BARIUM SWALLOW

The mylanta isn't working as well as it did a week ago and Mary Anne told me this might happen. Jessie is still happy but she spits and spits and spits and sometimes she becomes fustrated when she nurses and cries so poor Jessie has been scheduled for a barium swallow on Thursday. They make Jessie drink this radio active stuff from a bottle and then they watch it go down on an x-ray and then the doctors will find out if it's truly acid reflux, if it is how bad it actually is or if it's starting to go away, or if it's something totally different all together than reflux.

I am scared and worried. I know it won't hurt her but if the barium doesn't taste good she may not take it and it bothers me to think of how they might get her to take it if she doesn't take it from the bottle and I can't let her eat for 3 to 4 hours before the procedure so she is going to be nice and crabby the drive into town, during the procedure, and then I am going to have to find a place to nurse her after it's all done.

Jessie has a well-baby visit on the 8th and we should have the results of the swallow by then. I hope that it's something that is easily solved....but I was told that liquid zantac is not cheap if that is what we have to use.

SLEEP

First, let me start by saying........aaahhhhh!

Wednesday night Jessie fell asleep at midnight and didn't wake up until 7:30 Thursday morning. Then last night she fell asleep at about 11 and she got up at 5:30, fell back asleep at 6:30 and has been sleeping since and it's almost 11:30. I am glad that she is starting to sleep longer now if only I could back her up a bit so that she is sleeping good at 9 instead of 11 or midnight but I will take six hours of straight sleep any way I can get it.

I had to take Cassie to the doctor yesterday. We were having potty problems. She didn't want to use the bathroom, when you got her in the bathroom all she would do was scream and cry and she was having A LOT of accidents. She was able to potty at the clinic and here my poor girl has an infection. I have to give her this nasty tasting sulfer medicine for 10 days. Nana had to help me give Cassie the first dose when we got home because she absolutely would not take it from me. This mornings dose went better but she still cried.

Jessie and I may go with my mom to Manvel for my uncle's son's baptism on Saturday. Mom has to run into Grand Forks and pick up stuff from Sam's Club so it would be nice to see Kevin and April while we are there but I'm not sure how much time we are going to have. Darren was thinking of running up to Willow City with Cassie to see his parents if we go to Manvel.

I haven't heard from finanical aid yet but I am hoping to soon because my classes start May 22nd.

FIXING UP STUFF

My painting is finished in the back room. Now all I have to do is getting all the wallpaper border on and the room is finished. The next order of priorities is when Darren has another good paycheck we are going to get what we need to finish the siding on our house so that's done and then I want a screen door. I would like to put up a fence around the house, or around the back yard, or even at just the back end of the house up to the back door so that I can let Cassie go outside and play and I can listen to her from the screen door while I am in the house taking care of Jessie. Poor Cassie is suffering from cabin fever something terrible and her cabin fever is driving me mad...literally. Then if we have extra money I would like to get a big enough carpet remnant somewhere and put carpet in the back room for the girls then that entire room will be finished and we just have to move the girls back there. I would like to plant flowers too but I don't want to do that until the siding is finished. It's time to really spruce the place up if we aren't going to be moving....really make it feel cozy and homey.

JESSIE UPDATE: She is now 12 lbs and since we have her reflux under control she goes to bed around 10 and we have only been getting up twice a night....roughly about every 3 1/2 to 4 hours. She is usually up for the day around 7 and is up for a couple of hours and will then take a nap for a few hours. After her nap she will be awake for a while and will only take a few cat naps until bed time and I have learned that she gets very testy when she is tired. Hopefully I can start getting her into bed at night at a better time than 10.

CASSIE UPDATE: She is still going strong. Getting bigger and smarter each day. She has her own little attitude that really pushes my buttons sometimes and I have found out that time-outs do work and we are getting pretty good at them. It's hard to believe that she will be 3 this fall. Besides baking with Nana, she really enjoys playing outside, playing with chalk on the sidewalk, blowing bubbles, building sand castles, and she wants to ride horses every day. She is VERY active.

