Work

I was a daycare provider for a year and a half and just quit in the end of June. Before that I was an insurance agent and worked for GEICO. I loved the job, it was just so hard to be away from my newborn baby. Kobe was 8 weeks old when I returned to work and I lasted for 4 months before I quit to stay home with him.

I really enjoyed getting to be home with him every day. It was so rewarding getting to see all his firsts and getting to be there everyday when he woke up or went to sleep. I wouldn't trade that for the world.

Now my baby is 2 years old and it is time for me to go back to work. I applied at a security company and they were not willing to pay me enough so I turned the job down. I was kind of depressed thinking damn what do I do now?? Then I was asked why I didn't go back to GEICO and I said that I thought they would not hire me back. When I resigned my manager tore up my resignation letter and asked me to please stay. I was given a 6 month leave of absence and told that I could come back at anytime.

Well I decided to give it a shot and apply at GEICO. I got a call from them last week but they called my husbands cell phone and when I tried to call them back I got a voicemail. I was kind of negative about it thinking that they would not call me back. Well this morning they did call me back and she asked me to please come in for a face to face interview on Thursday!!! I am so excited, the money is good, I love the job and I could not ask for more.

So please keep me in your thoughts and prayers on Thursday and keep all your fingers and toes crossed for me. I will let you all know how it goes. If I get the job I start on September 28th and I will work Mon-Fri during the day and then after 11 weeks of training I will start working from 1:30-10pm. The best part of working nights is that I get night differential!!! That is almost $2 more an hour!!! Ok let me stop now. Fingers and toes crossed that I will have good news on Thursday.

Happy 2nd Birthday Kobe!!!

I decided to copy paste Kobe's birth story from last year so you can all read about his arrival into this world.  Kobe is now 2 years old!!!  Wow how the time flies!  I feel like it was just yesterday that I was rubbing my belly wondering when I was going to meet my little prince and now I have had him with me for 2 years :o)  Enjoy the pictures and story while I enjoy my little man.

This ultrasound was done on 4/25/07, the day I found out we were having a BOY!!!

Here is a 3D pic of Kobe taken the same day

Here is a profile shot of my little munchkin

Here is a belly shot taken at 20 weeks and 2 days

Another belly shot, this one taken at 24 weeks

Last belly shot taken at 36 weeks and 2 days

I took this picture of Kobe first after they brought him in my room.  He was a few hours old

This pic was taken with Daddy the day after Kobe was born.

Mamma feeding Kobe the morning after he was born.  Sorry about the boob shot :o)

Here is Kobe in May of 2007 enjoying sitting in the grass

Kobe in November 2007

Kobe riding his new Diego bike on September 6, 2009.  2 year old big boy!!!

Now on to the birth story....

So at 5:30 am on September 6, 2007 I woke up with contractions and a horrible back ache.  I got out of bed and got into the bath tub which by now I was taking 5-6 baths a day because my back was always hurting soooo bad (found out when Kobe was three months old that was due to kidney stones).  I laid in the bath tub for hours.  I had Dewayne wake the boys up for school and called them into the bathroom and told them to take the bus home with my friend Michele's children.  I explained to the that I was going to have Kobe that day and they were going to stay with Michele as we had discussed before.  The boys left for school and that is when I told Dewayne that I was going into labor and he needed to call work to let them know he was not coming in that day.  So Dewayne called work and I got out of the bath tub and made sure all the bags were packed and ready to go.  While I was getting Jalen ready Dewayne went and took a shower and got ready.  I don't think he realized that it was actually happening though because I had to rush him and let him know it was time to go to the hospital.  

We dropped Jalen off at Michele's house and her husband Oron took Jalen for the day for us since Michele was in school.  Then off we went to the hospital.  As we were coming to Portsmouth we got stuck in some serious traffic and we could not get into the proper lane because no one would let us in so Dewayne scootched his way in to my horror (I thought we would end up in an accident).   We got to the hospital about 10:30 am and checked in at the desk to Labor and Delivery only to find out that there was a HUGE wait to be seen, it seemed like everyone in Virginia decided to have their babies that day!!!  

So the wait began.....

