7 Day Loan

Today I started reading The Dovekeepers, the next selection for the book club I'm in. I got it from the library yesterday but didn't notice until today that, since the book is classified as "New Fiction," the book is due in 7 days! Usually you get three weeks for a book (or maybe four?). So now, even though I'm still in the middle of reading two other books, I had to start this new book so that way I can finish it in a week. Luckily, the book is pretty fast reading and is really good so far, so it shouldn't be a problem. The book however is 500 pages and I am finding it increasingly difficult to find time to read, and when I do, it is hard to stay awake as I'm becoming more and more exhausted. Let's hope I can finish in a week!

What I Learned: I only have one week to finish the book for book club.

Volunteer Data Entry

A few years ago I signed up to volunteer at Grace for data entry but the positions were always full. Then last week I got a call saying that there was a position open on the Evangelism Data Entry team, so I accepted. It's only for an hour or two a month and you can do your hour of service whenever you are available during your assigned week. That's great because then I can come on my own time.

Tonight I went to church before choir for training. The basic duties are entering visitors from the Friendship Registers into a database and printing off and mailing some mailers for visitors. It was pretty easy and basic to do. The problem is that there is a five-week rotating schedule, so you almost have to relearn how to do everything each time you go in because you never do it often enough!

What I Learned: How to enter visitor information into the database at Grace.

Avery is Awesome

Today Avery had his 18-month check up. He had to get one vaccine and then get his blood drawn to check his iron levels so that we can see if he has restless leg syndrome (see earlier post). I was not looking forward to the appointment, anticipating that Avery would, for obvious reasons, be very upset during and after the appointment.  During the appointment, I found out that Avery is somehow in the 75th percentile for height (which I'm sure will even out soon as both Jared and I are clearly not tall people) and in the 50th percentile for weight. After the basic check up was done, the doctor suggested we give Avery Zyrtec before bed to see if it helps with his RLS.

Then it was time for the vaccine. Now every time Avery has gotten a vaccine, he literally has not said a word, except when he got the MMR, but that one burns and apparently adults complain about how much it hurts, so that's understandable. For some reason, I just thought that because he was older, he would cry this time, but nope; he gave one little yelp of protest and that was it. The nurse was so shocked. Avery's a man! Haha. Then we went over to the lab for the blood draw where he was given a bag of animal crackers to distract him. He certainly protested and even cried during the blood draw but about 30 seconds after it was done, he was perfectly fine and eating his crackers.

There are so many things that Avery is awesome at (eating, getting shots, bath time, entertaining himself, etc). I just wish that sleep was one of them. Let's hope this Zyrtec works!

What I Learned: Avery is tall for his age; Avery is a trooper when it comes to getting shots and blood drawn.

LAC at the Rockefeller Memorial Chapel

The choir that I'm in, The Lutheran Acappella Choir of Milwaukee, is performing in Chicago on April 15th at the University of Chicago's Rockefeller Memorial Chapel. Apparently, the church puts out a brochure every season detailing all the performances that they have, so we made it into the brochure (we are listed on page 2 and 8).

http://rockefeller.uchicago.edu/pdf/Arts%20Rock%20Spring%202012%20Web.pdf

It's pretty cool because as you can see from the brochure, they have some pretty impressive performances there. If I lived close to the church, I would go to so many of those concerts!

What I Learned: LAC is in the Rockefeller Memorial Chapel brochure.

House

This morning I received a call from my brother. He informed me that he, my dad, and sister were on their way to look at the house that my dad is putting an offer on. If I wanted to see it, I should meet them there. So I met Neal, Afton and Ken at  the house, which is on 94th,  a block south of Schlinger Ave in West Allis. The house is a 3-bedroom ranch with a full, mostly finished basement. The house overlooks Lafollette Park and is on a really quiet street. While there are certainly things that can be updated, the house is move-in ready. It even has an awesome sun-room that was built off the back of the house and a fenced in backyard, which will make it easier for Avery to play in :)

I really liked the house and hope that my dad gets it. The thing is, it's a foreclosed home and the bank is just taking offers until the 30th and will then just take the best offer, so it's all just a guessing game as my dad won't know how many people are putting in a bid or what they are bidding. Pray that he gets the house!

What I Learned: What the house looks like that my dad is trying to buy.

