Doctors & Appointment Times?????????

I feel like I could sleep for a week, and this time I can't blame it on Sierra. We are now on try number three to sleep at night (the second time she only made it 2 nights, on the third she was woke up by loud rain). No, my need to sleep is caused by yesterday. It started out great, we got up, ate, stopped at the bank, went to the library and went to see Dee Dee. We spent about an hour or so at Dee Dee's house visiting with her and Hannah (who gets cuter every time that we see her) and, of course, Dee Dee's day care kids. Visiting actually relaxed me (I can't speak for Mark, but I know that he enjoyed seeing them too). From there we went to Shake and Steak for lunch (an early birthday lunch for me), even that was fun. I just wish that I would have remembered the camera. Sierra looked absolutely adorable with her little Shake and Steak hat on (which she broke upon entering the house). After lunch we stopped at Target to kill some time and I was almost stabbed with one of the workers box cutters. Okay, I made that sound worse than what it was. I moved a tube of "Boo Boo Cream" and a box cutter (closed) flew off of the top shelf and came close to hitting my foot.

No, I am exhausted from the doctor's office. I had a 2:30 appointment that ended up being a 4:00 appointment. Although we did get called back at about 3:30. Every time I have had a doctors appointment (now and with Sierra) I have had to wait. Which leads me to the question, why do doctors make appointments? Why not just tell the patients to come any time from ? to ? on a certain day and make it first come first serve? It just makes more sense to me, but I could be wrong (it happens just not often).

The appointment was not even that productive. I mean, Sierra got to hear the baby's heart beat, but that's it. We have to go back a week from Thursday for the ultrasound and then two weeks after that for my actual appointment.

Tonight, we were supposed to go to "Catch the glow" (its a big street fair kind of thing in Warrenton), but Mark and I are both tired and poor Mark had to work today (6 am to 3 pm). That and the rain was supposed to stop yesterday afternoon and it is still raining as I type this. We do, however, have to go back to Wentzville when he gets home to pay a bill that we meant to drop off yesterday after we got out of the doctor's office, but forgot.

Tomorrow, weather permitting, we will go to the parade (to kick of the Warren County Fair). Sierra will get to see her best friend Ella and get free candy (not that she doesn't have a bunch from Easter).

Then, of course, on Monday (my birthday), I have to deal with the manager and maintenance guy. They are doing a walk through of every mobile home and replacing broken mini blinds (at $25 a pop). So not looking forward to that, not because we have to worry about that, more because I have felt like a train wreck and have not done as much house work as I need to. That and I have been in the process of rearranging the house so it is pretty much a disaster area (I wonder if I can get it declared a disaster area by the federal government and get help). ;)

Check back tomorrow for (possible) pictures of the parade.

What A Week!!!!!!!!

This week has been both boring and fun all at the same time. Don't ask!

We have found a resale shop that is wonderful. We have a consignment there and we also found this beautiful couch there. It is soooooo soft and very easy to get off of, I call it "the cloud". Doesn't Sierra look comfy on it?

I was able to get Sierra to sleep through the night, for a grand total of 4 days. Using a bribe, sorry I meant to say a reward system suggested by Juli. We bought something that she wants in an extreme way and told her that if she would sleep all night long in her room (without waking up screaming) for 7 days in a row, it would be hers. Last night, on day 5, she blew it. She came into our room stood by the bed and started to scream, as only little girls know how. Which didn't go over very well, considering that I had not been able to get much sleep at all anyway.

Why couldn't I sleep? Well that is an easy one, I am an accident waiting for a place to happen, and happen I did. Yesterday, while on our way to go to some yard sales we stopped to drop off trash and saw one of our neighbors at the on-site storage units talking to a police officer about one that was open. We have some kids (tweens and teens) that like to hang out in front of these units (as well as on top of them and in the dumpster). They have been seen going in and out of them and one of their skateboards was found in one. Being the type of person the Mark is, he went over to find out what was going on.

The smell from the dumpster was getting to me, so I asked if her would move the truck (I still haven't renewed my licence yet) and he said that he would in a minute, he just needed to give the officer some addresses first. Since I am home more than he is and have actually talked to these kids (and know where most of them live) I went to give the addresses. Mark left Sierra up at the front of the park with me and went to call the after hours number. While he was gone, I sat on the ground (in the officers shadow) to wait for him to get back.

