Twenty Years ago, today.....

Well, let's start with yesterday, actually...
December 28th, 1988.. Mom and Peggy came to visit me, and hopefully be with me when I had my first baby. Ryan was just a few months old (a little over 4mos.) and they took the trip from Idaho to California through some pretty treacherous weather, much to my brother-in-law's chagrin. They actually arrive in the Santa Cruz Mountains on Tuesday, December 27th, and we had a good time talking, catching up. Paul (James' younger brother, 14yrs old at the time) really enjoyed playing with "RT", and it was fun watching them play.

On Wednesday, I had a Dr.'s appointment all the way at Moffett Air Force Base. You have to realize that the base was AT LEAST an hour away, in good traffic. We loaded up in the car, Mom, Peggy, Ryan, Paul and I, and headed out for my appointment. The baby dropped while I was in the exam room, and I lost my plug at that time also (didn't know that at the time, but I do now.) I wasn't dilated, no contractions, so we decided to go to Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. We walked around for a bit, went across the Golden Gate bridge and then headed to Hamilton Air Force base to see our old house.. I started having contractions, but nothing heavy. By the time we got to Hamilton and walked around the old school, it was looking like MAYBE it was time to head over to Oakland to get things checked out.

We got to the hospital a good bit later (did I mention that we had to go through Bay Area traffic?) and come to find out, I really wasn’t dilated very much. The doctors thought it would be a good idea for me to walk a bit to see if we could get things moving. I remember walking the halls with Mom and Peggy switching off. Paul was happily (?) ensconced in the waiting room playing with Ryan and being a good sport. I remember discussing names picked out for my future child, and not feeling too happy about the girl’s name. Mom and I walked and walked, talking about names. We started talking about a couple that lived down the street from us, that went to church with us, Mike and Tansy. Tansy was from England, a delicate woman, beautiful. We figured that would be an awesome first name.

Well, unfortunately, I wasn’t progressing, so they sent me home…. home being Santa Cruz, about a 2 hour drive from Oakland. We were hungry, so we stopped at a greasy spoon in Oakland on the way home. Ah memories… All the while, mind you, I was having contractions, but not enough to be a total bother. I was able to fall asleep that night, and slept fairly soundly until the next morning.

I woke up and my contractions were about 5 mins apart. We called Cleone who was already at work, and James, who was at his house. We jump in the car, thinking we knew the way to the hospital. I’m in the back seat with Ryan (in a car seat!) and Paul. I was panting through the contractions as we are heading down the interstate. I remember Peggy writing on a piece of paper “WE’RE HAVING A BABY” to hold up when people looked at us funny. Kinda cute. =)

We took the wrong exit, or perhaps missed it, and ended up in Oakland, past the hospital. I remember having to find an exit and turn around. Remember this is before we had cell phones to use easily. Finally, getting turned around, we make it to the hospital. Entering the hospital, we find that James and Cleone made it before we did! YIKES! So, I get checked in, assigned a bed in the labor room, and get down to the work of.. well… laboring.




I remember Mom coming in once or twice to see me, and then she couldn’t handle the pain I was going through. I don’t remember Cleone coming in at all.. James and Peggy stayed by my side. I remember the surprise on James’ face when I tell him that we were going to name our girl Tansy Marie instead of Alexandria Rochelle. Poor James, he thought it was actually the transition talking, not the truth.

They wheeled me into delivery, and after not too much pushing, I had a beautiful baby girl. I remember there were some cute corpsmen, and Peggy was doing her best to get them on the video for me.. too bad I didn’t follow through with that. =) HAH! When the corpsmen realized that it was my birthday, they lined up down the hallway and made an arch with their arms and wheeled my gurney under them… cool, huh?

It’s so hard to believe that it’s been 20 years. It’s been so wonderful being Tansy’s mom. I’ve been truly blessed to have her as my daughter and best friend.

