I Want a House!

I don't know why but Kale decided to start looking at houses while he was here. We found this one online and we LOVE it. You can check it out for yourself here if you like. The kitchen is pretty much perfect, the rest just needs paint and maybe new flooring, except the master bath needs an overhaul someday. If it is still available in six months when Kale returns we will try and buy it. It's bigger than any military house we have lived in so far, by nearly 1000 sq ft. We expect/hope to be here for at least 5 more years if not longer. I would like to keep the girls in the same school as long as possible. But this is what I have to look forward to, something to keep me motivated.

He's Gone, Again....

It's harder this time around. I am alone with the girls this time around. My entire family is out of town right now, parents in Chicago, brother in Mexico. It's just harder this time. Before I had Judy here to keep my mind busy and the first two months I went non-stop from activity to activity. It also doesn't help that it's winter right now and I haven't been going out as much before he arrived.

His visit was wonderful, but far too short and went by far too fast. We had barely a day to sit and do nothing. We had two family portrait sessions in two weeks. Three family dinners in two weeks. One dinner out alone,a dinner out with my family, and a dinner out with just his family. We also had Christmas Eve dinner at my parents house and Christmas dinner here at our house. Both dinners were delicious. The girls received way too many presents from everyone. We had Lilly's play to go to and Kale spent a day volunteering at the school. We had a morning of baking with the kids, Meme, and Judy. The women went out shopping the morning after Christmas. Kale took the girls to the movies twice they saw Bolt and The Tale of Despereaux. It was a busy busy two weeks but it was a happy two weeks.

Thankfully Delilah and Sophia are better. Delilah hated her meds and they had to be force fed to her or hidden in food. FUN! She has also not regained her appetite as of yet. Hopefully she will get it back soon.


I leave you with our second family photo shoot:

Kale, David, and Judy

In-Laws David and Judy

Delilah didn't want to hold still but sat still when we sat her on the sled.

Sophia and her silly smile.

Aidan's sillier smile.

Lilly

This isn't the best one of the four of them, but it's the funniest.

Four generations of Kale's family. His Dad David and his grandma Margaret aka Nanny.

He's HOME!

Just a quick post to let you know he's home. He got on the first plane out of Jacksonville this morning. He was here by 9:15am. Delilah did surprisingly well, she was in a super good mood. Which is weird since she cut two new teeth last night.

Kale is getting the younger girls bathed right now while I was getting ready for our family picture. It's funny to listen to him struggle, I know I shouldn't be tickled by this but I so am.

Have a good day!

12 Days and Counting.....

Very, very soon Kale will be back, the 16th to be exact. He gets in at 11pm that night and I am picking him up myself. Green has volunteered to come over and sit with the sleeping children. The girls don't know exactly when he is arriving, just that it's soon and before Christmas. Lilly will be very excited he will be able to attend her Christmas musical on the 17th.

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Black Friday

As is the tradition for the women in my family we went shopping on Black Friday. Green was kind enough to spend the night on my couch and "take care of" (be the adult in the house just in case) the older three girls. Rosy insisted I leave Delilah with Jason and Alan, I wasn't going to argue. I am just glad for my brother that she went straight back to sleep after I dropped her off at 4:40am. As always I have to be the first one up that morning because I am the driver and I have to pick everyone up. I picked Rosy up, dropped Delilah off, and picked Patience up. It's really not bad, I live 10mins from Rosy, Patience lives across the street from Rosy, and then it's 5mins to my mom's from there.

We went to Walmart first, arriving just before the doors opened. There was a line formed all the way around the outside of the store. We joined at the very end and it took us about 15mins to get inside. It was very cold that morning, only 20 degrees. Rosy was not ready for that, this was her first time getting up at the crack of dawn to join us. She went the years before, but after 8am usually. My mom bought her 50" Plasma TV my dad wanted, Rosy bought a trampoline, Meme picked up some gifts for the girls, Stella bought shampoo and nail polish remover (we teased her about this), Patience bought toys for her grandson Matthew, and I bought pj's and toys for the girls. My mom got right through the line and took the tv home while we shopped and stood in line. Patience and I didn't take too long in our line. We had a nice older lady in front of us and she was not letting a line jumper in our line. It was very funny to watch her tell him no he couldn't "squeeze in". Other than that we didn't see any arguments. After I got through the line I went to keep Rosy company, it took her awhile to get into line since they had to find a flatbed cart for her trampoline, that sucker was heavy. I couldn't even lift one end. It took us and hour to get through her line to pay. Then the worker loaded it in the van and we had to take it to her house or nothing else would fit.

We didn't get out of town (out of walmart) until 7:30am, then we headed to north KC. We spent another hour at Toys R Us. Then Kohl's, Target, lunch at Applebee's, and Old Navy. We were home about 3:30pm. I found Green as I left him, sleeping on my couch. The girls were dressed and had been fed, he woke up long enough to handle that much. It's a good thing Lilly is older and can take care of things. Delilah gave Jason a run for his money, she and Alan like to fight. There was an incident with Alan's poopy diaper and her grabbing it and flinging the poop everywhere. We laughed our butt's off at that one when he called to share. All and all it was a fun day, I wasn't sure I would be able to go this year and I am thankful my family stepped up to the plate to help out.

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The Days Ahead

We have a ton planned for when Kale is here. It's going to be a whirlwind visit, I think our heads will be spinning by then end of the trip.

17th: Trim the Tree, Family Picture (ENTIRE Family, all 14 of us), Lilly's Musical
18th: Delilah and I have doctors appointments at 1pm
19th: My parents are watching the girls and we are going out to dinner ALONE/Jason, Rosy, and Alan leave for Mexico and won't return until the 5th of Jan.
20th: Kale is taking the older three to see Bolt
21st: Kale's b-day dinner (his b-day was 11/22) at Famous Dave's with our extended family
22nd: Painting Sophia's room white again and switching her room and Delilah's
23rd: Kale's parents and Nanny arrive/We will go out alone again
24th: Christmas at my parents with everyone
25th: Christmas of course/plus Kale and his dad are taking the older three to Tale of Despereaux/Judy and I are making dinner/My mom and the teens are coming over for dinner
26th: Probably family pictures with Kale's family (since Judy all of the sudden after 5 years decided she wants to get it done professionally again, AFTER she has said numerous times that regular snapshots are good enough)/My parents and the teens leave for Chicago
27th: His family leaves
28th: Not sure yet
29th: He leaves at 6pm :(

The only positive thing about Jason, Rosy, and Alan being in Mexico for Christmas is that they are letting Kale's family stay at their house. That way we aren't cramped here and they don't have to spend money on a hotel. Otherwise it sucks, we will miss them like we do every year.