BOTTINEAU IS GETTING A WAL-MART SHOPPING CENTER

There was rumor going around the Rolla/Bottineau area that Bottineau was getting a Wal-Mart. My brother works as a reporter for the Turtle Mountain Star and the Metigoshi Mirror and he was given the assignment to call Wal-Mart and get break this rumor. Well, Mike called the Wal-Mart head offices and Bottineau IS getting a Wal-Mart.

This shopping center is going to have groceries and a pharmacy along with the general purchasing items that you find at Wal-Marts and it sounds like the building is going to be fairly big.

Mike is concerned because he thinks that it's going to beat down a lot of the little rural stores in Bottineau and Rolla basically killing the town of Rolla. All of you that can, you need to check out the new issue of Metigoshi Mirror because the full article on the Wal-Mart will be in it.

FACES OF CASSIE

Cassie was making silly faces the other day. They are of really poor quaility but she is still pretty cute in them.

silly cheese face 

another silly cheese face 

grumpy 

Is she shy or is she mad...maybe both. 

She's a killer and daddy has the gun ready. 

MORE BUN MAKING GOING ON

When my mom made buns the other day she made buns for everyone else but themselves so she had to make more yesterday. The girls and I went over to hang out and to let Cassie help make the buns since she missed out on her favorite parts last time. Here are the pics.

Now that the dough has risen, Cassie punches it down so that Nana can cut it into little chunks to make the buns. 

This I think is her favorite part of the whole bun making process. 

Cassie putting the buns on the tray all by herself!! And no, Nana and I don't help her while she is doing this, Cassie can do it all by herself. 

More buns 

Cassie has filled her tray full of buns all by herself! 

Fresh hot buns right out of the ovens and boy do they smell delicious! 

Cassie watches at Nana puts the hot buns on the racks to cool. 

Now that the buns are cool, Cassie gets to enjoy them! 

"What's that mommy? You want me to smile?" 

"Oh Gosh! I don't know if I can.....no I can't." 

Okay, here is a small smile and that's all you are getting for now. 

ANOTHER RIDE

Yesterday I was able to take Cassie out for another ride. We were out longer and went much farther this time. There is a county road and a couple of prairie trails that make a square around our place that is about 3 miles and we rode that. Since we only walked it, it took us about an hour to finish the ride. Cassie had a fun and she laughed and talked to the horse the entire ride. I am glad that we have a gentle horse because Cassie would flap her legs and swing out her arms and point quickly sometimes and I was worried that she might scare the horse but she never did. In fact, the horse seemed to know that Cassie was there and wasn't a seasoned rider because the horses gait was even a little different than it usually is when I ride alone. She didn't jump from any birds or ducks flying out of the ditch (like she usually does. I think she is testing me to see how bad I actually want to ride) and she even jumped over a muddy, wet tore up culvert in the middle of one of the roads without a problem. I was very impressed with both the horse and Cassie. Cassie liked it when the horse jumped, she squealed and wanted to do it again!

When we got back Darren jumped on the horse and went down the rode for a quick ride. Darren doesn't really ride so his rides are normally just down the road about 200 feet and back. He will ride after I am done so he knows the spunk is out of the horse when he gets on.

There is this really nice thick saddle blanket that I want at TSC...well, it was there a year ago so I don't know if they still have it or not...I was going to buy it but at the time Darren asked me why since I didn't ride at all anymore so I never picked it up. But since I am riding now I need to replace the one the some mice chewed through and built a nest in the middle of....damn mice! Why do I have a mouse problem???? I never hear any stories about all of you guys and any rodents. Well, except for Rainy and that ungodly enormous beaver that attacked her but that is a whole different story.

The guy I sold Tango too is having him broke to ride and the man says that he's turning out to be a really nice horse. I kick myself for selling him but we couldn't keep him in the fence. I have been thinking about mending and fixing the fence around our place and then buying Tango back from the man. I would like to have at least two good riding horses here at our place and we do not ride Cholla anymore. We just use her for a brood mare and a yard ornament....more ornament than anything.

