23 August 2020

 This week of online-distance-home schooling went more smoothly.  Arlo worked in my office and I was able to help him navigate his assignments while I worked on my own computer.  On most mornings, he was finished by 10AM which makes it a lot more tolerable for him (and me).  The nice thing about him being able to put his head down and get through his assignments before noon is I was able to sneak in some supplemental work.  His handwriting is atrocious.  In fact, all three of the kids have terrible penmanship and neither of the girls can read or write cursive.  I gave him some letter-writing practice sheets to do when he was done with his work everyday this week.  I also had him read to me and I'm glad that his reading has returned to its Pre-Quarantine level.  So if nothing else, the silver lining is I've been able to add in some things that I've felt have lacked in his public education since he's been home.  We did struggle a bit with the bandwidth of our internet/wifi.  Our internet options are very limited since we are so far out, but I've always been happy with our satellite internet provider.  However, with three kids streaming meetings and me being remoted into my desktop from home, we had some glitchy connections this week!  It will be interesting to see how thing work out next week when I have to be on the computer for work, Phil has to teach his Pima Paramedic class from home, and all three kids have to be on; we may have to stagger around Dad's schedule or have a couple kids crash at Nana's house!  The Vail school district is saying that we won't be going back in person before mid-September and maybe not then, so we just need to figure out how to work around this.

 Phil worked at Pima on Tuesday in between his regular shifts at the Fire Station on Monday and Wednesday, so we were without him most of the week.  He was back to his regular 24 hour shift on Friday and then worked a trade (he worked 8AM-8PM for someone else so that they'll work for him this coming fall while he's hunting) on Saturday during the day and overtime from 8PM-8AM.   

I'm 18 weeks into my pregnancy this week, almost the 1/2 way point since I'll deliver early, and I haven't really done any sort of prep or shopping or anything.  I feel a little overwhelmed by it since its been so long since I had a baby in the house and don't have anything.  I was lucky to snag some clothes from a friend last Sunday and then on Tuesday a neighbor posted in our community group that she had a box of newborn boy's clothes she was giving away.  I met her down the road and picked those up and sorted through them.  They were in really great shape and now I can say that I've started to accumulate some baby stuff.  The clothes were newborn-6 months, with a lot of the newborn sizes.  None of my other babies would fit in newborn clothes, so here's to hoping baby Comaduran will be small enough to make use of them!

 Along with doing schooling, we've been much better at getting piano and other instrument practice in this week.  Helen and Arlo both got all of their practice days marked off this week.  Helen had her lesson on Wednesday and Arlo had his on Thursday.  I'm really happy with their progress.  On Wednesday after I dropped Helen off I ran over to Walmart and picked up some DEF fluid for the truck and then went by the fire station and my wonderful husband put it in the truck for me.  I like getting to stop by and visit him since the kids' lesson is just down the street from the station.

 The kids did lots of bike riding this week, Arlo especially.  He's been waiting for 1pm everyday to ride to the neighbor's house to play with their little boys.  I am grateful he has some kids to play with that aren't the sisters.  We have been successful at returning to our normal school schedule: doing scriptures before a real bed time, breakfast together in the morning after animal chores, and no screen time during the week.  I LOVE no screen time during the week.  The one exception has been an hour of Just Dance on the Wii if they want to play.  I figure it counts as PE since its really too hot to do much outside.

 I've been so impressed with the awesome home-school set ups that some of my friends have posted.  We are kind of spread out between my office and the dining room, but I did buy some pencil boxes, folder holders, and baskets for the kids' school stuff this week so they can neatly pack up their stuff at the end of the day and get it out of my dining room!  We are busting at the seams...I can't wait till our shop goes up and we can move stuff out there.  We're going to be putting in a bathroom and sink out there and an air conditioned area for our weight and cardio equipment as well as a wrestling mat with the other half dedicated as my new craft room.  That will free up the extra bedroom in the house for the baby and the freezers and ice cream machine can go out in the shop.  It will be nice...eventually!

 After work and school on Friday, Helen and Arlo went to visit their dad for the weekend and Felicity and I worked on laundry and I created some fun labels for the totes I'm going to keep the extra baby clothes in.  I figured if I made cute matching labels to got on matching totes it won't bother me to have them stacked above the closet in his bedroom.  They turned out really cute, but I tried laminating them and that ruined them.  I think I'm going to have to make a new set and use Modge Podge instead of the lamination.  Felicity helped me clean on Saturday since Dad was working.  We are in the late stages of refinancing the house and have an appraiser coming to the house next week, so I want to make sure everything is in tip top shape.  If all goes well we will be dropping the interest rate on the house by 4.25% and reducing the loan to a 15 year so that its paid for before Phil retires. One of the big cleaning chores was finally getting the last tote of Phil's paperwork that came from the Benson house sorted and put in the filing cabinet.  

