Welcome Emilee Maddison

Emilee Maddison.  Born August 29, 2014.  Weight 7lb 4 oz.  A whole pound bigger than Hailey.  21 Inches long. A whole inch larger than Hailey.  Labor and delivery, half the time of Hailey.  How'd it go...  This is where the long story begins.

We all woke up early Friday morning to go to Ann Morrison to watch the hot air balloons take off.  It was a lot of fun.  Not a super hyped dramatic fun but just a small excitement that builds quietly and takes you back to the giddy child days.  That was Joel's favorite part of the whole event, watching the little excited kid come out in me.  Hailey had a good time as well but got bored quickly of the balloons and had much more fun crawling all over her stroller.  She took a couple face plants into the ground and almost tipped it over backwards, but Mommy saved the day on that one with an awesome twitsted save before she hit the ground.

After that we went back tot he house and who knows what we do there sometimes to waste the time.  Naps, read books.  Joel went out on a joy ride up Bogus Basin on the motorcycle because it was really nice outside.

After all the midday adventures we started getting ready to go back to Ann Morrison for the Spirit of Boise Hot Air Ballon Nite Glow.  They have 15-20 ballons lined up and once it gets dark, they all pull the torches and everything lights up.  We stopped by relatives to pick up some lawn chairs and then we were going to meet Hyrum and Jessica and their family for the event.  Well, spoiler, we never made it.

We had stayed too long for Joel's liking at Scott and Tess's and still needed to run and grab picnic food for the event.  We tried Walmart but the fried chicken looked a little too fried.  We were arguing off and on about how we can be better about this or that and I was frustrated.  Joel was frustrated.  The chicken was frustrating too!  We decided to head Albertsons and see what their chicken looked like.  It was on the way at least and we wouldn't be too much later than what Joel had wanted to be, only an hour... lol.  Well, still frustrated we grabbed a hungry and tired Hailey out of the car and headed into Albertsons.  The day before at my prenatal appointment Reineke had told me that Emilee's head was sitting on top of my pelvis instead of being nestled right in.  She told me to do pelvic tilts and apply pressure to help move Emilee.  Well, while waiting for Joel and Hailey, just inside the sliding doors of Albertsons, I decided to do my pelvic tilts.  It helped release my back anyway.  Well, tilt and pressure and pop...  Joel came walking up and I said, "Uh... we aren't going to be getting chicken.  My water just broke.  Will you go let the customer service know that there's a wet spot on the ground and make sure no one slips in it?"  Apparently the lady at the desks face was priceless.  For some reason Labor freaks people out.

I waddled back to the car looking sopping wet.  Joel started freaking out or going into take control mode. We only had the past experiences to pull from and Hailey's water broke 2 hours or less before she was born.  Joel wanted to go to the hospital right away.  I said, heck no.  Take me home so I can shower off and change!  Plus I'm not even having contractions right now, I'm just wet.  We called the dr's office to find out when to come in, got everything packed, and then waited for a few people to come and drop things off or pick up Hailey.  Lynn came and got Hailey.  Scott and the girls dropped off a couple oils that Hailey has hidden around the house somewhere.  Joel was cleaning.  The dishes hadn't been done and Hailey was still hungry.

Well, as Joel is "taking control" by making tacos for dinner Hailey is pulling the condiments out of the fridge.  She grabbed the jelly first and I would have taken that for a simple, "PBJ's will do just fine."  I'm sure she enjoyed the tacos though. :)  I showered off and got my clothes and bag ready for to leave.  The contractions started coming not soon after we got home.  Maybe around 730.  After a priesthood blessing and everything else taken care of we headed off to the hospital.  Joy oh joy.

