sports Illustrated wrote a scathing story about a Kirby none of us knew or wanted to know. I was surprised, saddened, and disappointed. It made me realize then that athletes are not people we should call heroes, at least to me. I saw then that people like my Grandma or my mom should be my hero.

Yet, Kirby represented something from my childhood that never went away entirely. He allowed me to dream big. He had an infectious grin, happy smile, and a love for the game that everyone respected.

There will never be another Kirby Puckett. And I will always be thankful for that little guy with the big grin that helped me dream. We'll miss you, Kirby.

I’m back.

Yes, I should have been writing all along, considering I was home on bed rest most of the month of December through my pregnancy. But, most days I didn’t feel the greatest and other days I had contractions all the time so it made for not wanting to write a whole lot!

However, our lives have changed completely and it’s time for the new mom to document this since Uncle Pat, Grandpa Steve, and the new daddy have done so.

Cameron Patrick Lemke was born on January 11, 2006 at 10:11 a.m. It had been a long 6 weeks leading up to the big day, but it has been worth every bit. It’s been a huge adjustment for me, but I’m getting there and am appreciating this special time that he and I have together at home. As my mom told me, and she is so right, they are only this age once. I want to remember as much of it as I can.

December 1st started out with me waking up with contractions. My due date was January 6th, so I wasn’t quite sure what I was feeling. I stayed home from work and called the birthing center at our hospital and described what they termed as ‘pre-labor’ symptoms. The contractions were manageable, but coming about 5-6 minutes apart. They said I should come in, so I took a shower and drove myself to St. Paul. I think in my mind I was really feeling like this was all in my head and I was being overly cautious. However, when I was hooked up to the machines, they found I was having contractions that were irregular, but 6-8 minutes apart. They also heard an irregular heart beat on the baby.

I was concerned, but since I wasn’t dilating, I didn’t freak out for some reason. They gave me a shot to stop the contractions, fed me, and sent me home to rest and visit my doctor the following day. I followed orders, but came home feeling a bit nervous that the baby’s room wasn’t finished!

The following morning Madison woke me at 5am to go outside. Not uncommon, but she kept staring at me like something was up. She knew something before I did. The contractions hit at around 5:30am, and this time they were 3-5 minutes and painful. I told Mike and he elected to stay home and see what was happening. We called the hospital again, and they told us to come in. Same routine-gave me a shot and on to the doctor I went in the afternoon. She then told me it was bed rest and medication for 2 weeks until I could get to 37 weeks.

I called work, let them know what was up, and told them I would be able to come to my shower at work the following Tuesday and wrap up what I could since we now were wondering if I would even make it that far. I spent the weekend taking it as easy as I could and getting up now and then. (It was only moderate bed rest so I could get up and do some stuff.)

By this point I am now looking like a large elephant, with swollen feet and ankles. I couldn’t sleep more then a few hours at a time, and I was snoring, so I slept in the guest room a lot and would get up each day at 5am with Madison and watch the news until 7am. Then, we’d go back to bed until noon. I slept better during the day for some reason.

I still had contractions a lot, some days worse then others. The hard part was not being able to decorate for Christmas. (Thanks to my Aunt Pam, she came up and did it for us! And cleaned!) I also couldn’t bake cookies with my mom and aunt Sandra as planned, and worst of all, I had to miss Mike’s graduation for his Masters Degree. I felt horrible about that. And, only his dad was able to make it, they canceled the Christmas plans we had made for that day, it just went from bad to worse for him. It wasn’t much of celebration for an event that should have been properly marked because it was a HUGE deal and he did a great job.

When I hit 37 weeks, my doctor took me off the meds and said if I went into labor, it was fine. We had a Level 2 Ultrasound the week before that showed that the baby was in great shape, weighed 6lbs, 12oz and the irregular heart beat was gone. The doc was confident that I would NOT make my due date and it wouldn’t be much longer.

The following week I had my first false alarm-all morning I had really intense contractions that increased to 5 minutes. Mike came home from work, we were ready to call, and what happened? They went away. On December 23rd, it happened again. This time, we were trying to decide if we should go to Rochester for Christmas. I was HELL BENT on having the holiday with my family, so we called the birthing center and they said I should just come get checked out. Yes, I was having contractions, but they weren’t producing anything so they said we should go to Rochester and enjoy our holidays. I took Tylenol that whole weekend to help the pain, and it worked and got me through.

I went back to work that week of Christmas half days. I continued to go all the following week as well, with a few days I had to stay home with a lot of pain. I was SO frustrated. I wanted this baby out. I was tired, fat, swollen, you name it. And I was tired of not knowing what was real and what wasn’t.

New Year’s Day, again, false alarm. This time we even had Dad come up and bring Madison to Mom and Barry’s. The contractions this time were close together and VERY painful. But, as the evening went on, they slowed down and finally stopped. Again, so frustrated. Madison spent the week in Rochester and I missed her terribly. I started my maternity leave on January 4th because I just couldn’t keep driving and staying comfortable. Mike and I went to my appointment on January 6th, my due date. I was still only dilated to 2cm and she set us up for appointments to check out the baby the following Tuesday. If all looked good, they would schedule an induction for January 13th.

