Monday, March 29, 2010

The Ever-Shrinking Weekend

Jeanine and I had another good weekend together.  We watched movies, lounged around, read books... basically we kicked-back and relaxed! It was nice! :)

In addition to the kicking-back, it was time for me to change the oil and rotate the tires on my Durango.  I can't believe it's already at 30,000 miles! :-o  I will have had that vehicle 4 years in just a couple short months.  Time flies...  According to the maintenance schedule I need to replace the spark plugs.  2 of the 8 plugs are in a not-so-easy-t0-reach section... I'm really debating on taking it in to have those replaced.  I need to change the front and rear axle fluid, but I'm procrastinating.  There is no drain plug, so I have to suck the old stuff out, and then re-fill it with the new.  Such a pain.  I also need to check the CV joints, so maybe I'll find a Dodge dealer and see how many millions they want to charge to do all that.

On Sunday we went down to Las Animas after Mass and hung out with my parents for a little bit.  They have a new Uno game (Uno Flash).  That game was a LOT of fun, and very addictive!  The game's timer/tune was stuck in my head for some time!  The entire family took advantage of the beautiful weather and went for a walk.  Even Frisket and Dot came.  Only poor Neo the cockatiel was left out of that outing.

These weekends seem to be getting shorter and shorter, but soon Jeanine will be permanently home and we won't feel like we have so much that needs to be crammed into the weekends.  As I write this post, there are 10 days, 17 hours, 26 minutes and 5 seconds to go! Yay!!! :-D

The Kicking Kumquat!

Well, the kumquat is kicking like crazy! :) It's such a cool feeling; I can still say that because the baby isn't quite big enough for the uncomfortable kicks to the rib cage! ;-) But, the kumquat is a tricky little thing...every time I had Jason put his hand on my belly this weekend, he/she would stop kicking! Even when I put my hand on my belly the kicking stops. So, I'm thinking that we might have to wait a while.

I had another OB appointment today, and Jason was able to come over for it! I love it when he comes, because it gives him a chance to be such a close part of the pregnancy. It doesn't seem fair that the dads don't get to feel all of this cool stuff....OK it also doesn't seem fair that the don't have to feel all of the UNcool stuff! ;-) But, the doc really got us in quickly. Blood pressure was still good 132/76 I think, so that was good. He still seemed a little concerned about the swelling, but I haven't had any headaches in the last week so that's a good thing. I think the combination of the two goods with the one bad, the doc decided that I can go back to regularly scheduled appointments. Hooray! :-D So, the next appointment is scheduled for a month from now. I will be back home by then, so we'll have to figure out the best option for insurance purposes, and I may be coming back to Garden City to deliver. The next doctor's appointment includes the glucose test to see if I'm at risk for gestational diabetes; I kind of worry about this because of being over weight and I know this is a risk factor, but I'm not going to worry TOO much! We also got to hear the baby's heart beat, which NEVER gets old! 148bpm! About the same as it has been, so that's good. I think I've gainede 4# which seems like a lot to me, but the doctor didn't seem worried again...so we'll see I guess. Also at the next doctor's appointment they usually do another ultrasound, so we'll get to say no to that one too. I know people like to see the baby, but are we the only ones that worry what it's doing to the baby?!?! Anyway, it was a good doctor's appointment overall, and then my awesome husband took me to dinner (hot wings YUMMY!!!) and I took him for dessert! :) Then he had to leave to head back home. SO glad that it's less than two weeks until I'm home for good! :-D

Monday, March 22, 2010

Dodging Cars

I think the drivers in Lamar are out to get me... After having someone back over me and destroy the front tire of my mountain bike and then have a crazy driver almost run me over turning into my lane, I had to dodge a car this afternoon.  Unfortunately when I swerved out of the way, I hit a curb and dented my rear wheel.  I'm not sure if I will be able to straighten this on my own or not, but I'm going to give it a shot.

