The Nelsons

The Joys of Parenting

2008-01-21T02:40:00.001-08:00

The government recently calculated the cost of raising a child from birth to 18 and came up with $160,140 for a middle income family. Talk about sticker shock! That doesn't even touch college tuition.

But $160,140 isn't so bad if you break it down. It translates into:

* $8,896.66 a year,

* $741.38 a month, or
* $171.08 a week.

* That's a mere $24.24 a day!

* Just over a dollar an hour.
Still, you might think the best financial advice is don't have children if you want to be 'rich.'
Actually, it is just the opposite. What do you get for your $160,140?

* Naming rights. First, middle, and last!

* Giggles under the covers every night.

* More love than your heart can hold.

* Butterfly kisses and Velcro hugs.

* Endless wonder over rocks, ants, clouds, and warm cookies.

* A hand to hold usually covered with jelly or chocolate.

* A partner for blowing bubbles, flying kites

* Someone to laugh yourself silly with, no matter what the boss said or how your stocks performed that day.
For $160,140, you never have to grow up. You get to:

* finger-paint,

* carve pumpkins,

* play hide-and-seek,

* catch lightning bugs, and

* never stop believing in Santa Claus.

You have an excuse to:

* keep reading the Adventures of Piglet and Pooh,

* watching Saturday morning cartoons,

* going to Disney movies, and

* wishing on stars.

* You get to frame rainbows, hearts, and flowers under refrigerator magnets and collect spray painted noodle wreaths for Christmas, hand prints set in clay for Mother's Day, and cards with backward letters for Father's Day.

For $160,140, there is no greater bang for your buck. You get to be a hero just for:

* retrieving a Frisbee off the garage roof,

* taking the training wheels off a bike,

* removing a splinter,

* filling a wading pool,

* coaxing a wad of gum out of bangs, and coaching a baseball team that never wins but always gets treated to ice cream or pizza regardless.

You get a front row seat to history, to witness the:

* first step,

* first word,

* first bra,

* first date, and

* first time behind the wheel.

You get to be immortal. You get another branch added to your family tree, and if you're lucky, a long list of limbs in your obituary called grandchildren and great grandchildren. You get an education in psychology, nursing, criminal justice, communications, and human sexuality that no college can match.

In the eyes of a child, you rank right up there under God. You have all the power to heal a boo-boo, scare away the monsters under the bed, patch a broken heart, police a slumber party, ground them forever, and love them without limits. So, one day they will, like you, love without counting the cost. That is quite a deal for the price!!!!!!!

Love & enjoy your children & grandchildren!!!!!!!

It's Been A While...

2008-01-21T01:50:00.000-08:00

But, Things are good. For now at least. Donn got his job back at UPS, which is AWESOME. They're even willing to pay for him to go to college. It's so exciting! THings might actually look up for us for once. But of course it's always 2 steps back. I don't get it. it's like you work hard for what you have, just to die in the end anyway and all those things that you work for go to someone else. Must be nice to be Paris Hilton. To have the money handed to you so you never have to struggle in life. What a bitch.

Adrian has started solids now. It's funny, he gobbles it right up. At first he tried to blow bubbles with it, but now he eats like hes done it his entire life. Guess he was more than ready to start solids. Too bad i was supposed to wait until his 6 month checkup to start him on solids lol. Ever since I started working though, i've been having problems with milk supply. so 4-5 times a day he gets to be breastfed, and the rest i have to formula feed just because i'm not producing enough milkies for him anymore. it makes me sad :-(

here's his 5 month pictures... isn't he a cutie??? oh, i love being a mom. :-P just like on the turbo tax commercials... isnt my little tax deduction cute? just kidding... but he sure is a cutie.

Argh!

2007-12-14T15:43:00.000-08:00

It's so boring around here now days! Donn got a job working for UPS in Redmond at nights, and so he sleeps all day :-( and all I get to do is listen to him sleep. Oh, and cook for him and take care of the baby. I don't mind taking care of Adrian, but now I get even less help from him than before. It's great that he got a job, and I'm really glad about that, but he needs to figure out how to help at home still. But, there's not much else I can do to help him out. He wants me to make sure the house is clean before he gets home, and still take care of the baby all day, and I don't understand that. But then he thinks that I should re-arrange my schedule for him, but how can I force the baby to stay up all night??? I don't think so.
I told him to lose Angie the other day, and you know what he said? She has a "stalker" personality, so she would just come over if he stopped talking to her, and bug me at my house. Her living next to me bugs me enough as it is. I already told her she is not welcome at my house. But hey, he doesn't care. He told me I just have to suck it up and deal with it. What an asshat. I don't understand why I didn't leave last night when he told me to get out. (we were fighting AGAIN)

Wa-hoo!

