Memorial Day and other stuff

Today has been a mixture of the good and bad for me.

I spent the morning weeding two spots of my front lawn (yuch). It looks better, but we still have a LONG way to go. As promised, here's a picture of the side yard I'm thinking of ripping up. Obviously I'm not doing well keeping on top of it, so what's the point in even trying??

We then came over to Jack and Debbies for a family BBQ that included my mom, Rick, and my cousin Jackie. It was a fun time with lots of crazy animal stories and an absolutely enormous amount of food.

Jeff and I watched the A&E premiere of The Andromeda Strain - a mini series based on Michael Crichton's novel from the 60s. I should say very loosely based. It's not too bad so far, but only part one has been aired.

I have bucket loads of stuff to do to get ready to leave on Thursday for Michigan, so I'm a little overwhelmed. We are attending a wedding for my second sister, Julie. I am really looking forward to seeing so many people I love and miss dearly. My sister and her family are also going to be there, which will be awesome.

Oh, and I found out today that they are pregnant with their third. If our baby was still alive, Pammy and I would be due the same week. Sigh. It's crazy and somewhat annoying how ironic life can be at times. It's been a hard day.

Just a lot of thoughts

So a couple of things...

First, Jeff and I went to the Roseland Theatre last Monday night and saw our favorite band - Coheed & Cambria. Let's just say I was a bit out of my league. I wish my husband would have prepared me a bit more for the standing room, body surfing, jumping craziness it was. I'll admit that the first few songs I was having a really hard time enjoying because everyone was crashing into me from every angle, sweat and all. I finally realized that I'd have to get over it, and did. I ended up having a really good time. We were SUPER close to the band and they were just ridiculously awesome. The sound quality wasn't the greatest, whoever was mixing it all didn't do that great a job. But man, I'd go see them again in a heartbeat. Besides, Claudio is still my #1 famous person crush. :) I loved the mushroom hair while he was playing. I'll let Jeff tell you the technical details since I suck at that, but I'll just say... it was awesome!!

These aren't my pictures, because my phone sucks at taking them, but these are ones I found online, and look exactly like where we were and what they were like.

Oh, and we picked up the Armory Wars (with the special edition cover - see below) while we were there, since we've had a hard time finding it. After reading the comics and listening to the music, it's amazing how much everything makes sense. These guys are just incredible artists, and for Claudio to come up with such a complete concept work is impressive. Go to their comic website evilinkcomics.net if you want more info.

We also picked up this sweatshirt, which I love.

The rest of the week was pretty low key. I finally went in on Thursday to have the miscarriage induced, since it wasn't really happening on it's own. It was a hard day on Friday, but I'm just relieved that things are pretty much over. I feel like I can finally start moving on a bit more.

Saturday I needed to get out so we went downtown with our friend Mike for a standard trip to Powell's and Tea Zone and then the new Chronicles of Narnia movie, which was really good. I enjoyed it a lot, and am glad they took some liberties with the book to make it a more "impressive" movie. Obviously I didn't like the "love" interest deal, but hey it's Hollywood. I guess they had to go there, and it wasn't so bad that I was angry or anything. The only thing that kept me from enjoying the movie to the fullest were the three girls who sat behind us. I got so fed up with them oohing and aahhing at the introduction of every Narnian creature and commenting on Reepicheep's cuteness EVERY time he came on screen that I got up and moved half way through the film. I was hoping my husband would follow me, but I guess it only bothered me that much. I REALLY can't handle running commentary during movies when I'm in the theater. It drives me absolutely crazy. I don't mind people whispering comments every now and then but COME ON ladies!!

Anyway... I'm now at work and working hard (obviously :). It's Sunday, so it's slow. I only work 8 hours today (yay me!) and then I have tomorrow off. The family is all getting together tomorrow for BBQ, which will be pretty fun. I hope everyone has a good Memorial Day.

Summer is here... finally

After months of rainy, cold Oregon weather (stay away you sun lovers... Oregon is ours!) we finally were thrust into summer yesterday. It was 100 degrees outside. Jeff and I spent a glorious afternoon swimming in his parents 85 degree pool. Everyone at work switched shifts to give me the day off of work just so we could be together and be mellow. I sure needed it. We ordered pizza and watched movies all night when the weather cooled off.

