Sunday, September 30, 2007

The amazing things kids do!

I found this hilarious post on Stretch Mark Mama's site. I don't know which reaction I would have first: the Bust-A-Gut-Laughter-Call-Daddy-At-Work-And-Tell-Him-What-His-Crazy-Kids-Have-Done reaction or the Gasp-Of-Fright-Coupled-With-The-Please-Dear-God-Don't-Let-That-Be-Permenant-Ink reaction! Too Funny!!

I'm going to be an Aunt - Again!

My sister floored me the other day when she called me on the phone. I clicked over to her, told her I was on the phone with our cousin and asked if I could call her back. She said, "Sure! I didn't want to take too much of your time. I just wanted to let you know that I'm going to be needing some advice from you soon since you're already experienced with having three kids."

... pause....


"You're NOT!"

"I AM!!"

... and then I think I said about, oh... 568 Oh My Gosh's! I just couldn't wrap my head around it! I thought (as did most everyone) that they were done!

So, HEE HEE!! My sister's having another baby!!! I keep praying to God, "Please dear Lord, let this be a healthy pregnancy, a healthy baby, a healthy delivery and mommy... and Lord? Can I ask for a girl?"

I guess we shall soon find out!!

HEE HEE!!

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Drill Sergeant Mom - Part II

Now... having said all that good, mushy (and very true) stuff in Part I, please let me tell you a little about my afternoon yesterday. It's funny that two of my friends recently posted blogs about having a day that deserved a little "bottoms up" at then end of it (here and here)! Last night when hubby came home I said "I'm done!" He asked if everything was ok and I said "I deserve a Corona tonight!"

My trio did just fine in the morning and we even got to school a few minutes EARLY!!!! And for those of you who know me, you know that this just DOESN'T happen! That afternoon I picked my little man up from school ... and then it all began. First he didn't want to stay in his room for nap/quiet time (this is Mommy's well deserved daily break - Mommies deserve quiet time too!) so I got onto him over and over. After naps were over he kept bugging, annoying, aggrivating Abigail (just as big brothers are supposed to do, I know) and so there was the constant whining, crying and shouting from her to "Sop it! Wee me awone!" Next he's trying to dump out the entire twenty-four ounce tub of raisins and won't obey when I tell him repeatedly "that's enough, no more" (sounds minor enough but we're building here...). Then he begins to pour his milk out on the floor (thankfully I grabbed his cup in time to ask "WHAT are you doing?!"). This is followed by his taking my yard stick, which he "rides" galloping around the house as his horse (I was fine with that) and then pounding the living daylights out of it with a hammer, sending splinters of wood flying around my room. "ENOUGH! Go sit on the couch and DON'T MOVE until we're ready to go to the store!" I get Rachel up and change her diaper while she constantly tries to flip over and crawl off the dresser. The phone rings. As I'm simultaneously trying to get off the phone with telemarketer and pin Abigail down to put on her shoes I hear a crash (eyes roll). I go into the living room to see our only remaining lamp (you guess why it was the only remaining one) laying in the floor broken into MANY pieces! Needless to say he hadn't been sitting still on the couch as I had instructed. Trying to keep my cool (after slamming the phone down, thereby killing the digital display screen - it won't display numbers or anything any more), I respond to his apologies with "I know you didn't intentionally break the lamp but I'm NOT happy that you disobeyed! If you had been sitting still the lamp wouldn't be broken, now would it?" (Deep breaths. It's only a lamp. Who cares? Chill out!) Proceed to the grocery store with all three in tow. Listen to an hour long barrage of "he's touching me" "stop!" "move over!" "Moooooom" "Can I have a gumball? Why not? I want a gum ball. Mooooooom!" All the while I'm threatening them to dare not get up out of their little blue buggy seats and to stop poking the baby!

So, as you can see, it's not that the infractions are all that severe as much as they are just one after another after another after another after another after another after another after another after another ... get the point? So by the time we pull into the drive (the entire car ride home was filled with questions - why this? why that? why this? why that? Moooooom!), and see that Daddy is home, I'm DONE! .... It may not sound that bad to you... I know that I'm a little tense and need to chill out... But I DESERVED a CORONA after dinner!

