Celebrating Ethan's 2nd Birthday!

Today after church, the family gathered at Trisha and Ben's house to celebrate Ethan's 2nd birthday.  Click here to read all about Ethan at this stage in his life.

Trisha chose the theme, "Yo Gabba Gabba" because that is one of Ethan's favorite shows. Trisha's mother-in-law painted the characters faces from the show on balloons and hung them from the ceiling with streamers in the dining room and then hung some more streamers with the cut-outs of the characters right over the table. She also had some cut-outs they printed off the Internet and taped to the plastic table cloth. Pretty cute, and inexpensive way to decorate!

All of the grandparents were there, Trisha's 3 siblings, Ben's only brother and his wife and 6 year old son, my niece and her 9 month old daughter and my 5 year old nephew were also there. So there were lots of small kids running around and it seemed very noisy in the house, especially from the 3 boys!

Ethan got some cool toys! He got a guitar from Grandpa Rick, some Yo Gabba Gabba vehicles and people from Grandma and Grandpa Stefanic, an Elmo video from Uncle Andy and Aunt Rachelle, a Speed Racer steering wheel and Elmo ball from cousin Cory, and a Diego trike from Jeff, I and the kids. He loved all the toys!

Trisha made chocolate cake with cream cheese icing and white cupcakes with vanilla icing with sprinkles.  It was all very yummo!

Ethan and Auntie Karlie

Opening the present from Uncle Andy and Aunt Rachelle

On his new Diego Trike!

Future Rock Star!

Learning to blow out candles!

Dylan, trying to sleep through it all!

Trying AGAIN!

My hubby thinks my issue with my Blog feed not feeding into Twitter right is in Twitterfeed. So we went in and reset Twitterfeed.

Testing 1, 2, 3!

The First Test Failed...trying again!

Trying to fix my Blog Feeds to Twitter. My Title posts but not the link. Grrrr

Testing My Twitter Feed

One of my Twitter Followers Virtual Freedom, pointed out that when I post a blog, the Title posts, but not the link. I think I fixed it, so this is a test to see if I actually did!

Five Reasons I Love My Husband

One of the blogs I follow is a fellow WAHM and she has this cute meme posted on her blog that she got from her friend Arika, so I thought I 'd play along because I like these things and I LOVE my hubby! 

If you want to play too, here is all you have to do:

1. Grab the graphic up there and insert it, along with these rules, in your post.
2. Give at least 5 reasons why you love your hubby. List more if you want.
3. Tag 5 people (or more) to play along and link to their blogs in your post.
4. Then visit those women’s blogs and leave them a comment on any of their posts.

Okay, now that we got that out of the way, here's why I LOVE my husband:

1. He is a man after God's own heart.

2. He is the most awesome step dad to my kids.

3. He helps keep me on track with my goals and desires.

4. He has a heart for the youth, as do I.

5. He can sing!!!

6. He loves to help others out.

7. He never minds running to the store for that head of lettuce or ice cream!

8. He supports me and the kids 100%.

9. He is the most awesome Papa Jeff to Ethan, Dylan and Alyssa!

10. He's CUTE!

I tag Lisa, and anyone else who wants to play.  Please link to my blog, and the other two mentioned above! Have Fun!

Ethan turns 2!

Two years ago today, Trisha gave birth to Ethan Gabriel Stefanic.  I can't believe he's already 2 years old!!! My how time flies!

We are having a party for him Sunday after church and I didn't get to see him today so I don't have a 2 year old picture. The one above is just a couple of weeks old, so I guess it's okay to use for now.  He's holding his baby brother, Dylan, who was born Sept. 11.

Ethan is so smart! He talks up a storm and repeats everything we say.  My favorite things he says are:

• "Hi Nana!" when I walk into his house
• When we say, "Are you cute"? He replies, "Yes I am", in the cutest 2 year old voice EVER!
• He says "Diwan" for Dylan, "Baby Brudder" for Baby Brother, oh and the best thing ever, he says "I wub you!" for I love you.  It's soooo cute!

Ethan's favorite shows are Yo Gabba Gabba, Blues Clues and Veggie Tales. His favorite movies are Nemo and Da Munks (Alvin and the Chipmunks).

Ethan is learning to count and can count to 8, sort of, with a little help. His favorite number is 6.

He can jump up and down, lifting both feet off the ground at the same time! Something most kids don't do until they're 4!

Ethan knows the sounds of animals like bears, lions, doggies, cats, horsies and frogs! When he "ribbits" like a frog its oh so cute!

