The Williamson Life

The morning

2009-08-12T11:01:00.002-04:00

I offered to give the kids baths after breakfast this morning. They didn't really need it, but I thought it would make things a little easier for me. Always easier to clean up the kitchen when they're off busy somewhere else.

I got busy in the kitchen and forgot to shut the water off as soon as I wanted...so the tub was quite full.

I got busy again, and when I came back, I saw it. POOP. What was I thinking?? Gage ALWAYS poops after breakfast! WHY did I think I could be faster than his scheduled poop????

Joel is at work. Both kids are sopping wet. We wait, trapped in the bathroom (so Gage doesn't run off) for 5 minutes while the tub drains. I then, still trapped in the bathroom, have to spray the tub down and clean it out. Is there room for my belly while leaning into the tub? No.

I get the kids back in the tub, and start rushing to clean them up and get them out as fast as I can. My back is really hurting by now. Asia: "Mom - I have to poop!" Me: "You'll have to wait a minute. Let me get you washed up first." Asia: "But I have to go really bad!!"

She sits on the toilet. 30 seconds later, "Mom, I can't go." Figures...

After the kids are out of the tub and dried off, I take Gage into his bedroom to get him dressed. He gets mad that I lay him down to put his diaper on.

So he pees on me.

Recent Asia Quotes

2009-08-10T16:50:00.003-04:00

Those of you that know us well, know that Asia can say some pretty clever things sometimes. Here's a few from the last couple weeks that I've enjoyed.

Asia: "Am I still growing up?"
Alaina: "Yup."
Asia: "Am I gonna get this big?"
Alaina: "You're gonna grow until you get as big as mommy."
Asia: "And then I'll be able to reach cereal and ice cream??"

Asia: “Why are our neighbors not outside anymore??”
Alaina: "I don’t know honey."
Asia: “Probably because they’re playing and tickling each other.”

Alaina: "Where's Gage?"
Asia: "He's down here, I told you!"
(Apparently I already asked her about him, and had forgotten!)

Newest Family Picture

2009-07-14T15:20:00.003-04:00

Here's the newest, and probably the best, family picture we have! It was taken on the 4th of July at Joel's parent's lakehouse.

BaCKyArd FuN!

2009-06-29T16:24:00.004-04:00

Trying to get a picture of Asia smelling a flower - I said, "Lean in and sniff the flower and we'll take a picture of it." This is what I got...wording is so crucial!

After re-explaining, this was the next shot that we got!

4 Months!

2009-06-06T22:26:00.003-04:00

So I'm basically 4 months... I was 17 weeks on Thursday (to be exact). I'm showing a lot sooner this time around, but I hear that's how it goes the more kids you have.

Here's the first 'official' pregnancy picture of me. I think something's up with our camera; every picture taken today has been blurry, especially around the edges. So this isn't the clearest of picures, but I guess it'll have to do!

Rockstar's Allergy Test

2009-06-04T15:50:00.006-04:00

Since Asia has an allergy to almost every nut, and had other allergies when she was younger, we figured it would be a good idea to have Gage tested for allergies as well. As it turns out, he tested a 4 (on a scale of 1-4) for a peanut allergy. Next year, he needs to have a blood test in May, then a recheck with skin testing in June.

Immediately after the scratch test. The left is environmental allergies, the right is food.

The control is the left reaction, the peanut is the right.

The final results.

Although he didn't like the test itself, he cheered up really fast.

Eyebrow Ring

2009-05-09T17:18:00.004-04:00

Joel let me get my eyebrow pierced again for Mother's Day. I had one seven years ago before we were married, but it only lasted a couple months and I took it out not only for our wedding, but because New Tribes wouldn't allow it, and we were moving onto campus only a month after getting married.

Joel had Wednesday afternoon off, so we headed out to my cousin's shop, Van Gogh Tattoos in Grand Ledge.

Lining up the clamp.

The needle's in! I didn't want to watch - can you tell?

The top ball is on, getting ready to put the bottom on.

Afterward, in the car!

Birthday Parties

2009-04-25T23:02:00.005-04:00

Asia turned 3 on the 19th, and she had a Princess Party. Gage turned 1 on the 23rd, and he had a jungle themed party with a monkey cake! Here's a few pictures from the excitement:

Surprise!!!!

2009-04-25T22:59:00.002-04:00

I've had 2 ultrasounds so far - we had some concerning blood work in the beginning, and I was having some unusual bleeding. Everything is fine, there are no problems, and I am due November 5th.

Surprise! A couple years early, but we're still excited!!

A Little Lazy

2009-04-25T22:54:00.002-04:00

Clearly I've been a little lazy lately in updating. I've got a couple slightly good excuses. The month of March was filled with sickness. After Asia got Pneumonia, she kept getting sickness after sickness, and it eventually spread. We've been feeling lots better this month, BUT were having trouble getting our pictures to upload from our camera to the computer. We finally got them uploaded, FULLY, not just partially, last night! Yay!!!

So now it's time for the updates....

Pneumonia

2009-02-23T13:10:00.001-05:00

Asia's fever went away Sunday, but she started coughing and sneezing like crazy. Then late last night her fever returned.

Joel took her in to see our doctor this morning, and it turns out she has a slight case of Pneumonia! (It certainly doesn't sound like a slight case though!) She also has a small ear infection in her right ear. We can't wait to get her started on antibiotics this afternoon. Hopefully she'll back to old self soon - I was not expecting such a big diagnosis!

Unfortunately Gage has started coughing too. We're just waiting to see if he gets a fever too, and if so, we'll be taking him in also. Please pray that he doesn't get sick too!

A Rough Week!

2009-02-21T16:30:00.002-05:00

We discovered Wednesday afternoon, after having a daughter that was unusually tired, that she was in fact, sick. Besides being tired, she has acted normal. Today she started having a little diarrhea. Yuck. Good thing I trusted my instincts and swapped out the underwear from diapers! Luckily Joel has been a good guy and has done his fair share of diaper duty.

I've gotta admit...I like having Asia sleep this much. She slept for 14 hours last night - from 6pm until 9am (she was awake from 12-1am when I had to wake her up because she had a high fever again). Starting Wednesday, she's been taking daily naps. The first consistent nap taking since the summer! We've tried 4 or 5 times this afternoon to get her to lay down for a nap. Despite how tired she acted or looked, she kept fighting it. FINALLY after a HUGE meltdown (Joel is at the church right now. Of course.) I laid in bed with her for less than 5 minutes and she was out cold. So this is my few minutes of rest before Rockstar wakes up from his nap.

I hope she feels better soon. I don't like seeing her sick! We'll see how the rest of the day goes, I guess. I'm supposed to play bass guitar during special music tomorrow at church, and I'm really excited - I REALLY hope Asia is better by tomorrow morning so that I don't have to stay home!

Busy Life

2009-02-08T21:29:00.005-05:00

Joel has started back to school. He is in his sixth week I think - hard to believe it's been that long already! He has been doing well. All online classes, and a couple are not worth the effort in credits. At least he's getting those out of the way.

Since Joel is back to school, I am spending more time taking care of the kids. Naturally. All I can say is, I've been exhausted lately. Seriously. I can hardly get out of bed in the morning. Asia is sleeping through the night again. We're praying that this will continue. I'm not sure why she started getting up during the night again, but it was aweful. Asia would wake Gage up, accidentally, so now Gage is also in the habit of getting up every night. With two kids, it's honestly easier to just feed him and go back to sleep, versus letting him cry it out and learn to go back to sleep on his own. I would get even less sleep doing the latter.

Gage is a handful. He's still quite attached to me. He loves toys, and he loves his big sis. He follows her into her room and plays very well with her. I'll find him by himself playing with his toys quite often. He gets into everything. Something about Asia's potty chair attracts him. We're having to keep the bathroom door closed again. We're sure he'll be walking soon.

Asia is a handful. She is such a sweetheart. She is such a brat. She's like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. She's all girl...princesses, princesses, princesses!! Pink, pink, pink! Make up, lipstick, dresses, hair, and all that jazz! She's turning three soon. I'm scared that three will be even worse than two. She already has quite an attitude - I'm not sure if I can handle it getting even worse!

Here's a couple pictures from a few weeks back. The pictures of Gage, are not bad/ill-timed pictures...those are his silly faces! He has quite the personality!

First Official Haircut

2009-02-08T21:20:00.003-05:00

So....this blogging thing is getting really hard for me. I don't have much time to make updates. Facebook is a lot easier. And Blogger is a pain when I want to upload pictures, and format everything. I've probably complained about this before...