We drove to Rochester that night to pick up Madison and had dinner with my folks. It was a nice break for me, and good to have my doggie back. We spent the weekend doing odds and ends around the house and then on Sunday I started having a severe pain in my side. At first it was just a cramp that I thought would go away, so I took a bath. But, it stayed and it got worse. By the time 6pm rolled around, I was in agony. I tried to lie down, but anytime I moved the pain was so bad I was crying. Then, I would have a contraction (remember, I had these all the time) and the pain would increase. I kept sitting in the tub, because that relieved some of intensity. Finally, Mike had me call the birthing center around midnight to see what they thought.

Unfortunately, I talked with a real bitch of a nurse who totally blew me off. I was trying to explain how bad the pain was and she just kept saying, “Well, you might be in labor, but you should just stay home as long as possible. It’s probably another false alarm.” I didn’t think I was in labor, I just knew something was wrong. So, I hung up totally frustrated and crying thinking no one believed me. It was so bad at one point, that I was on my knees on the floor and anytime Mike tried to help me up, I just couldn’t move because the pain was that severe.

I sent Mike to bed and then stayed in the tub until about 3am. Thank god for my dog. She knew something was up and stayed by my side. In the morning, Mike had me call the hospital again at which time the new nurse said YES I should could come in. Again, the same drill. They figured I either had a cyst or bladder infection. Dr. prescribed Vicodin for the pain and an antibiotic in case it was bladder related.

Vicodin had me totally gone. I mean, goooooone. I slept though, which I needed badly. The pain continued, but was now manageable. The next day we went to the doctor for a non-stress test to see how the baby was doing (all was good) and then had an ultrasound. We were amazed at how big our kid had gotten! I asked them to look to see if they saw a cyst, and it appeared that there was one. We were told all was fine with the baby and to prepare to be induced that Friday.

We had a great day. We went to the Olive Garden for lunch, to Wal-Mart, PetSmart, and just did some odds and ends that needed to be done. Little did we know that would be our last trip out on our own! We came home and I called me family and let them know the status of things. I remember distinctly saying to Lyn, my sister-in-law that I could relax and know that the baby would just be coming on Friday. It wasn’t more then an HOUR later that the real contractions started!

I totally blew them off at first. They were more intense then usual, but why should I believe they were real after all we had gone through? I went about my business and started cleaning upstairs. I hung a picture and a shelf in the baby’s room. I did laundry. About the time I was going to start cleaning the bathroom, I realized that I was having to stop what I was doing when I had the contraction. They kept getting more intense, so I sat in the bathtub again. I chatted with my brother on the phone. And around 10pm when I finished talking to him I casually mentioned that I was having some fairly strong contractions but no big deal. Pat just said, “keep us posted.”

By the time midnight rolled around, I was having some major pain. We just didn’t know what to do. Finally, Mike said to call the hospital. I think I knew at that point that this was real, but he said he didn’t. But, my luck, I got the same bitchy nurse who tried to talk me OUT of coming in. Told me it was in my head-just like the other day. She did get a little sheepish when I told her they found a cyst and that had caused all my pain. Finally I said to her through gritted teeth: “Look, I think I’m in labor. I don’t know what the hell you people want me to do.”

This seemed to catch her attention and she said we should come in. But, just to be sure, I took another bath to see if the contractions would go away. They did not. Around 2 am we put Madison in the kennel (who looked at us like we were out of our mind) and left.

The 20 minutes to the hospital were the longest of my life.

When a contraction would come, it just seemed to seize me. I wasn’t breathing correctly either, but I was doing whatever I could to get through. When we got to the ramp and parked, I had to stop three times on the way to Labor and Delivery. We were greeted by the lovely, bitchy nurse and brought to a room When she examined me, I think she was surprised to find that I was dialated to 4! Yes, I was in labor. Finally!

At this point I was shaking from the pain, so she offered me something until the anesthetist could get there to administer the epidural. Initially, I refused thinking I could hang on. About 5 minutes later I was like, get me the drugs!! Mike says that as the drug took affect (immediately) I looked like Jeff Spicoli in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. (Can we say high?)

It didn’t take the contractions away, but it made them bearable. So, with that being the case, Mike took this time to run to his work and take care of a few things. This was at 3:30am or so. I was feeling good (oh, yeah) so I told him to go. Thankfully, just a few minutes later, the doctor arrived to give me the epidural. Although you are not allowed to get out of bed while having it (makes your legs numb) and that you constantly have to be monitored with blood pressure, etc, it was a godsend.

I didn’t really sleep, but I was able to rest.

They broke my water at 6am (and I had 2 new nurses at this point that were AWESOME) and things really started to move. Suddenly, at 9am, they said I was at a 10 and I could start pushing. It really went a lot faster then I anticipated. Which was fine with me!

I just have to say that pushing was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life. Ever.