After what seemed like forever and a day, he finally got back and everyone got ready to go (with the exception of the officer) I went to get up off of the ground by putting my hands behind me and pushing myself up. Well, normally that works just fine, but every once in a while my thumb goes a little too far back, and yesterday was one of those times. Mark thought last night that it might be broken, but I can move it a little today. So, now we think that I just pulled the muscle AGAIN. All I know is that it hurts like a B---- to move my thumb or to put pressure on any part of my right hand, just like it did when I pulled it working on the garden a few months ago.

Speaking of the garden, barring that the rabbits leave our plants alone, we are going to have an huge amount of cantaloupes (and possibly watermelons), they will be free to a good home to any of our loved ones living within 30 miles of us (or however far away O'Fallon, MO is). I can't say for sure that they will survive, the peas and green beans fell prey to those pesky rabbits.

In closing today, I would like to ask a favor to those of you out there that know Spanish. I have a dilemma, a comment was posted on "Kids Say The Darnedest Things". It is completely in Spanish and I have no Earthly Idea as to what it says. And as mentioned before, if someone is going to take the time to leave a comment, I will post it (as long as it is not vulgar or threatening to anyone), so I would love to know what it says. If you can translate, please leave the translation for me. Thanks.

Kids Say The Darnedest Things!!!!!

The other day I was flabbergasted when, while cuddling with Sierra, okay it was more like being hit repeatedly by the ball that she was throwing at Mark and I, she looks at Mark and says "take off your shorts and have sex with her" pointing at me. And then tells me "take off your shirt and pants and have sex with him" pointing at Mark. She then stands up, puts one hand on her hip, tilts her head and says lets get this party started.
Now don't ask me where she got this at, because I am clueless. All I can tell you is that I laughed so hard that I started having a hard time breathing.

That was one of her somewhat cute moments this week, one of the very few. She has decided that she no longer wants to sleep in her room and every night this week has woke up screaming at 1, 2, 3 o'clock in the morning for at least an hour each night. She doesn't want to go in her room at all and let me tell you, sleep deprivation is about to set in (on all of us). If anyone knows of something that we can do that might make her sleep, please for the love of all things holy, leave a comment and let me know, because I am about to pack her up and send her to live with her Aunt Dee Dee (sorry you are closer than Aunt Becky).

Is It Nap Time Yet?

I am soooooo freaking tired. I don't know if it stems from being pregnant or if it has something to do with being kept up most of the night by Sierra having a spaz attack about Polly Pocket being alive and running around her room (Polly not Sierra).

On the plus side, Mark and Sierra are both doing much better. I put them both on allergy medicine and their headaches went away. Now if only I can start feeling better (and stop throwing up), I'll be able to get that photo taken of Sierra and all her Renaissance glory. ;)

Be Safe

It's the 5Th of the month and I'm reminding everyone to do their breast self exam.

Thank you.

This will be a monthly reminder.

Renaissance Faire

The Renaissance Faire was amazing, but stupid me forgot to bring the camera so I have no photos. When Sierra gets over this little cold that she has, I'm going to take her outside in her silk Renaissance dress and take a picture to post here.

She had so much fun this year. Once again she did the King's Quest. What the kids do is they go around the park and try to locate the people on the list and get stamps (or drawings) from them all while learning about the time period. Everyone is dressed as the person that they represent, from fairies and goblins to peasants and royalty. This year the list consisted of 18 people out of those you only have to locate 10 to become a princess or knight. Then at the 2:30 and 5:00 jousts they have a ceremony for the kids.

Needless to say, Mark had a migraine that refused to die, so we didn't get to stay for the ceremony, but Sierra did find everyone (including the prick, the Goblin King, he made little kids cry). While Sierra was getting the stamp from the court jester (the second to last stamp needed to find everyone) the jester and I talked about how she had almost found everyone (the other person that she needed was, like, 10 feet away from us playing the harp. He said something about her (Sierra) becoming a princess and I told him that we were getting ready to leave because of her daddy's headache. He did the coolest thing. He walked over to where the king and queen were and told them about Sierra.

We turn around, after getting the last stamp, and there is the queen and her entourage. They had a special ceremony to make Sierra a princess before she left. For about 2 seconds I thought that Sierra was going to hug the queen, then she thought differently and didn't.