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Drill Sergeant Mom - Part I

Oh my Gosh! I just found a post on a fellow blogger's site that states what I have so often felt about myself as a parent!!! Drill Sergeant Dad captures the questions I have wondered about myself -- Who is this person yelling and being so impatient?! These beautiful children should be relished for all of their energy (Lord knows Jared has enough for an army), for all of their inquisitiveness (I would love to get one of those ticker things so that I can click it once for each question he asks during a day - heck, during one car ride!!), for their impulsiveness (I'm way too reserved, boring and unimaginative!), and for all of their attention seeking silliness and play (Jared is my clown and Abigial is my performer). Instead, I all too often hear such a harsh, impatient voice barking orders. I always make it a point to never put them down personally but I do complain way too often about their not listening or obeying or thinking about what they're doing. I want so badly to be a good mom. I want to be that super-mom that never raises her voice, is always so patient and loving and encouraging. I pray daily that God will give me the wisdom to know how to best raise my children. I try to teach them manners and proper behavior. My fears are that I hold on too tightly and don't let them "breathe" enough as children but then I fear that if I don't keep a hold on them, they won't learn proper behavior or responsibility. I pray that I don't "screw them up" as so many adults cry about how their parents messed them up. I realize now how difficult it really is to be a parent (and am that much more thankful for my own). But I try - I really do. And I hope they will always know how much I love them - I love them to bits!!

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Getting ready to move...

Whew! It's been a whirlwind around here since we got back from vacation! I never knew it would be so involved to sell our house! Or rather to get it READY to sell. We've interviewed several real estate agents and selected one. We've had our consultation with the staging people and are looking forward to getting their proposal on how to really swoop prospective buyers off their feet! We've decided on all of the flooring selections - we're getting the flooring replaced in three rooms (which we've been wanting to do for years now but been too cheap to spend the money before now). We're going to get a quote tomorrow from someone for painting our bathroom and REpainting our CRAYOLA YELLOW kitchen to a more neutral tone (a few years ago we painted it what we thought would be a pretty, cheery yellow. We got started and thought "oh how pretty" and then we kept painting and thought "oh.... um..." and then we finished and ever since then we constantly think we've left the lights on in the kitchen because it's so BRIGHT!). I ordered a new dishwasher today - ours decided to die shortly after we returned home from vacation. We've made several runs with the truck and van both packed FULL of boxes of CLUTTER! Our house hasn't changed much - but there are approximately 50 boxes of STUFF in our newly rented storage unit and our garage. How does this happen?? We still need to call the handy man to come do a handful of other things around the house like the caulking and a few small repairs that we just don't have the time or gumption to tackle. And I have some serious scrubbing to do to clean the baths and kitchen to look like new (and to remove the grimey yet cute finger prints and smudges off the walls). UGH! Well, I guess if this is what makes up the stress that I have in my life (that I've been blessed with the finanacial ability to move, a loving husband and active (and THANK GOD healthy) children that keep messing up my stacks and taking up my packing/cleaning time, then I'll GLADLY carry my lot. Thank you Jesus for all of these blessings!

Oh and if anyone has any tips on selling your house or trying to sell while having three tots in tow let me know!! I'm open to all kinds of advice!!

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Blessed Be Your Name

This morning I read an update on a fellow blogger Amy Whilhoite. Sadly, she passed yesterday after fighting a battle with leukemia. Her faith in God was so inspiring and I encourage you to read her blog.

Then this afternoon I recieved this verse in my email:

Hebrews 10:35-36 Therefore you mustn't lose your courage and confidence, for it will bring you a great reward. You see, you must patiently hold on to your faith so that you will do what God wants and thus receive what He has promised.

It seemed fitting for her and others who are fighting their battles and holding so faithfully to God's promises.

Additionally, I thought it very interesting that when Amy was originally diagnosed with leukemia the song that she said was stuck in her mind was "Blessed Be Your Name." That song gave her strength to deal with her horrifying news. That is the same song that played over and over in my mind when we lost our baby Jessica. The chorus of it ran over and over in my mind that first few days. Then about a week or so later the other verse popped into my mind, "He gives and He takes away." It was interesting to me how I remembered the part about blessing God's name even in the midst of our heartache and then later I remembered that additional verse and it seemed so appropriately timed... Anyway, that song helped me a lot.

Squeeze your little ones and your loved ones tonight and love them with all your might. You never know when God will call you (or them) home.

Hilarious Ebay Listing!!

This is hilarious!! You gotta click here to read this ebay listing from a mom of six! Too Funny!

Sunday, September 9, 2007

Update on our Vacation, Etc.

Hey y’all! Sorry I haven’t blogged in quite a while. I’ve been busy, busy, busy ever since we got back from vacation!

Back in the late spring, John and I had been talking (again) about selling our house and moving closer to John’s work. We’ve talked about selling many times in the past – we’ll sell this year… in five years… no, next year…, no, we’ll stick it out another three years… ok, next summer…. Well, while we were on vacation we finally decided that we were both ready to go ahead and move this year. We’d both been praying about it, asking for God’s guidance and both felt that we were getting the same word. So, as soon as we got home I started making phone calls to real estate agents, staging companies, moving companies, storage companies, handy-man services, flooring repair companies and starting to de-clutter our home (and Oh My Gosh do we ever have clutter!!). Jared also just started Awanas club and preschool. I’ve been attending the teacher training sessions for each of the three MOPS programs that I’ll be working childcare for this year. I’ll be a Discussion Group Leader for the Night MOPS program that I’ll be a member of this year and have been trying to learn what I missed during a meeting I was out of town for. I need to make about 10-15 phone calls for that. I’m the president of our homeowners association and on the social committee. We’re trying to join a new small group through our church (so I'm trying to find a babysitter) and I’ll be joining a new bible study group on Wednesdays while Jared’s at Awanas… so… I’m having a hard time keeping my head on straight right now!! And I have SO much packing and cleaning to do that I don’t know where to start!

