Update

Hi girls! Just a quick update on life in Steph's world:

The countdown is upon us - 47 days until the wedding. AH! Things were coming together pretty smoothly until last week. Shawn's Grandma has been suffering with cancer for a while, but doing really well. She seemed fine until one day she just couldn't get out of bed. After that, things progressed pretty quickly. In two weeks, she went from being almost normal, to being bed-ridden and unconscious. So, we went to Chickasha to visit - thinking it would be just a little birthday party (Grandpa turned 86) but it ended up that she passed away about 12 hours after we arrived. No one was really thinking she would go that quickly. Shawn is extremely close to his grandparents so he's taking this pretty hard. He hasn't let too much out yet, but I know it's coming. We are leaving to go back to Chickasha tonight for the funeral tomorrow morning. It's really hard for us to focus on anything wedding-oriented right now, but there is still so much to do. SO, that being said - any prayers are much appreciated. I think this weekend will be good - I have two showers to get me back in wedding mode.

Most of you know Jacqueline is getting married in New Hampshire in a less than three weeks as well, and her father passed away in late April. Well, she ended up in the hospital late last week with appendicitis (sp?) and had her appendix out. 3 weeks before her wedding!

Ok, so other than that, I am SOOOO excited to see all you guys and to have a great time at the wedding. Just so you know - you're all invited to the rehearsal dinner on Friday night at 6:30. I'll get you more info as it comes in. Oh, and make sure to reserve hotel rooms ASAP so we can see if we need to block more. All that info is on the website : www.rohdeandcobb.weddings.com

As for your stories about bad gifts...I can't think of any, but yours made me laugh so hard in my quiet little office, that I almost had to leave.

Julie - I am going to try to make it to Lilah's dedication on Sunday - Shawn said he wanted to come as well, so we'll try to be there! I can't wait to see you!

As for everyone else - I miss you dearly! I love you, too! Keep writing - even though I don't write a lot, I still check it everyday to see what's going on with you guys! Love you!

big underpants

Hey girls! I don't have much to say. Other than having a baby, there's not anything new happening in my life. Lilah is good and pretty much just sleeps and eats all the time. She seems to be hungriest at night. I'm very tired. Oh, so very tired. Seth is good. He doesn't care at all about the new baby. He pretty much just thinks she's a nuisance. The only real interaction he tends to have with her is when she is in her bouncy seat. Seth is not allowed to play in the bouncy seat anymore. So anytime Lilah is in it, he squats down in front of her and hits her on the head and says, "no, no, no." He doesn't seem to understand why she's allowed to sit in the bouncy seat and he's not. He's very confused. Seth has also hit a new stage of terror. He is becoming a horribly unpleasant child. I feel bad saying it, but I rarely enjoy my son these days. I love him more than life itself, but I don't really enjoy his company these days. He is barrelling into the terrible twos and it's driving me crazy. Temper tantrums, whining all the time, rebellion and defiance. We have started spanking a little bit for certain things that Seth knows are wrong. He promptly responds by hitting us back and telling us "no, no, no." He does the same thing anytime we touch the oven or the dog bowl or anything else that he is not allowed to touch. Needless to say, I'm not completely sure spanking is going to be our most effective method of punishment. Although timeouts are equally ineffective as we have to hold Seth on our laps for timeouts because he's too young to understand sitting on a chair and he really does just love to cuddle. Anyways, enough of all that. I'm just praying Seth is going through a normal phase and that he hasn't actually been possessed by a demon. In response to Jen's post about wierd gifts... Josh gave me a pair of giant granny panties and a box of Raisinettes for my birthday 2 years ago. I still don't get it... but I just smiled and said thank you because he clearly thought it was hilarious. Well, I'd better go. Josh and I are having a date night tonight because his mom has Seth. Yippee! Love you girls!
By the way, Kim, if you do fly in for Steph's bridal shower, Lilah is being dedicated at church the next day (Oct. 1) and her baby shower is going to be after church that day around like 2pm just in case you can hang around in Tulsa that day. Just thought you'd want to know. Steph, you'll be getting an invite this week sometime.