I'm not a huge fan of hospitals.  My contractions were coming mildly but at about 1-2 minutes apart.  I had previously decided that with the way Hailey's L&D went I didn't want an IV.  I didn't want to be hooked up to anything if I could avoid it.  Once we got to the hospital, the contactions started to get more intense.  They hospital staff needed to monitor the baby and my contractions for 20 minutes. In regular life, 20 minutes isn't very long.  You want another five minutes after a 20 minute cat nap or massage or break from life... but you don't want an extra five minutes being attached to a monitor.  I was itching to rip them off.  They wanted to keep them on longer because Emilee's heart beat was stable but not jumping with the onset of contractions.  Eventually the nurse left because I had said ok to Apple juice to try and get a heart beat rise.  She pretty much didn't come back... Finally another one came in and I said, look I've been standing here waiting but I really need to go to the bathroom.  They kept the stupid monitors attached but just unplugged them.  At least I could go labor in the bathroom now and not have to worry about trying to hold it if I had to.  I know, TMI.  I just stayed in there.  Eventually the contactions started to get pretty severe.  I still wanted to rip the monitors off and eventually I did.  I didn't want anything on me or touching me.  I was having "twitches."  It's like getting the shivers or body twitches, but that's one way my body reacts to pain.  I was also starting to sweat and shake.  Pain does awesome things to our bodies huh?!  Oh did I mention, I wasn't hooked up to an IV and wasn't planning on getting an epidural?

I'm usually pretty tough and strong but things were starting to build and I wasn't doing as well as breathing through the pain as I had hoped/planned.  Did I mention Emilee was still sitting on my pelvis instead of in it?  We figure she was probably on top of a couple nerves as well because we would get a contraction but the pain would never release.  There was no bell curve.  There was very little extra time to recoup and catch my breath.  I remember getting up to try a different position and just leaning into Joel and crying, "Why won't it release."  "She's stuck and not moving."

Last L&D Joel just sat there stunned and in shock and with no idea how to help, plus I wouldn't listen to him anyway.  Now I leaned on him for support.  Literally and figuratively.  I know that if I had nails he probably would have had nail marks left from me hanging on to him.  I know he said I bit him a few times but no permanent bite marks.

When things weren't releasing, I starting to break mentally.  I couldn't handle the pressure and the pain that never stopped.  They did a check and said I was only at a 6.5 cm dilation.  I asked how long it takes to get to 10.  She said, About a cm per hour.  WAIT, that's a possibility of 3.5 more hours.  I broke down and asked about the epidural.  Gasp, shock, I know.  The all natural girl asking for something she wasn't a fan of.  We got the details.  IV would have to be placed.  a liter of fluids would have to be given first- 20-30 minutes.  Then the Epi part would take another 20-30 minutes to be set and 15-45 for the meds to kick in.  In the back of my mind I knew, right like it's going to all happen before I have this baby.  But the pain part spoke up instead.  Ok, Ok ok... Yes.  They proceeded to try and put the IV in but since I've been so swollen this pregnancy she had a hard time.  Three different pokes/places but no success.  At some point I'm pretty sure they abandoned the idea but just didn't tell me.  I was feeling pushing pressure and then Emilee's heart rate was slowly starting to drop.  Baby needed to come out.

The midwife on call for the night switched me into a few different positions.  I kept saying, she's stuck, she's stuck, so the midwife decided ok, lets move to get her unstuck.  Hands and knees hadn't worked.  Upright in a sitting position hadn't worked.  They tried a lateral or side lying position that was half on my back.  Again another thing I wasn't a fan of... being on my back because it can make delivery harder  because of the pelvic position, but I would try.   It didn't cause back labor like last time.  But it did put things in a better position to drop.  It was still super intense and rushed because Emilee's heart beat was dropping still.  After about 20-30 minutes of pushing Emilee was born.

So where was Joel in all of this.  Since I wasn't hanging on him or shunning him.  Yep right in the middle of it.  Had to be my side support for one of my legs.  Last time he stayed up at my head to avoid seeing or being in any of it.  Poor guy, yeah you weren't so lucky this time.  But I was very grateful that he was there literally by my side.

He almost passed out he said after the fact.  Not from x,y,z, but because when Emilee came out the cord was wrapped around her neck twice and her arm was up and through it.  But the midwife did great and acted quickly and just unwrapped everything like nothing was wrong.  They rubbed and rubbed and got some blood bumping and Emilee started to cry.

Totally different experience than with Hailey.  Nothing from pregnancy to L&D was the same.

So how are we all doing?  Joel is exhausted--again.  He was buzzed until he came over and laid down next to me and I started playing with his hair.  His response, "I should be comforting you and playing with your hair instead."  I just said, I'm physically exhausted and sleep will come easier because of that.  You, you are hyped up and need help relaxing.  He didn't object.  It didn't take him long to deepen his breathing and start to twitch and grumble... his sleep signs. :)

I was and still am super sore.  I knew that my body hadn't recovered from having Hailey.  I had hip and back problems all throughout the pregnancy.  Being in shape makes a huge difference!  I had done my best, but my body still took another hit.  Last time I was up and walking the same day.  This time... my butt is going numb from sitting on the bed so much!!  I feel like a lump of warm clay that can't support it's self from the back or from the front.  No abs and no back muscles.  It's awesome.  Other than than, and the already lack of sleep from having a baby at 1130 at night vs 430 in the afternoon, I'm just peachy.