I may be hit and miss again during all of this. I have been very lazy, bored, and tired lately.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

MIA

I have not been up to blogging or reading this past week, I will catch up soon. I have been dealing with Delilah's constipation issues. We dealt with the same issues with Aidan when she was this age. We battled severe constipation for 3 years before we finally got a handle on it. With Aidan we found out it was milk, put her on Lacatid (lactose free) and she has been fine unless she has lots of dairy. I don't know what Delilah's issue is, she is already on Lactaid. I thought maybe it was goldfish snacks, but I cut those out of her diet and she is still having trouble. It came out of nowhere, so I am not sure what to do with her. So my life has been full of suppositories, probotic yogurt, fruit, and veggies. I am trying aloe vera juice now, but she doesn't like it. I tried hiding it in strawberry milk, but no luck she doesn't like it. I tried tea and juice, she doesn't like either. I tried pushing liquids, K thought she might not be drinking enough since it's cold. No luck there either. It's not an everyday fight, yet, but I know how quickly it can become one and I don't want to go there again. Aidan was miserable and so was I for years, I can't and won't go through this again.

Other than that, I haven't been very busy lately. I am nearly done with the kids Christmas shopping, Delilah is the only one who needs anything more. I am just having a hard time finding things for her. I have found her a few things that are not toys, a personalized hooded towel and a personalized pillowcase. But that's really all I have been able to come up with. I still have most of the adults in my family to buy for yet, but I will work on them closer to Christmas. I am ready to shop on black Friday, we are hoping Green will keep the girls as we usually head out at 4am. At least the older three, I may take Delilah with us. We haven't hashed out all the details yet. I am hoping to find an MP3 player for Lilly, we bought her one last year but it's not compatible with our Napster program. Plus we can't figure out how to get any music on it period, even had my brother try. I know what brand to buy this time, so I will get her one that will work.

It's now less than one month until Kale arrives. It's getting closer to the time when I will be able to relax. :P At least Delilah has started sleeping through the night, finally! So I am getting more continuous sleep, it really helps. She also has a new word "Uh-Oh" it's very cute to hear her say it. She likes to drop things then say it. She also says a bunch of words that sound like "It fell down", but not clearly. Sophia is still in the horrible threes, some days are unbearable. She seems to have gotten louder, I never thought it was possible. I really screwed myself, we made a deal when she was inutero that since she was the hardest pregnancy to that point she had better be my best baby. And she was a dream baby, until she turned two. I should have asked her to be the best child and teen also. :P

I will post some pictures and links of the stuff I have found for the girls tomorrow and Friday. I will also catch up with everyone then too.

Good News

The first piece of good news we received on Wednesday, Kale is going to be promoted on November 1st! This means a pretty good raise for him, which is good for me of course. I still don't think we will be able to move anytime soon though, even though technically we are living in housing that is meant for lower ranking families.

The next piece of good news I received yesterday in the girls report cards. Lilly has 3 A's and 1 B+. I was a little upset with the B+ because the reason she got the B+ was because she got two C's on these weekly reader things they do. The weekly reader is like a little magazine, they read it and then answer questions. It bothers me she got C's on two of them because it was carelessness on her part. You are allowed to use the reader to answer the questions and they are only 4 pages long, so it's not like you have to look hard for the answers. I gave her a little bit of a hard time about it, but not too bad.

Aidan's report card was also very good. She is Proficient in all areas but "Data Application" and "Problem Solving" in those areas she was Satisfactory. So she is doing good in those areas, but that's where there is room for improvement. They also sent home a sheet that tells their reading level so far. The scale is like this:

A B C D E F G H I J +

The first 9 weeks the kids should be in CDE to be on grade level, AB is below grade level. The second 9 weeks EFG is on grade level, ABCD below grade level. The third 9 weeks GHI is on grade level and ABCDEF is below grade level. The fourth nine weeks IJ is on grade level, ABCDEFGH is below grade level and "+" is above grade level. Well, right now, Aidan is already at the "+" to think we were actually a little worried about her reading ability at the beginning of the year. I think she had a confidence issue, we knew she could read, has been able to since Kindergarten, but she refused to read to anyone. She doesn't like to be wrong (she gets that from me), now that she knows she can read and read very well, she is doing wonderfully. We knew she was smart, just stubborn.

So that's my good news for the week. Well, that and I get rid of Lilly and Aidan for the weekend, YEI! They are going camping with their Girl Scout troops. They will have a blast and the rest of us are going to Boo @ the Zoo and enjoying the peace and quiet. :P

Is it too much to ask?

I am looking for a nice hotel in Nashville, TN. All I want is a nice hotel with a big bathtub, it doesn't even have to be jacuzzi, although that would be a plus. I don't want to spend a fortune though.

I am just doing research for when Kale comes home for good. He will have most of June off and when we go visit his parents we plan on taking a night or two and going off to be alone. We want to either go to Nashville, Knoxville, Chattanooga, or Memphis, that way we are close but far enough away. Since he has been gone we have realized how much we really need our time alone, without the kids.

I just wish all of the hotels would post pictures of their bathrooms. If I wanted a standard size tub I would stay home. I am sure eventually I will find what I am looking for, but it's been a little frustrating.

A little something to look forward to, I hope....

I asked Kale to look into what it will take for me to visit him during the second half of his tour. Probably around our anniversary in Feb. It is a big one, like I said it's the big TEN. If I get to go then it will be the first "vacation" we will have taken alone since Lilly was born.

This is what we know so far:

1) I have to have a passport. That's $100 right there. I have "fixed" not having to pay for that ourselves by telling my parents that I want it for Christmas. Even if I don't get to go it will still be good for 10+ years I think.

2) I have to fly from here to Jacksonville and take the shuttle to the Navy base where I will fly on a military plane into Guantanamo Bay. We have to pay for both flights. So far the flight from here to JAX is looking to be about $140, not too bad. We don't know how much the other flight is yet, he is looking into it.

3) The flights from the base are always early in the morning, so I will have to fly into JAX and rent a hotel room for a night. I am not really comfortable going to a hotel by myself, I haven't travelled alone since I was 18 and more adventurous.

