Worst Week Ever

In case you are wondering why you didn't get a holiday card from the Issa's this year...here's why.

Friday: I go to pick Luke up from work and upon returning to my car see that my car window has been smashed in and my purse is gone. Guess locking my car wasn't good enough...why wouldn't they just go after one of the cars that is running with nobody in it?! Meanwhile Paul is returning from work to get a call from Wells Fargo asking if I had written out a check for $800 recently...he doesn't recall anything, but then again he doesn't know all the checks that I'm writing. Geez Paul, you must really think you are getting a good Christmas gift this year! Luckily we had a teller who was on top of things and questioned the check which made the lady bolt from the bank. The lady was dumb enough to try cashing it at my bank which also had my signature on file -- which didn't match her forged signature. Being that she has all my ID's, I'm now just waiting to get arrested for trying to cash a forged check.

Saturday: Deal with filing police reports. Apparently you can't just file one police report for an incident...you have to file one for each town that activity occurred. I am now up to 4 open police reports -- some are from my two car acciedents in October. Took car in to get repaired...bummer to find out it'll be a couple days of carpooling which is always fun with a 6 month old and pokey Paul.

Sunday: Day off from worst week ever. Good thing for what's about to come...

Monday: I drop Luke off at daycare, Paul off at work. I decide to start my day off right with a call to my BFF and a Starbucks on my way to the DMV to get a drivers liscence. That dream of a good morning comes to a quick halt when my car window won't roll up after paying for my Starbucks at the drivethru window. Mind you, it's December in Minnesota which means a -25 degree windchill. Yep, it just so happens that today is the coldest day of the winter thus far as I'm driving around town trying to find someone who can fix a window for me. Jiffy Lube was no help. I finally find a Goodyear who can fix it and $350 and 6 hrs later I have a working window again. Off to the dentist to get a cavity filled...come to find out I have two cavaties. Guess I better lay off the Holiday cookies this year. Still haven't gotten to the DMV yet and it's now 3pm...don't think I'm going to make it in to work today.

Monday Evening: I'm starting to feel queezy. Dr. Paul tells me to relax or I'm going to have a nervous breakdown.

Monday 11:30pm: By now, I have managed to unload everything that was inside of me into the toilet in less than 2 hrs. As I am lying on the floor of our bathroom 10 lbs lighter (ok, that part might be made up), too weak to move, I let Paul know that I think that I might be dying and that he should probably just call 911 rather than try to take me in himself. I pass out as soon as I try to stand up. Off go the Issa's to the hosptial.

Tuesday 1am: After the Doc reviews my blood, she asks if I have Diabetes. Apparently my glucose levels are that of a diabetic person -- guess I better keep an eye on that along with my high cholesterol. Paul then politely let's the nurse know that if she needs help figuring out what's wrong with me he is starting to feel queezy himself.

Tuesday, 2:00am: Paul begins to puke while my whole body is shaking like I just had a baby. Good thing we have a nice cozy room in the ER where everyone can here us getting sick. The 80 year old next to me seemed to be having a rough night too...got staples in his head after falling down the stairs. Meanwhile, Luke remains sleeping like a baby next to my bed. Nurse tells us that we have to get someone here to get our baby (who is wearing a helmet, but that's a whole other story). The nurse gave him a double take after seeing the helmet, but didn't dare to ask what his problem was.

Tuesday, 2:30am: We have called all the phone numbers of our siblings with no answer. All that is left is my parents -- who I know will answer. I call them to tell them that yes, I am in the hospital and they need to come get their grandson because Paul and I are down for the count.

Tuesday, 3:00am: Andover Deputy Sheriff knocks on the Hartle's (my sister) door to awake them and tell them that they need to pick their nephew up from the hospital. Apparently my parents were more determined to get ahold of my siblings even if they had to do it the good 'ole fashioned way.

Tuesday: 4:00am: Luke is safe at the Hartle house...spreading all his little germs...

