Chippendales Hottie

Introducing the newest member of the Chippendales team....

Then we decided to get down to business and take off the jacket.

Only, his diaper is usually so full, it's hard to stick ones in there!  Ain't he cute!?

Boy Its Cold!!!!

Have you noticed how frigid it's gotten lately?  I mean, we're not anything like the states who got the 2 feet of snow, but gee whiz.   IT'S COLD!!!

Even the dog is trying to stay warm!

And it's so cold in our house, at least Josh, Zoey and I think so, that we all walk around in layers or sit with blankets on us!

If it's going to be this cold, at least give us some beautiful snow!

I am firmly blaming the Whitmer Cousins....

I am firmly blaming the Whitmer cousins - Mike and Doug.  For as long as I can remember, they dip everything in ketchup, especially turkey.  I guess it's like thier every-day-gravy.

Josh was having dinner with me, Chad was off working in the garage, and he stopped eating his 'chicky nuggets.'  I asked him if he would like to dip his chicky nuggest in ketchup.  (We usually only do this with french fries at resturaunts to keep him quiet and busy.)

Of course he said yes.  Then I look over after doing something at the kitchen sink to see this:

Licking just the ketchup as fast as he can.  Then he proceedes to put the bowl up to his mouth and lick it.  I wish I could've got a picture of that. 

 But how can you be made at a face like this????

Fire Station Humor

Chad sent me this in an email.  This isn't his station, but it just goes to show you that these guys make do and the humor that they have.

"Station 36 is auctioning our front storm door.  Just in time for Christmas you too can have one of very few storm doors like this on the planet.  You will be a hero if you bring this door home to your wife.  Works really well, summer and winter.  The settings are printed on the door and are easily understood.  The auction will begin now and will end at 7:00 P.M. on 12-15-2010."

Before I opened it, I was thinking "I've wanted a storm door for our front door for years!  You've told me no and now you want to bid on one?!  Aggghh!!!"

But then I opened it and chilled. 

Christmas Humor

 The future Duerksen Family Tree Outing

Why I don't do popcorn garland...

I'd like to do this to a few kids....

Our tree is the exact opposite...

Watch Your Mouth.....

Things NEVER E-V-E-R to say to a pregnant woman, especially your wife:

1. "You've been eating for an hour and a half.  Aren't you full yet?"
2. "You're the only person I know who can eat like that!"
3. NEVER EVER laugh at your wife when she tells you what she had to eat.

If you do, be prepared to go to Sonic at 8:30 at night to make a run for mozzarella cheese sticks to make up for it.

How Does Flour Taste?

Next time you see Josh....ask him how flour tastes.

We were making these yummy pumpkin spice donut muffins and before I could get any other ingredients in the bowl, Josh reached in while I wasn't looking and took a big handful of flour and ate it. 

Boy, you should have seen his reaction. "What is this and why are we putting it in our food?"

On a brighter note, the muffins turned out delicious.  Hey, they were rolled in melted butter and cinnamon and sugar.  How could that be yucky?

Christmas Lights and Santa

Last year, we went to see Christmas lights and found the best display ever.  It's called "Lights on St. Paul" and it's sponsored by an organization who "serves the needs of over 7,000 local individuals living with intellectual and developmental disabilities."  It's really cool. 


After we drove thru the lights, which Josh got to get out of his carseat and sit in the front with us (too cool BTW), we asked if he wanted to see Santa.  At first he said yes.  Then we got out of the car and his tune started to change.  He wasn't really sure.  So we asked if he wanted to go sit with Santa and we got an immediate "NO" that never changed.  His answer never wavered. 


But.....we're evil parents and made him anyway. 


While we were standing in line, we tried to talk about all the other little boys and girls who were sitting with Santa. 

Thank goodness there were no screaming kids ahead of us.  The kids made it look so easy.  


Those dang kids must have wanted the entire toy department at Wal-Mart they took so long.  There were only 3 kids in front of us but it took a good 10 minutes to tell Santa their wishes.  So we had to entertain. 

Daddy's always up for a good ride.  This lasted all of 3 minutes.  But finally, it was our turn.  While we were trying to coax Josh into doing it, Chad and I were working out our game plan. 

"OK.  You put Josh on Santa's lap and run, but don't do it before my camera's on and ready and in position."  You would've thought it was a stealth CIA mission.