At one point, I said to Mike: “I can’t do this.” And I really meant it! He, however, kept telling me I could along with the nurse. Even though I had the epidural, I still could feel a lot of pressure. His head was bearing down so badly, I just wanted to get him out. I didn’t want to take a break from pushing, but the nurse kept telling me to rest in between contractions. Some of the time I did, most of the time I just kept pushing no matter what. Mike was awesome. He held my leg, told me what to do, helped me breathe, you name it.

When the doctor showed up, I couldn’t have cared less. I couldn’t even greet her! She showed up about half hour into things, and didn’t come back until 10 minutes before I delivered. It’s amazing what the nurses really do! Suddenly, they slapped oxygen on me and said one more push and the baby would be here. To be honest, I kept my eyes closed and focused all my forces in that last push. I remember one small scream escaping me, a horrible burning sensation, and then relief. The doctor said something like, “Look at this boy!” And I said:

“It’s a boy?”

Mike gave me a kiss as they put my baby on my belly and I stared in awe. We had a baby. It was an amazing moment in my life and something I’ll never forget.

When the doctor asked if we had a name, we looked at each other at the same time and said: Cameron. Then I looked at Mike and told him that I liked Patrick for a middle name, and he agreed. And so, our baby boy had a name: Cameron Patrick Lemke.

He was a lot bigger then we figured, and long too. 8lbs, 12 oz. and 22 inches long. Wow! When they gave him back to us, Mike and I just stared at him. It was so hard to believe. After all the trauma and drama of the last month, he was finally here. He was healthy and we were so happy.

The phone calls began. Low and behold, Dad was at our house letting Madison out. Mike told him that he should come to the hospital and see his new grandson. Dad was there within 90 minutes and was the first to hold him. It was a cool moment for him.

When I called Mom at work, they were all on alert and the phone was quickly passed to her! I said: “You have a grandson!” She cried, and so did I.

Uncle Pat didn’t get the call until the afternoon, unfortunately, because I didn’t have his work number with me for some odd reason. He was just as excited and as he said, honored and humbled by the middle name. We were so glad they were all able to come last week and meet him.

And so, that’s my tale. As I said, it’s been an adjustment for me in many ways. The first days home I was still running on adrenaline, as I had while in the hospital. Then, I crashed. And when I say crashed, I would have liked Tom Cruise to come over to my house to witness what ‘post-pardom’ is really all about. And yes, I quickly recognized with the help of my mom and Mike, that I needed to go back on the anti-depressants I had been taking before I was pregnant and get some rest. And guess what Mr. Cruise? It worked.

Cam is now 6 weeks old and doing great. I’m doing much better. We are all feeling more confident and learning to read him fairly well. I sincerely never thought I could be as tired as I am most of the time. When he sleeps 4-5 hours in one stretch at night, I feel like a new person! Mike & I have a lot of respect for 10 hours of sleep.

Madison is doing prettty good, but looks at us frequently like we ruined her life! She likes Cameron and is very protective of him. I think she is missing the one on one time she has had with us in the past, but is quickly learning that Cam is part of the pack now.

One last thing I have to mention: my wonderful, amazing husband gave me an iPod for an early birthday/Valentines/having a baby gift. I LOVE this thing. It’s a whole new gadget to play with and do cool stuff with. Pat and Alissa also have iPods, so they were able to show me a bunch of things when they came to visit. The coolest thing I like is the ability to download TV shows! I have 2 episodes of The Office and can’t wait to get other stuff.

I’ll try to start blogging again regularly, if I can. My days are pretty full with Cameron, so if your emails are not answered quickly, I will get to you eventually.

Thanks to all of you for your support, prayers, love, and gifts to us all. We really appreciate everything.

Goodbye Mr. Miyagi

I woke up Thanksgiving morning to my sister-in-law yelling down to Mike:

"Mr. Miyagi died!"

Mike was a big fan of the Karate Kid movie, that's why his sister felt COMPELLED to wake us up so early and tell us that!

Anyway, on to other things...

Since I haven't posted in awhile, lots to catch up on. Baby showers have been in full force with our family and friends being way generous. We couldn't appreciate it more and have enjoyed seeing everyone as well. The most recent one was over the weekend up north with Mike's friends. We came home loaded down with all kinds of stuff. The baby's room is overflowing!

I put up the wallpaper border a few weeks ago, we bought a dresser, and have a bassinette, so I think we're pretty ready to go. The crib is still in the box, so as soon as we move the bed out of the guest room, we can put that up. Madison is going to be in for a rude awakening-her bed is getting moved! She pretty much sleeps in there every night.

Mike and Matt did the ceiling in the basement and were progressing nicely. Unfortuately, we've had a couple of major financial hits come up that have told us that we have to put things on hold. 2 weeks ago my car broke down on the way home from work (belt tensioner) and cost a chunk of change to get fixed. When we got home from Thanksgiving on Saturday night, we had no heat. Our furnace needed a circuit board. This also cost a bit to get fixed because it was a weekend and a holiday one at that! (labor charges suck). So, the wood to finish the basement walls is going to have to wait.