Sad day... Joel and I were tentatively going to go to the Caldwell orchard and pick peaches and pears to can.  Maybe he can still do that on Monday with my family.  We'll see.  If not oh well.

Hailey is with my Aunt Lynn and doing well.  Reading books and playing with Ginger-the dog.

Emilee?  Emilee is doing well.  She's healthy, pink, and plump.  She likes to be swaddled and tuck her nose into her blanket.  She likes to be gently shaken/bounced.  She latched on great and is feeding well.  Her eating/sleeping schedule is something to get used to.  She eats on one side for 30 minutes and then takes a 30-60 minute break, then eats on the other side for 30 minutes then calms down and sleeps for anywhere from 2-4/5 hours.  That was a surprise.  I was expecting her to wake up at 630 hungry this morning but she slept till 9 and probably would have gone longer.  Gotta love a sleeping baby.  She's a cute little chubby thing.  Joel actually took pictures of her "thunder thighs." :)

Learning in August- (not quite done yet)

We've had lots of learning experiences in August.

Learning to get in and out of the bathtub.   I'm sure I'll add to them later but the one tonight was hilarious.  August 4th: Hailey is learning how to climb on and over and into things.  She's mastered most chairs, the couch, the bed on the floor without the box spring, and a few other things.  Someone asked if it makes me nervous that she's up on a chair standing there.  I figure, if she got up there she can get down.  If she falls, I'm sure she'll only have it happen once or twice.  She only ever fell off the bed twice before she realized it wasn't fun.  Yes I will probably end up in the Dr's office more times than I'd like for broken bones but oddly enough Joel and I are ok with that.

She's also been experimenting with putting her foot on or over the bathtub wall.  Well tonight she figured it out.  The mount was good, the dismount was messy and probably didn't feel the greatest as she landed on the bathroom floor, but she didn't cry!  She got out and I dried her off, got her ready for bed, and I went to make a bottle.  I watched Hailey as she pulled the diaper wipes out of the container and swung them around like pom poms... Then she was taking the toys in the basket by the bathtub and putting them back in the water. I hadn't pulled the plug because she had "climbed" out herself so I just got everything going and hadn't gotten the tub drained yet.

Well, I'm stirring the milk on the stove and getting the bottle cleaned and ready when I hear a SPLASH and muffled sniffly cry.  I ran to the bathroom to find Hailey getting back to her feet, drenched from entering the tub head first.  her eyes were closed and she was trying to catch her breath.  It was one of those moments where I think, "Should I get my camera or pull her out of the tub?"  Well the milk was on the stove so I ran back to pull that off and my camera just happened to be close by ish... I run back to see if I can get a picture of Hailey in the tub with her pajamas on soaking wet but as stated earlier... she had learned how to get out of the tub.  Not gracefully, so when I got back I saw her plop down on the bathroom floor.  So I only got a picture of her soaking wet crying on the floor... It was hilarious for me and sad for her all at the same time.  August is going to definitely be an adventurous month full of learning experiences

MILLION DOLLAR TOMATOES

This summer we decided to try our and at planting and growing things.  We don't have a lot of space and we don't have a backyard, but we did have a patio and planned to use that to our best abilities.  We started out the spring with hanging flower plants from Costco.  We enjoyed having color and something living to look out at.  Joel loves buying me flowers but this was soo much better.

Once summer started getting closer we thought, what else could we plant on our patio?  Lynn had given us a planter that she tried growing tomatoes in but she didn't have much luck with it.  We thought we'd give it a try.  We bought soil and a few plants.  We decided that we wanted to do a regular tomato plant as well as a cherry tomato plant.  We also had a couple small planters so we got a small spring of parsley and Basil.  With the pots, the soil, the fertilizer, the shade cloth, etc these have turned out to be expensive little tomatoes but we've enjoyed the learning/growing experience.  

Things that we've learned.  

~There is a way to over water tomatoes especially in a pot and not in the ground.  

