From Full to Empty . . .

I would like for my mind to be empty right now, so I am going to get some stuff out of it right now. Random thoughts start now:
EDIT at 10:29pm - warning, this post is pretty long. My apologies if you tire easily while reading as I do. Had a LOT in my brain! :)

• My neck aches. It needs a massage - more than I can do anyway. Usually, I can work the kinks out of my neck since they happen often, but I've got a real stubborn one right now that's been hangning out for a couple of days.
• Since we met our deductible on our insurance, we found a new chiropractor. Our old chirpractor stopped billing insurance, he's a pretty small one-man practice - literally - no receptionist even. We liked him, but I don't really want to mess with sending in claims and waiting for reimbursement. So, since we can go to the chiropractor for free now, I wanted to find one that would bill the insurance. I hope the new place is likeable. Neil goes tomorrow and I go the 27th.
• Speaking of tomorrow, I go back to work. Yeah, I don't have work clothes that fit. I bought a pair of Levi jeans at Costco on Friday. I love when they have Levi's there - they were $18 - great price. I think they are still going to be tight! Ugh. I am glad I can wear jeans - capris and sandals would be better, but that I can't wear at work. I am not happy with many shirts right now either. It's really annoying when clothes don't fit like they used to. Everyone says, "You just had a baby." Yep, I know. However, I really need to get on a slim down plan so that I can get back into my work clothes and feel good about me in them.
• I am completely worried about going back to work and what is going to happen at home while I am gone. Paden has been extremely clingy - which started while I was pregnant. When Fischer was born, Paden was great. He has been helpful. He didn't seem to be having too much of an issue with having the baby. Since Paden's surgery, I think he's been more clingy. He's said some really strange things in the last couple of weeks. He gets really sad really quickly if he thinks about himself not with me. If I leave him upstairs and go downstairs, he sometimes cries while he goes around looking for me, especially if I don't tell him I am leaving him. He's just going to have an extremely hard time - tomorrow is not going to be a fun day and I will probably cry through most of it - I can't feel it now. Paden has the most impecable timing when it comes to him needing/wanting something. As soon as Fischer needs something, that's when Paden wants to hang out with me too.
• Gunnar is used to being the big brother, but I don't want him to feel left out either since Paden and Fischer both require more attention.
• I have never been into any of the TV reality shows - American Idol, the dance one, all those. I have recently found I can't miss The Next Food Network Star. There's a stay-at-home-mom on right now and she's one of the four finalists. I like her. The last four are good and it's getting intense. It's on Sunday nights, so that's why it's on my mind right now, it's on my TV right now.
• Last night Fischer slept pretty good - 10pm or maybe a little earlier when he fell asleep and slept until 3am or so. He spit up all over me when I fed him at that hour, so maybe he wasn't as starving as he thought or I thought he was. At 5am he cried, I picked him up, he burped and I took him down to the rocking chair to see if he was going to be hungry or not. It was not - he and I slept in that chair until a little after 7am. I should have laid him back down in his bed, I guess. That's probably why my neck is killing me! I don't recall my other boys sleeping through the night unti they were about 5 months old or so. When does that happen, really? Could it be sooner? I really need it to be sooner.
• We are going to Utah this weekend. My great niece, Ali, is getting baptized on Saturday. We have Fischer's two month appt on Thursday afternoon in Tri-cities (couldn't get into pediatrician in Hermiston until September), then we are going to take off and get somewhere in Idaho. Going to Utah is always too quick of a trip. We are coming home on Sunday.
• We were looking at the calendar and planning out the rest of the summer. Last weekend we went RVing - not camping - we took my in-laws' motor home (need to dedicate a post to that trip with a couple of pictures). We have this trip to Utah coming up. We want to go to a baseball game in the tri-cities (they have great fireworks shows!) - probably do that August 1st. Gunnar's birthday is the 9th of August. We are planing to take 4-5 days to go to the ocean - Tillamook, Newport and probably Seaside and Astoria. There's a great aquarium in Newport and there's a wax museum. We want to tour the Tillamook factory and we have been informed that the beach at Seaside is great and there's some great sites in Astoria. SIDE TRACK: I haven't been to the Oregon Coast since I was a kid. My mom and I once took a vacation down the Oregon Coast. If memory serves me correctly, we drove our fabulous Ford Pinto station wagon and we camped along the way. Sometimes we slept in the back of the station wagon, I think we used our tent sometimes too. I remember it to be a fun trip of beautiful site. We went as far south as the Sea Lion Caves. Good times - just me and my mom. END SIDE TRACK: So, back to summer planning . . . we have Gunnar's annual swimming frenzy for his birthday. We believe he's chosen Moses Lake Aquatic center this year - we haven't done that one yet for his birthday. We haven't chosen the date yet (will definitely let you know, Megan). My mom got a new car, so she'll be able to make the long drive for it. My in-laws are heading on their adventure in the motor home to Navoo, so we're trying to decide which date will be best to have the grandparents at the party. My father-in-law said something TOTALLY surprising. I was worried they wouldn't be back in time or they would feel rushed to get back. He said he'd get on an airplane if he had to. Pam, Ann, Susan, Neil - does that sound like your father? Didn't think so! We totally love him for even saying that - we won't make him actually get on a plane though. There's a campout for our ward - could be a family one - could be just elders, we aren't sure, but it's in August too. Then school starts the 31st of August. So, school shopping has to happen in there some where too. Wow, this bullet point needs to end already.
• Gunnar is going to be 7 in 21 days. Yikes! Time flies. He's going into the second grade. I HAVE to come up with a new stratedgy for helping him with school. I don't think he liked his teacher toward the end of the school year. I had ZERO patience in the last quarter of school/last trimester of pregnancy. Gunnar's stubbornness got the best of me and we all kind of gave up on school work. He's a smart enough kid, just getting him to think clearly and buckle down is almost more than I can handle.
• Paden is going to preschool again, hope that goes ok for him. He was already bored with it last year. Maturity-wise, there are days that I believe he could enter kindergarten at 4 and a half years old. There are still days that he has meltdowns about random stuff, so in that respect I think he wouldn't be a kindergarten candidate. Intellectually, he's ready for kindergarten. Too bad he's not old enough yet. We'll be challenged to keep him interested in learning this year as well.
• Paden is doing really well in primary though and thank you to Sheila for a great lesson in sharing time today. We heard all about it - that doesn't always happen. Both boys were talking about the singing a song upside down or something - we're probably missing a few details. But, the lesson was on Family Home Evening, which is something we haven't been consistently structured about. Paden was able to repeat what should happen at FHE - song, prayer, lesson, treat last. Paden said an awesome prayer voluntarily at dinner without help from anyone. He (and Gunnar, too) is great at reminding us about family prayer at night. He's a sweet little spirit who loves to sing and got to sing one of his favorite songs today - My Eternal Family.
• I need to go to sleep. I don't think my head is quite empty, but it hurts and it's trying to not freak out about tomorrow.