JB-Krazy World

Teaching the boys a thing or 2....

2008-02-27T09:10:00.003-06:00

Hi everybody, I took some grainy video of Jacob sweeping the floor. Maybe I can get some shots of Larry pushing the vacuum cleaner around too. However, I still can't figure out why my workload is not getting any smaller. I'll try to get a DVD out soon as well, as soon as I figure out how to copy the original.
-Gotta run, I smell poop. -J

Good news!!

2007-11-29T09:55:00.000-06:00

Hi everybody!

I guess the good news is that I did not have to have a root canal after all. I went to the dentist last Monday and they told me that I had an abcess starting over one of my back molars and that I needed a root canal. Ugh. So I scheduled said procedure and wondered how much the whole she-bang was going to cost after I got a crown and all. Then I went in and the endodontist (that's a dentist specializing in root canals) did all kinds of tests and said that the nerve in the tooth was still viable and that I did not need the procedure after all. Yea!

Jacob has also not been feeling well. Starting last Friday night, he had a 102 degree fever that lasted for almost 3 days. :-( After the fever broke, he developed a rash, which means he actually had the roseola virus. Now the rash is almost completely gone. I sure don't like it when my baby feels so hot to the touch. I'm posting some pictures of Jacob when we were at my mom's in October. I think that they are some of the best Jacob pictures EVER!!

Alice Cooper Reincarnated

2007-11-15T09:48:00.000-06:00

Oh, wait, he's not even dead yet.

Howdy y'all,
Things are gettin' all Christmassy around here. I cant' wait till the day after Thanksgiving to put up the tree and start getting all the decorations out. Yesterday, our little Alice Cooper, had his Thanksgiving dinner at school and tomorrow is the party. Yes, Larry got a hold of my mascara. Then this morning, he got his mullet cut off! He's saying look at all that hair that came off my head. But he also Peed in the Potty!!!! We are starting to work on it more and more.

Jacob is now crawling around on all 4's and pulling himself up. As you can see in the above picture he is getting quite the formula gut. :-)

Other than that, our friends Tami and Aaron came down from the Fort Worth area and we all went to the Rennaisance festival. It was the first time I had left the boys with teenage babysitters. But there were two of them so I felt more comfortable. And we left them three phone numbers of people close by who could come over if they needed help. And we left the van here so that if something happened and they needed to go to the hospital (god forbid) then someone could come drive them and they would have the vehicle that had car seats in it. (you get the idea)...Everybody lived.

Life in William Penn, Texas

2007-10-04T08:53:00.000-05:00

Hello again from William Penn. Just to give you a taste of what life is like down here, Pastor Jeffrey snapped this picture at the local store just down the road in Independence. It's about 6 mi. away but is nice in emergencies, ie when you need to make mac and cheese and have no milk. Or when you need a Blue Bell fix (and who doesn't?)

This next week I am traveling to Arkansas to visit my family. I guess it's nice because most of my family is there so I get to see everybody, while it would be difficult to get everybody to come down and see me. (BUT THAT'S NO EXCUSE FOR Y'ALL NOT TO COME VISIT AND SEE THE BOYS AND OUR NEW PLACE AND EVERYTHING!!!! HINT,HINT).

While we are there, I am hoping to work with Larry on sleeping in a bed and going to the potty since my mom still has cousin Jace's potty chair. Shout out! to Cousin Jace who I hear is doing really well in the Little Lamb's class at the Lutheran church school there in Hot Springs!

This weekend we are taking the high school youth to the Texas Renaissance Faire. I bet this will be the first time that they have ever had a pastor go with them in garb! :-)

Latest Trouble...

