mrbstephens - Dare To Live The Dream - WE MOVED!

[mrbstephens]

01. Name? Rachel
02. Gender? girl
03. Disneyworld or Disneyland? blech
04. What is your favorite color? blue
05. What is your favorite kind of gum? none
06. How much do you weigh? 10 lbs more than I'd like
07. How tall are you? 5' 5"
08. Can you swim? good enough
09. Do you like to swim? I like to float
10. Living arrangement? Own a house with Dh and our 2 children
11. What's on your mouse pad? Bridgehampton National Bank(SIL works there)
12. Favorite board game? Trivial Pursuit (the original 1980s version)
13. Favorite magazine? none at the present, but I do enjoy my seed catalogs
14. Favorite Actor? Clint Eastwood
15. Favorite Actress? Kathy Bates
16. Do you have an accent? A Lawn Guy Lin accent (Long Island)
17. Favorite smells? vanilla, fire, roasted garlic, the magnolia in my front yard
18. Least favorite smells? raw fish, exhaust, anything chemically smelling
19. Favorite sound? thunderstorms
20. Do you prefer pools or oceans? Oceans. No contest!
21. Do you watch Buffy The Vampire Slayer? Never have, never will
22. Pencil or pen? pen
23. Who's better - boys or girls? duh! girls rock!
24. Would you like to own a motorcycle? Heck yeah!
25. Do you sing in the shower? No, but I do in the car. Real loud with passion.
26. Who's the best looking Disney character? No opinion
27. What is the first thing you think of when you wake up in the morning?
"Gotta let the chickens out."
28. How many rings before you answer the phone? I'm lucky if I can find it before the machine gets it!
29. How do you want to die? Surrounded by family and friends.
30. Have you ever called a 900 number? Yep.
31. Gold or silver? Silver
32. Would you ever go bungee-jumping? No way.
33. Do you like dressing up? Occasionally, but I hate makeup.
34. Would you rather be short or tall? short
35. Do you enjoy reading? yes. But I only like how-to books.
36. What book are you reading now? I'm not.
37. Favorite books? I really enjoyed Plum Island by Nelson Demille. Also because most of it takes place where I live.
38. What was the last movie you saw? Popeye
39. Favorite movies? Anchorman. The Good the Bad the Ugly
40. Do you sleep with a stuffed animal? No, but my 4 year old daughter keeps me warm.
41. What is your sign? Capricorn
42. What are your personality traits? I'm stubborn, creative, hardworking, ambitious, emotional, anxious, and considered to be an individual.
43. What's your biggest fear? Cancer
44. Would you ever have cosmetic surgery? only if in an accident and needed it to looking like a human being again.
45. Future child's name? Done with kids, but my children are named Benjamin and Rayna
46. Favorite foods? Eggplant, asparagus, sun-dried tomatoes, spinach, pasta, cheese
47. Chocolate or vanilla? chocolate
48. Do you like to drive fast? yes
49. Storms - cool or scary? LOVE LOVE LOVE them! Like an orgasm in the sky.
50. Do you like to dance? no and my mom is a dance teacher.
51. Do you do drugs? not anymore.
52. Do you smoke? no
53. What do you think of people who smoke? weaklings
54. Do you drink? Never even been drunk. Don't like it.
55. Favorite drink? cranberry juice
56. Do you think men and women could ever be just friends without wanting each other? well......if one of them were gay
57. Do you eat the stems of broccoli? yes
58. If you could have any job you wanted, what would it be? I have my dream job. A stay at home mom!
59. What's your "type"? My husband is my type. End of story.
60. Do you bite your nails? no
61. Any siblings? one sister, one brother
62. What movies have you cried in? Free to Be You and Me. (I know, that's weird)
63. Do you believe in God? sure
64. Did you ever cry over a guy/girl? definitely
65. Have you ever stolen anything? yep
66. Do you procrastinate? big time
67. Do you believe in fate? YES
68. Who's your favorite Sesame Street character? Grover
69. Do you organize your CD's? I tossed them all
70. What is your favorite kind of music? So many.......jazz, "alternative," industrial, don't like country, but I love Johnny Cash!
71. What are your favorite bands/artists? Cake, Nine Inch Nails, Johnny Cash, Flogging Molly
72. What was the last CD you got? DH downloads and burns for me. Cake's latest album is the newest.
73. MTV or VH1? That still exists? We don't have a TV.
74. Who do you admire the most? My children. They have their whole lives ahead of them.
75. Internet Boyfriends and Girlfriends? no, but my brother met his wife this way.
76. Are you single? married since 1998
77. Favorite TV show? We don't have a TV, but we use Netflix. I do miss the Simpsons.
78. Blondes, Brunettes, or Redheads? I always thought a man with black hair and blue eye was sexy.
79. Glasses or contacts? glasses. I used to wear contacts, but I developed a rash under my eyelids and can't wear them anymore.
80. What color are your eyes? blue
81. What is your natural hair color? light brown
82. But what color is it now? same, but when I was a teenager, I used to dye my hair....blue, green, red, or black.
83. Have you ever been in love? Still am. <3
84. Any pets? 10 chickens, 2 cats, 2 gerbils, 1 leopard gecko, 1 cuban tree frog.
85. Good, decent, or poor grades? elementary school=good, high school=good to poor(depended on the subject. I loved art) College=scored A's
86. Is the glass half empty or half full? depends on the day
87. Do you type with your fingers on the right keys? yep
88. What's under your bed? We have a captain's bed so I'm assuming the only thing under there right now is flea eggs.
89. What is your favorite number? 5
90. Favorite sport to watch? X sports

