Happy Halloween!

We decided not to put Jake through the whole Halloween experience this year. He's not old enough to enjoy dressing up and going trick-or-treating. We figured we'd save all that for next year. He would just hate us this year if we stuffed him into some hot costume. It's not like he can eat the candy and we certainly don't need it.

We did, however, get a pumpkin to carve. I was so excited to see how Jake would react to all the fun and nastiness that a pumpkin is. We went to a church in our neighborhood that had a small pumpkin patch. We picked the biggest pumpkin we could find and then proceeded to pay $18 for it. Yes, we actually paid $18 for a freaking pumpkin. We justified it by saying, "at least the money went to a church." We got our big pumpkin home, stripped Jake to his diaper, put him in his seat and...he was totally disgusted.

We emptied the contents of the pumpkin onto some newspaper and I held Jake up so he could stand in all the mess. He was not interested. I let him feel of the mush. He took one little touch and that was it. He didn't want any part of that pumpkin on or near him. And, I was worried he was gonna try to eat it. Ha!

Anyway, Happy Halloween everybody!!

Maybe God Hates Me

I think my son's hypothalamus is broken. Really, it's gotta be. Jake will be 6 months old this Thursday. According to his doctor, and of course the internet, he should be sleeping 10-12 hours without eating. My child eats 7-8 oz of formula, with cereal, before he goes to bed at 7:30 pm. So, why then, does he wake up at 1:00 am AND 4:00 am to eat? Last night I thought, "I won't feed him and he should just go back to sleep." Nope. Didn't work. I finally realized, after an hour, that he wasn't going to go back to sleep until he ate. He ate and was fine...until 4:00. So, his hypothalamus must be broken. To all you moms out there who have 3 month old babies that sleep through the night...consider yourself very lucky. I think the worst part about Jake not sleeping through the night is not knowing exactly how long this will go on. I need some kind of time frame here...a light at the end of the tunnel.

Or maybe God just hates me. While pregnant, I feared the sleepless nights, and in our case, days. I kept thinking, “if I can just get to 6 weeks, surely he’ll sleep then.” The “6 weeks wish” became the “3 month wish.” That quickly turned into the “6 month wish.” How old will my child be before he sleeps through the night? I hear of other new moms complaining that their 2 month old only sleeps for 5-6 hours at a time. Man, we’re lucky to get that now.

When Jake was about 5 weeks old, we went to a wedding where I ran into some people from high school. One girl, who has 2 little boys, said to me, “my first didn’t sleep through the night until he was a year old.” Shocked, I said, “you’re kidding me?!” Little did I know we were headed down the same path. I wondered how I would survive getting up once, twice a night and making it through a day of work.

Jake has taught me a lot already. I used to think I needed 8 hours of sleep to function. Jake has taught me that, no, I can somehow function on 3 hours of sleep. I may not function well, but I do still function. He has taught me that no matter how frustrating life is, you just have to see your baby smile to make everything alright. He has taught me that poop can smell so bad it makes you gag. And he has taught me that carrots stain…everything!

People say second and third, etc. babies are always different than their older siblings. I’m gonna start praying now that my next child will eat when he/she’s supposed to and sleep when he/she’s supposed to. I would say I don’t think I can go through this again, but good Lord, that would be stupid. I guess God is testing me, but I sure wish he’d stop already!

Jake

It's been said that Jake looks just like Daddy and it's also been said that Jake looks just like Mommy. Both Daddy and Mommy have blue eyes, which was obviously passed on to Jake. We figured he had Mommy's chin, smile and nose and he got Daddy's ears and bald head. Since he's gotten a little older though, it's been said that Jake is a spitting image of Mommy when she was his age. It's so wierd how that happens. We don't have any pictures of Daddy when he was that little, but take a look at the ones we have of Mommy.

All along we've been saying Jake got his Daddy's ears, but check out Mommy's ears. I don't know...looking at Jake is kinda like seeing myself. It's a little weird.

Sergeant Wintzell Been

My father's office has a Veteran's group and they recently did a story on Sergeant Wintzell Been, my grandpa. I've always known Pap Pap was a Prinsoner of War in World War II and he talked a great deal about his experience to my mother while she was still married to my father. My father has sent me a few emails regarding Pap Pap's story. It has been neat to read and really learn about what happened to Sgt. Wintzell Been.

Here is his POW story:

Sergeant Wintzell Been was captured by the Germans on July 31, 1944 after his B-24 Bomber aircraft was shot down over Europe. The following are the events leading up to and after his capture. Wintzell Been enlisted in the Army Air Corps and trained as an aircraft gunner and radio operator, before being assigned to the 458th Bombardment Group, 754th Bombardment Squadron at Horsham St. Faith, England, arriving on July 10, 1944. Sergeant (Sgt) Been and his crew were able to fly three complete missions before their fateful mission at the end of July. On July 31, 1944 Sgt Been and his crew were tasked with conducting a bombing raid on a chemical plant at Ludwigshafen, Germany and were flying in a B-24 Bomber named Junior. During their bomb run on the chemical plant, the Americans received a direct burst of anti-aircraft fire (flak) in the nose compartment of their aircraft. The pilots lost all control of the plane as it rolled over and fell violently into a spin. Heroically, the crew members were able to successfully jettison their bombs before it was too late. Sgt Been was assigned as the gunner in the top turret when the plane was hit. Moments later, the surviving crewmembers bailed out, leaving Sgt Been to fend for himself. As the aircraft tumbled from the sky in a tailspin, Sgt Been climbed down from the turrent, and reached for the only parachute within sight. When Sgt Been frantically grabbed the parachute, he accidently pulled the rib cord, and the chute opened inside the aircraft. Sgt Been then scooped up the yards of parachute silk, crawled to the bomb bay, and hurled himself out into thin air, not knowing if his chute would deploy and save him from plummeting to the earth. Luckily the open parachute did not get torn up as he jumped out of the plane and the chute was able to catch wind and fan out enough to slow his fall and prevent a certain death. Greatly relieved, Sgt Been landed safely in a tree about six feet from the ground. In addition to Sgt Been, three other crewmembers (Airmen Sorlie, Neuman, and Grigg) were able to bail out of the tumbling aircraft. The other six crewmembers perished.