2007-09-25T10:27:00.000-05:00

Howdy y'all.
There has been quite a few requests for new pics of Larry-boy, so here goes. He got a new sand and water activity table for his birthday and loves to play in it. So we pop Jacob into his bouncy chair and play outside. Most of the time, Mommy picks up fallen pears and waters plants while Jacob watches big brother play. Larry got a hold of my size 50 knitting needle (used in crochet) and stuck it where the umbrella was supposed to go. I have been practicing my crochet again and soon discovered that I needed this thing to do "broomstick lace" so I decided to reclaim it and put the umbrella back in its place.
Friday was the first day that Larry got in trouble at school. Each day that the kids do not have to be in time-out, they get a stamp, and then at the end of the week, if they have gotten a stamp each day, they get a prize. When we first enrolled Larry, I thought he would never get a stamp, but it turns out that he got one everyday. Except this past Friday. Larry had to sit in time-out for hitting. bummer. At least I think that he is now liking it enough (and used to it enough to show some of his true colors).
Jacob went for his 6 month check up yesterday and we are very happy with the new pediatrician (we'd be even happier if he was in Brenham rather than College Station, but oh, well.)

Starting the Blogs again

2007-09-18T15:39:00.000-05:00

Hi Everybody,

I have decided to start up the blogs again so that everyone can see what da boys are up to. And because some folks were having a hard time seeing the pictures on the Walmart website. :-(

Today's adventure: Cutting off Jacob's comb-over. He had baby pattern baldness and as you can see the thickest bunch of his hair was right on top of his head and now that we've cut it, it looks like a mohawk.

Daddy (aka Jeffrey) held him while I cut first with scissors and then with the clippers.

Larry went back to school today after having "the crud" over the weekend. He still has a little bit of a runny nose but is doing much better. He melted down during Sunday school and we had to miss a church service for the first time since we've been here.

How many more days to go?

2007-03-22T12:06:00.000-05:00

Hi All,
Well it looks like the last time that I wrote, I was still in Helen's lab. Things have gone very well in Tim's lab, however, we do not have the papers finished that I would like to have had finished. I have been diagnosed with gestational diabetes this pregnancy and it has been alot of work to keep up with. I have had to be very careful with my diet and take some insulin before dinner and bedtime as well. As a result, I have not gained alot of weight with baby Jacob and have had many people comment that I have lost weight in my face. Now if I can just keep up the good habits after the baby is born to keep losing weight.
The baby could come any day now and I'd be really happy. I have had a lot of contractions towards the end, but none of them seem to be regular even though some are kind of painful. If the baby has not come this weekend, I go in Sunday night to be induced (starting with a cervical treatment) and the real induction Monday morning. I am hoping to have both Larry and Jacob born on the 26th of their birth months. I thought it would be easy to remember! More later as I am at work....

Holiday Party!

2006-12-14T15:24:00.000-06:00

Well, we just got out of our yearly Christmas party for Helen's lab. They are usually a lot of fun and this year was no exception. Only this year, they had a going away cake for me. And a really nice card that almost made me cry. It was a very nice gesture on the part of the lab. Even though I felt like I had been fired (you don't have going away parties for people who have been fired do you?) Anyway, I will be glad when the papers are out and Jeff and I can move on to where ever we are going to be. I am working on my CV now, it's really the first time I've done one. Anywho, CUA has a chemistry prof who has had his Ph.D. since I have been alive, so I am going to send my information there. Well, I gotta run. I have a couple of Christmas gifts left to buy and then it's off to send them to AR and MS!
I promise I will get the cards in the mail either tonight or tomorrow morning.
Julie

Christmas is coming!

2006-12-11T11:58:00.000-06:00

Hi y'all,
Good news, we did not lose power when the ice storm came through, but we were really lucky because 8 of the buildings in our complex did not have power. And here I was getting all smug because we lived in a "good place." Christmas is coming and this year I have a little 3 foot tree and my snow village out! And we have a butt-load of presents for everybody and their wrapped too! Woo-hoo. Last year, I was too stressed out between new baby and going back to work to do anything about Christmas. I just gotta get my handmade cards out tonight.