2007-12-08T13:16:00.000-08:00

My alter-ego and I (from here on out referred to as "we") have figured out how to block individual numbers from calling my house! Call me all you want, but you'll never get through!!!

In other news, my mom's house flooded. We feel sorry for her. My neighbor's yard caved in, we feel sorry for him too. (I this we thing lol!) We have decided bad grammar even on the computer is unacceptable. We must go take care of Adrian now!

2007-12-04T13:51:00.000-08:00

I just had to share Christmas pictures... I may not be able to afford a whole lot of them, but I get the session for free, so I can share them with everyone!

Yay for Friends!

2007-12-02T10:39:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I went to Seattle. It was fun, but a little boring too. We spent the afternoon at Macy's and then we went to dinner. Not exactly what I expected, but it was fun all the same. Josh definitely makes things interesting to say the least. He's pretty cool I guess. I haven't seen him in like 6 years or so I would guess, but he definitely was cool to hang out with.
Donn was mad that there was a guy there, but I said, "hey, at least he's gay!" But for some reason he said "I'd rather be be straight then gay!" What kind of logic is that? Why would you want your wife to hang out with a straight guy over a gay guy? His theory is that a gay guy knows what women want and how to get them in bed. What gay guy wants to get in bed with a female? Not too many! What a loopy nut-job!
But I missed Adrian. I love my son, I don't regret the decisions I have made in my life, because if I did, then I would regret my son. and I don't. I love being a mom. I love waking up with him in the mornings, and he ALWAYS has a HUGE smile on his face. That's the best thing in the world for a mommy. I may have made some stupid choices on the path to getting where I am, but I don't regret any of them. Every choice was a stepping stone to getting me where I am. If I wouldn't have done those things, I wouldn't know what I know, now would I?
I'm glad to be home, but it is fun to spend time with friends. Next month we'll have to do something again, but this time Adrian will come with. I realized it's fun to be young and careless, but I wouldn't want to be there.

This is funny!

2007-11-28T21:25:00.000-08:00

A Northwest Girl….

Three men were sitting together bragging about how they had given their new wives duties.
The first man had married a woman from Alabama and bragged that he had told his wife she was going to do all the dishes and house cleaning.

He said it took a couple days but on the third day he came home to a clean house and dishes.

The second man had married a woman from Florida. He bragged that he had given his wife orders that she was to do all the cleaning, dishes, and the cooking. On that first day he didn't see any results, but the next day it was better. By the third day, his house was clean, the dishes were done, and he had a huge dinner
on the table.

The third man had married a Northwest girl. He boasted that he told her that her duties were to keep the house cleaned, dishes washed, lawn
mowed, laundry washed and hot meals on the table for every meal. He said the first day he didn't see anything, the second day he didn't see nything, but by the third day most of the
swelling had gone down and he could see a little out of his left eye. Enough to fix himself a bite to eat, load the dishwasher, and telephone a landscaper.

Holy Crap, It's Snowing!!!

2007-11-26T17:00:00.001-08:00

OK, this is messed up. It's November. In Washington. And it's snowing. Those god-forsaken Wisconsin winters have followed me here. someone please save me!!!

RIP

2007-11-25T22:36:00.000-08:00

NEWPORT, Wash. - An Eastern Washington University student is dead after being dragged behind a pick-up truck.

MySpace photo

Jerid Sturman-Camyn

It happened around 11:30 Saturday night near a hunting campsite along Le Clerk Road in Pend Oreille County, north of Spokane.

Sheriff's officials say they found 20-year-old Jerid Sturman-Camyn dead on the side of the road, tied behind the truck. The 17-year-old driver said he had no idea Sturman-Camyn was there.

The Sheriff's Dept. says 45-year-old Wendell Sinn, Jr., tied Sturman-Camyn to the back of the truck after he threatened the hunting group with an axe.

The 17-year-old, unaware of Sinn's actions and fearing for his life, drove away, dragging the victim and causing his death.

Sinn was booked into the Pend Oreille County Jail for investigation of murder in the second degree.

how is it....