Here are the results of one mean Mommy and Daddy working together.

Then Mommy had to step in.  I guess I was the Saving Angel of Mercy.  So I was the buffer between Santa and Josh.  And we STILL got a picture like this:

Ah memories.  And don't I look my best.  I didn't think we'd get out of the car, let alone get my picture taken. 


And look at Santa VERY closely.  He's special.  He must be one of the 7,000 The Arc helps.  He was so sweet to Josh.  As we started to leave, he called Chad over to him and said, "You can tell him I'm a real person.  My name is Don."  He wanted to make sure that Josh knew he was real and was okay.  It was priceless.  The $5 donation was well worth it.  I hope Don has wonderful memories of playing Santa.

Stupid hormones....now I'm crying.......

Boy or Girl?

I've been trying to pin down Chad on what he thinks we're having.  I don't know, but I do know that this pregnancy is WAY different from Josh's in every way.

• With Josh I was so sick, Chad said I probably survived on less than 400 calories a day.  Now, I eat 400 calories as a snack!  I can't get enough food!  Back it up boys!  The pregnant lady's H-U-N-G-R-Y!!!!
• With Josh, I didn't start showing until about the 6th month or after.  Now, I'm showing and I'm hardly 3 months along!

Chad said he thinks it's a girl, and I'm inclined to agree seeings how this is so different.  So, I took a test on the internet to see what I'm having.  (And we all know that EVERYTHING on the internet is true, right?!)

Here's the test.  It's based off of old wives' tales. 

Q: How are you carrying? 

High
Low

Q: What do you crave? 

Salty
Sweet

Q: My baby's heart rate is:  (Above - it was 163 at our last appt.)

Above 140 beats per minute
Below 140 beats per minute

Q: The color of my urine is:  (TMI)

Dull Yellow
Bright Yellow

Q: Which direction does your pillow face:

South
North

Q: Was the month of your conception:

Even
Odd

Q: Are your feet:

Not colder than before.
Colder than before.

Q: Does the hair on your legs grow:  (TMI)

The same as before pregnancy.
Faster

Q: Do you eat the heel of a loaf of bread?

No way!
Love it!



According to the Old Wives it's a girl! 

Rudeness Met with Kindness

With the hormones, it's hard for me to be objective in certain situations.  Particularly when operating on less sleep than I'd like to get....i.e. going back to work after having time off. 

Today was not such a good day with someone at work.  Instead of letting it ruin my whole day, I turned around and did something nice for someone else.  The teacher who took 'my job' (1st grade position) is a first-year teacher.  I put a goodie box (bookmarks, notepads, stickers, etc) in her box and just put  an anonymous note about what a great job she's doing on top. 

I just hope KARMA remembers this.....

Oh Brother....

Josh and I came home from church and were spending some time together.  He's been sick (runny nose, no appetite, poor sleeping, etc) and so he got done with lunch before I did.  I let him down and he always can find something to entertain himself with.  (Whether or not I always like it....is another story.)

Then I look over and see him shoving things down his shirt as fast as he can.  It's his wood blocks.  Then I see he has a pooch belly.  He's got a TON of blocks in there!

He's a picture from abover.  Look at all those blocks!

So I ask him if I can see what's in there. 

And he PROUDLY shows me....

Then we got them all out.  Had to undo the pants for that one.  There were 13 blocks shoved in his shirt!  So long neck hole!  Hello new stretched out neck!

Oh well.  The joys of having a toddler.....

Seriously...Come on!

Seriously, this is ridiculous.  Last pregnancy, I didn't start showing until 6, maybe 7 months along.  I could even give myself a pedicure all throughout my pregnancy.  (None of that, "Tell me if my shoes match crap.") 

Well turd.  I'm firmly in maternity pants now because of comfort.  Most days I can put on my socks and shoes with just a few grunts.  I just bent over to pick up something at school and thought, "Good grief that was hard."  COME ON!  I'm only about 13 weeks along.  If I'm doing the grunting and having trouble bending over now, I'm going to have to hire a personal assistant just to stay by my side in case I need to tie my shoes!

This is ridiculous!

I'll Let You in on a Little Secret...

OK.  So I've received the okay from Chad to blog about this.  (You have no idea how many blog posts might cause a 'discussion'.)

Here's a little hint:

We think we might be having twins.  Well, make that me and Chad's going along with it. 