We had to put the cats up for adoption

2006-11-20T12:44:00.000-06:00

Hi all. Yes we had to put our precious kitties up for adoption at the humane society. They just kept spraying no matter what we tried. I say " put them up for adoption" because that sure sounds better than how I feel. It's hard to believe that they are gone even though I'm the one who loaded them up and took them. They meowed all the way. Jeff and I both cried. :-( I know they are both great kitties and maybe in a less stressful environment (read: no babies) they will not resort to spraying. Very difficult day yesterday. And to make matters worse, today I was stupid enough to wear my italian charm bracelet that has two kitties on it, one black and one grey.
Then we took Larry to have his pictures made, and the portrait people were about 45 minutes behind schedule. Of couse in baby time, that's like freakin' infinity. Larry did so good, but by the time we got in for our portraits he did not want to be there anymore and we had to work really hard to get him to smile or sit there for that matter, but we managed to get a few good ones. They'll be ready on the 5th of December! I can't wait. If you're good, maybe Santa will put one in your stocking or something! More later, we're leaving for Arkansas on Wednesday. Pray for us.
Love,
Julie

Long time....No write

2006-11-16T12:34:00.000-06:00

Hi everybody,
Well I know it's been a long time since I have written. I have been pretty busy trying to finish up projects in one lab to transfer to the new lab in January. In that time, we have found out that we are having a little boy. I told you so, and if you don't believe me, scroll down to that post and see!
We are pretty sure that the name will be Jacob Wilson. The Wilson is a family name from both sides and the Jacob is for Jacob McCandles, y'know from the John Wayne movie, BIG JAKE. I kid you not! That guy kicks booty, and I thought that it would be cool to have a son named Jacob in his honor. And it goes pretty well with Wilson as a middle name. Well at least Jeff and I did not have to battle it out over the names Anna Marie or Anna Grace (my choice), we've always been kind of set on boy names.
Work is going ok. I'm not getting these papers done as fast as I would like to. But my craft life has really taken off. I am making around 48 Christmas cards with a Stampin up set that I got. I'm also trying to finish Jeff's ordination stole. All hell has broken loose back home. Poor Jason, has to be there to deal with it. Sometimes I actually like being 450 miles away. We are going to go to AR for Thanksgiving, and my mom is going to go out of town to aviod conflict. :-( I'm just hurt that it means more to her to avoid conflict than it does for her to see Larry or her only daughter for that matter. Anyway, I took the bull by the horns and am organizing Thanksgiving from up here. I gave everyone an assignment, no we'll just see how that works! ;-)

Missouri is going to hell in a handbasket, and the liberals have made sure that baby killing and egg harvesting for profit is full steam ahead. I have to hand it to the opposition because, the stem cell initiative only lost by 44,000 votes. Oh, well, at least we're moving in less than a year! Jeff is on break and organizing the downstairs for the move. Like any good project, it has to get alot worse before it gets better. But at least now it seems do-able.
More later, hopefully from Larry's blog. He has been doing really well in the transition to the new caretaker which God so graciously provided. :-) -Julie

Update

2006-09-23T08:45:00.000-05:00

Well, last Monday we went to the dr. and they went ahead and did an ultrasound to make sure that there was a baby with a heartbeat in there. Sure enough there was. So I decided to go ahead and tell the bosses. Holy cow, what a disaster. One boss came back 45 min. later and told me that her grant that I was paid out of had not been renewed, so we might have to come up with something else. I was upset (mostly about the timing of her telling me) but decided to go ahead and go talk with boss#2. He indicated that we would figure something out and he would give boss#1 a call and figure out when we needed to have the money by. We had a meeting with all 3 of us the next day and I was informed that boss#2 was expecting big cuts to his grants (that I was paid out of) and that he wanted to be done with my project at the same time as boss#1's money ran out. (How convenient). I only wondered why this was the first time I was hearing of this. I held my composure and said that I would do my best to wrap up and do as much as I could. Then I went to the bathroom and cried of course. I just wondered what made me any different from any other post-doc? Were any others going to be let go? Needless to say it has been a difficult couple of weeks. However, I was able to schedule interviews with two other investigators and secure two separate job offers. Right now I have secured funding through the end of March. :-) I think it's going to work out and give me the opportunity to wrap up ALL of the projects that I have been involved with since I have been here! And I might just have to have an extended maternity leave. oh, darn. Well, enjoy the pic of the new baby...

