My first 40-something milestone

I just got back from the River Falls Area Hospital where I had my first 40-something milestone performed. Yep, I just had my very first mammogram done. What a bizarre thing. The radiologist was wonderful. She made it as comfortable as could be. Actually, I felt nothing really. I'm still trying to decide if having large breasts is a good thing or an embarassing thing when having a mammogram done. Let's just say that when that machine is squashing down on your breast, HOLY COW!!! It gives you a whole new perspective on the size of your breasts. LOL They'll read the mammogram on Monday and will let me know how things look. I'm sure everything will be just fine. I don't have any history of breast cancer in my family and I've never had any other problems, so I'm assuming all is well. Oh...just FYI: I will not be posting any pictures of me getting my mammogram. hehehe

Thanks for reading this. And if you haven't gotten a mammogram lately, PLEASE GO SCHEDULE YOURS NOW!!!! It's so important that we are our own health advocates.

Love,
Melody

Short one...

The Packers are 3-0!! Woohoo!!! Who would have thought this really young team would be undeafeted so far this season?? Thank you, God!! This Sunday is game #1 of 2 vs. the Vikings. It's in the Dome. We don't have a great record in the Dome. Hopefully we can win! More about our weekend in a different post. We got some great pictures of Hope at the apple orchard.

My first day as 40-something

Yep. It happened. At 8:01 this morning I officially turned 40. Funny. I don't feel any older than I did yesterday. Well, that's not entirely true. I'm actually feeling pretty crappy right now due to a cold that I had been fighting all weekend. Over the weekend I was pretty much winning the battle, but now I'd say the cold and I are about even. And now Hope seems to have the sniffles.

BUT...despite this cold thing, 40 is great so far. In my last post I told you that Mark felw my friend Marsha up from Dallas to surprise me. What a great surprise and what a great time I had with her. The bad part about her coming is that she always has to go home. I don't really like that so much. But Marsha wasn't the only surprise my husband (and my Mother-in-Law) had up his sleeve for the weekend. Marsha, Hope and I went out for brunch and did an errand on Saturday. When we got home we were all tired so we thought a nap was in order. Hope had just gotten asleep and I was almost there myself when I heard the dogs barking. I sprang out of bed to get to the door before someone could ring the doorbell and wake Hope up. It was my sister!!! She drove up from LaCrosse to surprise me. That was so wonderful. So Marsha, JoEllen and I sat around and talked. After a little while Hope woke up and entertained us. We talked a lot about my sister's (and her youngest son, Shane) upcoming trip to Thailand! Lucky ducks!! Jo's oldest son (Barry) is living is South Korea right now and taking all these great trips. He's taking Jo and Shane to Thailand for Jo's 50th birthday. Anyway...later Sat. afternoon the doorbell rang again. It was my Mom, my sister Alison, brother-in-law John, niece Sophie and nephew Jack. Another surprise!!! We all went out for supper that night and then Marsha and I went to the hotel where they were staying and had girls time with the beautiful cake she made me (I'll get pictures of the weekend on here soon). But the surprises didn't stop there. I found out when I read through the bulletin at church on Sunday morning that there was an open house for me on Sunday afternoon. Sheesh!! I guess turning 40 is a big deal. LOL Then I was surprised when people from my former congregation came to wish me a happy birthday. It was just a wonderful, wonderful weekend. I couldn't have asked for a better celebration!

Now for my actual birthday: it started out with Ian Punnett (talk show host extraordinaire) wishing me the best day ever!! Mark sent Ian an email asking that Ian wish me the best day ever. Ian gave me crap about giving Mark a bad time about being almost 50. It was funny. When that was done I went to pick up the phone to tell Mark thank you (he's away for job stuff) and the phone rang. It was Mark's aunt Donna who lives in Minnesota. She was listening to the station and called to wish me a Happy Birthday. Then when Hope woke up she sang happy birthday to me. That was the best! Other great events of the day: nice cards from special people in my life, a visit at the office from Mark, Gail and little Hope H., great lunch with my friend David, and calls from my sister Jo, my Mom and Marsha, and new pictures of little Isaiah Daniel. He is SOOOOOOO cute!!!

Ya know what?? This next decade in my life is going to be the bomb!! I already love being 40. I truly am blessed. I know I don't deserve all these wonderful people in my life, Lord, but thank you for putting them here for me to enjoy. Help me to be a blessing to them as they are a blessing to me.

Now it's time for this old fart to go to bed! Old fart?? Nope!! Young 'un (as they'd say in Texas). Pictures of the weekend to come.

OH...one more really important thing: my Mom told me that Ali heard from Andrew! He's alive. YEAH!!! Well, not that we thought he wasn't alive, but I guess he's only allowed 1 phone call during bootcamp. It's probably a good thing she wasn't home when he called because the message said, "Mom, it's Andrew. If you're there, DON'T pick up the phone!" Can't they let a guy talk to his Mommy?? He wasn't very clear on the message so she couldn't understand his address. She's going to contact Andrew's recruiter. Hopefully he'll be able to get Andrew's address for us so we can bombard him with letters. I want to send him Packer articles from the paper since the Packers rock (at least so far this season). Go Pack, Go!!