Anyway, I've trimmed Gage's hair a couple times before, but he's never gotten an official haircut. Until a couple weeks ago. He is a busy boy who doesn't like to sit still. Especially when he doesn't like something that's going on. Needless to say, the haircut didn't turn out perfect. And sadly, I don't think I have an after picture. I guess that's something I'll have to work on...he was too worked up to get a good picture of him afterward.

I guess it serves me right for cutting his hair without daddy there to help.

Bedhead....those poor chapped cheeks!!

Alright mom....I'm not liking this so far...

Pleeeeeaaaase be done; you're torturing me here!

Merry Christmas!!

2008-12-21T17:07:00.001-05:00

Click here to create your own video

Halloween 2008

2008-11-01T21:51:00.004-04:00

I can't believe we're already past Halloween! We had a good day, although it wasn't as stress-free as I thought it was going to be. We started out in Toledo visiting Joel's family because his mom is very sick. We drove to our house to pick up a couple things then headed straight to Joel's sister's house where we had less than an hour to eat, feed Gage, get costumes on, and get back into town for the Fall Festival at their church to start. Let's just say we barely made it...all in all though, it was fun.

Asia with her Cinderella pumpkin...unfortunately, a squirrel ate the face out of it that night...

Asia the little Princess! If only it were true in real life...

Asia with her cousins and a friend at the Fall Festival at our parents church.

A Prayer

2008-10-11T22:22:00.005-04:00

Joel and I are working with Asia, teaching her how to pray on her own. Here's one from the other night.

Joel: Dear God,

Asia: Dear God,

Thank you for today

Thank you for today

Thank you I got to go to the grocery store

Thank you I got to go to grocery store, see the food

Thank you for mommy

Thank you for YOU (pokes me in the chest)

Thank you for daddy

And for gage

Thank you for grandpa and grandma

Thank you for grandma and grandma (yes, you read that right)

Help mommy's owie to feel better

Help your owie right there (points to my mouth)

Help daddy to work good tomorrow

Help daddy work

In Jesus name, Amen.

Amen!

Here Am I, Send Me!

2008-10-10T15:45:00.003-04:00

This is a video a friend posted on facebook that I wanted to share...the Lord really spoke to me as I watched this. So many times we ignore the moving of the Holy Spirit telling us to share God's love with someone. So many times we think, "I could never live in a third world country like they do." So many times we say, "I don't want to offend them." If God was to ask us why we didn't go, or why we didn't tell, can we really, truly stand before Him and say, "I didn't know You called me."?

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Phillippians 4:13

Visiting with Friends

2008-10-10T10:53:00.007-04:00

We don't get to make it down to Indiana as much as we'd like to (gas prices!!), but we were able to go last Thursday thru Saturday. We had a nice time visiting with the Fennells and the Picheas (who we haven't seen in 2 years!).

Us ladies had a scrapbooking night Thursday, we visited the Picheas on Friday afternoon, the guys had a lanparty Friday night, and then Saturday we went out for breakfast, and then went to a fall festival thing around lunchtime. Lots of fun!

pictures and an allergy test

2008-09-28T22:20:00.005-04:00

I'm taking Asia back in to see her allergist tomorrow. I'm stoked! It's been a year since her last test, and I'm super excited to see what she's allergic to. We're hoping she's outgrown some of her allergies (milk, soy, eggs, peanuts).

Here's a few pictures from the last couple weeks!

More Asia Funnies

2008-09-07T18:27:00.002-04:00

I've got a couple more funny/cute things Asia's said recently.

SWEATER
My parents took Asia to Old Navy last week and bought her some new clothes b/c they were having a sale. That night we tried some of the new clothes on, and as I put a sweater on her, I said, "Look at this pretty blue sweater! Don't you like it?"
She said, "I like it. I get married in it?"
Joel and I just laughed.

OBEDIANCE
I had asked Asia to do something (put a tube of medicine down) and she wasn't obeying. I said, "Okay, you're going to time out because you disobeyed. I asked you several times to put the medicine down, and you didn't obey."
She whined, "I didn't understand you."
WHAT!? I was so surprised that at 2 1/2 she's trying to make excuses for her disobediance. And now it starts...

Poop...

2008-08-28T10:34:00.004-04:00

I got a good laugh out of this a couple weeks ago. Every now and then she'll say it again, and I can't help but laugh. At least she remembers...and hopefully she'll obey! (*shudders)

Asia always asks to see her poop when I change her diaper. I don't know why, but she does. One day, after letting her see the diaper before wrapping it up, she says:

"I eat my poop."

I was shocked - what exactly do you do?? Laugh while cringing, or try to be serious and explain that that's DISGUSTING and we DO NOT do it.... Well, I landed somewhere in the middle. Between chuckles, I explained that it can make you sick, and we NEVER EVER NEVER eat poop. She continued by repeating my "never ever" with each individual in the family.

So every once and awhile it pops up out of the blue:

"We never ever never eat our poop."
"That's right, we never eat poop..."

Do with this as you will...

A Trip to the Zoo

2008-08-27T16:22:00.007-04:00

My parents bought us a family pass to the zoo for an early anniversary present. Last Wednesday the zoo had an "appreciation" day in the evening, for members only. So, we went with my parents. Free dinner and free parking!

Daddy home from work - last day of turn!!!

Look Daddy - berries!

Joel was exhausted - can you tell??

What do you think I am? Stupid? (we get this face a lot...)

Our Plans....

2008-08-10T22:53:00.006-04:00

Well... I've been wanting to post an update with our future plans for awhile now, but things have been kind of back and forth as we've been figuring out some of the details:

Joel is planning on going back to school to get his degree in Network Administration. We are in the process of selling our house so that we can move in with our parents while he goes back to school (to help us save money). Until our house sells though, he will only be taking a couple night classes; once the house is sold he'll be going full time, and working. He is also looking for another job for this fall. Painting has been really slow, and honestly, just hasn't cut it for us lately!

Plans for myself, as of right now, are to simply keep doing what I have been doing; stay home and watch the kids! We are both open to me working part time, but thus far, there have been too many complications to work out.

Our end desire is to see the Lord use us with New Tribes Missions in some way, any way, as we know that they are in need of people for Network Administration. Joel is great with computers, and this kind of ministry also leaves openings for him/us to serve in other areas. We are waiting on the Lord's timing for everything to take place, and are looking forward to where He takes us!

Prayer Requests:

*Our house will sell.
*Our car will sell (and that we'll find one with better gas mileage).
*Joel will find a new job, or more consistent hours painting.
*If it's the Lord's will that I can work too.
*That we'll be aware of the Lord's leading in terms of where to live after our house sells.

Gage at 15 weeks (3 1/2 months)

Our first family picture! (At a friend's wedding)

Asia's excitement at taking a bath with Rockstar!

Our Indian...

Nice and clean!!

The 4th!

2008-07-10T16:12:00.003-04:00

We spent Friday at my aunt's house for the parade and a BBQ. Then we went the fireworks in Lansing. Both kids did quite well. Asia loved the fireworks, and when asked if she like them, she said, "Do it again?" Even Gage had fun!

Saturday morning we left for Lake Seneca again, and stayed thru Monday. Here's just a couple pics, since we forgot to take more.

A Small Accident....

2008-06-30T11:13:00.003-04:00

Joel let me sleep in a little this morning. Asia needed a diaper change, so Joel asked her to go get a diaper and wipes from her bedroom. About 5 minutes later he realizes she hadn't come back out...she had gotten ahold of the diaper rash cream.

All About Gage

2008-06-24T22:56:00.003-04:00

So you might be wondering, "What does this Rockstar look like??" Well...he is tied with his sister for the most beautiful baby in the world title. Okay, okay; every parent says that.

Gage will be 9 weeks old this Wednesday, and he smiles all the time. In fact, he laughed for the first time tonight! It is such a wonderful feeling when your child smiles just because he hears your voice. It's also wonderful when he can go 6-8 hours at night between feedings! He loves his swing with the birdies, and puts up with big sis beating on him day and night. If she only understood that one day he'll get her back!

In good tradition, we took head shots of Gage on the white blanket my mom made us when I was pregnant with Asia. These, or ones similiar, will be turned into black and white 8x10's for our big wall. We just need to get updated pics of Asia...when we have the time...

A Trip to the Park!

2008-06-24T22:45:00.003-04:00

I've posted about this park before...the one that has the water sprinkler area, and the sidewalk right next to the lake...and the huge play area...

Well, we took Asia and Gage there a couple weeks back, and had lots of fun. Asia loves bridges (in the jungle gym) and kept running back and forth on them...in fact that's all she really wanted to do. She cried when we left to eat. We found a spot under a nice shady tree and ate our bologna/turkey sandwiches. Then we took her to play in the water - both the lake and in the sprinklers. Gage was asleep the whole time.

