The New Year ;)

Hope everyone is having a good year so far! Things are going pretty good here.

We got a wireless router and all got wireless cards for our various devices ;) I can check email and such from my pda - kind of in a limited way, but it's been really nice to be able to check email from the kitchen. We got Maria a palmtop (cross between a laptop and a pda) for christmas with a wireless card - we've been having problems getting it to work properly, so Mike hooked up his old laptop upstairs for her with the wireless card and we haven't seen her since ;) she's pretty happy about being on the internet finally! She gets to look up Zac Efron and all those teenaged Disney boys! :)

Opening Christmas presents with Aunt Renee

Dad's turn :)
Static is so fun! :) (If you click on the picture you can see her hair better sticking to the chair better) :)

Duncan got his table back (the x-mas tree was on it) but then got it taken away within a couple of hours --- he's a climber!

Baby Beatrice is still lovin' the new exersaucer :)

So much so that she even fell asleep in it last night!!

Jo Jo decided to take over Sally's doggie bed! what a goof! they ended up having a huge fight over it... while the babies were sleeping of course!

First Flurries of the Season!

Yes, it flurried like mad out there Monday afternoon! In the morning it was sleeting! Mike ran into flurries on his way to work, it was just raining here until about 11am... and after that it was sleet and flurries. BRRRR. Around 2pm it was a blizzard out there! Fortunately none of it stuck.


Just thought I would post some interesting weather facts... while we were trick or treating at the first house (sweet old couple) they said that not too long ago there was a blizzard on Halloween... I found it on this website: http://www.crh.noaa.gov/mkx/wiwx.php
"Halloween Snow Storm - October 31- November 2, 1991. Northwest and west central Wisconsin. 15 to 30 inches of snow. 6 to 10 foot drifts" As well as some interesting weather info on Couderay: "State's record coldest temperature -55 F set in Couderay on February 2nd and 4th 1996"
Mike finally got his weather center up and running - and it automatically updates hourly at http://www.redwing.net/~kdemarr/mikespage.htm it is the accurate weather from our house ;) Of course the temp gauge only goes to -21, so if it gets colder than that it will read an error... we did have a few days last year that were -32! I will eventually get a website up and running on our free space from our internet provider... but for now you will all just have to settle for the weather page ;)



****Several people have told me that they've had problems trying to post comments on the blog... I am going to have to guess that the problem is that I usually leave a blog I'm working on active and up on the computer for days at a time... so maybe if I start logging out of blogger (it saves drafts anyway, so I don't have to worry about losing them) people will be able to leave comments... so go ahead and try commenting again.****




What else has been going on this week?? Beatrice has not had any screaming fits - so now I'm convinced that it was my eating the spicy chipotle sauce from McDonald's like 3 days in a row that caused her such discomfort. So, no more spicy chipotle :(





Beatrice has slept through the night for the past week and a half!! Of course last night she woke up around 3am, but I think it was only because the dog was whining... that stupid dog! Jo-Jo is afraid of the dark... she jumps at the door to get in once it starts getting dark out... now with the time change it's pitch black by 5 or so - and it's nearly impossible to make her go out after dark. The other night she started whining at midnight, so last night I made sure she went out around 9... well she must have eaten some food when she went out because last night she was whining at midnight so I got up and let her out... then she was whining at 3am, 5am, 6am... ugh! I refused to let her out again, thinking I didn't want her to make a habit of having to go out in the middle of the night... and I won't even finish this story because it ends in tragedy with me dragging the kennel out the back door and scrubbing the floor at 6am...





Both little ones are congested and have runny noses :( I think it's because Duncan pretended to eat (and put his mouth on) some fake food at playgroup...


We got a really awesome electric stove heater :) it's so pretty :) and nice and warm :) Of course after a couple of days we realized that the kitchen was freezing because the house heater wasn't kicking on... so we have to move the electric heater from beneath the thermostat... it was the perfect place to put it if it weren't for the thermostat... so now we have to do a little rearranging...