 Phil came home on Sunday morning and after my meeting we were able to watch Sacrament meeting via a zoom broadcast which was nice.  We relaxed and enjoyed our day of rest.  We picked up Helen and Arlo in the evening and did dinner and scriptures before bed.  The kids are excited to have an extra day off tomorrow as they don't have school because of teacher training/meetings.   

16 August 2020

We survived!  Monday was our first day of school and we did it with only a few frustrated tears.  I got the kids up early like we always have done during the school year and they did their animal chores and then came in for a hot breakfast.  It was really nice to have breakfast as a family before Phil left for work.  We took first day pictures; I’m the mean mom that made my kids get dressed for distance learning.   

 The girls were able to work relatively independently on their distance learning, I know each one missed at least one or part of a class, but overall they had a pretty good day.  I had Arlo sit in my office with me since I needed to be working too and we had a stressful morning.  We couldn’t get Arlo’s conference to come up and so we started working on his daily assignments and I quickly realized that there was no way he was going to be able to navigate it by himself.  I cried.  I felt overwhelmed and worried.  How was I going to be productive at work and teach Arlo one on one?  Once I finished having my pity party I tried a different browser for his conference and he was able to join in the last 15 minutes.  We worked through his assignments and yes, it required I help him all along the way, but we were finished by 10am so I was able to focus on my actual work after he was done.

Phil came home on Tuesday morning and helped me with juggling work and kids in school.  In the evening we took the opportunity to celebrate Helen’s 12^th birthday.  After everyone was done with school, which I think Felicity was the last one out at 3:40, we went out to dinner, Helen chose Red Robin.  We had a really nice dinner and when we got home we enjoyed cake and opening presents.  Helen got a new bean bag chair for her room and some coloring books and markers/pencils.  She also got a little 1 gallon fish tank with accessories, and I told her we would go get a fish this weekend.  Arlo spent the evening blubbering and crying because he wasn’t getting gifts…good grief!

 Helen officially turned twelve on Wednesday and spent the day eating leftover ice cream cake and doing online school.  Arlo had his Presto piano class in the evening and I warned him that he needed to participate, but not be a “know-it-all” since he is taking the class again.  I heard that he did OK, and I was glad that he seems to be reinterested in learning piano again. 

On Thursday morning, Phil went straight from the fire station where he was finishing his shift to Pima College to teach until 5pm.  I took some time in the afternoon to meet my girlfriends for lunch at Taco Giro to celebrate Gretchen’s birthday.  There was some spirited conversation about how we are all handling distance learning, both as mothers and them as teachers.  I’m grateful we’re all in this together and suffering from the same learning curve!  I’m so grateful to have a group of women I can talk about motherhood, relationships, social issues, work, and share in joys and disappointments together.

 If you pop in and read my blog with any amount of regularity, you may have noticed that I went on a hiatus in like February, not posting weekly.  I guess I got busy?  I don’t really know, but a few missed weeks turned into a few missed months.  I couldn’t let all that great stuff go undocumented (after all, I got married, had to deal with a global pandemic, and found out we’re having a baby in those missing months) so I had some catch up to do.  I spent time every day this week catching up on the final 15 weeks of missing posts.  It was a challenge and some of the details were sketchy, but I’m glad I did it; I will try not to get behind again! 

 So in true dad style, Phil wanted to make sure that I add the following gross/silly story to this week’s blog entry.   On Friday Helen and Arlo came into the office and informed me that there was something wrong with Arlo.  He had called Helen into the bathroom when, after going, noticed that the water and his poo was blue, like deep sky blue.  Helen didn’t know what to think of the oddity so they came in to consult me. I thought about it for several seconds and then remembered that earlier in the week Felicity had made some cupcakes for a Young Women’s activity for which she had used black icing, and that Arlo had been sneaking said cupcakes all week.  I reassured him that he was ok, but that maybe it was time to lay off the black-iced cupcakes.   This weekend he left the toilet in our bathroom unflushed and I had to explain it to a dad who thought the kids were pouring wash mouth in the toilet when he found it.  Kids sure keep life interesting.