Off we go!

Helping carry lunch.

More from the Lake

2008-06-24T22:23:00.005-04:00

A couple weekends after Memorial Day, we went back down to the lake so that Joel could help his dad finish the stairs down to the lake, and put the dock in...another relaxing weekend!

Except when the Tornado sirens went off and Joel and his dad were moving the pontoon in the water and his mom and I had no way of contacting them... Praise the Lord they weren't hurt!

After a hard days work.

After the storm.

Done! Except for the railings of course...

Memorial Day Weekend

2008-06-24T22:02:00.005-04:00

We spent the weekend at Joel's parent's lake house...

We celebrated Claire's 1st, Alyson's and Jay's birthday, spent time swimming, and lots of time eating and hanging out. Here's some of the fun!

The birthday girl!

Socks!

Mmmm...cupcakes.

Even as her mom....this is gross...and yeah - it's 3/4 of the cupcake!

She really loves her brother!

Gage is 4 weeks old.

No Time...

2008-06-24T15:10:00.002-04:00

For those of you that check our blog regularly, or at least used to....we haven't had much time to update...

I had it set in my mind that I was going to update last Wednesday night, FINALLY, but then I learned that we were going to be showing our house Thursday night, and we had LOTS of work to do to get ready! This is the first time I've had since then to sit down and look thru our pictures to post and explain what's been going on with us, since a lot is changing.

Well...I just spent all of my "blog" time, signing up for Facebook. I'd gotten lots of invites to join, and I guess I finally got one to many, that I decided it's time to sign up (thanks Ryan). I've got to say...WOW - there were a lot more people that we know than I was expecting to see.

So the plan for tonight, is to post a REAL update on our lives. We'll see how it goes.

Johnny Gage the Rockstar

2008-04-21T22:05:00.004-04:00

John Gage Williamson

Born: April 23rd @ 10:12 pm

Weight: 7lbs 12oz.

Height: 22inchs

Grandpa Drewyor with Asia, Gage, and their cousin Dawson

Asia Loves Her brother Gage

Me looking Tough before the c-section

Alaina enjoying her epidural. :)

Baby Plans

2008-04-21T22:03:00.003-04:00

I never thought I'd be able to make it this far along...but, alas, I have. It's very comforting to have an end in sight though:

Wednesday morning at 11:30 we will be going in to the hospital to have my water broke. If this doesn't help get labor started within 24 hours, then we will have to have a c-section. So sometime on Wednesday or Thursday, we will have a brand spankin' new baby boy!!

Please pray that all goes well and that I will be able to deliver without any complications - our doctor is estimating the baby to be around 8 lbs (Asia was 8 lbs 5 oz)...I know you can't judge a book by its cover, but it's still a little scary to me. Also, if we end up having to do a c-section, we're asking that we have no visitors or phone calls the day of, to make sure that I can get enough rest after the surgery. (Thanks for understanding!)

Joel will be back in a few days with an update!

Happy Number Two!

2008-04-21T22:00:00.000-04:00

Happy Birthday to our beautiful little continent!!

This is a couple days late, thanks to trouble uploading the pictures to our computer...

My parents came over for cake Saturday afternoon (Asia's birthday). We rescheduled her b-day party due to the stress of not knowing when Gage would make his grand entrance. But I like to think that she still had a fun day!

In other news, Joel and I got some new insurance quotes Friday: we can have auto, home, and add life, and STILL SAVE around $500/yr!!! We are both very excited!

This video is from Sunday evening, but I still like it!

Still Waiting...

2008-04-18T15:57:00.002-04:00

I was sent to the hospital Sunday morning because of a possible bladder infection that was spreading to my kidneys. Turns out, I was in labor. Not the type of back pain I've heard of with back labor, but hey - that's how things always seem to go for me.

The pain was horrible, and can only be described as excruciating and debilitating. It was a constant pain that couldn't be relieved by anything (change in position, pressure, rubbing, etc.). I was well along when we first arrived, and they thought I might get to stay, but after no change, they decided to send me home (with some medicine, luckily).

Long story short, my contractions stopped halfway through the night and have not returned (along with every other "symptom" or "sign" I was having).

Honestly, we're both quite disappointed, since we're now looking at having to schedule a c-section. If I make it to Monday morning, I'm going back in to see my doctor and that's when we'll set up a time to do it.

In the meantime, we're praying the baby comes before then!

Pictures from the last few days...

2008-04-08T15:16:00.006-04:00

I was going to post something this morning about how nice and relaxing today has been. It's a good thing I didn't though...despite the fact that I got to "sleep in" until 8:30 and didn't get in the shower until almost 11, Asia made my morning quite difficult. Today is one of her whiny days. She's getting three teeth in, and I'm sure that's why the slightest "No" offends her so much.

Here's some pictures from over the weekend. The set of Joel and I is from late Saturday night while making a snack before bed...as usual, he's acting goofy and making me laugh. The set of Asia is from last night, when we took her to a park by our house and had Oreos afterward.

There's also a couple extra pictures that I like, but didn't know how to fit them in with the collages...so I stuck them in after the video.

Joel playing

Asia playing with her ball Sunday night before church

I'm Ready....

2008-04-06T15:35:00.004-04:00

Please, please, please....somebody get this baby out of me. Between having no clothes that fit, wearing sandals everywhere, an extremely itchy and sensitive belly, waking up every couple of hours at night, not being able to stand at the kitchen counter, climb into our car, pick up items off the floor, put pants on, or hurry UP the stairs (hurry anywhere for that matter) I have no idea how I'm going to make it another 3 weeks. Last week my doctor said I'm dilated to 1cm, but would schedule surgery as early as the 14th if I change my mind and opt for a repeat cesarean instead. Ugh. I still don't think I've really made up my mind on how I want to have this baby. Can't I have both?

Here's a sample "journal" of what every night is like for me:

12 am (I think) - Fall asleep snoring (I never snore...at least when I'm not pregnant and this exhausted).

2:30 - Roll out of bed with my whole body aching, and stumbled to the bathroom...possibly fell asleep while in there. Get a drink and realize Joel drank almost all of my water. Why couldn't he refill it? Doesn't he know my throat is parched every time I wake up??? Will have to refill it when I'm more awake.

5:30 - Struggle to roll out of bed again. Make it the bathroom and find that I'm more awake than last time. My throat feels like the Sahara desert AGAIN. Refill glass of water and return to bed.

6:30 - Wake up with backpain; how else am I suppose to lay when I sleep? Take a drink, fight the urge to use the toilet again...there's no way my bladder is full after only an hour.

7:35 - Why am I awake again? My back hurts even worse. Tell myself I can still get another 20 minutes of sleep if I hurry. Take a quick drink.

7:55 - Ugh. Time to get up, but I hit the snooze button instead.

8:05 - Alarm goes off again. This time I hear Asia talking to herself. Now it's really time to get up.

Asia

2008-03-29T17:44:00.005-04:00

Here are a bunch of cute pictures of our sweetie!

My favorite!

The twins!

2008-03-29T17:34:00.006-04:00

We finally got over to Grand Rapids to see our good friends Joel and Emily. Three weeks ago they had a cute set of twin boys. Meet Ender and Gray.

Gray

Ender

Gray is about 6lbs. The same size our doctor estimated Gage to be.

Birthday!

2008-03-21T23:32:00.003-04:00

Wednesday was my birthday. The big 2-5....it sounds so old...I'm not sure why, because I know it's not.

We finally had a real date! My parents took Asia for the night, and Joel and I went out to dinner with NO migraines!!! We ate at Bennigans (and got free dessert of course) and then headed to Wal-Mart to do a little shopping.

Joel's brother Jason, and his wife Nisae, who are in Papua New Guinea called us and we ended up sitting in the Wal-Mart parking lot for almost an hour talking to them! It was so nice to get caught up on a few things and not have to pass the phone off to some other family member after only 5 minutes.

We rented a movie, and when we got home Joel made me birthday ice cream: chocolate ice cream with bananas, caramel topping and candles! It was so sweet.

A Different Perspective

2008-03-21T23:19:00.005-04:00

For those that have never been pregnant, and never will be (guys), here's how a pregnant woman sees everything...keep in mind, it's a lot more intrusive than the picture makes it look.

February 45th

2008-03-21T23:13:00.005-04:00

In case any of you were wondering...today is February 45th, not March 21st...you may want to change your clock/calendars accordingly.

We’re Still Alive

2008-03-20T13:32:00.004-04:00

That’s right…we’re still here…just a little behind on things. Asia was sick last week, and we’ve been quite busy with Joel working, and preparing for the baby, and some other events going on in our lives. So I’m finally finishing the update that I started awhile ago.

