2nd Trimester

We made it back to Minnesota safe and sound. After being here for 7 weeks we realize how much we love and miss the central coast of California. My only complaint about it, was that because we never really had a winter, it never felt like Christmas came. However the weather was wonderful, and the town felt like home. I made some amazing friends. David and I both depressed now that we are back in Minnesota. Most of our friends aren't here, and we each only have 2 or maybe 3 people that we still communicate with. However our lives are so drastically different from theirs now that coming up with a time to hang out, or even someplace to go together is proving extremely challenging. It's resulted in David going to and from classes, working out and running and playing soccer and then home. . . nothing else. Christopher and I play with toys in the apartment all day, take a nap together, eat our meals and occasionally every few days make the venture down from our 4th floor to the play ground.
Truth be told, we don't want to be here :(
On Sunday I start my 2nd trimester, and the scary part of possible miscarriage with this child should be in the clear. My belly is slowly and steadily getting a little bit larger, and occasionally you can tell that I'm pregnant, sometimes I'm just bloated or fat looking though. Hahaha Joys!
Christopher has been sick for the last 10 days or so which is becoming frustrating and we are still waiting for a solid poop from him. He's back to going through diapers like crazy. One LARGE box of diapers, is lasting a week, pushing the diaper budget up to $80-$90 a month. . . that's WAY more than it has ever been. He's just going through them like crazy. Thinking about it, I don't think it would be easier if he was potty trained because it would be every 15 minutes he would have to go to the bathroom which would make trying to get things done in the day difficult. Oh let's be honest, I haven't done anything in the house recently. I still need to put up the shelf in the computer room, and the kitchen is back to being a mess because I don't feel like washing dishes. New investment, paper plates. . .

Closing of California

This might be my last time living here in California, and looking back its been a very memorable year. There have been some dramatic changes, and more yet to come.
We found out 2 days ago that I am pregnant, and we are now expecting our 2nd child. I am going to wait an additional week before I go to the doctors so that I can have the same midwife I had while I was in Minnesota. She was such a sweet lady and made me feel so good about myself.
We aren't sure how far along I am, I never got my period back after my miscarriage 6 months ago. I wasn't expecting the pregnancy test to say POSITIVE. I've been very stressed lately so I was just going to say that I didn't have a period because of stress. However I took the test because for the last 2-3 weeks I have been very emotional. The smallest things have made me break down in tears, and for an unexplained reason I FELT like I was pregnant. There aren't any symptoms that I could really describe to you, it was just a feeling.
Yesterday (the day after I found out I was pregnant) I started to feel REALLY pregnant. I've been very nauseous, and I've had a little bit of heart burn. I also (this might sound weird) can feel my uterus growing. It's like a slight but constant lower stomach ache, and it is NOT helping with the morning sickness.
Tomorrow after I pick up my car from the mechanic (the car has been there for over a month now!!!) I will go to the grocery store and buy some crackers. I ate some of the flip side crackers from Town House, pretzel on one side, cracker on the other and they were not only delicious but very mild and settled my stomach down. No more saltines for me!! Yay!!
I'm excited and scared about the new addition. Excited because I've been having this "baby itch" for a long time, and its only intensified. Scared because I'm not sure if I can handle it. I know I'll HAVE to handle it though. There are some days that I am so frustrated and angry at my little man. He pulls my hair, and hits me, and so far NOTHING has worked to make him stop. I have pulled his hair back, I have put him in time out, I have swatted his hand, I have gotten up and walked away, I have told him that it hurts mommy (which he thinks is hilarious) and the mean time my frustration builds up and I end up yelling at him. I hate that about myself. I feel horrible when I sweatted his hand or pulled his hair and he cried because I think to myself what sort of mother hurts her child for a lesson? Surely there has to be another way. Talking about it doesn't help because he doesn't understand yet, but I did try. Time out doesn't work because he just does it, again and again and again which makes it clear to me that he is NOT testing his boundaries, he simply does not understand that this behavior is painful and unacceptable.
Okay I'm tired, hormonal, angry, jealous, and lonely all at the same time, so this blog might not be coming out the right way. Oh well. . .
David has been gone for over a week, I miss him terribly. I don't like being along and feel like I have been left alone enough for one life time. I'm angry that I have to keep taking the dog out when we made the deal that I would change the diapers and take care of Christopher if he took the dog out. Which ladies is NOT always a fair trade off. (Especially when he went from breast milk to solid foods. YUCK!) I know that taking the dog out is minor, but its very annoying and frustrating to me. I hate getting pulled and yanked in every direction, I'm fed up with her shedding, its all over my clothes and my clean bed, and I HATE sleeping in a bed of dog hair! At the moment I just want to get rid of her. It's difficult to hold Christopher while I take her out. Grrr! I'm jealous because I feel like for the education that David and I have obtained we should be living a better life. I'm jealous of my friends around me that are buying houses that have bachelors degrees, while David finishes up his 4 year masters degree and we are so poor its not even funny. I'm tired of going to the laundry mat, I'm tired of living in an apartment, and I'm tired of sacrificing my life to play the role of the Pastor's Wife when I do not see any rewards for it.
Going to bed before I say something I regret and the hormones get the best of me.