Jeff's in Ohio with my Baby

2006-08-22T16:47:00.000-05:00

So Jeff and Larry set off around 3:30 yesterday morning. I had secretly hoped that they would leave a day later. But I dutifully packed Larry up being sure to include all possible necessities such as his tylenol and motrin and of course his night time pooh-bear. Jeffrey called around 7:30 yesterday morning having a hellacious time. Larry had woken up around 5:00 am with the sun in his eyes and did not want to go back to sleep. They had to make many stops to play but when they went to get on the road again, Larry really did not want to get back into his carseat. Poor kid. At least when we come home there will be two of us. I am proud of Jeff for taking him (although I did try to give him everypossible out...) However, I kind of feel like this is payback for all of those times he left me on vicarage to go on a men's retreat or conference or youth camping trip. ;-) Oh, well, ever since they got there things seem to be going well. I called this afternoon and they were headed out to go swimming.

Poopy Transmission

2006-08-17T10:50:00.000-05:00

I know it has been a few days since my last post, but I am much more tired and nauseated this preganancy than in the past. The tired, I know that has to do with having a one year old, the morning sick, I don't know why. Anyway, things are still going ok. I am trying to get a lot of work done. If only to keep the bosses happy. I went to dr. on Monday, and they didn't even do a pregnancy test. They only have my word that I'm pregnant. They gave me the paper work for the lab-work which I got done yesterday. Anywho, it made me want to go get a couple more tests just to be sure. :-) Like 4 tests weren't enough.
Jeffrey is leaving Monday for Ohio. His sister Charlotte has had to re-schedule his surgery so with her up and about, he is feeling confident that he can take Larry with him. Wow.

1) it is a BIG deal for me to entrust the care of my son to anyone, even if it is his father.
2) They have an 8 hour drive between here and there (I gave Jeffrey a quiz to see how he would react to certain situations and he passed)
3) But I am so tired and nauseated that it might be nice to "play single" for a few days while their gone.

We'll see how this goes, but either way, tomorrow is Larry's last day of daycare. :-( I have really come to love his caregivers and the reliability of daycare. I know that they are not going to have relatives come and rob the place looking for drug money, or pop Larry in the car for a trip to Wal-Mart, which you might have to worry about with home daycares. We'll see how things go.

So about the transmission. When in really lower gears, I thought I felt the transmission slipping. $150 of diagnostic fee later, nothing. Oh, well, at least we feel safer about taking it to Ohio.

Poopy window

2006-08-08T13:47:00.000-05:00

Well, I am definitely more nauseated this time. It's funny how Jeff and I aren't telling anyone...only we're telling everyone. I definitely had a hard time leaving Larry this morning. He had a rough night, I think a tooth might be on the way. He wanted a bottle every couple of hours. So I let him sleep in while I got ready. Then I got him up and whisked him away to daycare. Not good for mommy. I need more morning snuggles from my baby. Jeffrey is still acting pastor while ours in away tromping through the woods.
I actually made dinner last night when I really wanted to call and have Jeff bring home Chinese food. I made open-faced sloppy joes on toast with mashed potatoes (out of the box-of course) and green beans. Not bad, and we didn't have to spend money.
We had to replace the mechanism on my back window. It seems that the molding that had come loose was causing us to have to repeatedly slam the door in order to get it shut. And that somehow finally broke the rolly-downy mechanism. I can still hear my Mom and Jacky's voice in my ear about how they always buy vehicles with manual cranks for the windows. But I have to say that in 5 years this is the first bad luck with a window that I have had. And I love to be able to roll down all the windows from my seat. Especially with a little guy who gets hot in the back seat. Oh, well. That $200 had to go somewhere I guess.
"If it's not one thing...it's your mother."