Christmas is going to suck for us this year-I love to give, but we just aren't going to be able to do much of it this time. I guess everyone has these types of years/events that happen.

Baby is doing well and we're at week 35 this week. 5 weeks left and counting. My major complaints at this point are acid reflux, swollen ankles and feet, and back aches! :) All worth it!

Our Thanksgiving was spent in Babbitt and we had a really good time. It was cold, colder then down in the cities. Madison enjoyed running around in the snow. I had never been up there at Thanksgiving time, so it was fun to see how the lake was beginning to freeze over. Then, all the sudden overnight, it did! Wish I had taken a picture.

A few pictures to post

This is our new vehicle, as of August. I just kept forgetting to post it. 2003 Dodge Durango that had just 385 miles on it when we drove it off the lot. It had been a display vehicle, which explains the low mileage. This replace's Mike's 1995 Grand Prix, so he is enjoying his new ride. :)

This is a shot of our current project-finishing off the basement. Mike has done a great job and is finishing up currently the duct work. He'll be working on electrical for the next couple of weeks, and then we'll begin the final portion. Instead of dry wall, we'll be doing the tongue and groove pine boards for something different. Considering that the entire thing was just a cinderblock basement, he has done a lot!

This is how Madison sleeps when we have the ceiling fan on in our bedroom. Her nose must get cold. :) I thought it was cute.

Funny game
This blog that I read on a regular basis Give Me The Booger posted a cool game that she had been wanting to try out. I thought I'd give it a whirl and post my results. Here's the deal:

You go to Google Images and search these terms. Post the first (or your favorite) picture the search engine finds. Here we go!

The name of the town you grew up in

The name of the town you now live

Your Name:

Her name is LaShada Allen. How does that translate to Kristin?

Your Favorite Food: pizza

Huh? Obviously this wasn't the first picture that showed up, but it was the funniest in relation to the word pizza.

Your Favorite Drink: Coke

I can't read the balloon, but it was something to do with snorting Coke.

Your Favorite Song: Since I can't ever decide, I just used what my current favorite song is. Gold Digger by Kanye West.

Last, Your Favorite Smell: I love the smell of Roast Beef cooking in my mom's kitchen! However, everything that came up was just not even funny.

What's even funnier is when you type in words like poop or fart into Google Images. Cuz I'm just that way.

Greetings from the city of boat sex scandals....this picture from our local radio station, KDWB, says it all.

:)

Although I am not a huge football fan (come to think of it, I've really gotten away from hockey and baseball too), it's still really disappointing to hear that your hometown team had to go and do something THAT STUPID. It's going to be a very long season indeed.

Forgot to mention, I think, that we started Lamaze classes a few weeks ago. We had our third class last night and it was better. Next week we tour the birthing center. I am a person who likes to visualize new experiences in my mind, so seeing where labor and delivery is going to be will be a huge help. Now, it's starting to come down to weighing the consequences of using epidurals, drugs, etc. I don't if I am out of the ordinary, but when they ask me what goals I have for giving birth, I just don't know. I don't have any. I just want to get the kid out, do it the best way I can, and without too much pain. I'm not into saying things like: I will not have drugs, I want to have it quiet, I want it soothing, I just don't have any clue. To me, it's like, you give birth. Done. I know there is more to it, but I guess I don't have any strong feelings in any areas that are pressing me to make goals. I feel very overwhelmed at the number of choices being presented to us not only with labor stuff, but also about what to buy for the kid and how to prepare for them. It honestly gives me a headache. This whole baby industry is a racket in my opinion. You don't need half the stuff the stores try to push on you anyway!

My first baby shower is Nov. 6th at Pam's, thrown by my family. Nov. 19th is the next one at my friend Jill's. I'm sure I'll feel more prepared after those events. The time is drawing nearer.

I went to physical therapy for my back yesterday. I've been struggling with lower back pain and my OB suggested I go and work with the PT to see if she could help me figure out what is going on. Turns out my right hip was out of whack, causing my pain, so she did some tissue adjustments and gave me exercises. I felt good last night, but today is tight again. Gotta get to those exercises tonight! That darn growing belly seems to be throwing things off. :)

Busy week at work-board retreat to get ready for. Thankfully, I don't have to go, just had to help get ready for it on top of doing my job and the admin assistant's job who was on vacation. Fine when I'm not pregnant-but it's harder to be on my feet as much then I realized. I'm ready for the weekend. No plans.

Friends Kelly and Bill had twins this week. Boy and a girl, about 4 weeks early. Sounds like all is well, but they'll be in the hospital for awhile. Babies everywhere! Or, it just seems like everyone is pregnant.

I met up with my TM gals that are pregnant (Alana and Jessie) and Jeannette (who is not!) the other night and had a great time. We all look different-even though we're due within 10 days of each other. Crazy! Hard to believe it happened this way too. We laughed at how crazy it would have been if we had still worked together!

My favorite song currently: Kanye West's "Gold Digger" with Jaime Fox. I'm not a Kanye fan (in fact, this is the first song of his that I've even heard) and I'm not a Hip Hop person either, but this song is catchy! And, with the old Ray Charles tune "I've got a Woman" as part of the song, it just rocks. I'm also still loving Brad Paisley's "Alcohol" tune.

