Roadtrip from Indiana to Oregon & Washington

I could write for hours about everything that happened on this trip. However, I'm just gonna write down some things that we learned or key points while on the trip...

1. Trip on the way is MUCH faster than the trip home.
2. Kids were AWESOME on the way there! We were so proud!
3. The way home wasn't as good, but we still made it in 3days with very little arguing, so that was also a success.
4. It's great to be back around babysitters that you know will take care of your kids the way you want them to be taken care of.
5. Sorting through things and packing boxes to go 4 different places is something I never want to do again.
6. Having great friends to help you pack those boxes is priceless!
7. Getting lots of hand-me-downs is a great thing.
8. Don't send kids shoe shopping with others, or at least look over the shoes and take them back if there isn't any growing room.
9. Having special friends and family that are willing to work hours of preparing & cleaning to pull off a potluck so you can see everyone is a wonderful thing.
10. Only having enough time to try and see about 40 people in a 3hr period is something I hate doing. There are always people that get missed, or only spoken to a couple minutes. It's a horrible feeling!
11. Chinese & Teriyaki were eaten as often as possible. Wish we had good places out here to get them...
12. Don't ever try to save on shipping cost with pictures. People never get them passed out. Just spend the extra $20 to ship them to everyone indvidually.
13. Seeing Makenzie play with her friends & cousins is priceless. I love how they all remember each other just like it was yesterday that we lived there.
14. Nick and Parker playing together is so cute. Especially when they hug!
15. Love how my husband can easily go to the Nick Clearance store and find shoes in his size!!
16. Spending time at Grandma & Grandpa Penner's is always relaxing.
17. Makenzie got to go help Grandpa feed & get eggs from the chickens on the farm. She told him to put the eggs back so they could have chicks.
18. Aunt Heidi trying to have a phone conversation without kids means that she gets followed around the yard. Felt bad for her, but it was REALLY cute to watch!!
19. Kids are in shambles anytime Aunt Heidi isn't around, and leaving her was really hard to do.
20. Seeing how grown up my cousins are becoming makes me feel old. It's great though to not feel like there is such a huge age difference. We have alot more to talk about!
21. Funny to hear Matt talk mechanic talk. Seems like not too long ago Phil was showing him how to check and put oil in a car.
22. Phil says Matt is very smart to pretend to be dumb, cause that way he won't be constantly having to fix people's cars like Phil used to have to do.
23. Taking a small child over rough mountains equals lots of screaming.
24. Don't take a trailer over a highway that says "no trailers". You lose LOTS of horsepower at 10,000 feet!!
25. Taking kids to a hotel for the first time ever meant pratically no sleep for mommy. After the excitement wore off they screamed about wanting to go sleep in the car. They finally both crashed around 2am. At least daddy got 12hrs of sleep!
26. The sound of mud tires puts me to sleep. I didn't drive much. Felt useless.
27. You can go 600-800 miles through Wyoming & Nebraska without seeing a play area for kids. When it's too cold to play outside, this is NOT a good thing!!
28. When you see a sign in eastern Wyoming that says "bugerking playland 30minutes ahead" DON'T BELIEVE IT! It closed down over 5 years ago!!! Boy, we sure wanted to go burn down that sign so no other parent goes through what we went through.
29. After awhile, you get sick of any and all restruants and fast food places.
30. No matter how many movies you bring on the trip...the kids will watch the same 5 over and over again....Nick screamed for Barney many times on the way to Oregon, so we went out of our way to buy it for the return trip. Still hasn't been watched.
31. Love truck stops. They are wonderful, and don't really get upset with kids, even in the middle of the night when they are jumping over the backs of tables.
32. Puke happens...
33. Eventually you just have to start using blankets as carseat pads.
34. When those get puked on, they just have to suffer with hard plastic.
35. Sometimes breaking the law and letting your kids lay down to sleep is necessary. As is letting the older one move the carseat to the front.
36. Moving the kids back as soon as they are snoring, not so easy.
37. Bass Pro Shops, is WAY better than Cabella's. However a short stop cost us $100 and almost 3hrs. Got alot for that hundred bucks though. Their prices are VERY reasonable!
38. If you accidentally lose the craft your kids made at Bass Pro Shops, Thank the Lord they forgot about it!!!
39. Getting home at 1am meant that Makenzie was so excited she didn't go to bed till about 3am.
40. Cleaning out the car from the trip is pratically the worst part of the trip. It stunk so bad from all the throw up, spilled drinks, and food.
41. Getting it all clean and smelling good is wonderful!!