You can say that again

Normally I would succumb to that old cliché, “It’s the thought that counts”. But what exactly was the thought there? Strange…very strange. But at least it wasn’t an embarrassing gift – unless you and Chris have abnormally oily hair or something… which I’ve never noticed, so I think we can rule that idea out.
Still, even that isn’t as embarrassing as having YOUR OWN MOTHER hand you a gift bag with a bottle of KY Jelly inside. Oh, there were other things inside, too…boring, mundane things like lip gloss and hand lotion.
I won’t even go into the conversation that surrounded that little exchange. Let’s just say I try not to think about it…ever.

To be honest, things have been a bit tumultuous with us lately. Between this whole issue of getting pregnant (or not getting pregnant, I should say) and our job stresses, other family issues, and now our ever-present houseguests, Adam and I were both feeling a little claustrophobic. But life being as it is, we hadn’t really gotten to talk lately…so things escalated over the weekend. Let me just say it all started with my ordering the wrong kind of pizza. Yeah, I know – it is the same as my attempting to murder his best friend.
Luckily, we were able to work it out before things got too ugly. Of course, having this be my not-so-favorite time of the month doesn’t help my emotional stability. At all. But I am blessed with a husband who enjoys working out our issues. We both can get pretty emotional…and, well, bitchy. It seems that the weaknesses we see in ourselves are the things we have issues with in each other. So, on that note, I have been looking for some good books on communication in marriage – anyone have any suggestions?

I’m so glad you posted, Jen. I’m bored at work and trying to stay motivated to make it until 5:00. Not that I really have any other choice…well, besides self-inflicted stapler wounds – which would probably get me excused from work…but also checked into a mental hospital.

Love you and miss you all so much! (Julie, I've been thinking of you! I'll try to give you call sometime soon! Steph, I'm a horrible person and haven't been to the post office yet. But I promise I will go today or tomorrow...or the next day.)

odd gifts

So yesterday Chris and I are at our nephew's (Landon) birthday party. He's 3 now. My sister-in-law gave Chris and I our birthday gifts as they are coming up soon. It was a box with a card. I'm not even going to mention how the card was made out just to Chirs, because indeed his birthday this year is much more special than mine (he'll be 30!) so i'll let that slide. But I will mention to you what was inside the box... Shampoo and Conditioner. I'll just let you sit on that for a minute... ... ... SHAMPOO AND CONDITIONER!!!! Chris (straightfaced) says, "oh, shampoo...". At this point, we're both thinking there may be something else inside the boxes of shampoo and conditioner as many people reuse boxes, right?! But no, there's shampoo and conditioner bottles in the boxes. And my sister-in-law says "sorry, it's practical!"
OK, so Chris and I stuff our gift in my purse so no one else will make a strange/rude comment (or indeed say exactly what's on our mind). When we leave the party and settle in the car, we both look at each other and just bust out laughing. We laugh most of the 2 hour drive home. Who buys someone shampoo for their joint birthday gift!?
To top things off, the shampoo is stinky!!!
So, this brings up a discussion i think we should have some fun with... what's the strangest gift you've ever gotten? And while you're writing that post, go ahead and fill us in on what else is up with your life!

Nothing New - well let's see...