Restless Legs

As you might already know from reading this blog, Avery is not the best sleeper. He never has been.  He is super restless when we put him to sleep for the night, wakes up often, and seems uncomfortable all the time, which makes him wake up more, etc. We are having a hard time getting him to stay asleep and to sleep on his own.  I have thought a few times that maybe he has Restless Leg Syndrome as I have it, and toss and turn all night like Avery does. My mom mentioned tonight that she thought he might have it as well, so we decided to do some more research to see if babies/children can actually have it.

After looking online, I am pretty certain that Avery has RLS, which would explain his sleep problems. He has all the signs and symptoms, especially the fact that when he's tired and trying to sleep, he scratches himself a lot, to the point of bleeding sometimes (which kids with RLS can do because they feel like they have things crawling on their skin). According to one Mayo Clinic study, 72% of children that have RLS have a mother who has it. Avery's 18-month appointment is coming up soon, so I plan on talking to his doctor about this and I hope to God that we can remedy this problem and help him to sleep better (especially before the baby comes). It seems like the number one way to treat it in kids is to give them iron supplements but I doubt Avery has low iron levels as he eats meat at about a 3:1 ratio of all other foods. I hope there is something he can take or something we can do to solve the problem so we can all sleep better (and I will finally know why he's had so many problems sleeping!).

What I Learned: Kids can have Restless Leg Syndrome, and it's possible that Avery has it.

Bananagrams

Tonight, I learned how to play Bananagrams. My in-laws just gave it to us for Easter, so we decided to try it out. It is so much fun! Jared thought he would suck at it but he was surprisingly amazing and we were just in a race to keep up with him the whole time. I like that you can play with any number of people (we've only done it with three, but Jared and I could easily play together or we could play with 6, etc) and that it involves both speed and skill. It is definitely a fun game.

What I learned: How to play Bananagrams.

Jicama

This week, according to Babycenter.com, my baby is roughly the size and weight of a jicama. I have never heard of a jicama or seen one. So of course I looked it up.

A jicama is also called a Mexican Turnip or a Mexican Yam. The jicama is actually the name of the vine, but people most commonly call the edible root of the vine a jicama. Jicamas resemble potatoes and the starchy inside is most like an apple. It is most commonly eaten raw with salt, lemon or lime juice and chili powder. It is also used in soups.

What I Learned: What a jicama is.

No Office :(

Every Thursday I get home from choir and am all excited to watch The Office and Parks and Recreation. Then last week I learned that Parks and Rec is taking a 5 week hiatus so that Community can come back on. I really like Community as well, so while I was really sad about Parks and Rec (mostly about not seeing Ben Wyatt for five weeks...), at least I got a substitute in Community. Then tonight, I get home from choir and turn on the DVR, and there's no Office! No Office OR Parks and Rec! :( Just Community was on. I was so sad.

What I Learned: The Office was not on tonight for some reason.

Toilet

Our toilet sucks. There are so many minor things "wrong" with it, but not enough wrong with it that it's broken; it still somehow functions. While complaining to my dad about this, he decided that he was going to buy us a new one for our birthdays (is it lame that I'm excited to get a toilet for my birthday?). So we went and got a new toilet that has a flush power of 10 (I'm guessing ours was a 2 at best), two flush settings, and is high efficiency. I am so excited about our new toilet, you have no idea. No more jiggling the handle, flushing multiple times, wiping up water from all over the floor due to ridiculous amounts of condensation, or waiting what seemed like 2 full minutes to make sure the toilet actually stopped running after you flushed. Who knew I could get so excited about a toilet?

What I learned: Ken bought us a toilet for our birthdays and I am so excited about it!

Ultrasound

Today I had another appointment with my midwife and after much deliberation, I decided to tell her that I am starting to feel uncomfortable with the fact that I don't feel this baby move much at all. It's not that it's just less than what Avery moved. It's that it's rare that I feel the baby move at all. So we decided that it was best that I get another ultrasound, more to calm my fears than anything else, but since there was a slight chance that there could be something wrong, it was better to check to make sure that everything was okay.

So I went back in at 2:15 to get it and of course, the baby was moving for the entirety of the ultrasound. It was probably the longest I've ever felt the baby move! The ultrasound showed that the baby was perfectly healthy and normal, growing just as it should be with a normal heart rate. I am glad that I was worried for nothing and that everything is okay, but felt silly that the baby made me look like a liar to the ultrasound tech! Silly baby.

