Well, the inevitable happened- poor Jeremiah caught my cold =( So far it isn't as bad as when I had it. Right now he just has a runny nose and a little chest congestion (from what I can hear). I pray that it turns into nothing more! He's a little more lethargic than usual but is still in very upbeat spirits, running around as much as he can.

He needs to get well because we have lots of fun activities at the end of the week! On Thursday we have a playdate at Disneyland with my friend Rosanna and her 8 month old son, Anakin. I haven't seen either one of them since I visited them in the hospital when Anakin was born, so I definitely don't want to miss out on this. Then on Saturday, we are attending a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese for my friend Michelle's son's 2nd birthday. Another thing I don't want to miss out on... but of course my son and his health come before any of this stuff. I was hoping to take Jeremiah to the L.A. County Fair this Wednesday as well, but will most likely push that back til next week.

My parents leave tomorrow morning for their last convention of the year, to Portland. Which means we get stuck watching their dog, Candy. Again. I LOVE my dog to pieces, don't get me wrong. But this will be her 4th visit for 1 week+ at a time since June. It's a bit much having to care for an active toddler AND a dog. Making sure she's locked in our room every morning so she won't wake Jeremiah up with her claws on our wood floor... letting her in and out and in and out again... keeping her from bolting out the door every time I need to go somewhere. They will be back in one week.

Yesterday I pre-registered at the hospital! It feels so good to have that checked off of my list. We will get a packet in the mail within the next month outlining our financial obligation after insurance, and I'm hoping it's not too bad. Although with only 80 percent coverage, it's bound to be a chunk of money...

No witty title comes to mind!

Remember the list of 101 goals to complete in 1001 days that I made, which included bi-weekly blogging? Yeah, that so has not been happening. I apologize. Again. Because it always seems like I am apologizing for an empty blog. Yet... there is life outside of blogging and the internet! And I am still without access to a computer with sufficient time to blog for most of the day... Verizon is taking their sweet time shipping me my free laptop. It's free... so I guess they take FOREVER...

I have decided that mommies need to have sick days built into their schedule. Not only for our comfort and relaxation, but to prevent our little ones from getting sick as well! The sore throat and stuffy nose I have right now is bugging me to no end... but it doesn't bug me half as much as my fear of Jeremiah (or Louis) catching it from me. Do you know how hard it is for me to remember to only kiss the back of his head rather than his sweet, kissable cheekies?! My mom is such an angel and has, once again, come to my rescue. I'm not feeling SO sick that I'm bedridden, but I have no energy to run around and chase after Jeremiah. So she took Jeremiah around 3:00 this afternoon so I could relax at her shop, chill on the internet and answer the phone. She will bring him back here, fed and dressed in his pj's, at 7:00 tonight. Her shop normally closes at 5:00, but on Wednesday nights a class is taught from 6-8:00. I love my mother!

Yesterday my brother celebrated his 25th birthday and my parents their 30th wedding anniversary. Yes, my brother was an anniversary present to them! Had he been born just a few minutes later, he would have had his own day. Growing up, he would taunt me all the time, saying that September 15th was THEIR day and not mine, trying to make me feel left out, little bugger that he was. It got to me (sometimes!!) but now that I"m older and married I can fully appreciate having my own birthday and own anniversary. My parents have always been such troopers and celebrated their anniversary by themselves on a different date so that my brother's birthday could always be special to him. We're taking them out to dinner at this fancy steak/seafood restraunt, Le Cave, in Huntington Beach on Saturday. Lobster... yumm....

Anyway, even though I have been slacking on the blogging, I have been quite productive in other areas! Remember the list of things I made to do before my third trimester a week or so ago? Well, I have made some progress! Here's the list w/ updated notes (tasks completed or in progress are in red):
*Finish unpacking our boxes that are stored in Baby's room
*Purchase and assemble a storage shed for our back yard. Transfer all holiday decoration bins out there After pricing them and realizing they're roughly $800, we decided to put that project on hold until after we buy our new car (shooting to be able to pay cash for a newer used Lincoln truck (can't remember the model name- hubby's in charge of it) by end of October! Our days of having one car are numbered, finally. We're going to move the holiday bins from baby's room to somewhere in our tiny one car garage.