Ok... So like I said, nothing new here. I don't even know why I'm blogging cause I really don't know what to write.
I'm currently at my mom's house cause I had to help her with an invitation. Well, let me tell you, I love when my mom wants me to come over on Saturdays... You see, Saturday is my laundry day and today happens to be 2 weeks worth of laundry day cause last weekend Joe & Ryan (Aaron's brother) were in town and I had to entertain them on Saturday so the laundry did not get done. Ok, back to my point. While doing laundry at my house, it takes me all day to get 4-5 loads done, but when I come to my mother's house, I get so much more done in less time. She has a magnificent dryer that spits the loads out in under 45 minutes. Just one of the perks of owning a brand new house I guess. So yea... All that to say I love to do laundry at my mom's. The little things in life.
Ok... So a little more about last weekend with the boys. One of these days I'm going to invite all of you girls down for a weekend and see how Aaron likes it. I'm tired of only having boys to visit. Last weekend was suppose to be a weekend with boys AND girls, but the girls bailed on me and once again I was stuck with the boys... Help! Somehow, I did have fun. Not sure how that happened. But I was also ready for them to leave. It's hard being the only girl cause you end up being the only one conscious of the fact that the house is getting dirty. On another note... It is hard to have anyone here over the weekends cause it invades on Aaron and I's time to be together. When you have a husband that works almost every night of the week, you begin to cherish the weekend time that you get to spend together and despise anyone that would try and infringe on that time. Ok... So it's not that bad, unless of course it happends weekend after weekend and then all of a sudden you are without time together at all.
So is anyone else looking forward to Steph's wedding? I'm so excited.
I guess Julie is in the hospital today birthing the first of the Sapphire's next generation... How exciting... Can't wait to see pictures.
Umm... Guess that's about it. Just one more thing... I know I don't write that often, but I do check it almost everyday. I love to see what is going on in your lives and I'm so glad I have friends like you all. Can't wait to see you in November!

Promotion

Hey gals. I was reading the blog yesterday wishing i had something to write about and realized i forgot to tell you about my promotion! My new position of Funding Manager started on Monday the 4th. It's a glorified title if you ask me... i didn't even get a manager's parking spot, but I'm ok with that :) It's a salary position which is a big blessing for Chris and I. Nice to know i can go to the dentist and not loose 2 hours of pay, ya know?
So other than that, I guess Chris and I are going through some other changes right now too... we had our last small group gathering at our home a week ago. This fall we are joining a young married small group and won't be leading at all. I've also joined the women's ministry and will be an apprentice leader for a table group. Chris has joined the set up team for sunday mornings. And starting at Christmas time, I hope to have the choir on a schedule at 6 weeks between performances!
My parents are in some sort of arguement with my oldest step brother's family. please pray for that situation. Meanwhile, they are considering more and more to move closer to us so I've been busy scoping out homes :)
oh, and I have recently started a blog for Chris and I. I basically put the same info on it as i do here, but if you ever want to check it out, i do have some cute pictures on it... chrisandjenakers@blogspot.com
I'm anxious to hear about our first second generation Sapphire, Julie!!

baby update

Hey girls! Just wanted to fill you in on the latest with baby #2. I had a doctors appointment yesterday and everything looks good. My doctor thinks I'm getting pretty big and I'm full-term now, so he has decided to induce me on Saturday, September 9th. He also did something at my appointment that has a good chance of inducing labor naturally. So I really could go at any time. Anyways, that's the update. Hope you all are doing well. We'll keep you posted when the baby arrives. Love you all! =)

It should be Friday

Not much new out here in Seattle. I was just thinking about you all and wanted to post a quick hello.
We’re leaving for Ohio tomorrow night. To save a little on the plane tickets, we’ve opted to fly a red-eye, which puts us in Columbus at around 11:30 in the morning. I’m planning on drugging myself with large quantities of Dramamine and alcohol in order to sleep the whole way. Either that, or Adam and I will duel it out on the computer Scrabble game we were nerdy enough to buy.
I’m looking forward to seeing my family – especially my sister and her kids, who I haven’t seen in quite a while. It’s always a little tiring being there though – family tensions and all. But we’ve got a jam-packed schedule already full of plenty of picnics, shopping, and golf outings, which should keep everyone happy.