4) When I get to Cuba I can't stay in his room, so we will have to stay in guest lodging while I am there. That's okay though, there is more privacy there then in his house. Plus his room only has a twin bed and we haven't slept in a twin bed together since we were dating. I think we both take up a little more room than we used to. :P

5) Judy has already said she would come take care of the kids for us. :) I knew she would, but it's nice she offered when I mentioned going to visit Kale.

6) On the way back I should be okay to catch a flight out of JAX after arriving at the Base and taking the shuttle to the airport. That's the way we set up Kale's ticket for Christmas so he has as much time home as possible.

I am excited at the prospect of visiting him and being alone for our anniversary for the first time in 10 years. He's excited so his second half won't feel as long as the first half. I just hope the military plane ticket isn't pricey, that could put a crimp in our plans.

No One Told Me....

First I would like to apologize for my foul language in my last two posts. I was typing so fast and furious I didn't even attempt to *** out some of the letters. While I do have a potty mouth, I know when and where it is appropriate to use.

Back to normal now....

No one told me just how hard this really was going to be. I cried last night on the phone with Kale, telling him just how hard it was and how upset I am that it's only 1/4 of the way over. I have been a mess this week. It's pretty bad when I am crying in my van when Gavin Rossdale's Love Remains the Same or Secondhand Serenade's Fall for You comes on the radio. -If you haven't heard either you should check them out, they are really good songs.-

I think my kids are handling this better than I am. I was fine the first couple of months, then school started and I have been home all day bored, just thinking of him. I am not having trouble dealing with the kids or dealing with the house. It's just the loneliness of it. I have not been apart from Kale for more than a month since I was 18, that's 10 years of being together. In February we will have been married for 10 years, he says he's finally going to buy me a big rock. :P But I have to wait until he comes back in June, he wants to be there with me when I pick it out.

I think it's the silence at night that bothers me most. He's been really good about calling me twice a day and emailing me everyday. I am happy when he calls, but I become even more sad when we have to hang up. It was easier for me in the beginning when I was so busy, but it was harder for him. At that time we didn't know that he can use state to state calling cards, which are WAY cheaper than the international ones he was using. I was also always busy and missed his calls often. He will have internet in his house again mid-Oct. and then it will be a little cheaper to talk. And I can talk to him all night long. Since he left my typing has improved, I was pretty good before, but now I am so much better.

In other news I have now lost nearly 15 pounds! I am excited. I am going to start walking to the school and back to pick up the girls on nice days, it's probably a 2-4 mile walk both ways. That will help. The "happy pills" have been helping to keep me away from sweets. I eat only what I need and I have even cut back to two 8oz pepsi's a day. I already drink a lot of water, so that's not a problem. I also started taking a multi vitamin to help with energy.

Well, my weekend is pretty busy. Lilly and Aidan both have parties to attend and on Sunday we are all going to the Renaissance Festival. It's been a beautiful week and it's supposed to continue for the weekend.

Hope everyone has a good weekend!

The Rest of the Awful Story...

I know I said I would post this tomorrow, but some people are like me and don't like to wait.
If you haven't read the first half of the story, go down and read it first or you will be confused.


So Monday I am checking Kale's email, this time he asked me to do it. He doesn't have internet at his house and he can't check his personal email on the work computer. So I check it and there is this email about "So and so commented on your picture on Redlightcenter.com". So I am naturally curious so I go to the site, type in Kale's gmail address in the forgotten password space, retrieve it and sign in. I am immediately HORRIFIED BEYOND BELIEF! The first thing I see is a picture of Kale and I together. This picture:




His mom took it when they came to visit him the summer we began dating. It's Kale's favorite picture of the two of us.


The website I find is kind of like a myspace or facebook page, but it's designed for people seeking sexual "release" I guess you would call it. Basically you can be single or a couple seeking other singles or couples to do things with. Or it can just be an online, look at each others nasty pictures and videos. The entire page had been set up as if Kale had done it himself. I know now he didn't, but at the time....not so much.


Again I freak out, worse than the day before, because not only did it sound as if Kale had written the page himself (I will tell you why later) but there were also pictures. Pictures of male genitalia. One of the pictures was actually my husbands, but he took it to send to me (don't know why) and he never did. The other two pictures of genitalia I could tell weren't his which is good, because one of them was completely nasty. I will not describe it for you, but it was dirty, filthy, and it haunts my dreams. That right there was Kale's only saving grace.


He called me about 25 agonizing minutes after I found this page. I had gone from screeching crying, to hyperventilating, to collapsing on the floor in grief. I managed to keep it together when Sophia came downstairs to find out what was wrong and I was lucky Delilah was sleeping. Anyhow, he calls and I am screaming things at him like you would not believe. He is swearing up and down that it wasn't him. All the same things as the time before. He swears on the lives of our children and I feel a little, not much, but a little better. He tells me he and the 1SG are going to go talk to the guy again and they will find out what is going on for me. I tell him I can't believe him, I need to hear it from the 1SG (his boss) when they get back. Otherwise I knew I would always have doubts.


After about another hour of agonizing wait, during which I can't eat and have diarrhea (TMI I know, but at this point I have shared everything else). He calls and puts the 1SG on. He lets me know the guy confessed and is writing a swore statement about all the things he did and why he did them. The guy said he used Kale's pictures because he didn't want his wife to be able to find out he did this. That everyone on the site requires pictures and so he needed some face shots that weren't his own. I felt so much better after talking to 1SG.


Kale gets on the phone and he lets me know he is pressing charges for identity theft. The guy had taken information about us from Kale's Facebook page, what Kale likes, what I like off my page, he found the picture of Kale's penis and used it. He used Kale's webcam to take pictures of his own penis. He found a dirty letter Kale had written for me and used that on there. Just a complete violation of our privacy.


Like K said, Kale was stupid for leaving his passwords unprotected and letting this guy have so much freedom using his computer. But like I told her, I prefer stupid to cheater, I already knew he was stupid. I can live with stupid. Trust me, stuff like this ONLY happens to Kale. He has the worst luck with things obscure and unusual.


Unfortunately Kale can't get him for identity theft because the guy didn't accrue any debt. BUT the commander is freaking pissed (he's the big boss) and is throwing the book at him. Like I said, they are going for demotion and loss of mid-month pay for 6mths.