Allrighty then. =)

Happy Holidays one and all. =) It's been a GREAT week, and I'm bummed it's almost over. I got to see my girl Danielle on Christmas Eve and deliver her gifts to her. That was good. Went to the candlelight service at my "old" church with Tansy that night too. It's been almost a year since I've attended, so it was so nice seeing old friends.
Jody and I had a quiet day on Thursday, we cooked a quarter ham and sweet potato casserole, opened our gifts to one another, and then took the Del Sol out for a spin looking for a good spot or two to take pictures of it. Tansy arrived Thursday night and we tried to hit the hay early because we were driving to Richmond on Friday.
We took 2 cars, because Jody needed to bring an engine back from Richmond. We had the pleasure of meeting some of Jody's relatives on Friday, and eating another delicious meal with his dad, step-mom and sister. Will have to post the recipe for her greenbeans later. YUMMO!
Tansy and I headed to Virginia beach on Saturday morning.
We made it to Pam's house in time for lunch (what timing!) and then half the crew headed out for a movie... I volunteered to stay and watch Emily (Peggy's youngest) and Parker and Preston (Kate's oldest). It was a fun to play with the "littles" and see Emily act like an older sister... She's actually hoping for a baby brother or sister.She told me that she told Peggy that they could always adopt a baby sister for her. =) I love the way 7 year olds think!
We were able to play some games later on Saturday night, much laughter ensued.
Tansy and I had to head out this morning, we met up with Jody in Emporia, VA. Our 6 hour trip turned into about an 8 hour trip with a few backups.

Tonight is my last night with all three of my children being teenagers. I'm not sure how I feel about that. *sigh*Maybe I'll feel up to posting an *EDITED* birth story tomorrow. Tonight, I'm just enjoying the fact that my girl is under my roof. =)

I double dog tag you!!!

Since it's been slow at home, I decided to follow through with Beth Ann's tag. =) I love my family!

Wrapping paper or gift bags?
both. It really depends on the gift, and who it's going to... but after watching Jody wrap presents the other night, my efforts are so amateur, I may stick with bags from now on. I can't compete!

Real tree or Artificial?
Artificial.... and we actually have a tree this year! We never really had a "spot" to put a tree in, so it's been years since we've had one. Jody and I decided to put one up.. It's pretty. =)


When do you put up the tree?
Well, we put it up about a week before hand this year.. who knows what our next years will say?

Do you like eggnog?
Oh boy, do I ever! It can be "virgin" or not, doesn't matter. I keep looking at it longingly in the cooler every time I go to the store... maybe I'll pick some up tonight.

Easiest person to buy for?
It's supposed to be easy? When the kids were small, it was so easy, now that they have their own opinions and are pretty much grown up, not so easy. *sigh*

Hardest person to buy for?
I'm going with Jody... In fact we had the convo last night about what each of us would like, and we can't decide... so we're putting it off for us, and focusing on the kids.

Do you have a nativity scene?
Nope

Mail or email Christmas cards?
ummm, neither? I think I need to at least do an email, shouldn't I? My life is just pretty boring, no news to report, so why bother? I don't know. *sigh*

Worst Christmas gift you every received?
I don't think I've received a bad one.. I did get a Michael Jackson doll the year I was into Boy George... BUT, It's the gift I most remember in my life, and it was from my AMAZING younger brother, and I toted that thing around for years, even though it was missing legs and arms.. and probably clothing. It's one I cherish.

Favorite Christmas movie?
"A Christmas Story" isn't that everyone's?

When do you start shopping for Christmas?
Usually the first week of December.. sad to say this year, I haven't even started yet. AKKK!

Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
Errrr, ummmmm, no. What a novel idea. =)

Favorite thing to eat a Christmas?
Spiral ham.... deep fried turkey... pumpkin pie. Pretty much the same as Thanksgiving. *we are having a club dinner tomorrow night, and Jody is making the Sweet Potato casserole. I thing this is my NEW favorite.*

Favorite Christmas song?
"Grandma Got Ran Over By a Reindeer"...now if I could only find my cd!

