I have 3 minutes to write this final post of 2010 before I need to be on the news set for the 10.  Wanted to touch base with you before the week AND year end.  Daddy came home last night.  Incredibly his flights from Seattle and Chicago were on time.  When he walked out of the airport in Peoria I ran from the car and hugged him with glee.  I did the long distance thing with him for 2 1/2 years before we made it official.  Don’t want to go there again.  House is still for sale.  We dropped the price AGAIN this week.  It’s been on the market since the end of October.  Showings every week, but no offers.  As interest rates rise, so does our blood pressure.  Sunday I show up for my extreme fitness weigh-in.  Convinced this is the kick in the rear I need to get back in gear with exercise and healthier eating.  Hang with me in 2011, I so enjoy your company.  Gotta go do a mic check!

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 30

Knew many of you would want to see this.  I always said my picks would hopefully not make this list, but I named my two based on family names… so you never know since so many older-generation names are popular again!

Boys

1. Tyler
2. Kayden/Caiden
3. Aiden
4. Mason
5. Landon
6. Jack
7. Caleb/Kaleb
8. Connor
9. Noah
10. Ethan

Girls

1. Isabelle/Isabella
2. Olivia/Alivia
3. Audrey
4. Aubrey
5. Sophia
6. Addison/Addyson
7. Grace
8. Elizabeth
9. Emma
10. Claire

Source:  St. Luke’s Hospital, Cedar Rapids

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 30

The flying monkeys in The Wizard of Oz have always freaked me out.  For that scene alone, the movie has been avoided in our house when my two are watching.  But I can’t shield them from all the bad parts in what many people think of as classics or even rites of passage for young people to see.  Like Snow White or Cinderella.  They both have wicked characters.  Last night we watched the new version of Charlie and The Chocolate Factory.  I had not seen it as Johnny Depp is not my favorite.  From the moment the heavyset kid got stuck in the tube sucking up the chocolate, it was downhill.  Charlotte could not get past it.  “What happened to him?” she kept asking.  Then Veruca is held down by a pack of squirrels.  Even that got to me.  Before the next kid was eliminated, we had to pull the plug and go to bed.  Charlotte was getting more and more upset.  Yet this morning she wanted to know what happened to the blueberry girl.  Tonight a viewing of Toy Story 3 is planned.  Great!  I heard adults cry watching this one and something about the toys ending up in the dump.

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 30

Dave’s trip to visit his side of the family in Yakima, Washington is bittersweet.  Of course it’s great for him to have time alone with his older daughters.  And his mom turned 81 yesterday, so he was there to celebrate.  But when I dropped him off at the Peoria airport yesterday morning, I knew I’d be a bit lost without him until his return Thursday night.  Right away I was literally lost.  I haven’t lived in my hometown since high school, so I get a bit mixed up with directions.  I drove away from the airport at 5am, still dark out, and on the interstate heading east when my parents’ house is west.  The kids and I are staying with Nana/Papa, thankfully, so I don’t have to go it alone.  I can’t go it alone that long with my two.  I can’t if I have a choice.  And were my folks not available, I promise you I would make other arrangements even if I had to pay someone.  But Charlotte and Thomas have been doing well, especially since we revolve our entertainment around them… Toy Story, The Wiggles, Toys R Us, ice cream snowmen and Christmas trees… you get the idea.  They love seeing so much of their cousin, Liam, who’s 10 months.  Of course Dave and I talk and text regularly, though not always at convenient times with a 2-hour time difference.  We miss you, Daddy, but we will be fine ’til you come home.