 

[mrbstephens]

There ya go. I answered the preliminary questions. From here on out, I'll be posting my thoughts and updating about any new life changes on this thread. Glad to be a part of the community!

 

[TanksHill]

Very good read. I liked a lot of your answers.

 

[BarredBuff]

Howdy! Welcome to the Journaling crowd!

 

[mrbstephens]

So, some more stuff about me.

Married my hubby in 1998. We were high school sweet hearts. Those words he spoke to me all those years ago still ring in my head....."I always knew I just had to find the right person and now I have." We were so young, but it was so true.

We bought our little 3 bedroom ranch on a half acre in 2001 right after 9/11. Bought it for a great price too. We both worked. DH was and still is a high end custom cabinet maker. He builds dream kitchens, baths, walk-in closets and libraries for homes in the Hamptons that are lived in probably 3 months out of the year. I was the production manager of a wholesale plant nursery. I ran a crew of about 20 Spanish speaking employees.

I stopped working 1 week before my due date with my son, Benjamin who was born in 2003. I had no intention of returning to work but lead my employer to believe it so I could collect the maternity benefits check. Ben was born at home with a midwife in attendance. I labored mostly in an inflatable pool in the baby's nursery, but delivered on our king sized bed. Ben was facing belly out and had to corkscrew his way down, making it a long labor with lots of lower back pressure. 7lbs, 7 oz and 21 1/2" long and named after DH's grandfather. When DH's grandfather got sick we told him our first son would be named after him. You can imagine how happy we were that our first child would be a boy and this we chose not to know until he was born. This was one of the very few times I saw DH cry.

It's funny how a new parent acts about their first baby. Every little sneeze they make is noticed and logged into their brains. Was that the 3rd or 4th sneeze he's made since he was born? Funny.

When I became pregnant with our second child I assumed that this one would be the same as the first. Personality wise, I mean. Ben was and still is a challenging person. What else would I expect really. My DH and I are both a handful! "Strong-willed" is what my mother calls it. Again we chose to keep the gender of this baby a surprise. We "tried" for another boy. DH has a brother with whom he is very close and thought it would be nice if Ben had a brother like this too. So I did some research about increasing our chances of conceiving a boy. It has something to do with the timing of conception in relation to time of ovulation. I think, and don't quote me, it's the closer to ovulation, the higher your chances of the baby being a boy. So I kept track of my cycles and we went for it. We picked out a name.....Nathan. It would be after my great-grandfather. About 2 weeks before my due date, a sudden panic came over me. What if this was a girl? We hadn't really picked out a girl name. So I looked in baby name books and searched the internet and finally we came up with the name Raina. Our baby girl was born in the same inflatable pool in our dining room. DH was sad at first and tried to hide it, but I laughed and was happier about having a girl more than I expected. We also hadn't really figured our the spelling of our baby girl's name. We argued about it, actually. Would it be Reine which is the actual spelling in Spanish and means queen(and she certainly is that). Raina? No. DH hated that. Then I suggest Rayna. Yes! Rayna was born during a VERY rainy month of May. So her name became Rayna Mae which sounds like "it rains in May." Thank GOD I have a girl! She is wonderful! They are both wonderful and we are so blessed to have them!

That's it for tonight........

 

[mrbstephens]

Before I continue on with my thoughts and experiences, I'd like to ask that anyone reading this to not take anything I write offensively. If you don't like what is here, please discontinue reading.