What I Learned: The baby is doing perfectly okay, despite its lack of movement. I am hoping this means that the baby is as docile outside of the womb as it is inside :) A calm, quiet baby that sleeps well would be wonderful! Haha.

Shower Curtain

Every month or so I take our shower curtain liner and soak it in bleach and then wash it as it accumulates mold and other shower residue. I have done this so many times and for some reason was under the impression that when I washed it in the past, I put the washing machine setting to "heavy duty" for the wash cycle to make sure it gets clean. Well, apparently I was wrong because this time I did that and it tore the shower curtain! Luckily, the tears are small enough that it is still usable and functioning but I'm sure I will have to replace it sooner now than I was originally planning. I guess pregnancy fog not only makes you forget things but makes you remember things incorrectly. That's my excuse at least...

What I learned: Don't wash the shower curtain on heavy duty mode because it will tear.

Feeling Faint

This morning in church, I couldn't sing for choir because I started to feel so faint that I had to go lie down in the nursery. This happened a few times when I was pregnant with Avery and this is the second or third time this has happened with this pregnancy. It's odd that it always happens at church but I realized it's most likely because a) I'm constantly standing up and sitting down (which makes it even more difficult than it already is for my blood to circulate throughout my body) and b) I guess I'm getting out of breath when I sing because I'm not taking deep enough breaths. Luckily, I was able to make it through the late service and sing. I hope this stops happening though because Easter is just around the corner and I don't want to miss out!

What I Learned: I feel faint in church easily when I'm pregnant.

Pregnant!

Ok so this is a lame post because I can't really say much other than the fact that I found out today that one of my friends is pregnant! I can't reveal anything else at the moment but I am really excited for her. Sorry for the suspense and lack of information, but there it is.

What I Learned: My friend is pregnant :)

Shangri-La and Don Quixote

Tonight Jared and I went to the Sonnenbergs to play games. It was just the four of us and we were able to learn two new games. The first one was called Don Quixote and was basically a tile laying game where each person had the exact same tiles and they had to be placed on your own boards. I was really good at this game and apparently got one of the highest scores ever on my first game. Gary then challenged us to a rematch since he did so poorly the first time. The second time, the scores were a lot more even but I still prevailed. The great thing about this game is that it was quick to learn and to play as well as involving skill. I really want this game now.

The second game we learned was called Shangri-la. This also was a tile placement game but was slightly more complicated and involved more strategy, but since none of us had played it before, none of us really knew the strategy yet. This game was also fun and with four, still didn't take very long (about an hour). One of the best things about the game was probably the names of some of the tiles. My favorite one: The Yeti Whisperer.

What I Learned: How to play Don Quixote and Shangri-La

Office Space

When I got into work today at Sarah's I found out that she officially rented an office space for Fresh Frame Photography! It's in Shorewood and only about four miles from her place. It has two rooms and a bathroom and is really nice. We move in on April 1st.

What I learned: Fresh Frame Photography now has an office!

Waffle House Void!

Last night we stayed in Smith's Grove, KY. Since I was only able to eat at Waffle House once on the entire trip, I announced that we would eat at Waffle House this morning for breakfast. After looking at both Ken's Waffle House App and Google Maps, we discovered that the closest Waffle House was an hour north in Elizabethtown, KY! WHAT?!? We're still in the south people. Why is there no waffle house in this hour-long stretch of freeway? Needless to say, we drove for an hour and then stopped for breakfast :)

What I learned: There are no Waffle Houses between Smith's Grove and Elizabethtown, KY.

Eating Out is Gross

Today is our last day in Georgia and I am seriously tired of eating out. We had originally planned to buy groceries so that we would be able to make all our meals, not only to save money, but also so that we wouldn't have to eat fast food every day. But when we got here, the fridge was already unplugged and the entire kitchen was packed up in boxes, so there was nothing with which to make food and nothing to store the food in. So we have literally eaten every single meal "out." I feel so gross. I can't wait to be able to make some food at home!

What I Learned: Eating fast food for 5 days is gross.

Five Guys

Tonight, Bill decided to take us all out for dinner so we went to Five Guys. I have never been there but have heard my dad rave about it. While we were waiting in line, Ken was saying how you have to be careful with the fries, because once you start eating them, you can't stop. I didn't really believe him because I'm not much of a fries person, but sure enough, one fry, and I couldn't stop. They were the best fries I've ever had.

What I learned: Five Guys has the best fries I've ever had.