 On Saturday the kids worked with dad in the yard doing animal chores, and Phil and Felicity worked on repairing the pig hutch which needed some work.  We really need to build a new pig pen, but not until the summer is over, it’s far too hot to be messing around with it now.  Later in the morning Helen and Phil went grocery shopping with me.  While we were at Fry’s, Helen wanted to get her hair cut, so we ran her over to Great Clips for a haircut.  She likes how it turned out, so I don’t have any complaints.  We spent time with some household chores and hanging out in the afternoon and then stood on the porch and watch a storm roll in.  We have gotten no rain at the ranch this summer; our monsoon season has been non-existent.  The storm consisted of a dust storm, the whole property was a dusty yellowish color and the wind blew like crazy.  We got about eight minutes of hail and rain and then it was over.  It looked like the actual storm was south of us heading west and just the edge of it swept across our place.  Drat!  We really needed a good rain. 

 We got to attend church in the chapel on Sunday and enjoyed doing that as a family.  We relaxed in the afternoon and around 4ish we drove back to church to pick up Felicity’s seminary materials as she started early morning seminary this week.  We then went over to my parents and had dinner and enjoyed visiting.  I’m not looking forward to Monday.  Work has been arduous lately, I don’t have enough meaningful work to do and have been spending my time with “busy work” and I’m trying to stay productive while helping Arlo with online school.  However, I’m sure we’ll make the most of the week and survive!

09 August 2020

 We should have started school weeks ago, but we are finally in our last week of summer and I'm trying (rather unsuccessfully) to get the kids back on some semblance of a schedule.  We've developed some bad habits over the five month summer, including, but not limited to: screen addiction, taking technology into our rooms, watching TV at all hours, not getting dressed, being a sass mouth, being lazy, complaining about EVERYTHING, not showering or brushing regularly, and acting as though the house were a pig sty that "someone else" is going to pick up.  It should be fun to readjust, but this mama is so ready!  Pray for us!

Phil worked the last shift of his tour on Monday and then was teaching Paramedic class on Tuesday.  I had signed up to feed the missionaries, but a couple of hours before they were going to come by and pick it up, my chicken wasn't thawed and I was running out of time.  I'm ashamed to say that I made them some "venison helper" with baked potatoes and some veggies.  My family did get to enjoy the chicken street tacos that I originally had planned to make later in the evening.  

 As part of our attempts to get back into our routine, I've been having the kids do more regular chores.  Arlo hates it the most and is convinced that hes the only kid on the planet that has to do chores.  Ugh!  Because he requires a high degree of supervision,  most nights he does his chores alongside of Dad.  Both girls had a Zoom meeting with a member of our Bishopric on Tuesday night.  Felicity was released as a counselor in the  13/14 year old girls'  class and Helen was called to the President of the 11/12 year old girls' class. 

On Wednesday we had the carpet cleaned in the house.  I really want to replace the flooring, but until we get the shop built, its on the back burner.  The next best thing to replacing the carpeting was to clean it, so we all hung out in the kitchen for most of the morning while the guys cleaned the carpet.  It looked so much better when they were done and I threatened the kids pretty well to not eat on it.  My mom came and picked Helen up so they could go out to celebrate Helen's upcoming birthday.  They went shopping and out to eat and even went to Build a Bear to make a llama-corn...I don't understand why my kid loves stuffed animals so much, probably because I hate them.  

 Phil was home on Thursday and we went to Home Depot and picked out some paint for the living room.  Our new furniture still hasn't come yet, but we wanted to paint and replace the blinds before it does arrives.  We moved the piano into the family room and picked a lovely gray color to cover the "baby diarrhea green" that was painted in there by the previous owners.  Phil did a great job and I'm happy with the result.  In the evening I got to go out to dinner and catch up with my friend Emily, we had a great time.  We went into town and had dinner at Cheddar's, it was excellent food and even better company. 

 Friday was so stinkin' busy.  Phil was teaching at Pima doing labs, which means he came home with holes in his arms from being a practice pin-cushion for his students learning to do IVs.  I took Arlo for a haircut in the morning, he was in desperate need and I wanted to take care of it before school starts on Monday.  I'm glad he looks like a little boy again!

 We had an online conference with his teacher so that he could get to meet her and ask any questions he had about 3rd grade.  Helen and Arlo went to visit their dad and we had freshman orientation and two other orientations for the kids' piano classes.  I handled the freshman orientation and Phil covered the piano orientations.  I'm grateful for the back up!  Felicity and I met Dad down in Green Valley once the piano parent meetings were done and we had dinner at El Rodeo.  It was excellent!