Adam and I got lost in the ghetto last weekend. I’ve been trying to keep the whole experience on the DL, just because it was completely his fault and I didn’t want to embarrass him. But enough time has now passed that I think it’s safe to really blame the whole traumatizing experience on him.
We had gone downtown for the day, and Adam decided we should try taking a different bus home than the one we normally ride so as to avoid being smooshed into the back against the wall between two stinky homeless people. Yeah, I’m really that insensitive.
The bus he chose, however, took us far, far away from our home and dropped us off in the middle of a construction zone on the loneliest, most crime-infiltrated street in the city. There were no bus stops nearby, so we walked. And walked. And walked. Until we reached a gas station and a bus stop. Not a normal bus stop, though, where buses actually visit – but a bus stop so far away from civilization that a bus stops there about once every seventeen days.
Not willing to wait in the ghetto for seventeen days, I decided to call a cab. But no, cabs don’t even frequent this part of the city – it’s that bad. So we sat there, waiting for a bus, a cab, or a drive by shooting for over an hour.
Well, a bus finally showed up and took us closer to our home, though still on the edge of the ghetto. So we walked some more. And finally made it home almost three hours after we had left downtown.
The moral of the story is that being smooshed in the back of a stinky bus is much better than being stranded in the ghetto with whores and crack dealers. Remember that, girls.

Love you all!

Craziest Summer Ever

Ok, I thought it was high time I blogged again. I enjoyed reading all of the recent posts. I'm so glad to hear that everyone seems to be doing well as the summer winds down. My summer has been absolutely insane! We kicked off by going to Michigan for the 4th of July, then to Maine the following weekend for our anniversary. After that, Cally came into town for a week and a half. Then about a week to focus on stuff here. Off to Oregon for a week (which was amazing), and now Lisa is here. I start school on Monday and can't believe my summer is over! Somehow I squeezed in grad classes and community outreach work for our new church (I'm now the coordinator). I have an outreach planned for this Saturday, so that's added to the insanity of getting ready for the new school year. Maybe a little too much going on, but it's definitely been a blast. A summer to remember for sure. I think I've taken more pictures this summer than I have in the whole past year. Oh, and I also have a new nephew. My older brother had his baby boy July 28th. So all in all, it's been awesome. I've tried to send out pictures to keep in touch. We have more from recent activities that I'll send out soon. Lisa and I went to New York this week, and she's convinced she needs to move there, despite the fact that she didn't quite care for the public transportation and the overall stench of the city (can you tell it's not my favorite city?) But we had so much fun. It's fun to do stuff with people who have never done it and are so excited.
So now it's time for school to start, which I think I'm actually looking forward to. My focus now is there, with my classes, and on the community outreach. I should be taking a pretty intense course this term, and am a little nervous about it. But so far school has been going well. I've got about 4 classes under my belt, and probably will be done in a year and a half or so. Ok well, I've got to get working on the outreach for this weekend, and Lisa will be up soon. I'm glad to hear you're all doing so well.

Blog-iversary

This August marks the one year anniversary of our little blog. To commemorate this momentous occasion, I've decided to repost some snippets from the past year.

August 2005

From Angie:
I had a fab time with Steph this past weekend in Chicago - giving me a glimpse of the fun in store for our Sapphire weekend there. There is so much to do and everything is so much fun. By the way Steph, I love the area you live in, it is so cute, and your apartment - in spite of not being all that you invision it to be yet - is very cute and comfortable.

From Jen:
There are these tiny whitish-green bugs flying all around in the air today. They somehow sneak inside your car also so end up flying around your head, up your nose, etc. it’s very annoying and I just felt the need to share my annoyance.

From Julie:
Hey girls! Not to be rude or bitter... but it's still 100 degrees here in the scorching wasteland that is Tulsa. I don't even want to here about how you got to wear sweatshirts, or how you can feel Fall in the air, yada yada yada... It won't be like that in Tulsa for 2 more months!

From Steph:
Not to sound weird or anything, but does anyone else find that Tuesdays are just sort of a "filler" day? It like the day that kind of gets shoved in there because there's space and we need another day to get stuff done.