2006-08-01T07:25:00.000-05:00

I was psycho-analyzing my mom the other day when I realized that maybe I was doing the very thing that she does. For example, my mom, when feeling guilty always assumes that the other party was mad at her for some reason. So in other words, she is projecting her guilt onto them, when in fact, the other party has no idea of what my mom has any reason to feel guilty about. Now me, I'm working for too many darn labs. One of which I am not really supposed to be working for anymore. I have been feeling guilty and pressured by one of my bosses thinking that she does not like me, she thinks my half a salary that she is paying me is a waste of money etc....But in fact, she's probably very busy with her own problems. So here I am demonizing her, making her the bad guy when it's just me projecting my guilt onto her. When I realized this, my meeting with her went much better yesterday. I did not read anything into her comments on my research...
The power of realizing how misguided our thoughts can be. Must be a bad coping skill.
Anywho, I'm still feeling good. Just a little nauseated sometimes and tired.

2006-07-28T08:33:00.000-05:00

Ok, the picture maybe fuzzy, but I definitely see two pink lines. Now, the debate begins. Jeff thinks it's a girl, I know it's a boy. Thank goodness VBS is over with and I can have my husband back. Next week is our 5 year anniversary. :-) More later.....

2006-07-27T06:41:00.000-05:00

Two pink lines.....

Well, I been thinking for a while that this was gonna be the month that we got pregnant again. But then I started to think that my body was playing tricks on me like it does when I want to get pregnant. I start to have symptoms of pregnancy (including a late period) when in reality it's just stress. But that's the nice thing about having been pregnant, I know the "other" signs. :-) So I tested Monday night and Tuesday morning and the second pink line was pretty faint. Jeff's not convinced but I am. Of course I immediately cut my caffeine consumption. Dang! But I'm not as nervous. Perhaps it's because I have already carried a baby to term, or that I'm just plain too busy with Larry to dwell on the negative of what could happen. Last time I rented one of those dopplers to listen to Larry's heartbeat everynight. I can tell right now that that is NOT in our budget. or schedule for that matter.

Being a better homemaker....
Every night I have been trying to accomplish a little more around the house and be more of a Proverbs 31 type woman. Last night, I gave Larry dinner, cleaned the kitchen and changed Larry's sheets while he played in his room. Then after he went to bed (not without a fight), I watched t.v. and wondered how much of my life was sucking away.....
Well, off to work and to try again!!!
"His mercies are new each morning."
Julie

2006-07-21T09:47:00.000-05:00

Well, Here it is the day I leave for Arkansas. I hope everything goes ok. My mom called this morning at 7:00 evidently forgetting that I told her that we had company with a baby as well. Oh, well, Christi and the baby Katie came over last night because they had no power at their house and the temperature had gotten up to around 90 in their house. Not good for babies. It's nice having the downstairs bedroom for guests especially ones that need a place to stay in a pinch. It's not the first time it's happened, but it makes me feel good to know that I do have an open home to friends in need. Oh, well. I'm not at work today. I needed a sick day. I will probably have to give my shrink a call. While I have been doing very well, I still have about one week a month where I want to jump out a window. Not good. That makes it very difficult to work objectively. I'll probably not be able to post again until I get back from Arkansas. Rest assured I'll fill everybody in.

2006-07-20T12:01:00.000-05:00

Hi! This is Julie's personal blog. So if you are easily offended, don't read it. And sure don't email me about it! I don't want to hear it. Go back to Larry's blog if you want to hear all the good stuff, but because life is sometimes a mix, I plan on reporting it that way. That's a picture of me and the two loves of my life. My hubby Jeffrey and Little Larry. That picture was taken back in January when Larry was still only ~5 months old. I can't believe he's almost a year now.