Joel had some help from his brother-in-law, boss, and a friend from church laying tile in the entryway and kitchen of our church. Besides that, he’s been working…and doing a few things here and there, like helping fix a friend’s computer.

Joel has started teaching me bass again. We took a few weeks off, without meaning to, and are finally getting back into it again. I’m doing surprisingly well, I must say. I still have a lot to learn, but I’m having more fun than I expected I would. My belly has slowed down a little in growing…which is good; my clothes will last longer. I’ve been seeing a chiropractor, and sleeping on a new mattress – both have helped my back pain greatly. Now if I can just stop getting up 3 times a night to go to the bathroom…

Asia has started forming mini sentences. She’s had a huge vocabulary for quite some time, but rarely would use more than one word at a time. So lately she’s been saying, “Asia’s blanket,” “Mommy’s chair,” “Daddy’s cereal,” and the like. She’ll even get three words in with some things: “Big girl bed,” and “Asia’s white blanket” or “white baby blanket.” I’ve caught a few choppy, backwards sentences too (can’t think of an example right now).

I’ve finally finished the baby’s room! Yay! Well…almost. There’s still some decorating that needs to be done, but I’m waiting until he arrives to do that, since we’re not entirely sure what name he’ll be going by. We’ve decided on John Gage, but as far as the specifics of how we refer to him, it will be either: Johnny, Gage, or Rockstar (from the nick-name Johnny Gage the Rockstar). See how we’re a little torn?? So many to choose from!

A bad picture of Asia

Only 5 weeks left!!

Baby Shower

2008-03-20T12:53:00.004-04:00

My mom, cousin, and Aunt threw me a 2nd baby shower, which was the same weekend that Chris and Julie came up. It was very small, but a HUGE blessing! (Thanks again!) Here’s some pictures of the fun…unfortunately, the only person at the shower, that didn’t end up in a picture, was Julie – because she was the one taking all of the pictures. Thanks for the great pics and for waiting on me hand and foot Julie!

Mmmmm...cake.

My mom (on the right) and aunt working in the kitchen.

Mmmmm...cake.

You can never have enough good food.

"Mommy's hunky monkey" This is my favorite shirt! I got a matching sweatshirt to go with it - he's gonna be so cute!!

My sister in law Jennifer (right) and friend Carla...she's having a baby only 2 weeks after me!

My cousin Sarah, and her daughter Sophi (12 weeks at the time).

A Visit With Friends

2008-03-20T12:42:00.003-04:00

The Fennells came up to visit us at the end of February. Neither of us were very good at taking pictures of the kids…so there’s not much to show here. We had a great time hanging out with them, and getting to catch up on things though.

These are the best pics of the kids that we had on our camera:

It took several tries to get a good kissing picture...by the end I think they were getting tired of it.

Finally a good shot...unfortunately it isn't the prettiest kiss. I'm sure they'll get better at it as they get older. Hmmm...we're gonna have to keep an eye on them from now on.

Throwing their socks around.

Update Coming Soon

2008-03-04T17:45:00.002-05:00

Seems like we've been super busy, but haven't accomplished anything lately. I promise I'll post some pictures, and fill everyone in on how things have been going here!

That'll have to wait until another day though...I just finished up some long overdue Stampin' Up! work, and now Asia's awake (after a 3 hour nap - PRAISE GOD for naptimes!!)

ALWAYS check your junk mail!

2008-02-18T22:44:00.004-05:00

I was going thru some of our junk mail tonight, and noticed that Joel got a REAL credit card in the mail...not the pre-approved fake card that says "Your Name Here." It was the real deal - "Your CCS First National membercard has arrived. This card cannot be used until activated. To activate call: 1-800-###-####."

I couldn't believe it...what if someone else had gotten ahold of this card????

After further investigation of WHO was sending this card, I came to this conclusion: I have no idea. Consumer Credit Services, Inc. offers a First National Membercard. Whatever that means. They have ridiculous membership fees for using their card to purchase merchandise from their unspecified catalog, while offering "great" benefits concerning cash-on-demand and interest rates.

No matter who's trying to con us out of money, I'm glad I saw that it was a REAL card!

Happy? Valentine's Day

2008-02-15T21:12:00.004-05:00

So yesterday was Valentine's Day. My parents took Asia for the night, and Joel and I were going to go out to Bennigan's and then rent a couple movies.

We hadn't even gotten to the restaurant, and Joel's eyes started doing something funny...we went in anyway and ordered an appetizer...long story short; he got a migraine! (And remember, we didn't even make it out of my parents driveway for our anniversary when he got a migraine.)

We ate the appetizer and then came home for him to lay down. He woke up a couple hours later, and we ended up going back out. But that was only to borrow a movie from a friend, and get Arby's for me, since I still hadn't had much to eat.

I think we spent more on gas than on dinner...

He did give me a really sweet card, and chocolate covered strawberries though- a nice surprise since I was expecting flowers! I think I could live off of chocolate with this pregnancy.

So it's not the best picture....but we could hardly see because of the flash on our camera...we decided to call it quits before we caused ourselves to have seizures.

What a Day

2008-02-11T16:18:00.000-05:00

It was cold out yesterday. I heard on last night's news that it got down to -30, with the windchill. Ouch. It really was aweful. We went out for lunch with some friends after church; the wind blew so hard as we were walking inside, I literally had to stop and regain my balance before I could walk thru the door!

The rest of the day was nice because we spent it inside. It wasn't so nice for me though, because I have a cold. I tried to take a nap, two times, and couldn't fall asleep either time. I slept pretty good last night though; and Joel let me sleep in...so I think that made up for yesterday.

Hopefully I'll feel like myself tomorrow so we can get back to work on the house...it's too hard for Joel to get anything done with a 21-month old chasing after him all the time. (And I've been too beat to watch after her very well.)

Media for Your Viewing Pleasure

2008-02-05T22:35:00.000-05:00

Grab a drink, and a bucket of popcorn; here's some pictures and video from the last few days. We still can't get our computer to read our camcorder, so we're stuck taking video with our digital camera for now. You'll want to turn your speakers up a little to be able to hear Asia and myself in the first video.

Eating lunch (a jelly sandwich) on Monday.

Nothing beats a pregnant woman's dessert.

Midnight Snack

2008-02-05T15:41:00.000-05:00

Asia woke up at 3:30am last night because she had leaked thru her diaper (cheap Target brand...*scowl*). Joel was kind enough to get up with her.

She was yelling (happily) about something, and Joel hadn't shut our bedroom door, so she woke me up again. I decided to go the bathroom while I was up, so that I wouldn't have to go in another hour...afterward I stopped in the living room for a minute.

She had so much energy, I had no idea what to think. She was running around the house, yelling, jumping, and in just a great mood. I honestly thought that she thought it was morning. I'm not sure how the rest of her time up went, because I fell back asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. I'm such a light sleeper though, that I assume she went back to bed okay, otherwise she would've woken me up again while talking to her stuffed animals, and jumping in her bed.

Speaking of which...I hear her up again now....

Super Bowl

2008-02-05T15:38:00.001-05:00

As usual, we don't have any pictures. After it was too late we realized the battery on our camera was dead. We still had fun though...

We had some people over from church - Joel's sister and family, some friends of ours, and our Pastor and his family. Total, I think we had 15 people here. And we had good food...can't forget about the food!!

Lots of Mini Updates

2008-01-30T20:35:00.000-05:00

We had a bad wind storm last night. It rained and rained and rained, and the wind blew and blew and blew. We literally thought our house was going fall over. Joel forgot to snap down both sides of our hottub cover when he was fixing it in December, and the wind got under the unlatched side, and ripped the whole cover off.

Joel let me sleep in this morning. He said that while him and Asia were playing in the living room, she counted to 10 all by herself, and only skipped the number 5!! She's never done that good! She's knows certain progressions, (like 1-3 is her favorite) but she'll always miss a couple numbers, or get some out of order. We thought it was just some fluke, until this afternoon she looked at me and said, "1, 2, 3, 4, 5!" Guess she knows her numbers better than we thought!!

We've got just a few more things to finish on the house, so hopefully we'll get some pictures up soon. We're excited to be getting so close to finally selling our house, but we're also not looking forward to moving. This house is the perfect size for us, especially with the baby on the way. But we know it's more beneficial for us to downsize.

Not too much else is going on: Joel's parents sold their house finally (yay!!) and last week we went down to stay with them for a few days while Joel did some construction/odd jobs at their church. I'm currently looking for a part-time job somewhere. I applied online at Babies-R-Us last night, and will probably go into Family Christian or someplace like that. We also heard that Beaner's is hiring for a new location coming up. I know I need to trust the Lord, but it's so hard not to think, "Who's going to want to hire a 6 month pregnant woman?"