It still took me a few days to really get over this. I was angry Kale had left such personal stuff out there for anyone to find. I reminded him that if I had actually sent him the nude photos he requested (I never would have) then those would have been plastered all over that smutty site. That really got to him, he was never as upset as when I told him that. He is very protective of me and it would have killed him to have that all over the internet. It really irritated me that his "business" was on there too and that people commented on it and everything. But in the grand scheme of everything having that to deal with is better than having to deal with a husband who is surfing swinger sites.

He is extremely lucky that he was so far away from me when this happened. If he had been here I would have hunted him down and slapped the shit out of him before he even knew what I was angry about. I have a horrible temper, it's hard to get me angry, but look out when I am.

So, everything is back to "normal" at least as normal as it's going to get. I never worried about him being so far away until all of this happened. Even though my heart knows he wouldn't ever do anything my brain is suspicious. I told him he is going to have to reassure me, every day, multiple times a day until I get over this completely.

The guy has to meet with the Commander and 1SG tonight. His ass is fried. It actually kind of worries me that maybe he is one of those freaks who wants to be you, you know take over your life. I hope it really only was that he didn't want his wife to know he was surfing such sites, but damn that's a long way to go to "get off".

So there is my long, horrifying, detailed (probably more details than most of you wanted), ordeal that has preoccupied my last 7 days. And that is why I was MIA.

A Very Bad Week...

I am sorry I went MIA, but I have been dealing with a lot of BS this week. I can finally tell this story because it's 100% OVER. The person who caused this mess is in deep trouble. Article 15 if you know military terms, if not it means he is being demoted and losing half his pay for 6mths.

Why does he deserve such? Because he just about ruined my marriage, could have done worse if I am not the person I am, or if Kale had not been able to get to the bottom of things super quickly.

It started last Friday, I had asked Kale for all of his passwords to all of his emails and such so if I felt like checking them I could. He knows all of mine so we have nothing to hide, and he gave them to me willingly. Plus something happened to someone I know recently crushing my reality about my "perfect family life" being able to go on as "perfect" forever. Let's just say it gave me pause.

Well, I checked his Yahoo, nothing interesting there just normal family stuff. Then I check his Gmail, his sister and his friend Dave are the only ones who usually email him there. I start looking through and I come upon two emails that had been sent out to someone named J.D. and right away I became sick. I opened them and they were from "Kale" to this JD person thanking her for the naked pictures and asking her if she would like anything in return. You can imagine my response.

I began hyperventilating and scrambling to call Kale. A few minutes later he gets online at the library (he had told me he would after work so we could talk). I immediately begin attacking him with questions and he immediately begins denying all allegations. He begs me to believe him, but there in front of me I have the "proof". I show him the emails, he starts to freak out, and says he is going home and calling me right then. I wait for 15 agonizing minutes and he finally calls.

Before I go on with that conversation I will tell you what he did on his way to his house. On his way to his house he used his cell to call the two guys he was allowing to use his computer when he lived in the apartment (he had recently moved into a house). He left them a message saying they had better explain what the bleep they were doing on his email. You see, Kale is a very trusting man he had all of his email passwords saved in his computer and was allowing these two guys full access, unsupervised, to use his laptop. Stupid I know.

He calls me and I am bawling, he begins to break down and cry and swears up and down it wasn't him. He wouldn't do this to me, he loves me, he loves our kids, he just doesn't need anyone else, and for me to please believe him. It's hard for me. He explains how he let these two guys use his computer and just then his cell rings. I can here him yelling at the first guy, interrogating him, he knows nothing. The second guy gets on and I hear a lot of Kale screaming at the guy about how stupid it was he used Kale's email and how I had found it and was so upset. He screams at the guy that he will talk to him later.

He gets back on the phone and explains what happened to me. Apparently this guy, instead of making a fake email, used Kale's to send and receive pictures of some girl he was chatting with online. He said that he didn't want his wife to find out. He thought he had deleted everything. We now know there is more to it than just this, but I will get to it. So Kale is pissed and I am relieved. We talk for quite awhile and by the end of our conversation I am back to normal, feeling better, he is still pissed and is threatening to kick the guy's ass. I try and calm him down, tell him it's not worth jeopardizing his career over it.

He calls me later that night to tell me how PT went. He had his 1SG go with him to keep him in check. He was mad that the guy thought it was no big deal. Kale lunged at him and 1SG had to grab him and hold him back. The guy didn't even show the slightest bit of remorse, until Kale told him how I was hyperventilating and crying, then he looked at the ground the rest of the talk. After Kale left 1SG stayed behind to talk to the guy, even threatened to tell his wife.

So then my weekend went on peacefully. Monday came and my world was shattered once again, at the hands of this guy, and this time it was worse.

I will finish tomorrow.... Just so you know everything is alright with me and my marriage. And that I have 100% proof that my husband did not do the things I thought he did. If I didn't have the proof I would still be questioning him, as maybe some of you might.

Birth Story: Sophia (Pregnancy)

Since Sophia's birthday was just yesterday I thought I would share her birth story.

We decided in October of 2003 that we wanted another baby, Aidan was almost 2 and we were working through her issues finally, so we felt it was the right time. Months went by and nothing, we were beginning to think we would be resigned to having only the two children. We hadn't told anyone other than K and her husband who were having similar issues. Finally after over a year of trying and then just not preventing, I was pregnant. 4mths later K was pregnant, which I was so glad for her I felt guilty being pregnant when she wasn't when she wanted a new baby just as much as I did. We are pretty sure it was the stress from recruiting duty that prevented both of us from getting pregnant. Especially since the last few months before I got pregnant Kale got a new boss who was so much more family oriented. There were fewer and fewer late nights, some nights he was able to be home for dinner, unheard of with the previous boss. He was usually home relatively early on Saturdays and our family life almost was normal again.

I found out I was pregnant in February of 2005. At the time it wasn't uncommon for me to miss my period so I didn't even bother taking a pregnancy test when I missed my period in January. We had gone to Sears to get the girls pictures taken for Valentine's Day and the teenager working was really doing a horrible job. I was getting so very irritated and finally stormed out with my family in tow without purchasing any of the pictures or even finishing the session. The next day I realized I hadn't had my period in a couple of months and decided to take a test. The first test the lines were so faint I almost didn't believe it. Kale was home at the time and we were so very happy to finally be pregnant. I was excited, but I was worried about K's reaction. I knew she would be happy for me, but sad she was not. My husband made a very insensitive comment that hurt her feelings, as soon as I relayed the comment I was instantly sorry I had even repeated it out loud. He apologized profusely, but I am not sure she forgave him until after she was pregnant herself.