Crazy couple days

Well, yesterday my belly got even bigger. We decided we better tell my mom since we will end up having to tell people in Oregon & Washington. She was pretty shocked, and didn't say a whole lot. We were at her work so she could say goodbye to the kids, so it was a kinda crazy visit to begin with.

We leave for Oregon tonight. It has been a rough day. Nick is acting like Mr. Attitude boy, and when he's not doing that, he's really clingy. Makes it hard for me to get anything done. I finally put him to bed, and then Makenzie got diarreah. It was so bad that she couldn't even made it to the bathroom. I had to keep following her around the house cleaning up the messes. So discusting!! She finally fell asleep around 4:45 and so I've been able to do dishes, sweep, mop, rotate laundry, and pick up a few toys. It feels good to get some stuff done. However, my back is in pain now, and my entire body is worn out. I have to get some more stuff done though.

I talked to the doctor yesterday and he said that my latest HCG count was 1800, and that I don't need to do anymore blood tests. As soon as we are back from Oregon he wants me to schedule an ultrasound for that week. I'm excited to go have that done, find out an exact due date, and make sure everything is going okay.

First belly pic

Well, I took this on 3/9. I was about 3wks, 3days pregnant. I can't believe how big I am getting already. I am part of a online group of women due in November, and it's great to know I'm not the only one. There are lots of other mom's due around the same time with their 3rd child that look the same as me. It's very helpful to see!

ugh...

My allergies are bothering me so bad. I really wish I could take something for them. Can't though since I'm pregnant.

I really have no idea what in the world to wear while in Oregon. I don't have a single shirt that I don't look pregnant in. Phil really wants me to hide it but I don't know if I'll be able to stay in sweatshirts the entire time we are there. We really don't want the kids to find out until we are out of the stage where miscarriage is more likely. That means we have to wait another 2 months! It's already hard enough to hide it from my mom. I keep having to put sweatshirts on any time we are around her. What happens when it is too warm??

Pregnant

Another reason I want to do this blog is to track my pregnancy. It's so hard to keep a secret, so I thought maybe writing about it would help. I plan to keep this blog a secret until I announce the pregnancy, and then everyone can be caught up on these events.

A couple weeks ago I thought I felt baby movement. I went to the doctor, and they did a blood test. My horomone level was a 6. Five is not pregnant, but there really shouldn't be a reason for it to be even a 1 without some sort of pregnancy. They told me to come back in a couple days to have it tested again. At that time they should be able to tell if it's a miscarriage or a pregnancy. Well, I went back 6 days ago and the result from that test was a 75. They think that for some reason my uteris was already making room for baby and that was the movement I was feeling. I went back today for a 3rd test, and will get the results on Monday. They say that if the numbers jump up well again then they won't have me come back till I am about 6-8wks along. Right now it looks like the due date is November 21st.

I am already showing because I've had 2 miscarriages in the last 7 months. The last one was in January so my body hasn't gone back down since then. I'm already having to wear maternity clothes. We leave for a trip to Oregon in 4 days. I have no idea how in the world I am going to hide this. I think I am going to just have to try to squeeze into my normal pants for the few days we are there. We really don't want to announce this to the world yet in case we miscarry again.

The beginning...

Well, as a stay at home mom there are alot of things that go on in my life. I try to write them down in my "mom journal" but don't always seem to get it done. I'm hoping that if I have it in an online journal to share with family then I will write down more.

For today's adventure, on top of having a sick child, and no sleep last night, we had a run in with some vick's vapo rub...After putting it on Makenzie last night I forgot to put it back where Nick can't reach it. Since I hadn't had much sleep; I fell asleep on the couch while Nick was watching a cartoon. I woke up 30min later to discover the entire house smelling like menthol. Nick thought it was his sculpting wax for his hair and had used the remainder of the jar in his hair. I knew that with this being oil based that it would be hard to get out. I tried to clump it up with some baking soda. That didn't work. Then I tried to use a lice comb to get it out. It worked pretty well, but he wouldn't sit still very long. I then went to Dawn. That worked well until I ran out. So on top of having a smelly house, oily kid & bathtub, we still have a greasy head of hair. Who knows how many washings it will take to get it all out.