Frigid January Weather

Baby, it's cold outside. We've had highs in the 20s and 30s this week. Even some unexpected freezing drizzle which made Monday's drive to my Weight Watchers class harrowing! I actually had people show up, stay for the meeting, and even join. I told them I wasn't sure if I was proud of them for attending or if I thought they were crazy for being out and about on the slick streets. Thankfully the drive home was much less worrisome.

Last week Carissa and I decided to deviate from our normal walk at the mall and go to the Zoo. The high was supposed to be in the 50s and we knew this cold weather was on its way. When we arrived at 10am it was just above freezing (33 degrees). Man...that's not what we expected when making our plans. So, we ran to the Herpeterium (reptile house) to get warm and let the kids out of their strollers. We were the only people in the building except some staff members(one of whom happens to be friends with my brother and a fellow Tabor alum!). The kids loved pushing the buttons on the displays and Charles in particular loved running. We actually saw the giant tortoises eating their breakfast, you could see and hear them munching on their lettuce. After we were done there we headed to the Jungle. We walked through the building and actually saw active animals. The bats were opening their wings and there was a bird trying to escape the building when we arrived. One bird even pooped on my shoe. Thankfully it was just my shoe and not a good one at that.

Russell got Monday off in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday. It was one minor benefit of the most recent union negotiation. They gave it to the guys on the line so the non-union folks got it too. Wish we could have the same choices they have for health insurance....

Anyway, we had a nice long weekend. Saturday after morning basketball at church and naps we got some lunch and ran a zillion errands. Who knew the mall would be packed? We found some unexpected bargains which is always fun for the shopper in me. I got Charles a pair of athletic pants for $1.97--a bargain, but little did I know they would be a dog hair magnet! I also got him a Carter's outfit for less than $5.00. It's 24 months and actually a bit big. He wore it Monday and I was kind of disappointed that the pants sort of look like MC Hammer pants--they're baggy through the leg with elastic at the bottom. Oh well, they're cute. Russell got two shirts at Dillard's. We were fortunate to find Nautica shirts on sale, they 50% off the red tag which already 75% off the original price. One was regularly priced $108--for a long sleeve button up. Not a fancy one. I found out later they're not going to be carrying that brand anymore. I'm sure they don't sell many of those shirts at $108 each.

Our last errand was to Babies R Us. It was crazy busy too. I was hoping to park in one of the close Expectant Mother spaces but they were full. We aren't good about putting Charles in his coat so we just grab him and dash inside. It just doesn't work to have him bundled up in his car seat. I was feeling guilty about it until I read an article about car seat safety and they said NOT to put them in with their coats on. Anyway...we got an oven lock. Did I mention Charles opens the oven and one day I found him standing on the door banging on the burner? Of course when we got home and tried to install it we discovered it wouldn't work with our oven. Bummer.

Monday we relaxed. Charles had a "Count Your Kid In" evaluation at the local primary school. I think he's somewhat behind in speech (but all I've got to compare him to are 2 year old girls) so I signed him up for the free screening. He's right on target and they said he doesn't need to be evaluated again until age 3. They saw he incorporates speech into his play and unless he doesn't progress in the next 6 months, there's nothing to worry about. After working at Heartspring and reading all the articles that have been out recently about Autism, I tend to be over cautious. I didn't figure anything was wrong but it was nice to hear that from the professionals--and actually get the benefit of my tax dollars! It was sad to hear them talk to the little boy behind us. Charles dwarfed him in size, but the other boy was 2 months older. They told the parent they wanted to see him again in 6 months and discussed how Rainbows United would be the institution to provide services at his age. Thank you Lord for healthy and bright children!

Monday afternoon we noticed our house was cold. Colder than the thermostat's setting. We turned it up and the heater didn't kick on. No heat?!?! And it was only in the 20s. YIKES! I called the company who came to replace the thermal couple (I think) earlier in the season. They actually were able to get someone here about 30 minutes after I called. He had to run and get a part but the heater was fixed by about 5:30. Of course that was after I left for Weight Watcher's and made a last minute plea to Grandpa & Grandma to babysit. They were happy to provide a warm place for Charles and we weren't sure how long it would be before the workman would return. The roads had gotten very slick, he couldn't even get up our driveway.

The rest of this week we've been living in the sick ward. Charles had diarrhea Tuesday and spent a good part of the day sitting on my lap in front of the TV. Wednesday I woke up with a stomach ache and threw up. I asked Russ to come straight home from class and forgo the gym for another week. Good thing I did because he came home and began to feel sick. By 8:30 he was vomiting and at 11 I called the doctor because he was in the bathroom every 15 minutes. I went to the Walgreen's soon after that to pick up a prescription and get some Imodium AD, Sprite, and Gatorade. He barely slept and I was up quite a bit too even though I slept in the guest room. I felt so bad for him but there was nothing I could do. Finally this afternoon he has kept a little bit of water down as well as some Tylenol. He even napped on the couch for a few hours. This morning Charles' diarrhea returned but thankfully the diaper rash hasn't been as bad as earlier in the week. We hope and pray neither Charles nor I get what Russ has. We had flu shots so I'm hoping that gives us some protection.

Charles is awake and wants to help type. The dogs are also pestering me for dinner, so I guess that's all for now.

The Update You've All Been Waiting For

Forgive me, for I have sinned. It's been way too long since my last update.