We sat in the waiting room for hours waiting to be seen, we talked to all kinds of people waiting for their babies arrivals too.  The funny thing was that most of the pregnant women were having boys as well, I think only one or two were having girls.  My contractions kept coming but they were not too strong but my back felt like it was going to explode!!!  At about 3:30 pm I was finally seen and the doctor said I was about 50% effaced and 2 cm dilated.  He wanted to send me home but he was just a resident so he had to have the head doctor come in and make the final call.  When that doctor came in he checked me also and told me that he wanted me to walk the halls for two hours and let him check me again because he could not admit me and do a c-section if I was not progressing.  

So the walking began....

Dewayne and I went to the cafeteria which is all the way on the other side of the hospital and two floors down so he could have something to eat.  I had not eaten anything all day and the nurse told me not to eat anything but I was allowed to have a smoothie so long as there was no dairy in it.  I had about 1/4 of the smoothie and then Dewayne drank the rest and we kept walking.  We walked the halls and then I wanted to walk up and down the stairs because I knew that had worked when I was having Tyrique.  So up and down I walked for probably about an hour.  I was so tired by then that we decided to go back to Labor and Delivery and see if they would check me.  When we got to Labor and Delivery there were even more people waiting to be seen so I had to wait another hour before they would check me to see if I was dilated any more.

When I went to the room to see if I had dilated anymore the nurses put me in an actual Labor and Delivery room and then they left me there for awhile longer.  About 7:30 pm the doctor came in and checked me and said that I was at 3 cm dilated and 70% effaced so she (it was a different doctor from the first time) asked me where I lived because she wanted to send me home and have me come back the next morning for a c-section.  I told her what the other doctor had said about me progressing and I also told her that we live at least an hour away.  She told me to hold on a sec she wanted to check with the head doctor and see what he said before making a decision.  

Well while waiting I decided that I better call my Mamma and tell her I was going to be having Kobe soon and I did not get an answer.  So I texted Birgitta and she called me right back and I told her the news and asked her to please call Mamma and tell her.  Well Mamma called me back and said she had forgotten her phone in the car.  Well as I was talking to Mamma the nurses came in to put the IV into my arm.  I got off the phone with Mamma and I swear everything happened so fast after that.  The nurses got the IV into my arm and I went to pee really quickly and then when I came back from the bathroom the doctor was waiting for me and told me I was going in to have my c-section.  I was rolled into the operating room so fast that we forgot to take a picture of my belly.  While I went into the operating room Dewayne put on his scrubs and waited to be called back. 

Well the ride into the operating room was scary....I didn't really know what to expect and I was so nervous.  I got a spinal tap and then the nurses prepped me (put in the catheter and shaved me).  They put up the sheet between me and my belly and the doctors came into the operating room.  Dewayne came into the room and sat at my left side by my head.  He was so good rubbing my head trying to make me less afraid.  The doctors started cutting my belly and I remember smelling a burning smell and it made me really nauseous and the anasteseologist put an alcohol wipe on my nose and it worked like a charm.  

I remember them pulling and tugging on my belly and then they pulled his head out and I felt my stomach empty when they pulled his body out, Kobe was born at 10:15 pm.  Then Dewayne started saying "Oh my God, Oh my God" and I thought something was wrong and when I asked him he said "Wow Helga you should see all the hair this baby has!!!"  Kobe was placed under the warmer and they cleaned him out and suctioned out his lungs and Daddy stood there with him.  They then dressed Kobe and Dewayne brought him to me so I could see my baby for the first time.  Wow he was so beautiful and perfect weighing in at 9 lbs 1 oz and he was 22 inches long.  He was my smallest baby and he had the most amount of hair by far.  Kobe was then taken to the special care nursery because they had to clear his lungs out.  I was stapled shut and taken to the recovery room, all in all the surgery took less than an hour because I was wheeled out of the OR at 10:45 pm.  I sat in the recovery room waiting patiently for them to take me to my room so I could see Kobe and Dewayne.  Finally  at about 12:30 they took me to my room and there was no one in the room.  I was taken to a different room than the one I had been in earlier that night so I didn't have any of my stuff including my phone so I could not call Dewayne to find out where he was.  I laid there waiting for something to happen and at about 1 am Dewayne came into the room and told me that he had been in the other room waiting for me to come back and had just found out that I was in this new room.  