KINA!!!

2008-01-17T13:38:00.000-05:00

We got an email this morning from Joel's brother Jason. Jason and his family have been living for just a few months now, in the Tobo tribe of Papua New Guinea, working as church planters with two other families. Here's what he had to say:

For some of you that don’t know… We got a dog on New Year’s Eve. We named him Kina (the currency here, much like dollar). He’s now 8 weeks old.

#1 reason to name your dog AFTER you learn the language…

KINA means “bite him” in the Tobo language!! No wonder everyone ran in fear every time we called his name!

In other news, we're almost done painting our house. My (Alaina's) parents watched Asia all of Tuesday afternoon, into Wednesday evening so that we could paint without Asia sticking her hands all over the walls. It was such a blessing to have the free time to work.

Joel painted the kitchen this morning, and will put a third coat on the hallway this afternoon. Then after a few touch ups/last coats here and there, we'll just have our bedroom and the baby's bedroom to do!! We should be done in the next day or so!

Painting our House

2008-01-14T15:29:00.001-05:00

We're in the process of re-painting our house. I bought the paint several months ago, but we weren't able to start the painting until now because of work that needed to get finished first (like trim).

We've got the hallway and living room done, and the entire basement. Hopefully in the next couple days we'll be able to get the entryway, kitchen and all 3 bedrooms done.

Once our camera battery is charged, I'll take some pictures to post...our house looks completely different - it's great! The walls aren't such an eyesore anymore!

We're M&M's!!

2008-01-04T15:45:00.000-05:00

Joel: Lieutenant Tiger Toes Ninjaboy

Asia: Princess Cutie Patootie the Great

Alaina: The Amazing Earthmuffin of the Lake

It's not too accurate, considering the limited options they have to choose from - still fun though! To make your own, go to http://www.becomeanmm.com/

Pic of the Day

2008-01-04T14:50:00.000-05:00

I didn't know what else to name this post... Uber Cool Snow Pic? Nah; my title may be a little old fashioned, but I like it better!

Snow Day

2008-01-04T14:30:00.001-05:00

Our day may have only lasted 15-20 minutes, but Asia had fun nonetheless. These pictures are from New Year's Day around 5 o'clock (it wasn't as dark out as the pictures make it look).

I wanted to try something different, so I just made a collage out of the pictures. I'm still learning my way around Paint Shop Pro, so I made these with paint instead. If you'd like a good copy to save to your computer, I can email you the individual pictures that you like (Dad)!

Can you tell she didn't want to come inside?

The Holidays

2008-01-01T14:14:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We're finally home after a nice long week with Joel's family (compared to the typical two-day stay). We left Christmas Eve morning, and arrived in Toledo before lunchtime. We had a big Christmas Eve dinner with Joel's parents, and a couple aunts and uncles, and another big dinner Christmas day with just his parents and brothers.

We spent the rest of the week just hanging out, going shopping at a couple of Toledo's malls, and playing games. Saturday afternoon, Joel's sister (Jen and Ryan) and their kids arrived. We celebrated Christmas again, and Sterling's birthday. Asia had so much fun running around with her cousins, and getting to know her grandparents better.

We arrived home last night around 9:30 and spent most of our New Year's Eve unpacking, and unpackaging our presents! Sounds fun right? :)

Pictures from Toledo

2008-01-01T14:00:00.000-05:00

Asia sitting with mom, eating an oreo

Joel and his brother Jordan

Ryan and Jennifer

Asia pwning the noobs!

So happy!

Sterling on Christmas morning

Jordan and his mom

Jen and her dad, listening to music on the laptop

Joel's mom, and Dawson

Asia, Joel and Alaina (and the baby of course!)

The girls! L to R: Asia, Alyson, Claire and Madison

Madison, Ryan and Claire (sleeping so peacefully!)

Sterling and his "cake" that I made:

Brownies topped with chocolate pudding, French Vanilla Cool Whip and raspberries

Dawson showing off a present

Asia playing with Alyson's kitties

Jordan's guitar that he bought before Christmas

The Baby!!!

2007-12-12T17:16:00.000-05:00

We had another ultrasound on Monday morning...

It's a BOY!!!

She didn't give us a "gender" picture, and I couldn't see the screen well, but Joel said it was very obvious that it's a boy!

This ultrasound confirmed the same due date we got a few months ago: April 26th. Which is only 1 day before Asia's estimated due date. Asia came 8 days early, so depending on how this pregnancy goes (so far he's breech in exactly the same position that Asia was), their birthdays will be VERY close together, if not even on the same day! Hopefully they won't have to share their "special" day though.

The Bathroom!

2007-12-11T15:30:00.000-05:00

Here is our new basement bathroom. Very cozy...we can't wait to get up some shelving over the toilet, for storage, and print off some pictures to hang up. Maybe we'll find the time, now that things are slowing down (or are they? Christmas is coming!).

Joel and his dad framed off a section in our laundry room, next to the furnace...there was already a toilet hooked up in here when we moved in.

Turkeyday

2007-12-11T15:20:00.000-05:00

Thanksgiving! What wonderful food! Our holiday was nice and relaxing, yet busy.

Joel's parents came up from Toledo and stayed with his sister, who lives outside of Charlotte. Wednesday night we went out to their place and just hung out.

Thursday we had dinner with my parents, and that evening, we again went out to Jen and Ryan's house, and played some games.

Friday was a little less busy, but Joel's family still came over for a couple hours to see the work we've done on the house.

Saturday morning we went over to my parents again, for a Drewyor brunch/get together...only not everyone could make it. There was still good food though!

5 YEARS

2007-12-11T15:15:00.000-05:00

Well...it's true. We've been married 5 LONG years. Err, I mean, WONDERFUL years!

We dropped Asia off at my parents, with the intent of having the entire afternoon into the next morning, to ourselves. However, Joel got a migraine as we were leaving their house. So we spent the afternoon at home.

By dinner Joel was feeling well enough to go out. We ate at Logan's Steakhouse, and then did some Christmas shopping for Asia, stopping at Beaners on our way home. Then we watched Ocean's 13. It was some well deserved, and long overdue alone time!

Here's a picture of us from the other night...neither of us are crazy about it, but we weren't about to spend 30 minutes trying to get one that we were both happy with!

Us, Procrastinators

2007-12-11T14:59:00.000-05:00

It's been a lot longer than planned, to get this post up. Where to start? So much has happened!

At the beginning of November, I, Alaina, took part in a craft fair at a Christian School. This was my second year setting up a Stampin' Up! booth, and I did decent. To see some of the items I sold, go here. The baby is doing well (as am I). I'm definitely showing sooner with this child, than with Asia. The ultrasound is scheduled for Monday, December 10th. We can't wait to find out what we're having!!

Joel has been working when he can, as the jobs come up. This last month/month and a half, has been VERY slow. He's applied for a full time (7:30am-4:30pm) job working for the state. There's also a possibility that him and his "boss" may be able to do some painting/construction work down in Florida.

Asia is Asia. She's got tons of energy, and Joel's personality. I'd still love to put up some video of her, but to no surprise to anyone, we haven't tried in awhile to upload the video to our computer. Who knows, maybe it'll work this time.

Some pictures from a couple months ago:

Short Update

2007-10-16T10:20:00.000-04:00

The downstairs bathroom is almost complete. There's just a couple finishing touches that need to be done (transition piece, sanding and repainting the trim on the pocket door). After that, we just need to decorate it, and get some pictures up!

Asia now asks how we are - "how doing?" She has also finally learned to call out my name when she wakes up in the morning. She used to be so quiet, that I would have no idea she was awake for at least 30 minutes; just long enough for her to get hungry and start whining. So this is how my mornings now go:

Asia: "Mama! Mama! Mooom. Mom."

Me: "Asia, I'm coming."

(The bedroom door opens.)

Asia: "How doing?"

I love it, I think it's so cute that it's the first thing she asks.

I want to teach her to say "Trick-or-treat" before Halloween....but that's a tough one; it's long. We'll see how it goes. Still haven't decided what she's going to be. We really don't have money for a costume, so I think I might do a kitty, and just buy a headband with ears, and some nontoxic face paint.

Prenatal Appointment

2007-09-26T13:19:00.000-04:00

I had my first prenatal appointment this morning. Everything went well. I'll be 9 weeks on Friday, and the doctor said the Dopplar (what they detect the baby's heartbeat with) sensitivity is set at 10 weeks. So he wasn't sure if we'd be able to hear the heartbeat. But after working it for a couple minutes, he was able to pick it up! It was VERY encouraging!