Sgt Been and the other three survivors were captured in the Manheim-Ludwigshafen area of Germany. The four survivors were sent to the Wetzlar Interrogation camp where they were held in solitary confinement for 3-4 days with intense questioning each day. After release from solitary confinement, they met for the last time in a separate compound just before being shipped to Prisoner of War (POW) camps. Sgt Been was sent to Stalag Luft 3b and later moved to several other prison camps on forced marches with fellow POWs. Over 3,000 Allied prisoners were estimated to have died during the forced marches. After losing 65 pounds during this ordeal, Sgt Been was eventually liberated by the Russians, after spending nearly 12 months as a POW. Sgt Been made his way to France, where he received medical attention and food, and then returned back to the United States aboard ship. Been was discharged in July 1945 and spent the next fifty years enjoying life. He passed away on December 19, 1995 in Indiana, Pennsylvania.

It's hard to see the picture clearly, but he is third from the left on the bottom row. Six of the ten men on Pap Pap's plane died in the crash. And, according to this story, he almost made seven. It's weird to think how different life would have been for some people...like my grandmother, who hadn't had any of her children before this incident. My dad wouldn't be here. My brother and I wouldn't be here. Jake wouldn't be here.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to go to my Pap Pap's funeral when he died in 1995. (That's a completely different story.) I am very sorry that I didn't get the chance to say goodbye, as we loved him dearly. He was a kind, generous man and the world was a better place with him in it.

The Pumpkin Patch

We went to a "pumpkin patch" this weekend with our friends, Steve and Melissa, and their little boy, Cole. I use quotation marks around the words pumpkin patch because there were about 7 pumpkins total. We went to the Elgin Christmas Tree Farm thinking they would have a cool pumpkin patch. Boy, were we wrong.

When we arrived we only noticed about 5 cars in the parking area. We immediately thought someone was going to pop out, kill us, and hide our bodies and our cars. It was too eerily similar to the Texas Chain Saw Massacre. I had to laugh though. It wasn't funny that it seemed like we were going to die, but funny that we ended up at such a place. Mike and I have bad luck. We always get excited to do stuff only to find the places we choose lack any kind of appeal.

We thought there would be animals...which there were. A pig, two goats and some rabbits. The rabbits, however, appeared dead as it was 95 degrees outside. We thought there would be a cool hay ride, Halloween inspired. There was a hay ride...around all the Christmas trees, some of which also appeared dead. I guess everything appearing dead goes along with Halloween. Poor Cole and Jake. They didn't so much enjoy the ride. Jake thought it was so exciting, he feel asleep.

After 45 minutes of the awesome "pumpkin patch," we decided to call it a day. Melissa knows of a better patch that we're going to try out next year. The boys will be able to enjoy it next year. At least we know the Christmas activities we have planned will be fun. Jake will really like the Trail of Lights and the Lakeline Mall apparently has an awesome Santa. Let's hope Jake isn't afraid of Santa.

Visine In Coffee

Again with the effing politics at work. SHUT UP! Every morning I have to listen to ranting from the dingus in my office. Our economy is in the crapper. People are losing their jobs, their homes, everything. No one can afford anything anymore except the CEO asshole who gets $19 million when his bank crashes. WTF? This is what is wrong with our country. Instead of ranting about what's happening to all of us, all she can discuss is Palin this and Palin that. I get that you don't like Palin, but is that the biggest issue the world is having right now? NO! Isn't anyone else scared about our futures? I am. But all this bitch can do is gripe about how Palin can't do her job...all the while this idiot is telling us to just b.s. our way through our jobs. Just SHUT UP! Go join Obama's campaign. Go be a freaking groupie. Just stop talking about it at work. Stop talking about it within a 2 mile radius of my cubicle. I don't give a damn who you're going to vote for. That's your business. Stop making it everyone else's.

Would I get fired for putting Visine in her coffee? I just want her to get sick enough to stay home. Is that so wrong? I'm cracking up here. I don't know how much longer I can sit here and listen to her bullshit. It goes back to..."Opinions are like assholes. Everybody's got one!" If you're going to be a hypocrite, then stop sharing your opinion with everyone. Look in the damn mirror for once and realize that you are what you say you hate! Good God already! I have Visine and I'm not afraid to use it!

Babies, Babies and More Babies!

It seems like everyone I know is having a baby. Granted, I don't know a whole lot of people, but, a handful of them are popping out kids. Congratulations to Derrick, Jody and Logan! Victoria popped out yesterday! Finally, a little girl. Weird she came on the 30th. I had Jake on April 30th. Steve and Melissa had Cole on June 30th. And now Victoria on September 30th. The only two friends I ever see anymore and we all had our babies on the 30th day of the month.

My sister-in-law is pregnant and two of my cousins are pregnant...all due around the same time next spring. Maybe stop drinking the water, people! Ha! I'm scared. Yeah, I want another one, but not right now. I'm just gonna stick to Dr. Pepper and pray whatever got y'all pregnant isn't in the cans.