Wednesday: Luke goes home with his grandparents. Paul and I recover from the flu. Meanwhile, the Hartle household begins with the flu...starting with Lexi (2 yrs old) puking on the couch. Up North, Luke also is coming down with the flu, puking on his grandma. As grandma is handing him off to grandpa, grandpa ponders just licking up the mess to get his turn over with. Grandpa doesn't want to miss another Christmas due to the flu like he did 2 yrs ago. Shortly after, Grandma falls victim to the flu. Looks like Grandpa is flying solo taking care of a sick baby Luke.

Thursday: Paul and I return to work. I get 1/2 way to work [did I mention that I started a new job this week...with new people starting on Monday (3 days ago)?] and get a call from Paul. The f****** car won't start. Darn, I thought that this was going to be a good day. Back to carpooling again. I finally arrive to work at 10am just in time to receive the memo that no raises are being given out this year!

Friday: Still carpooling. As we are backing out of the driveway (in a rush) I hear a big BOOM. That could me one of two things: 1) Paul just hit a kid on his way to school 2) Paul just hit an object at the end of our driveway. Luckily, Friday happens to be trash pick up day in our neighborhood and Paul has just taken out our trash can. I get out of the car to pick up the trash that is now in the road and realize that Paul has smashed our tail light in the process. I get back into the car to tell Paul what's happened and he says: Man, I've hit that thing like 10 times, but never taken out a light. It's funny what you learn when you carpool with your spouse.

And that has been the last seven days of my life. Hope I could provide a little Holiday Humor for all of you!

Our Football Player

Luke will be 6 months this week! He has been keeping us busy lately -- he now wears a helmet because of a flatspot on his head. He looks like a little football player. Luke also is about to bust out with his first tooth. For some reason it's taking awhile to come out so he has been very frustrated the last couple days.
The other big news in the Issa household is that we now have cable television! Yep, you read that right. The deal was that Paul wanted a big screen and I said only if we get cable. What's the point of buying a nice new HD TV if you can't even enjoy it? We went all out -- DVR and all! DVR is very addicting...not sure if it's much of a timesaver because you end up watching more TV with it, but I'm not complaining. I'm just happy to have cable TV again!

Car Accidents

In the last week I’ve managed to get in two car accidents. Both of them nobody was hurt (and Luke wasn’t with me) and neither of the accidents were my fault – which is a first!! The strange thing is they happened a week apart and both of them were right by our grocery store. I guess that I must need to find a new route. First one that happened I was hit by a semi in a turn lane when he made too narrow of a turn and ran into me. That was in the BMW and it got smashed up good enough not to be drivable. The second crash -- I was in the Honda and hit by a high school girl who decided to put the car into reverse when she got ½ way into the intersection at a 2 way stop and rammed back into me. I didn’t call the cops which was in hindsight stupid because now it is just her word versus mine. What’s a couple more scratches on the bumper going to hurt?! Anyways – I hope that now I have fulfilled my car accident quota for the next 20 years…

Costa Rica

I was organzing my pictures and came across our Costa Rica pictures today. It was a year ago that Paul and I went on our Babymoon to Costa Rica. That was the best vacation that we've been on! Talk about being pamered. We stayed at a spa in the jungle that had breathtaking views, awesome food and such a relaxing atmosphere. This was the also the trip that Paul broke his toe ziplining by trying to take out a tree. What makes that so funny was that Paul was the last person in our crew to do that line so everyone was standing on a platform around this tree as Paul came flying in. It looked like something in a cartoon as everyone was jumping out of the way so that they didn't get smashed by Paul. The picture on the top is Paul flying like superman...and you wonder why he flew into a tree?!

4 Months!

Luke is 4 months old today! With turning 4 months old came his first ear infection. I was in meetings all day so Paul got the call to go pick him up from daycare because he was running a fever and was fussy all day. By the time I got ahold of Paul 2 hrs later he was on the way to the Dr with Luke. Luke had been screaming at the top of his lungs since Paul had picked him up... Paul didn't know Luke's clinic so in the process of elimination and 3 phone calls later he found someone who had him in their system. =) Paul was also so flustered that he gave the receptionist the wrong birthday for Luke. By the time we got home from the Dr. Paul was so exhausted from the whole ordeal!! Anyways -- after getting his meds Luke is feeling better today.