~Certain bugs can be kept away with herbs vs pesticides or ivory dish soap.  

~It has been fun teaching Hailey not to play in the dirt, not to pull off the leaves, not to pull of all the tomatoes once we let her pick a couple.  

~It had been fun watching Hailey smell the tomatoes or the leaves but cringe when she puts one in her mouth and the juice pops out on her. 

We grew wild cherry tomatoes-they weren't super large by any means, the think the largest was the size or a regular marble.  The smallest have been the size of a pencil eraser.  The larger tomatoes were Oregon tomatoes.  They have been super sweet.  It's amazing the difference between store bought and home grown.

This was the coolest thing--not our tomatoes but we had a tomato from the store on the counter.  I kept them separate, but once day I noticed that the tomato had a sprout coming out of the top of it.  Not the green part where it attached to the plant, but a sprout!  I let it go for a couple days and Joel just said, "Throw it away, that's not normal."  Well, I planned on throwing it away, but first I wanted to cut it open and see what was on the inside.  I have cut open some bell peppers and find mini bells inside, maybe this was similar.  Well, I was on the right track but not quite.  I opened the tomatoe, after I pulled it out of the trashcan, thank you Joel, and inside I found many more little sprouts!  The seed on the inside of the tomato had started to sprout and push their way out!  I wondered what would have happened if I had planted it the way it was. ???  It was crazy and way cool.  I don't know why it did that or how and maybe I'll research it one of these nights but we'll see.

We probably won't have enough to can our own tomatoes, but its been nice to go pick a tomato and put it on our sandwhich or burgers instead of the store bought ones.  Joel enjoys going out and picking the cherrys and eating them or taking them to work as a snack.  He can have them.  I'm not a fan of eating tomatoes straight.  I'll eat them in things but not right off the vine.  Funny huh?  Luckily we have friends and contacts that have tomatoes growing out of their ears.  They are selling them at cheap prices so we can still can and make our own salsa and sauces if we want.  We got spoil on Georgie's canning goods that she sent home with us.  Hopefully I'll have time to get it all done having a newborn around coming soon.

GETTING OUT & DOING THINGS, INDIVIDUALLY

It has become apparent to Joel and I that sometimes we need to have our own time and space to do things.  It makes it much better when we are doing something social with others.  This past week I went out of frozen yogurt with another girl from the ward who's pregnant and ready to be done.  Frozen yogurt and talking made it seem like we could both make it through the last/final parts of our pregnancy.  Her a week or two and me a few more weeks.  I went out around lunch time and Joel got to spend lunch at the park with Hailey.  It was a win all around.

Joel is getting in with some of the guys from work and eventually they'll go watch the football games when those happen.  Or sometimes on Saturdays a couple of the guys get together at Denny's to vent and destress about the previous week.  Joel said he wouldn't be able to buy anything but he can go for the socialization.  Just knowing that I was okay with him doing that made him happy and relieved and partially excited to have man time.

I got an email last week from Meredith Gregory from the ward.  It wasn't a ward email but just an email sent out to a couple ladies from the ward.  They were going to have a girls night where we tie dyed t-shirts and has italian sodas.  I decided that if I hadn't had Emilee yet, I should go.  It was going to be a a Friday so Joel should have been home to watch Hailey.  I RSVP'd and it worked out well.  It wasn't a church related function but just a bunch of girls getting together, without the kids, and doing something fun.  I really enjoyed it.  I got a onsie for Emilee, a t-shirt for Hailey, and I took a white muslin blanket that I thought could be fun to do.  It was nice to be able to talk, not in a church environment, about whatever came up.  

I came back home and Joel and I talked about it.  We really do need to do things outside the house and outside the family.  Family is great, but friends are important to.  These are the results from the tie dye night.

Hailey's New Bear.

Playing/prepping for a baby sister and I don't even know if she knows it.

Swimming at the pool.  Jumping in and going underwater.

Slides

Swings

Understanding more.  She knows her nightly routing.  Bottle with mom in her room on the rocking chair, brush teeth-more like chew on the toothbrush, maybe a song or two, maybe a cuddle or two, then crawl down and walk to her bedroom to go "nu ni." The first night she had her bear, she made a detour and instead of going straight to her bedroom like usual she wandered back into the living room and had to give bear a hug and kisses goodnight.  It was hilarious and awesome all at once.  Glad she likes the Bear.

