Ewww, GROSS!

Last night I went to take a pull-up out to the garage where keep our diaper champ. Our garage is semi-attached, in that you have to step out onto our front porch area to get to the garage door, but it's all under cover. Anyway, I went out in my socks because it just takes one step on the mat to get to the garage door and the diaper champ is right inside the door.

On my way back into the house I stepped on something that felt like a grape popping under my left foot, then I felt something slimy and jumped up throwing my sock off of my foot. Rob was right inside the door at the time and said, "It was probably a slug".

"EWWW, EWWW... GROSS, YUCK", I was venting as I was hopping on one foot trying to figure out what just happened. Rob picked up my sock that revealed the perfect out-line of a slug in brownish-red slime. He couldn't find the slug at first which freaked me out as I imagined it getting tangled in my pajama pants in the midst of all the ruckus (I even took them off to make sure once I got upstairs).

Later Rob informed me that he'd found the slug in the corner by the stair outside. I asked him if was dead and Rob said, "He definitely appeared to be resting."

I'm still grossed out by the feeling of the popping underneath my foot. I'm just grateful I wasn't barefoot!

It's a Birthday Kind of Day!

Today I turned 27. Yup, it's my Birthday! I was greeted by my husband with a yummy drink from Starbucks this morning (which is still in my freezer... I thought I'd get some actual breakfast in me first!).

When I logged onto facebook this morning I was also greeted with 20 different Birthday greetings... and it was only 9:40! I tell you what, if you haven't poked around facebook yet, you don't know what you're missing! I confess, part of my lack of posting on my blog lately is due to the fact that I spend too much time on facebook.

Anyway, I should probably make some attempt at getting ready for my day, especially since I have a hair appointment with Jill here before too long. I LOVE getting my hair cut! I'm thinking about re-naming my blog 100 reasons why I love Jill. Have you been sensing that theme lately? :0)

For the record, I'm pretty sure 27 can still be considered mid-twenties can't it? People keep telling me I'm in my late twenties now... but I'm still closer to 25 than 30... at least for another 6 months right?

A Good Day

Today marks a whole week with an illness-free family, and I must admit, I'm feeling more alive and more energetic than I have in what feels like forever! Maybe that has something to do with a few hours of delightful conversation about life and Children's Ministries with my friend Jill at Starbucks... hmmm!

I have felt like I've been walking around in a haze for more than 2 months now. It started with being snowed (and iced) in, then being out-of-commission for the holidays, then lots of sickness, then the death of Rob's mom, then more sickness. Needless to say, I've been without a semi-normal routine for far-too long now! This week I was able to get in some extra time at work (which scarcely makes up for all the work time I missed due to the aforementioned 'issues'), I was able to have dessert with some girlfriends, Starbucks with Jill this morning, and now I'm killing a few minutes before a much anticipated meeting with someone who is going to volunteer on Friday afternoons to do my administrative work! Happy day!

Oh, and I think my daddy may be coming this weekend to do some work on our condo which I'm SO excited about! Progress!

I do have a minor head injury to report though. No ambulance, no E.R., no doctor's visits, but a seriously bruised noggin! Wednesday night Rob and I were watching Bourne Identity and there was a point in the movie that I knew something was going to happen that's scary because I'd seen it before--but I couldn't remember what it was or when it would happen. I was sitting there bracing myself for something but when a man came flying through Bourne's apartment window I jumped and literally hit myself in the forehead with my cell phone that I was clutching. I am such a dork! A serious, true, bonified dork. Yup, that's me. Don't be jealous, it's a calling!

And finally, some pictures!

Today Suzy and the boys came over to play... which is always fun for the whole family! Leeann had received some hair glitter in the mail along with many other Valentine goodies (thanks great-grandma M!), and today seemed like a great day to try it out. After I was done doing Leeann's hair, she asked Aunt Suzy if she wanted her to do her hair next. Suzy graciously agreed and let Leeann put blue glitter in her hair. Leeann LOVED getting to primp her aunt. She's SUCH a girly-girl!