My parents are taking Asia again for a few hours today...that's probably the ONLY reason I've been able to post 3 updates in the last hour! I have lots of stuff planned for today since I don't have to watch Asia...but I'm already feeling like I need a nap. SO...we'll see how it goes!

New Kitchen

2007-09-26T12:55:00.001-04:00

We got a new kitchen! Well...almost. We're slowly working (well, Joel is slowly working) on finishing off the house. Repainting, new molding, updating the kitchen, etc. A bathroom in the basement, and the kitchen, are the most ambitious projects we have.

This last weekend Joel put the new countertop and sink in, and we added some hardware to the cabinets. No more nails pulled back when opening a drawar!!

Joel putting in new drain pipes after installing the sink. He'll probably kill me when he sees I put this picture up!

Asia helping!

This is the best before picture we have. I was in the shower when the guys starting ripping up the countertop, so this is all I could get.

Ta-Da!

Pictures....

2007-09-26T12:38:00.000-04:00

Finally, right? Hey, blame it on the fact that our camera isn't very good anymore. It IS almost 5 years old...

These two pictures are from the last allergy test she had. Neither picture turned out that great, but at least you get the idea of what they did to her. For the week prior, just imagine 16 dots on her back, instead of the 2 on her arm!

"Cheese!"

"Mmmm. That was a great oreo, mom."

"Daddy is so much fun!"

Last week while working on the computer, Asia got into a package of napkins stored in the spare bedroom... I walked into the room on the left, and she looks up at me and says, "Hi mom!"

Update

2007-09-12T15:01:00.000-04:00

Asia's learning words at a phenomenal rate. When she repeats words now, we're no longer surprised to hear them. She's recently learned Claire and Judah (her cousins), and she loves looking at their pictures on the fridge. She knows all sorts of animal noises, and runs around all day making them.

Her allergy appointment went okay. She's allergic to eggs, but the doctor says it will only be temporary, and that she'll grow out of it in a couple years. She didn't appear to be allergic to milk and soy, but because dairy aggravates her eczema, the doctor is doing a blood test to make sure. We should get those results in a couple days.

I've been feeling well. I have my bad days, that I call my parents for help with, but overall, I believe I'm feeling better than with Asia. I don't need as much sleep this time around, and I can eat more food than just bread and fruit. Meat actually sounds good to me....last time it nearly made me vomit.

Sometimes it worries me, that I'm feeling so good. But then I have a bad day, and I'm comforted. I can't wait until I can feel the baby move, so that I don't have to wonder if everything is okay.

Allergy Appointment

2007-09-05T21:28:00.000-04:00

We took Asia to the allergists yesterday. It was a very interesting experience; she did a lot better than both Joel and I thought she would.

They did 2 scratch tests on her. I tried to take a picture with my phone, but the camera decided not to work; I'll update again next Tuesday after she goes back in.

They tested 16 spots on her back, for things from dust, cats, dogs, grass, milk, wheat, peanuts, meat and others, including the control spot (where they injected a histamine).

She is allergic to dust, dust mites, and dogs. She is very allergic to cats, and SEVERELY allergic to peanuts. We had to watch a video on how to use an EpiPen, and got to try it out with a dummy pen. She is so allergic to peanuts that it actually interfered with the surrounding test spots. The Peanut test spot was probably 4 times the size of the others, and was still spreading. They gave her some Benedryl and epinephrine in the office to make sure she didn't get any worse.

We go back in next Tuesday to do tests for milk, eggs and soy. We learned a lot while there, and we're both very anxious to see how this next test goes.

Things to pray for:

Please pray that Asia is NOT allergic to dairy.
That her peanut allergy is only TEMPORARY.

Surprise!

2007-08-31T20:08:00.000-04:00

I'm pregnant!!

Praise the Lord - we had an ultrasound this morning (Friday), and everything is perfect! The baby is in the uterus (phew!) and we were even able to hear the heart beat. I'm just about 6 weeks along...it was so amazing to hear and see the heart beating at such an early stage.

We brought home a couple pictures, although right now, the baby is just a blob with no real shape. The best picture she was able to get, was actually of just the heart beating.

I'm feeling good, but not for long. I'm expecting to start feeling sick anytime within this next week...we may be heading down to the lake with Joel's family for Labor Day, but that will be dependant on how I'm feeling by Sunday afternoon.

Make sure to come back soon, because I'll be posting some video of Asia (if I can figure out how to capture it :) !!!)

My Arch Nemesis

2007-08-22T12:39:00.000-04:00

Sweeping has become my arch nemesis. It's bad enough that I have to do it once a day...but it's so discouraging that I get done sweeping, put the broom away, walk away from the closet and feel little crumbs under my feet.

Where did they come from??? I JUST swept there!!!

Am I REALLY that bad of a sweeper?

Awesome Creator

2007-08-21T13:20:00.000-04:00

I got an e-mail last week from my aunt, about "the awesome human body." I'm not sure if all of these are true, and if they are, I'm not sure whether they're whole truths. But a lot of these sound pretty credible to me... It just makes you have to think, "How awesome is our Creator!"

-Scientists say the higher your I.Q. the more you dream.

-The largest cell in the human body is the female egg and the smallest is the male sperm.

-You use 200 muscles to take one step.

-The average woman is 5 inches shorter than the average man.

-Your big toes have two bones each while the rest have three.

-A pair of human feet contains 250,000 sweat glands.

-A full bladder is roughly the size of a soft ball.

-The acid in your stomach is strong enough to dissolve razor blades.

-The human brain cell can hold 5 times as much information as the Encyclopedia Britannica.

-It takes the food seven seconds to get from your mouth to your stomach.

-The average human dream lasts 2-3 seconds

-Men without hair on their chests are more likely to get cirrhosis of the liver than men with hair.

-At the moment of conception, you spent about half an hour as a single cell.

-There is about one trillion bacteria on each of your feet.

-Your body gives off enough heat in 30 minutes to bring half a gallon of water to a boil.

-The enamel in your teeth is the hardest substance in your body.

-Your teeth start growing 6 months before you are born.

-When you are looking at someone you love, your pupils dilate; they do the same when you are looking at someone you hate.

-Blondes have more hair than dark-haired people.

-Your thumb is the same length of your nose.

WE FOUND IT!!!!

2007-08-09T00:28:00.000-04:00

A month after Joel and I got married, we went down to his parents house - for Christmas. We took our wedding video down to watch. Well.....it got left down there. Or at our first apartment in Jackson. We were never really sure where it was. Like my engagement ring, we thought it was never to be seen again.

Joel's parents are going to be moving into a smaller house. We went to their place Sunday night and all day Monday to help them fix up some stuff in the house. Long story short....

JOEL FOUND OUR WEDDING VIDEO!!!!!!!!!

We were so excited! It's the perfect present for our 5 year anniversary (in 3 months).

However.....

We left it in Toledo again.....

Broken Dishwasher

2007-08-04T21:41:00.000-04:00

So our dishwasher is broken. This thing is my lifeline...I RARELY have the time to do dishes by hand. I run the dishwasher at least every other day.

We noticed the floor in front of our sink became warped awhile ago. Within the last couple weeks we noticed the warping was spreading. Then we noticed a leak above the washer and dryer in the basement. Using common sense, we figured the dishwasher must be causing us problems. :)

There is a metal piece that screws onto the plastic frame of the dishwasher. The metal piece doesn't even do anything. The screw broke off, and took along with it, the plastic piece it screws into, leaving a tiny hole in the "base" of the dishwasher.

This obviously had to happen when summer taxes are due...SO...we decided to get creative. Joel used some painter's caulk to plug up the hole. Now we just have to wait until tomorrow night to try it out.

I guess that means I have some scrubbing to do....

The mess Joel made....

The plastic piece the screw fits into (This is the good one. Obviously.)

Joel's nice patchwork. I was really shakey when I took these, sorry.

The metal piece that does NOTHING.

A picture of Asia just for kicks (from bathtime tonight). I can see so much of Joel in her, looking at this picture, that it just amazes me. (I normally don't see any resemblance to either of us.)

ZOO

2007-07-24T16:07:00.000-04:00

My friend Nicole and I went to the zoo with the girls today. Wish I could say I have pictures, but I forgot our camera.

It was fun, but VERY hot. I had an appointment in the morning, that I wore jeans to. I didn't plan our time very well after I got to Nicole's house, and didn't grab a pair or shorts to change into. Needless to say, I was burning up.

I'm not sure if the girls really understood what was going on, but they seemed to have fun anyway.

Maybe next time, I'll remember our camera and can bring back a picture of the animals pooping (since that's all you ever see them do anyway!).

Where are you???

2007-07-09T11:57:00.000-04:00

I can't believe how smart our daughter is...I just have to brag.