Joel is getting better with his welding.  He still loves his job and welding/building things.  He also enjoys his days off though.  

Snow Shack.

Joel's officially Hired as of August 11

Joel was officially hired.  He's ben working at Western Trailers for the past 3 months through a temp agency.  He is part of an aseembly team that builds semi trailers.  They do it that way because they can fire temps right on the spot without any reason.  They go through a lot of shady characters.  Luckily Joel isn't that shady.  He enjoys it.  He gets to weld adn play with metal and fire and build things.  His supervisors liked how he worked so for a while he actually got to work on custom trailers, made specific for customers not just the standard ones.  I think they have enjoyed having him there.  He loves to use his brain and think of ways to get things done efficiently but quickly.  He hates doing things the stupid way or doing it just because that's the way it's always been done.  He's definitely had some trial and errors but overall has come out with some really good ideas on his part of the assembly line.  Because he thinks and doesn't just follow the way it's always been done, he has been able to make his team and their work much more efficient.  He's actually doubled their production.  Unfortunately the other lines are still working at their usual pace.  BUT the bosses haven't let it go unnoticed.  Having only been there a short time hasn't stopped the supervisors from inviting him in on engineering meetings to discuss new trailer designs.  They are thinking about starting a fully aluminum line and if that actually happens Joel would be a part of that.  He has also been offered a "Bay Lead" position when the current bay lead steps up in a month or so.  That means that instead of being at the bottom of the totem pole joel will be in charge of a whole assembly line/bay.  He was pretty excited about that news.

He's always been good at climbing the ladder within a business because he works hard and works smart.  It's been a much happier place for him to work.  He still has his challenges and things to work on but most jobs will present you with something of that sort.  He works with a lot of ex-cons and some that he actually supervised while at CCA.  Here he has to learn how to work with them and not boss them or blow up at them.  Prison guards are imprinted to react a certain way, now he's learning how to undo that to a degree.

Joel has enjoyed being back at work.  Having six months off was nice and he gained a lot but it drove him nuts at the same time.  When he took this job it wasn't because he was going to be making tons of money-not even break even with what he made before, but this time it wasn't about the money.  How many people actually look for a job and money isn't the first priority.  The first priority was that Joel was able to get back to work and enjoy what he was doing, really enjoy it.  He thought he enjoyed the prison and corrections and there were parts of it that he really did, but he never came home excited about projects he was working on.  He never pointed out people that he worked with.  He will get distracted by trailers on the freeway and even some he'll say, "I built that!"

He started welding when he was younger with Brent Moncur but people steered him away from that type of work because it was "blue collar" and "menial" and he was meant for greater things.  BUT Joel loves welding.  it's like creating art for him.  He's talked about schooling and doing this or that but usually it doesn't ever pan out.  It remains a theory, but this time he actually put it into action.  On the 9th of August, Joel starts classes that will teach him and certify him in the different types of welding.  It will help in his current job and future career.

Many of the "trades" that the states were built upon have disappeared.  People sit at desks and the world revolves electronically, but Joel doesn't want to be at a desk.  He wants to be out there creating, designing, DOING something, and having something that he can point out at later and say, "I built that."

He comes home happier--most of the time.  He is off all antidepressant/sleep meds that resulted from the prison.  He works swing shift and is doing manual labor so he doesn't need any extra help sleeping.  He actually wishes he could get more of it.

A plus side, we're hoping it works out this way anyway... is that he gets home around 2:30-2:45a.m and goes to bed sometime after that.  Hopefully it works out that he can take over a nighttime feeding when Emilee comes so that I can get some extra rest.

July is flying by and its definitely been a good Summer

Joel pulled out his scrapbook of him when he was younger.  People keep saying Hailey is a duplicate look alike of him... It's so true! The pictures tell the story.

This was Hailey's second Fourth of July.  The first one she couldn't really experience because she was only a month old.  This time it has been a little different.  We went to Ann Morrison Park this afternoon.  They were hosting a chalk art festival.  It was fun to walk around and see all the different art work on the ground.  It's amazing what people can do with chalk and talent.  Hailey was bored just sitting in her stroller.  After we walked around we headed over to the fountain to let Hailey play.  She loves water and we wondered how this would go.  The water was cold though.  We know how that went last time at the splash park!  This found was much bigger and the spray was much greater.  She only had to stand a couple feet back to get wet.  She would watch the other kids and get closer and closer but never get up right next to the water or play directly in it.  As she wandered around she got close to one corner where the spray of water droplets was much bigger.  She got soaked!  It freaked her out and she started crying.  We thought she might be done but after a moment of comfort we put her down and she walked back around checking out more of the kids and still getting wet.  It worked well for her to be able to cool off in the water.  It was fun watching her.

