Brrrr . . .

It's 37 degrees here, our heat is on for the first time this fall. Isabella is dressed in a warm outfit with a onesie underneath. Have I mentioned how much I LOVE onsies, I'm going to be really sad when she grows out of them. She also has her fluffy pink bunny slippers on. It's dreary and cold and I don't plan on going out today. I think I'll bake some muffins to warm up the kitchen. I've never liked fall that much, but it's really starting to grow on me.

This and That

We made a quick trip home to my parents for the weekend. My mom is much better, just really tired from everything. It was great to see my family!



Monte has been taking our computer with him for work. It's amazing how much I can get done now during Isabella's naps! I don't find myself missing it too much, just once in a while when I have a quick question, or want to know something that I would normally look up on the internet.



I've been spending quite a bit of my computer time looking up different play kitchens. I think that's what we're getting Isabella for Christmas.



Isabella has recently started playing "beauty shop". In case you're wondering how to play that, it consists of me sitting on the floor while she combs, brushes, and puts bows in my hair. It's wonderful, despite the occasional painful hair pulling, it's just like getting a massage. Today she did it for a whole hour, and I was practically comatose by the time she was done!



Now that she's almost two, we've been letting Isabella watch about 20 minutes of TV a day. Her favorites are Veggietales, My Little Angels, and Go Baby. My sister-in-law gave me some old Barney tapes this weekend, I might regret taking them.



Isabella has always really liked going to church, this weekend after Mass was over, she kept saying "fun in church". My mom laughed and said, "I'm sure that's what all kids think." :)



My sister-in-law gave me tons of apples from their 6 apple trees this weekend. I'm going to try making applesauce and canning it for the first time sometime soon. I have a feeling I'll be making lots of phone calls to my mom during the process.

Monte and I are really into watching The Cosby Show on TV Land right now. I forgot how much I liked that show.

Quite a Scare!

I am thankful tonight that the day turned out much better than it could have. I was gone all morning at Bible study, and when I got home my brother called. I saw on the caller ID that it was him, and was wondering why he would be calling me when he should be at work. He started out by saying he just wanted to let me know what was going on with our mom. Of course, I immediately thought the worst, as that is not how any conversation has ever started with either of my siblings. He went on to tell me that she got really sick, and had to come home from work this morning. When she got home (besides being extremely sick and vomiting) she didn't remember how she got home or where she was, she basicly didn't know and couldn't remember anything. So my dad took her into town, to the local hospital. The first thought of the medical staff was that she had had a stroke. And when I heard that, I completely lost it! They did a CT scan, but that showed that everything was okay. So they sent her by ambulance to a bigger hospital about an hour away. I've never felt so helpless, there was nothing I could do, being four hours away. I am SO thankful that my brother and sister-in-law live so close to my parents. I spent the rest of the day literally walking around the house praying, with the phone in my hand, waiting to receive updates from my brother. The worst was when Isabella was napping, there was plenty to do around the house, but I just couldn't do anything to keep myself occupied.
So it turns out that she has been REALLY sick for a few days. I talk to her at least once a day, and the past few days she just mentioned that she wasn't feeling very well, and then changed the subject. So what was her problem? She was EXTREMELY dehydrated from being so sick. She had lost so many electrolytes that it caused her to completely lose her memory, and be really confused. So they loaded her up with lots of IV fluids, and gave her shots of anti-nausea medication, and sent her home tonight with a prescription for more anti-nausea medication. She called me on the way home, I was so glad to hear from her. I felt like the mom, saying, "Do you have any idea how worried I've been!!" And being my mom, she changed the subject right away, and was asking all about my day by myself yesterday, asking how Monte was feeling, just like nothing ever happened. She didn't sound too good, and only after I asked, she told me she doesn't remember anything from 9:30 to 12:30 today. It's a miracle she made it home safely from school this morning. So it was quite the day, but I am so thankful that everything is going to be okay!