Rob and I have a special Valentine's tradition of not celebrating it! His birthday is at the end of October, then our anniversary is mid-December, then Christmas of course, and a week after Valentine's Day is my birthday so it seems silly to cram in another obligatory gift-giving holiday during that time of year. Besides, it's the one day a year that flowers cost 4x as much as any other time and you can't find a table at a restaurant without a terribly long wait. And finding a babysitter... ha!

So, we take our kids on special dates instead! Leeann got all dressed up for her special date with daddy. He told her they could go anywhere she wanted to go. Guess where she chose? Starbucks. No joke! She opted for chocolate milk over ice cream! I think it's because she knew it was a special date with daddy, and daddy would enjoy Starbucks. Besides, it's a place they've already had lots of special dates so it probably just made sense to her.

All dressed up and ready for fun! They also shared a brownie... an extra special treat for an extra special day!

I had to snap these pictures since I had my camera with me. This is a little game that we play. We tell Leeann that if she's asleep by the time we get home that daddy will carry her inside. So, inevitably she 'always' falls asleep before we get home so she can get carried in. She's such a good faker too! Seriously, it's hard to get her to crack a smile when she's 'sleeping'.

She enjoys every second of being carried and snuggled and tended too by daddy. She even 'sleep-potties' but will 'fall back asleep' while she's on the toilet so Rob will actually have to carry her to her bed. Then she lets Rob put on her jammies while being a rag doll. It's so cute, she never even makes a peep!

Titus on the other hand, doesn't have a serious bone in his body and couldn't pretend nearly that well for the life of him! He tries though, he really tries! Of course his eyes are usually squeezed incredibly tight (or he's just covering them with his hands) and he's got a HUGE grin on his face. Not to mention the fact that he's usually laughing out-loud too!

Titus chose to go to Cold Stone for his special date with mommy. We splurged and shared a Birthday Cake Remix with a chocolate dipped cone that had sprinkles on it. Titus loved it and made a GIANT mess. I forgot my camera in the van so I opted for some post-date pictures in the car instead. Notice the various facial expressions in short period of time. Can anybody say that a three-year-old (who hadn't taken a nap) isn't effected by ice cream fully loaded with sugar?

And these are a few pictures I took at Mee Maw's service. I couldn't resist taking this one while everyone was still dressed up. These are Janice's parents, my kid's great-grandparents. It was so good to see them again. It had been nearly a year since we had seen them because of the snow during Christmas. I wish we could have gotten more time with the extended family!

And this is Rob's Aunt Barb (Janice's sister). She and her husband flew out from Indiana. We don't get to see them nearly enough, but she sees us nearly every day... you see, she's a faithful blog reader (actually, grandma and grandpa are too which is pretty impressive as octogenarians!).

Why not crawl under a random table to get your picture taken with some of your nephews? It's about time Aunt Barb made it onto the blog!

And this is Rob with one of his long-time best buddies Steve. They always thought it would be fun to have their boys get to wreak havoc together like they did as kids. Lucky for them!

And the fact that we got all four kids in this picture was almost a miracle... who cares if Titus has his tongue out anyway?

And this is Steve's family with his parents Judy and Dick. They are two of the sweetest people in the world. When you are in Judy's presence you somehow feel like you're the only person in the whole world that matters to her!

In honor of Mee Maw we had Diet Dr. Pepper and Cheetos at every table! She had a nightly ritual of these items together and you were liable to get your fingers cut off if you if you came within 10 feet of either of these items. They were off-limits! We all enjoyed getting to partake in these contraband items in her memory. Titus, well, he just enjoyed having free reign with a bag of Cheetos!