Hailey continues to grow up and grow out of her baby ways and turn towards the big kid stuff.  With that I've come to realize a few things.  

*Learning how to hold your own utensil always ends up in some sort of a mess and usually a stain on the floor.

*Bath time means that all involved are going to get wet, whether one is in the bathtub or not.

*We will always have our favorites: currently her favorite book is Mickie's shapes.  We read it multiple times a day.

*If we are in the kitchen, she is in the kitchen.  I pull something out, she pulls something out.  The fun part is teaching her to put things back.  

*She enjoys standing on a chair watching and wanting to be a part of whatever is happening in the kitchen or elsewhere.

*You never stop utilizing the Boppy.  First it was for breastfeeding, then propping baby up.  Then a husband and sisters who love it almost more than their own pillows.  Now it has turned into a toy to roll and bounce and tackle and lay on.

*No matter how much you try to not include "no" into a child's vocabulary, it's going to happen regardless.

*She has become more vocal and specific about things she does or doesn't want.  

*Her cognitive thinking has improved dramatically.  uh, uh, but you can play with the bobby pins.  Oh where are they! and she goes for that instead.  She understands more than we originally gave her credit for.

*She still growls.  Raar!

Idaho's Truck Shine & Show and Pre-Rodeo Stampede events.

Joel: I liked seeing all the other people's handiwork and how they built things.  I enjoyed sitting down in the air conditioned building watching the ladies horse drill formations a lot more.  We ventured in because it was getting too hot outside for Red/Me.  Come to find out we actually enjoyed watching.  I missed riding and working with horses.  Joel enjoys rodeo events and I had never really been to much of any of the events.  Joel: I like being able to watch things that normal local people put time and effort into.  They put their time and effort into something that they aren't going to get paid for.  We are hoping to go to one night of the actual Stampede Rodeo next weekend.  I hope to get see the roping event.  Its something that I've just always liked.

We don't usually have babysitters but it has been nice the few times we've wanted to go somewhere, one of our relatives would watch Hailey.  Today she got to spend time with Kurt and Linda Pyrah.  They have a wooden rocking chair that we put Hailey in when we first got there.  She enjoyed that!  While Linda played with Hailey we snuck out.  She didn't even notice.  She had a ball and a backyard full of grass to play in.

Family/Maternity Pictures

A couple weeks ago a girl posted that she needed to build her photography portfolio and needed pictures of familys, maternity, etc.  Well being pregnant, I offered myself and family for the job.  Joel isn't a fan of pictures and being 9 months prego, I don't feel very photogenic, but we did them anyway.  We started our adventure yesterday with outfit shopping.  I had an idea of what I wanted to wear but needed a skirt for it.  Joel has been losing weight and most of his shirts of either super baggy now or have stains on them.  Gotta love the life of parents with messy kids or ones that still randomly burp on you.  We found Joel a t-shirt that looked good on him and that he actually really liked.  He said I'll probably get tired of him wearing it.  Then we found a long skirt for me.  Today, Saturday, we had the photo shoot.  We went to Alberston's park.  It's beautiful there and a perfect place for photo ops.  The flowers were in bloom, the trees were green, it was only 11 oclock so it wasn't super scorching hot yet!  I'm excited to see how they turn out.  We took some fun ones as a family.  We haven't done that yet.  Hailey has 6 and 9 month pics and now a few 12 month ones.    

Ultimately, I decided that I needed to be more accepting of my figure in the state that it's in, even if I feel fat or bloated or like I'm going to pop.  It'll be a small window in time that many people might not want to remember but it's the start of something and that should be remembered.  

 Idaho Stampede Rodeo

So Joel willingly did pictures but he's ultimately super excited 10/10 to go to the rodeo tonight.  He's grown up going or participating in them.  I've only been to a small one in South Carolina with Antje, and didn't catch much of it.  Tonight is the finale where the best of the best are going to compete.  It should be fun. 