Here are some signs that you might be having twins.  And granted, the biggest sign would be if we would've gotten pregnant using IVF, but we didn't.

We meet numbers 6, 8, 9, and 10.  We won't meet or find out #3 and #4 because those are a part of genetic testing, which Chad and I choose not to do.  (Our philosophy is God gives us a gift and we take it no matter what 'shape' its in.  It doesn't change a thing for us.)  And we won't find out #1 until mid-January and we won't possibly know #2 and #5 until the day before Thanksgiving when we have our next appointment.

But the biggest thing I have that I think means I'm having twins or at least it would explain a lot is the excessive weight gain and the hunch.  I've already gained about 10 pounds!!!!  It better be twins or we've got issues.  Some days I'm so dang hungry, I want to finish Josh's meal.  Some days I'm so hungry I'll wake up at 2 a.m. and honestly be S-T-A-R-V-I-N-G!  I'm so hungry all the time.  I'm also so tired all the time.  It may just be from holding down a full-time job and having a family with a kid at home, but boy howdy, I'm EXHAUSTED! 

Anyway, I could go on and on about my hormonal feelings and how I think I'm having twins, but that's enough for now.  That's all the 'freaking out' I can take.  I think about it in small doses. 

Anyone volunteer to be a live-in nanny if we do have twins? 

He's Such a Big Boy

Josh is such a big boy.  Well, at least he likes to pretend he is. 

He loves to take showers.  Baths are such for little babies. 

He loves to do things with his dad, especially when it requires banging with a tool!

And he also loves to walk in big people shoes.  He'll even walk in my dress shoes! 

Here he is walking in Chad's tennis shoes one day.  He loves to do it, but gets so frustrated when he can't.  Like when he tries to turn directions.

Poor Zoey.  She's curious, but she's not.  Sometimes shes just leaned it's best to play dead.

Veteran's Day

No matter how you feel about war and such, we should all be thankful for our veterans.  This is a ideo I received in an email.  I don't know if its the hormones or just the true feelings, but the end of this video made me cry.  Such a good video.

http://www.sermonspice.com/product/32960/i-fought-for-you

What a Day....

One might think that with the extra hour given with the end of Daylight Savings Time I might get to do something neat with it.  Well.....here's a glimpse into my Sunday:

Josh woke up about 7:30 or so.  No biggie.  Turned on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, gave him a 'shake'  and trotted out to get the paper.  Read a little of the paper, then was told to get in the shower before I'm late for church.  Like I can't read the clock! 

Well, Josh didn't take a shower the night before because he and Chad were having too much fun wrestling, so he had to shower with me.  Which, he loves.  He loves the shower like it's raining and he loves being a big boy.  Well after we all scrub the important parts, I get out to give myself a head start.  All of the sudden I smell poo.  I thought, "Well Gee Chad, Open a window!"  Then, Josh pulls back the shower curtain and cries.  I knew IMMEDIATELY what I was going to find.  I pull back the shower curtain even more....and....there it is.  Yep.  Poo.  Right there in my shower.  Josh immediately starts to cry, well, because I think he's just embarrassed. 

Right before this happened, Josh had been stomping on the shower floor.  (He's recently learned that and I think he learned it from Sunday School.  "If you're happy and you know it stomp your feet.")  So Chad pokes his head in at the exact right time and asks if I needed him.  Well, I didn't, but I do now!

Chad took Josh and cleaned him up and I got the pooper scooper duty.  Yuck.  Just what I needed when I'm feeling queasy. 

The rest of the morning was good and uneventful, but then after church, stuff hit the fan again.

Josh and I had stopped at Dillons to pick up some stuff.  When we got home, I left him in the car for a moment while I took the 3 bags in.  As soon as I set the bags down, I see it......the trash has been dumped by Zoey.

I go get Josh out of the car and clean it up.  Josh meanwhile, is pointing to the mess.  He KNOWS heads are gunna roll over this.  Then I just happen to walk thru the living room and Zoey had pooped on the carpet!  Aggghhh!!  (Did I mention it's just me and Josh?  Chad is at church teaching Sunday School.)

