pumpkins & POW

so we're almost always behind. last night was no exception. i had the bright idea to carve pumpkins the night before halloween. now, keep in mind that i did not already have pumpkins & we live in a town of less than 2800. yes, i typed that correctly. 2800. got it? i asked mattie to grab some pumpkins & pumpkin carving knives at the hardware store after rae's dance class. he called to say that store was all out. great. see why living in a town of less then 2800 can really suck?! so off they went to the grocery store (and don't even get me started on the grocery store. it's so great i drive 15 miles for a different one. always.) they managed to find 4 pumpkins but no knives. i was ok with that. then i actually saw the pumpkins. they were the size of softballs! how the hell were we supposed to carve those??? we tried anyway. trusty steak knives in hand (he even tried the gas station for pumpkin knives. no luck. shocker, i know.)

off we went.....mattie had much better luck than i did. he had the tops off his, rae's, & beast's pumpkins before i had mine. i even had to ask for help! we got them cleaned out with absolutely no help from the kids. rae thought pumpkin guts were gross & bryson just kept saying "eewwwwww" like a total girl.

raegan drew the face on hers & mattie cut it out (no, he doesn't suck at carving. that's what she drew!)

(supervising)

bryson also went to work drawing on his, but he didn't draw a face. he just scribbled. so i did his.

mattie & i also did ours.

in the end, it was actually really fun & we had a little family of pumpkins just like us. next year, though, i will definitely be better prepared!!!!

on to halloween. make that holy halloween batman!!! well, holy halloween batgirl!!!

POW! WHAM! ZAP!

we had a veeery long day. we started out early b/c i had my post-op with the oral surgeon. everything is healing well. then we grabbed some breakfast & headed for haircuts. mattie, rae, & beast all got their hair done by their favorite stylist, barb, at the spa. we came home, ate, & took naps (well, everyone but me). then mattie got up & got ready for work. while he was doing that, i got the kids dressed in their costumes so he could see them before he left. we just laughed. the kids were SO cute (we know we're biased, but seriously, they were cute!) then mattie was off to work & the kids & i were off in search of candy. we hit a few houses & then headed to new life (thanks cara!!). the kids had a great time playing games, getting candy, & petting all the farm animals.

we had missed dinner, so we hit up mcd's on the way home. yes, i realize it's not healthy. but superheroes have to eat too!!

the cake, the circus, the teeth, & the "click"

alrighty----a little catching up to do. great. this should be fun....and take about an hour! geez i wish i was getting better at this!

so, where were we? yep. rae's birthday was on a wednesday, so we had cake & ice cream friday night. we just had my sister's family (+1, hehe) & cara and her girls over. nice & small and super fun. we dug into the dancing fairy barbie cake (or whatever kind of pink & purple yumminess it was called) & opened presents. the kids were w-i-r-e-d!!

on sunday we headed to the target center for the circus. now, it wasn't the best circus....not by a loooong shot. but since rae & beast hadn't been to one before they thought it was great!! we learned a few things......

we could be related to the human cannonball

half-dressed girls amaze boys of all ages (i don't really know what they are looking at!)

blue snowcones leave you with a longlasting blue mouth

a few days later, tuesday to be exact, mattie & i headed to north branch so i could have my wisdom teeth removed. now, i was terrified for my pre-op consult, but this day i was fine. a little bit nervous, but fine. i had literally just sat down in the waiting room when they called me back to the little room. still fine. we talked for a few minutes while the doctor & her asst got me all set up, they put my iv in, & off we went. i had chosen mild sedation instead of general anesthesia so i could tell them that i was ok. i didn't like the idea of being put out completely. but when i chose sedation, i thought i'd be really out of it. not so. they barely gave me any. the only way i could tell i had it was that the texture on the walls waved at me for a few minutes & my heartrate stopped going up every time they even looked at a machine. that was it! i was shocked! i was very, very aware. and i actually liked it. the doc, asst, & i laughed & talked the whole time!! the only time i made any other noise was when she took out my bottom teeth. and they were HUGE. (wish i'd had the camera with me!!)