Now it's good night!

He's here!! And so is SHE!!

Isaiah Daniel Spies was born on Wednesday, September 12 at 9:21am. He was 6 lbs, 8 oz and 20" long. He is an absolutely beautiful baby!! I'll post a picture or two as soon as I have Dawn and Dan's permission. It was a long and pretty tough labor/delivery for Dawn, but she's doing pretty well. I'm so excited that he's here and everyone is safe and sound. Last night as I was falling asleep I cried just thinking about what a miracle this baby is. Truly a blessing from God!! I know---every baby is a miracle and a blessing from God--but here is a couple who was told they'd never be able to have their own children. I guess it proves that God still knows more than doctors. Now I can't wait until November so I can go and see him (oh...and Dawn and Dan, too).

I had an unexpected visitor show up on my doorstep yesterday morning. Mark told me that he was going to his old gym in the Cities to work out. I thought it was odd that he was going so early in the morning. Well, a little while after he had left, the dogs started barking and the doorbell rang. I opened the door and there was my best friend standing on the front landing...all the way from DALLAS!!! I couldn't believe it. Mark got her to fly up here and surprise me for my 40th birthday. What an awesome surprise!! We're having so much fun. Tomorrow will be tough because she has to go back home already. Maybe I could kidnap her!

Yeah, yeah, yeah!!!

So it appears that Dawn's labor is underway. At 2:30 this morning her contractions were about 15 minutes apart. She was letting Dan sleep while she snacked on toast and peanut butter. hehehe The contractions being 15 minutes apart doesn't mean you have to rush to the hospital so I guess they were going to sleep for a while (yeh, right...too much excitement!! Although after my water broke with Hope I took about a 45 minute soak in the tub at home and Mark managed to catch a few more zzzzzs before we headed to the hospital). Anyway, they were also going to install the car seat (probably a very good idea). So I'll keep you posted on what I know. It appears that Baby Spies could be making his arrival a few days earlier than anticipated, but still within good range to be born very healthy. Oh...but he's still a week early for my birthday. Dang it!! Say a prayer for Dawn, Dan and Baby Spies. I'm so excited!!! It almost makes me want to have another one. ALMOST!!

Happy News...Sad Goodbyes

First the happy news: I found out today that my friend Amy is pregnant with baby #2!! YEAH!!! I'm so excited for her and Matt. They have Heidi who is 18 months old and now they'll have another baby in May. The other fun news is that I found out today that my friend Andrea and her husband Bert are having a baby boy. Again, I guessed that one wrong. I think mostly I was hoping she was having a girl because I have these clothes that Hope wore when she was first born that are SOOOOO cute and I want to give them to a friend. No luck yet. My friend Kari from church just had a baby boy on Friday. Dawn is due any day and they are having a boy. Now Andrea is having a boy. C'mon!! Someone out there has to be having a girl. And NO!!! It's NOT going to be me. hehehe But I'm excited for Andrea and Bert. This is their first baby and they are going to be excellent parents. Mommy is well and baby is well and that's what's most important:) Hey...maybe my friend Marsha will have the next girl. (hint, hint, hint)

Now for the sad goodbyes. After the late service yesterday we headed to Stevens Point. I had to say goodbye to my nephew Andrew as he headed for Milwaukee today and heads to Lackland AFB in San Antonio, TX, for basic training tomorrow. As of tomorrow he will be the property of the United States Air Force. I'm going to miss him so much. He's like the son I'll never have. I was in the delivery room when he made his beautiful, grand entrance into this world (all 9lbs, 1 oz, 21 1/2 inches of him). I got up with him quite a few nights during his first 6 weeks of life so my sister could get some sleep (he fell right asleep watching the Home Shopping Network). I went with Andrew and Alison on his first day of Kindergarten (and I BAWLED all the way from Stevens Point to back to Downers Grove, IL). I taught him how to sing "I see London, I see France..." I taught him how to turn the volume up and down on the TV (and did that annoy a few people I know and love). I'm his Godmother. He's Hope's Godfather. He's such a great kid and I'm going to miss him dearly. So I've shed quite a few tears over the past few weeks just thinking about him starting on this new journey. And yet some of those tears have been tears of joy because I'm so very proud of him for making this decision to serve his country. Andrew's a smart kid. He could have gotten in to any college he wanted. Yet he chose this because he feels it is his calling. Lots of people have given him lots of advice about bmt (basic military trainging). I could offer him none. All I could do is hug him and let him know how much I love him, will miss him and how proud of him I am. He's going to do great. I know he will. I'm looking forward to seeing him once he gets settled at school after bmt. He'll be stationed at Keesler AFB in Biloxi, MS. It's a great deal for me because my friends Dawn and Dan are at the Navy base in Gulfport, MS, which is right next door to Biloxi. That means when I see Andrew I can see them (and baby Spies...who hasn't made his arrival yet) as well. Please say a prayer for Andrew...especially during these first few weeks. I'll keep you posted on what I hear. I'm sure I'll shed a few more tears in the next weeks, but Hope will be near me telling me as she has so many times in the past 24 hours: "Don't be sad, Mommy."