Duncan has taken it upon himself to start yelling at himself when he's doing something naughty... He'll stand up on the couch and jump and yell at himself "sit downs!" he'll climb on top of his toy box and yell at himself "no kimbins dit downs!" He's become such a parrot! He repeats just about everything he hears, including random phrases from the television. He still loves playing inside his toy box... and I'm teaching him the colors green, yellow and brown in an interesting way ;) (just threw that in to see if anyone actually reads this).









Maria is doing good. Madly in love with the high school musical hat and gloves I picked up for her yesterday at Wal-Mart - she wore the hat all night. Oddly she was way too exited about the Wisconsin tests this week. Couldn't wait all weekend... the night before the tests started the truth came out - they were giving away FREE BREAKFAST at school on the testing days! If it's got to do with food, Maria is excited about it. "Mom, can I join the D.A.R.E. program at school? It's got something to do with drugs, I can't remember what it stands for, but at the end of it there's an ice cream party!"


Beatrice found her thumb! and keeps finding it ;) it's damn cute! And she is holding on to toys :)

Swinging Dog

So, I haven't really written anything about dogs lately... of course when there are little kids around there's much more to say about the kids ;) and the dogs have been pretty under control lately. Jo-Jo has been doing really well - we've been keeping her outside most of the time and she hasn't been eating the house. She's been doing a little digging, but that's not so bad. So there hadn't been much going on with the dogs that was noteworthy.

This morning when Mike was going to work he called to tell me that when he left Jo-Jo was in the big chair swing on the swingset!! I ran out and took a picture quick - too funny!!

Well, it sounds like the weather everywhere has been really obnoxious!! It was almost in the 80s for a few days in a row, then the day before yesterday got down to the 40s! Yesterday it was sleeting!!! Crazy!

Yesterday I was doing something in the kitchen then went to check on Duncan and there he was sitting on his chair on the couch just chillin and watching his cartoons! He thought he was so cool.

Another boring week :)

Not much went on here this week, other than everyone getting sick. Last week Maria had a sore throat, then a stuffy nose... then Duncan got a runny nose over the weekend... then Mike had a sore throat and was home from work Wed and Thurs... for the past couple of days the baby has sounded a little congested and I'm starting to get a sore throat. Beatrice has been pretty fussy for the past few days, so I'm guessing she isn't feeling too well :( I've been putting vicks on my chest hoping that it will help her congestion. Of course this is probably just the first of the ailments that will go around school this year.

Well, we almost had a new dog. Mike had a dog in at the pound there that was a pug/jack russell terrier mix and didn't really have the room there to keep him. He was a really well behaved and friendly guy - so Mike brought him home. He was housebroken, got along well with Sally and Jo-Jo, and just a really good dog. He brought him home last Thursday and he was actually a nice addition. But sadly his owner called Mike's work on Tuesday looking for him :( so he had to go back home. We were all pretty disappointed - especially Maria who had really gotten attached to him. He was damn cute and not barky in the least. We may have to search around and try to get a pug/jack russell terrier mix - we looked them up and people do actually breed them; they are called "Jugs" ;)

I guess something exciting did happen this week - we had a hailstorm yesterday! Of course there was no rain in the forecast. The funny thing was that when I went to the post office, the postmaster said that the next couple of days were going to be really nice, no rain until the weekend. And I said that it was "supposed" to be nice last week - supposed to be in the mid-70s all week and ended up being more like mid-50s all week... and then he basically said the same thing again, nice for the next couple of days - no rain till Sat/Sun... then we ended up getting a major downpour with hail to boot!

I managed to get out of the house by myself for a bit yesterday. I had been wanting to go to the post office for the past couple of weeks since I finally finished the gifts for my cousin's baby... but the logistics of getting in the post office with Duncan and Beatrice by myself... so since Mike was home and the babies were napping I went to the post office, meat market and gas station. All those little quick errands would have been very much not quick with two little ones. Anyway, I got to chat with the lady at the gas station who had her baby a couple weeks before Beatrice was born. Amazingly she had a very similar labor story - her labor also only lasted about 3 hours and she only pushed like two or three times. Her mom and sister almost missed it - they were going to wait until they got to the hospital until they called them, but decided to call when they were on the way - and luckily they just made it in time. Then I ended up chatting a bit with the lady at the meat market - she asked whether we had a boy or girl - she's got a 10-month old boy and a 9 year old daughter. It was nice to actually talk to some adults.