anyway, it was fine. i hardly took the pain pills. they're sitting upstairs collecting dust. and i haven't had any problems. i go back this friday for a quick check-up....and so they can see the kids. that's all they really care about anyway!!! so, no excitement with the teeth---unless you count mattie's $135 speeding ticket on the way to the pharmacy that is!!

ok, i've done the cake, the circus, & the teeth. onto the "click." guesses????

i'm talking about this cutie

now, it's no secret i've questioned his development. his doctor assured me i have nothing to worry about. and i know after the past 2 weeks that i really shouldn't have worried.

my little boy will NOT stop talking!! that's the click. he would repeat & say a few words, but the darn kid just won't stop now! oh, he still repeats. and repeats alot. in fact, just today our fabulous daycare provider told me "he repeated EVERYTHING i said today!" so every time she opened her mouth, every kid heard what she said twice. once from her. once from my little beast. he talks non-stop. (well, until we get to friends' houses that is. then he's quiet as a mouse)

my favorite is his little yes. well, yeSH. i giggle every time. beast was on the phone w/ my mom this past weekend & she told him she likes the way he says yes. he just said yesh right back. too cute.

now i'm just waiting on the shitfuck to come flying out of his mouth like it did rae's!!!

quick one

i will update on the rest of rae's bday festivities, the circus, & the teeth in the next few days. i'm just feeling a little tired right now! as for the mouth--feeling much better than i thought it would & i'm taking fewer pain meds than i thought i would be. i'll give you the gory details in a few days!

happy birthday raegan grace

where does the time go? it seems like just weeks ago i was crying at my sister's house, trying to figure out how to tell matt our family would be growing----MUCH sooner than we had planned. yet, yesterday, 10/15/08, we celebrated miss raegan's 4th birthday. how did that happen?! maybe i should start from the beginning.....i don't have this documented anywhere else, so i might as well do it here. that way rae will know how it all went down!!

mattie & i met one drunken night on parris island. we had a great time & really connected. we had both just broken off engagements & were looking for a good time. so we had one. i flew back to pa the next morning thinking i'd never hear from him again. a few hours after landing & much to surprise, the phone rang. it was matt. that was august 24, 2002. we've talked on the phone every day since. we got married 10 months later, july 5, 2003; moved to mn in january 2004; got pregnant w/ raegan about 2 weeks later. we did everything fast! but that was never our intent. the wedding was supposed to be in january 2004. but the war started, & we didn't know what would happen. so we moved up the wedding. we discussed a family & decided we'd wait 5-10 years. we just wanted to spend some time together since our entire relationship, including our 1st month of marriage, had been via the phone. we'd spent a grand total of maybe 3 weeks together, face to face. we thought we'd travel, save some money, just enjoy being us.

then, on valentine's day 2004 i took the dreaded test. sure enough, those 2 pink lines were there----staring me down. i cried & cried. i was excited but scared. and i was terrified of telling matt. here we were, just moved to minnesota, living in my sister's basement, no jobs yet. what the hell were we going to do??? i sucked it up & told him right away. he was so supportive. he told me it would all be ok. we went out to dinner & it hit me. i couldn't have my usual mudslide at applebee's. damn. but we'd figure it out.

and we did. i got my job at assurant. mattie got a job at lowe's, then walmart, then w/ wackenhut (where he still is for now). we moved into an apartment just down the street from my sister. traveling was out, but that was ok. we were excited for our baby.

we landed on rae's name in about 2 seconds. we both just loved it. a boy name, on the other hand, was not so easy. we never really did come up with one. we had a back-up/hope we don't need it name. but we found out she was a she & were thrilled. well, i wasn't so thrilled at first. but i got there!!

i was due 10/16 but at my ultrasound the doc said i looked good to go on 10/15--it's the strangest thing. he just misspoke, but it turned out he was right. at my last visit with him, he told me he was heading to washington dc for a conference but that he was POSITIVE i wouldn't go into labor & i'd see him monday to schedule an induction. too bad he didn't know my husband sometimes doesn't use his whole brain!