Luke's little personality is coming out more and more each day. He is a pretty mellow guy and loves to smile. As far as nicknames we call him "Pukey Lukey", "Lukesters the Pukesters" and "Luke the Puke". Get the trend...yep, he is quite the little spitter upper. Here's a couple of his most recent pic's!

Luke's Baptism

Last Sunday was Luke's baptism. Luke managed to puke all over his nice white outfit 3 times before even getting to the church. By the end of the day his outfit was more off an offwhite color with all the stains! We had the Issa and Wagoner family over to our house after his baptism to celebrate. It's quite a large family once you get everyone together! All the people must have worn him out because Luke slept most of the afternoon and everning which is a rare event for him. We still haven't quite mastered nap time yet, but he's at least a good night time sleeper! We had an interesting week last week. Paul got a kidney stone that was too large to pass and required surgery. I got to see how fun it is to bring an infant and husband in extreme pain into the ER at 1am. He had to have a two stop procedure with the first one last week and the second procedure next Tues which is my first day back to work. Not the best timing, but these things are never planned! I'm excited to get back to work and see everyone, but not excited to drop Luke off at daycare. I'm hoping that once we get into the swing of things everything will be ok. Time will tell...

Half Over

My maternity leave is now 1/2 over. It has gone by so fast! Having the summer off has been awesome. Luke and I have been busy visiting relatives and friends that the time has flown by. Over the 4th we went up to my parents and then Luke and I went up there again last week. It's always nice to have the extra help from my parents! Luke is starting to sleep better at night. We are down to getting up once in the night which has been nice. Luke likes to start his day between 5:30 - 6 so I'm still trying to get used to that! Here are some more pic's off Luke...

What we've been doing...

Last week Thea's mom had my mom, Luke and me down to her place for the afternoon. We enjoyed the afternoon getting out of the house and having a wonderful lunch out on their porch overlooking Prior Lake. This was the first time that Luke and Toren met! They are just 3 weeks apart in age!! My mom stayed with us all last week to help out with Luke. It was so nice having her here...she cooked delicious meals and cleaned the house too! Paul's birthday was also last week so we had his family over for cake and ice cream on Tuesday to celebrate then he had his usual birthday dinner (falafels) over at his parents on Sunday. This weekend we are headed up North to mom and dad's for the 4th. Both of my sister's will be up their with their families so it will be a big crew.

Luke Has Arrived!

Luke Edward Issa came into this world on Friday, June 13th. He weighed 6lbs 10oz and was 19 1/4 inches long. Mom went into labor on Thursday afternoon and then ended up having to do a c-seciton on Friday afternoon when Luke's heartbeat fell dangerously low. Thankfully, we are both doing well now and have recovered! We got back from the hospital on Monday afternoon and Dad is taking the week off of work. Today we went to Luke's first Dr's visit. Everything went well and Luke managed to pee on the Dr. twice!! She said she gets that all the time, but not usually twice in one visit. =) We are still working on trying to get Luke's days and nights straightened out. He loves to sleep during the day and then is wide awake at night. He also hates sleeping in his crib and bassinet and only likes sleeping in his swing. The Dr. said not to worry about that too much as long as he'll sleep and give mom and dad some rest. Luke also likes to be held and snuggled a lot which is just fine by his mom and dad!

Happy Anniversary

Yesterday Paul and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary. Hard to believe 2 years have already flown by. We went out to eat to the Olive Garden and I had eggplant parmesan. Supposedly, eggplant parmesan helps induce labor. It didn't work for me! We are scheduled to go to the hospital tomorrow evening to get induced. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly. Thea, Paul and Toren are going to stop by tomorrow and have brunch with me before they head up north for the weekend. I'm excited to meet Toren! Then, my mom is going to come over in the afternoon. It should hopefully be a nice and relaxing last day before Luke arrives!

Any Day Now...

We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our baby boy! We've got the nursery all ready and are excited to start our family. After months of debate we've decided to name him Luke. Luke will have plenty of cousins and friends ready to meet him. Last Thursday Thea (my college

roommate) had a baby boy, Toren. Then on Friday, Sara (my sister-in-law) had a baby girl, Ana. My other college roommate, Julie, is exepecting a boy in June. Luke's due date is June 6th, but mom is hoping that he decides to come a little early. More to come as we approach the big day!!