Kobe was brought in to me at about 2 am, maybe a little sooner but not much.  As soon as I got Kobe in my arms I undressed him completely and placed him on my chest so I could have some bonding time with him.  Then I breastfed him and took lots of pictures of him.  After I was done ooohhhing and aaahhhing over my beautiful baby that I created I had Dewayne put him back in his bed and I went to sleep.  

Kobe was born on a Thursday night and we came home from the hospital on Sunday afternoon.  He has been a joy since the minute he was born, always so happy and sleeping through the night by the time he was 6 weeks old.  I could not have asked for a better baby.  He just keeps melting my heart in one way or another.

Going away

Today Dewayne, Kobe and I are going to pack up the car and drive to Chicago.  Kobe and I are staying in Chicago until August 2nd and then we will be flying to Boston and then Iceland.  We will be staying in Iceland until August 18th.  I don´t know how much time I am going to have to blog so I thought I would let you all know why I am suddenly quiet.  Have a great month everyone and I will hopefully be able to update during the trip.  Adios!!!

Not my child Monday

It is that time of week....Not me! Monday!!  But this week Mckmama has given it a little twist by doing a Not my child Monday instead...should be fun :o)  So after reading my Not my child Monday click on the button above and visit Mckmama and read her and everyone else´s Not my child Monday.

Friday last week Kobe did not sleep until 11:40!!!  I did not go into his room and try to wake him up well before that only to have him snuggle a little bit closer into his pillow and blankie.  I then did not leave the room thinking "oh that was too cute, I will let him sleep a little bit longer" and then forget about him until 11:40!!!!  

Then on Friday night we did not go to the store and forget the diaper bag at home, not us we are great parents that never forget the diaper bag.  Of course Kobe did not poop in his diaper as soon as we got into the store, he also  did not stink up the WHOLE entire store with his not poopy diaper!!!

Now on Saturday Dewayne was not playing a boxing game on the X-BOX 360, he never does that!!!  Kobe did not then sit down next to his Daddy with his X-BOX controller and head set on and yell "knock him down Daddy" because Kobe would never know to say such a thing.  I don't know how a child of 22 months could say knock him down.

Shortly after Kobe did not sit down next to his Daddy the puppy Maya did not start barking because she wanted out of the kitchen.  We would never put a gate up in the kitchen to keep the dog in, nope not us.  Well when Maya did not start to bark, Kobe did not yell at her "shut up Maya"!!!  Nope not my child.....he would never say shut up.  Shut up is a bad word in our house and NONE of my children say that word, especially not Kobe!!!  

Since we are not talking about bad words Kobe also did not hear me say "Oh shit" when I dropped something and turn around and say shit to his Daddy.  I would NEVER say shit in front of my baby and hell I never say any bad words period!!!  His Daddy did not turn around and give me the evil eye because of the bad word that did not come out of my babies mouth.  Nope not in my household!!!

Ok well that is it for my Not my child Monday.  I hope you enjoyed reading about our wonderful baby boy Kobe (he is the only child here in the house to write about).  

*****Shut up really is a bad word in our house and is not allowed to be said*****

Toot your horn Tuesday

It is that time of week again.....Toot your horn Tuesday!!! After reading my great Toots push the button above and go over to A Silly little Sparrow to read her Toots and then you can read everyone else's Toots too :o)

In the last week I have not done too much. I spent Sunday cleaning my living room, cleaning the carpets (or having the neighbor clean them I should say....I deserve a Toot for getting someone else to do it for me :o) in time for my new couch that I got on Monday. Then Monday I helped my neighbor/friend pack all her house hold goods into boxes and then a U-Haul and then today I helped them unload the U-Haul at their new home. So now they are no longer neighbors but they will forever be my friends. I am really going to miss having my wonderful friend live 30 steps away :o( Now I have to drive 30 minutes to see her....that's really not so bad though.