My favorite part and the part I got the most into were the mutton busting and barrel racing.  I'm familiar with barrel racing but I'd never heard of mutton busting.  Little kids, 5-7 years old would take their try at riding a sheep.  They were scored on how long they stayed on and the difficulty of the sheep they were riding.  The first couple riders didn't stay on very long and I thought... ok, next.  But then this 5 year old girl had a heck of a ride!  The sheep took off and she held on and stayed upright until she flipped under but she still held on while the sheep took off!  She eventually came off but it was the first score of 91.  The crowd went wild, we were all hoot'n and hollarin.  Then a couple others did ok but only a few other kids got the crowd worked up.  The original girl didn't win, but I think she should have.  It was a blast!  Who knew... 

Barrel racing was fun to watch because I've done some of that in classes at school and knew how hard it really is but how exciting it is at the same time.  Joel really enjoyed the Bull riding and team roping.  He was excited to watch Kanin Asay ride the bulls and eventually win at that event.  he'd get nervous when other competitors would have a good ride, but luckily most of them didn't stay on for the full 8 seconds.  Pheww...  Kanin is someone he knew from his hometown area and it was a treat.  Then team roping he enjoyed because that's what he competed in when he did local rodeo events.

It was a good night.  Hailey was at a friends for the evening so Joel and I had a date night-6 hours all to our selves!  It's like we were dating or newlyweds without kids.  We rode Joel's motorcycle out to the rodeo because we figured it'd be easier to find parking and it was cheaper on gas since we'd have to go to Nampa.  Well, we were good on most of those accounts.  It was cheaper on gas.  We did have a good parking spot, but mostly because we got there early enough.  BUT I never looked at the size of Joel's passenger seat on the bike.  It's tiny and my backside isn't so tiny currently and with my current hip/pelvic pain/pressure...oh it made for on very long ride!  But Joel enjoyed having me ride with him.  It was a level of trust that he appreciated.  Plus he had me close while traveling.

It was a good night and it's been a great month so far. 

Miracle Check

This month in many people's eyes may have been a more challenging month than most.  Finances were tighter because Joel didn't work almost 3 of his usual days and then there weren't as many OT days.  We've been trying to put away funds towards his school tuition to have it paid off by the end of the year.  We also are trying to put away funds towards our flights to Vegas for Christmas.  We knew that with those two objectives plus extra school expenses we'd have to watch our spending.  The 3 days really hurt. BUT somehow things work out.  

I was telling Joel that with all the things we do, spend, or give away to help others there should be no financial way that we stay balanced like we have.  Our savings doesn't just keep dwindling.  They have always been small things that we don't notice, never the big check that lands up in our mailbox...until yesterday.  I picked up the mail on my way to get ice water.  It was a MetLife envelope.  I had figured we were done with all that since Joel had been back to work for almost 3 months.  I opened the envelop and it was another check.  It was enough to cover the back insurance that we owed through CCA as well as enough to either purchase a welding helmet for Joel or pay half of his tuition.  

I'm not usually an emotional person, but as of recently both Joel and I have had our 'boob' moments.  This was one of those times where I felt grateful enough to almost almost tear up.  We have been very blessed to be able to live on Joel's income alone.  There have been plenteous times that have allowed us to build up savings and working reserves and there have been not so plenteous times but we still continue to live where we have what we need and even some of the things that we want.

Life this year hasn't been easy by any means.  We've had trial that have tested us and continue to test us but through it all, we've never been closer.  We've never been happier on a consistent basis in our married life.

Trading off sleep

I think Joel and I have started early practicing our routine for when Emilee gets here.  I sleep, then you sleep.  You watch Hailey while I sleep, then we'll trade.  Joel is usually pretty tired from work especially as the week goes on and I have been exhausted from hip pain and not sleeping because of pregnacny related discomfort.  So I wake up with Hailey, we eat and get ready for the gym.  Hailey plays at the gym while I swim.  We both come home and Hailey gets to take a nap.  Sometimes I take a nap as well.  My naps are usually longer though, so since Joel is up by then he gets some down time and then watches Hailey.  I'm hoping that we can get Emilee on a sleeping schedule that she'll eat and then sleep while I'm at the gym with Hailey.  Then Emilee and Joel can sleep while Hailey and I sleep.  Oh sleep, you think it's important or something!