 Phil was back to work on Saturday and Felicity and I headed out early and did some shopping for Helen's birthday gifts and for groceries.  We did laundry when we got home and wrapped up the gifts and we enjoyed some take-out and movie in the evening.  Our Sunday was nice, Dad got home from work and in the afternoon we picked up Helen and Arlo and had our family at-home church service.  After church and dinner Phil gave each of the kids a Father's Blessing for back to school.  Arlo fell asleep in the middle of his and toward the end was open-mouth snoring.  I snapped a picture because it was too funny not to document.  Everyone headed off to bed on time, Heaven help us, we're starting our first day of "distance learning" tomorrow.  Too bad I gave up caffeine six months ago.

02 August 2020

We made it to August!  I had my doubts, but we made it.

Phil worked teaching from home on Monday, and then teaching on campus on Tuesday.  We got to go down to the middle school to pick up Helen's Chrome book and text books on Tuesday morning.  She's looking forward to 7th grade, just not so much the remote learning part.  In the evening one of Helen's friends from Young Womens decorated our door with hearts and left Helen a treat.  The youth groups at church have tried to be as creative as possible in keeping the kids in touch and engaged.  This week the girls from the 11/12 year old class decorated each other's doors.  Helen was pretty surprised and happy with her treat.

 Wednesday I had a prenatal check up, everything is perfect.  They don't seem to use the little Doppler machine to check the baby's heart beat anymore, now they have these hand-held sonogram devices.  It's amazing how different this experience has been compared to my others.  After my visit I was able to reassure Phil that the baby had at least one arm and one leg that I was able to see; he has been teasing that the baby didn't have limbs since you couldn't see them in the last ultrasound.  Phil ordered parts for the kids' bikes last week and fixed tires on Wednesday.  Arlo was pretty excited to have a bike again and has spent every day riding it.  

Felicity had her freshman check in on Thursday and she and I went down to the high school and got her schedule, school ID, and paid our fees.  I can't believe she's starting high school.  I think that she thinks four years is a long time, but I know how quickly four years can go by; I know driving, dating, graduation, mission, and college are not too far off. 

 I met my girlfriends downtown after I dropped Felicity back off for lunch.  We had Bisonwiches and spent an hour or so getting caught up.  I love them.  I took care of my grocery shopping and chores on Friday since I was off.  I feel so far behind in so many ways in life, but we're just going to keep pressing forward!  We all got to attend sacrament meeting at the church on Sunday, although we were almost late thanks to Arlo.  He has been loving riding his bike, but he has also started taking it out without telling anyone he's leaving the property.    On Sunday morning he set out riding south and made it all the way to Sahuarita Road, he was then too tired to ride it back to the house (about three miles up hill) so he sat down in the shade and waited for someone to realize he was gone and come looking for him.  Meanwhile I'm trying to get everyone ready to go and Arlo is no where to be found.  Phil had come home from work about 8am and hadn't seen him so he went out looking for him and found him in the shade at the bottom of the road.  We just barely got him in church clothes in time to leave.  Needless to say we had a firm talk and promises were made that he would let someone know when he left the property. 

26 July 2020

 Phil was teaching at Pima on Monday and I took a lunch break and joined him for lunch in the afternoon.  We ended up eating Culver's in the truck, its nice to see him even if we can't have a normal sit-down lunch.  This week was pretty mundane.  Helen is wrapping up her piano lessons for the summer and it seems like she is ready to take over for Arlo in his Presto piano group-class come August.  I'm really proud of her and how hard she's worked and I'm grateful that she's been practicing on her own without having to be reminded.

Phil went back to work at the fire station on Tuesday and worked an overtime shift on Wednesday, so he didn't come home again until Friday morning.  Helen and Arlo went to visit their dad this weekend so it was just Felicity and I since Phil worked Saturday.  I'd like to say that I was really productive, but I wasn't. I swear I've been saying I'm going to get the house clean for weeks now and it still hasn't happened.  It's kind of driving me nuts!

Phil came home on Sunday morning and it was our family's turn to attend sacrament meeting at the church this week, so after my Relief Society Presidency meeting we jumped in the truck and headed to our building.  I've really enjoyed being able to go back to church again.  We have to sit every-other pew and wear a mask, but its still nice to see familiar faces and feel the special spirit in the chapel.  We're going to see if we can switch weekends so that Helen and Arlo can go too, right now we are assigned to come on the weekends they are with their dad.  Since I am now safely in my second trimester and there is no indication that we're going to have any problems with our pregnancy (and because I'm starting to show and my pride wants people to know its a baby and not just over-indulged quarantine weight (OK, a lot of it is just that, but baby too))we decided it was time to make our announcement to the world; in other words make it "Facebook Official".  I had bought the baby some crib boots when we were at Boot Barn last week and Phil and I took everyone's boots outside and he helped me take a photo to announce our new little fella.  I am kind of in love with how they turned out.