And, here's a picture of Titus and Micah playing together. They bonded pretty quickly over toys and Cheetos. They even matched! I think Micah is 8 months or so older than Titus

Well, there ya go, our last week in pictures. I'm still way behind in blogging, as I still haven't gotten around to the pictures of Christmas day. I would just skip it since it's been so long already but I did that last year and I'm so mad at myself! Some day, some way, some how--I promise to get around to it. Not that any of you care what we did on Christmas day, but I do, and I'm sure years from now I'm going to feel an empty void in my life if I can't recall what we did for Christmas in 2008! Until then though, enjoy this small glimpse into our world.

All is well

For those keeping track at home I just wanted to let you know that all is well (health-wise) in Robyn's Nest today. I'm still feeling a complete lack of energy and zero motivation to do ANYTHING, but other than that... all is well!

Honestly, I don't think I have anything else to post about even. Strange.

8:50

Leeann finally woke up a little after 9 last night and she was hot, and shaking quite a bit. I gave her a little bit of a pedialyte Popsicle and snuggled with her. She slept through the night, but woke up vomiting at 8:50 this morning. I'm surprised my calculations were so far off! I thought for sure she would have thrown up in the middle of the night if my previous experiences are any indication of the 'norm'.

Rob's staying home from work for at least part of the day today because he's still feeling sick too. So, I'm trying to keep Titus remotely quite to let these two rest. Yeah, that's funny--Titus quiet?

Anyway, I just wanted to fill you in case you've been missing my vomit stories!

Picking up where we left off

It is now 9:00 on Wednesday, and we're finally home and settled in after an unexpected week in Washington.

Just in case you were bored this week with lack of illness related stories, let me pick up where we left off before the unexpected trip. Let's see... Monday Suzy and the boys came over and Suzy had woken up not feeling well that morning. By evening time all 4 of them had some nasty cough, runny nose, lack of energy thing going on. Our kids played together at small group Tuesday night and then we all ended up in Washington together on Wednesday evening. By Thursday morning my kids were both coughing and Titus's nose was running.

By the time Friday rolled around I was coughing (or rather, hacking up my lungs regularly) with a stuffy/runny nose that was making me feel awful. I lost my voice for short stints a couple of different times too. I felt terrible through Tuesday which was especially unpleasant since we were trying to make boat loads of service preparations. I'm sure all of the family that was surrounding us were not too excited about all of the germs we were spreading, but since there were 14 of us sharing the same house (many whom were sick) and lots of other family in and out regularly, we couldn't help but share the 'love'.

I woke up today feeling better for the most part, but Leeann didn't finish her breakfast--which should have been the first clue some thing was up. Rob woke up feeling sick with a tummy bug and settled in on Shelly's couch for a mid-morning nap. By the time lunch rolled around Leeann didn't really want much to eat and she looked gaunt. We snuggled her into the car with a plastic bag and headed home.

About half-way here Rob asked if I could drive and he napped most of the rest of the way home. Leeann also slept most of the way home (a 4 hour drive). We pulled in the driveway at about 6:00 and Leeann and Rob both plopped back down on the couches while Titus and I went out for a date at Applebees and to the grocery store. When Titus and I got back at 8:30 they were both in the exact same positions we had left them in!

So yeah, I'm pretty sure Leeann and Rob are both sick. She's been asleep for the better part of 7 hours now! Anyone want to guess what I'm probably going to be doing at about 1:45 this morning?

Ah, but I sure did enjoy a date with Titus. He's a fun little boy and so charming! I don't get very much one-on-one time with him, so it's always a special treat when we get to go out :0)

So, here we are... settling back into life as usual... with a sick kid to boot!

Janice's Slide Show Video

Here's the video we showed at Janice's memorial service today:

It's so weird that she's gone, and now her memorial service is over too. We'll go home tomorrow and go back to life as 'normal'. It's been helpful to have the busyness of being around family and making preparations. I wonder what it will feel like to be home though, without all of the people, plans and commotion...

For now, I fondly remember a woman that I adored. I loved Rob's mom. She was so sweet and so generous and so kind. And she loved me.

I love that she loved me. She loved so many people. She's going to be missed!