Not much time left

Well there are 3 weeks left until we move back to Minnesota.
Our car has been at the mechanics for over 2 weeks, and it will be another week before we get it back. The engine on it died. More specifically the piston fell into the cylinder and when it fired it was hitting the top of the engine which destroyed it. Also the rods were very noisy, which is a very bad sign. $3,325.00 just for the long block of the engine, and then 18.5 hours min of labor at $95 an hour, plus some extra parts gives us a grand total of almost $6,000!!! We are beyond broke now. We had enough to move back to Minnesota, and that was breaking even. Now we are dug down into a hole. Great. . .
David is leaving this Sunday for El Camino Pines and won't be back until late night on the 17th, and then on the 18th he leaves for Navajo Indian Reservation in Arizona, he returns late on the 26th, and on the 27th he goes down to Riverside (approx 5 hours 1 way) to pick up my father. The 28th we get the Rental Truck the 29th we pack it up the 30th we take off for Minnesota, and hopefully arrive August 3rd.
Phew! I'm looking forward to this month being over and settling in our new apartment.

Christopher continues to grow and amaze me everyday. He is doing some really cute things. If I say READY he will say SET. . . GO!!! and then I'll toss him in the air or spin him around. Tonight David did the Ready-Set-Go with him and when he would say Go, Christopher would take off running across the living room and back. It was quite entertaining to watch. It was also awesome that he burned off a ton of energy.
Off to bed now, very late.
Love,
Wendy

4 more weeks?

There are 4 more weeks until we leave California and move back to Minnesota. I've started collecting boxes for the big move. Praying that everything goes smoothly, so far we are on the wrong foot.
With the car broken, we are literally playing "beat the clock" to get it done in time. This blow couldn't have happened at a worse time. A $6,000 repair!!! OUCH! Well there goes ALL of the money and more that we had for moving. I'm taking out a loan that is going to take me forever to pay back to my father, and I'm scared that I won't be able to afford the monthly payments.
I'm praying that David gets into the Army right after seminary, however I have my doubts. There is a 3 year mandatory serving time as a Pastor in the ELCA before you can work outside the ELCA as a Chaplain in any of the Armed Forces, or prisons, or anywhere else for that matter. That is currently being challenged, and I PRAY that it passes. We will find out August 10th at Church Wide Assembly in Minneapolis what the status of it is. That will be cutting it really short because David is done with his 4 1/2 year seminary schooling in December.
I'm hoping that when we move back to Minnesota I can find a job working for the seminary, so that I don't have to drive the car, and can walk to work. They have a daycare, which we need to find out if we would be making anything after Christopher spending the day there.
I'm extremely nervous to put Christopher in day care. With his medical problems, I honestly just think it's going to be a disaster and that something very serious might happen to him. Just a simple cold that he's had twice has sent us to the ER (we've been about 20 times in the past year now) one time he was admitted for a few days, and the other time they wanted to admit him but we were able to get a nebulizer at home so that he didn't need to. Breathing treatments every hour. That was exhausting, especially when he is kicking and screaming trying to get away from you.
Time for nap time for goober, and I'll catch up on some reading (not that I have a time line and far behind.)
Love,
Wendy

Missing family

To all of the family that we miss, we made this for you!

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Easter

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Christopher's Baptism Scrapbook Video

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