But it's got me thinking about those activities you put off all winter because it's too cold and wet outside. You should see my yard. It's so bad it's funny. I'm suprised our neighbors haven't mounted a protest in front of our house. I'll take pictures to show you how much I am NOT exaggerating. Jeff and I live in a very well manicured neighborhood with people who weed, mow, prune and trim on a daily basis. I think we should probably hire a service just so we aren't the black sheep of the neighborhood anymore. I'm actually thinking of completely ripping out a majority of the landscaping and sodding it just so the only maintenance is mowing. Even then it will be annoying to keep on top of.

Then, of course, there is the issue of the garage. It's amazing. We thoroughly organized and cleaned it last summer and yet we've been chucking stuff in there all winter and it's a big mess again. I refuse to get to the point of having floor to ceiling, wall to wall boxes like our neighbor (even though their lawn is impeccable I shudder at the sight of their garage).

I'm also thinking of starting to paint the baby's room. This may seem weird but I think it will be therapeutic. Especially since we are planning something pretty time consuming I'd rather get it done pre-second pregnancy than be stressed about it later.

I'm looking forward to actually going to the summer farmer's markets, taking long walks outside, camping with my husband and a miriad of other summery things. We already have two trips planned. We are going to Michigan for a wedding at the end of May, and I'm really looking forward to seeing some old friends. We are also going to Hawaii for a week in the middle of June. I, unfortunately, have to come back early for work but that's ok. Six days in Hawaii is better than none.

Right now I'm just happy it's warm outside.

Our Second Ultrasound

Here is the email I sent out:

Hi Everyone,
First off, we love you guys. You have all been such huge encouragements to us this week.
Again, a recap for those of you who may be added to this email but weren't on the first.Jeff and I went in last Tuesday for our 10 week appt, at which they performed an ultrasound and discovered that the baby was only 6 weeks along developmentally. Our doctor scheduled a second ultrasound for today to check and see if the baby would grow to seven weeks because he was concerned about the time discrepancy.
Unfortunately, the baby not only didn’t grow, the heartbeat we saw last week had stopped and there was no blood flow to the baby. So, some time this past week our baby went to be with Jesus in heaven. We really do believe that life starts at conception, and that the second our baby died that it went straight into paradise, where we will get to meet him or her one day.
Obviously we are really sad because we love our baby a lot, but we also know that God knew the best thing for us and we trust that. Both of us being so logical is helping us a lot. We know that this happens to a lot of couples and that it is usually because there was something wrong with the development. I’d rather our baby be with God than to struggle with major developmental issues here on earth. We have been praying all week that God would be with us no matter what happened, that we’d be strong and our marriage would deepen no matter what, and that we’d be able to totally trust God. We don’t feel any anger at all, and are both going to be ok.
The sucky thing is that we live in a broken world where bad things happen ALL the time. And like Job says, “Will we accept good things from the Lord and not bad?” (2:10) God is God no matter what happens to us down here, and He is good. We trust that God will use this situation to help make us more like Him so that we can bring Him glory while we are on earth.
Please keep praying for us because it is going to be hard for a while. We have really felt all your prayers already and have been comforted so much though this. We are glad we have friends and family like you all to help us through this crazy journey that is life.
Much love to you all…
Lainey and Jeffrey :)

Work... sleep... work.... sleep... sleep

This has been my life for the past few weeks. I covered a week for a gal on vacation, her shift being 9:30pm - 8:00am seven days in a row. Yep, by day four I was wishing the world would end so I wouldn't have to come to work. It did not, however, and I dragged my sleepy butt in every day and got through it just fine (except with more complaining than normal). Then, rather than play on my days off, I slept. A lot. And when I say a lot, I mean a lot... like 14 hours a day, at least. It's pathetic how tired I've been. Supposedly this goes away by week 12. I'm sorta doubting how I can go from feeling completely dead to the world most days to completely fine. We'll see! I hope it does because we have a heck of a lot of stuff to do. And I haven't really seen anyone much lately. I miss my friends. :)
So, there's my whiny pregnancy update. I'll post more later, about not so whiny material.