It's been a long time

22 months to be exact, since I've been home ALL day by myself. Monte had to work with his dad today (about 90 miles away). When his mom found out that he was coming, she suggested he bring Isabella with him so she could get some grandma time in! Thoughts raced through my head last night as to what I should do with my day. I had a short meeting at church this afternoon and religion class this evening, but other than that, the day was mine. So I got up like normal and got Isabella ready, she was a little confused, she kept saying "bye bye Daddy" thinking that she and I were going, because that's how it always is. They were on the road by 7:30, and I was back in bed by 8:00. :) I was a little disgusted with myself when I woke up 2 hours later, because I really wanted to get a lot accomplished with my day, but it also felt wonderful to sleep in! I had decided I wanted to paint today. I painted an accent wall in the hallway, and a partition between the dining room and living room. AND, my dad surprised me by calling to say he was in town, we got to have lunch together! My parents live 4 hours away, so it was quite the surpirse. My brother bought some farm equipment from someone in our area, so my dad and his friend came out to pick it up. He was disappointed he didn't get to see Isabella, and I really wished she was there to see him too. And that reminds me, since I'm on the subject of my dad, just how wonderful he is. When I had really bad post partum depression he drove FOUR hours one day to come take me out to lunch, then he sent me to the fitness center to work out for half an hour, because he knew I really liked to go, while he watched newborn Isabella. Then he drove FOUR hours back home! So in one day he spent 8 hours driving, so he could cheer up his daughter for a couple of hours. Great, and now I'm crying and totally homesick thinking about my dad . . .

So getting back to my day, it was good, it was quiet, it was really weird not having Isabella with me all day. A couple of times I caught myself trying to be quiet, because I thought she was sleeping. And I was SO glad to see her tonight!

Before: Very ugly, very 70's

After: Pay no attention to the struggling plant, I'm working on it. :)

Life in a Small Town

Our neighbor works at the post office, and today while Monte was mailing some letters, she told him about a conversation she had with someone from our town the other day. It seems this nice, older gentleman came into the post office to ask our neighbor about me. He told her that every morning Isabella and I walk past his house at 9:15, but he hadn't seen us for 3 weeks now. He was hoping that she could tell him I was okay, because he was really worried! How sweet is that?!

It seems that I'm totally out of my summer routine now, we're spending a lot more time inside, we've been gone, I had (and still do) a cold, and the weather has warmed back up now, but for a while it was really chilly. So those are my excuses. :) But I don't care what the weather is doing tomorrow (unless it's pouring rain) or how I'm feeling, I think I better go for a walk around 9:15!

Her latest obsession . . .

coloring. And don't show her the crayons she loved coloring with not all that long ago, oh no, according to her, those are "baby colors"! Now all she talks about are "big girl colors".

Oh, and I'm glad she loves to color, it gives me an excuse to color with her. :)

My big, brave girl

Isabella's Recipes

I love recipes, one of my favorite things to do is look through cookbooks and cooking/recipe magazines. Like all kids I'm sure, who want to do whatever their parents are doing, Isabella loves to do whatever I'm doing. So she is also quite taken with looking through recipes. So I decided to cut out some colorful pictures from my Taste of Home magazines and put them on recipe card size construction paper. Then I put clear contact paper over the whole card so she can't rip them at all. Now she has her own recipe cards in her own recipe box that we only get out whenever I'm going through my recipes. This way, she has her own to go through, and she doesn't try to mess mine up (at least not ALL the time). She loves it!

Tagging Along with Daddy

Monte had a meeting a few hours away this morning, and Isabella and I went with. We went yesterday, and stayed at a hotel with an indoor waterpark. We all had so much fun! It was just like being on vacation. We hung out at Cabela's, ate at one of my favorite restaurants, and had tons of fun in the pool. We had the whole waterpark to ourselves except for one older couple who were there part of the time. Of course I took lots of pictures and a couple videos, and I thought it was funny when the older guy said, "She must be your first." :)

Washing the chlorine off!

