I received a phone call from a lady in the property management company for our homeowners association. I finally had a chance to call her back today. I had talked with Nini on a couple of occasions this year and became friends. She left a message wanting to see how our pregnancy was going because she had been praying for us and for this little miracle. Well, after talking with her for a bit she asked me about our baby room and things we had gotten so far for Lacey. To my surprise she told me that if we didn't have our pak n play yet that she had a brand new one that had never been opened and she felt like she wanted to give it to us for free. Really? Wow! I was so shocked! I have never met her in person just only talked on the phone. She made a preggo women cry! So, Josh and I are going to head up on Tuesday to meet her and pick up our new pak n play. What a true blessing this is! God is so amazing!

We survived week 3 which was pretty easy since I was off. I had worked the weekend, 2 - 16 hour shifts on Saturday and Sunday. Despite having done that after a very long 40 hours already, it wasn't so bad. Now we are almost winding up week 4!. However, poor James is so anxious these past few days about who is coming and watching him or taking him to school. It really makes me feel bad. We have had a variety of friends helping me out. This week alone, if you include me, there are 4 different people. He has come into my room at 4 in the morning two nights in a row asking who will be here when I leave, and why aren't they here yet.:( Yes, here comes the mommy guilt.) This morning, he never went back to bed. I found him in the fetal position outside my door! I scooped him up, he had actually fallen asleep there with the cats, and put him in my bed. He watched cartoons while I got ready and we waited for Natalie, our wonderful babysitter, to get here. Once she arrived, he was totally fine. I made sure he knew he could come sleep with me if he was lonely. (He gave a sheepish grin, so that will probably back fire on me) but I don't ever want him to feel insecure. Eliza seemed ok with everyone. And I got all smiles when I picked her up from daycare, usually she falls to pieces as soon as she sees me.

So, yesterday I came back to work after 7 days off. I returned to all the drama. Yesterday I escaped most of it because I was assigned to the surgery center and not at the main hospital, the mothership. We all got yearly evaluations from our MD supervisors and my boss decided to choose a top 5 with the highest scores and email us with that list and tell us those people were up for a bonus. Um....I obviously am not on the list or I wouldn't be blogging about it. That's not true, I would have problem if I was on the list too. It has started quite a fire here. We have an awesome group I work with and we all work hard and are team players. I don't think any one person is better than the other and to do this list makes me feel unappreciated and not valued. It intentionally sets apart a group of people who don't want to be. It has started arguments over why these people were chosen and why they don't deserve it. I have no problem with the people chosen, I have a huge problem with the "list". It causes division in a group of friends. It's ok to have people with higher scores than others but you discuss that individuallly and privately tell them their reward. This isn't a sales department where we compete. I admit, this infuriated me at first. It comes after a long list of other infractions and I have just about had it with the intimidating, divide and conquer leadership style. But I have since cooled down and I know that my worth is not weighed by a piece of paper! I am valuable in the eyes of God and will continue to work as unto the Lord. I will do my best to be gracious and thankful for the job I do have.

Enough about that. Trey gets home Friday night and we have Saturday and Sunday together as a family before Trey heads out again. I am looking forward to trick or treating! I can't wait to see the kids in their costumes.

So the one craving that I have had this pregnancy is a chocolate milkshake from Chick-Fil-A. Yes, it has to be from Chick-Fil-A. Today on my way home from work I had to have one. So, I stopped at the CFA to get one. The drive through was slammed with cars wrapped all the way around the building. So, I decided to park and go in. I went in and the manager came up and asked me if I had been helped. I said no and so she said she could take my order. I said I just wanted a small chocolate milkshake. She started to punch it in and stopped. Then she looked up at me and said that a lady had ordered some oreo cookie milkshakes and decided that she didn't want them and left. So she offered one to me for FREE. Granted it wasn't a chocolate milkshake, but, it was FREE. AND it had oreos in it. So I said sure. And she gave the last one to the guy behind me for free too. So, I left with a FREE shake and thanked the Lord for blessing me. I know it's silly. But, I really was grateful!

Tomorrow is our 30 week checkup. Can't believe it's only 10 weeks til our due date and Lacey will be here! Going by fast and am so excited!!!