September 2005

From Angie:
This girl is nice... She is going to fix everything up for me. Ok... Nextel isn't so bad. Although I wouldn't recommend it cause it cuts out way more than it should.So yea... Tonight is veg in front of the TV night - although I have been doing that all week and really should be doing things that are productive - oh well... I have no plans for Saturday.

October 2005

From Liz:
I had Tuesday off, and thought I'd try this awesome new recipe for butternut squash soup. Well let me tell you, I had never cut up a butternut squash before, and although the soup was delicious, I don't know that I ever will again. It's the hardest thing to cut in the world, and so slimy after you peel it. And it smells like watermelon. Weird.

From Jen:
There was another spider in my bathroom this morning. Just as I was noticing him, he jumped right down at me! You know, how they can string down so quickly from just one little strand of web. Yeah, I screamed. stupid spiders!!

From Jamie:
Right now I'm on my fall break; two weeks of no school!! We had our first snow Sunday night/Monday. It was so pretty! Nick stayed home from work on Monday, so we just got to hang out. He even took me shopping. :)

November 2005

From Angie:
It's turkey day here, which means lots of time of relaxing and eating. My dad is away on a trip and all of my siblings are with the in-laws today, so its just me, Aaron, my mom, and Joe. It's kinda fun cause its quiet and my mom is teaching me how to make a turkey today, which is easier than expected. My turkey is coming along quite nicely.

December 2005

From Steph:
There's been drama on the romantic front as well. I've been talking to a guy named Shawn for the past few weeks. He's from Tulsa, though, so I haven't actually met him yet. He's a good friend of Danie (Erika's sister) and their family. We have really hit it off so far, and we are planning to meet the weekend of Dec. 16th. I think i am going there, just because it will be a little easier to coordinate...AND...he is trying to come to Angie's wedding as well so he can meet all of you. So, I guess that gives you an idea of how much we are interested in each other without having met, so we'll see what happens and if we're really compatible when we do meet.

January 2006

From Kim:
Happy 2006, everyone! I just want to say how great it was to see you girls over the holidays (we missed you, Jamie!). It's always so amazing to me how we can all just sort of pick up where we left off last time. I truly believe we have something special in our little group. I hope all of you know how much you mean to me. And Angie, I'm sure you won't be reading this any time soon (hope you had fun in Mexico!) but the wedding was truly gorgeous. It was so you and so classy. The whole weekend was such a huge whirlwind of fun. I'm so glad we were able to be there.

From Jen:
We even sat naked in the swim-up bar and held conversation with a group of nude people. I just felt so free!! no sunburn!

From Julie:
I just found out that I'm pregnant again. In case you're wondering, it wasn't planned at all. Quite the accident actually. But we'll just call it a surprise blessing.

From Liz:
We've also taken up snowboarding as a hobby (or I should say I have taken it up since Nathan did long ago). I am quite banged up from my first time going last weekend. I could hardly move the day after. But Nathan tells me I have a good "center of balance". Somehow I'm not feeling it as I'm continually falling on my tailbone.

March 2006

From Julie:
My doctor is very nice, but let me tell you girls, I am apparently not naming and claiming my healing from pregnancy nausea nearly enough because Dr. Ross (who is a very high strung, holy roller, Christian) told me yesterday that it is not God's will for me to be vomiting all the time...But I can tell you, by the time my quick checkup had turned into a 2 hour church service with Seth sitting in his stroller the whole time crying, I was about ready to shove the speculum down my doctor's throat. Seth handled things pretty well though by pulling an entire tray of sterilized equipment over onto the floor.

April 2006

From Jamie:
This time of year reminds me of you all so much. I was thinking about making Easter dinner, which brought back memories of the Easter dinner we had at my apartment my senior year. You guys are so special to me!

From Jen:
My tulips are in full bloom and they are gorgeous. On Easter morning I walked around the corner of the house to see the first red tulips blooming. I was so excited, Chris thought I wet myself.

From Julie:
Based on the view we got with the ultrasound (and it was a pretty wide-open angle if you know what I mean), it looks like we can pretty confidently expect the first member of the Sapphires Club, the next generation. It's a girl!