He knows all his body parts, and Dylan's and Alyssa's and Papa Jeff's and Nana's and everyone elses, and is sure to point them out as he names them.

His favorite foods are bologna, pizza, chicken, pickles, and cheese.

Ethan LOVES to play outside! He loves to run around in the grass and would stay out all day if he could. He also likes to play "catch me/hide-n-go-seek" with Karlie in the house.  He loves it when she crouches down and then suddenly jumps up and says "BOO"!

Ethan is a born drummer, like his daddy.  He makes "sticks" out of anything and everything that remotely even resembles a stick: forks, spoons, butter knives, rolled up paper, anything and everything.  He even plays the air drums and air guitar!

He also sings some of his favorite songs from his favorite shows and "Jesus Loves Me"!  I'll have to try to get some video of all this cuteness to post in the near future!

Happy 2nd Birthday Ethan! Nana loves you!

Budgeting Woes

After struggling with our finances because we have 2 mortgages and 2 Home Equity Loans, I finally found a budgeting system that I think will work for us: Pearbudget and the old fashioned envelope system.  I signed up for the free 30 day trial on PearBudget. It's simple and easy to use! Then I was reading another blog, Simple Mom, and she really lays out how to use the envelope system.  So combining the two ought to make it budgeting a little easier for me and the rest of the family.

I set up our plan for October and when we get paid I will be taking actual cash out of our bank accounts to fill the envelopes with.  When we need money for groceries, personal items, haircuts, fun money (yes there is an envelope for fun money), lunch money, gas, gifts, or miscellaneous, we will take out the cash from the envelope and use that money and only that money. 

Because our income isn't exactly the same every month, we will have to adjust accordingly.  And we are going to have to be very frugal when it comes to things like groceries, gas, personal items, dining out, fun money and miscellaneous.  But, I know once we start sticking to it and get used to using cash only, we will see how much money we are saving and we will like it! Ha ha.

I will keep you posted as to how it goes over the next couple of weeks.

Walk To Emmaus-Men's Walk #34

I spent the last weekend in Indian River at the United Methodist Church, serving men "taking their walk" and those on the team. It was a God thing that I was even there.  When I was asked back in July to serve on the walk, I accepted a little hesitantly.  I was only hesitant because A. I knew Trisha was expecting her baby on September 17 and I didn't know how all that would play out.  Two years ago when I was working a walk, I had to leave early because Trisha had Ethan.  B. because we are so busy with my new VA business, youth ministry, The Chosen Conference, work, kids, family, etc. etc., I just didn't think I'd really be "into" spending 4 days away from home, away from the world.  So, as the time approached, sure enough a meeting got scheduled for Chosen the first night of the walk, so I had to arrive at the walk late.  I didn't think it would be a big deal, as I was only scheduled to help in the dining room; I wasn't head of a department or anything.

After the Chosen meeting, I headed to Indian River; it was about 8 or 8:30 when I arrived at the church.  I unloaded my suitcases and headed for the dining room.  As soon as I got there, the head of the dining room, Betty, informed me that I was head now because she just got back from a long trip.  Apparently someone was supposed to contact me to let me know I was going to be the leader of the dining room team. That is why I live by the motto, "Blessed are the flexible for they shall not break". 

I have worked in the dining room several times, as leader and as a team member, but I have never had such an awesome team as this! Sue and Jim were amazing and needed very little instruction.  The awesome board members just went through and totally reorganized everything, including the manuals.  Sue and Jim just looked at the manual and took it from there.  We were able to get everything done an hour or two ahead of schedule! It was amazing and the dining room looked great!

Friday night, Trisha called me and told me she and Ben were fighting, so I told her I'd pray for them.  Well, recently I have been struggling with some stuff from my past.  I was raised a Jehovah's Witness, and I've had some thoughts along the lines of, "What if they have the truth; What if what they teach is right and none of this (Christianity) is?" So as I was praying for T & B, I told God; "If you are the God I am supposed to be worshipping and that I am going to the right church and doing the right things, then give me a sign! God, show me some how some way, so I know that what I'm doing it right!"