Rainy came out to our place with Jason yesterday too. They traded in their black Neon for a really swanky looking big Dodge Ram pickup. They had to get some fencing out of their shed so they could put it up around their place in Devils Lake. They couldn't stay too long so I didn't get to talk to Rainy too much. She checked out the girls purple room and though it was looking good. I still have to paint one wall and get that crap out of there. I am determined to have that room done in about another week. I want the painting all done and the wallpaper up before it gets really hot and it sounds like this is my week to do it since it's supposed to be a cool week.

Can you believe we got snow last night...crazy beans!

CASSIE'S FIRST HORSE RIDE

Yesterday was Cassie first official horseback ride. Before today I would just put Cassie on the horse's backs in the pasture and hang on to her while the horses walked around but we actually got Luna saddled up and rode.

My mom came over to watch Jessie for me and while Cassie was eating supper, I saddled up Luna and rode her for a bit before I came back to the house and picked up Cassie. My mom had changed Cassie into some warmer clothes and she was really excited to be going for a horse ride.

We didn't go too very far cause I didn't know for sure how Cassie was going to react and it was getting a little late in the evening and Cassie still had to have a bath before bed time but we rode for about a quarter of a mile and then came back.

Today since Cassie got up, the only thing she can talk about is going for another horse ride. Since Darren is working on one of the old cars today I will have to call my mom again to see if she minds watching Jessie while we have another ride. If Darren wasn't working on the car he would watch Jessie but he has to get a car for himself running because gas in the truck is killing him.

This is Luna. She is literally my first love. My dad bought her for me when I was in the 7th grade. We had just recently moved from Devils Lake to Churchs Ferry. I didn't have a lot of friends or active in a lot of sports like my brother so I was pretty lonely and I got into trouble a lot. A guy my dad knew wanted to know if I could ride and if I could come out to his farm and keep his horses ridden. Dad told him I would do it and when dad took my out to the guys place Luna was one of six yearlings. She was alway curious and she would come up to the fence and hang out with us until we left...a very interested "people" horse you could say. One day when we where there my dad gave a check to the guy and dad told me she was mine. I didn't even know mom and dad were talking about getting me my own horse. I broke her to ride with my dad's help. She's a great riding horse and is also very gentle and willing to do anything or go anywhere I ask her too. Before the kids, I rode her everyday even in the winter. She is 16 now and I will have her until the day she dies. I love her so much and she is by far the best gift that my father has ever given me. 

Luna is pretty much an over grown dog. When she is out of the pasture she doesn't go anywhere. She just hangs out in the yard and eats grass. We can leave her in the yard, go inside for 3 hours and when we come back outside she is still in the yard. That's another reason why I love her so much...she doesn't run off. 

Here we are in the yard after our ride. Cassie was really excited about her ride and really enjoyed it. I think I have a little cowgirl in the making....YES!!!!!!....now I will have someone to ride with when she gets her own "pony". 

As you can see in this picture mommy needs to get a bigger saddle. Cassie and I just barely fit into this one together.

The picture is a little hazey but this is my mother's horse, she is a leopard appaloosa named Cholla (pronounced Choy-Ah) It's spanish for cactus. Why that name I'm really not sure but it fits her. This is actually one of the few really good pics I have of her because she has moments where she looks really good and then others she looks really homely. This is a good moment. 

A VERY MUCH NEEDED SILENT NIGHT

Cassie spent the night at Nana's last night. Cassie wanted to have a "slumber party" so I called Nana and she said it was fine. I went over there with the girls around 5. We had supper and then I gave Cassie a bath before I left.

When I got home around 9:30 Jessie was ready to nurse so I fed her and then she fell asleep. She slept until 11:30 and only nursed for about 10 minutes and feel right back asleep. She didn't get up again until 3:30. She only nursed again for about 15 minutes and then slept until 8:00 am. So she is sleeping roughly about 3 to 4 hours now that we give her Mylanta and it has been helping a lot. She sleeps a lot better...obviously...she isn't near as crabby and hasn't had any bad cry spells. It was a very quiet night and I got some really good sleep.