Joel was watching Asia...not sure where I was. He's walking Asia through the house looking for her ball.

Joel: "Ball! Ball!"

Asia: "Ba! Ba!"

Joel: "Baaall, where are yooouuu?"

Asia: "Ba, where are you?"

He said she said it as clear as day! I couldn't believe it! We've been trying for the last week to get her to say it again for me this time, and she just giggles. Oh well...it'll come out eventually.

...It's like a heat wave...

2007-07-09T11:53:00.000-04:00

burning in my heart....

Oops, I meant to stop with the title. :) I cannot believe how hot out it was yesterday!!! Almost 100 degrees! Our air conditioning was running CONSTANTLY and it was still 79 in the house. Today's only going to be a little better...high of 90 I think.

Doing Well...

2007-06-25T16:49:00.001-04:00

So it's been almost a week and we're all doing well.

I can move around pretty good, but I need to remember to take it easy with Asia. Just picking her up a couple times in a row, can make my muscles sore again. I've only taken 1 motrin in the last 3 days, so I'm quite proud of myself!

We've been flooded with e-mails from friends and family. I don't think we can say thank you enough, for all of your prayers and generosity. My mom stayed all day on Friday, so that Joel could go into work. Our friends, the Kerrs and the Regans were generous enough to bring us lots and lots of DELICIOUS food over the weekend. The Fennells stopped by for a visit, as well. It has been so nice to be able to take it easy and not worry what to make for dinner. :)

Despite what we've been thru, I praise the Lord that He gave us this trial to go thru, and that He gave it in the "amount" that He did (allowing us to NOT have the chance to get attached the baby). He will never give us more than we can handle and I'm so glad for it! This has been an eye-opening experience in so many ways, and it has brought both Joel and myself closer to Him. I believe we needed this trial more than we realized, and would even like to admit...even now, after everything has passed.

Thank you again, so very much for all of your prayers and letters!

Important Update

2007-06-20T21:08:00.000-04:00

After keeping in contact with my doctors about various symptoms that I (Alaina) was experiencing, and having two days worth of tests (physical exam, external and 2 vaginal ultrasounds, bloodwork to last a life time) this is what they found:

The doctors could detect no pregnancy in the uterus, and found blood and liquid in my pelvis; indicating an ectopic pregnancy...where the egg implants in the fallopian tube. I was given two options: wait and see if my body takes care of everything on its own but run the chance of the tube fully rupturing (it partially ruptured Monday afternoon) OR go in for surgery to have everything removed. With pregnancies like this, there is no way to save the baby...the technology just doesn't exist to be able to move the egg where it belongs. If the pregnancy had been healthy and we had let it go on it's own...the baby would've been lost once the tube ruptured. There was really no way around it.

Both Joel and I struggled at the though of having to make a decision that would ultimately end the baby's life. I think the decision was a little easier or more tolerable, knowing what was stated above.

So, with Joel, Joel's parents, and my parents waiting, I was wheeled off to surgery last night after midnight. I was discharged this morning at 10:30am.

We requested that my right fallopian tube (where the pregnancy was) be removed...which the doctor would have done anyway....he said it was 3 or 4 times the size of my other tube, and he had to remove 3/4 of it....more than what's normal for this kind of surgery. He even gave me pictures to bring home! He said my other tube is looking healthy though, and this actually decreases our chance for having another ectopic pregnancy (since the damaged tube was removed).

I'm not to lift more than the weight of a gallon of milk for a couple days. Joel will be staying home to help me lift Asia! The pain isn't too severe; they've given me Vicadin :-) It's a lot easier for me to move around this time, (vs. the c-section) since I only have 3 small incisions.

For those of you that we were able to contact (before everything progressed so quickly yesterday) we really appreciate all of your prayers. It was very comforting knowing we have so many friends and family that support us. We ask that you would pray for a quick recovery....basically that I will be able to handle things at the house, by myself again, soon! Concerning the "miscarriage" aspect of what happened we're both managing. I think it's a little easier for me, because I knew from the beginning that something wasn't right. Not that we were trying to be pessimistic, but with everything unusual that was going on, we didn't get our hopes up that this was a normal pregnancy. However, I think this has been harder on Joel than he'd like to admit.

Thank you for all your prayers,

Joel, Alaina & Asia Williamson

A Visit to the Park

2007-06-08T09:27:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I went with my friend Nicole to the park. She took me there for the first time last weekend, and it's a great place to go. Asia really likes it there. They have a water play area, a swimming area, a path all the way around the lake, paddle boats, canoes, and a HUGE junglegym.

The only picture I could get of both Asia and Lily.

She loves to crawl out of the water to the grass, turn around, and come back.

(It hurts her knees)

She loves to open and close the bathroom door.

Hugs!

The mess she made in her room while I was packing before leaving.

Whoever said a little inconvenience isn't worth it??

2007-06-04T17:29:00.001-04:00

I was at Meijer this afternoon. The lane I picked broke before it was my turn. A meijer associate helped me load up my cart again, and found another lane for me that didn't have a wait. Before my groceries were finished being checked out, he appeared with a $5 gift certificate for the "inconvenience."

Wow! Combined with the other merchandise return card, I had, our $60 grocery bill got knocked down to $40!!

Finally!

2007-05-30T14:07:00.000-04:00

Asia's finally asleep! She wouldn't go down for her morning nap. So instead of getting to go out to the store this afternoon, I'm stuck inside doing laundry. I suppose it's for the best...it's supposed to get up to 91 degrees today!

On the shopping list?

Tub grippers (Asia's decided it's fun to try to crawl and stand up in the tub)
Outlet plugs (there's some that she just can't stay away from!)
Cabinet door locks (oh, that forbidden fruit under the sink!)
White out
Full length mirror
Laundry basket
Inflatable pool for Asia
New/smaller/lighter diaper bag
Shorts or capris for myself (IF they're cheap enough)
Fruit and Veggies for snacks

Then stop at the bank and an Alltel store. And the library.

Well, I guess I'll have to head out tonight or tomorrow...maybe I can convice Joel to come out with me. Asia's fun, but it's not like I can really get her opinion on anything. She usually just points to something hanging from the ceiling and says, "boo" for balloon. "No honey, that's not a balloon. It's a sign."

"What does Asia look like?," you ask?

2007-05-18T19:28:00.000-04:00

Well, here's some pictures. I know it's been awhile since we've really put up any good pictures of her.

Joel came home today to let someone test drive the Aztek, and while we were waiting for their return (over an hour later!) we tried to get Asia to play with her ball outside. Didn't work. She's still too hesitant of the grass.

As I was looking thru today's pictures, I found some good ones of a couple weeks ago:
(Click to enlarge)

Asia walking

Good one of Daddy and Asia

She loves to run as fast as she can in this!

Asia loves playing with my headband

One of her many goofy faces

If you've made to the end of this post...CONGRATULATIONS, and I forgot - we finally sold the Aztek! Yay!!! Praise God!

Welcome Baby Claire!

2007-05-18T19:23:00.000-04:00

Jen (Joel's sister) and Ryan had child number 4 on Tuesday. We forgot to take our camera when we visited on Wednesday, so here's the best pre-bath picture we have!

Claire Elizabeth

8 lbs. 14 oz.
20 3/4"

Purple!

2007-05-18T11:53:00.000-04:00

Asia learned the word "purple" yesterday. She started out saying it really well, but as the night wore on, she started saying "burbow" instead of "purpow." She does pretty well with recognizing the color too.

I noticed she's getting one of her molars. She got her first two teeth very early, at four months. It wasn't until 9 months that she got her upper two. I've been waiting and waiting for more to come, but she seems to take long breaks between each set. It's odd that it's not the teeth right next to her front two...there's a huge gap between the teeth already out, and the one coming in. Maybe I'll try to get a picture later on today. I'll probably need Joel's help though.

Joel bought Asia her first ball the other night. She absolutely loves it. She does good at throwing it too - kind of surprised me. I'll try to get some pictures of that too.

Tonight, on Unsolved Mysteries...

2007-05-10T21:34:00.000-04:00

We have a corner of our backyard along a fence, that was overgrown with nasty bushes and twigs and had lots of hidden treasures (trash). Joel and I, with some help from my dad, have cleared it out, and tilled the dirt. We plan on planting some flowers and plants, and making a nice peaceful sitting area under the trees.

My mom gave me a pot of some Hostas that we could plant back there. As Joel and I were doing some yard work this afternoon, I walked by the side of our garage and noticed that finally, after two years, the Lily of the Valley that we planted has bloomed for the first time. As we made our way into the garage, I noticed the pot from my mom, had also bloomed.

And it looked exactly like the Lily of the Valley.