Ya know, I actually have FOUR awesome nephews and I'll post some things about them in the next few days. What I'm feeling about Andrew leaving is what I felt when Barry graduated from UW-Madison (GO BADGERS!) and left for his Peace Corp assignment in Benin, West Africa. I was so proud and yet he was going to be so far away and I missed him horribly. And I felt that way again when he decided to go to South Korea to teach. He's doing such great work, but selfishly I wish he lived in the States. And then Shane left for Marine Corp bootcamp. I heard horror stories about the Marines before he left and I was so worried about him. But he got through it with flying colors...and he actually said he liked it!!! Now that's about as crazy as me saying I love working with Jr. High students. What can I say?? We're gluttons for punishment. hehehe I was so proud of Shane and I knew he'd do well, but not knowing how often we'd get to see him and worrying that he'd be in danger just made me cry. Fortunately he got out of the service just before this whole mess in Iraq started. My other nephew, Jack, will be 2 in October and he's so blasted cute!! Yesterday he told me that he's dashingly handsome. LOL He and Hope have so much fun together.

So I've rambled. I just had to journal about how I'm feeling about Andrew right now. My best prayer right now is just "Lord, please be with Andrew." I wish he weren't flying to San Antonio tomorrow because it's 9/11. I've got an "icky" feeling about tomorrow simply because when 9/11 originally happened it was on a Tuesday. And tomorrow is Tuesday, 9/11. Again Lord, please keep Andrew safe.

Thanks for reading my ramblings. Time for bed.

Kids really DO say the funniest things...

So on Wednesday Grammy was changing a very stinky diaper (on Hope, just to be clear) and Hope said, "What died in there?" I wish I could have been there to hear that one!! She got that from my nephew Jack the last time we saw them (about 3 weeks ago). Jack will be 2 in October.

On Monday morning I got up and made my world-famous (well, maybe not world famous, but if you've ever had them you'd probably agree they're pretty darned good) banana chocolate chip muffins. After Hope got up I put her in her high chair so she could have a muffin and some yogurt. Even though there was a little bit of muffin left on her tray, I could tell she was about done with breakfast so I went into the kitchen to get a wash cloth to wipe her up. While I was gone she threw the muffin pieces on the floor. Now this is something she does on a regular basis and we've talked to her many times about how that's not nice and she should just leave the food on her tray. So I went into my disciplinarian mode and said something like, "Hope, you know you're not supposed to throw your food on the floor. Do you know that's not a very nice thing to do?" She looked at me and, in her best Norwegian voice, said, "You betcha." From the loft I heard Mark say, "It's kinda hard to be upset with her when she does that kind of thing, huh?" I just laughed!! (By the way, Hope is VERY Norwegian since I'm a good part Norwegian and Mark is even more Norwegian than I am.) So Hope has the Scandanavian lingo down. Next she'll be talking about lefsa and stuff like that.

One more note: not only does Hope have the A-B-C song completely down pat (including the "Now I said my A-B-Cs" tag at the end), she's also been walking around singing the song with the SPANISH alphabet!! I have to say that she gets most of the letters right. I better order the Rosetta Stone "How to Speak Spanish" CDs and let her start listening to them. Actually, I should get the Italian ones so we can start practicing up for when I take her to Italy for her high school graduation! She'll catch on right away...it's me that needs the next 16 years to practice. LOL

Time to go back to sleep!!

Fun news...

It's been a while since I posted, so I thought I'd make this a quick one.

Just got word that our log siding will be delivered on September 27th. YEAH!!! I can't wait to cover up the old, ugly cedar that's on the house now. The logs will look so beautiful. Since we're putting it up on our own, that means we'll need some hands that weekend to help. If you're available, just let us know. They're sending a rep from the company (suburb of the Twin Cities) to be there on our first day of siding in order to get us started. They usually don't do that because most of their customers are pretty far away, but since we're close by, they're adding that feature for free. I can't wait!!

The other good news is that Dawn and Dan are settling in down in Gulfport. Sounds like everyone is doing well. I can't believe how quickly her pregnancy has gone. Baby is in the perfect position, so it won't be long now. Her due date is in two weeks (Sept. 21), but I keep hoping the baby comes on the 18th. What a great 40th b-day gift for me!! Here's a picture of my beautiful pregnant friend: (hopefully she won't mind that I posted it on my blog)