For those of you who didn't get to know her I'll sum up her 'world' in a few short words: Crafts, craft shows, sewing, quilting, antiques, people, giving, gifts, husband, kids, grandkids, gingerbread houses, family, travel, Disneyland, Dr. Pepper and Cheetos!

This stinks...

That's pretty much how I feel about this whole loss-of-Mee Maw thing. There are so many thoughts, feelings and emotions I'm trying to process. I don't want to process them though, I want them to go away, and I want her to be here!

We met with the Pastor today to plan the details of her service, but other than that we're just kind of hanging out. We've invaded Rob's sister, Shelly's house. She's so good to accept us (and Suzy and the boys too) on mere hours notice on the day she loses her mom. I swear, only Shelly can do that with such grace! We love you Aunt Shelly!

We have more family coming Sunday, including many people we haven't seen in years so we are all looking forward to that. Leeann and Titus are, of course, loving having so much time with all of their fantastic cousins.

Leeann cried for a good five minutes when we told her that Mee Maw had died, but other than that she seems to accept the facts and be dealing with it well. Titus, well, he's 3. He keeps asking where she lives now though, since we informed him that she now lives in heaven with Jesus. I'm not dealing with it very well and Rob... well, I'm just not sure how he's dealing with it yet. I think we're all pretty numb in a lot of ways.

So, that's the story of what's going on around this place. Just thought you might like to know...

In Loving Memory of Mee Maw

Rob's mom, Janice (or beloved 'Mee Maw' as our kiddos refer to her) passed away yesterday. Rob and I had received word around noon that she probably only had days or maybe weeks to live, but we were all hopeful she'd receive a liver transplant that would allow her body to heal.

We packed up and headed to Washington as soon as we could, but were told that she was slipping away and probably wouldn't make it until we got there. By the time we had reached Portland we got the news that neither of us were prepared to hear. She had passed away.

It still seems so unreal. She's everywhere. Things that she made, gifts that she gave, grandkids that she adored. Yet, she's not here, and she won't be here again. Our world's have changed in an instant. But thankfully, so has hers. She's in heaven with Jesus and her body is healed--her pain is gone. Selfishly I want her here with us so badly, but she was ready to go.

She'll be missed terribly. We have so many great memories with her, and she was such a great grandmother to our kids. I will always cherish so much about her and her life... I just wish we'd had more time with her!

We are enjoying time with family as we make preparations for her memorial service. It will be on Tuesday, feel free to email me or leave a comment if you want more info on that.

Please keep our family in your prayers, especially Carmin (Heempaw as he's referred to in our house). It's heart-wrenching to lose a parent, but I can't imagine how much more difficult it is to lose a spouse.

We love you Heempaw, and thank you for being so good to Mee Maw, you've been wonderful husband, care-taker and friend to her.

Mee Maw, I'm pretty sure there isn't internet access in heaven, but just in case there is, please know that you are missed and loved dearly by so many people, especially those inside Robyn's Nest. We love you!

A few little updates

Titus is doing well with his glasses for the most part, but he's also taken them off several times and left them in random places. Anyone want to take bets on how long it will be until they're broken or lost?

He woke up with a runny nose today and saying "What? What?" a lot. I don't really want to pay a $25 co-pay to find out if he has another ear infection, but I also don't want it to get out of control either. I wonder if the doctor will teach me how to identify them myself?

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I think I forgot to update you about adoption stuff after I posted that we had been referred to another case worker. Long story short: that didn't work out. We're now just kind of taking it slow. We're not actively looking for anyone else just yet, but we haven't all together turned away from the possibility either. We'll see what God has in store for us.

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Rob's mom has an appointment this Tuesday with the transplant doctor. The hope is that she'll end up at the top of the list right after this appointment, so we're still praying for a transplant SOON. We'd appreciate your prayers also.

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Anybody want to but a condo in Albany? Please?

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We went to St. Helens last weekend, which is always enjoyable. My brother's girlfriend had a baby shower. They are expecting my nephew in early March. I love being an auntie... the more the merrier! Other than that, I think I'm fresh out of news.

The Glasses!