May 2006

From Liz:
And my goodness, is my little godson adorable. He's now saying a couple words at not even 9 months, and standing. I love it! It's an amazing feeling to put a little person down, and ee them cry until they make their way crawling and walking back to you.

June 2006

From Jamie:
I'm so excited. I need some good hugs from you all. I miss you so much!! I can't wait to see you in less than a day!! WAHOO!!

Hoping and praying our next blog-year is full of even more joy and happy memories. Love you all!

Scrapbookers unite

Jen, I have thought about doing the exact same thing! We could go into business together – you taking on the Midwest/Eastern sector, and I could handle the West. We could be Scappers for Hire or some other name that’s actually cute. We could have a website and everything. Oh, the possibilities.
Can you believe I haven’t actually done any scrapbooking since we moved – over a month ago? Yeah, all my supplies are buried in a box still somewhere. Even more appalling is the fact that I still have boxes. Many, many boxes. They taunt me every day with their haphazardly thrown together contents. And yet I wonder, what can possibly be in these boxes that I haven’t needed in the past month? Nothing that important, I suppose. Well, except my scrapbook supplies.

Love to you all!

Michaels

Today for lunch, I ventured over to Michael's to see what was on sale. Ok, I'm planning my next purchase at this store because if truth be told, I could spend hundreds of dollars there every week and still want more scrap book supplies! This week they just so happen to be having a really good sale... paper 4 for $1, paper packs marked down 35%, ribbon wheels for $1... it's a scrapper's dream! I am euphoric every time I think of visiting this store. My reaction got me thinking today - this can't be healthy! I really need to get out more if simply the thought of a craft store brings me to total relaxation. Someone help me!
Outside of freaking myself out about my obsession, I think my perfect job right now would be making scrap books for other people. Any thoughts on this?

My assistant, Gretchen, has left me. I have a new girl, April. I hate training. April's doing well but i still hate training...

In other news, everyone is currently healthy. We're on a nearly 2 week stretch of no one being in the hospital!

Julie, those pics of you and Seth you recently sent are so beautiful! thanks for sending them!

I miss you girls - Kimmie thanks for breaking the silence, I was about to go insane :)

update

Hey girls! I will join Kim in breaking the silence. I also don't have much new to say, but I'll try. Things have been kind of busy here the past week. I went with Josh to Philadelphia last week for his clinical board exam. We had a good time and very much enjoyed eating authentic philly cheese steaks with Angie and Aaron and Joe Caswell and his girlfriend. =) Josh is back in Columbus this week for his last week of surgery in Ohio. We'll be heading back to Tulsa this weekend with Lauren (my brother's new girlfriend) in tow. She's coming with to spend the week with Daniel because they're dying being apart. They're talking about a May wedding, so it's moving along quite quickly. I've been busy this week helping my other brother, Ben, move into his new house. Mostly I've been watching the kids so everyone else can move things. But I did spend the last couple of days helping Sarah unpack. They have a bit of a family crisis happening so they need all the help they can get. Sarah's prents came into town to help them move and her dad was having horrible headaches and vomiting. He finally went to the ER with my dad for a work up. My dad found a small tumor in his brain that was causing some minor hemoraging (spelling?). They think that the tumor is non-cancerous. But they are doing surgery next week to remove it and stop the brain bleeding. Sarah's parents will be staying with them now for at least a month because he has to be near this hospital for his treatment. He's kind of stranded here. In the meantime, Ben and Sarah's house is an absolute disaster because they just moved in on Saturday and nothing's unpacked. Now Sarah's sibling are all coming in to stay for a couple weeks too to be with her dad. Ben and Sarah are pretty overwhelmed. They could all use your prayers for sanity and her dad's health. It's a pretty scary situation. Unfortunately, I am not able to help out quite as effectively as I normally would. I'm slower and and can't lift anything heavy and I have to rest like every 20 minutes. I feel useless! I'm getting quite large and am ready to have the baby. I hope I have her a little early because I don't think I can make it 4 more weeks. But I just realized something quite exciting. The baby is due in September, which means her birthstone will be a sapphire! Anyways, love you all and miss you and can't wait to see most of you in November for Steph's wedding. Later!