Girls, Girls, Girls...

I had just talked to my mother and sister and told them how impressed I was with the girls' behavior over the past couple of weeks... the first couple of weeks they were bickering non-stop from the time they got up in the morning until the time they went to bed. Everything was a major ordeal. I stopped trying to mediate and started ignoring them and started delegating who got to do which part, and that seemed to work rather well. They were down to a few minor spats a day - over who got to sit where, who got to do what first etc... but not the exaggerated blow ups over such minor issues they had been having...
Then last night after dinner... these docile, delicate, fragile creatures (yes, that's completely sexist--but it's what society would have you believe and it is still how little girls are treated) had a dog poo war! Yes, you read it right, these girls were flinging dog poop at each other!!
I went out into the yard to put Duncan in his swing and Emma was getting out the pooper scooper and Maria said "be careful, there's dog poop all over" I figured she meant a couple of piles by the swing set - for some reason, all around the swing set is Sally's preferred area for defecation... at least Jo-Jo goes along the fence line... anyway I didn't really think much of it and was pushing Duncan in his swing when Maria told me that Emma put dog poop in a velcro paddle thing they have for a tennis ball that sticks to it... and that Maria had gotten dog poop all over her hands... I told Emma that was disgusting and that she wasn't going to watch TV today... I asked Maria if she washed her hands, which of course she hadn't... so while she was in washing her hands I was really lecturing Emma about how that wasn't funny, it was gross... etc... after a few minutes of harsh lecturing from me she fessed up and said that she only did it because Maria had put dog poop on a stick and threw it at her and it had hit her... and that's when I really noticed all the little bits of dog turds all over the yard!! It became quite clear that it wasn't just the two incidents, they had been flinging dog poo at each other - an all out dog poo war! Needless to say, neither of them are watching TV today... and we had them wash up and sent them to bed early! Unbelievable! Girls throwing dog poop at each other!
Anyway, to change the subject (I know you're all thinking please change the subject!) it is supposed to be miserably hot and humid for the next few days here :( I'm just so not looking forward to that. The past week it has been really nice weather and I've really been enjoying it. My feet and ankles haven't been getting too swollen and I've been able to get a lot of housework done. I've been keeping up on the dishes for the most part, which is an amazing accomplishment for me :) Mostly because I keep thinking I could go into labor any day now and do not want my house to be a pigsty! :) Of course I still have 18 days to go until my due date... and plenty to keep me busy and distracted from thinking about it :)

Just another chaotic day

What a chaotic day so far! I’ve been on the phone all morning.
Last night there was a storm, and since then our internet service had been down… after calling the telephone company and their DSL tech support line and the line still not working, the telephone company called back and said that lightning knocked out a piece of their equipment - ran me through shutting everything down a few times and nothing… ugh… why is it they always run you through everything that you've already tried?? Amazingly after an hour or so they called back and it started working again :) yay.

Also last night a stray dog showed up in our yard. Yesterday afternoon we saw the hind end of the dog going into the woods behind the neighbors house and thought it was a wolf. But then it came back a little after dinner time. I had sent the girls out to get Brutal’s bowl and they came running back in saying there was either a big dog or wolf in the yard with Brutal. Turned out it was a very large husky or malamute. It has a collar on. He’s turned in to Brutal’s best buddy. The girls hung out on the back porch watching the two play. I saw him lift his leg to pee on some plants and said “I guess it’s a boy” and about 2 seconds after saying that Brutal got on him and started humping him! The girls were in hysterics, and I’m not going to lie - so was I! It was the funniest thing! Of course the girls didn’t want to come in, they were ready to camp out on the back porch all night watching those two dogs. And that's what they've been doing most of the day even though both dogs are just back there laying around doing nothing. Oh well, I guess they are keeping themselves occupied. I called the county sheriff this morning and they said to call the pound, so called them and they called back when I was on the phone with the telephone company... so called them back again - of course they said they're still working on dog calls from Friday, so may not be able to get out today - but they had a call from someone missing a dog that sounds similar, so will be trying to find the owner... he's not mean or anything, he just looks like he's sick or very old.