Marching Band Nostalgia

This afternoon, Avery and I were able to get out of the house again and go to my friend Brice's house to hang out with him, his wife Sarah and 10-month-old son Jack. Then two of my best friends from high school, Justin and Whit, came over to hang out as well. As usual, the conversation between Whit and me veered towards marching band and we spent some time reminiscing. It made me realize that I will be sad that Avery will not have the same marching band experience that I had in high school. Even though he could have the opportunity to be in marching band here, it won't be the same. In Georgia, marching band is almost as intense as high school football. The competitions are intense and the marching band is very involved in every football game, both at home and away. Maybe it won't even matter because Avery might not play an instrument and want to be in marching band. But seeing as I have already predicted that he is going to be a drummer and march with the Scouts or Cavaliers, I doubt he will play nothing. Alas. The one good thing about living in Georgia growing up was marching band. I guess I'll take that and be happy with the fact that my children get to grow up in Wisconsin instead :)

What I Learned: I will be sad if my kids aren't in marching band, or if they are, that they won't have the same experience that I had.

Muscle Memory

Since yesterday was such a nightmare for me and Avery, I decided to call my cousin to see if we could come over for a few hours just so I could get out of the house. I didn't want to drive to Snellville at all, but realized that the drive would afford me 2 less hours at the house, as well as the hours I would spend at Mandy's. Thankfully, Mandy and Brandon were available, so we headed over. I stopped and got Chick-fil-A for lunch first and then spent a few hours there playing Euro games. Avery had fun playing with a giant bin filled with old Happy Meal toys and watching Sesame Street. It was awesome.

I realized when I left Bill's that I hadn't been to GA in a little over two years, and even that time, I flew in, so I didn't do any driving. I wondered if I would need to look at a map to remember the best way to get to my cousin's house. But I soon realized that driving in Atlanta is kind of like muscle memory. As soon as I started, I knew which way to go and remembered as I went along. This may sound silly to those of you who are not from Atlanta, but Atlanta is not laid out in any way that makes sense, and it's about 10 times the size of any city in Wisconsin, so you really have to know your way around to get anywhere and none of the roads go north-south or east-west. There are many winding roads with many turns everywhere; there is never a straightforward way of getting to any one place.

Needless to say, I made it there easily after years of being away. I definitely prefer driving in Wisconsin and don't miss Atlanta at all still. I also realized that I have no desire to ever go to Snellville  again (except to visit my cousin of course!). I have no nostalgia for that place. I am so glad I left.

What I Learned: Driving in Atlanta is like muscle memory for me.

Bill's House

We arrived safely in GA this afternoon to find Bill's house all in shambles with stuff everywhere. Mostly there are just boxes all over the place, but while his house was not anywhere close to being baby-proofed before we arrived, it is certainly worse now with the move going on. On top of that, Avery remembered that he loves swimming in pools and so the sight of Bill's pool keeps making him super excited, only to be brought to tears when we have to keep him inside, far away from it. He doesn't understand why he can't go in the pool and he certainly doesn't understand why he can't go exploring all over this new house he's in. It's actually kind of a nightmare trying to be here with Avery. I hope that tomorrow there is some alternative to me staying in the house with Avery or it's going to be a long few days.

What I learned: Keeping Avery confined in Bill's house, in one room, is not only difficult for Avery to understand, but difficult for me to endure. Traveling with a very mobile and curious toddler is turning out to be the opposite of a vacation.

Unpredictable

Tonight, Jared, Ken, Avery and I left for GA around 8pm. We anticipated that Avery would fall asleep as soon as he got in the car because he usually goes to bed between 7:00-7:30. This he did. We also thought that he would sleep for 4-5 hours and then wake up for milk like he usually does. This he also did. But upon waking up, he couldn't fall back asleep because he was very uncomfortable, having been in a car seat for five hours. This was completely understandable. So we decided to just stop at a hotel so that we could all at least get some sleep and so Avery could fall back asleep comfortably. I thought that surely stopping at a hotel would give us all more sleep than continuing to sit in the car with a crabby baby.

But of course, when we got to the hotel (by this point it was 2am), Avery thought it was play time and stayed up until 5am and was wide awake. He finally fell asleep around 5:00, so our plans to leave around 7am were thwarted because Avery of course was so tired that he was sleeping. Jared only slept for two hours while I got about three (Thankfully, Ken slept through it all and got in a solid 6 hours of sleep, plus the few hours he slept in the car, so at least he was capable of driving). We finally left the hotel around 9:00. So what was supposed to be a more restful night because we broke down and got a hotel turned out to be even more tiring. I just hate that I can't predict when Avery is going to sleep and cooperate and when he's going to suddenly be wide awake and not sleep. Grr.