19 July 2020

 Ugh!  I feel like I haven't seen my husband in days!  He worked his normal shift on Sunday and then overtime for a front half on Monday which means he didn't get home on Monday evening until after 8, and then turned around and went back to work Tuesday morning.  I'm grateful he's such a hard worker and takes such good care of us.  I guess I should also be grateful for so many opportunities for overtime as we can always stand to put some extra money away.  

On Tuesday morning as I was working at my desk in my home office I unexpectedly got a phone call from the obstetrician's office to let me know the results of last weeks NIPT!  I was a little surprised assuming that it would take longer, but pleasantly surprised.  The nurse practitioner said that all the genetic tests came back negative, that it is unlikely that the baby has any of the chromosomal defects that they tested for.  We also found out that the baby is a boy!  Phil was working so I had to call him and tell him our good news while Helen was in her piano lesson.  He had a feeling all along it was a boy, so I don't think he was surprised, he said "so I'm getting a new hunting and wrestling buddy!"

 When Phil came home on Wednesday morning he brought home some blue helium balloons that he hid in a box for the kids.  We had told them several week ago that we were having a baby, we told them when I was really sick so they'd understand why we were so concerned, but we wanted to make our gender reveal a little more fun for them.  He also brought me home some "just because" flowers.  Helen and Arlo were on team Boy, Felicity on team Girl.  It was fun to watch their reactions when they opened the box with the balloons.  

 So even though we got married back in the beginning of March, with everything being closed getting my name changed has been a long process.  I had to send our documents and information in to the Social Security Office (and pray they didn't lose them and actually send them back) and wait for them to send me a new SS Card.  Then I had to make an appointment with the MVD, well my appointment finally came up on Wednesday, so Phil and I drove down to the MVD office to get my new ID.  I did like the appointment idea, I didn't have to wait at the notoriously slow MVD and was in and out in about 15 minutes.  Now that I have two forms of ID I can actually get some things changed around (fun).  After my appointment we drove into town to pick up Felicity's new retainers...so she should now be officially done with the orthodontist!

 Phil and I went down to the bank on Friday morning after he got off of work and got some things moved around and my name added to the right accounts.  That took awhile.  When we were done we took Arlo back to school shopping.  We were able to get most of his things at Walmart, then we went to Boot Barn and got him a new pair of boots, then over to Target for the rest.  

 Saturday we did some chores and then all headed out to do the girls' back to school shopping.  We went to Walmart, Boot Barn, Target, and then to Famous Footwear to get everybody new tennis shoes.  When we were done we all had lunch together at Olive Garden.  It was a busy day.  I was supposed to meet up with my girlfriends for dinner, but I took a nap when we got home instead.  I'm still battling fatigue, but my morning sickness is pretty much gone, so I'm grateful for that!

12 July 2020

 Other than carbonated beverages that still sting, so I don't drink them, I am pretty much healed and grateful for it.  I won't ever take eating and drinking for granted again.  On Monday I took Felicity to the orthodontist for a check up.  We were waiting for her twelve-year molars to come in so that they could make updated retainers.  The exam showed that the teeth were finally in and so they did a scan to make some new retainers we can pick up next week.  

On Monday evening I got together with my girlfriends for the first time in person in a long time.  We met at Serial Grillers and closed the place down.  It was so nice to catch up in person.

 On Tuesday I took a trip into Tucson to a special lab to have my Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NIPT) done.  Things have changed so much since I last had a baby!  At my appointment last week the obstetrician suggested early genetic testing since I'm of advanced maternal age (read geriatric).  I've never done genetic testing before, but this new NIPT is a simple maternal blood draw as early as 9 weeks.  There's enough placental DNA in my blood that they can draw my blood, separate my DNA from the baby's DNA and tell if the baby has any genetic defects (like Down's Syndrome, or other addition/deletion conditions) it also can tell baby's gender.  Anyway, I went down to the lab and my blood draw took all of five minutes and she said they would send it off in the same day and the Dr.'s office would call me with the results in a week.  So here I am at 11 weeks gestation and I should get to find out what we're having with 99.9% accuracy...a lot better than a 20 week ultrasound that could be wrong!