[caption id="attachment_160" align="alignleft" width="428" caption="Bummer!"]Bummer![/caption]

Birthday Blessings and Insurance Injuries

Well, the weekend was so great, I couldn't have asked for a better birthday weekend! It was super nice to get to spend time with my parents on Saturday and then Jason's parents and sister on Sunday. :-D As Jason said in his post, the blanket my mom made for the baby is really cute and it definitely helped increase our excitement! I really enjoyed going to the Mother Cabrini shrine, but am really sad I didn't have the gumption to make it all the way to the top! :( As I told Jason though, we'll come back in the fall and HE can carry the baby! ;-) It was definitely the best thing to stop though, I wouldn't want to put the kumquat at risk! I did get to get my picture taken with one of the nuns...in full habit no less!

Jason was sweet enough to fold laundry last night while I showered and got ready for bed, and got up at 4:30AM with me so he could load all of my things. Even warmed up my breakfast for me and hung out while I ate! He is really the best husband! :-D It was sad to have to leave this morning, but what keeps me going is knowing that I only have 2 more Mondays to say good bye!!!

Trying to figure out insurance for when I'm done working is such a drag! I found out today that for individual insurance plans they are allowed to use pregnancy as a "pre-existing condition" and no insurance company will pick me up right now. Even if by some miracle, one of them would pick me up, no individual plans have prenatal care. :( You can pay extra for that, which we might look into later, but for now we're in a sticky situation. This leaves us with one hopeful option and two back-ups. I'm going to apply for Medicaid when I'm no longer working, I'm hopeful I'll qualify because I'll be pregnant and the coverage will be great. It would only cover me through the pregnancy, but that will work out well because then when I'm not pregnant I can get the individual plan if that's the best option. Our two back-ups are staying with my insurance via COBRA for a few months, which is incredibly expensive; or putting me on Jason's plan which is only minorly expensive. Either way I know we'll figure something out and that in all things God will provide us with what we need, but in the meantime it's stressful. I have to remind myself to put it in Our Lord's hands because He can handle those things that we can't.

Meanwhile, I've found a potential part time or PRN job. PMC is looking for a PTA, so I'm going to put in an application. I have some hard feelings towards the rehab department and PMC because of how I wasn't allowed to work there right after graduating despite my contract with them (there was no position at the time), but I'm trying very hard to let that go and be thankful for the opportunity. Since I'm not looking to continue working after the baby's born, it will be understandable if they have someone else who meets their needs. But please pray that they can use me some as this will take some financial strain off of us for a while, but still give me the opportunity to take it pretty easy and rest when needed.

I am so blessed that I have a loving husband and family (both of our families I should say! :)) that love and do things for me. I'm so thankful to be married to Jason, my best friend in the whole world, and that we are going to be bringing a little one into this loving family that we are a part of. Both of our parents' do things for us often, as does our Jonnie ;-), and I have a feeling the baby is going to be quite spoiled! :-D

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Survived The Weekend!

It's early Monday morning and I just saw Jeanine off to work, and probably won't see her again until Friday. :(  The bright side is she won't have to do this for very much longer. April 9th will bring her back home for good! :-D  We both got up around 4:30am this morning.  While she got ready, I loaded her car and heated up some leftovers for her breakfast.

Since I'm up, I thought I would let you know how the weekend went.  Saturday we lounged around since I didn't have to teach at the college.  Jeanine made me stay in bed until 7:30am! :-o  We pretty much goofed off for most of the day.  Early afternoon we headed over to Jeanine's parents' house and hung out with them for a while.  We picked up a blanket that her mom had made for the baby.  It's very cute! That just made us even more excited for July 24th!  Jeanine had to read at Mass in Las Animas, so we left from there and headed down to get to Church in time to prepare ourselves for Mass.  After Mass, we headed out to my parents' house where my sister had turned her bedroom into "Hotel Spano". We even found mints on the pillows!  We spent the night down there since my parents and sister were going to Denver with us in the morning, and Jeanine likes to sleep in as much as possible. :)
Hotel Spano

We had a fairly uneventful trip to Denver despite all the bathroom breaks. ;-)  My grandma sounds better than she has, but she seemed pretty shaky and she was having trouble with her left side.  She has been experiencing mini-strokes off and on due to the large mass pushing on her brain.  We all met for breakfast and visited for quite a while.  Both of my dad's brothers were able to come over for a little bit too.