People asked me if I would breastfeed my babies. To me this was a dumb question. I never really gave it much thought because it was a question which I never had to even ask myself. Breastfeeding is just as natural as having a baby is (or should be). I had no trouble starting off my breastfeeding relationships with my babies. Partly, because I had prepared somewhat by reading while I was pregnant and partly because my babies were born at home. The relaxed environment of the home is unmatched. A baby born at home isn't traumatized by the bright lights and rough handling or taken from mom and left in a room with a pacifier in its mouth. Immediately after my son was born I brought him to my breast. We fumbled a bit, but after a little time he took to it. At the time I didn't understand why some women say they tried to breastfeed, but couldn't.

My son was a big nurser. It's pretty much all he did. Needless to say, he became one really chubby baby! Rolls on top of rolls! Then one day, he didn't want to nurse quite as often. I mean, he didn't want to nurse every hour any more and I thought something was wrong. I searched and located a La Leche League in my area and attended a meeting. Turns out, he was just getting a little older and was becoming more curious about his surroundings. Seems you can't see far beyond the breast if you're constantly attached to them.

I continued attending LLL meetings. It was nice to interact with other moms who were for the most part like-minded. Some wore their babies in slings and prefer feeding their families organic home cooked meals. I felt I could make a friend. Some, on the other hand, were working moms who needed to pump. Some had scheduled C-sections and couldn't get their babies to latch. Some were expecting and looking for information. I became real involved with the group and while pregnant with my second was asked to be a leader. I accepted the nomination and studied their enormous book about breastfeeding. I practiced a bit with my sister in law and my neighbor, both who had just had babies and were having a little trouble getting their babies to latch comfortably. It felt great to help them. They both went from feeling discouraged to relieved and successful. Then there were others who ask for my help. I gladly took the time to talk with them for long periods of time explaining the importance of not using pacifiers or bottles during the babies first 6 weeks of life. How to hold the baby comfortably.....baby's ear, shoulder and hip all in line, belly to belly, skin to skin, relaxed, patience. Lots of these people seemed to want to "try," but "couldn't" for one reason or other. It made me sad and frustrated and so I handed back the enormous book and resigned. It took too much out of me.

Still, I continued my nursing relationship successfully with my son through my pregnancy with my daughter and tandem nursed the two of them. One hour after my daughter was born, my son woke up (about 3 am). I was nursing my daughter for the first time. My son, still half asleep nursed on my other side. He opened his eyes and saw his sister for the first time. As they both nursed, my son held her tiny hand. This is my absolute favorite memory that I will forever keep in my heart. My son weened when he was 3 years old. My daughter, well, she's 4 1/2 and on occasion still asks for cee cees. This part of my life is now coming to an end, because we won't be having any more children. Seven years of breastfeeding only two children.....didn't see that one coming. I'll miss every minute of it!

 

[Denim Deb]

What a wonderful memory of your children.

While I didn't breast feed my 2 as long as you did yours, I did breast feed them for the first several months. I don't recall now how long. And, while they did have a pacifier, neither was really interested in it, nor were they thumb suckers. They did get an occasional bottle. That way, their father could also feed them, and I could occasionally get a whole night sleep. If I had to do it all over again, though, I would not have given them any formula, but would have had breast milk for them in a bottle.

 

[mrbstephens]

Let's fast forward a couple of years now. Not because it's boring. I'm sure it wasn't, but due to hormones and sleep deprivation, I don't remember much.

When my son was 4 years old I chose to bring him to the preschool down the road from our house. I figured it would give me a little time to let the baby sleep and maybe get some house work done, or God forbid have a little time to myself. We would walk there. My son used his scooter or bike to get there and I pushed the baby in a stroller. My son liked the first 3 months or so of school. He was shy and the class was getting more and more crowded. The teacher just couldn't say no to a paying customer and she kept accepting new children into the class. My son would pace and eventually settle down to paint some pictures. The teacher decided to put the painting to an end when my son decided that this was pretty much ALL he wanted to do. He started becoming more and more uncomfortable with me leaving him and sometimes I would stay half the class time with him before he let me leave. Then one day he cried and screamed for me to stay so badly while the teacher restrained him and that's when I decided to take him out. I reasoned that it was a waste of money and energy to force him into something that just wasn't all that necessary and besides, he was only 4 years old.

My sister had homeshooled her son on and off for years and so I looked into the possibility for us. As my son neared the age of 5 we "practiced" lessons a bit at home. Mostly we researched about any topics he was interested in. We always read to him and started chapter books already when he was just 4. This kid cannot get enough of a good book or some new scientific information. That brain is a sponge!

Now here we are.......DS is 7 years old and I'm teaching him at home at the 2nd grade level. He's excelling in math and science. He's a little slow with the reading, but he's getting it and I'm confident he will improve. He's finally sounding out the words. Geesh! I've joined local homeschooling groups with whom we meet for educational programs and field trips. We're having endless amounts of fun and DS has made some really great friends!