Alone Time

I'm amazed at how independent Isabella is becoming. There was a while there where I thought she would never play by herself for longer periods of time. Three times yesterday she would run back to her room and disappear. After a while, either Monte or I would go check on her, as the silence was worrisome. :) She took all the toys out of the little toy box, got her clothes out of her bottom dresser drawer, and climbed in the toy box with her doll. For almost an hour EACH time she proceeded to dress her baby, read to her baby, sing to her baby, etc. One time when Monte went in to peak on her she bumped her baby's head, and he heard her say, "Oops, sorry baby." Then when she saw him, she said, "No Daddy, out." I couldn't believe it. She loves having her own little space.

Good Deals

Isabella and I went to visit my sister for a few days. The two girls had fun playing together, although they weren't always quite into sharing. My sister's town had city wide garage sales, and I got some great deals! Two sacks full of nice, name brand clothes (some brand new, still with tags on them) for Isabella this fall/winter, a snow sled, a trike, a bike with training wheels, and a Discovery toys animal bowling set. Everything except for the trike (faded paint) looks brand new! I got all of that for a total of $36, I love good deals!

My sister and brother-in-law are expanding their dairy farm, so we could go out and see the baby calves whenever we wanted, they arrived at the farm the day we got there. Isabella liked feeding them, her favorite calf was named "Kimberly". Two year old cousin Rachel wants to name a calf "Elmo". :)

If you click on this photo to enlarge it, you'll see this is the lovely Kimberly. (Look on the ear tag.)

There is Hope

Religion class went SO much better tonight. Nothing like last week. I had so many things planned, and we didn't even get to 1/4 of them! The kids were well behaved , (except for the one girl who will NEVER be well behaved) they were enthusiastic, and wanted to have lots of discussions. Yay!!

Changes and . . . goodbye computer

Monte's job he got about a year ago, turned out to be a total disaster. We just kept having hope and thinking things would be getting better, but they never did. I won't go into details about all that went on there (and there was A LOT) but Monte was made lots of promises by his boss, only to have him not carry through on a single one. Monte's health was really deteriorating due to all the stress, his Crohn's Disease came out of remission this past month, and he lost weight (which is not good at all for him). He was SO unhappy there, and it turns out he was making a little more money at his old job. He quit his old job (which he loved) because his new boss promised him a totally different salary.
So after lots of discussions between us and prayers, he decided to call his old boss up. He told him that they weren't normally in the process of hiring people back, but that they would be glad to have Monte back. So now he has a new (old) job! Once again he gets to have his office in our home, which means he'll be around a lot more. And he can once again set his own hours. The downside is we have to pay for our own insurance, which we were having to pay for mine and Isabella's anyway because of another broken promise from his boss. We've been working on getting his office back in order, since I have seemed to take it over as my sewing/craft room. So Friday was his last day, and since then he has been SO much happier, and healthier! Yesterday was his first day on the new (old) job, and even though he had to get up at 3:30 a.m. to attend a meeting a few hours away, he came home in the evening so full of energy and excitement! It was great to see.

And onto the computer (our only computer is a laptop) - obviously when he is working from home he'll be on our computer. Also, when he's out meeting with farmers every day, he'll have to take it with him. He's hoping to get another laptop just to use for business sometime, but probably not anytime soon. So this will drastically cut down on my computer time, which might not be all bad. :)

Maybe not as good as I thought

I've been battling a cold since this weekend. Today, as Isabella was playing in her room, I thought I would go in and rest my feverish body. I laid down on her floor and must have dozed off right away. When I woke up about 20 minutes later, I told her what a good girl she was to play so nicely and quietly so mommy could rest. Then I looked around. There were what seemed like about 200 wipes spread out all over her room, and all over me!! I couldn't do anything but laugh, and she had fun helping me pick them all up. The weather has changed drastically, so I suppose it is the season for colds/flu. Monte and I are both battling it, but the healthy one among us has so far stayed healthy. I suppose now that I write this she'll get sick, but I am amazed that she hardly ever gets sick. She has had one cold and one bout with the stomach flu in her almost two years. Besides that, not even a runny nose, ear infection, nothing. I suppose that could change this winter, as she's around more kids now because of our Bible study, but I'm hoping her current pattern continues.