The Mother Cabrini Shrine had a lot of snow which made the going up (and especially the coming down) difficult.  Jeanine ran out of energy due to the little kumquat who is now the size of a spaghetti squash.  She made it most of the way up the 373 steps though.  When we got back down to the gift center I took Jeanine's pulse and it was over 200! :-o  After sitting and some cold water, she was fine.

We didn't have any luck getting a hold of Eileen (my mom's friend from school) the entire time we were up there, and had decided to leave.  But shortly after heading out of town, Eileen called so we turned around to go visit with her.  I saw Eileen's brother Jim who I hadn't seen in a very long time.  As well as three of her four children, two of which I haven't seen for over 20 years.  I think my mom had a good time visiting with Eileen.  As we were leaving my dad got into a snow ball fight with a 13 year old grandson of Eileen.  I think he got his workout for the day after that!

When we started home, we decided to go down through the Springs so we could eat at Zio's Italian Kitchen.  The food was very good!  We shared an Italian Nacho appetizer, and I had the Pepperoni Chicken.

After we made it back to Las Animas, we dropped my parents and sister off and headed back to Lamar.  I'm not sure what time we got home, but Jeanine was ready for bed.

All in all we had a great weekend and are thankful for all the family who helped make that possible! :-D

Saturday, March 20, 2010

I Hate Waiting

I am sitting in my parents' living room, waiting to leave for Denver. I went to bed pretty early, and have been up since 4:00am. I'm starving too!

Friday, March 19, 2010

Updated Birthday Plans

I misspoke in an early blog about this weekend's plans.  The plans for Jeanine's birthday party have changed.  We are going to go up to Denver on Sunday and visit my grandma who has been fluctuating health-wise with this most recent bout of cancer. She is really hoping that she can hang on at least until she can see her great grandchild in a few months.  I spoke to her this morning and she is doing much better.  Please keep her in your prayers!  After we visit grandma and Bob we will be heading over the Mother Cabrini Shrine as a combination birthday celebration for Jeanine and celebration of my mom being a 10 year survivor of cancer.  Sunday, March 21st is the official date.  Her story is truly a miraculous one as she has gone from being told she might not make it too many months to being completely cancer free 10 years later.  Thanks be to God!  I have been to the shrine a few times, but Jeanine never has.  Hopefully the weather cooperates!  After that, we are going to see Eileen who is an old friend of my mom's.  When I was growing up in Golden, and even later in Las Animas, we would go to see her family quite a bit.  We don't get to visit very often anymore.

Anyway, just wanted to clarify what Jason, the kumquat and the kumquat's container (i.e. Jeanine) would be doing this weekend.  It will be nice to have my parents and sister go with us.  Please pray that we all have a safe trip!

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Family Rocks!

Good morning! It's technically Friday morning, and I haven't gone to bed yet.  Hopefully Jeanine doesn't read this and beat me about the head and shoulders. :)

The past few days at work, I have been working long hours and missing lunch.  Wednesday I was going to go visit Jeanine, but I didn't get out of work until around 7:00pm or so.  That was thanks in part to my favorite CEO and his special projects he likes to assign me.  What a major bummer!  But, tonight I was able to sneak away to Las Animas and hang out at my parents' house for a few hours.  Jonnie had made some Chinese food (which turned out very well), and there are always good snacks there. :)  I even had ice cream with sprinkles. Yum!  My mom, sister and I visited for a while, and waited for my dad to get home.  He has been taking EMT classes in La Junta on Mondays and Thursdays and usually doesn't get home until late on those days.  It was nice to just sit and talk with everyone and forget about the deadlines and looming projects at work.

I don't do it very often, but I really need to thank God at LEAST daily for my family.  I talk to so many coworkers at the office who have broken/messed-up families and that helps me realize how much I have to be thankful for.  Unfortunately there were lots of times I didn't appreciate this blessing from God, but I'm making it a goal to make up for those times.