DD is 4 1/2 years old and wants to do everything DS is doing. She listens to our history lessons and participates in our science experiments. She seems to be getting the whole reading and writing thing much faster than DS. There are several Dr. Seuss books that I've read once or twice to her and she can either read it or recite them word for word. I'm still trying to figure out if she's actually reading the words or she just has an incredible memory.

DS and DD are best friends. I'm so lucky for that. They play almost constantly. We don't have a TV, so if we're not doing school lessons, then they're most likely playing together. The imagination these two have is incredible. The pretend games they play are quite amusing and go on for hours. I'm so blessed to have such wonderful children and to be able to spend almost all of my time with them. I wouldn't trade this time with them for anything in the world!

 

[mrbstephens]

Today was a good day, but still really really cold! It's been so so so cold this winter. We've had the same snow and ice on the ground since December.

8:30 am DD wakes me up. She doesn't give me a moment to recover from my coma before she's yanking me out of bed. She does bring me my "morning" sweater at least. So I drag my butt out to the kitchen and make my morning coffee while DD is hugging the cat and talking to the gerbils. 9:00 DS wakes up and sits down on the couch also to great the cat. He woke up twice last night. Once because the cats woke him and the second because he was thirsty. DS and DD play a little while I go outside to let the chickens out. Still in my PJs, boots, down coat, and hat on. Brrrrrrrr! It was freezing! Colder than I was prepared for. The chickens feeder was empty and their water was frozen so I needed to spend a little more time out there than I would have liked. When I return to the house, I put on 45 mins of video for the kids. Word World for DD and the second half of a history channel program about ancient Egypt for DS. While they watch I dress and straighten up the house. After video time the kids are hungry. I made them homemade oatmeal with a bit of maple syrup and a glass of OJ. DS was still hungry after that and got himself a bowl of granola with milk. While they ate I did my 1/2 hour workout with a free exercise video I found on the internet. I really needed that! I changed out of my sweaty clothes and then it was time for school lessons.

DS started with math and then some reading and writing. He did great today! Only a couple of times I caught his staring at the chickens outside the window. It's hard not to. They're so nice the watch! DS is finally getting really good at sounding out the words! He's reading full sentences with four letter words including some with the digraphs ai and oa. I'm so proud of him today! DD mostly jumped around on the couch, talked to the gerbils, squeezed the cat, and looked at books. After a while she'll come to the table and do some "busy work." She has some workbooks suitable for a preschooler. She breezes through most of it, but some she just refuses to do and saves it for the next day. I feel no need to pressure her one bit. If she'd rather color, paint or do puzzles that's just fine with me. Since DS did such a great job with his work today, we finished early.

I was actually kind of bored the afternoon. The kids played together and I fiddled around on the internet, did some laundry and stared out the window at the chickens. I decided to get some air and went out to visit the hens who had been making quite a ruckus today.

Trixie has become a bit aggressive since she came out of her molt and follows me constantly begging for a treat. She loves the black oil sunflower seeds and one day while I was checking for eggs she jumped up behind me and bit my back pocket! So now, I have to watch my back around her. I gave them some seeds to keep them busy while I checked for eggs. I could NOT believe my eyes! We had 6!!!! This is the most we've ever gotten! Last year it was 5 at the most from the 6 hens we had. Now we have 10 hens and some must have just laid their first today! WOOHOO! That really made my day! I couldn't wait to show the kids. Frankly, I was way more excited about than they were. I even call DH at work to share the news.

4:00 DH came home from work covered in sawdust and exhausted. He immediately went for a snack from the fridge and settled down to relax a little. He was laid off for three months this past fall/winter. It was awful! No work, no one to hire and $405/month to live on from disability. He was able to get bits of work here and there cutting down trees and leaf cleanups. It was unbearable. We had to use our credit card to buy groceries and the bills became delinquent. Bill collectors were calling the house constantly. The same employer rehired him once they got work again. Thank God for that. Unfortunately, work is still a little unstable and it worries the heck out of us. DH is not happy and I can see how this whole thing has affected him. It's not good.

Dinner was simple. Mashed potatoes, steamed spinach, hot dogs (baked tofu for me) and a tossed salad. After dinner the kids watched a little more video. This time it was Pink Panther. I'm not happy about this selection because there are guns being fired at Pink Panther and I'd rather the children not be exposed to violence. Tomorrow night, it'll have to be something else.

Now the children are in their PJs. DD is pacing behind me, waiting for me to finish typing so I can read her a Dr. Seuss before she goes to sleep. DH will read more of "Riders of the Pony Express" to DS before he goes down for the night. DD is calling me......

 

[Denim Deb]

I miss my chicken that followed me around. Something killed her over the winter. But, she never bit my butt!