Now, having said all that, let me back up a little. Our family photos taken before we left town turned out great! The kids did beautifully! The photographer was very good with them. He and the guy who helped us pick out our selections were Great – especially considering how late we were (John couldn’t get out of work as early as he’d hoped and traffic was bad). We ended up picking our selections after their closing hours and left the mall when all of the stores were turning off their lights! But they were so patient with us with whole time! I’ll see if I can scan in the photos later. We don’t have a scanner but I can go to the UPS store around the corner and get that done when I have time (???).

As far as our family vacation…. We stayed at a time share on Singer Island in Florida in the same place as John’s dad, step-mom and three sisters. Our rooms were not facing the ocean like I usually “require” for a beach vacation but that turned out to be perfectly fine. Our room was less than 10 feet from the poolside – if you walked out of our door and didn’t turn you’d fall in! The kids had a blast swimming constantly. We were able to sit and relax at the tables in the shade, talking with family, watching the kids and listening to the baby monitor which easily picked up in our room while the baby slept – SOOO much better than if we had been trapped in our room while she napped or if we'd had to torture her (and us) by keeping her up and out with us when she was tired. This also turned out to be a real blessing when our 2 yr old popped up out of the water and yelling “POOPY!!!” and needed to run to the potty! I was so glad we weren’t in some high-rise where we had to search for a potty or worry about packing up ALL of our stuff to make the trek to and from the pool every time. If we wanted something we just stepped back into the room to get it.

The beach was beautiful!!! From our room, you walked through this beautifully landscaped path with trees and bushes and then down a sandy path through the sand dunes. It was so beautiful! This was also the time of year that the sea turtles were hatching. Scattered all up and down the beach were sea turtle nests that had been marked off with caution tape so that people wouldn’t disturb them. Unfortunately when the little babies are born at night, they all too often get confused by the street and building lights and head back up the beach towards the hotels rather than out to the water. So we had several exciting trips out to the ocean whenever someone found a baby turtle by the hotel. I also joined several of John’s relatives one morning as they went out for their daily sunrise walk and watched as a volunteer dug out the rest of a nest that had hatched the night before. She dug out the remaining babies that hadn’t made it out yet (still alive), counted those babies who didn’t survive, counted the remaining unhatched eggs, and counted all of the hatched eggs to determine how many babies made it out of the nest. The baby turtles were so cute as they worked they way to the water!

I think the best thing about the entire vacation was being able to be with family for the whole week. It’s nice to have family reunions and gatherings but the time is too short. When you spend the whole week together you have the chance to really talk and hang out. All together there were 15 of us – the five of us plus John’s dad and step-mom (Frank and Jill), his three sisters (Lee Ann, Amy and Kelly), his step-uncle (Tim) and his two girls (Erika and Ana), his step-Grandma (Bobbie) and Amy's boyfriend (Matt) who joined us for a couple of days. Another great thing about family is BABYSITTERS!!!!!! Having family around at the pool allowed us to relax – more eyes on the kids. One afternoon my father-in-law kept the kids so that we could go out on Tim’s sailboat. (AAaaaahhh!!! So Nice!! I just sat back and relaxed in the sun and watch the view while the guys talked.) And one night, John’s sisters kept the kids while John and I went out to a nice dinner with his folks. Wonderful food, wonderful company!! Yep – family is GREAT thing!!!

Anyway, now that I’ve written a book – I’ll show you some of the photos!! There are just so many great photos it's hard to choose so here are LOTS! (click on the photo to view a larger image)

The waves were huge the first day at the beach

Hopper - check out the water trails from his feet.

I love this shot

Aunt Lee Ann shows Abigail a turtle she just found over by the pool. We all scampered down to the beach to set it free.

The volunteers digging out a turtle's nest that hatched during the night. See the empty egg shells?
... And they're off!!

Aaahh! At last!

My Beauty!

The sunrises were just gorgeous!! Every five seconds the colors were changing!
This is the path through the sand dunes.



Thank you God for your Creations!

Having a Blast with Grandpa in the pool!

Jared learned to swim without his floaties!!!

Daddy's got his girls!

Party time!

My two quackers!

We got to see one of old friends Chris and her son while we were on her end of the world! It was so great seeing her!! And Jack is such a cutie!!

I love this shot!