I throw Zoey outside and start to clean that up.  Then I go down the hall for something and I realize its awful quiet from the short guy.  I go in the living room to find him and I can't!  I look a little closer and he's crouched behind his chair and tried to cover with a blanket.  I immediately know he's up to no good.  Then I see it.....MY LIPSTAIN!  Not lipstick, but lipstain!  STAIN!  He's colored on my wallet, on his hands, and a little on the carpet!!!  Please-cut a pregnant lady whose tired and by herself a freakin' break!!!!!

I call mom to see what on earth I use to get it out of the carpet.  I'm so mad and frustrated I can't even think what might take it out.  She tells me to get some make up remover and thank goodness, it worked. 

I fed Josh and myself lunch and then took a nap.  It was needed both mentally and physically.  Otherwise I might have ended up in the cuckoo's nest!

Weird

So this posting might qualify as TMI (Too Much Information), but oh well. 

So I'm sitting at church on Sunday and I'm breathing kind of heavy.  Chad asks what's wrong and my reply is, "Oh nothing.  These pants are too tight."  What the world?!  I'm not even three months along and I already need maternity pants?  Oh hail to the no!

So, I go another week in my regular pants, specifically my dress slacks that I wear to school.  And I am DETERMINED not to break out the maternity pants yet.  Just too...depressing.  No one starts to show at 3 months.  And all this time, all I can think is, "Oh #$%&#$.  It's twins." or "I'm going to be like one of those celebrities that gains 75 pounds.   But I won't have a personal trainer to help me take it off in an obscene amount of time."  

So, what do I do last night?  After the 5th day in a row of feeling like I was being cut in half every time I sat down........I finally did it.  I broke out the maternity slacks and washed them.  But, the saga doesn't end there!

I think, well, I've lost about 30 pounds since I've last put them on, I'd better see if they still fit.  Conflicted feelings enter my brain.  That'd be great if they're too big!  That means I've kept the weight off!  But then there's the other voice saying, "Just great.  More money out the door."  

Let's just say it's a good thing that JCPenney's is cheap and has tons of coupons this Saturday.  Now, just send happy thoughts my way that it's not twins and that I can get my 'morning sickness butt' out of bed early enough to hit the sales!!!

 

Morning "My Big Fat Expanding Butt" Sickness

This pretty much sums it up.  There are a few 'good' things (and boy, do I use that word l-o-o-s-l-y) about morning sickness (mornings only my butt!), like:

1.  A lower grocery bill
2.  Less cooking
3.  Less dishes to do
4.  You can pack the same lunch for the entire week!  What you don't eat on Monday, you take for Tuesday, etc, etc.

Happy Halloween 2010

We had such a good time on Halloween.  We went over to Grandma and Grandpa's for chili dogs before Trick or Treating.  (We go to all of 3 houses, so we have to have fuel, ya know!)

Grandma Jodi bought Josh a good bucket.  It had just his kind of candy in it: small snack bags of plain M&Ms and Smarties.  It also had some goodies for the parents.  And Grandma said she threw in an outfit or two and a pumpkin book just so it didn't look like he was spoiled!  Yeah.  Like anyone would ever think that!

Zoey was kinda interested in it too.  However, Josh was NOT in the sharing mood.

He talked Grandma into a few Smarties before dinner.

And she found a neon glow-in-the-dark wand. 

Then it was time to fuel up before the big event.  He ate blackberries, raspberries, and a cracker or two.  The boy loves fruit!  I need to start growing a blueberry bush, a blackberry bush, whatever raspberries come on, an apple tree, etc.  I need a farm.

Then it was time to get dressed.  Originally, Josh was going to be Charlie Brown.  I had even special ordered a yellow shirt just like Charlie's.  But...Chad didn't like that.  So, luckily mom had bought some costumes on clearance last year and one might fit....a white bunny. 

It did!  He was the cutest bunny and tolerated the costume surprisingly well!

Mom even got some of her eyeliner and drew on whiskers and took some blush or lipstick and made a pink nose.  He looked adorable!



Here Josh is knocking on the door at Grandma Evie's and Grandpa Hoyt's. 

And of course, Grandma and Grandpa had a goodie bag for him.  More Smarties and some cute clothes from when they were in Red River last week. 

And we had to stop and read a book. 

Then we went to Chad's lieutenant's house.  He and his wife are so kind to us.  (And Josh loves to see Peaches, their dog.)  But to our surprise and Josh's luck, there were 3 big dogs when we got there!  Josh was in hog heaven.   

Halloween was busy, but fun!