Let's begin with Thanksgiving:

Thanksgiving was spent with the Goentzels (my dad's family). We were nearly 30 people ranging in age from 2 months to 60+ years. Thanksgiving has traditionally been spent with my Dad's family...I'm not sure why, but maybe because everyone has other obligations at Christmas. We ate WAY too much of everything from fried turkey to chocolate covered pretzels. Of course there are mashed potatoes, corn, pie, diet Dr. Pepper, Chex mix, and a host of other things too. I think I gained 3 pounds just over the weekend.

"The Garage"

Mom uses the garage for storage during Thanksgiving. It's cold outside so things can be left on a table, plus it gets them out of the kitchen. This is the "table of sin" as I like to call it. Nothing healthy on this table, but everything sure tasted good!

Russell, Charles, and I didn't make it to the traditional game night in Hesston on Friday night. Russell had a big test on Monday and Charles didn't have any naps. From the pictures we missed out on a lot of fun, but we did get to join most of the crowd at the bowling alley earlier in the day. Charles even got to bowl for the first time with shoes and everything!

He was so excited! They even had shoes to fit him!

"Uncle" Vince (my cousin) helped Charles bowl. He set up this lane for the little ones.

Not much else to report from Thanksgiving. I hope we'll all be able to be together again next year. It's a long way for those in Indiana and Virgina Beach to travel, but we love seeing the Schultzs. Maybe next year those in Denver will join us too.

Christmas:

Christmas was uneventful. I was sick in December and didn't have the energy to put up a tree or any decorations. It didn't help that they were all stored in the attic and Russell was busy with finals. By the time he was able to lend a helping had the decorations would be up a week and it would be time to take them down again. So...we passed them up this year.

Christmas is much more fun with Charles around. He got lots of great gifts from his extended family. I think his favorite is his Little People Noah's Ark. He likes to dump all the animals out of the ark and then walk around the house chewing on one animal or another. Usually it's one the elephant's ears that's in his mouth.

I found the perfect gift for Charles at the local consignment store. A Wonder Horse! It was relatively inexpensive (compared to a new one) and brought lots of childhood memories back for Russell and me. Russ and his siblings had one that looked just like the one we got Charles. The horse came with a name, Cheyenne.

No tree and no box big enough to wrap it in, so the horse just had a bow.

Russell trying out the horse after re-assembling it on Christmas Eve.

A ride with Mom.

A solo ride, he looks like he's getting tired.

My family isn't much for Santa...we always talked about Baby Jesus instead of Santa Claus. But, we did take Charles to see Santa at the Cessna Employees Club's Christmas party for the kids. It was not a good experience for any of us! Charles did like running around in the gym and was even able to get into some of the inflatables.

They gave us a Polaroid and I scanned it in just so you could see the look on Charles' face.

He was a little too little for this inflatable. We had to keep an eye on him since the other kids didn't seem to care who they pushed or knocked over.

New Years:

On New Year's Eve the three of us flew to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Russ' great aunt and uncle (Freda and Mickey) live about an hour north of Puerto Vallarta so we decided to pay them a visit. Russell's mom, dad, brother, sister (Kim), and brother-in-law (Elisha) joined us. It was a short trip but almost perfect in every way. Mickey & Freda's house is on the beach so most of our gang played in the water, kayaking or body surfing. While Charles was napping, Russell and I enjoyed sitting on the patio reading magazines and relaxing after a busy December.

The view from the back patio.
Another shot of the ocean view.

Aunt Freda has a banana tree. They weren't ripe enough to pick!

Charles loved the water, even if Russell thought it was cold!

A family picture before heading home.

I've got more photos posted on Facebook. I couldn't get a link to work so let me know and I can send you the pictures. OR, invite me to be your friend and you'll be able to see them.

School:

Russell finished his insane semester. He took a graduate load of 10 hours. It wasn't as horrible as we thought it would be, but was still very stressful. Russell got his first B, so now can't claim a perfect 4.0. He was just so relieved that the semester was over that one B wasn't anything to get upset over. He managed to survive 3 classes and come out with two As and one B--VERY impressive.

This spring Russell is taking one class and has a 1 hour independent study. It will feel like a breeze after last semester. He still has to be at work at 6am to put in his time which means early mornings and early bed times. Hopefully he will be able to use a project or paper from his class as a basis for his independent study, something like expanding on the paper or project and turning it in for credit for the independent study. His supervising professor seems to be very willing to work with him and make the 1 hour of credit do-able with out a lot of extra, unnecessary work.

This is Russell's last semester. In May, Russell will graduate with a Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering. We can hardly wait.

Russell's Job:

In December, just before Christmas break, Russell moved from Avionics to another group...I can't remember now what it's called. They actually design parts of the plane (I'm not sure which parts) and he's very excited to be designing rather than writing reports. So far his new boss has been willing to work with him and his school schedule which is great.

Our Family:

And the news you've all been waiting for! The week after Thanksgiving we found out that we will be adding a member to our family. It's the reason I was sick in December. I was feeling good and then all of a sudden I got hit like a ton of bricks. I gave in and called the doctor for some medicine. The first one worked for a few days but then quickly faded. A second prescription did the trick. Thank goodness for chemotherapy drugs! I'm feeling much better now and have been able to go without the medicine.

I had my first doctor appointment last week and everything is A-OK, so we feel like now we can officially announce the pregnancy. I'm due on July 30th, which will make Charles just a few weeks shy of two when the new baby arrives.