Tyler's Confirmation

Just a few pictures to post from Tyler's event on Sunday. Hard to believe he is 16 and towers over both Sara and I, his godmothers!

The last shot is what I call "Heisman Tyler." I told him to do the pose of the Heisman Trophy! :)

Otherwise, things are some what busy but the same for us. We started Lamaze classes last week, continuing for the next 6 weeks. It's kind of retarded, but I'm sure we'll learn some stuff out of it. I went home last weekend, while Mike stayed to visit with his aunt from Florida. Mom and I drove down to Harmony to see Grandpa and Grandma. It gets harder and harder to see them. Grandma was having a pretty good day. She patted my belly and asked how long she had to wait before she could hold the baby. I'm glad that is still hanging in there with her. I just hope she is still doing ok when the baby comes.

I filled Grandpa in on my trip to Montour, and he was able to answer a few questions I had. We also got to talking about education, being smart, etc and he bragged BIG TIME about all 3 of his sons and how proud he was of their achievements! :)

I'm tired a lot lately as I move into my last trimester (28 weeks=7 months and 1 week) so I haven't gotten a whole lot done. My burgeoning belly is causing some major acid reflux at night and making getting comfortable a bit of a chore. Hopefully I can figure out some way to get comfortable soon!

Busy Week

This week has been busy at work, so not a lot of posting. Going to bed at 9pm and getting up really early does not agree with me so much. :)

Wanted to post a few things that the Webb clan may enjoy. Cousin Janet sent this picture to me recently.

This was the garage in Montour that was own/run by Jake and Vance. Grandpa was born in the house on the far right of the picture. Cool, huh?

This is Wayne pitching the ball to Vance, with Grandpa at the left. This was taken around 1951, at Vance and Julia's in Spring Valley. Obviously, Wayne is either just home from Korea or on leave.

This is Wayne, Dad, and Gus Price (Laurene's son) taken in 1976 on the front steps of Grandpa and Grandma's house in Burr Oak. Check out Wayne's shirt-better yet, check out my Dad's shirt! I have distinct memories of it for some reason. Dad, did you get that in Nashville?

Anyway, enjoy the trip down memory lane. :)

Stuff

After reading my cousin Molly's blog, I am insanely jealous that she is getting the new iPod Nano. It sounds SO cool. I have yet to even get even a regular iPod! I can't wait to hear how amazing it is. But, I do love my tiny off brand Mp3 player too.

We didn't do much this weekend, which was fine with me. Friday we stayed home and hung out, ate some take out from Carbone's and watched TV. Saturday, Madison decided that even though Daddy was already up, she was going to lick me from 7:30-9am until I got up. She eventually won. I spent most of the day cleaning the upstairs, doing laundry, etc. Mike washed the new vehicle (I keep forgetting to take a picture of it) and vacuumed it all.

Later, we went over to Matt and Jill's for the evening. They were childless for the night, so we went out to dinner and then sat in their new hot tub. No worries-the temperature was a lukewarm 97 degrees, so I am allowed to sit in there. It was like bath water and felt really good. I also had to break out the borrowed maternity swimsuit, which was oh so joyful. Thankfully it fit fine, it's just when you look in the mirror and see your belly hanging out that you're like, "gah". I am still gaining weight at a slow, but steady rate, which is fine with me.

The evening was late for us, which is unusual, so I slept in. Madison decided that 6:15am was the time to eat, but thankfully she went back to sleep this time. She is my shadow. On Sunday she stayed with me as I finished the laundry and was putting it all away. She tends to lay right on the bed, in the midst of it all, but she has to be near me. She even follows me into the bathroom lately and sits there. I've been wondering what that is all about? Maybe she is sensing more hormonal changes in me and is overprotective. This morning I was resting before work and reading a couple pages of my book and she put her paw in the middle of the page like, "Excuse me, pay attention to me!"

Mike worked on the basement yesterday and has gotten most of his framing done. The wiring will have to begin shortly, which he needs help on. Otherwise, it's moving along really well. I am very proud of all the work he has done on his own, since he's had no experience before. Although I am sure he enjoyed the beginning of the NFL season this past week, he is more then counting down the days until October 5th when the NHL season begins. (Which is ALSO Mario Lemieux's birthday, Sidney Crosby's debut, and our first Lamaze class, so he has to tape it all anyway!)

Post-Labor Day

Back to work, thankfully not back to school. :) Iowa was pretty fun, although gas prices made the trip in our new Durango rather expensive. I remember moaning a few months back that I had never paid $2/gallon before. Now, I've paid over $3.

We didn't get to Muscatine until after 11pm Wednesday night. We had to drop off Madison in Rochester and it seems like Hwy. 63 at night takes forever to drive on. Thursday morning I took off for Toledo, Iowa which is just under 2 hours from Muscatine. It was a nice drive, mostly all on I-80.