Saturday morning I got up, had some coffee, awaited the rest of my team to arrive (they all stayed at their homes or with nearby relatives), and got the drink cart ready to serve.  Betty, Sue and I were standing, waiting for the Pilgrims (those taking their walk) to enter.  Frank, one of the pastors helping with the walk, entered.  He headed over to me, stretched out his hands for mine, and started to pray.  In his prayer, he said that I was going to minister to those hurting, that God would show me those who need His comfort. He also said that I "was right where I belong." As soon as I heard those words, I knew God answered my prayer! I was so excited and happy, and felt a huge sense of relief! I knew I was on the right path and I knew that God was guiding and directing me. And I knew that the God I worship is the true God! Frank doesn't know me, and I don't know him. My prayer was silent, so no one else heard it, so it couldn't have been faked.  Only God heard my prayer, and only God answered it!

If you have any doubts about the God I serve, just ask me about all the miraculous things he's done in my life! I don't know why I ever doubted, when I look back at what all he's done in my life, for my kids and my family.  I know it was Satan attacking me, trying to get me to lose my faith in God.

The Road to Better Health-Update 1

Well its been only a few days, 4 to be exact, since I got my health report from my Doctor.  I've been doing really well with taking my meds and sticking to the protein diet! I picked up my script for the thyroid medicine on Sunday, so I didn't start taking it until yesterday because you have to take it on an empty stomach.  So, I take the Synthroid in the morning when I first get up, and the Niaspan at night.  The flushing isn't so bad any more.  I had a night of "flushlessness" the night before last, unless it just didn't wake me up, and a minor episode last night around 4AM.  It only lasted about 15 minutes, and seemed to affect the upper half of my body only. 

I have noticed I've been -excuse the term- peeing A LOT.  I'm not sure if it's the meds or the protein diet, but I don't mind. I feel like I'm cleaning my system out and the pee is pretty clear.  I go regularly about every hour.  I feel like I'm in the bathroom an awful lot, but it also makes me feel like I'm losing weight.

I've decided to stay off the scales until my Doctor's appointment in 2 months.  I will know I'm losing weight by the way my clothes fit (or should I say don't fit-hopefully they will be too big in 2 months!).

I've been eating as much protein as I can.  I have a Revival Soy protein shake every morning and then another around 11AM or so.  I make one in the morning before I go to work and take the rest with me for my morning snack.  I have a salad for lunch and usually cheese and/or tomatoes for a mid afternoon snack, and then high protein for dinner, like meat and a salad or veggies.  It's been pretty easy so far.  We did get pizza for dinner tonight because my son and son-in-law were painting the family room and it was just too chaotic to try to cook something.  I did only eat the cheese and meats off the pizza and was pretty satisfied. 

I've also increased my liquid intake.  That attributes to the extra peeing I'm sure, but I know I'm not drinking THAT much to increase it so much.  I bought a bunch of those powdered mixed you add to a water bottle.  I made sure they have no calories or carbs and I usually drink 2 of those a day, plus my regular intake of coffee which is 2 to 4 cups, plus the 2 protein shakes.  The liquid helps keep me satisfied between meals too.

I will keep you updated periodically as often as I can find time to post!

Three Years of Marital Bliss

Three years ago today, I married Jeffrey Scott Lutz, the man of my dreams! Literally!!! The last three years have been exciting, interesting, and challenging.  Exciting because we've grown together in Christ, watched our family grow in Christ, had two grandsons (Ethan and Dylan), moved from Gaylord to Boyne Falls, changed jobs (Mary - twice), started a new business as a Virtual Assistant (Mary) and have become more involved in the youth ministry as leaders. Interesting because we've helped some others out financially and spiritually, are commuting from Boyne Falls to Gaylord, have a third driver (Karlie) so we are working out ways to get everyone where they need to be. Challenging because we are renting out Gaylord house out which isn't working out how we hoped, are commuting from Boyne Falls to Gaylord, working out driving challenges, and all the stuff that goes with raising a family!

Jeff is the man of my dreams because he is Godly, strong, loving, patient, funny, dorky, goofy and CUTE!!! And he has a gotee!!! All of the things I asked for when I told God what I'd like in a husband.  I lived by Psalm 37:4, "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." As did Jeff (which we later discovered after we started dating).  That scripture doesn't mean that God gives you what you desire, but when you lay down your life and delight in the Lord, your wills and desires become his and line up with his Word.  When I laid my life down and surrendered completely to Him, only then did He and could He bring the man of my dreams, the man he created for me and knew would be everything I need.

Jeffrey Scott, I love you and I would marry you all over again!!! Thanks for being the man God created you to be! YOUR! Mary Karen

On the Better Health Bandwagon Again

Friday, yesterday, I went to the Doctor.  I had gone 2 weeks prior to get all my issues checked out: achy hips, achy foot, numbness in foot, light headedness, etc.  My dr. said the light headedness was probably because my ears were full. I have an appointment with a foot dr. on Monday to get that checked out. But, I haven't had an annual exam in over two years, so she had me get my blood work done and come in for the lovely pap-smear.