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 30

In my world, you work many holidays.  So with two little ones at home and a husband who gets two weeks off as a teacher, I get to be the idiot plowing my SUV through all the uncleared roads to get to the station.  Up with Dave way too late last night, I tried to squeeze in a nap… but the kids were too keyed up to go down so Daddy took them in the basement where they wrestled.  We made it out this morning for Mommy to get an eyebrow wax (fascinating to Charlotte & Thomas), to buy new Disney princess boots and Buzz Lightyear tennis shoes and to pick up nine carrots for all the reindeer and a ceramic plate and matching little jug decorated for Santa’s cookies and milk.  As I type, Christmas carols are playing through my computer speakers.  A nice touch for the five of us in the newsroom.  Getting here was not easy.  I got temporarily stuck in my cul-de-sac after backing out.  Now worried about the return trip for dinner before the 10.  Gotta get home to light a candle on our little birthday cake for Jesus and to sing with the kids.  Then get them to bed in time to come back for the 10.  Yes, Mommy is about the only one working tonight.  Actually Santa is on the clock, too.

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 30

I cannot help but admit that Christmas is so much more fun when little children are involved in your celebration.  Picking out Advent calendars and opening the doors with chocolate behind them each day this month has been a thrill.  No one will be surprised to read that I lived for that piece of candy on December mornings as a child.  New pajamas on Christmas Eve were another highlight.  And this year Daddy took the kids to pick theirs out.  As pictured, they’ve already had them on.  I have been making a conscious effort to talk about the fact this big day approaching is Jesus’ birthday, reminding my two that’s what all this holiday madness is about–the baby who was born in a manger.  It melts my heart when they spot a nativity scene from the car window and Thomas shouts out, “Baby Jesus!”  If they come away from the weekend of toys and treats grasping the concept that this celebration is tied to trips to church and nightly prayers, I will feel better about myself.

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 30

I have got to do something in the exercise department–fast.  Recently, I was telling Dave I need to do another fitness program.  The past three I’ve started and stuck with, two of which I blogged about, really worked.  And just like that, an email in my in-box touting the benefits of a 10-week program that starts in January!  Just do it.  Starting January 3, I will be taking the Next Level Extreme Fitness classes in the Cedar Valley.  I will be doing the 5-6 days of kickboxing and boot camps each week for free in exchange for blog updates about it.  Multiple class times are available along with child care.  If you would like to join me, you can get more info on Facebook or call 319-231-2199.  Stay tuned for details.  Not sure yet if I am going to get the before picture.  The one I had taken last year I would like to burn.

The Schulte Family

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 30

I feel stupid/embarrassed/annoyed about what happened.  In recent days, I have been experiencing what I thought were pregnancy symptoms.  I racked my brain to recall which day I forgot my pill and took it many hours later… and if it happened more than once.  Finally when I got on the scale last night,  after hours spent putting together toys with Dave, I really got concerned.  I had gained weight since a week ago and yet all but one day had been following my diet.  It just didn’t make sense.  We had to know.  Dave hopped in his truck, drove to Walmart and returned with an at-home test.  Those three minutes staring at the blinking clock in the digital read-out window afforded me enough time to play out a thousand scenarios in my head.  Maybe this is why our house hasn’t sold, because we can’t afford it with another mouth to feed.  So much for taking on a new workout plan in 2011, I will be waddling my way through bins of old baby clothes.  You get the idea.  Then the wait was over and NO came up on the screen.  It put us both in better moods, sad to say.  Had it been positive we would have embraced it and planned accordingly for our lack of planning… but a negative result was the preferred outcome.  Minutes later our current brood came down the stairs after one woke the other up asleep in our bed.  We were thrilled to see just the TWO of them.  And today I am playing phone tag with the nurse to schedule Dave’s vasectomy!

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 30

to spend more time watching my kids be kids.

to potty train Thomas.

to exercise regularly and to eat less–or at least strike a better balance.

to step up the discipline so Daddy isn’t always the bad guy.

to get more spray tans, since so many have said I look better with a little color.

to stop cracking my knuckles, especially during the news.

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 30

Wanted to share some of my family’s Christmas pictures.  Growing up my sister, Sara, and I took the outfits and hairstyles quite seriously.  Of course we hated how we looked in 90% of the results.  Now email me yours to share!

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 30