I enjoyed meeting Janet and Richard, who live on a farm at the edge of Tama and Toledo, which are two cities basically joined. To the West is Montour, where my grandfather was born. The rest of his siblings were all born in the area of these little towns as well. The house that Grandpa was born in is now gone, but I did see two other homes in the area that are of historic importance to our family. They are old, but well maintained and are still in use.

There isn't much to Montour anymore. There is a lumber yard and a restaurant, but that is pretty much it. My best explanation is that it looks much like Burr Oak does now and is about the same size.

I did get to visit the Maple Grove Cemetary, which is where Jake and Sina Webb are buried. These would be Grandpa Vance's parents. Also buried here are Vance's first wife (and Ethel's mother) Ingrid, Sina's sister Aunt Sadie, Grandpa's little brother Glendon who only lived a day, and a few other relatives.

Janet and Richard are a hoot and I enjoyed spending time with them both. They took me out to dinner at the Meskwakie Casino where they are both well known because they eat there often. What was most enjoyable was that they are quite liberal and we had many of the same views of current politics. For their age (early 70's) and occupation (farmers) I guess I would have thought they would have been more conservative. As I was leaving Richard said, "Well, Janet said you would be a delight, and you certainly are. Please come back and visit." Janet's response was, "Well, of course she is, she's a Webb isn't she?" :)

I didn't get back to Muscatine until about 11pm Thursday night, where Mike, Uncle Mike, and cousins were having a good time together. On Friday, I slept in and we pretty much just hung out through the day. Mike and Uncle Mike went to cousin Mitchell's sophomore football game and proceeded to embarrass Stephanie (Mike's daughter age 14).

Saturday morning the boys all got up bright and early and headed to Iowa City for the Hawkey vs. Ball State game. With a Hawkeye win of 56-0, they had fun. We left Sunday afternoon and headed for Rochester.

Madison was VERY happy to see us, enjoyed her stay with Grandpa and Grandma, and behaved really well. For some reason they have the best luck in wearing her out, so she slept all the way home and most of Monday too. We actually left her out of her kennel for an hour on Monday while we went to the grocery store and Menards, and she did not mess up anything. We were impressed and I hope that its a sign of things to come. Either that, or she was just too tired to get into trouble!

And so, our travels went well and it was nice to have a 5 day break. I'm officially entering my 6 month this week and head to the doctor next week for a check-up. The baby continues to be active and I'm feeling good.

No words for the Katrina devestation-it's overwhelming to watch and my heart goes out to all of them.

Johnny Knoxville or my sister-in-law on MTV's Jackass?

Okay, when we were up north a few weeks ago, Patti decided to find her mom's old wheelchair and see if she could take it down the hill by their house. You know, kind of like a Jackass stunt? Well, it worked. And it worked so well, that she went off the dock at one point, into the lake! Anyway, the above picture is of her as she went flying by me.

Imagine this being your backyard? This is the view you get from looking out the living room window of Mike's parent's home. Nice, huh? This is a great shot of Madison's first trek of being off her leash fetching a tennis ball out of the lake. She loved it-and especially loved biting at the waves coming in. Mike calls this picture: Man, his dog, his lake.

This is Madison and Jesse, who was visting this weekend. Madison enjoyed sharing his blanket, although she really wanted to lick him! Jesse, on the other hand, loved looking at her.

A Dog's Life. What more could you ask for then this? This is how you will find Madison on most nights, in the living room on the couch, all spread out.

A quick side-note as well: Mike was able to feel the baby kick last night for the first time. He was pretty happy I think! I was feeling some major league kicks going on, so I told him I just couldn't imagine that he wouldn't be able to feel them. Sure enough, BOOM! There it was. In fact, it was such a hard kick, we saw my belly move twice where that little kick came from. How cool is that? :) We enjoyed the experience a lot.

It is, indeed, a baby!

On Friday, Mike & I were thrilled to see our first born live, in-concert, weighing in at 13 oz. at the doctor's office. There was a lot of movement of hands and feet and after that day, I have felt nothing but real kicks, no longer those little pokes and prods. It really is an amazing process how they can view our children before they are born. What's even more amazing is that I can share it with my friends and family via technology.

We do not know the sex of the baby, and don't plan on finding out. I'm happy to be surprised. All is well, everything looks great, sounds great. Tests have all come back normal. And if you look carefully on the chest, you will see a little white dot which is the heart. COOL!

Summer is officially close to being over because the Great Minnesota Get Together aka State Fair begins tomorrow. I think we'll head over there on Friday night, which seems to be a nice, low key night. Saturday, the Seegmiller gals are coming up with Jesse to spend the night with us while we attend the first Ethiopia Day at the Children's Home Society through which Jesse was adopted. Otherwise, I'm hoping to catch up on some rest and Mike want's to work on the basement.

We are heading to Iowa next week for a visit to Muscatine. I'm taking a day to drive over to central Iowa (Toledo) to visit my dad's cousin Janet. I have not met her (Maybe when I was a baby?) but she also does family history and I've wanted to visit the area that Grandpa Webb was raised. There I should also be able to see the graves of my great-great grandparents Webb too. Looking forward to that.