With our first baby coming SOON, I hope we can have the same loving/close family setting that I grew up in.

It's almost 1:00am, and I'm starting to nod off, and probably not make much sense.  So... without further ado, I will sign off.  Good night and God bless!

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Strings & Sealing Wax & Other Fancy Stuff

It seems like all I can think about in my spare time (what precious little I have) is Jeanine coming home.  We have almost been married for 6 months, and most of that has been spent apart. :(  But now in just over 3 weeks, Jeanine will be home for good!! Woohoo!! I am SO excited! I even setup a countdown page on my website where I'm counting down the seconds until Jeanine is finally home for good! You can see it here.

I also uploaded an executable file that you can install on your computer that will allow me to remote in and help with problems without me having to physically come down and work on it.  I haven't tested it out yet, and I need a guinea pig, so if you are feeling adventurous, you can download it from here. ;-)

Jeanine is trying really hard to convince me that we are going to celebrate her "Birth-week" instead of just her "Birthday", but I'm not sure I'm buying that... She seems more excited about it then a 6 year old would be.  That's my silly Jeanine though. :)  If I remember correctly, the birthday bash will be this Sunday the 21st at our house.

Easter is also fast approaching, and we will have both sets of parents out at our house for the celebration of Christ's Resurrection.  This is one of the main reasons I haven't pursued the higher-paying job in Woodland Park... It's good to be close to family.  That's worth more than any raise. :)  We are shooting for 1:00pm-ish.

That's all I can think of right now.  Hope everyone is doing well!

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Budget

I just put a rough-draft budget together and depressed myself.  Currently we are paying over $2,000.00 per month on mortgage and vehicle payments.  If I get the houses sold in Las Animas, that will help a little...  I sent an e-mail to LCC to see if I can get some more classes to help out.  I think we need to focus on selling Jeanine's car.  That will cut out around $450 a month for payment and insurance.  If anyone has any ideas for selling that thing... please let me know.

The budget I did showed us in the red, and that's without all of Jeanine's student loan and medical bill payments factored in.  This will definitely be a rough transition...

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Buying My Wife Back

For those of you that don't already know, I'm buying out Jeanine's contract from St. Catherine's in Garden City, KS.  She is supposed to work until mid-October, but we both decided that life is too short, and money isn't everything.  So, Jeanine's last day will be April 9th!  Woohoo!!!  We will have a high debt to income ration, but we will make it through.  This means cutting back on a lot of expenditures for us, but you can't put a price on being able to spend a LOT more time with the one you love.

I've decided to start working my side business again, but this time I'm going to start charging at the going rate, and stop accepting payment in food.  Jeanine will be my biller, and will show no favoritism with friends and family. ;-)  Even since I "quit" my side business, I've still had tons of calls, so I don't think it will be hard to pick up again.  Jeanine may get some part-time work close by for a few months to help as well.

One of the big shockers is insurance.  I would have thought working at a hospital, you could get good/inexpensive insurance, but not so.  For the family plan, my insurance at PMC will go up over $400.00 per month.  So we are looking at the cost of going self-insured at least for Jeanine and the baby.

We ask that you keep us in your prayers as we go through this transition.   Thanks in advance!

Monday, March 8, 2010

Wonderful Weekends and Doctor's Appointments

Jason and I had a really good weekend, got to spend a lot of time together! On Saturday Jason had his class, plus a Relay For Life meeting PLUS had to install something or other at work (he can explain THAT part! ;-)). While he was gone I went to the store and cleaned the living room. I'm going to try to get one room clean every weekend so that I'm not so overwhelmed. And then of course I gave a "honey-do" list to Jason! After our hard work, I cooked lunch (chicken, Rotel, and corn...one of our favorites) and we had a Jurassic Park movie marathon! On Wednesday when Jason visited me we'd found all three of the movies at Walmart for $5 a piece! It was so nice to just veg and hang out together! :-D Sunday we got up and said morning prayer together, then went to Mass. Then Jason had to go in to fix something at work because Brandi doesn't know that system well, but she came in so he could show her what to do! :) I followed him around! Then we went to his parents' and had a BBQ and played a couple of games. Yummy steak and Sleuth. I am not very good at that game...but next time I'll have Jason be on my team! ;-) This morning Jason brought me to work again so that he could take my car back to the dealership. I know that it is rough for him to bring me and that's why I appreciate it so much, he is definitely the most amazing husband! He never hesitates to do good things for me! <3 :-D

