Monday, July 27, 2009

My last night of possible sleep....


But it wasn't. Jacob manipulated himself into our bed last night claiming he needed some mommy cuddles before the new baby came. Oh, he's good, isn't he? How could I resist? Then I forgot my Tylenol PM and so was up from 12:30 am until 3:30 am in which I got so sick of tossing and turning (which requires getting up on knees to accomodate massive belly) that I went downstairs and read a chapter of my homework that I need to finish before we leave at 4:30 to drop Rudy off at Ammon and Margarida's and then off to Emily's.

Because of being so far from the hospital, love that rural livin', (ok a GOOD hospital) we are staying at Emily's tonight after eating dinner with her family and our dad who just got in. Then we are spending the night with her since she's only 20 minutes from the hospital and we are close to an hour. She's taking care of the kids for us and with her being close they can come and go with Dad.

I have to admit that I'm scared.

With Jacob's arm, my appendectomy, the financial strain of our medical situation on top of having come to terms with no more babies only to find out I was pregnant after all with only a 3 day window before loss of insurance. The loss of my grandparents in such a bizarre manner, our continued insurance nightmare. Oh yeah, no one will cover us for six weeks after Ellis's birth so all of our follow up care will be out of pocket. I keep thinking that the rug underneath is not finished being pulled out.

When I did sleep last night I had horrible dreams with lots of pain, blood, and death. Gruesome? Yes. But our year didn't start January 1st. It started July 31, 2008 when my son shattered his elbow 2 1/2 hours before our insurance kicked in and has left us $20k+ in the whole and ending on July 31, 2009 with a daughter I pray with all my heart, will come home with us, because sometimes they don't.

But this is my deepest fear. The one I've only begun to admit to myself this weekend. That everything is going to be ok should be a given, but the one thing I've learned in the last 12 months is that life has no givens.

And yet, at the same time, I have really grown in my understanding of repentance and faith. But fear and faith cannot co-exist. One comes from love and the other... I have especially come to a fuller understanding of the power of Grace. And it is these powers that I am trying to draw upon 24 hours exactly from when Ellis's and my operation begin.

* Rane, Walter: Add to Your Faith. Unframed giclée print (www.ldscatalog.com)

Friday, July 24, 2009

I'm faced with the reality that I'm a loser!


So I go on my sister Allison's blog this morning and see her live feed widget. I have seen this nifty little gadget on other blogs I follow but have not succumbed to using it. Until...TODAY! in which I think it's a great time to get rid of my "Suggested Baby Names" section and put in the feedjit instead.

Great plan, right! EXCEPT, now I know that I am the only one who actually returns to my blog with any regularity. FOUR, count them, 4 times today! Now I do this as part of my return to the computer ritual each and every time. I log in, delete spam from my yahoo account, check my school e-mail for new grades, check blog only to check my blog list to see if there's anything new that you have written, and then head to facebook.

I swear, I am only checking my blog list every ten minutes. REALLY, it's not a cry for love or to see if anyone thinks my posts are witty, intelligent, and life changing. really. really. ok, maybe, a little.

Please, comment. Please tell my that my little blog is as important to you as the latest issue of People magazine. That when I post I am claiming my 15 minutes of fame that is an American inalienable right!

Maybe I should remove the feedjit. It's tapping into my psyche and playing havoc with my insecurities.

Monday, July 13, 2009

The Wanderer

Put an X by the states you have been to. The average is 8; how do you match up?

Just for fun, put an O beside the states where you have lived.

Airports don't count!

Alabama -
Alaska -
Arizona - X
Arkansas -x
California -XO
Colorado - X
Connecticut -
Delaware -X
Florida - X
Georgia -
Hawaii-
Idaho -XO
Illinois - X
Indiana- X
Iowa - X
Kansas -X
Kentucky - X
Louisiana -
Maine -
Maryland -XO
Massachusetts - X
Michigan - X O
Minnesota -
Mississippi -
Missouri - X
Montana -X
Nebraska - X
Nevada - X
New Hampshire -X
New Jersey - X
New Mexico -X
New York - X
North Carolina -
North Dakota -
Ohio - XO
Oklahoma -
Oregon - XO
Pennsylvania - X
Rhode Island -
South Carolina -
South Dakota -X
Tennessee - X
Texas - X
Utah - XO
Vermont -
Virginia - XO
Washington - X
West Virginia -
Wisconsin -X
Wyoming- X

That would be 33 visited and 8 lived in.

Saturday, July 11, 2009

What's in a name? That which we call a rose...


So it's official. Little Baby Girl W. has a name. (drumroll please....)

Ellis Grace Wylykanowitz!

ELLIS: My grandmother's full name was Miriam Ruth (Ellis) Elison, and we wanted to name her after my grandma long before she passed away.

GRACE: The way she was able to join our family sandwiched between my appendix operation and the end of our maternity insurance was a truly lesson in grace.

Thank you all for your suggestions, it was fun! I'll be copying them down for her scrapbook.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

For John

.Click to play this Smilebox slideshow: Welcome to Fremont
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I had promised my brother John that I would create a photo essay of my town for him back in April. Only I didn't really know how to go about doing it until I saw a smilebox creation on my friend Heather Goodworth's blog.

Emily and I hired a babysitter and spent an afternoon tooling around the countryside and many of these photos come from that afternoon in June. A couple are from 2008 as well as the Sandusky County Fair. Jacob and Riley on the trampoline was taken at Emily's house and the final photo was at Maddie Householder's blessing at the Findlay LDS ward building.

I hope you enjoy the tour!

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About Me

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Ohio, United States
Just a mom, doing mom things, thinkin' mom thoughts and wishin' I could look like the models in the Lands End catalog. Except without dieting, exercising, or giving up 3 hour naps.