2007-11-23T13:29:00.000-08:00

How is it that one person can be so infatuated with their baby that they can't even leave them in the other room for more than like 15 minutes tops (when he's sleeping) but yet other people don't even care that they're having a baby??

A friend of a friend knows someone who's pregnant with twins. And she does some things she shouldn't be doing... (namely something green... who knows what else...) and all because it was a "fluke" that she got pregnant, she thinks it's OK to do those things??? I would jump off of a burning building or drown or whatever it took to save my son, but yet she doesn't even care enough to stop doing what she's doing for the few precious months to create those lives (she's having twins!!!) It breaks my heart to know what her children are going to go through. They live in a house with no power because her boyfriend sits on his ass and plays XBOX all day(and has a license, so it's not like he would have trouble finding a job!) and now they're getting evicted, and no one will help them because he is going around telling everyone he owns his own landscaping business.

It further sets in stone the fact that I want to home-school my son. I don't want him to grow up around kids that think doing those things are all right all the time. I don't want him to do those things either. I just want to take her kids from her when they're born. I don't want any child to have to grow up in that kind of an environment. I think it helps me to decide what I want to do with my life. To add to the list I have started, I want to help pregnant women get out of those kind of situations.

A life is a precious thing. Why would God (or whoever/whatever is in charge of the universe) give a child to someone who doesn't even care enough to take care of their precious bodies? I will be so mad at her if her children are born with a birth defect that could have been prevented by her simply stopping what she's doing now. She says because she was on the pill, it's not her fault or whatever. Being pregnant is being pregnant. Just because it's a fluke doesn't change the fact that she's going to have a baby whether she likes it or not. Why not change your life to give them the best you can?

It just irritates me, because I see all these people with children that don't even care enough to change one little thing about their life, they just want to get high all day. I guess some people have the mommy gene, and some people don't? I know someone else like that too, and the only thing I can think is why if they didn't want kids in the first place, didn't they just give them up for adoption? There's plenty of people in the world that can't have kids but would love to, and here these people are going to mess up a perfectly innocent person's life just because they have to chase that high.

I know i may not be the mom of the year, but I try. I love my son to death. I would come through hell or high water for him. I would move mountains to get to him. And these kids will most likely wind up junkies by the time they're 10 because they're parents are too busy chasing that high.

I am so stupid LOL!!!

2007-11-21T19:48:00.000-08:00

so today I went over to my mom's house, and we were supposed to be making pies. well, I get the apples cut, and then my mom sets down the recipe somewhere, and I lose it! It makes me crazy! Turns out, it was under the cutting board I was using. Cracked me up, because I was sitting there talking about how I had no freakin idea where it was, (which I didn't, I never saw her put it on the counter) and it turns out it was right where I had been working in the first place. What a loopy-nut-job LOL!

Isn't He Just Cute As A Button??

2007-11-19T22:16:00.000-08:00

Isn't he adorable??? I just love him so much!!! These are the latest pictures I have of him!!!

boring!

2007-11-19T18:08:00.000-08:00

this is fun. la la la i like my blog. we are making dinner. isnt this fun? we have no hamburger buns or bread for hamburgers or chicken-wiches

I get to go to college!

2007-11-13T19:08:00.000-08:00

yay! today i got accepted, and i got my FAFSA pin, so i get to go to college! i should have an answer on my FAFSA stuff by the end of next week, and then i should be ready to find out what classes i'm going to take! i cant start till spring semester tho... they werent taking apps for winter, and im sure my fafsa stuff wouldnt be filled out all the way yet!

I am so MAD!!!

2007-11-10T11:04:00.001-08:00

so, on tuesday i went to the planned parenthood here in town for BC pills. i told them i wanted the Mini-pill because i am breastfeeding, and they told me that it is safe to take combo pills as long as baby is at least 6 weeks old and milk is well established. so i'm on ortho-novum 7/7/7 now, and i started that 3 days ago. my 3 month old son has been SCREAMING ever since like he is starving, and i don't get the letdown feeling anymore. and my breasts feel EMPTY like theres no milk being produced. i feel so bad. i love breastfeeding my son, i dont want to have have stop because my milk has dried up or whatever, but i worry that my milk won't come back now that it has started to disappear. what the hell is wrong with people? i told them i wasnt comfortable with the pill and they gave it to me anyway, telling me that since i was on depo and my body reacted badly to it that it would do no good to give me the mini-pill because its the same thing. grr!!!