When I picked an OB/GYN I thought I would like a woman doctor. My previous two pregnancies were with mixed practice facilities. I didn't research her at all (even though K insisted I should) and toward the end of my pregnancy I really wished I had. For my first appointment I was relieved that she and her nurse were both a bit overweight, made me feel less self conscious. Her nurse was so very sweet and remembered not only my name, but the names of the girls. But I would grow to hate my doctor by the birth of Sophia.

At my first ultrasound she said I placenta previa, but she never said anything that I should do about it. So I read online about it and was immediately freaked out. It said no sex, it could tear the placenta. If you don't know what it is, it's when the placenta is partially or all together over the cervix. If it doesn't go away then you have to have a c-section. But she neglected to tell me that it was most likely due to the fact that it was so early on in my pregnancy and it would move as the uterus grows. I am lucky my parents friends Rich (a doctor and former OB) and Shelby ( a ultrasound tech) were able to help me understand what it was and what I should and shouldn't do. I am still convinced the only reason my doctor said I had it was because my insurance only pays for one ultrasound unless there is a problem. But she didn't say that to me, but her lack of explanation of the potentially dangerous condition is reason enough for me to believe that was her intention. Regardless I did everything that Rich told me I should do until I was 16 weeks and Shelby did an ultrasound for me. She said that for sure I didn't have it. At that time she also told me Sophia was a girl. Well her exact words were "Oh, I don't want to tell you." I said "It's alright, I see it's a girl. Besides I only have a girl name picked out."

My pregnancy went along fine again until it was time for my blood glucose test. I have always failed the first test, always. But I HATE drinking that stuff. I went in to do the 4hour blood glucose test, drank my nasty, warm, sugary, piss water, and had my first draw. I left the hospital after the first draw, I didn't want to sit around all afternoon with nothing to do. I felt ill though and by the time I got to the commissary I was so sick I vomited. I called Kale and had him tell the hospital I left because I threw up all over myself. They were angry I left without telling them, but hey I am a grown person and can do what I want. When I went in the next week to see the doctor she was angry. She insisted I do it over, I didn't want to. I asked her if there was an alternative. She said she would treat me as a diabetic for two weeks and see what my daily blood results were. I had to do the self sugar testing. My only instructions were to take a fasting test in the morning and then four more times during the day 1hour after I had eaten. No problem, except she forgot to mention I couldn't eat after 7pm at night in order to get a proper fasting test at 6am. So out of the two weeks I had three high results, 2 were fasting results and I had eaten at 12am those nights. And the third one was after I had not waited long enough after I had eaten, not realizing she would flip out and label me diabetic if I had one high result.

I convinced her to let me do it the right way for another two weeks, but she never got it out of her mind that I was diabetic. After I stopped eating after 7pm I never got another high result for the rest of my pregnancy. I did forget to mention that she told me at my first visit that she believed I would be diabetic. Based only on the fact that Aidan was 8ozs bigger than Lilly at birth and my weight. Talk about pigeonholing someone. After that next appointment I lost all respect for her and it just kept getting worse from then on. I also forgot to mention I didn't gain but 10lbs the entire pregnancy and lost 15 in the beginning, normally diabetic pregnant women balloon.

The next issue came when I had an ultrasound at 34wks. Sophia was breech and because she was breech they couldn't get a good reading of my amniotic fluid. They read it as low, so immediate bed rest for me and a scheduled c-section. I wasn't ready to resign myself to that fate, so I researched how to get babies to flip by positioning your body certain ways. I did everyone of the positions each night until I felt her flip. I knew she had and when I went in for my next ultrasound (at that point I was having stress tests twice a week and ultra sounds once a week) sure enough she had flipped. And low and behold my amniotic fluid level was normal. Will wonders never cease?

She still was pushing for a c-section when I went in for my weekly appointment and informed her very happily that she had flipped and I would no longer need a section. After that appointment I went home and researched her stats, turned out she had an almost 50% c-section rate, which is horrible considering most doctors rates are under 10-15%. That said to me she was all about the money and the easiest route for her. Not what was best for the baby and I. At that point I smiled and nodded through all my appointments, doing nothing that she told me to do. She said to stay in bed, I went shopping. She said no sugar, I hate entire cakes and drank pepsi. She said I would have a c-section, I told Kale over my dead body and he had better back me up on that. We told her the next appointment that unless the baby was in distress that a c-section was out of the question. She kept the appointment anyways and said she would just induce me that day. I was so ready to have Sophia out and be rid of this woman for the rest of my life.

I will finish the actual birth story and the chaos that followed on Thursday.

Am I Selfish?

My mil had the idea that my fil should drive to Jacksonville in Dec to pick Kale up instead of him flying home from Jacksonville. BUT they would "have him stay a few days in TN with them" before they brought him home. Is it selfish of me to say WTF and HELL NO? I don't believe so. They are his parents, who see him once or twice a year anyhow. We are his family and we normally see him everyday of the year. Plus he wants them to come here for Christmas Eve and day, maybe a couple of extra days beyond that. But he only has 16 days home, This.Entire.Year! I really don't care if they come at all honestly. So yeah, you can guess how far that idea went before it was shot down. Even Kale doesn't want them here for more than 4 days while he is home. Something to do with me and no "contact" while we have guests, I have a weird thing about it. At the same time it irritates him to no end that his mom just keeps brushing the subject under the rug so to speak.

So that's me. One selfish brat. :P

Feeling Better

The NyQuil really helped, I feel much better. I am still exhausted though. Mom and I shopped all morning. Actually rode in the car more than shopped, we went to one town looking for a custom home furnishings shop only to learn it had moved to the city. So that was a good hour and a half wasted riding around in the car, glad she drove and wasted her gas. I was able to escape my children all day, only spending from 4-7pm with them. That sounds kind of bad, but I am taking every chance I get to be alone now before Kale leaves.