Travel at Christmas or stay home?
I've pretty much stayed home at this time of year.... however, I'll be in Virginia Beach for the weekend after. I'm so excited!

Can you name all of Santa's reindeer?
Yup. and it only takes one try ;)

Angel on the tree top or a star?
Snowflake/star type thing... something that a family member made for Jody years ago.

Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?
Morning... we used to do pj's for the kids on Christmas Eve, but they out grew that tradition. AND we used to open presents for Yule on the Solstice, but since the family has split up, that tradition is kinda gone too. *sigh*

Most annoying thing about this time of year?
".... There are alot of ism's in this world, and the worst of them is commercialism"

Favorite time for Christmas dinner?
I prefer around 2pm. Dunno why.. I guess so we can nosh the rest of the day away.

What do you want for Christmas this year?
Haven't given that much thought. Ask me on the 26th. =)

Ok, so now the rest of the family has been double dog dared to do this tag!

Merry Christmas......

So, we got our first tree. Didn't think that would happen, for some reason. Jody went to Raleigh to a swap meet and made some money, so now we can get gifts for the kids, and we got ourselves a teeny, tiny tree that fits real well into our teeny tiny home. We got it out of the box (yeah, it's a fake one, SAVE THE FOREST!!!), Jody put it together, and we put his smalls stash of ornaments on it. He's managed to save them through his many moves, and most of them have sentimental value to them. Kinda awesome.

I had fun babysitting this weekend. It was much more low key than I thought it would be. Jody was able to help me Friday night, he's the one that rocked Payton to sleep and put her to bed. I don't know, but there is something about a man that is totally capable of nurturing a baby. Payton was looking for him pretty much all night Saturday night, but he didn't make it back into town before her mom and dad made it back home.... Sad. He has promised to come see her at the daycare this week.

Not much else to write about. Just thought I'd share our tree. :)

chicken and catchup....

That's what our youth group used to call the first Sunday of the month @ church. Everyone would get a chance to talk about their day/week/month as a way of connecting with one another. I really miss those kids! *sigh* But when I think about it, they aren't "kids" anymore, the youngest ones were a year older than Tansy, and she'll be twenty in less than a month... Oh I'm getting old.


Anyway. I'm sitting here, have about 10 minutes before I really need to buckle down and get ready for work. Was checking my email and read the one from my sweet mom. I love you Mom! I'm so sorry you were sick on the flight home. I'm so glad that you are feeling better now.

We went to our friend's baby's first birthday party last weekend. I was trying to figure out what in the world to get this little man.... Jill gave me some EXECELLENT suggestions. But then, as we were shopping, Jody was telling me that since he IS the second child/second boy, he has sooo many toys already, he really didn't need anymore (AND Christmas is soon, too!) SO, we got him a new little outfit... camo jacket, jeans and a jeep tshirt. His parents loved it at least. ;)

Not much going on here in South Carolina. We actually had 70 degree weather and tornado watches all day yesterday. CRAZY! Jody and I are babysitting tonight and tomorrow night for one of "my babies" (MissP if you were wondering!). Her parent's company Christmas parties happen to land on both days. Mrs.P asked me if I could babysit back in October, when she found out when her party was, and of course I said yes. She's been asking me quite frequently if we were still on. :)

I finished Paisley's afghan. I'm hoping I get to deliver it personally. I have just a few days left to decide what I'm going to do. Tansy will be spending some time with me after Christmas, definently will be spending our birthday together... So I was thinking ROAD TRIP! I guess I need to find out if 1) I'm getting my birthday off and 2) if she wants to drive up to VABeach for such a quick trip and 3) IF i get my birthday off, if I'll get my holiday pay ( can't remember if I take the day off before or after a holiday if I get the holiday pay... )

I'm sure y'all are very bored by now. There really isn't much going on. I love you all.