Date Night

Last night we put Isabella to bed at 7:00 and enjoyed a nice, peaceful meal - just the two of us. We used to do it a lot more often, but since summer hit she's been staying up until 7:30 or 7:45. Now that she's just a one nap gal, though, she's ready for bed really early again. Anyway, it was fun, and something different, we'll have to maybe do it once a month. We had the best dessert ever! I do enjoy our family meals, though, especially now that she's quite self sufficient when it comes to eating. That and she's just so much fun!

WARNING - Rant Ahead

I started teaching Religion class tonight, sort of. It was an opening Mass to kick off the year, then just 15 minutes of class time. I'm not sure if I've ever been quite this shocked. Not one single parent in the whole k-8 showed up for Mass. I'm pretty sure I would go if my kid had to be there. Then there's the whole matter of my lovely sixth grade class. Hmm, where do I begin? Exactly 1/2 of my class showed up, I was constantly threatening them and taking things away from them all during church. They were AWFUL!! Finally, my dear friend Sister Mary Edwin (who is a former principal) came up during Father's homily, grabbed them one by one, asked them how old they were, told them they were a disgrace, and sat them down so there was only one in each pew. After Mass, she let them have it again, telling them "Don't you love Jesus?!", "Don't you even care that He died on a cross for you?!" There was one girl (totally dressed like a hussie) that had a big smirk on her face the whole time Sister was talking her. I told her she needed to pay attention the most to what Sister was saying. Like I said, I am in shock. These kids in SIXTH GRADE didn't know the Hail Mary, Our Father, or Glory Be. They didn't know when to sit, stand, or kneel in church. They didn't know about genuflecting, holy water, or the sign of the cross!! My ONE year old can make the sign of the cross for crying out loud, and my ONE year old is a million times more well behaved in church than these kids! I'm SO saddened by all of this, that parents aren't teaching their kids ANYTHING about the faith, it honestly brings me to tears to think that this is what our world is coming to. Am I, as one person, really going to change anything, it just makes me SO sad!

So when I brought them back to the classroom, I separated them, told them I may look easygoing, but I wasn't going to put up with their misbehaviour, and that Sister and I were very good friends, and I won't hesitate to have her come in and teach with me every week! I also said if they were going to continue to act that way, I wouldn't hesitate to kick them out, and have their parents teach them if they wanted to be confirmed. (That would be a total disaster since the parents obviously don't know anything, but hopefully I got my point across.) The kids also tried to intimidate me by telling me they made their teacher last year quit. I said that's too bad, and that they obviously don't know me, and that I won't put up with their attitudes. So that's how things stand right now, please, pray for me!

Cool Weather and a New Favorite Pic

I can't believe it feels like fall already! Yesterday the high was 58. I hope it warms back up a little. And this is my new favorite picture, every night after supper Monte and Isabella head outside to work in the garden. She's pretty proud of that pepper she picked!

A Productive Long Weekend

Besides going to the fair over the weekend, I actually got quite a bit done for once. Yesterday I spent the entire day canning 19 pounds of tomatoes. It was my last canning day for the season (I think), and I'm so glad I did it on a day that Monte was here. Otherwise it could have been a long, boring day for Isabella.

In the midst of canning - this picture could have looked a lot worse if it was just Isabella and I home. She would have had every toy she owns within a 2 ft. radius of where I was standing!

So much better! I even had energy to clean it all up right away.

The finished product - I made mild, medium, and hot salsa. I also made plain tomato sauce.

Another thing I got accomplished over the weekend was painting these for Isabella's room. My baby is growing up, she always sits with us at the table in her booster seat instead of her highchair, she uses the potty (not potty trained, but we're sort of working on it since she's interested), and I've known for a while that her room is looking a little babyish for her, but just didn't know what to do with it. Sometime around her birthday we'll convert her crib into a toddler bed, and redecorate a bit. We got the frog nursery decor because it was unisex, so we could use it for all our kids when they're babies. So now I'm excited to pack that away and add some pink to her room!