Nana brought Cassie home around 1 pm. Before coming home they baked brownies. Nana stopped at the Cenex here in town to get fuel in her vehicle so they also stopped at the park when they were done fueling and played for about 20 minutes before coming to the house. I am disappointed in Cassie is little bit though. When the came home, Nana told me that Cassie wouldn't go to the bathroom for her and instead of taking her into the bathroom and putting her on the toilet right away, Nana put some clothes in the washer/dryer and when she went back to get Cassie, Cassie had pottied all over Nana's slipper chair and soaked the carpet. Cassie knows better but in strange unfamiliar places you have to take her to the bathroom or she won't go. But it surprised me because Nana's is a very familiar place...we are there every day!...So I'm not sure why she did that.

Darren ran into Devils Lake with the motorcycle to pick up some oil and a filter to change the oil in his pickup. It's starting to get warm in the house and I would like to go outside and ride horse for a bit. I may call my mom and see what she is doing and if she's not busy I am going to see if she can come over, or if I can drop Jessie off, and then Cassie and I will head off down the road on my horse. So keep your heads up for Cowgirl Cassie pics!!

DARREN'S ROUTE MAY CHANGE

There has been a lot of route drivers for Schwan's quitting. There has been 6 so far that I know of. One guy put in a two week notice a long time ago because he was commuting all the way from Minot to help the Harvey manager out until he found enough drivers to cover all the routes...that was two years ago and they guy had enough. Then a couple of people started and then quit right away. The guy Darren is staying with is getting married and has put applications in at other businesses and will be done when he finds something new. A guy that started a week before Darren quit to work at a buffalo processing plant with his wife so they have the same hours. The route driver for Devils Lake just put in his two weeks Monday because he didn't like the direction that the company was going and I am sure that guy has worked for Schwan's for at least 10 yrs and then our route driver put in a two week notice when he found out the Devils Lake guy was quitting.

So since they are getting severely understaffed really fast Darren's route may change. Instead of being down in Harvey, the boss is thinking of giving Darren the Rugby route. If Darren gets the Rugby route he will be home more often and has the opportunity to work 4 days one week and then 5 days the next week so he would get a 4 day weekend every other week which would be really cool if we wanted to go some where with the girls. Darren would also be able to leave a vehicle some where in Rugby and then when he's finished his route, he can drive the 15 minutes it takes to get from Rugby to our house and sleep at home instead of a hotel. We aren't 100% sure yet if it's going to happen but it sounds like there is a good chance of it. Then that way if someone new starts they can have the Harvey route and they will be home at night.

It will be nice to have my husband home some evenings during the week especially with my college classes starting in one month. We will have to see how everything goes.

ANOTHER DAY

Today Brandi watched Cassie so I could go to Baby & I. While I was there, Mary Anne said to go ahead and start Jessie on the Mylanta. Since we have started the Mylanta she seems to be doing better so I hope this works and we won't have to go to the liquid zantac. I brought chicken, mashed potatos, and macaroni salad home with me and took it to Brandi's so that we could all have a late lunch (or early supper) at her place.

Afterwards we went to my mom's place. Mom took Cassie outside for a while and after they were done playing outside they came in and made home made buns. Thos of you that have had them, you can vouch for me when I say that they are the best buns ANYWHERE!! Cassie will even roll the dough out in little balls and place them properly on the baking sheet too....well, she has a little help, there are dark spots on the sheet and she knows to put the dough balls on the spots...but she does it all by herself which is pretty cool. I took pics of Nana and Cassie making their dough, I didn't get shots of Cassie rolling any balls because were didn't stay long enough for that.

Tomorrow I am just going to hang low, finish my house cleaning and then go through the stuff in the back room and start selling some of that stuff on eBay.

TADA! the dough is done. 

smoothing it out to it will rise nicely. 

Adding a little flour so the dough doesn't stick to everything. 

Now they are kneading the dough together.