We grabbed the pot and took it around to the other plant for comparison. Sure enough, they look exactly alike. I called my mom. Her Hosta plant in the backyard, has no flowers, and completely different looking leaves. Yet, this is where she pulled the plants from! She has no Lily of the Valley anywhere else in her garden. She has never planted any.

I'm not complaining though...Lily of the Valley is one of my favorite flowers! BUT...

Where did it come from? Why did she ONLY pull out Lily of the Valley to give to me, and why weren't there any left in HER garden? And why do the Lily of the Valley and Hosta look exactly alike before the leaves open up???

Lily of the Valley

Hosta (a couple varieties)

Babytalk and GMA Contest

2007-04-30T22:24:00.000-04:00

We just entered Asia into Babytalk and Good Morning America's cutest baby contest. I looked through the pictures they have up on the Babytalk website; I have to say...based solely on the pictures available to the public, Asia should win that contest in a heartbeat! There were maybe 15-20 pictures and probably only 2 or 3 were cute! Of course, they've probably kept all the good pictures to look through again before choosing their 8 finalists.

Here's the picture we sent in of Asia; it was a tough choice to pick one that shows her personality, without looking like every other smiling baby photo. Hopefully we picked a good one!

1 Year Already???

2007-04-30T22:20:00.000-04:00

It's official! Asia is 1 year old (well, a week and a half ago, that is). It has gone by so fast, and has been so much fun! It's amazing to watch her grow and learn, and to see her personality blossom....and to see her sin nature start to show! She is such a cuddly, personable little girl with quite an attitude when she doesn't get what she wants.

We had her birthday party at our church, a week ago last Saturday. It went well; despite the fact that she missed her naps during the day.

We had hardly any good pictures on our camera, so here's the best!

A Rough Weekend

2007-03-06T15:30:00.000-05:00

We've had a rough weekend.

Joel got sick on Friday, and I got sick on Saturday. Sunday morning, Joel was bad enough that I had to cancel our Shaklee party that we had planned for that afternoon and we missed church. Since yesterday (Monday) Joel has been feeling better, but still has a wicked cough. I seem to be getting worse however.

Today, has been my worst day yet. I didn't fall asleep until after 2:30 last night because of my nose and my throat. Asia decided to wake up at 6:00 am; at least 2 hours early! I was able to fall back asleep, but when I tried to lay down at 10 am, when Asia took her nap, it was like a replay of last night.

Needless to say, I'm wore out. But I'm proud of myself for taking the time sit down and at least write something! We've been so busy lately, that keeping our blog up to date, is honestly that last thing on my mind!

All About Us

2007-02-20T23:32:00.000-05:00

The inspiration for this post comes from an e-mail from some friends of ours from NTBI in Jackson, asking us to update our information. The end of the e-mail was left open to any additional information that we believe might be useful. As I got going, this is what I came up with:

Asia loves to stand and walk around (with help of course). She stops whatever she's doing to watch the wheel portion of The Price is Right and her PraiseBaby DVD. She loves buttons; real buttons and belly buttons; she calls them either Butti- or Buttiti-...sometimes the letter "n" makes an appearance at the end of the word. (I'm not joking...she really can say the word!) Her favorite toys are her Amazing Animals, Stacktivity set, Joel's old cell phone that she broke, and her newest toy, a leap frog ball that teaches the abc's.

My favorite color is brown; any shade of it...I just like brown...maybe 'cause I like chocolate so much...who knows. I enjoy stamping although I never seem to have enough time to do it out of pure enjoyment. I like to cook, and hate to clean up. I think I'm an okay cook; I've only burned a few things! I like board and card games, although we don't play them enough. I'm a stay at home mom who sells Stampin' Up! on the side.

Joel's favorite color is probably also brown; but I think he just likes to copy me. He's addicted to computers; he loves playing games, and checking out the forums. He co-founded a gaming clan called =kado=. His favorite card games are Golf and Euchre. He has a very goofy sense of humor that only those he's REALLY comfortable looking dumb around, will see. He also has very interesting ideas of how God should've made the world, or about inventions: "What if our mouth was in our hand?" or "They should make fries with ketchup already in them. And they should roll out of the carton like bubble yum so that they stay warm!" And my absolute favorite, "What if the sound of a checkout scanner and a fart were switched?"

We enjoy watching 24, Heroes, Jericho and The Office together. I, Alaina, also watch House, Lost and American Idol. We watch TV and movies together...that's pretty much it. And last, but certainly not least, we lead worship at our church with Joel's sister.

And now that you know a little about us...e-mail us and tell us about yourself!!

How Good is YOUR Eyesight?

2007-02-08T00:37:00.000-05:00

For a long time, Joel and I would compare our vision...and Joel was always able to read street signs, or billboards a lot sooner than I could. He loves the resolution on our monitors to be as small as it can be (otherwise it looks pixely). He can read the font great at 1600 x 1200, while I however can't.

Sometime within the last couple years, he had a vision test done. He was told he had 20/15 visual acuity in one eye, and 20/12 (or 13) in the other. So where you and I would see something at 15 feet away, Joel can see at 20 feet away.

Now to the good stuff....

Joel was just reading an article about a study that was done testing the eyesight of people who played high level action video games. The study found that people who played these games for a few hours a day, over the course of a month, had a 20% improvement in their eyesight, concerning numbers clustered together - similiar to the bottom line of an eyechart.

The games used during the testing were Unreal Tournament (a first person shooter) and Tetris. Those who played Tetris had no improvement at the end of the month, while those playing UT did!

I'll give you one guess, what my husband likes to do in his spare time....

For the full article, go to: http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=6009

Snow Day

2007-02-08T00:31:00.000-05:00

A couple weeks ago, we took Asia out to "play" in the snow....here's what happened!

(she fell over!)

It's 2007!!!

2007-01-02T23:41:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year! We spent it with Joel's family, and had lots of fun. We watched "Cars", then played Uno Attack, until 11:50. We then rewound the TV to watch Chris Daughtry sing, and caught the countdown with 1:00 to go.

Then the real fun started. We have a project in the works for Jason and Nisae, so we were working on that...and had lots of fun. Joel's younger brother Jordan was being really funny, and he had his mom, his sister, and I in tears. Maybe we'll post something in the future, so you can see the fun we had...but not until we have Jason and Nisae's present done.

Hope you all had a good New Years, and if you've made a resolution, we hope it's one that strengthens your relationship with your Lord and Savior!

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a GOOD NIGHT!!

2006-12-25T23:11:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas!!!

We had a very relaxing day with my (Alaina, who else?) parents. We opened presents, then ate dinner, and then played some games. Very nice. We can't wait for this weekend we go down to see Joel's family.

Presents of note?

Joel received Simpson's Season 8. I received a 7" Santoku knife, and a 5" Boning knife. Asia got lots of clothes. Lots. You wouldn't believe it if you saw it.

Sometimes it's hard for me to remember that Christmas isn't about the presents. It's about the birth of our Savior. I often wonder what it was like for Mary...if she really understood what was happening to her; who was in her womb. And the fact that Jesus came to earth in human form, is even more amazing to me now, since I have a child of my own. (Click here to read a few interesting facts about birth/conception - a good reminder of how amazing life is.)

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, and as a friend said (which I really appreciated) we hope you find your relationship with a living God worth it all!

Asia Claps

2006-12-19T15:23:00.000-05:00

We've been working with Asia for a couple weeks on how to clap. She would usually just look at us as if to say, "That's cool and all, but there's no way I can do that..."

Thursday afternoon I put a DVD in for Asia, and she clapped when it came on. All by herself. So when Joel got home for dinner, we tried again; here's the video! I think it's around a minute long...she starts out clapping a lot, but when she notices the camera, she gets a little distracted. She's not very good at it, but we're still proud!

A Real Vacation

2006-12-18T23:39:00.000-05:00

Jason and Nisae were able to take a vacation to Madang for a week. Their room was around 10 feet from the ocean, and they were able to swim all day long!! Here's a family picture they just sent us.

To the Bahamas Again!!!

2006-12-18T23:14:00.000-05:00

We visited Chris and Julie Fennell this weekend. It was very nice and relaxing...not much to comment on. We went to a "park" with lights on Saturday night. Asia was kinda like, "This is dumb...can we leave?" She didn't look happy at all, but she wasn't fussy. She just sat there and looked around.

Joel was up quite late Thursday, Friday and Saturday night. So Sunday he woke up sick. We didn't go to church with the Fennells like we had planned, so I was bummed 'cause I wanted a new family picture taken.

Anyway, here's a couple cute pics of the kids:

BATHTIME!!!!

2006-12-02T23:09:00.000-05:00