We had a builder out to the ranch this week to go over the shop details and give us a bid for the work.  I liked the builder and felt that the guy was really professional; however, the shop is going to cost us twice as much as we had expected.  Ouch!  We're going to get a couple more bids, especially since this builder can't get to our project until next summer and I need a shop before then!   We've been working with Arlo this summer trying to teach him to tie his shoes.  He's so stubborn, I can't believe he's nearly nine and doesn't know how to tie his shoes and shows little to no interest in learning, but we're working on it.

We were able to run up to the middle school Wednesday to pick up Felicity's year book; they did a pretty good job with it, Felicity was happy with it.  Phil and I decided to have a date night on Wednesday evening and we went to Argenziano's in Corona for diner.  It was excellent and we enjoyed some time out together.

We had another builder out on Friday and he couldn't give us an on-the-spot bid, so we'll have to wait to hear back from him.   In the afternoon we drove into Tucson on the North side and went wandering through the Buy, Buy Baby store looking at nursery furniture.  I honestly found the whole thing overwhelming.  There was so much stuff.  I had sold all of my baby stuff when I moved out to the ranch, reasoning that I did not want to have to move and store it, so the prospect of having to buy furniture, clothes, toys, car seats, etc.  felt immense. They also have so much new stuff too, I seriously don't know if I'm qualified to operate some of the baby swings we looked at with complicated control panels.

We enjoyed our Saturday, we did some shopping and even went out to look at a nursery set that Phil had seen on Facebook marketplace, although it wasn't what I really wanted.  He went into work on Saturday evening to work the back half (8pm to 8am) of an overtime shift.  He figured he'd go into work and go to bed, but instead he ended up working a wild land fire near helmet peak until nearly 2 in the morning.  He then had to work his regular shift on Sunday so we're looking forward to having him home again on Monday.

We were actually able to go back to church on Sunday!  Felicity and I attended as Phil was working and Helen and Arlo were visiting their dad.  They set it up so that half our ward will go one week and the other half the next week.  It was abbreviated, but still nice to be there.

05 July 2020

 We had a pretty good week.  My stomach is starting to function more normally, digestion is still really slow, but I can eat just about everything in small quantities.  On Monday Phil got home from his 72 hour shift and had to go right to work teaching Paramedic class at Pima College.  Fortunately he is able to do that from home, although I don't think he likes it near as much as teaching in person.  While he was teaching I was working on my computer in the dining room and Felicity let me know that she saw a coyote eating the dog's food right outside the living room window.  I walked over to the window and sure enough a darn old coyote was helping himself to some Kibble.  Maggie must have been on the front porch resting in the shade because she's usually really good at running them off.  Listen, they are a big nuisance.  They harass the livestock and prowl around the coop stressing the birds out; they're the sole reason I can't keep a barn cat.  I'm embarrassed to say how many kitties we've lost to the coyotes before I finally gave up and got Charlie who is 100% indoors.  Anyway, I went to the closet and loaded Felicity's gun.  By the time I came out on the back porch, he was at the fence line under the tree, it was perfect he stood there broadside staring at me, I got him right in the chest with open sights at probably 100 yards.  After patting myself on the back I realized that Phil was in the house trying to teach and here I am firing the rifle off the back steps...he didn't even notice.

 Later in the afternoon we had yet another coyote roaming, this time Phil wanted his turn to get one, but he didn't get as good of a shot.  His was running away, which is hard to get good placement, and our dog was chasing it, so he missed.  He spent time on the back porch periodically using a varmint call to see if he could get another opportunity.  The tally stands Heather 1, Phil 0.

 On Tuesday I had my first real prenatal appointment with the new obstetrician.  Phil was pretty disappointed that he wouldn't be able to go with me, the office has a no visitor policy right now, but she had a phone holder so that we could FaceTime him in.  It worked out well, he was teaching Paramedic school again, but my appointment was at lunch time so he got to join in while having lunch.  She did an ultrasound to verify my due date.  The baby looks more like a baby and we saw it wriggling around and the heartbeat was good.  The doctor said that the gastroenterologist who diagnosed me at St. Joe's asked about how I was doing when they were both on call again.  We talked about my uterine window with Arlo, my history of big babies, etc. and she said she wasn't too concerned.  She said that while I was due January 25th, we would schedule my c-section on January 11th.  She also said that since it has been eight and a half years since my last pregnancy my uterus is probably well healed and we shouldn't have any problems.  In the evening we treated Felicity to dinner out since she was home alone with us.

Phil went to Benson on Wednesdy to finally pick up the hand gun that he won in a raffle at work on Christmas day.  With all the COVID stuff, it took them forever to get it in.  While he was there he went to visit his aunt and uncle and his cousin happened to be there too.  They went to lunch together and I know he was happy to have the time to visit. 