We had dinner (parents, exchange students, us, Jason, & Rosy) at Famous Dave's. Nais leaves the 19th to go home to France and next weekend is far too busy, so we had our last dinner out together tonight. (It's actually 11:10pm on Saturday, even though I am posting it on Sunday). After dinner Kale took the girls home and I hung out with my mom and dad. We went to a nursery to get her water plants and koi for her fountain. Then we went home to put them in the fountain. Went to Home Depot, Walmart, and the grocery store. I had planned on going home after that, but Nais needed help with her final. She had a 200 clue crossword puzzle to do and it was difficult for her since it was a lot of proper English and cliche's Americans use. I was able to help her with all but three, pretty good since I haven't been in an English class in 10 years.

Mother's Day plans are to go to the KC Zoo and have a picnic. Then to my parents for steaks.

Have a great Mother's Day!

Tired, ZZZ....

Too tired to blog. Will tell about game tomorrow, after lots of sleep.

Here's a picture of Kale, Lilly, and Aidan before the

Daddy/Daughter Dance tonight.

Have a good Sunday!

My bestfriend K made these dresses for them 2yrs ago for Jason and Rosy's wedding. I had them dry cleaned and was impressed they still fit!

As if my week weren't busy enough...

My mom had planned a trip to see the Royals for the exchange students. She places as well as hosts exchange students each year and with placing them she has to meet up with them every month to make sure their families are working out. To make it fun for them she usually makes it a special "American" outing. The Royals if you don't know, are KC's pro baseball team. She asked me to go with the girls since three people backed out and now she has three extra tickets. So Lilly, Aidan, Sophia, and I are going tonight. Kale is working duty for MPI and has a 30min recall, he's keeping Delilah only because my bro offered to come take care of her if he gets called in. Right now Rosy and Alan are in Mexico, so he has nothing better to do and plus I watched Alan all afternoon one day this week so he owes me. :P



My mom had asked me if I wanted to go originally before she bought the tickets, but I wasn't that interested since we have been so busy. But since she has extra tickets and I won't have to pay for it, why not go? We are going to tailgate before the game and their are fireworks after the game. We'll see how my chicken shit children do this time with the fireworks. I swear, all three of them are scared of fireworks. I can understand it for Sophia, but the other two quite frankly are too old to be scared anymore. There are 14 of us going, so it should be fun.



Last night was Lilly's musical at school. It was cute. They all got to say two things they were thankful for between all the singing. One little boy was working it, shaking his hips, he had jazz hands, and a big ol' smile on his face. The men in front of me were laughing their asses off watching him and whispering how gay he will be someday. I was surprised at how loudly they were doing this, I mean his parents could have been right behind them for all they knew. I don't disagree with them, but I would never make fun of a child out loud. Aidan was flirting with the boy in front of her, she is already trouble. My mom and Nais came, my bro was going to but I forgot to remind him so he didn't. It was a nice evening.

Did I ever tell you how much I HATE ants?!

It's been a freaking busy ass weekend. Friday morning I had to go Target to find a new swimsuit, flip flops, and goggles for Lilly for her trip to Great Wolf Lodge that afternoon. And then I stopped at Babies R Us to buy a high chair for Delilah, I had a 15% off coupon. Friday afternoon we dropped Lilly off at the commissary so she could go with her Girl Scout Troop to GWL for the night. Then we went out shopping (Kale, Aidan, Sophia, Delilah, and I) and met up with Jason, Rosy, and Alan at the mall. Didn't get much, had to return a shirt I had bought for Alan for the picture, but had fun people watching. Then we went to Babies R Us so I could return yet another shirt I had bought for Alan that was not the right color for the picture. Then they left to go home, we went out to dinner at Applebee's, and then to Target to return a few things. I had bought two different size swimsuits for Lilly to try on, I wasn't sure which would fit, so I had return the other and the soccer socks with shin guards built in that didn't fit her. After Target it was late and time to get kids to bed, after 10pm unusual for my kids to even be out that late.

Saturday we tried to sleep in, well I slept in anyways. Kale didn't, Delilah wanted up at 7:45am. Sophia and Aidan both slept in until 9am, pretty good for them. I was able to shower myself, Aidan, and Sophia, get us all dressed, and get the diaper bag ready in the amount of time Kale was in the bathroom "reading". This is my daily complaint about him. I HATE how long he takes in the bathroom "reading". Well anyways, then I took the three girls with me, we went to the commissary to pick up sandwich fixings, and then headed to my mom's for lunch. Kale was moving Lilly's bed into Aidan's room and all of their toys into Lilly's room. I am so sick of the mess both of their rooms are I decided they will sleep in the big room and play in the small room. No toys will be allowed in the room they sleep in, it will be pretty. After he picked Lilly up at 4, he took Aidan and Delilah to a birthday party and I took Lilly and Sophia to a BBQ with family friends along with my parents, the teens, and Jason's family. We were there for a couple of hours then met back up with Kale at my parents house were we watched a movie together, and then Kale, Delilah, and I went home.

This morning we were able to sleep until 9:30am, but then had to jump up and get ready quickly. I called my mom to find out if the girls needed clothes and she informed me that Lilly was quite grumpy and crying at the drop of a hat, very out of character. But she had spent the last two nights staying up late so I knew it was coming. Kale, Delilah, and I got ready and headed over to my parents house. He took Lilly and Aidan home and my mom, the teens, Rosy, Sophia, and I went to Independence Center to get Sophia's ears pierced. We had to get it done in Missouri because my mom and Nais wanted cartilage pierced and in Kansas it's considered a body piercing which can only be done at a tattoo parlor. I wasn't about to take Sophia to a tattoo parlor for an ear piercing so we drove the 45mins to Independence, Mo.

On the way there we stopped at Kaufman Stadium where the Royals play baseball. My mom had vouchers she needed to exchange for tickets. This was a royal pain in this ass since there was a home game today. We had to pay the parking fee, tell everyone in a yellow vest that we were just going to the ticket counter and didn't want to park, wait in line for the tickets, and then get our money back for parking. Apparently on game days you have to pay to park even if you aren't, but with a receipt showing you just wanted to buy tickets you can get your money back.

The first thing we did at the mall was eat, well actually we peed first then ate. Then we went to get the ear piercing out of the way. There are pictures below. Sophia was very good, she didn't cry until I cleaned her ears after they had already been pierced. Then I popped her paci in and she was good to go. I know, I know, it's time for paci to go. Then mom had hers done, then Nais who was hilarious when she had hers done, and finally Lele. I would have done mine too, but I already have four holes on each lobe and two cartilage piercings I just don't wear earrings in them anymore.

