Oh, Come On!

EDIT - Josh says that writing about the pregnant "man" fuels her publicity. I am editing so that I am not aiding the madness.

Jen

We might have a name

I think that this kid is gonna be named Lainey Jean Foster. I think I like it. I am having a really hard time committing, though. For some reason it seems much harder to name a little girl. I mean, who really cares what a boy is named? They all go by their last names anyway. Give a name that sounds mature enough for an adult and tough enough for a sports star and they are good to go. Girls need a cute name that can sound smart (for an attorney) or cute (for a cheerleader). They need a name that will go with most last names since the name they start with isn't the name they generally wind up with. They need a name that doesn't remind you of the girl in school that had no friends at all (not even dorky ones). It is hard, I tell you.

Thanks to all for all of the suggestions. I love a lot of the names that were recommended. Josh, however, is a different story. Several times I was told that I was free to use a suggested name as long as Josh had passed away first. Grrr.

Anyway, I will be sure to post again Monday because my husband is turning 30! I never thought I'd be married to a 30 year old! Ack! I am firmly entrenched in my 20's... forever.

PSA

Quick public service announcement:

Peach and Love are one syllable words. They are not, however, one syllable girl names. That is all.

It's a GIRL!!!

How's that for an upbeat, exciting post? Now, when I say that it is a girl, I mean it is probably a girl with a chance that it is a boy that is taking his time to, ummm, develop. We will hopefully go back in a couple of weeks to confirm the gender. I am very positive that it is a girl since we were able to see boy parts with Bryce at this age.

Now it is a new ball game. What do you do with a girl? Besides buy lots of cute dresses and really big hairbows? What to name her? A cute girly name that could be a cheerleader or a tomboy would be great. Any suggestions?

Blogs are for griping, right?

I have recently realized that I use my blog (generally) to post about the negative things that are going on with our family. Random ailments, prayer requests, sleep issues are all featured here. I have decided that I do this because misery loves company. I will try to be better about posting more positive things in the future, but today is another bummer post.

I am sick. Not just baby sick (which still SUCKS, by the way) but honest to goodness sick. I am hot. I am tired. My stomach is in knots. My 1 year old is running a fever of 101 and my 3 year old is running 103. My husband is at work. Bless his heart, he offered to stay home if I would just say the word, but I couldn't do that to him. I just want out of my house. Is that too much to ask?

That's the end of my pity party. The next time I write I WILL be upbeat. I swear.

What did you do?

So, did we all have a great Valentine's Day? I did! We did nothing and it was really nice. Josh got me a great picture frame that I LOVE and I also got some loungewear (since all I do lately is sit on my couch in my PJs and puke) from a great friend. Ty got Mickey Mouse ears and a Transformer and Bryce got a stuffed Mickey and Mickey Mouse ears.

I surprised Josh and cleaned the kitchen and made Lasagna, salad, peas, and yeast rolls. We finished off with heart-shaped cookies. It was really nice and a lot less hassle than getting us all out to dinner. After dinner, Dax came over and we watched him while Court and JC had a date. Dax was perfect and slept the whole time - even with Ty hugging him every 2 seconds!

Today, though, is a new day. We are all tired and grumpy. I am betting that it has to do with the cold and whatever germ of the day is running its course. In good news, we paid off our credit card! That thing has been a monkey on our back for years. We are SO happy to be done with it and to be living the Dave Ramsey lifestyle again. Unfortunately, our next debt is a student loan that has a balance of 17,000 or so dollars on it. I am thinking it will be awhile before we pay off (completely) anything else.

I can tell you now...

that I am having a baby! I couldn't post it before because I think that some of Josh's family reads here and we hadn't told them yet. Anyway, I am 9 weeks pregnant and due on September 7 (6 days before my birthday). I would be really excited if I weren't throwing up all of the time. I have already done the IV fluid thing in the hospital (SUCKS!) and am heavily medicated at all times. BLECH!

I am holding my breath that it is a girl because this is it, I am done with babies! So, for all of you that pray, pray for a happy, healthy little girl to enter our family this fall!! I would love to see a little Ty/Bryce clone with pigtails!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Brett!!

Today is a big day in the Foster house. It is Brett's birthday. We want to celebrate and have a good time and make sure to remember the blessing that Brett was to our family. I think the plan is to watch the video of his birth (we haven't seen it before) and go to the cemetery for a balloon release. After that, I think we are going to go to Jenks, OK and take the kids to the aquarium. We want the day to be very special and let the boys do the things that they normally do not get the chance to do. I will try to update with pictures later.

I need advice

Okay, I need you all to tell me what you do on a daily basis. I ask this because I am currently sitting on my couch while Ty watches Pokemon (again) and Bryce wanders about aimlessly. How much TV does your kid watch? What do you do so that they aren't watching TV/ playing XBOX all day?

I tried playing with Ty in his his room yesterday but I only get to be bad guys and none of them stand a chance against LarryBoy's Super Suction Ears. You can only get defeated so many times before it ceases to be fun.

Help me make a schedule so that I don't ruin my kids!!

Need a Laugh?

moar funny pictures

Oh, Halloween!

I love Halloween. Why? I love Halloween because I get candy. Candy (that I don't pay for) in large quantities is always a good thing. Even better? There is so much candy in my house that there is no accountability. What, Josh? Want a Peanut Butter Cup? Sure, here's 7 of them. Huh? Did I eat any? Of course not. I know they're your favorite *slyly kicks trash bag full of wrappers around the corner*.