Might buy a vehicle tonight-will let you know more later.

Who liked Anchorman?

Last summer when the Legend of Ron Burgandy came out, Mike and I went to see it with Pat and Lyn. I was the only one that laughed. The other three thought it was dumb.

Okay...is it because I had a degree in Journalism and wanted to BE an anchorperson that I thought this movie was funny? Is it because I love Will Ferrell? Is it because I have seen up close how local reporters can become small time celebrities? (Or at least think they are?)

I'm not sure what the answer is. But, I do now have Mike hooked on this movie. It might just be one of those movies you have to watch a few times before it becomes funny. Since it's been on HBO this summer, we now own this movie. The reason? We just couldn't stop saying the phrases that come out of Ron Burgandy's mouth. Examples:

"By beard of Zeus!"
"Great Odin's Raven!"
"Knight's of Columbus, that hurt!"
"Uncle Jonathan's Corn Cob Pipe!"
"Sweet Lincoln's Mullet!"

We have also become huge fan's of Steve Carell, now seen on NBC's The Office. (And, he also has a new movie coming out today called The 40 Year Old Virgin). Two favorite Steve lines:

"I'm Brick Tamland. People seem to like me because I am polite and I am rarely late. I like to eat ice cream and I really enjoy a nice pair of slacks. Years later, a doctor will tell me I have an I.Q. of 48 and am what some people call mentally retarded."

and

Ron: "Um, Brick, before I let you go, are you still having your celebrity golf tournament?"
Brick: "Um, no, no. Too many people died last year, so we're not gonna."

I am also fond of Will Ferrell's conversations with the dog in the movie. When Madison was barking at me the other day, I looked at her and said, "What? You pooped in the refridgerator? You ate the whole wheel of cheese? I'm not even mad, I'm impressed."

Guess where I got that from?

Yes, I'm a dork.

As I always do on this date, I have to take a moment to honor the King.

Elvis Presley died 28 years ago today. Long live the King of Rock-n-Roll.

On to other things...

We had our 13th Annual Garness Family Camp-out this past weekend. It was honestly one of the most low key events we've ever had! The Winnebago Bowl did not occur-no one seemed interested in playing football this year. Instead, a bunch of them played a card game called In Between and lost a lot of money! No thanks...

Weather was great-not hot, not cold. No one was decorated-except Randy's tent. Randy ate so much Saturday night that he ended up going to bed at 10pm. This did not cut it with the crew so they decked out his tent with TP and twist tied the zipper to his door shut. Much giggling at 2:30 AM happened! Sadly, this pregnant lady was in bed by 12:30am both nights, so I didn't get in on much. :) Here are a few pictures of the families that attended:

Jesse after trying Banana's for the first time.

My Aunt Charm with her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren!

Mike and I-too bad you can't see the new shirt I'm wearing. It's a picture of John Schneider from his Bo Duke days. It says "Bo-delicious!" I was in love with him when I was about age 6. My belly isn't very 'showy' in some shirts, but it's definitely popping out.

And I must add as a note to my brother's blog about our visit to Moonlight Graham's grave-last week I finally purchased the DVD of Field of Dreams (I only had it on VHS) as well as the novel it's based on, Shoeless Joe.

We also have an ultrasound scheduled for this Friday, so we'll be able to see our kiddo in real time. Should be interesting! Otherwise, just recovering from our weekend. We're heading up north this weekend to hang out in Babbitt. Fingers crossed that the weather is good.

Mike just sent this to me. Today is one of those days that I'd love to start saying that at work!

I figured everyone was probably tired of looking at the picture of New Kids on the Block for 2 weeks, so I should post something.

Speaking of New Kids, I just had lunch with my best friend Jess that was my fellow NKOTB freak in JH. She, her brother, and her daughters were up at the MOA to do some shopping, so I met them at Bubba Gump's for lunch. Her bro, Jordan, is a senior at Luther College and I hadn't seen him in probably 5 years. I used to help BABYSIT this kid! And now he's a card carrying Republican, majoring in PolySci, and spent a semester in DC this year working for Republican National Committee. Where did we go wrong with him? Just kidding. :) It was fun to see them all. We had to ask him if he remembered certain things we had done to him as a kid-some of which he did remember! Example: "Jordan, go get us the Doritos out of the kitchen." At age 4, his response was: "Okay." 2 years later his response was: "Do it yourself." Then there was the time we left him sitting on the toilet for 2 hours while we watched a movie because he refused to wipe his own butt at age 3! I seriously feel bad about that one! Thankfully, that was one incident he doesn't remember! :)

Gotta love what you can do to younger siblings.

Doing a lot of reading lately, sitting outside in the heat with Madison as she plays in her kiddie pool. In the evenings, it's actually quite tolerable to sit out front of our house. Yesterday, it cooled down and felt awesome. The neighbor lady's dog had puppies 9 weeks ago, so we went to see them last night. SO CUTE! There are 6 left from a litter of 9. 3 were adopted. The father is a golden retriever mix, mother is a boxer/lab mix, so there colors are all over the place. 2 of the puppies look like the mother, but one is black, the other is tan. The rest are a mix of colors and all resemble goldens. Soft, sweet, so cute. Madison doesn't know what to think. One of them tried to pick up her tail as if it were a toy and run away with it! Mike and I both had one that we particularly liked, but have to keep ourselves from caving. We just got out of the puppy stage-don't need to go back to it yet!

