Madalyn's Memory

I've been learning, as Madalyn gets older, that she has a very impressive memory. I'm not sure how she does it but considering I can remember what I was wearing on a certain day at a certain place (when asked) I guess it's not too surprising.

Madalyn has been on a kick lately of playing "Doctor" to her baby dolls and to "Ma" - her special bunny. This has been going on for about a week now. She'll get out her basket of baby supplies and doctor things, and she'll spend hours in her room taking care of her sick friends. It's quite humorous to listen to her talking to them; telling them to lay down and that "it's okay."

Just yesterday she had Ma laying on the couch covered with a blanket and I asked her what she was doing. She said "Ma sick, mommy. I doctor." I asked her if she was Doctor Bettinger and she proceeded to say, "No, I Doctor Hill." (Dr. Hill is her doctor at Carle.) Then she proceeded to tell me that she wasn't Doctor Davisson either (which is Mark's Doctor) but that she was, in fact, Doctor Hill. Since she was on a roll, getting two doctors right by herself, I decided to ask her what my the name of my doctor is.

**Now a little background... I had told her a couple of weeks ago when I had to go to the doctor that I was going to see Dr. Shepherd. She inquisitively said "shepherd?" The only thing I could think of to say was - goats and sheep - and I told her that a shepherd helps with sheep. I know, I know... Don't laugh.

So, as I asked her who Mommy's Doctor was she blurted out "Dr. Shepherd" and then she paused a moment and said "GOATS!" It was hilarious! Mark was laughing so hard he almost fell off the couch. But we were proud of her because she not only remembered my doctors name but she also remembered the reference to his name after only being told once.


*** On another note - along the same line... As most of you know, we lead the college ministry at our church and they meet at our house every Tuesday night. We usually let Madalyn stay up through the beginning part and the prayer. A couple of months ago we were praying for one of the students and her job at Red Lobster. Just about 2 weeks ago we were driving along and Mark said something about Red Lobster sounding good to him to eat. Madalyn popped up in the backseat and yelled the name of the student who worked there. She had remembered all that time.

I have no idea how she remembers this stuff nor where she stores it. It sure does catch us off guard though!

My favorite game.

For a while now, I have CRAVED good deals. I'm always on the lookout for good coupons, great store deals, and great online deals. This may sound funny to you... but I have a hard time buying anything at full price! That's just because I know that I can always get it cheaper somewhere! Just yesterday, I surprised Mark with coupons good for 2 free sandwiches from Quizno's and a code for a free movie rental through RedBox. So, we had a free dinner and a movie! It was great!

Mark thought it would be fun for me to post all the good deals that I find and take advantage of... He's says it's my favorite game! From now on, I'll try to post as often as I can, over on our other blog "Making Cents of It All." If you go to the right side of our blog, a little ways down, there is a link that says "Save a Penny." Just click on that. I will try to keep it updated with fun things that I've discovered lately.

Have fun!!!

Musings

It seems like so much is happening to us as the days go by, it's almost hard to keep up. Here's a little bit about what's been going on w/ the Bettinger household.

1. We still have our house on the market. We're attempting to sell for sale by owner. We put out the signs, listed on craigslist and owners.com. We've had a number of inquiries and a lot of our sheets have been taken from the box in the yard (probably about 40). We've had 4 showings so far, but you know how the market is. It's only been about 3 weeks. One of our friends at our church is a realtor w/ Remax and he even said that there's no buyers out there. We'll hold tight. We're in no hurry. We've lowered our price about $8k and we've done a lot of recent updates that I think people will appreciate. It will just take that right couple.

2. So, as many of you know, we're having twins. We went to Jenn's sono last Wednesday and found out that we are having 2 girls! I have to be totally honest with you, I was slightly bummed that we aren't having a boy. On the other hand, we have lots of clothes already, but we just will need 2 of everything (2 high chairs, a double stroller, 2 more car seats, another crib, etc). Jenn's been looking around for a double stroller but they're definitely on the higher side. So I told her to look around. Maybe shake the money tree known as "mom and dad." :)

When we went to see "Dr. S", I brought along a book to read. We're going through a series on "relationships" next w/ Fusion, the college ministry we head up and I wanted to start preparing for it. Not really thinking about the ramifications and the hilarity of it all, I pulled out my book.."Boundaries in Dating." Someone sitting across from us could have thought "boy, they should have shown more 'boundaries in dating'...she's pregnant! It's a little late now!" I chuckled at the thought. Jenn hit me.

3. Last week I went in for my annual lab draw w/ Dr Davisson at the CF clinic. I failed my 2 hour glucose tolerance test. I was pretty upset by the news, but it is what it is. I had a number of phone calls w/ my doctor and we met with the dietician last week. Unfortunately w/ CFRD, changing diet and watching carbs doesn't really change anything. My pancrease is getting fibrotic, so insulin shots are the only remedy. We go today to get everything set up in that department. I'm realizing that about 2 hours after I eat a high carb load, it seems as though my pancrease dumps insulin, and that's when I get the "crash" and feel horrible. So I'm really hoping that I will feel better through it all. Jenn's doing a lot of research on it (as she does w/ anything) and thinks that not only will I feel better, but my lungs will be more stable and I might even be able to gain a little weight.