mattie had driven to the post office 10/13 to pick up a HUGE box of baby stuff from his mom & sister. he locked himself out the car. THE car--we only had the one. so i had to walk my nearly 40 weeks pregnant butt all the way to the post office in 40 degree, rainy weather. i could barely squeeze my feet into sneakers & my belly into a coat. i was M-A-D. apparently my little jaunt to the post office was all it took. the next night i felt really sick. i slept the entire evening, finally eating a pb&j sandwich. at 8pm, mattie took our the trash & my water broke. he came back up to the apartment. i told him to stay calm, but we needed to go to the hospital right away.

we made it to the hospital (literally 1 mile away) & were greeted by the rudest nurse ever. she asked if we had called & i said no. i completely forgot. she said "well, with your next 10 could you please call first? i have no nurse here for you." ugh. what a way to start my labor.

i called my mom & my sister. mattie called his. a few hours later, i was begging for an epidural. had the worst anesthesiologist ever. took him 4 times of poking me to get in it. a few hours later the doctor (not my doctor remember!) turned it off b/c i couldn't feel a thing. i begged for a c-section. he told me no & kept right on watching fear factor. who knew that was on at 3am??

finally, after 9 hours, 3 of them pushing, little miss raegan grace joined our family at 4:59 am.

8lb 3.1ozs, 19 3/4 inches

---back to the present---

so yesterday, she had cupcakes at daycare. then she opened cards from MiMi & PaPa and great MiMi & presents from MiMi & PaPa and mommy, daddy, and bryson. and we ate more cupcakes! she got 2 snowball makers & a fort maker from MiMi & PaPa. they're also sending a sled. she got a craft box from us. tomorrow, i am taking her shoe shopping. we'll also be collecting leaves for a preschool project. then tomorrow evening, we're having cake & ice cream since matt will be able to celebrate then. so she's having quite the birthday this year! good thing she was born on payday!!

i don't know where the time went. and i'm not really sure how we got here. but i'm glad we did. i can't imagine my life without my little mini-me.

happy birthday raegan grace.

happy birthday.

silver jews & weekends

so last wednesday i had the pleasure of hanging out with some of my favorite new bffs....we went to see the silver jews play at a hole in the wall in the cities. it was so much fun. now, that opening band...well, let's just say they'd had a little too much of something before they took the stage. they were S-C-A-R-Y. but i'll never forget pyramids, baconbaconbaconbacon, makinmakinmakin, lovehlovehloveh, it's bad guitar, or it's party time. no jokes. they were crazy. but we stuck it out for the silver jews. and they were awesome. they put on a great show (despite all the weirdass drunks & the dude they had kicked out). all in all it was an awesome night with some awesome ladies. and thanks cara for keeping me awake on the drive home! never again, though, will i stay out til 2am on a school night!!!

a couple days later i dragged a bunch of stuff down to my sister's for a garage sale. i didn't make a ton of money, but i got to spend some time with my sister. and since we don't do that as much as we should anymore, it was really nice.

of course it was back to work yesterday. BLAH. but that's how it goes!! a little work then a lot of fun!

life must be boring...

so life must've been a bit on the boring side the past week. i really don't have much to say.....

oh, right. beast, yet again, did something crazy. i came downstairs monday morning for work (remmeber this is 2 flights of stairs down from the bedrooms). i turned on my work computer & went into the bathroom. i realized i heard breathing that wasn't mine! i crept into the family room only to find that beastie boy was asleep in 1 of the recliners! i don't know when he left his bed & went downstairs. i never heard him. mattie never heard him. hell, the dogs didn't even hear him. i just covered him up & left him alone. thank god our doors were all locked & he couldn't get out. seriously, i'm starting to wonder when cps will knocking.....

nothing new for rae really. another day at preschool. she was so happy. another night at dance. she did awesome. she's just her usual, incredibly sassy self.

that's all i can think of.....
i'm off to wrestle 4 kids to bed! (don't get excited---i didn't gain 2 more overnight. the niece & nephew are sleeping over.)