Ronan says the darndest things

I have to write this down so I don't ever forget it....
earlier today Ronan was telling me "I wish I was a still a little baby.  'cuz I was really cute that day"

upon review

I realized that by not having updated the blog for so long there are a lot of things that haven't been mentioned.
I guess I just don't want people to fret, but hey, that's not why I'm writing this blog... it's my record of my life and that of my family.

first thing not mentioned...
I took my gestational diabetes test and failed.  not miserably, but enough to be a fail and be diagnosed with gestational diabetes.  I am now monitoring my blood sugar before and after every meal and it's been pretty well controlled anyway, but I now have the expense of diabetes monitoring supplies (which insurance isn't covering most of) and the extra expense of a diabetes specialist at the clinic.
when it gets really hot out and my body is extra stressed because of that, my blood sugar is a little bit high, but nothing that my doctor has been worried about.  in fact they figure that once Summer is done and my nausea from being morning sick is completely gone it is likely that I will not really be classified as gestationaly diabetic anymore.

We have decided that we live in the swirly of life.  yep a swirly, where you get your head shoved in a toilet and then it's flushed.
Tim's hours had been cut to 36 a week for a while because they just didn't have much work coming in.  it has been a big stresser
and we have been dipping into the savings account to make sure everything is taken care of.  a few of the things we've had to dip into the savings for are

• Tim's car needed new tires
• the water heater thermal couple has gone out on the water heater but our water heater has to be special and needs a very specific part to fix the thermal couple... we can't just go buy an $8 piece and get it over with... no, it has to be a $50 part and it HAS to be ordered online because there is not one single place in all of our area that has the part.  We're still waiting for that part to finally ship and it should and better be here this week.
• the refrigerator kind of died.  it stopped cooling properly and we had to throw a LOT of food away.  it makes me ill thinking of how much that food was worth.  but the repair guy came (it died on a Saturday morning and the repair guy was closed until Monday) and got it working temporarily.  we are waiting on him to come again today with the part that he had to order last week and finally get it put in so we don't have this problem again in the near future. 
• the next freak out moment was the Tuesday morning after our fridge died, Tim went out to go to work and he had a Seriously flat tire.  yep one of his NEW ones.  What the heck!  so he put the spare on, flung the blown tire into the back of the van and went to work.  after work he stopped at the tire place that he bought the tires and they did fix it for free so Tim is sure that it was a problem that they had caused because they didn't want to talk to him about it after they had fixed it.  I'm sure they were embarrassed.
• and if that wasn't enough... the van died on the side of the road just the other night.  Tim ended up taking Friday (all of it) to get it fixed.  new battery and that didn't do anything.  so we had to track down a fuse for the alternator.  again, not a single place in town has the correct part.  then he couldn't get the fuse out because he needed the right tool and it was a nightmare.  he eventually got the right tool and got the part out and in the end he had to make due with the very generic fuse that we had found but doesn't fit properly under the casing.  

and this isn't all of the horrible week and a half that we have had.
so now the question is what did I do so evil to deserve such punishment. because I can deal with one thing went wrong this summer but to have EVERYTHING crap out on us in less than a month!!! this isn't a life lesson from God, this is a punishment because now our savings account that is meant to get us a nice house and out of this dump is almost gone and I will have to start all over again.

more than a little discouraging.

but we did have our ultrasound and though we didn't get very good images because I have an anterior placenta, my OB says that everything is looking good.   We found out the baby's sex, but we're not telling.  because even though we saw (sort of) I still feel like the ultrasound could be wrong.  plus the moment we tell, somehow that will make people think they get to give us some input on what to name our baby.  (our baby, we pick a name whether you like it or not)
and despite my GD diagnosis I currently don't have to have extra appointments at the clinic (yet) and though I am considered High Risk because I am old and fat and have GD I am not so high risk that I have to be monitored weekly at this point and it's looking like the rest of my pregnancy is going to be just like any other pregnancy. 

one tender mercy

Money

a few weeks ago Erica started her job at our local grocer.  she's had other jobs baby sitting and such, but this is the first job she has had that has taken out social security and state and federal taxes and payed with a check! very exciting to be counted as a working class citizen  :D

the birthday boy is 5!!!