Breaking the silence

You'd think that after not having written for such a long time, I'd have lots of insightful, important things to say. But I don't. So here's what we've been up to.
We bought a new bed over the weekend – we’d been sleeping on a king sized mattress on the floor for a couple weeks and decided it was time to upgrade. It’s a really pretty wrought iron frame that we bought at Ikea. I was so excited to find it, since my given budget for buying a bed didn’t really give me any alternative besides Ikea. The only problem is it didn’t exactly fit into the back of our Jeep once we got it out of the store. We unpacked it from the box, and tried fitting only the frame inside. But it still didn’t work. We tried a few different angles, thought about tying it on top of the Jeep…still no dice. By now, everyone had left Ikea, including the employees, and it was almost midnight and pitch black. So I stood around the empty parking lot and watched while my husband, the MacGyver genius he is, rigged up some kind of closure system so we could drive home twenty-five miles without the metal frame crashing out onto the highway. It worked, and now I don’t have to sleep on the floor any more.
I also got my hair done over the weekend. It’s a little redder than I had first wanted. But I’ve gotten a few compliments about it, so I guess it can’t be too bad. But it is fun being a redhead.
Work’s going well – just more shoes. And bags. And shoes. And bags. And occasionally some apparel here and there. I’m thinking about enrolling part time in a master’s course at the UW next spring. My company does a small tuition reimbursement. But thinking about it is about as far as I’ve gotten so far.
Well, I should get back to my shoes…Love you all and miss you bunches!

Condolences

Jen, I am so sorry about Nipper - as you know, I can identify! Also, I am keeping your grandparents in my prayers always. Thanks for keeping us posted! And, I had a feeling you guys would make it down for the wedding, but thanks for confirming! :) Give me a call sometime and we'll chat.
As for the rest of you girls - I miss you all dearly and I hope all is well with you!

Nipper

Nipper is the name of our dog... my brother's dog actually. the summer before the 7th grade, my mom and I went on a mission to find my brother a miniature schnauzer. We found one, took her home, and named her Nipper. Tonight, I said goodbye to Nipper. She will be put at rest monday morning. I hurt for my brother. I am sad, and surprised that I cared that much for this dog. She was a good dog.
Thanks for listening!
More news... Grandma went in yesterday for an angiogram. They put two stints in one bloodvessel. though the surgeon was happy with the outcome of the proceedure, once again as she recovered, something else went bad. This morning, she had a slight stroke. The left side of her body has been effected. Everyone seems optimistic at this point, but there's also not much they know yet. there was no bleeding in the brain and for that we are so thankful. more to come as i get updates. I went to visit as soon as i heard today. Grandpa is taking this really hard. I've never seen my grandpa cry before today, it was heart-wrenching.
other than than, things are going well. The tomato plants are going wild right now and we've gotten to taste sweet cherry and grape tomatoes. Some large yellow ones should be just about ready too, yum!!
much love to you all.
Yes, Steph, Chris and I are coming to your wedding... but you knew that :)