Mike's cousin Mikey is visting us this weekend. Mike picked him up in Waterloo yesterday. Today they are going to Minneapolis to Block E to a cool arcade, lunch at the new Hard Rock, and then on to the Twins v. Boston game. Mikey's fave player is Manny Ramirez, who is not playing because he ran into his teammate on the field and is hurt!

Mike was thrilled to see new Pittsburgh Penguin Sidney Crosby on Jay Leno last night. I haven't seen Mike this excited about hockey since Mario came back in 2000. It will be fun to have an NHL season back.

On the baby front, I officially have a 'belly'. It seems in the last couple of days that it has popped out significantly and people at work have started to actually say, "wow, you look pregnant." I haven't gained more then 2lbs, so it's not too big. I am feeling movement here and there, but nothing major. It's still hard for me to tell. My belly button is stretching, it itches constantly, and my belly is now HARD all the time. One thing I didn't realize-don't lay down on your stomach because it is not comfortable! I was on the floor reaching underneath something to retrieve Madison's ball and my belly was rebelling! Otherwise, I am feeling a lot better. Just tired on certain days, but I feel like I've finally turned a page and gotten over that hump. Back to the doc on Tuesday for a monthly check-up.

My mom is coming up tonight to stay over. Barry is in Fargo at the Tronderlag event (those Tronders know how to party). Next weekend is camping. August is pretty much full!

Have a great weekend.

Ahh, remember the good old days? I came across this picture recently of New Kids on the Block. And now, I just can't help but think, DORKS! Seriously, I still will always have fond memories of how they took over my life for about 3 years. :)

If anyone of my family/friends have finished the new Harry Potter book, will you please email me so we can discuss?!? Mike has not even started it yet and I need to talk to someone about the events that ocurred in this 6th book! They was a lot to process and much to be anticipated. It took me from Saturday afternoon-Monday afternoon to read it. Then I re-read the last 5 chapters just to make sure I could take everything in again. All I have to say is: WOW! It was a good book. Now I'm just in that post-Harry Potter funk.

Heat Wave....

It's HOT in Minnesota-hotter then it's been in a long time! 90's since last week. Madison has acquired a plastic kiddie pool from the neighbors and is loving her time spent in there. She likes to dig which is a riot to watch as the water splashes all over the place. Although she won't get herself completely wet (as in lay down) she does enjoy walking around in it and putting her entire face in the water. And I like wading in it too when it's this hot!

We had a nice vacation. It was nothing major, just lots of time with family and relaxing. My nieces have grown in both height and maturity-which is a joy to witness each time we see them. Grandma took them shopping, we all went to the Mall of America one day as well, so they are equipped with a variety of new things for school this Fall.

For the third year in a row we went canoeing on the Upper Iowa River with my dad, step-sister Janelle, aunt Diane, cousin Allie and her boyfriend, cousin Tyler, Mike, and the rest of us. Beautiful day-not intensely hot and the river was ideal. We really enjoy the leisurely ride down the river taking in the scenery and the wildlife. The kids love the water and it's always a treat to see them swimming at "Big Rock"-the 4th generation to do so. It's amazing to think that my Grandma Webb learned to swim there, as did my dad. I highly recommend going to Bluffton, Iowa and renting a canoe from Randy's Bluffton Store.

We also spent an afternoon in Forestville, a small town in SE MN. It is no longer a working town, but had it's hey day at the turn of the century. It's now a re-creation with people in character talking about life in the late 1800's. I had never been there, considering I grew up less then 45 minutes from there. We all enjoyed it.

Otherwise, I did not feel very well most of the week due to allergies and pregnancy. I was bummed because there was a lot more I would have liked to have done with the girls and my family, but my energy just did not allow for much. I complained to my doctor on Tuesday, who in turn prescribed my old allergy medicine and said to go back to it and see if it makes me feel better. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

This week at the appointment I did hear the baby's heart beat, which is always a thrill. However, yesterday I do believe I felt the first kicks of our little bundle. It was fairly consistent through the day, on both sides of my belly, so I'm thinking this might be it. It's early-just 15 weeks, but the experts say it can begin to happen between 14-18 weeks. While the doctor was monitoring the heart beat, it kept fading away which was due to movement as well. Pretty cool.

Mike is beginning work on the basement this weekend. His final paper is due in just 3 weeks, so I am also giving him a limited time to do basement stuff, and then back to the paper again! Hey, he asked that I be the hard ass, so I am!

We also received an email this week that our friends Amy and Cris, in California, had a baby girl on Monday evening. Welcome Kylie! Looking at the pictures they sent made it suddenly seem much more real to me that we are having one of our own soon. :) Congrats to the happy family.

Have a good weekend!