 on Ronan's birthday we woke up to one of the new bunnies having breakfast out our front window.  he was so cute. the kids were really good about sneaking quietly over to look at him.  he then made his way over to one of my flower beds and I really didn't want him there because we have some new seedlings in there this year.   Daddy and Ronan went out and startled him away.  I don't mind him eating the clover and dandelions in the yard, but they never do just stop there...

 later in the day we had a visit and grandma brought presents.  Captain America is a big hit!!!  Ronan LOVES everything super hero and he especially loves the Avengers.  however, he already has many Iron Man action figures so a new hero was exactly the way to go.  Thanks Grandma!

 while arranging pictures and thinking about the other day, I realized that I had forgotten to have him sit and have an official Birthday Picture.  Ugh, what was I thinking?!  it must be pregnant brain.  but I did get a couple of pictures of him sitting excitedly waiting for cake and icecream

 and you might ask yourself what is he doing here?  well, the day before is Daddy's birthday.  while singing happy birthday to daddy, dad was pointing quite obviously to himself and singing happy birthday to ME.  Ronan loves everything about daddy and wants to be just like him (and I'm so glad.  there's no one better to have as your real life hero)
so while we were singing happy birthday to Ronan, he was very obviously pointing to himself.  :D

 Ronan lit the candles all by himself.  (yep, the cake was pink - it tasted like strawberry sugar wafers) and when it was time to blow them out, it took him probably 7 times before he aimed it right or opened his mouth enough to get sufficient air across the flames...

 It is so hard to get a good angle on these kids when they are opening presents.  I had him start out on the couch but the excitement was just too much for him and he was all over the place.  he opened one present (the game card that goes with the DS he got) and he popped it open and    POW  in your face showed Connor and Emma.  I wish I had gotten a picture of that, it was precious!  but so fast.
he knew what was coming next and there was no way we were going to get  him back on the couch for a better picture.

he opened it up, put the game in, turned it on, and played like a professional.   the most frustrating part of birthday pictures is that everyone is so pulled in by the thrill of it all that I have a hard time getting a picture of just the birthday star.
but since all the kids have a DS now, they all play together with the games that they can wirelessly share and most of the time it has been fun.

Happy Birthday, MacaRoni!

a very big day today!

first of all and most importantly, it is Tim's birthday!  I will be making his frostingless cake today. and later today I will be making another birthday cake for Ronan's big day tomorrow!

our other big day today is that it is the last day of school for the kids.  they are all thrilled with the exception of Connor who insists that he doesn't want school to be done.  He did have a terrific teacher this year and I'm sure that plays a big part in his desire to continue school.

Timothy is on a trip to Valley Fair today.  he almost didn't go and I was feeling bad about that because a) he worked hard this entire year and has been on the B honor roll all year and I think he deserves a fun trip.  and b)  his best friend will be moving this summer and I felt like the more time they can muck around together before they leave the better.

Erica is going to be picking up her work shirt and schedule for her new job.  she is very excited to get started and I'm very excited for her to get started.  I could always use an extra hand around here, but lately she hasn't done much even when I beg so I will be glad for her to have a life lesson that she can apply directly to herself without me trying to cram the lesson down her throat.   I think her outlook on things will change when she realizes that I am not trying to be a mean person but help her understand how the rest of the world works.

Emma simply needs the break from school and all things social.  although this summer her best friend's family is planning a move and that will be sad, I'm sure she will be glad to have the break from the requirements of school and the social demands put on her since she tends to be a bit more reserved (much like I was/am).  more than that, I'm sure that she will probably focus more on me and the baby.  she has been so excited about the baby.  though the rest of the kids have been excited and happy, Emma has by far been more interested in how big the baby is now and what's new with the baby...
I will be having a few more appointments with my OB starting in a couple of weeks and through Summer. she will likely be wanting to come with us.  we'll see.  I may have her come along to a couple of them since she won't have anything else to need to do.   (however, with Erica and Timothy working this summer the little kids might have to come to an appointment or two anyway)