What I learned: Never assume what Avery is going to do when it comes to sleeping. I will be wrong.

Noah

I was doing my daily Bible reading tonight in Numbers and found something curious. Numbers 26:33 states:

"And Zelophehad the son of Hepher had no sons, but daughters: and the names of the daughters of Zelophehad were Mahlah, and Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah."

Is Noah the first gender neutral name? It is in the Bible as both a male and female name! It's curious that nowadays it is more a boy's name because I did some research and apparently the name Noah is very popular as a girl's name in Arab cultures and not used as a boy's name. It is also odd because so many boy's names are used for girls (like Avery...) but not very often is a girl's name used for a boy. It seems that the original form of the name Noah is feminine and the male Noah in the Bible is actually pronounced No -ACH, which is a different name.  Any Bible scholars want to weigh in on this one?

What I learned: Noah is a girl's name in the Bible.

Super Tuesday

Today was Super Tuesday. Here is a short summary of the results.

Mitt Romney won 6 states.
Newt Gingrich won 1 state.
Rick Santorum won 3 states.
Ron Paul didn't win any states.

What I Learned: The results of Super Tuesday (and it still scares me that Rick Santorum is winning anything at all).

Appalling Statistics

I was reading an article in Time today and learned some frightening statistics. In the U.S. 41% of all children are now born out of wedlock and the number raises to 53% if you are a woman under 30. So over half of all children born to mothers under 30 are out of wedlock. Seriously, this is a problem. I guess I am now a minority.

What I learned: More babies are born out of wedlock to women under 30 than our born to married couples.

Stan and Jan

Today I saw that Jan Berenstain (of Stan and Jan Berenstain and the Berenstain Bears fame) died. I really always thought that their last name was Berenstein, pronounced as "steen" at the end. I don't know how I always thought this seeing as they are famous for writing books and therefore I obviously saw their name on the books, as well as that of the bears, but I still thought it was Berensteen.

What I Learned: The classic storybooks of Stan and Jan are the BerenSTAIN Bears.

Charming Charlie

To end my Day of Solitude (which really was like 30 hours of solitude over the course of two days), this morning I checked out of my hotel after a free breakfast buffet and drove to Bayshore to check out the store Charming Charlie. My sister and Angela have both raved about this store and so I decided I needed to check it out. The entire store contains any and all accessories you could possibly imagine with the added benefit of the store being arranged by color. I was in there for one and a half hours trying to decide what to get. I ended up getting a boring gray purse because it was the cheapest one in the store and I needed one after the entire lining in mine ripped out. I really wanted jewelry but figured I should get something more practical if I was going to get anything at all. This store is amazing and if I had disposable income, I would buy things here way more often.

What I Learned: Charming Charlie is my new favorite store.

Haircut

This morning I began my Day of Solitude with a free 30 minute massage at Elements Spa in Elm Grove. I then ate some lunch and checked into my hotel. Around 2:00, I got the hotel shuttle to bring me to Bayshore to the Vici Beauty School to get my hair cut. I got it ALL chopped off. I have never had my hair this short before and I really like it. I was so afraid that it would look bad and I wouldn't be able to do anything about it, but I have to say, it looks good and I feel like it makes me look older (and by that I mean, I now think I look my actual age). And since I donated the hair to Locks for Love, my haircut was free! I didn't know that beforehand, so that was a nice surprise.

What I learned: If you donate your hair to Locks for Love, your haircut is free and I look good with short hair :)

Possible Road Trip

My dad called me today to let me know that he is most likely driving down to Georgia next Thursday and wanted to know if Avery and I were interested in coming along. He is going to help his best friend Bill and my brother Sam move. Now I obviously can't help move really but it would be a great opportunity for me to go and see my friends before baby #2 arrives as the next time I can go to Georgia will most likely be more than a year and a half from now. I haven't been in two years so I want to go and see my friends but am dreading the idea of 15 hours or more in the car with Avery. I think I convinced Jared to take off work to come along as it will make it easier for me and it will be a nice break for us together, assuming we don't have to help move 24-7 while we're down there. We shall see.

What I learned: I have an opportunity to go to Georgia next week.