*Figure out how/where to store my boxes of scrapbook supplies.
*Go through Jeremiah's baby clothing bins. Sort clothing according to type and size. Separate what can be saved for Baby DONE. I even sent a box of some of the clothes up to Kappie's house for her new little boy, and the rest will be given to friends or sold in a yard sale
*Have another yard sale. (or two or three). I have one scheduled for this Saturday, providing the cold I have right now goes away in time
Move Jeremiah's changing table into Baby's room
*Shop for a twin sized bed for Jeremiah (Closer to birthday- Dec. 2).
*Shop for a love seat or comfy couch for Jeremiah's room to replace the glider/rocker
*Move glider/rocker into Baby's room once couch has been purchased
*Move Jeremiah's crib into baby room once bed transition has been made
*Shop for a dresser for Baby's room*
Shop for crib bedding for Baby (and sell Jeremiah's old bedding) I found the bedding that I want to purchase at Target! It's lavendar with a flower and bug pattern. My brother is going to pick it up for me w/ his handy 10 percent discount- I still need to buy a dust ruffle and changing table pad cover, though. Will sell Jeremiah's bedding once we get his twin bed around his birthday
Shop for curtains or blinds for Baby's room
*Paint Baby's room.
*Purchase a new Exersaucer; sell old one
*Purchase a play mat/ play gym (we actually never had one for Jeremiah!)
*Continue purchasing 1 box of diapers and 1 box of wipes per month I purchased another box on Monday! The grand total is 5 boxes of diapers in various sizes and 2 boxes of wipes (8 refills each)
*Make a final decision on if I"m going to register for my baby shower, (I am!) and create my registry (will do that closer to the shower. I think my shower is in January so I'll register around Christmas. There isn't a lot that will go on it- mostly bottles, onesies, bathing supplies, a swaddler blanket and of course diapers)
*Buy Baby her first doll. I want to be the first one to buy her a dolly =)
*Figure out financial responsibility for hospital stay not covered by insurance and set up monthly payments. Make it a goal to be payed in full come January 15th (one month before due date) In progress- found out from hospital that I need to pre-register w/ them before I start making payments, and I will need some packet from my OB before I pre-register. I will pick that up at my appointment on Friday. We are slated to finish paying off our OB the beginning of January

Home Sweet Home!

Jeremiah and I got back from our brief 3 night trip to Colorado last night. I survived my first time taking Jeremiah on a plane ride without my husband. God was good to me! I didn't want to risk him not having his own seat without anybody there to help me since he is SUCH a wiggle worm, so I bought him his own seat going to Colorado. Even though there wound up being plenty of seats left on the plane, that peace of mind that I was not going to have to leave his car seat at the gate made it worth every penny. I didn't buy him a ticket going home since Marissa was flying back with us, but it turned out I was able to bring the car seat on anyway. This especially was a blessing because, after an hour drive to the airport plus two hours inside the huge Denver airport, going through security and eating lunch, he only had roughly 10 min. to run around before we boarded our flight. He was not a happy camper and I constantly had to be on my toes, entertaining him with song after song (including a 10 min. rendition of "Old McDonald" using every animal my poor, tired brain could think up!)

We arrived in Denver around 3:30 on Wed. afternoon, and by the time Marissa got through customs (flying in from Germany), the drive from Denver to Loveland and a quick stop at Target, we got to Shiloh's house around 6:30ish. I haven't been back to Colorado since Shiloh's wedding 3 years ago, and it was my first time seeing their home, and I haven't seen Shiloh since she came for a brief weekend May of last year. We had such a great time! Jeremiah did absolutely wonderfully. On Thursday we had a picnic lunch at Lake Loveland by Shiloh's house. Jeremiah had a blast splashing in the water and getting filthy in the sand. That night we went to dinner w/ Shiloh's husband, and after we went home and put Jeremiah to bed us girls went out! We went to this fun Mexican restraunt in Ft. Collins where I had the BEST virgin mango margarita I have ever tasted. On Friday we drove up into the Rockies to this cute little town called Estes park. It was sooo beautiful up there! I'll have to wait until I get pictures from Marissa to post them on here. We had lunch, walked around the shops, ate ice cream and went wine tasting! (Well, Shiloh and Marissa did. I got some free tastes of cider). The winery had this great play room for kiddos, and Jeremiah had a blast goofing off in there. We didn't have to leave for the airport until 2:00 yesterday, so after we put Jeremiah down for his nap (with Shy's husband staying at the house with him) Marissa, Shiloh and I headed out to Old Navy, where Shiloh must have purchased at least half of the summer clearance rack for our little princess. Our girly is certainly blessed. (and she's been KICKING me for the past week!!) Then we went to get some coffee and watched "Friends" before heading to the airport.

Our trip was very short but very good for the soul. Jeremiah has certainly become well traveled in his short 21 months of life and gets excited when we go on airplanes (until he wants loose). And I love hanging out with my girlfriends! Good friends are hard to come by, and I know the friendships I fostered during my 4 years at APU with my roomates are going to last a life time =)

Today

It just dawned on me that today would have been my due date had my prior pregnancy gone to term. I thought that when this day came I would be completely depressed... yet I am at a sense of peace with everything. And I have a full and happy heart- I have a loving husband who provides for me endlessly in all ways possible, the cutest 21 month old son who charms me to no end and is filled with more love than I can imagine, and a precious daughter on the way.

I am blessed.