 I've been working on a crocheted baby blanket this week to use for the baby's blessing and was able to finish that up on Friday.  It turned out really cute!  As soon as I know the gender of the baby I can sew an outfit to match.  

 Phil worked more overtime this week, another 72 hours over the weekend.  He worked Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, so we didn't really celebrate the 4th of July.  We were going to go to the fire station for a BBQ, but one of the firefighters went home sick and they weren't sure it was a good idea to expose everyone to potential germs.  We watched the fireworks in Sahuarita and some in Tucson from our front porch.  

The only nice thing about being without Phil for the weekend was the guilt-free quilting time.  I was able to finish the quilt top that I had been working on for my bed.  Now I have to sandwich it with batting and a backing and actually quilt it; I'm not looking forward to that as much!

28 June 2020

 I was feeling better this week, although I've discovered that I have now developed gastroparesis.  I think with the multiple strong acid-reducers and the lack of actually using my stomach for several weeks my digestive system stopped functioning, so now when I eat I'm immediately full, uncomfortably full, after only 1/2 a cup of food and stay that way for hours.  I'm grateful that swallowing food isn't painful anymore and that I can eat, I just have to eat very small amounts at a time.  I've discontinued the medications, and I'm hoping that if I continue to eat small amounts my stomach will wake up and start functioning normally again.  This has certainly been an ordeal.  I've been on an anti-nausea medication also as I still have a fair amount of morning sickness, but clearly throwing up would be bad for my recovery.  I’m coming up on 9 weeks into my pregnancy so hopefully I won't have to take it for very much longer.

 We got our check from the estate sale company for the items that we sold from the Benson house; the extra furniture and household stuff that we had.  You may recall I also had them sell my living room set along with my bedroom set so that we could buy some new stuff.  Phil and I drove into Tucson and decided to stop at the Lazy Boy gallery to look at living room sets.  I had never been in there before, thinking it was only just recliners, but they had a lot of really nice stuff.  I would say the quality was about the same as the bedroom furniture we bought at Thomasville earlier in the year.  They were having their Independence Day sale and we found a living room set and dining room set that we really liked, so we went ahead and bought two sofas, a bookcase, two end tables, a coffee table, a dining room table and chairs, and a china hutch.  Our proceeds from the estate sale covered the living room furniture completely, so we were only out of pocket for the dining room set and with the sale they were having, it was reasonable for the quality that we got.  It's going to take a few weeks for them to deliver the new furniture, so we'll have time to pain the dining room and living room first.  

 When we were done with our furniture-buying we went out to dinner together, that way we could call the afternoon a date.  The gal at the gallery suggested a Greek restaurant down the street, so we tried it.  It was the first time I had eaten at a restaurant in a while.  I was able to eat about half of my dinner and some water and it was SO GOOD.  I was full the rest of the night, but I almost felt like a normal person again.  I will say that drinking carbonated anything still physically hurts, so no soda, but other than that I can swallow everything else OK.

Phil was home on Thursday and helped me out by taking Helen to her piano lesson.  I think she enjoyed that because the two of them stopped at McDonald's on their way home for a daddy-daughter lunch date.  She felt pretty special although I warned her not to brag to the other other kids who got PB&J for lunch!

 Helen and Arlo went to visit their dad and Felicity and I were home alone this weekend.  Phil worked his regular 24 hour shift on Friday and then picked up an extra shift on Saturday and then had to work his regular shift on Sunday.  He left on Friday morning at 8AM and I won't see him again until 8AM on Monday morning.  They have been asking them to volunteer for overtime lately as wild land fire season is in full swing and some of the guys trained to do wild land are helping out around the state including on Mt. Lemon with the Bighorn fire.  Felicity and I ran some errands, did our grocery shopping, and I worked on my quilt.

21 June 2020

 This week started to feel a little bit more normal.  I have transitioned to soft foods; I can tolerate small amounts.  In total I've lost 30 pounds in the last three weeks, but I'm grateful to be feeling better.  Phil got to do swift water training on Monday which meant he got to take his swim trunks to work and play in the pool, we were pretty jealous, its been hot and we've had zero luck at finding an above ground pool.  I guess with everyone stuck at home and all the public pools closed, folks bought them up and finding one at a reasonable price has felt next to impossible.

 The Benson house closed on Thursday!  Phil and I drove into Tucson to sign the final papers and the proceeds were deposited into our account.  What an incredible blessing, I'm so grateful that we were able to sell the house.  With the house finally off our books, we started working on plans for the shop that we are going to build out at Two Jack Ranch.  We drew up some initial plans and talked about locations where it would work.  We have to get some bids and are hoping we can have it built before the end of the year.  We plan to move my office and craft room to the shop when its done so that we can use the fourth bedroom for the baby.