She also won first place in the costume contest, she got a ribbon and a pirate rubber duck. She got to see a huge horse (I forget what kind, but the thing was taller than the roof of the pens at the petting zoo. She was upset about not getting to see the joust though. We went to the morning one and it was so muddy that they could not use the horses, it was a little entertaining to see the knights get in wheel barrels and joust that way, but not the same.

All of that being said, Sierra's favorite part was playing the ring toss game. I personally liked when we were in the fairy realm and the wizard had Sierra hold his bottle of bubble mixture while he blew some bubbles and then caught one and gave it to her. Its really a clear marble, but the way that he did it was so cool. She also got to see how felt used to be made and received a "favor" from the Germans. Its a white, purple and green piece of handmade felt. I didn't even know how people use to make fabric.

I could go on and on about it, but I won't (I would end up using all of my space).

E-Mail From Uncle Carl

This is to show everyone just how crazy my sister is (for those that thought that I was making it up).

MISSY UPDATE:
I actually got to leave a message on her voice mail and told her to give me a call ASAP "Don't make me come looking for you" type of message. She called from her boyfriend's house and I talked to Missy, Jessica, and listened to Megan blubber in a drunken stupor. But in the short of it she did tell me that her doctor thinks that she can be cured but she needs to get it in gear. She tried to tell me that she needed to think about it some more and I chewed hard and fast. I told her that she's had plenty of time to think about it and it was time to ACT. I brought up the fact that after we all watched how her and your mother, My Sister ended up why in great Gods name would she even put off something as serious as this when you know what the outcome is going to be. She should have acted long before this got this serious. I also told her that she needs to talk to her doctor about maybe looking at a mastectomy. It would damn sure be better to loose a breast or even both if it meant keeping her life. Anyway I also told her I was glad to hear that she was talking to you again and that I didn't know what it was that came between you two but in the end family is all you end up with. If you need more details give me a call.
Yes I got the e-mail about you expecting in Dec. and I told Karan and showed her the pictures you've sent.
I also think it's a good idea about the breast exam. I don't know about the family history idea of cancer, Hell if you find a lump and don't do anything about it because you're afraid of what it might be and you let it go guess what, it's going to turn out the way you don't want it to. Bottom line Buffie, and keep in mind I'm a Male but I know enough about the Human body, when you do you regular self exams and only you know what feels normal and what doesn't from one exam to the next. If you feel something that doesn't feel right to you. Get your ass to the doctor and get it checked out. If it does turn out to be a cancerous lump or whatever if would be a damn site easier to deal with it at the earliest possible stage. So Check yourself out on a regular basis and Don't procrastinate.
Love Uncle Carl

You either love that man or hate him.

My Little Artist

We found this chalkboard at the flee market for 75 cents and she loves it.

Here is one of the lovely drawings that she has made for me (it's a person and a really little house (don't ask)).

Have I mentioned how much I love my little girl. I love her so much, she has got to be the best little girl in the whole world (ok I am biased). She has only been away from me 3 times in 4 1/2 years (the first she was 9 months old, the second was when her Papa was in isolation and the third was yesterday). Ok, she has been away from me more than that, but she was at home with Papa, those three times she was taken to her Aunt Dee Dee's house. Mark and I dropped her off at Dee Dee's house so that I could go to the doctor (who is soooo much better than the last OB that I went to). When we left she didn't cry (she did that at snack time).

At the doctor we got to see the baby, the doctor couldn't find a heartbeat. So unlike the quack that I used before, he checked to make sure that the little one was okay. It is, although it is still to early to tell if we will have a girl or a boy (my gut says girl, but that could be wishful thinking).

As promised, here is the inside of my Mother's Day card from Sierra. Mark wrote her name on the envelope and she wrote it in the card. She still needs a little work on her S's, but she is working on it.

Tomorrow Mark is off work and we are supposed to go to the 9th Annual Greater St. Louis Renaissance Faire, something that we missed last year. We took Sierra the year before last and she loved it, plus it's a great way to teach kids history. Our only problem is the rain, it won't stop and it is supposed to rain tomorrow. So we are going to arm ourselves with umbrellas and brave the (possible rain). Hopefully we won't get rained out this year like we did last year, I really want to take her to see the joust (we missed it the last time we went, but she loves them when we watch period movies). Wish us luck.