7/10/07 - Animal control ended up coming around 4pm, and of course the dog had disappeared... go figure - he hung out here all night and all day and the dog catcher comes and he's gone. But we asked the neighbor if he'd seen him and he said that he was probably at the other neighbor's house, he'd been going back and forth. So he ended up getting nabbed in the end. We got a call from the dog's owner that evening. I looked them up in the phone book to see how far the dog had come - not too far. But the funny thing is that it turned out being someone who had come and worked on the pipes for the ladies who used to live here. He stopped not too long after we'd moved in to give us his set of keys to the house and let us know that if we needed any help with the pipes... we were thinking that maybe the dog had been here before.

Bears, Deer and Dogs Oh My! :)

I forgot to mention in my last blog that the ultrasound estimated the baby's current weight at 4lbs 11oz. And it was also just one day off of my due date - by measurements they came up with Aug 10th (Emma's birthday). I guess the baby should be gaining about 1/2 an ounce a day from now until delivery. If I deliver on Aug 11th the baby should weigh approximately 7 lbs and 4 oz. Of course the estimation of weight by measurements can be off slightly. But I'm guessing the baby will be in the upper 6lb range or lower 7lb range. Duncan was 6lbs 8oz, and they say second babies usually weight a little bit more. We shall see :) Of course there are so many things they say... ;) supposedly, you carry girls higher and boys lower - I carried Duncan pretty high (or at least in the upper middle, but it felt like high), I'm carrying this one low. They also say that heartbeats in girls is higher - Duncan's was always in the 150's, this baby has been in the 140's mostly. They also say that you gain more weight in your legs, thighs and buttocks with girls - I would say I gained more in those areas with Duncan... So there you go - not everything "they" say is right :)

I actually saw my first bear of the season yesterday! It was a bear cub - it crossed the highway 2 cars in front of me and went off into the woods. At first I thought it was a big black dog, but when I got closer you could tell it was a bear cub because of the way it walked. It was pretty exciting :) I think I only saw a bear a couple of times last year and both of them were pretty far away. Amazingly, just before I saw the bear I almost hit a deer! At 2pm! It darted across the highway right in front of me! Usually I'm only on the lookout for deer around dusk (and I would be in the morning if I ever left the house in the am!).

Talked to Maria Wednesday evening. She had lots of fun with mom and Tiffany, and is currently having lots of fun with Emma and Carol Anne. I guess they went to eat at Panchero's Wed night! Grrr. :) That's twice Maria's been to Panchero's, I'm so jealous :) I'm just going to have to try to make my own Panchero's burrito at home. Of course it won't be the same, but we'll see how close I can get ;)

That idiot dog Jo-Jo is now eating the house!!! She started digging and eating away at the door trim the other day, and then she started on the siding next to the door!! If it wasn't for the fact that we just spent money on her getting her shots... ugh!! Now I have to watch her really good while she's outside. Can't have her eating the house!! I don't know what the attraction is - it must taste good or something.

Storms!!