Pregnancy Update

I'm a little behind on getting this up but better late than never, huh? About 2 weeks ago (at 16w) I had my first appointment with my OB/GYN doctor. Up until now, I've been meeting with the fertility staff and then a nurse practitioner so I was extremely excited to meet my doctor. I'm very excited that I picked who I did because he is wonderful! I hear that he is also one of the top 2 doctors to have when you're carrying multiples so that's reassuring. Here's little tidbits from the appointment that I thought I would share:
* Both heartbeats were strong. One was 180 and the other was 158 beats per minute. While trying to find one of the heartbeats with the doppler, I was having some very sensitive spots on my stomach. The nurse was a little concerned so she had the doctor check it out. He brought in a mini-sonogram machine to check and see if anything looked abnormal. Things were just fine and we got to see the babies flopping around in there. They were extremely active! Both babies had their arms up by their faces so the Doc said that we're going to have some thinkers on our hands!
* I'm doing great. Feeling good besides the typical fatigue that comes with a twin pregnancy. Normally with a regular pregnancy you start to feel better in the 2nd trimester and you tend to get more energy back... not with multiples. I get super tired around 1pm and then again around 8pm. I'm also still exercising about 4 times a week and the doctor said that I could continue as long as I felt comfortable.
* I asked "Dr. S" what his take were on C-Sections. Mark popped up and said "that means she doesn't want one!" And I don't! He said that as long as Baby A is head down then I can have a natural birth, which is what I'm praying for. If both babies are head down, obviously that is ideal but with one head down they can turn the other if they need to. C'mon baby A... Put that head down!!!
* We also just talked about different random things like how a twin pregnancy will be different from a singleton pregnancy. I learned that twins tend to mature faster in the womb because they are fighting for nutrients and will take everything from me. We went over pre-term labor as I had that with Mady. At my next appointment they are going to check my cervix to see if it is shortened which tends to be a pre-curser for pre-term labor. Also, I learned that I will feel contractions a lot sooner with this pregnancy as my uterus will be bigger. My body will then think it's time to deliver earlier.

Currently, I'll be 18weeks tomorrow. That's exactly half way for a what the doctors consider a full term twin pregnancy! Wow! I can't believe it! I'm definitely feeling movement and have been feeling it consistently for about a week. I've been feeling random movements for a few weeks now though. I also can see my stomach move sometimes as the babies move. Things are going well. I'm just continuing to pray that (A) baby a goes head down before delivery and (B) I don't have any complications with bed rest restrictions. I'm scared of bedrest with a 2 year old!!!

We have an appointment this Wednesday where we hopefully will be able to find out what the sexes of the babies! More to come on that.... :)

A Time Away with Daddy

I'm finding as time goes by, and the days turn into weeks, and then months, that even with concerted effort, I'm missing things that my daughter learns and does. I don't want to miss out on the finer things in life. I want to be able to enjoy things with her. I want to be able to create memories, to cherish our relationship and to teach her things that I've learned. At this stage, I'm Jesus Christ on earth to her. This gives me the blessing that whatever we do, she thinks it's fun. It also gives me the responsibility to model Jesus to her. Sure, we read a chapter in the scriptures and pray every night before she goes to bed. Sure she goes to Sunday school and is involved in programs at the church, but am I really being Jesus to her? Do my words mimic His? Not to quote a cliche, but "what Would Jesus do?" So, last night, we went to Menards.

I find no better atmosphere to connect with Madalyn than with screwdrivers, chop saws and rakes. I've been going on the road pretty early this week (ie 5-6 am) and yesterday was not an exception, so I finished up my work around 3:00. I came upstairs and asked Mady, "do you want to go to Menards with me? I need a few things." (new batteries for our garage door opener, and some drain-o for a slow drain in the bathroom, and most likely some candy)

At this point, she got all excited, and said "orange store?" I looked at Jenn and she at me, and Jenn said "What?" Mady was like "orange store!" Jenn turned and said, "I think she thinks you are taking her to Home Depot." (Home depot has these huge orange carts that have a big race car on the front of them that Mady likes to sit in and drive. They're quite cool. Even if they are Nascar...) We thought it was hilarious that Mady now calls it the "orange store." She's right.

I said, "No baby, we're not going to the orange store, we're going to Menards. Can you say Menards?" "Menarts."

We got ready and took off. I told her that we could call Menards the "green store" if she wanted. "Green store?" "Yes Mady, green store. Menards." "Menarts."

We got there, and low and behold they have this huge green cart that has yet another nascar car on the front that she could sit in and drive. The bonus was that the horn on this car actually honked. At least it wasn't too annoying.

The only really annoying thing was that EVERY SINGLE PERSON that Mady saw, she insisted on yelling "Hello! Hi! Hi!" To which all the lovely people smiled and said HI! (genuinely, cuz it was kinda cute). So, we're just having a good old time walking around the store (I had to buy something, I had just received a free coupon in the mail for 15$ worth of merchandise). So we meandered down about every aisle. We were hanging out by the watch batteries (for the garage door opener) near the check outs, when this dad walks up with his 2ish year old son on his shoulders. He walks up and asks if I'm about to check out. I told him that we were just kinda meandering around the store. I thought it was a little odd, but thought I should answer his question. He goes on to tell me that his little boy is dying to ride in Mady's green nascar (there is only one of these in the store). Apparently this was the whole reason that they had come here, as they had been stalking me for the last 20 minutes, waiting for us to leave!

He asked if I would mind, if we traded out, which I absolutely didn't. I bent down and asked Mady is she would share the car with the little boy. She looked at me and I helped her climb out of the car. I told her to say "there you go" to the little boy, which she did, and he said "thank you" and Mady replied "you're welcome." It was a priceless exchange. I was so proud of her! She didn't cry one bit or whine. I talked to her all about sharing and that Daddy was so proud of her. She kept saying "little boy?" To which I responded, "yup, you shared with the little boy."

I let her even pick out a bag of hershey kisses with almonds, which I told her she would have to share with mommy. We got home and she ran to mommy with that bag of candy and a huge smile on her face.

I'm thankful for that very cool memory making experience. I could have worked on reports for work, but you know, they can wait till tomorrow...