saw the eye doctor
and i got contacts today.
first time since college.

very expensive.
i blame it on gas prices.
the light hurts my eyes.

it’s a recipe for disaster. but in a stunning display of superior guardianship… i did not die

here are some tips i gleaned from the experience:

1. set simple rules and clear consequences.
(that way when they scoff at your rules, at least you can look back on a moment when you were convinced of your in-charge-ness)

2. play dress up.

3. feed them.

4. you can always lock yourself in the garage and hum with your fingers plugging your ears.
(not that i actually did that. but it seemed like a practical solution)

i think i found my new favorite coffee house. coffee from heaven. a perfect example of good christian marketing. the best part is, they serve Starbucks©.

yep. that’s David sitting on the couch typing away on a laptop.
i have no idea where he gets it from.

notes on flickr

today i spent much needed “down” time on the net.

down time is wasted time really, adding freinds to facebook. write a tweet. making a youtube video of my latest screen saver. search for people on the dreaded myspace (to no avail!). read up on my feeds, organized my bookmarks, and played with a new freeware app for my mac called “butler”.

Butler was the highlight of my evening. i found myself laughing becasue it was so functional. a tool that actually makes things easier… amazing.

one of the other things i did was begin the long process of manually migrating all our old posts from blogger to wordpress. there is probably a faster way to do it, but i have enjoyed reading our old posts…. from 2004… whoa. and that’s when i switched to blogger from freewebs where i had wrote all my posts in html (anyone remember julieandjesse.happy-couple.com in 2003?)

it is interesting to go back and read the struggles we had 3 and 4 years ago. for instance Julie wrote a post in 2005 entitled “Life is Hard” where she said

Ever since our move to Tucson, my whole spiritual life has been challenged and it seems like the easiest thing to do is just give up. [ … ]where is God???

we have come so far, and grown up so much. we posted some of the craziest stuff. some pretty embarrassing even.

so here’s to realizing we have had a website and blog for over 4 years now. let’s hope we learn how to use it someday.

» the happy couple in 9/1/03
* special thanks to The Way Back Machine for keeping an archive of the internet since 1996 or something like that.

i guess it might be fitting to be publishing this post directly after the announcement of our pregnancy, but after a couple of doctor appointments and an ultra sound it is confirmed that we lost the baby.

we just found out this morning, and it is emotional, but we did have the feeling there was something wrong, and it is a relief to have some facts, and understand what happened.

i knew right away looking at the ultra sound screen that something was not right. we have had two healthy kids already, and i remember seeing the pictures of David at this stage… but we just waited to hear from the doctor.
what we found out was the cells for the baby never developed from the beginning - but fooled Julie’s body into thinking it was pregnant. so her body went through all the normal motions of a typical birth, but no baby was there. it’s kinda strange, but i guess it’s common. statistically somewhere between 20 - 30% of pregnancies end in miscarriage [*].

Julie goes into surgery tomorrow for a D&C. we appreciate your prayers.

about Miscarriage
Blighted Ovum?

in about 231 days we are expecting another child. yep, you read right… we are in for more adventure. Julie has started getting her weekly updates, and this week was informed that our child is the size of a blueberry with hands, legs, an appendix and a pancreas.

read more about “week 7″ on Baby Center

we are taking name suggestions…
so far Julie is leaning toward Joshua Jude [as in “hey jude”], and i want Charles Allen [both our Dad’s middle names] if a boy.
if a girl, Julie likes Rachel Alice [for Margie] , and i like Claire [see: Elizabeth Town movie] or Moriah [region where the mountain was for Abe to kill Isaac] (until tonight when i read the meaning… although it really fits this season of our journey).

i hope i can let Julie do the name deciding this time…

Natalie is developing her spelling and writing skills. tonight she just sat down and wrote her name, and i had to share it with you. you can also see the video from our spelling session. she learned the word “PIG” tonight.

in other news, i have finally realized i might be dependent on caffeine. i went to bes last night at 11pm and opened (4am) this morning at Starbucks, and it was my worst morning ever. i think everyone else could tell too. i was just so tired. the funny thing is i get free coffee on my shift, and i didn’t drink any, and i didn’t drink any the rest of my day. that was not a good idea. it turns out i need it more than i thought - i could hardly function. i have also been putting in long hours, and not seeing much sleep. so am i addicted to caffeine, or just need rest, or both?

see: defend your coffee habit

View Larger Map

20 years from now you will look back on your self today, and if you could say something to yourself you probably would say two things: “it gets better” and “brush your teeth.”

David is starting things early learning to climb the stool in the bathroom and chew on a wet toothbrush (which we hope and expect will eventually turn into brushing and caring for his teeth on a regular basis).

So our encouragement to you this season is don’t forget to brush… it’s just a good idea. I have found the best way to brush my teeth is with an electric tooth brush that has the two minute timer. but that’s just me.

See David climb the stool to brush on YouTube
Brushing Teeth set in Flickr
Brushing and Flossing: An Animated Demo