What a crazy day yesterday! I guess there were 5 tornadoes that touched down in Northern/Northwest Wisconsin! It didn't even look like rain when we left the house, we got the dog loaded without much trouble and went to go meet Mike for my Dr's apt. When we got to the conservation office, Mike and one of the guys that works for him were both outside pacing around on their cell phones... Mike came over and said "I think you should cancel all your stuff today because there's a super cell right over Couderay, Radisson and Winter." Right where we just came from! He went and got his portable work radio and put it in the van - we could hear the Couderay fire dept checking in with Sawyer County saying they were keeping an eye out and standing by... it was sooo freaky!! I told Mike that I certainly was not going home, so I might as well stick with the plan for the day. It didn't look like rain or anything where we were... so we went to the Dr's office... they had a weather radio on and the TV was on the weather station. On the radio they said the same thing, that there was a super cell over Couderay, Radisson and Winter... I was glad that Maria had the day off and was with us since she goes to school in Winter. The radar on the weather station showed this red/yellow blotch right in that Southeast corner of Sawyer County, which is right where they said the super cell was... I was all nervous and freaked out in the waiting room - thinking our house might not be there when we get home! When I was in the room waiting for the Dr I could hear the nurses having some kind of commotion, and then when the Dr finally came in she said we were going to have to make it quick because the hospital had called a Code 2 or Code Yellow, which meant there was a tornado on the ground and they were getting people ready in case they had to move them... I was glad she said that instead of saying we had to go take cover somewhere! Mike was out in the van with the kids monitoring the situation with his work radio and cell phone... they had campers out on one of the island campgrounds and one of his workers was considering going out on the lake by himself to warn them. Anyway, when I left I told him that if it started to look bad come in. Amazingly, by the time I was done in the Dr's office we found that the tornado was headed more North and East - and it wasn't coming the direction we were in - they had cancelled the warning, but there was still a watch out. Luckily that super cell had taken a turn for the North and East and left our little area alone. Phew! We never did get any of that storm at the house! It was almost unbelievable. Around 8-8:30pm we could see a huge storm kind of headed in our direction, but when it came close, it went all the way around us. We were so fortunate! Someone was looking out for us.
So, we survived the day without any major difficulties. :)
The Dr's apt went well, everything looks good. I only gained a pound! Total switch from Duncan, I always had gained somewhere between 5-10 lbs at each visit! This time I've only gained about 20lbs so far! I gained 60 with Duncan! My blood pressure was up - but I'm blaming that on the storm. I have another apt in 2 weeks, so hopefully my blood pressure will be back in the normal range. I will probably check it between now and then, just to keep an eye on it. The baby is in the head down position. It was funny, when the Dr put the Doppler on my stomach to check the heart rate, the baby gave it a big push - probably with one of her hands! It was really funny. Last night Mike and I could feel a leg swishing around in there! :) It's so awesome to feel that movement. And she moves a lot more, and quite differently than Duncan did. I think she's going to be a wild one!
Well, the vet appointment went much better than expected. I expected that Jo-Jo would be a spaz and a half, but she, much like Brutal did extremely well. She wasn't as scared or freaked out as Brutal was, but she was amazingly calm. So it all went smoothly after all! Crazy busy day #1 done! Now, onto crazy busy day #2 ;)

Nothing too new, but feel the urge to write...

Not a whole lot going on this week so far, but by the end of the week things will be crazy! :) Well, I guess a big storm did blow through here Monday evening, right after Mike started mowing the outrageously long grass out back... He was mowing for maybe 20 minutes and then came in. Big storm clouds came out of nowhere all of a sudden. Like 2 minutes later there were big wind gusts and it was really pouring out! The wind blew a good sized branch down from way at the top of our tree! It hit the ground with such force that it punctured a big, deep hole in the ground where it hit. If it would have been 5" to the right it would have taken out the fence, 5" to the left and it would have come through the porch roof!! We were very lucky that it hit where it did - it was actually leaning up against the fence... so that was our beginning of the week excitement.

Brutal did amazing for his vet trip! I thought we were going to be in for lots of trouble... he'd never been on a leash before, and hadn't been anywhere since Mike brought him home in November... Mike had to pick him up to get him in the van. He whined a little on the way, but other than that did well in the car. He was too freaked out by the floor at the vet's office to be much trouble. He was very well behaved :) He got all his shots and we got him an antibiotic for his Lyme's disease.

OK, so did "America's Got Talent" suck last night or what?? It was quite the disappointment. Last summer there were several acts on the first night that were really good. I just didn't see anyone last night that I would bother with wanting to see again. I hope next weeks is better.