After we shopped for a while, we headed home. Green was cooking dinner for everyone, he had some good news to share. The only thing he knows how to make is 5 cup chicken, I personally can't get past the vinegar smell to even try it. Rosy tried it for the first time tonight and said she liked it. She is just about as picky as I am. Green's good news was that the company he has been working part time for while going to college is giving him a verbal agreement to hire him when he graduates in Dec. This is good because they will sponsor him for his green card. This is especially good news for Kale, before Green joined our family he was the family doofus and now Green is taking the brunt of my dad's teasing. I keep telling Kale that my dad teases everyone, it's his way of showing affection. After dinner we all went to Dairy Queen for dessert, then home to put the kiddos to bed. All of them went straight to bed except Delilah who just finally gave up 15mins ago. Kale had to go into work at 9 and hopefully will be home soon. I am exhausted, I think I will stay home tomorrow and maybe Tuesday too.

Oh and the title of this post is because I freaking hate ants. I came home to a plate in the sink being COVERED with them on Saturday night. We have had an ant problem every spring and summer since we moved in and they do nothing about it. I have tried several times to get rid of them myself with no luck. And since I have 4 children, no crumbs is not an option. I can look on the brighter side, I hate roaches more and I don't have those. And I am pretty sure mice would freak me out more than ants too, but I don't have those either. So until I get one of those, I will be bitching about ants.

How was everyone elses weekend?

Oh yeah and BTW, it freaking snowed both Saturday and Sunday. Kansas weather sucks ass!

Survey

I have been tagged by Allie @ Friday Night Ambulance to do a survey.


Here are the rules

1) Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog
2) Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3) Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4) Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Facts:

1) I hate having my picture taken. More so now than when I was young and still thin, but I have always disliked having it taken.

2) I also hate and avoid (as much as humanly possible) mirrors. Especially dressing room mirrors (shudder).

3) I love cats and someday will probably be the crazy old cat lady who screams at others children to get off my lawn while stroking a fat cat.

4) I always thought (when I was a teen) that I would marry for money, not looks or love. Boy was I WRONG, damn that love!

5) I almost always get my way in most everything that happens in my life.

6) When I was first dating my husband I had to ask everyone of my friends if they thought he was good looking or not. I am not saying he's ugly, but I was 18yrs old and shallow as all hell, he's not as good looking as all the guys I dated before him. But he treated me well and all those "good looking" guys were assholes, so I think they did me a favor telling me he was just as good looking as anyone else I dated. For the record he thinks I was out of his league too (and everyone he worked with).

7) I feel bad for him that I don't look the same as before. But he tells me repeatedly that when he looks at me he thinks only of the woman he loves, not my size. Not to mention he isn't exactly what he used to be (bald and hairier) ;P



Wow, can you tell my mood is a little off today. I must really be hating my looks today, could it be maybe that today is FAMILY PICTURE DAY! At least I only have to be in two pictures, the one of my kids, Kale, and I, then the one of EVERYBODY all 14 of us. Wish us luck that we have a quick session and no tears from me because I coordinated this and well frankly sometimes my brother or father can be an ass.

Oh and as for tagging others, I am not up to it so I will leave it up to my readers to decide if they want to the survey or not.

Florida: Part Three MAGIC KINGDOM

Day three started out at 6 freaking 30 am, I hate seeing the butt crack of dawn and try not to be awake before 7am, but we had all the fun to get to. We ended up not getting out of the house until 8am (damn those teenagers) and had to eat breakfast out since we stupidly only bought enough stuff for two mornings. We ate at lovely McDonalds, Lilly barely at very out of character for her. She said her belly hurt, I thought maybe she was constipated. She tried but couldn't go. Aidan on the other hand ate more than usual and then did her business, saying afterwards that her tummy hurt. This is not uncommon for her, she has had bowel issues since a year old. We get back on the road and about 10 miles down the road I get a frantic call from Kale (he was following me in the van with Lilly, Aidan, Cecy, and Delilah; I was driving the rental with mom, Min, and Sophia) he tells me to exit immediately, Aidan had thrown up. We go from the far left lane across traffic and exit immediately, personally I would have waited for the next exit but when you have a penis everything is life and death.

I don't know how she managed it, but she only puked on the floor of the van. She had one droplet on her shirt and none on her booster seat (thankfully, I had no spare clothes for her and would have had to stop and buy her new ones, I am a freak like that, my mom suggested that if she had messed her clothes, washing them in the bathroom sink and drying them with the air dryer- so not me). So off we go again, we found out on the way that I4 was closed in downtown Orlando -SHIT- so we had to seek alternate routes. We were going to go 417 but that too was closed, so I let TomTom decide where we would go. After another hour in the car he calls again, Lilly has to go bad. We stop, she tries to poop and throw up, no dice. She is like my mom and I, we would rather feel sick and hold it in then actually throw up. We get on the road again and start heading down all these back roads. TomTom clearly had no clue where he was taken us, so we thought. We are just a few miles from our destination according to TomTom and we see nothing but orange grove around us. I had a sinking feeling we were heading for a service entrance and I was right. We turned down the road that was intended for cast and deliveries, but it never said only authorized vehicles allowed and no one ever bothered us. After all that we ended up not having to pay for parking -SCORE! But it had taken us three hours to get there (sigh). Oh and after we got out of the car, Lilly immediately threw up in the parking lot, yum. They felt better after that and never complained again.

We arrived in the actual park at about 11am, after standing in line for tickets (the shortest line in the whole damn place), standing in line to get our bags searched, riding the monorail to the park, and standing in line to get in. We arrived as a show was going on, so my mom took the older girls down front to watch. When it was over Aidan said to her "Nonnie I can feel the music in my heart!". It made my mom cry and me tear up just a little and it made the whole hellish morning worth it. After the show we decided to wait for the parade staking claim to a nice spot right where the parade started. While we waited for it to start the Disney workers played hula hoop, soccer, and duck duck goose with the kids.

After the parade we hit the lines, starting with the Haunted Mansion. Aidan was terrified, cried until I made her stop and told her to just cover her eyes. Sophia was a little scared, Lilly covered her eyes too but peeked. I banged my knee getting out of the car and still have a huge bruise. We then hit the carousel, shortest ride wait of everything. THEN Dumbo, good God, we waited for an hour for a 1-2min ride. Sophia and I rode together and she loved it, so much so she threw a hissy fit when it was time to get off. "AGAIN, AGAIN!" she screamed as I drug her off the ride. After that we had lunch, another ridiculous line and hellish prices (but I didn't have to pay so I wasn't that bothered and Kale and I went through the line with the teens, my mom kept the girls outside) so that didn't bother me much.