But really, this Halloween was actually fun. Ty is old enough now that he gets it. We went to a great neighborhood off of Bryant where the cheap houses cost 3X more than our own. We did that because these people have more money than they have uses for it. That means full size candy bars, my friend. We then unleashed our children on said neighborhood. Ty would run up to the doors with Bryce close behind. After a knock on the door or a ring of the bell, the door would open and Ty would say, "Trick or Treat. Halloween," and Bryce would turn and run away. Ty would grab a piece of carefully selected candy and Momma would grab a piece for Bryce (I swear he LOVES Almond Joy). After a quick thanks, we'd be on our way.

Ty says that Halloween is the best day ever. How quickly they forget Christmas. It makes me wonder why I buy so many toys that will just get lost. Maybe I will just buy a bag of candy.

If you have paranoia, don't look here!

Okay, I HATE it when people get all worried and worked up about stuff for no good reason. This is funny because I constantly get worried and worked up about stuff for no good reason. The latest and greatest...Autism.

I used to be worried that Ty was autistic. He still has shades of it, I think. He is VERY sensitive to loud noise and to white noise. He covers his ears and cries (still) if he hears a vaccuum cleaner, blender, mixer, or any noise that could be considered loud (including yelling). As time has gone on, though, I think that we are in the clear with Ty. He maybe could be on the spectrum, but if he is, it isn't by much.

Now, I have Brycie to worry about. If it isn't enough to just have the worry in your head, Autism Speaks has put out a video glossary ( http://www.autismspeaks.org/video/glossary.php ) that shows warning signs of Autism. Now, I am afraid Bryce has Autism. He doesn't respond to his name the majority of the time, he gets hyper-focused on one thing, and he hand flaps when showing distress or anger. That being said, he is super-affectionate, can make eye contact, and does show me things/ ask for help - all of which point away from autism.

The moral is that there is always something to worry about, I guess. First, it is birth defects which moves to Autism and that gives way to late developing mental illness. I am going to resolve not to worry about this anymore...

Please Pray

This is a letter that I just forwarded to me. I was in club with Brianne.

Please petition God for Baylee Banning. She is the 6-month-old daughter of Aaron and Brianne (Lytton) Banning, who are friends of mine and Ben’s. Yesterday Baylee was diagnosed with 6 areas of cancer in her little body (3 in her brain). It appears to be fast-moving, but they did a biopsy today and are still waiting on results to find out what kind of cancer they are dealing with and what the treatment plan will be.

We KNOW that we serve an amazing God who CAN heal Baylee. Please pray for his healing power to be on Baylee and to just remove these tumors from her so she won’t have to go through chemo.

Thank you for your prayers!!
Kelly, Ben and Sophie Tyson

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” Eph 3:20-21

What makes me feel old?

It's not my birthday. I will say that Sara is right, though. 28 and 29 are linked to 30. For instance, it isn't, "Wow! You are 28!" It is, "Only 2 years until 30. How are you holding up?" Please. I am still in the prime of my 20's - firmly entrenched in my 20's and not going anywhere...

What makes me feel old is going out for a night on the town with a bunch of 21 year olds. My sister's bachelorette party was this weekend and I planned it. I have been super stressed out about it because I just wanted it to be fun. I think it was fun.

We started out at Celice's apartment for a lingerie shower/ dinner. Katie got lots of good things. One of the ice breaker questions was, "If you are married, how many times a week do you have sex." Now, I won't answer that question on here because I am not so much sure who reads this, but, suffice it to say, I have been married 6 1/2 years and have 3 children - 2 of which sleep with me half the night. My answer was probably disheartening to those newlyweds who are fooling around more than once a day. Ha!

After the dinner, we went to a pole-dancing class. Not to brag, but I am a pretty good exotic dancer. I mean, I might quit my day job as a stay-at-home mom. No, really, I fell on butt after trying the fireman spin on the pole. Not good. I did, however, give both of my sister-in-laws pretty good lap dances. AWKWARD but fun!

Finally, we hit the bar scene. This was my first bar experience (I was the Designated Driver) and it was fun. I am pretty sure that I was the only person in our group that didn't get hit on - so sad. I did, however, have 2 drinks dropped on my feet and get complements from 3 drunk girls in the bathroom.

All in all, I realized how old - and bland - I am. I had a great time and I loved getting to go out with my sister and sister-in-laws, but *almost 30* is too old to just be starting the whole bar/club thing. I guess I should be starting bingo and slots...

Scott Baio is 45 and single...

...and if you want to know why just watch his show on VH1. We have been on vacation so I have been unable to watch my Jr High crush on TV for the last 2 Sundays. Catching up on these shows makes me realize that Charles in Charge is just an *small curse word here*. I mean, really? Really? The man is almost the same age as my Father (gross that he was my crush once, huh?) and he is just a loser. It makes me sad that the life portrayed on TV is not fiction but is really his life.

Just take some time to think about Cha-Chi today and be happy that you don't have that life (but you are allowed to covet his money).

A Diaper, A Straw, and a Map!

What an odd list, huh? That is what kept Bryce completely entertained while Josh debated whether or not he should keep his iPhone or take it back.
Wouldn't it be nice if everyone could be so easily entertained??

Foster Vacation - Day 6

Foster Vacation - Day 5

Vacation Video - Day 4

Vacation Video - Day 3