I finally took Duncan out to the sandbox to play yesterday! He actually stayed in it for 30-45min! Of course he was only marginally interested in the sand. He had the most fun throwing all the toys out and then trying to get them back in without getting out of the box. He threw some sand, and sat down and put some in the pail. Then he started picking grass and wildflowers that were growing next to the sandbox and handing them to me saying "eew" :)

Friday... Already??

This week went by so fast... Especially with all that was going on. And the next couple of weeks are going to be worse! :) Got Vet appointments on 2 different days and a Dr.'s Apt. next week and it's Maria's last week of school! Time just flew by this year!


Duncan's fever is finally gone, but now he's got a rashy body - called the Dr and she said it sounded like Chicken Pox! :( Well, since he didn't get vaccinated for it, they wanted him to get it by the time he went to school anyway. We'll just have an itchy week or so.


Ugh! I just went to check on those idiot dogs outside - Sally was laying there on the cement pad in front of the deck step, all peaceful - with a nice fresh coat of dirt almost completely covering her from the hole that Jo-Jo was digging!!! Now that would have been a good picture moment, but as soon as Sally saw me she stood up and shook the dirt off. OOH those dogs! My usual fix for dog digging is to put a fresh piece of poo in the hole - that seems to work the best, who wants to touch their own poo? or anyone else's for that matter... but of course the hole is right where someone would walk. She was digging there when we had her chained up outside, but for the past week of yard freedom she hasn't been bored enough to dig - until I bragged to someone about her not digging anymore... then less than a day later she started the darn digging again!!
This is quickly becoming the dog blog :)

Mike actually brought me home some stuff from his trip!! It was so exciting :) Some awesome yard stuff!! A really pretty dragonfly yard dangly :) and two bird feeders and a big room for 2 shepherd's hook to hang them on! :) The yard just keeps getting better and better :)

Stupid, Stupid Dog!

Unbelievable!! Jo-Jo managed to get herself stuck under the porch! There is maybe a 5" space, covered by lattice no less, and she managed to squeeze herself under the porch and wasn't able to get out! Of course it happens on a day when Mike isn't around - and the only other person I would call is Pat, who was with him! :) I figured I'd give her an hour or so, then maybe go get a shovel and dig out a space for her to squeeze back under... it was maybe over an hour, but she thankfully did manage to get herself out... I just hope she realizes what a bad idea it was and doesn't attempt it again! Crazy!!!

Just another day...

Duncan is doing much better, his fever has stayed down for almost a day now. He acts like he's feeling much better - ready to run around and play, but still not wanting to eat much. I'm just going to keep him from being too active today, if that's possible at his age ;)

Mike and Pat went to a conference on wild rice - they are going to convert most of the cranberry beds into wild rice beds at the marsh. They left yesterday afternoon and will be back somewhat late this evening. It just feels weird not having Mike home at night... Of course I thought I would get a lot done - maybe stay up late and do the dishes... but who was I kidding? :) I think I made it up until 10:30! Being pregnant I'm just so tired (exhausted is more like it) all the time! I ended up just doing a lot of relaxing with Duncan all night. The baby was super active, really kicking and moving! Probably because instead of running around trying to get things done I was just hanging out babying my sick boy :) The funny thing is that I'm always so busy, doing a little of this and a little of that, kind of always doing something, but never really accomplishing anything! It seems like I never get anything done! I just wonder how that's possible when it seems like I'm always doing something.

At least now with the fence, I don't have the chore of walking the dogs ten times a day! :) And they are just really digging the yard! I swear
Jo-Jo smiles every time she gets out. Is she not grinning from ear to ear in this picture? :) (click on it to view the larger pic, then you can really see that smile) She's too funny, she runs circles around Sally until she gets her all mad, then every time she gets close to Sally, Sally will try to jump up and bite her - Sally gets so bent out of shape! Of course the only downside to Jo-Jo running free in the yard is that now she never wants to come in.