We rode It's a Small World and went to the Philharmonic, so cool. It was 3D and had aromas and water and air splashed/thrown on you. Aidan said "I wished the water to be real AND IT WAS!". Sophia didn't want to leave that one either and did so under protest. After the last ride we hit the character tents (they have tents set up where you can "meet" certain characters) we stood in line for 45mins or more to meet the three princesses and another 45-60mins to meet Mickey Mouse. After we met Mickey we did a little shopping. Kale and I went alone to pick out ears for the girls and have them embroidered. Last time I was there (6yrs ago) they only had black or pink, now they have so many different ones it's not even funny. Lilly got a pair with a tiara and veil that said princess, Aidan got Tinker Bell ones, Sophia Minnie Mouse ones, Delilah baby Minnie Mouse in baby pink, and a pair for my nephew Alan baby Mickey in baby blue. All five sets embroidered cost us just pennies under $80. While we waited for the ears we took the girls to spend the $10 Judy (MIL) gave each of them, it didn't go far. My mom and I split the difference on what her money didn't cover ($30). Lilly got a baby Cinderella, Aidan baby Tinker Bell, Sophia baby Pluto (she insists he's baby Goofy), and Delilah this big round fluffy Pooh ball.

After that Cecy, Min, and I search for a penny squisher (souvenir pennies, we collect them). Then picked up the ears and headed out to Daisy 38 our parking area. Mom thought it was Minnie we were parked in, glad I remembered or we'd have been there for hours looking for the car. She asked Lilly if she thought her vomit would still be there, if birds had eaten it, if someone had cleaned it up, or if it had dried up and disappeared. My mother is strange, I am only just finding this out in the past few years.

Oh and Sophia said we were flying when we were riding the monorail, she loved it. The last ride we rode in I said to her, "let's go get in line" to which she screeched "NO MORE LINES!!!". I completely understand her. All in all it was a long day, 9hrs in the park. We didn't see even 1/3 of the park, but we had fun.

On the way back to the house mom, Cecy, Min, and I (I convinced Kale to take all four girls home and put them to bed while we stopped at the store to get dinner for the next night and an umbrella stroller for Delilah so he didn't have to carry her at Seaworld. I promised him favors.) went to Super Walmart and purchased stuff for the next nights meal when my grandparents would be joining us. Then we went back to the house and CRASHED!

Day 4 tomorrow. And I am cheating AGAIN(sue me). But I have a good reason, we are van shopping tomorrow (wish us luck) and then Sophia has a birthday party to attend (her first!), so I will be so busy I won't even get on here until late afternoon if at all.

Florida: Part Two

Day two of our trip started out after a good nights sleep, the last one we would get that trip. We headed out to go visit my grandparents in Dade City. So we were staying in Deland, about 1 hour East of Orlando. Dade City? Is a little more than an hour West of Orlando. We spent 5hours of day two in the freaking car, after spending the previous two days in the car for more than ten hours each day. Can you say brilliant idea?





We met them at Hungry Howie's for lunch, pizza yummy. Then we drove another hour or more to Plant City to go eat huge strawberry shortcake (I? am not a fan). That's okay though, after losing one grandmother it was nice to spend time with my remaining grandmother. After we ate our shortcake and took some pics in the giant strawberry (I will post them in the coming Weds), we headed back to their place for dinner. They winter in FL and live in a converted RV, they summer in PA. We stopped off at Walmart and the grocery store before heading back to hang until dinner was cooked. We had a nice dinner and then took the 2 1/2hr drive back to the place, with my grandmother. So there were 9people in my 7 passenger van. My mom and Cecy shared the space on the middle bench next to Delilah, snug in her car seat. The three older girls were in the far back in their car seats. I was in a folding lawn chair next to the bench in the middle (not our first time doing this) and grandma had the prime spot as passenger next to my hubby the driver. I offered him sexual favors to let me drive but he turned me down (first time ever). We had grandma come back with us so we didn't have to drive 2 1/2 hrs to go pick her up the next morning while my grandpa golfed. Of course we didn't think of this plan until we had already left for the day, so we didn't take both cars with us. Trying to save gas money before Min arrived the next day and we would HAVE to take two cars.





The next day we did a little shopping before taking grandma home. It was just my mom, Cecy, Sophia, grandma, and I. It didn't take long for my grandma to tire of shopping, she was in the hospital a few months back we almost lost her too. She's doing very well know though, just tires of walking easily. After the few stores we shopped in we had lunch at Panera Bread, one of our favs. Then we dropped her at home and took off for some REAL shopping. Well TomTom sent us to a "factory outlet store(s)" that ended up being a giant gift shop, one of those 6 t-shirts for $10 places. After Cecy shopped there for over an hour (sigh) we finally made it to a REAL factory outlet shopping plaza. Hung out there until it was time for dinner.





During our outing Kale had taken the other three girls to see the people who had lent us the house at their business. It also is the place his parents worked at until they moved to TN, so his mom wanted him to see all the "ladies". His friend Julia, daughter of those that lent us the house, his childhood friend from birth, gave each of the girls a Tink necklace with their birthstone. Very sweet, even if two out of four of them already have the necklace from when his mom worked there. Then after that he met up with his buddy Jeff, they went to youth group together all through high school. Jeff was the one who was hooking us up with the free Disney tickets. BUT his friend who was getting them for him got fired the day before and couldn't get them (UGH). BUT at his insistence and at my husband resistance he gave us $700 for tickets and souvenirs, because he told us he'd take care of it for us. He didn't have to do that, but wouldn't take no for an answer. He shoved the money in Kale's pocket and would hear no more of it. He also paid for their lunch. He's a very sweet guy with a lot of money and no wife or kids. He's tried to give us money to have fun with before when we were in town, but we've always refused.





After his lunch with Jeff and visiting "the shop", he drove the girls by his childhood home, sad for him I know. Then he graciously went to get stuff for dinner and had it ready for us when we returned.





After shopping we had to go pick Min up from the airport. For some reason she made her flight two days later than my mom told her to make it (sigh), whatever. We pick her up and head out the the house for dinner. All in all day 2 and 3 were pretty uneventfull, trust me it gets better from here. More tomorrow.