After helping her move I came home and took a very much needed shower and spent the rest of the day with Dewayne and Kobe. We went and picked up chinese from my favorite Chinese restaurant. After dinner Dewayne and I sat down on our new couch and watched Wanted. That was a really good movie, very unexpected. And now that I am done blogging I am going to

Toot your horn Tuesday on a Wednesday

This week I am tooting my horn on Wednesday because I was not here on Tuesday to do it.  After you have read my Toot your horn Tuesday (Wednesday) go over to visit Silly Little Sparrow to read her and everyone elses toots :o)
Now this week I definitely have something to Toot about....On Monday night at 8 pm I packed up Tyrique, Markus and Kobe in our truck along with 5 suitcases, 2 bikes, pillows, snacks and drinks and drove to Boston, MA.  My wonderful neighbor and friend Geneva offered to come along for the ride so I would not have to do it alone and I happily accepted her offer :o)  
We left Virginia Beach at 8 pm and got some gas in the truck and started by driving over the Chesapeake Bay bridge.  Geneva had never went over that bridge before so she was excited about that.  The boys and I have travel that way many times before so we were Chesapeake Bay bridge experts...lol.  We drove through Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and finally into Massachusetts.  
We hit some major traffic in NYC at 4 am???  That surprised us all, we thought for sure that we would be able to pass NYC with no troubles at all but we were wrong :o)  We paid six million tolls on the drive and we arrived at Boston Logan International Airport at 9 am (we passed it by at 8 am but decided to go to McDonalds and grab some breakfast).  We were so lucky because there was an older Icelandic couple on their way back home from visiting their daughter that offered to take the boys with them so they would not have to go through the trip alone.  We were so lucky to meet them, they were so good to the boys. 
The boys went through security at about 11:15 am and Geneva and I left to start our drive back home.  We drove for 2 hours and then I thought my body was going to crumble on me so we took a brake at a rest stop 90 miles out of NYC.  I laid down in the back of the truck with Kobe thinking that he would fall asleep with me since he had not slept too much the night before.  Boy was I WRONG!!!  While I attempted to sleep on the floor in the back and Geneva attempted to sleep on the seat up front Kobe decided that he loved the freedom from the car seat.  He ate popcorn on the floor next to me and then got an apple and while eating the apple threw it at me and told me Touchdown Mamma!!!  
After about an hour or so I gave up on trying to sleep in the back and got back behind the wheel of the car.  I felt strangely rested and off we went to NYC.  When we reached NYC Geneva and I were both starving at that point and decided that we wanted some White Castles.  We drove straight into the Bronx for some White Castles and Tyrique will be disappointed to know that we saw the Subway stop that he kept asking about when we had been in Boston earlier that morning.  
After getting our food we got back on the road to go home.  We went through New Jersey no problem, then we got to Delaware.  We both agree that for such a small state they sure do have A LOT of TOLLS!!!  It felt like we were stopping every few minutes to pay a toll!!  
Kobe did wonderful the whole trip until we reached Virginia again.  3 hours from home Kobe decided that he had had enough of the car and wanted out.  He screamed and cried the whole way home until we got to the Chesapeake Bay bridge and then he fell right to sleep.
We finally arrived home at a little after 1 am this morning after I drove 29 hours!!!  I am tooting the hell out of my own Horn for all that driving.  And my sons and Geneva deserve a whole lot of tooting for dealing with that long drive with me.
I have to say one thing before I finish this post.  While I was gone my wonderful husband cleaned the whole house for me and it felt so good to come home to everything clean :o)  I love you honey just a little bit more for that :o)  The way to a woman's heart is to clean her house :o)
Ok now that you have read this huge and long post go over to Silly Little Sparrow by clicking on the button above and read her Toots.

Stressed

I am going out of my mind right now!!!  I have been doing laundry for hours and trying to get all the stuff together that every one in Iceland requested.  I can not find one scratch that two suitcases that I need to use for the boys.  I borrowed two suitcases from one of my neighbors thinking I had another big one here and then plenty of small ones.  Nope....I only found one small suitcase and obviously that is not enough for the boys!!!

We are leaving tomorrow night around 8 pm to start driving to Boston and then the boys are supposed to check in by noon on Tuesday.  Their flight leaves after 2 pm and then I will head back home.  This is going to be quite the drive I am making.  My neighbor and friend Geneva is going to try to make the trip with me so I don't have to do all that driving all alone.  Geneva does not drive but it would be great to have the company of someone else :o)  

Ok off to go do some more laundry and packing........oh and searching for suitcases.  Have a great night everyone.