Our Lacey will be here in less than 10 weeks. And we are so excited and cannot wait to meet her! When Lacey gets here she will have a wonderful big furry sister. Our firstborn. Yes, I'm talking about our dog Gracie Bear. I actually got Gracie Bear about 6 months before Josh and I started dating. She's been with me through soo many things...good and bad. She's been a constant companion and is my baby girl. For those of you who have pets you will understand this love. She is a HUGE part of our family. We love to do things for her and take her places to have fun. Every year we always take her to the PetSmart HOWL-oween Costume party. Josh is always telling her she needs to earn her keep and work. So, we go to these types of events in hopes of winning gift cards. So far, she has done pretty well. The first year she came in 3rd place and last year she came in 2nd place for the costume party. She did win the Pet Birthday party best party hat. 2 years ago. So she has won gift cards which helps in purchasing food. This past weekend we took her again to the HOWL-oween party. This year we dressed her as a Home Depot employee. In the parade her Grandpa was her escort and wore a Home Depot hat so we had a great team. In the end, she won first place!!! Josh and I were such proud puppy parents! Josh took so many pictures. It was just a lot of fun.

Trey leaves this evening at 7 pm for Seattle. It is a 6 hour flight and I know he is still exhausted from the last two weeks. We have had fun yesterday and today but I don't think the kids really get that he is leaving again. This time he will be home late Friday night. Again only for a day or 2 and then off the kentucky for a show. We were thinking about tagging along, but I am not sure about the room/travel situation yet. But Thank goodness this is a paying trip. Maybe we will see a little extra money in November.....maybe. We need to start thinking about Christmas. That is scary! The last 3 weeks have actually gone by fast and I pray this one will too. I have a friend coming to take the kids to school for me one day and their regular babysitter to do another day and then my mom for 2 days. So far, the household has been running pretty smoothly, only by the grace of God! It should be interesting adding Trey back into the mix full time in November. We have gotten into a routine without him here but I WELCOME him back!!! And I know the kids will too!

Eliza's costume turned out great! I only ironed it to the ironing board once and started completely over once....so that's not bad. I underestimated measuring an 18 month old who was completely not interested in trying it on for size! So, probably on Halloween it will be completely crooked and look silly but oh well!

I have one more day off until it is back to the work grindstone. It went by SOOOO fast and it almost makes me sick to my stomach to think about it. We have had so much fun this last week. And I love being with my kids and I really don't want to go back to the drama at work. There is so much crap going on and I just want to ignore it a little longer! BLAH!

Ok, well, back to the redskins game and a little more time with Trey.

Jon finally made it home last night after 2 weeks of being on the road. He has our one and only computer, so that is why you haven't heard from me in a while. Anyway, I am so glad he is home. While these past two weeks have allowed me to spend some quality time with my boys before I go back to work on Monday, they were also a little stressful. Journey- my 7 week old- has had some tummy issues for several weeks now. We tried everything to get him settled. We switched his formula three times, took him to the doctor, tried two different medications and mylicon drops and nothing seemed to work. I thought I was going to die!!! I had a break down one Sunday as I was getting ready to go to church. I got up three hours early to begin getting ready. I fed Journey, straightened up the house a bit, got their bags ready, and got a shower myself. After I had fed Journey, he just started screaming and would not stop. I tried to burp him again, rock him to sleep, feed him a little more, anything I could think of to make him feel better. Nothing worked. I felt so defeated and was frustrated because he had thrown up all over me and over himself- we were both dressed to go to church- I just sat down and sobbed. I was beginning to also get really frustrated that no one was there to help me. I absolutely could not get out of the door. I desperately wanted/needed to go to church. I feel like I can not get through the next week without my spiritual refilling, so I finally broke down and called my mom to come and help me.

I am enjoying my week off SOOOOO much and it is flying by. UG, its amazing how much you can get done when work doesn't get in the way! I am pretending to be a stay at home mom! HA! I have gotten tons of laundry done, organized the kids closets for winter clothes....I haven't cleaned yet, I think I'll put that off another day. I am getting ready to start working on Eliza's costume. Say a prayer.

This week has also been a real bummer for my in laws. My sister in law has been in a long ongoing battle with her Ex-husband over multiple abuse charges. This week, the judge sided with him saying that her 10 year old daughter lied about what he had done to her. What?!!! And he has abuse charges, evading child support, and several misdemeanors all in his record. And now he is taking her to court for full custody later this month. PLEASE pray. Satan is running rampant and he must be stopped, once and for all. He is an abusive man and has hurt my sister and her girls so much and it seems that justice is not on our side. God HAS to come through in a big way or life will change as we know it! Those girls are the best sweetest kids and I am blessed to call them my nieces.

The guys are doing well on the road. I think they are in Indiana somewhere. Trey will now be home sometime on Saturday and then leaves again on Sunday for another week. I am thankful for the 14 hours I can spend with him. Everything is going so well. God has poured out His favor and blessing and protection and I am so thankful for that. I miss him SOOO much. But this has not been as difficult as I thought it would be. God has given me mercy too. So many friends and family have checked in on us and that has been really cool to feel so loved! The phone calls and cards are priceless, thanks everyone! Well, I'm off to create an elf costume....