My blood work results were: My sugar is good, my blood pressure is good, my bad cholesterol is somewhat high, but not terrible; but my good cholesterol is "dangerously low", my tri-glycerides are high, and my thyroid is low.  So, she prescribed me some Niacin tablets and some thyroid medicine.  Not to mention the medicine she prescribed for my achy hips. Oh, and not to mention the anti-biotic and Mucinex-D I was on for the sinus infection I ended up having in the middle of these 2 visits!  (I went to Quick Care for that.) And I am taking a pro-biotic for digestive health. I feel like a walking medicine chest!

The Niacin medicine is weird. It causes "flushing". Flushing, for those who don't know (like me) is when you experience warmth, itchiness, swelling and faintness ALL OVER YOUR WHOLE ENTIRE BODY! I experienced it at 6 o'clock in the morning this morning!!! You take the Niacin at night and the directions suggest taking aspirin or ibuprofen 30 minutes before you take the Niacin, as these help the symptoms of flushing.  Well, I didn't take it before I took the Niacin, but I did take some aspirin when I was experiencing the flushing.  Flushing is an awful feeling and if I didn't know what it was I would have freaked out!!! When I got up to take the aspirin, I felt like I could have passed out, my whole body was itchy, swollen and hot! Thank goodness it only lasted about 1/2 hour! The Niacin is to help raise my good cholesterol and lower my tri-glycerides.  If she hadn't said my good cholesterol was "dangerously low", I probably would have chosen not to take it.

The other advice she gave me was to get on a high protein diet, like South Beach.  Those of you who know me, know I have done the South Beach diet before and hated it.  I just hate all the meat and cheese! I get so sick of it.  Well tonight, Kara (my niece) and I went grocery shopping and we picked up lots of salad fixings, some good meat, lots of nuts and some yummy drink mixes with no carbs. Kara would like to lose a few pounds too so we decided to work on this together.

It's difficult to adjust your lifestyle, especially your eating habits! I love breads, cereal, tortillas, chips, and stuff like that.  The sweet stuff like cookies and ice cream aren't so hard to give up, but the bread and cereal are for me! I got some soy milk to make my Revival Soy protein shakes with since I can't mix any fruit in them.  But I did discover I can put peanut butter in them...yummo! I also got some summer sausage for a snack with cheese.  Tonight Kara and I made a tomato soup of sorts with tomato sauce.  We seasoned it with garlic powder, chili powder, salt, pepper and cilantro.  It was yummo!  We added a little mozzarella cheese and it was like eating cheese stix, but without the breading.  A nice little concoction!

Anyway, I'm on the road to getting healthy and losing some weight! I really want to stick with it this time.  I think with Kara doing it and our friend Kim, I just may be able to!  I'll try to keep you all up to date with my progress each week, as sort of an accountability.  If anyone else would like to join, that'd be great.  I'm competitive, so if I know someone else is doing it too, I will stick with it better!

A Birth Story-Dylan Richard Stefanic

As promised in my previous post, I am here to tell you most of the details of the birth of Dylan!

It was a typical Thursday It was September 11, 2008, a beautiful day in Northern Michigan, but I think everyone in America thought of the events of September 11, 2001.  I know I did.  However, I got up as usual and went to my part time corporate job as a bookkeeper for a charter aviation company.  I was busy working, talking to my boss who happened to stop in for a few minutes, when my son-in-law who also works there as an airplane mechanic, came in and informed us that Trisha was having contractions 20 minutes apart.  She was calling her mid-wife and Ben was waiting to hear back from Trisha what the mid-wife had to say.  A few minutes later, Trisha called and said the mid-wife said to just stay at home for now, unless the contractions get closer together and stronger.  They weren't very painful yet.  Well of course Ben and I couldn't concentrate on work any longer so our boss said we could go.  I went over to Ben and Trisha's and just hung out.  This was about 11:45 or noon-ish. 

About 2:00 the midwife called back because she hadn't heard anything from Trisha.  Contractions were still about the same.  The midwife said she wanted Trisha to come in so she could see what was going on. So, Ben's dad came over and got Ethan (their almost 2 year old).  I headed to Jeff's office to pick him up because we had ridden in to work together.  When we got back to B & T's, I got in the car with them and headed for Petoskey, while Jeff headed home.  Karlie was at school, and Jeff was going to wait to see what the midwife said before he got Karlie out of school.  T planned on Karlie being in the delivery room for the birth.