I had ordered some compression hose to help  combat my swelling and they finally came in Thursday, but I didn't get to try them out until Saturday. Well, they don't fit particularly well...actually that's not accurate. They just don't go high enough. But, I wore them most of the day Saturday and although they were uncomfortable and annoying (slid down every five minutes) I really think they helped out! The swelling was not bad at all by Saturday evening. Sunday I wore them until about 11AM or so, because they were digging into my thighs and were horribly uncomfortable. Today was the worst! I put them on at about 3:45AM CO time and took them off around 10AM KS time as they were also digging into my cankles today. By the time I got to the doctor, I was pretty swollen. I will continue to try them everyday and try to increase my tolerance/time in them.

Speaking of the doctor...I had a checkup today. He first checked my swelling at about mid-shin and it looked to be about grade 4 pitting edema. :-s NOT good. The indentions from his fingers stayed for about 15-20 seconds in my legs. He was glad that I've had less headaches, and agreed that I can start the water aerobics at the YMCA. According to the doctor I had gained 3 lbs. since my last visit, but I actually think it was the same because last time they didn't wait for the digital scale to even out before they wrote down the weight. By the time I stepped off it said I weighed 3 lbs more than what they wrote down. The doctor listened to the heartbeat again and at first when he found it the heart rate was 163bpm but then the baby moved away and when the doctor found the baby again it was 148bpm. Maybe there ARE two in there! ;-) The doctor wanted to keep seeing me every 2 weeks because of the swelling, but I changed it to 3 weeks! Though I know that soon we'll be in the third trimester and it will go to every 2 weeks anyway!

Very exciting to know that we are now half way through the pregnancy and closer to meeting our little one! :-D

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Found On Road Dead

That's right... I'm talking about "Ford" vehicles.  My wife's Fix Or Repair Daily piece of junk is becoming a huge pain in my side!  I took it to the Ford dealer early Tuesday to have them look at why the key won't come out and why the steering is so hard.  After several hours of scratching their head, they told me the shifter was bad and they could replace it for $400.00. That will fix the key issue.  Unfortunately they didn't have the diagnostic equipment to determine if the steering problem was the power steering box itself or a PC board that controls it.  Apparently when you are cruising down the road, the computer shuts the power steering off to save wear/tear/gas mileage/whatever.  That may be acting up.  The dealer told me if I left the car overnight they would have the equipment to check it the following morning.  No problem, I have my bicycle, life is good.  Wednesday about noon I call out there and they still don't have the equipment. :(  I have to go work at the Holly clinic and then go to Garden City to see the prettiest girl in the world.  So I ask them bring the vehicle out to me so I can make my errands.  The service department tells me everyone is at lunch, but as soon as they are back, they will have someone drop the vehicle off.  Long story short, no one came out until after 1:40pm and I had to drop him off at the Ford dealership.  What a mess!  If we didn't owe a fortune on this used piece of junk, I'd run it off a cliff! OK, I probably wouldn't... but I've been getting so frustrated with this thing!

I decided to change the oil and top off the fluids.  I picked up 12 quarts of oil (my Durango uses the same weight) and an oil filter at Checker and had to shell out over $50.00.  Yikes!  I did figure out how to shut off the automatic unlock so when I shut off the vehicle and open the door it won't automatically unlock all the doors.  This way I can easily lock it with the key stuck in the ignition.

OK, now that I ranted a little, I feel better.  For those of you that read this entire post... are you really that bored?  Don't you have something better to do?

Until next time...<insert witty comment here>