My Girls

I just wanted to let you girls know that I have been thinking about you and praying for you! Juls - I hope you're doing better with your back! You're in my prayers with everything that you're going through and feeling right now - emotional and physical.
Jen, it's been a while! I hope the granparents are doing better! Kimmie - I missed your call last night, too! I'll try to call you tonight or this weekend sometime.
My life is pretty much the same. It's pretty full with wedding stuff and work. We have our site booked and I have my dress in my possession and the flower girl dress is purchased. We are ordering our cake today, I think. There are just the details to work out. We have our website up, sort of, but it's still a work in progress. We just got internet at Shawn's house, so hopefully I can work on things a little more there. Our RSVP page isn't popping up the way it should, so I have to figure that out.
Other than that, there are a few health issues that I am trying to figure out. I have to go in for a colonoscopy (sp?) sometime soon, but I am hoping that it can wait until after the wedding. They're expensive! Mom only has one treatment left (next Wednesday), so that's really cool. The bad part is that the chemicals are really getting to her now. She is pretty much sick all the time now. On top of that, she had to put our dog to sleep yesterday. It was SO sad. I cried and I wasn't even there. My dad was super upset about it - it's the only pet that he had ever been attached to. So rough times at the MN Rohde household this week.
Anyway, I hope to get the info up and correct on the website soon, then I'll give you the address so you can check it out. Also - if you guys could let me know if you're really planning on being here for the wedding, it will help me see how many rooms I am gonna have to get blocked. I have to sign the contract next week, so I better get on the ball with that.
Love you girls and I think about you all often!

update

Jenn, I'm glad to hear things are improving healthwise for the grandparents. I hope the rest of you are doing well. Things are fine here. I'm still in Ohio and it's been nice being with family. Josh is working all the time, so I really appreciate havig other people to hang out with while he's working. I feel like I never see him. He'll be in Columbus in August and I will only get to see him on weekends. I'm dreading that rotation. But, then we'll be back in Tulsa and his ER rotation in September should be quite a bit lighter. He just has to work like 15 12 hour shifts throughout the month and he'll have the other days off. Which will be nice because I will be needing him quite a bit that month as I will be ready to pop and we've still got a few things to do before baby #2 comes. The pregnancy is going well for the most part. All seems to be quite healthy. I'm still having a kind of rough time with nausea. It's lasting a lot longer with this baby than it did with Seth. But the worst thing recently has been back pain. I seem to have damaged the muscles in my lower back and it just won't get better. Dad and Josh gave me a cortizone injection last week and it helped, but then the muscles got inflamed again a few days later. There's nothing else I can do medically. So, dad has me on complete bedrest until it heals because it's been so bad that I can't walk or stand up. This happened when I was pregnant with Seth a couple times too but it healed in about 4 days and I'm going on 2 weeks this time. According to dad, my bones are splitting apart in my hips and lower back to make room for baby and this is causing my muscles and tendons to stretch beyond their capacity and get inflamed which causes crippling pain. Ah... the joys of motherhood! Anyways, I don't mean to bore you guys with my complaining. I only mention it because I would actually really appreciate your prayers that the back pain heals and goes away. It's not such a big deal right now, but I'll be in trouble if I'm still struggling with this when I have to go home because I can't lift Seth at all. My mom is basically taking care of Seth 100% right now, but I'll be more on my own in September. Daniel's girlfriend has offered to come stay with us and help with Seth if I'm still on bedrest in September, but I hate to ask her to do that. Plus, I just miss being able to hold my baby and cuddle with him and take care of him. Seth's been acting wierd the last few days and I think it's because he doesn't understand why mommy isn't taking care of him anymore. It hurts my heart. I was hoping to really be able to give him some special attention this summer since the baby's coming and he'll have to start sharing me soon. But now I can't even give him a hug. Anyways, your parayers are appreciated. I miss you guys and hope to hear some updates from all of you soon. Love you!

another update

thanks for all your prayers ladies, they are making a difference! Grandma is home and doing very well. She is able to drive once again. The angiogram is scheduled for thursday afternoon. Grandpa is still in the hospital and will remain there until thursday. He will see an infectious disease specialist friday in Iowa City. The antibiotics are making a slight difference still. Hopefully my next blog will be a report that everyone is home and doing well!

update on grandparents

Grandma went home yesterday! Grandpa though, is still in the hospital. They have ruled out a blood clot in his leg at the site of the infection and his white blood cell count is lowering little by little. On the flip side, they are doing an ultrasound today to see if the infection has spread to his stomach. He is still bed-ridden and had another fever last night. Keep praying!