When we arrived at the Dr's office, they checked her cervix right away and she was dilated to 6 cm and 70% effaced. Then they hooked her up to the fetal heart monitor to see how the baby was doing and monitor the contractions.  She was having contractions a little closer together now, but still not very strong or painful.  So, the midwife gave her her options: She could go home with the chances greatly being she'd have to turn right around and come back or they could admit her, break her water and go from there.  Trisha really wanted to stay and have the baby, so she chose the second option.

Just as the decision was being made, Jeff called to see what was going on.  So, he waited for Karlie to get home from school as it was about 3:30 now.  Ben, Trisha and I headed for the OB dept. They checked her in, put her in a gown and pretty quickly the midwife came in and popped her water (about 4:00).  They then had her get up and do some walking around and some nipple rolls to stimulate the uterus.  Karlie had arrived by then, and she and I waited in the room while B, T and the midwife were out walking.

After about 1/2 an hour they came back in the room and Trisha was in active labor.  You could now see the pain in her face when the contractions came and they were much closer together.  Trisha laid on the birthing bed and didn't move from it until Dylan was born.

After just a couple of hours of "hard" labor, the midwife checked her and said the baby's head was right there so she could start pushing.  She pushed just a few times (not nearly as much as she did with Ethan) and out came his little head.  I noticed the umbilical cord was over the top of his head and wrapped around his neck.  They immediately unwrapped it and then they let Trisha continue to push him out the rest of the way.

The baby was born at 6:44 pm, weighing in at 7 lbs. 3 oz and 19 3/4 inches long.  But we didn't find that out till later.  After Trisha delivered the placenta, the midwife noticed she was bleeding continuously and not from the uterus.  So she had Karlie and I leave the room "for just a couple of minutes". After about 1/2 an hour, I headed back toward the room Trisha was in, but was stopped by the midwife.  She said it was going to be a few more minutes.  Of course I was getting worried. Ben's parents, Ben's brother and his wife, my mom, Jeff, Karlie and I were all in the waiting room, waiting to hear what was going on.  And we were all starving.  So, we called Pizza Hut and Jeff went and got some pizza. Still no word.  This time Karlie and I went to the room again, only to be stopped again.  We went back to the waiting room and after I don't even know how long, the midwife finally came in and told us what was going on.  The baby had knicked her cervix on his way out so they had to have a surgeon come in to stitch it up.  She said it was just a small knick requiring only a stitch or two. 

So, finally after a few minutes again, they said we could go in.  Of course as soon as we got in there, they chased us out and made us wait in the hallway by the door.  Ben came and got Ethan first so they could have some family alone time.  We waited patiently for that and then it was our turn to go in. 

Trisha was a little loopy from the drugs they gave her while they stitched her up, but she was doing well, and so was the baby. 

Then the nurse came in and wanted to bathe the baby (who still didn't have a name at this point) and I got some photos of the bath.  They got him all cleaned up and then we all headed to the room where Trisha would spend the rest of her hospital stay.  We stayed only a few minutes because now it was like 10 pm or something like that and everyone was tired. 

Baby still didn't have a name.

The next morning, we got up around 11 and headed to the hospital.  We were meeting Ben's parents there so we could take Ethan for the night until T got out of the hospital. 

Baby still didn't have a name when we arrived, nor did he have one that whole day.  Finally, on Saturday, two days after his birth, Trisha and Ben had to decide on a name for the birth certificate.  So he was named Dylan Richard Stefanic. Dylan is just cute and Richard is after Ben's dad's middle name and Trisha's dad. And Dylan goes with Ethan really well-ha!

So, now 9 days later, things are going pretty well.  Trisha is doing just fine, losing her baby belly quite nicely and Dylan is gaining weight well and nursing really well, which Trisha is excited about.  Ethan is tongue tied so he didn't ever latch on very well.  Dylan has been a little jaundicy so they had his bilirubin checked and he's been wrapped in a bili blanket for the last few days.  Trisha had him checked yesterday, and his bilirubin count went down 2 steps so he's doing better, but they want him to be wrapped in the blanket over the weekend and go in for another check on Monday.

Getting back to a somewhat normal schedule now. Daughter had her 2nd baby on Sept. 11. See pics http://ping.fm/QFXlL or http://marylutz.com