 On Friday we were all off, so we took the kids to Skate Country for some roller skating.  Phil and I didn't skate, but the kids had a great time.  When we were done skating, we went to Chili's for dinner.  We had a really nice afternoon together, I'm grateful we could leave the house for awhile and feel a little more normal.  Towards the end of the week I tried to eat some more solid food with mixed results.  I can only eat a small amount and when I do I feel full, almost overly full, for hours and hours.  It's not comfortable, but I'm grateful I'm starting to eat and I'm grateful that I'm able to drink enough water.

The kids were supposed to go to visit their dad this weekend, but he messaged me and said they could spend Father's Day with us, that he would see them another time.  I'm grateful that Phil was home from work  as Sunday was his first Father's day.  I made breakfast for everyone and we enjoyed our morning together.  We had church at home in the early afternoon, and after church we opened Father's Day gifts.  Phil got a new t-shirt that I made for him and a book of Dad Jokes; the kids made him cards.  In the evening we went to my parent's house and celebrated with them.  

I want to take a few moments to brag about the amazing man that I've married.  He jumped into parenthood with both feet.  He's kind and patient and concerned with the kids' well being.  He takes time to do things with them and teach them things.  This morning I came out of the bedroom to find him on the floor with two kids climbing all over him.  There was riotous giggling and screaming, they love him.  It didn't take long after we were married for the kids to start referring to him as dad[dy] (unless of course he's doing something they don't like, then he's Phil, i.e. "Phil wants me to do the dishes"),   I couldn't have picked a better father for the three kids I have and the one we'll have together.  We are so lucky he's ours.

14 June 2020

I've made some progress this week.  I'm able to drink tepid water, little sips at a time and I've moved on to other clear liquids as well.  I had an Ensure (the clear version), some chicken broth, Jell-O, and even a little applesauce this week.  Chicken broth has never tasted so good!  I've lost 25 pounds since I got sick, but otherwise  haven't had any other serious side effects.

We celebrated Phil's birthday on Tuesday.  We had Texas Roadhouse for dinner and then had ice cream cake for dessert!  Arlo even tried to help Dad blow out his candles.   Phil opened some gifts, although I'm sure his favorite was the new spotting scope that he bought.  

 Wednesday afternoon Phil got his new scope out and set it up on the back porch to play with it.  We were able to zoom in on a flag on top of a hill several miles away from house.  I was pretty impressed with the spotting scope, it should make identifying bucks easier.

 

07 June 2020

 It was a long, hungry week.  I'm so grateful for Phil, he was able to keep me hydrated by administering my IV fluids this week which kept me going while my esophagus continues to heal.  I'm still not able to eat or drink, but I can say the constant pain has subsided and I am able to sleep.  I'm taking medication every four hours, including in the middle of the night, but it seems to be helping, so I'm not going to complain.  My wonderful friend Gretchen came over on Monday night and brought our family dinner, it was a sweet surprise and I'm glad she stayed and visited a while.

Wednesday I had an additional check up with the OB to check on our pregnancy and make sure my illness hasn't caused any problems.  I had another ultrasound and baby is the appropriate size, shape, and had a strong heartbeat.  Evidently my pregnancy has continued to progress even though I haven't had anything to eat in over a week, and for that we are grateful. 

 On our way back home, we stopped at Instrumental Music Center and picked up the piccolo we had wanted to buy for Felicity's birthday.  I hope she loves it!

 Helen started private piano lessons this week.  We have really enjoyed doing "Let's Play Music" with Arlo, but at the end of the year I felt like he wasn't quite ready to move on with the rest of his class.  I was able to make arrangements to have Helen take over his spot in his class and he would do the semester over again with a new class.  My friend Cherie agreed to work with Helen over the summer to get her up to speed so that she'll be able to take over Arlo's spot.  Helen really enjoyed her lesson and practiced on her own all week.  I'm grateful, because I wasn't in any condition to be nagging anyone to do anything.

 

We applied for deer tags through Arizona Game and Fish on Saturday, Phil had it all planned out, so we'll see if we're drawn in the next few weeks.  I made sure he put me in for an early season hunt, I don't want to be too pregnant to be able to go. 

We had sacrament meeting at home and by Sunday I was so weak, I barely made it out to the living room to participate.  It's been two weeks since I've eaten and my energy is pretty much non-existent, but I'm hopeful next week will be better.